#Replacing the Evil Way

[lianchuann]

I will be continuing this one today!!

[yuexuan]

[Review] 置换凶途

Title: 置换凶途 Replacing the Evil Way

Author: 猫茶海狸

Length: 99 chapters + 5 extras

Tag: crime, mystery, parallel world, time travel

Summary [taken from novel updates]:

He Wei took over a murder case in an abandoned mansion, and the deceased Cheng Zesheng, Male, a pianist, was killed by gunshot.

At the same time, in the same mansion, Cheng Zesheng was leading a team to inspect the scene. The deceased, He Wei, male, a company employee, died of suffocation.

Different worlds, and different professions, the only thing in common was that they had died in each other’s world.

What was it that connected the protagonists of the murder investigation in the two parallel worlds? With the collision of time and space, the two parallel spaces had quietly changed. He Wei gradually found that this was an unsolvable situation. Struggling in the cycle of fate, how could Cheng Zesheng be saved?

Without meeting, there would be no beginning.

When the clock strikes zero, would he still stand the opposite?

Novel | Novel[translated] | Audio drama

Comments **Contains spoilers**:

The story starts off with two cases in parallel timelines, with MC and ML investigating each other’s death. Their worlds collide, however, when they stay within the 404 apartment unit: it starts with seeing signs of each other’s presence to eventually seeing each other’s full body manifestation. 

The clues of the two unsolved cases start making more sense as they take into account the parallel worlds, with people traveling between the worlds and time, including their alter-self. Everything seems to culminate around the scene of the murder. Just who killed MC and ML’s other selves? 

Highlights

I love stories that involve time travel and parallel worlds. They are such a headache to decipher, but at the same time it’s also so fun to try to figure out how the clues piece together and how MC can break through the cycle of unhappy endings. The different clues fit so well together and MC’s actions at one point in time have immediate bearings on subsequent events (so remember to bring pen and paper to note down the clues!).

There is something quaint about the structure and style of the story that reminds me of other danmeis such as 小镇 and 桐花路私立医院, which I really like. It’s the type of story that draws one in with the mysterious and strange setup, but also leaves one satisfied without having to give full explanations of why the parallel worlds and time loops happen. I really can’t explain it other than give the story a try and see whether you like this style of stories.

Along the same line, the creepy vibe of living alone in an apartment with clear signs of another inhabitant is very well written. I find myself sitting on edge while reading MC and ML’s initial meetings, even though I know they are each other’s ‘invisible’ roommates, but the way it is laid out nevertheless sends chills down my spine.

Cons

The mystery part mostly lies with the parallel worlds and less so with the actual cases, which leads to some pretty sus police behavior. For example, the fact that the police ignored the lake where the body of Xiao Shen was thrown in seems like a huge oversight and doesn’t read well when the story tries to show MC and ML’s ingenuity.

The story also isn’t fully resolved - It is not clear what happens to Cheng Zesheng in the parallel world where he has the cat that could travel between both worlds. The story focuses only on MC, thereby completely omitting the other ML in another world.

This might be a con for others - The later part of the story pretty much omits ML and features more interactions between MC and ML’s older brother. So if you’re into romance, I feel like this might not be a satisfying direction in the story.

[book-and-manga-dragon]

That was... wow!

What a roller coaster ride!!!! It broke my brain keeping the versions of characters straight (heh... straight 😏 as if)

Still.. felt like I myself fell into some wierd dimension as I looked up from finishing the book and legit went "eh?! When am I at?! Already dusk?!?"

[love-too-believe]

Oh wow a black woman being created as a disposible placeholder for a white woman. I've never seen that before. Oh wait...

Ah yes, the "disposable black girlfriend trope"

[jeweled-blue-eyes]

Misery AU where Yoichi is the author of the Captain Hero comics and AFO throws him into the vault when he discovers that Yoichi is planning to kill off the Demon Lord

[bixels]

I'm really glad Tumblr as a whole has turned against AI art. I remember speaking out against it in a post that blew up a little less than a year ago and getting a lot of angry leftists arguing that AI is actually very socialist and good for the worker, which was incredibly disheartening.

[cathalbravecog]

first thing i drew on my new tablet to test it out is the tv beast themselves

[hkpika07]

Hot take. Spencer is misunderstood and is a complex character who isnt all that bad, you guys are just mean.

[the-owl-tree]

Is there anything you liked about CrowFeather’s Trial?

