If sk8 gets to post emo lyrics with unrelated, I will too! Unrelated picture too, of course. Unfortunately, not of pills.

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Actually, guys. Tell me which story outline catches you the most. It's not for the platformer game that the above sprite will be for but uh a visual novel.

Here's the basic deal and sub-plot for all of them:

The game takes place in Shanghai. It's the future year of 2045 because the Pan game takes place in 2047. This acts as a prequel of sorts. It doesn't star Pan at all though. It focuses on developing another character.

Realizing how much past was destroyed with all that renovation in Shanghai. The whole city has been on this 1930's kick, with the government even considering to revive its wuxia movie industry before it was banned by the Kuomintang. I also wanna bring in a kung fu/martial artist part in the story. The main character was in a Beijing Opera school in her childhood and got some kung fu skills, before finding her passion in being a moody, bourbon swigging creeper. Of course, the later 2/3s take place in Hong Kong instead of Shanghai but nagger.

You play as Xie Xiaoai , the pupil of P.I. Di Xieluoke . His name is a combination of Judge Dee/Di and Sherlock. Originally wanted to name him Du Pin after Dupin! Unfortunately, all the characters for Pin weren't appropriate, a lot of them being a derivative of cheating whores! So yeah, he is obviously a detective heh. Also I just find it hilarious that his name rendered in Cantonese romanization is DIK HIPLOKO.

Di's got his agency right on the Bund. Despite Di's awe-inspiring or even god damned lucky career as a P.I., even getting recognition and commissions from the police department itself (Also helps to have friends in high places like Inspector Huang Xirong and Superintendent Min Faxing ), his recent relocation has gotten a lot of people angry, ya know. Di has a penchant for those nastier cases, frauds and the like in insurance and industry, which obviously puts him on the radar for numerous triads. Obviously, now that his dinky little office is on the Bund, these complainers think the whole place is at risk.

I'd also like to note that despite Di's hubris, he's done some heroic stuff, so I guess he kinda deserves his success despite his seedy relationships with the high men of the police. Okay, that's the background. That's kinda long, but hopefully it created a clear setting for y'all.

Here are the storylines I'm circulating in my head. They all deal with the disappearance of actor Hong Jialin and Di Xieluoke leaving on a vacation shortly before without notifying Xiaoai, only leaving a copy of the Chinese Almanac as a "See You Later" gift. The Almanac will probably play a part in establishing a fatalistic theme to the story. He also turns out to be missing later on too. Nagger nagger nagger.

Pick the most interesting one:

Xiaoai is approached by the Superintendent's daughter, Min Ciya , to find Jialin. She is then approached by a foreigner, Tenmoto Kouga , to find Jialin. She soon finds herself in the middle of a race between the police and honorable triad, both trying to capture and kill Jialin, both unaware that they both hired Xiaoai.

Xiaoai accepts a case by the daughter to find Jialin. She soon discovers that Jialin was a mole inserted by the police to investigate a drug cartel soaked in the new thriving film industry. The mysterious Tenmoto Kouga seems to be on the case as well, but for what reasons?

A string of "murders" involving "spontaneous" combustion pop up. Xiaoai is hired by the police department to team up with Di's former mate, Huang Xirong. The deeper they look, the more they see a pugilist society with a persistent hatred for the Manchu that has lasted for more than a century.

Two lovers, Ciya and Kouga, plead for Xiaoai to save their relationship. Ciya is a mole for the police, and Kouga is a mole for the triad respectively, but have coincidentally fallen in love. In addition, both have already leaked information that may lead to a large-scale conflict on the Bund itself! Can Xiaoai save them all? HOLY SHIT.

Di's old friend Huang turns up missing after investigating a drug route between Shanghai and Hong Kong. With Di missing as well, Xiaoai gets hired by Superintendent Min, taking note of her kung fu and close relationships with the two men. Xiaoai takes a ship to Hong Kong to find the drug operation led by a pugilist society hoping to stir discord and sow the seeds for a new "Jianghu" and find Di and Huang too of course.

The office along with the rest of the Bund gets bombed by the triad with Di nowhere in sight, acting on the fears of people. With Di supposedly hightailing, Xiaoai has to investigate who was behind it herself (along with incompetent police). However, she gets a breakthrough when Ciya bumps into her and requests she continue a case Di abandoned. A group of men nicknamed the Cloud Star Trio were suspected of making fraudulent evidence, framing Cao Pengwei for the murders of their wives. With the Trio in jail, Pengwei's own wife is soon murdered. Di had apparently found a breakthrough in the case then the bombing and his disappearance happened…

Okay. Pick one.

Also, yes, I had to spell their names out in characters too. I just had to.