Paunitka

I understand how you feel - I felt slapped in the face with this ending. But that's OK, I have lots of comfort shows, so I can bear with a "discomfort" show from time to time. ;)
Yes, many other points of interest, like this beautiful idea of striving for what you love regardless of the result - be it a prize for the best actress, or a prize for the worst actress...
The sad idea of having your life ruined by loving the wrong person...
The important idea of cherishing people around you, because they might be gone tomorrow and then you will regret your harsh words...

In the first episode, LingLing played a game known to cause hallucinations - the gaming arcade owner warned him about it. As a result, LingLing hallucinated a door in the middle of a street and had a car crash.
Then, in a coma, he dreamed all the events up to the moment he woke up in the hospital. Coming back home after the accident was already a part of his dream.
Gao Dawei was indeed his childhood friend, but their ways parted when they were still little. This is why LingLing doesn't know what adult Gao Dawei looks like. His brain evades this question by giving Gao Dawei a hood.
LingLing meets Gao Dawei's friend, with whom Gao Dawei went to study abroad. That friend tells LingLing that Gao Dawei studied economy and wasn't interested in creating games.

You can't say that people "misinterpret" this show. They simply interpret it differently than you. As long as you can justify your opinion, different interpretations are valid. I am actually happy that some people see it differently than me, because I can enrich my perspective.

I haven't read the book. My comment is about the drama.

There is something not right, though. Why do we never see Gao Dawei's face? When LingLing wakes up, he learns that Gao Dawei didn't even want to be a programmer - he went to study economy, and never created any games. The game was at first LingLing's dream and was only created by LingLing at the end of his life.

In Spirealm, the tropes are a perfect mix. LJS gives RLZ (who has a female nickname) a piggy-back ride. RLZ is better at fighting and protects LJS. RLZ is rich and supports LJS. LJS "saves" RLZ from non-existence by creating the game in the last episode. Putting them into hubby-wifey categories doesn't make sense.

I think this ending is actually very interesting. Gets you to ask questions: What's real? What's better: sad reality or imagined happiness?
LingLing dedicated his life to getting LanZhu back, so can anyone dare to say that his love wasn't real? Maybe his life was actually more fulfilled than that of other characters?
And where did we go wrong as a species that true love is easier to find in fiction than reality?

It's not even about control. It's about having a good influence on someone and getting them to grow.

Thank you! You are my favourite person in the world now. <3

In the last episode, LingLing wakes up in a hospital and learns that the events in the game - and LanZhu - were all his hallucinations. So whatever loopholes in the plot there were, they are explained by being just part of a dream.

Maybe The Sign? But it's from Thailand, so no censorship. No typical m/f either. ;)

In virtual reality, you can be any age you want.

LingLing's voice and the sound of his breathing are more pronounced because he is the only "real" person there.

I noticed that too. I have an idea how to justify that, but watch the whole series first.

I loved the ending for being realistic. Given the premise, it would not be possible to have a happy end that would be believable at the same time.

Apparently, there are different interpretations of what actually happened. Here is mine.

1. LingLing was a lonely guy. He had a colleague at school, whom he saw as his good friend and wanted to create a VR game together, but that guy didn't value this friendship. Another person is LingLing's life was his roommate, who saw LingLing as a friend but had his own life.

2. After a car accident, LingLing was in a coma and hallucinated the game. This way, he fulfilled his dream of creating a game, but, above all, of having love and friendship.

He based the characters of other players on people, who he had seen around him, and had only known their names but never dared to approach them.

As for love - apparently, he never even fantasised about loving someone real, so he completely invented RLJ without basing him on any existing person.

His school colleague also appeared in his hallucinations, but they must have already lost any touch whatsoever, because LingLing didn't even know what studies that guy had taken up and couldn't recall his face - the "programmer" in the hallucinations always wore a hood.

3. When LingLing woke up after this imaginary experience of closeness and affection, he didn't even try to find such closeness in real world. Instead, he dedicated his life to recreating his hallucinations in the form of a VR game. For him, virtual reality seems the only possibility of having a "real" connection, while other characters are shown having real-life friends and families.

To me, this ending is sad.

I love them too! Sometimes a mere exchange of looks in a Chinese censored BL has more chemistry than a full make-out session in a Thai BL. ;) (Some of which I love too, don't get me wrong).

Thank you for your interpretation. It's a possible alternative to the more obvious one, where LingLing hallucinated it all. I don't love fantasy, so I prefer the more realistic explanation, but now I see different options of understanding this series.

I don't know about the book, but in the series, LJS has a car accident, lands in a hospital with comma, and hallucinates it all.

Love is blind, so it's not about smartness. :/