Era of Mist

Part One of *Era of Mist* is finished. As I wrote the final few lines, I was suddenly overcome with emotion. I began serializing *Extraordinary Twin* in April 2014, and *Era of Mist* in January 2019.

*Extraordinary Twin* is still unfinished. The story has reached its middle-to-late stages, and there are still tons of great plot points to come. My mind is bursting with ideas, but unfortunately, for various, and various, and *various* reasons, I’m temporarily unable to write them.

However, *Extraordinary Twin* is just on hiatus, not canceled. I can’t promise how often I’ll release a new Chapter because my work schedule is erratic and incredibly stressful. The main issue is that my boss’s logic is a complete mystery, and you never know when they’ll spring some brand-new, bizarre reason for overtime on us.

A little while ago, I thought work had eased up and I had more free time, but I never expected things to take such a dramatic and turbulent turn again recently. As it is, maintaining two Chapters of *Era of Mist* a day is the absolute best I can do.

Of course, no matter what, *Extraordinary Twin* is where my dream began, and I will go back and finish it.

*Extraordinary Twin* represents my dream, while *Era of Mist* represents my reality.

Regarding *Era of Mist*, from the very beginning, many readers have complained that it’s too full of tropes, just an unoriginal, run-of-the-mill story. They said it’s the classic ”protagonist rises from nothing” and ”parents get killed off” setup. The truth is, you have no idea how much willpower it took for me to resist the urge to just go wild from the very start.

I made a solemn promise to my wife that this time, I wouldn’t pull any completely out-of-the-blue twists, and I wouldn’t just be ”running on passion.” I would stick to the proven formulas, honestly earn my author fees, and do my part to share the family’s financial load. And so, for this first part of the story, I’ve basically stuck to that formula.

——How——ev——er——

Turns out, I just couldn’t suppress the urge after all~ Hehehehe~~~

Readers who are familiar with my work know that I’m the kind of author who loves to lay down foreshadowing in inconspicuous places and set up major plot twists far in advance. Even though this book started out aiming for the mainstream, I don’t want it to be *just* another formulaic story. I can’t reveal the specifics—you’ll just have to keep reading. But many of the ideas and concepts lurking beneath the surface of this book are even more radical and audacious than those in *Extraordinary Twin*.

Also, I’d like to briefly explain the social background of the first part of the story. Many readers felt that some of the plot points involving street thugs were unrealistic and wouldn’t happen in a modern society.

That’s right, you rarely see such things today. But that doesn’t mean they never happened.

In this particular worldline, the technological development in Donghua Country is roughly equivalent to China’s in the early 2000s, but its social development and urban construction are at a level similar to China’s from around 1995 to 1997.

Younger readers have no impression of that era, as many of them were born after the turn of the millennium. But back in ’95, the kinds of people I wrote about—the ones who swaggered around shirtless, sported dragon and tiger tattoos, brawled in the streets, and roamed around looking for trouble—truly existed. Brazen extortion, open threats and intimidation, and brutal ambushes in back alleys were also real. This isn’t some fabrication; it’s a memory of that time.

In the future, I’ll be writing about many different worldlines, each with its own unique background and corresponding stories. Although I can’t possibly cover every single detail, I will do my best to perfect the basic logic and keep things internally consistent.

Finally, with Part One concluded, our protagonist, Old Tie, will return to his original worldline.

So, what is his original worldline—the world of the Era of Mist—really like?

Please look forward to Part Two of the Era of Mist: Breaking the Cocoon at Tumu Castle!