Wu Ji walked into the "Ink Pavilion" bookstore like he always did. The faint smell of ink inside was calming.
"Hey, Mosh , got any good books to recommend?" Wu Ji called out to the young shopkeeper behind the counter.
Mosh , real name Mosh Li , was the owner of the Ink Pavilion, in his early thirties. Wu Ji had grown up with him — he was more than ten years older, but they were close, like brothers. They often joked around and messed with each other.
"Take a look yourself," Mosh said, smiling as he pointed to the shelves.
Wu Ji wandered between the shelves, scanning the spines. Suddenly, he stopped.
A book was stuffed in the corner, without a title on the spine. But the cover had a line of words — "Blade of Fate"
He pulled it out. The cover was dusty. He flipped to the first page without thinking.
The whole page was black, with a single line of white text, like an explosion in the dark:
"Come on. Come at me. Feed my rage if you dare."
Wu Ji froze.
Then goosebumps spread all over his body.
"What the hell..." he mumbled, his fingers pinching the page. He hesitated for a second, then turned it anyway.
So cringey. But that cringeyness was exactly what made him want to keep reading.
The story was about a boy in an oppressed town who stood up against countless soldiers.
The plot was no different from any other hot-blooded manga, but for some reason, it grabbed Wu Ji's curiosity.
Just when he was really getting into it, the story stopped. Left him wanting more.
"Mosh ," Wu Ji walked to the counter with the book. "Is there more to this?"
Mosh glanced at the title, and his expression changed.
"Where did you find this?"
"In the corner."
Mosh was quiet for a long time. Then he stood up, walked to the door, and closed it.
"This book... it's out of print." He paused. "Because its author was executed."
Wu Ji froze. "What?"
"The author, 'Li,' wrote this book when our country was still under the Unified Nation's rule." Mosh 's voice dropped lower. "During the war, any author who wrote something against them was killed right away. So you can guess — the author's town was massacred too."
"What?! Then... what about the rest of the story?"
Mo Sheng shook his head. "No one knows. But I heard the book was supposed to have four parts. This is just the first one. Where to find the rest... I have no idea."
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and then Add to home screen.