Paunitka

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. :/

They should have prepared an alternative, international version and go all the way Nymphia Wind style. XD
The current Viki version is, as I understand, the same as the one originally posted on iQiyi?

I don't get why people are hating on the ending. You have tonns of dramas with a happy ending, so why not have one with a sad ending from time to time?

I watched on Viki and the translation seems fine.

Well, with this ending the whole story suddenly made sense. Otherwise it would be rather absurd - how could there exist a game like that? Impossible.
Main character keeps repeating that he is a lonely person, so no surprise here.