Lyson

If you wanted spoilers I don't mind telling you, but you didn't say you wanted that xD

No problem :) I wouldn't be on Quora if I didn't like answering questions LOL

I wasn't asking, sorry, I was answering you.
The reason WHY Lanzhu/Nanzhu chooses to focus on Jiushi/Qiushi is a part of the plot in both the series and novel. So you have to keep watching/reading to find out :D

Sure!
-So, first, about the NPC thing, in the novel, Nanzhu is NOT an NPC. He is not human either, he is basically a kind of God , specifically of the Door Realm. He refers to himself as 'The Door' which I understood as meaning he is the 12th door God, but also every door because the world is his, he controls is. So he is a living entity/being in the novel.

In the series, he is a NPC, but according to the show, the Virtual World is connected to the Spiritual Realm, so in a sense, NPC's are 'alive' in some way. I understood Lanzhu to be a virtual being with a spirit, hence the reason he was able to enter the real world in a corporeal form. In that way, he was essentially 'real'. Like a program merged with an emotionally and mentally developing sentience. (and if it the show weren't censored, more physical sentience too, if you know what I mean 😉)

- About the deaths, yes, in the novel, those deaths are all source material accurate 😔 those people all die in the novel. But in the series, those characters are much more attached to Jiushi and Lanzhu, in the novel, with the exception of Qianli to some degree, those people are not really 'friends' with the main characters.

- Okay, so the ending is VERY different.
The entire 11th door is much, much longer and more detailed. It's the same in that Nanzhu and Qiushu go back to a few years earlier in their pasts and have to face previous enemies, NPC's and Door Gods, also encountering former 'good acquaintances and friends' to help them survive. But the series cuts it short and changes the events drastically, but in the novel it's much longer and the outcome is different.
After they 'clear' their levels they become totally separated and stuck inside the Door World where everything seems 'perfect' because everyone who was lost is alive, but it's all fake.

Quishi manages to figure out the key to get out first, and he does, eagerly choosing to return to the real world, because even though many people were lost, he wants to be with Nanzhu (their relationship is already established by that point).
But Nanzhu is not in the real world, and no one knows who he was or that he existed and Qiushi is confused and he goes through a bit of a hard time because he doesn't know what happened to Nanzhu.
Nanzhu on the other hand, is still stuck in the Door World because he is gradually regaining his memory, which he wiped just in order to meet Qiushi who he knew of before because as a God of his realm he'd been watching Qiushi cross the doors for some time and he fell in love with him (AND IT'S SO MUCH MORE COMPLICATED XD) but basically, after a LONG time (about a year) Nanzhu finally gets all his memories back, remembers what and who he is and why he did what he did and he leaves the Door World and goes back to Qiushi and they end up together HAPPILY and they're perfect together and Qiushi never asks what he is, even though Qiushi suspects it and they're just great.

Wow. I hope that's helpful to anyone who reads it :D

Oh sure, the major thing that happens is Tan ZaoZao dies 😮and then Qiushi is very emotional and Nanzhu goes to him immediately.

Yan Balang? He did die though, was it a typo? Because you put a smiley xD I prefer the novel ending to the series ending, but I don't dislike the series, it did wrap up fairly well.

As for a recc, I looked at your list to see what you've seen or haven't seen and there is so little there 😆 I'm not sure that's your full list or if you just don't have everything up there?

Well not too many died, right? But realistically, in the horror genre, people have to die, it can't be an 'everyone wins' scenario 😭
As for the novel, I'm happy to answer questions about it anytime!

The novel does not have any explicit sex scenes. There is teasing, flirting, kissing and references to their sex life in Nanzhu and Qiushi's narratives and thoughts. I read Advance Bravely too long ago to even remember what happened in the book xD so I can't compare it, and I never read Guardian, but on a scale of 1-10 for spiciness, I'd give the novel a 6, which seems low, but i think it suited the content of the novel.
Hope this answer is helpful :)

Why Lanzhu/Nanzhu chooses to focus on Jiushi/Qiushi is a part of the plot in both the series and novel, and the series and novel are different too. So this major plot point won't be revealed so early xD

I can answer any questions about the novel, what do you want to know?