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT THAT NIGHT WAS NOT THE PROBLEM. That was considered canon for so fucking long, people forget the field guides and OOTS both asserted this as a fact and this SE is the clumsy clean up. Crow being acknowledged as a shitty father is good, I will give it that. still doesn’t excuse the way canon or the fandom handled it

Breezepelt and Nightcloud not being completely vilified was good. As I said before though, sanding them down to make them deserving of an apology was shitty but nonetheless, I liked all of their scenes and like that Breeze loves his mom so much :)

Nightcloud in a cone and being sweet on Pickle, that was very cute.

Onestar is a softie for his daughter, this is one scene and can absolutely not be interpreted this way but I’m closing my eyes.

I can now successfully argue that no, the abusive father super edition explaining how he’s actually vewy sad and sowwy was actually not good enough. Crowfeather needs to die as penance.

[ambreiiigns]

btw rick and morty makes me insane bc no one Gets it people who don't wanna watch it (like me! before my brother made me watch it in exchange of him watching sk8 the infinity w me!) are like ugh problematique bad #edgy dark humor adult cartoon for reddit bros 🙄 but then the reddit bros who watch it & became the main representatives for its audience are like haha pickle rick wooo you need high iq I Relate To Rick Sanchez Deeply and he's like the joker to them and he's a king and an icon of alpha males somehow???? but like. neither of those people understand that rick and morty is actually about Nobody Exists On Purpose. Nobody Belongs Anywhere. Everybody's Gonna Die. Come Watch TV?

[lianchuann]

HHHHHHH HOY BEST TEA???

[shrinevandal]

guy who started shipping kate and claire because he can't stand kate/jack and the concept of "i'm leaving you for your sister" is inherently hilarious but then got overly attached to them so now he genuinely can't picture kate with anyone else

[lord-prey]

They’re a hive mind :)

And they’re here to impersonate a weird hellspawn they saw roaming the domain they call home

[summertimemusician]

Sleep Deprived Linked Universe Au concept that I think could be neat, everything is the same but the Chain or a Chain Member (Wild, Sky or otherwise) is like the Sky Children/Moths in Sky Children of the Light. Or where we drop one of the children of light or a moth with the Chain as a substitute for therapy which I really think they could use.

Or secondary Sleep Deprived LoZ/LU Au concept: everything is the same, but either one of the Chain members is like the Vessels in HK, or we straight up drop the Pure Vessel in BOTW when Link/Wild emerges from his 100 year power nap (goodness I wish that were me) after having his brain scrambled like an omelette and they and Link unwittingly imprint on each other and adopt one another as found family, which helps them deal with their respective traumas, bonus points if Wolfie/Twilight/TP Link is also there and unwittingly part of the found family, and if it bleeds over into LU the Chain has to suddenly cope with the fact this eldritch bug being from another world entirely meant to be a vessel for a maddened deity basically adopted one o their own as a sibling. Could also somehow throw Ghost or Hornet in there later on.

I will not elaborate further.

[stairset]

Love the idea here that the other rebels' problem with Saw is just that he blows shit up and not the whole "torturing prisoners and endangering civilians" thing

[awkward-teabag]

Can't even mention that a store near me is clearly using abusing the TFW program because they refuse to pay little more than minimum wage in a high cost of living area (also you won't get benefits and you'll only be part-time) because the fascists and right-wingers will jump in to say it's about immigration and white replacement.

No, it's because rich white people want to hoard even more money and found an intentional loophole to both make more money (via paying employees less) and also have more power over employees, employees who may or may not know Canadian employment laws (or safety laws) and even if they do, don't have the ability or support to try to hold the company accountable.

You can absolutely criticize the federal government for keeping the loophole open but it predates Trudeau by decades and it was Harper who both expanded the program and added a way for companies to fast-track TFWs. It was also under Harper that companies started firing Canadians (or not hiring them) and then requesting permission to mass-hire TFWs instead.

But the way the right wing talks, you would think Trudeau started this whole thing and the poor multi-million and multi-billion dollar companies are being taken advantage of. Also that housing prices, lack of new developments, and zoning issues started with Trudeau and are the fault of mass-immigration he has a boner for instead of being an issue for decades and experts warning this would happen if governments didn't act ASAP.

Instead the neolibs and cons kept cutting back and kicking that can down the road, a can that started being kicked by Mulroney and the Conservative Party.