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Jul 29, 2022·edited Aug 3, 2022

So far, this is without a doubt my favorite installment. From "I hated her. I loved her. I was intimidated and defensive and deferent. I wanted to kill her and I wanted to follow her into the yawning, molten mouth of an active volcano" and with details like "She nodded. Chewed a perfect lip” - this literally felt like the exact kinda thing I loved as a kid that got me into reading in the first place.

K hmmmm so much that could happen. I feel like "So she taught herself how to code, became a VR designer, and wound up doing pretty well" is a HUGE foreshadowing, or at least I hope it is. I want her to either have something to do with the candle or know the people who do.

I don't know what I want the consequences to be.

-Part of my anime brain is predicting it to be SAO-ish where there is some kind of sentient being, or someone whose consciousness was trapped in the VR world who is trying to communicate in any way they can, and the candle flickering makes sense considering the restrictions of their imprisonment in the first place.

-That there is a larger than life conspiracy trapped in the code by a nefarious party.

-Is Bao evil? Is he good but had an evil partner long ago?

... And already I feel like I'm derailing what will be a great story, so part of me wants to stop here. But I'll continue thinking and commenting and replying to others as I see them!

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Lovely to hear :)

Also, your theories have MY head spinning, so thanks for that. I very much hope that the actual ending doesn't disappoint. I guess we'll both have to wait and see!

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