Yo! I'm happy to answer any novel related questions!

In the novel RNZ is very obviously interested in LQS from the start and so throughout the novel he flirts A LOT. But LQS is really slow on the uptake at first, being het by default and all that. And then when he eventually starts to notice RLZ is interested in him romantically he continues to hesitate because he's unsure why RNZ would be interested in him, since he doesn't think he's all that.

The 'misunderstanding of feelings' arc is quite brief in this novel though, and then something major happens in the plot (won't spoil it unless you ask me to) and with their emotions heightened, they finally actually communicate and they kiss and seal the deal. This happens toward the end of chapter 105 in the novel.

Basically, Nanzhu was interested first. Very much so. But as for a direct confession, it's actually neither. Despite Nanzhu being obvious, he doesn't actually outright state his feelings plainly first. Qiushi doesn't either, but he does say "Right now, I want to be with you", which is the closest there is a confession. Also during the 105 chapter.

Hope this answers your question!

So I took a clearer screencap of that scene so you could see the poster. It's not a BL, it's a poster of Sword Art Online which is a series of books, which were also made into a video game:
https://i.postimg.cc/h4rphd5s/clearerpic.png

The dark poster behind it is Michael Jackson, and I assume the two framed pics are meant to be Guo Dawei and Jiushi, but when I zoom in, the one of HJJ is visible-ish, while the other one (one on the left) is blurred probably because viewers weren't suppose to know it was XZG haha.

XZG's voice actually has a nice smoky texture and a fairly low register when he sings, I think it's just not AS deep (and older sounding) as the voice actor was 😆

Yeah, the voice casting really choose voices well when it comes to casting. Even though XZG's only 24, the mature voice still suited him, also maybe because he acted as RLZ very maturely :)

😭 that's why I turn to the novel ending, for a REAL Nanzhu, not an NPC 😭 But as for Qianli finding him familiar isn't surprising because they probably saw him in passing in that internet cafe Dx

Accepted :3

It reminds me of the time I heard the undubbed clip of WY and XZ from The Untamed scene outside Qiongqi Way in the rain, I kept thinking whytf didn't they make them dub themselves 😆 they sounded so good! But I know the production companies have their reasons.

Viu Thailand has it completely uploaded, and it can be watched with a VPN, first 10 eps free, then paid. Of course, if you have Vikipass, I can understand why you don't want to subscribe to another paid streaming site. I myself am waiting on iQiyi.

For non-game players, it may not be familiar, but because of the game theme of the show, the doors are based on something similar to RPG 'outcome' game theory. This is a basic explanation from wiki:
[In game theory, the outcome of a game is the ultimate result of a strategic interaction with one or more people, dependent on the choices made by all participants in a certain exchange. It represents the final payoff resulting from a set of actions that individuals can take within the context of the game. Outcomes are pivotal in determining the payoffs and expected utility for parties involved.

Each player’s strategy is based on their expectation of what the other players are likely to do, often explained in terms of probability. Outcomes are dependent on the combination of strategies chosen by involved players and can be represented in a number of ways; one common way is a payoff matrix showing the individual payoffs for each players with a combination of strategies.]

So basically, the actions of every person playing can change the events in the doors.
There's more to it, which also makes the doors (as a video game make sense), but for non game-players, it might be confusing or uninteresting xD

Nothing's cut from the official version, at least not on Vui or Viki. iQiyi is unknown as yet, but their website shows 38 eps which matches Vui or Viki for the moment.

NEW VIEWERS: If you are able to afford it and you have access to it, please watch via the OFFICIAL channels to support the show. The show is exactly the same as it was when it was previously released at 78 eps. It's actually better now, because there is an intro and outro song as well as better subs. ✌️