Can we talk about how perfectly the author captures the weird politeness dance of the entertainment industry through that WeChat exchange with Shao Yiyu? The whole thing is just Chen Tang being professionally distant and Shao Yiyu trying to be friendly and it creates this hilarious mismatch. He sends five messages in a row—"Chen Tang, I just heard that your agency went bankrupt?" "How are you now?" "Did you terminate the contract?" "Is there anything I can help you with?" "Feel free to say if you need anything"—and she replies with exactly two words: "Thank you." Two. Words. And then when he says "Didn't I tell you not to call me teacher," she hits him with the classic industry deflection: "That won't do, you're a senior, I should call you teacher." This is SO real. I've seen this exact dynamic in real life. The junior actor who refuses to drop the formal title because it's the only professional boundary they have. And Shao Yiyu, after getting politely shut down, just says "Since you don't need any help, then I won't disturb you." The resignation in that message is palpable. He was genuinely trying to be helpful, and she was genuinely being polite but distant. The author's dialogue here is sharp because nobody is being mean—they're just operating from different frequencies. Chen Tang's voice throughout is this careful, measured politeness that slowly starts to crack a little around Fu Tingyuan. When she's with him, she says things like "You seem even more confident than me" and her voice becomes "sweet without her realizing it." That shift in how she speaks is the author showing us her emotional state without narration. Brilliant.
Let me just say—this author knows how to pace a scene. The way the tension builds from Chapter 8 all the way through to that soup moment in Chapter 10 is masterful. You start with Xu Zhizhi crying because her friend left, completely vulnerable, and then Fu Chengyan shows up looking like a threat. My heart was actually racing. She trips in the garden, he catches her, she's still terrified, and then—she leads him into her apartment like nothing happened. The pacing shift when she sees the food is everything. One moment she's trembling, the next she's "sniffing with her little nose, her mouth slightly parted." The author doesn't waste time on transition—they just cut to the moment her priorities shift from survival to hunger. That's so true to character. She's not slowly warming up to him over days of conversation. She's hungry, there's food, and somehow this dangerous-looking man is cooking for her. But what really works is the chapter endings. Chapter 8 ends with her crying alone under the covers—that's emotional devastation. Chapter 9 ends with her thinking he's a terrorist—maximum tension. And Chapter 10? It ends with him asking if she writes novels while she's eating fish balls. The tension just... deflates. Like a balloon. And you're left wanting more because now they're actually talking. The author knows exactly when to tighten the screw and when to let it loose. The scene with the bodyguard watching from the shadows is also a great pacing device—it reminds us that this isn't just a sweet romance, there are people watching, there are consequences, there's a whole world outside this apartment. It raises the stakes without slowing things down.
Okay so Zhou Qiong is such an interesting character and I need to talk about how she shifts from being this neglected, almost invisible mother figure to someone who actually steps up. When she first wakes up in this body, she doesn't even know what soap is. The girl just looks at her like she's crazy. And then there's this moment where she says "I've forgotten some things, but with you here, you can always help me remember" — that hit me hard because it shows she's not just pretending to be this mom, she's genuinely trying to reconnect with these kids who clearly didn't trust her before. The relationship between Zhou Qiong and the two children is what makes this story work. Yang Shu is this guarded boy who thinks his mother is embarrassing him when she wants to bathe in the river. But then she washes his hair and he just buries his head in the water and comes up smiling. That's it. That's the whole emotional arc of a kid who's never been cared for. And Yang Miao — she's so fierce, defending her mother against Gui Bao's comment, telling him "She just didn't recognize you" like she's been carrying this resentment for a long time. Gui Bao is interesting too. He's this tagalong kid who clearly lives with his grandma and doesn't have parents either. The fact that he immediately wants to help clean and says "Auntie, your house is so clean now. I wish we could tidy up our place like this too" — that little detail tells you everything about his life. He's watching these two kids get cared for and it hurts. The line that really got me though was when Zhou Qiong says to both of them: "From now on, as long as I'm here, I'll make sure you're clean." It's such a simple promise but after everything they've been through — eating at their uncle's place only when there's work, digging wild vegetables, having no money, no food — that promise means the world.
Although shop type systems aren't too rare but finding one with good setting, pacing and grammar is always great. Looking forward to more chapters!
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I'm hooked! This story's got everything: drama, suspense, and revenge. I'm eagerly waiting for the next chapter. Give it a try, you'll be hooked too!
I do like myself a good system novel, and have written a couple myself, and Shen has done pretty well with this story.it's always been hard for me to follow along with Chinese or Korean names in novels, and I struggle to get attached to the characters when this happens, but this is in no way the author's fault, so I won't rate negatively for that.The world building, characters and plot are all pretty interesting, and I enjoyed reading up to the point that I did. There are a couple of cliche things here and there, but they wouldn't be cliche if they didn't work!There are just some grammatical errors, which are mostly letters missing at the end of pluralised words, no capitalisation at the beginning of a new sentence, or formatting issues like excessive paragraph spacing. There are some newbie errors like redundancy as well, which is usually seen as dialogue tags or elsewhere.Overall, though, I enjoyed reading Nexus, so make sure to give it a read!
beyond what I had expected, the chapters are too short, tho and I wish that they were longer
Okay not much of a Romance reader but this book just draws you in. I love it well done author
balanced with the thrill, action, and hardships.
The story is fleshed out well with good narration that overcomes minor flaws, pacing wise it's good but world building wise it could be better ?
I'll startwith the single flaw of this masterpiece: the arrangement of grammar isn't very fluent right now, which caused me to have difficulties, though I believe some editing can remedy that. Aside from that, the narrative features a fantastic take on the demon cliche and a fast-paced plot. I love the fights, although I want to see how the demon lord is related to the elf.And like a previous comment, I would agree that Thorkell is a fitting name for the demon lord's host, and much thought was put into the world's background. I can't wait to see where you take this; overall, I shall give it 5 stars because I see a lot of potential.Overall, the novel is incredibly enjoyable, and I can't wait to read more as each chapter drops one by one. The best two days of my life in a while, that much I will say.