I had originally planned to take a break and write this tomorrow, but maybe it was because the timing was sensitive, and many friends sent me text messages and private messages asking me about it. I was just thinking about taking a good nap to relax from the excitement at the end of the day, but my phone kept beeping. I...can't I get any sleep?

It is planned that the book will be completed in May. I said this a long time ago, but I couldn't estimate it accurately at that time. I just said May and June in general. I have to leave enough flexibility, right? If it weren't for the epidemic, I would have gone on a trip to Spain in a few days.

Also, my contract was signed at the end of 2016, and by the beginning of 2022, I still have one book left, about 3 million words, and the new book will definitely be on Qidian.

Having said that digression, let’s get back to the book itself.

If I chose a more reasonable development for the ending of the seventh part, which caused the plot to become much faster and could not be developed in a fuller and detailed manner, then the eighth part was under my control starting from the first chapter. I had already considered what to write in each chapter, where the turning point was, and how to conclude the ending. There was no sudden acceleration of the plot, and there was no problem of cutting off many side stories.

I had thought of this ending before I started writing the book. After experiencing all kinds of passivity, expectations, confusion, and hesitation, everyone in the Tarot Club finally left their comfort zone and faced the world and all kinds of difficulties. Klein and Azik completed a reincarnation of their roles.

In the end, the contrast between weirdness and innocence, gloom and sunshine, darkness and rebirth is a strange picture that is a bit Cthulhu and a bit warm. At the same time, it points out that Klein has initially awakened and will not stop reading.

As for the foreshadowing of the five gold coins, the experiences of each member of the Tarot Club, and other plots not related to the main plot of the book, they are of course left for the second part. I have written them so obviously. The last part is both the ending and the prologue.

Well, the second part is the period from when Xiao Ke fell asleep, or earlier, to when he woke up.

These were all decided before the book was published. The reason why I considered the second part at that time was, firstly, I felt that this setting was too large and there was too much that could be written about. If it was all crammed into a book, then the main and the secondary would be confused, and the side stories would be long, messy, boring, and bloated. Secondly, the growth curve of the Tarot Club members could not keep up with Klein. If they were given too many side stories and more stories, and their improvement was reasonable enough, it would impact the structure of the main storyline, and the same problem of confusion would arise. If not, and they were allowed to grow and play a role at the critical moment, there would definitely be a large number of friends who would feel that one person's success would bring prosperity to the whole family, and that they got everything too easily.

So, after weighing the pros and cons and considering all aspects, I decided to write at least Mystery 2. This way, the plot of this part can be developed calmly without having to run around the world, and the Tarot Club members only need to unfold the first half of their lives, complete their transformation and growth, and then leave their comfort zone to perform more exciting stories and lives in the second part.

For me, this is also a challenge: how to bring everyone back into this world after a few years, and how to allow new readers who have not read the first novel to read it smoothly and without restrictions.

I have no experience in writing a series of books, nor in writing the second book in the same world view. On the one hand, I did not consider this issue when setting up the previous books, and there was not enough space to expand on them. On the other hand, I was afraid of repeating past routines and being unable to break through. However, this fear itself is also a limitation. I think now that I have found my own writing methodology, I can try to challenge it.

I've said before that my slogan, no, my motto is:

“Never be satisfied, always challenge.

For the second part, I haven’t decided on the protagonist or the plot yet, but I already have some plot scenes in my mind:

That is the hidden thread formed by the various attempts of the Tarot Club to wake up Xiao Ke, and the different people represented by five gold coins and an iron cigarette box.

He might meet a hunter who lights a cigarette and talks about the past, he might occasionally catch a glimpse of half a beautiful face, he might hear news of the discovery of a new world from overseas, he might have dealings with the kings of the sea, he might explore the legends of treasures that have not yet been revealed on the sea, he might come into contact with all kinds of "travelers" and "intruders".

The specific style will be decided when the time comes. In short, the setting leaves a lot of room for the second part, and I am not worried at all about having nothing to write.

As for the end of the world, it is definitely not something that can be solved in one movie. In order to make the end of the world in the second part more oppressive, I decided to give the Mother Goddess an epic enhancement. In short, why is the boar pregnant, why is the man pregnant, why does the stone give birth to a child, behind all this, is it the distortion of human nature, or the decline of morality... As for the enhancement plan, it will probably be put in the third part related to the Western Continent, but I may not write it, seriously.

Regarding the Western Continent, I actually didn’t make any settings before, but just left the interface. With the remaining seven source substances and a small number of unique extraordinary characteristics that do not include Sequence 1, what kind of world and upgrade system will be constructed?

I have basically finalized my idea recently and know what kind of settings I want to make, hehe.

Well, there is the righteous system with source essence as the core, the unorthodox system with extraordinary characteristics as the foundation, and the lower nine classes, each of which has its own part.

The former is based on the Taoist idea of ​​"receiving the seal". Well, receiving the seal means that you have been recognized by the Heavenly Court and become a member of this system. You can happily summon the six Dings and six Jias and other gods to help fight. If you are a wild Taoist priest who has not received the seal, you want to summon the six Dings and six Jias, the land gods and mountain gods. Why should they care about you? Therefore, in the seal, the talisman and the seal are separate. In a nutshell, receiving the seal means being within the system. Then, if the Heavenly Court and the Pure Land are changed to the source quality, the whole setting will become lively and weird.

I am hungry after writing this, and my wife is urging me to go out. After all, I decided to write this at the last minute. Well, I will stop here for now. I will continue this review tomorrow and talk about my thoughts and gains and losses in writing the book "Strange Secrets", and talk about my creative methodology.

In addition, thank you to Wutong for the reward. I was shocked when I opened Qidian.com just now. Also, I will serialize a 20,000 to 30,000-word extra chapter here regularly, and then irregular extra chapters. I had not planned to write them originally, but now I find that there are many things that can be written that are not related to the second part, such as Xiao Ke’s dream, some fragments of the Quaternary story, and so on.

As to why Tianzun's backhand was interfered with, I have already given some hints:

Why did the "Magic Mirror" Arrodes, who came out of the Chaos Sea, have to follow Klein? Why did Klein carry it with him when he fell asleep?

Also, the remastered version of the physical book is out. I like the cover this time, and the content has only revised some Internet vocabulary and words that are not in the dictionary, such as "He". You can go to my Weibo for the specific purchase address, the real squid who loves diving. You can follow my public account for occasional extra chapters, just search for "wuzei1985", the anime avatar.

Okay, I will continue with my remarks tomorrow (Part 2).