Reviews with content warning for Murder - Guardian: Zhen Hun (Novel) Vol. 1

This book was a lot of fun! I’m a little biased, because I had already formed a positive impression of this book as a fan of the web drama. It’s been good to be able to experience this story without all the censorship and budgetary issues.

Content Warnings

keddy4306's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I really enjoy a mystery-solving duo with

secret identities.

So far I've felt this series is very melancholy. It actually reminds me of the feeling mdzs had where you can tell the mmc's are holding a lot of pain in their hearts, but you're not sure why yet.

The other thing that reminds me of mdzs is their first kiss being caused by alcohol hehe.

I think this will be a series that I really enjoy rereading.
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Reread 1:

Daqing extended his stumpy legs and gave chase, meowing in complaint. "Are you blind, you gay fool?"
(page 60)

Daqing is the cat.

"Fuck your mother's second uncle!" Zhao Yunlan snarled.
After a moment of silence, Lin Jing pleaded sincerely, "Boss... my mother's second uncle has long passed, so please forsake these empty forms of wrath and lust."
(page 130)

Lin Jing is the monk.

"Even if you wanted to bomb the Pentagon, no one in the world could say you did something wrong as long as you didn't act on it. We don't have thought crimes here."
(page 162)

While interrogating the university girl (Li Qian) about

using the reincarnation dial to give life back to her grandmother, and then murdering her when that didn't work out well.

He was tired of people throwing themselves at him, so Shen Wei's behavior was a turn-on. The more reserved and passive the professor was, the hotter Zhao Yunlan's heart burned.
(page 186)

Zhu Hong sighed. "There he goes, off to screw around again."
(page 186)

Zhu Hong is

the Serpent lady (well, monthly)

How did you know I don't live in this direction?
After a solid half minute, Shen Wei said stiffly, "I didn't... think anyone lived in that direction."
He said this while pointing directly toward not one but three long-established residential neighborhoods. So many people lived in that direction, in fact, that it was one of the most notorious areas in Dragon City for traffic jams.
(page 206)

What kind of shoddy east-meets-west doctor prescribed western medication after just feeling his pulse?
(page 222)

Shen Wei pulled his hand free. "How will you explain to your parents one day that you're always getting tangled up with men? If your family line ends with you, when you enter the autumn of your life, who will care for you in your old age?"
Incredulous, Zhao Yunlan asked, "Explain what to whom? When I'm old I'll take my pension and live in a retirement home. It's not my job to keep the human race from going extinct, Shen-laoshi. Are you a closeted homophobe? Wake up! We're not in the Qing Dynasty anymore!"
(page 226)

"It's more than one layer deep, [Wang Zheng] said.
Zhao Yunlan's blood went cold. "I've never seen someone add a top bunk to a huge communal bed. "
(page 259)

Wang Zheng (Head of HR) is the ghost girl with stitches around her neck.

When the SID and Shen Wei's class trip ends up going to Qingxi Village, Wang Zheng's hometown, they camp out in a cabin on the mass grave of heads from the conflict between Sangzen (her ex, a slave of her family) and his tribe after the uprising of Wang Zheng's royal family members. Sangzen systematically killed them all because they semi-democratically voted to behead Wang Zheng for being a living member of the royal family and suspecting her of bewitching Sangzen. Sangzen uses the second of the four hallowed artifacts, the Mountain-River Awl, to contain all the souls of the people in his tribe. Wang Zheng feels responsible. Our Lord Emissary takes it with after a cryptic battle with a masked ghost-faced figure and his youchu (monstrous creatures born from chaos).

The book ends with

The reveal of Shen Wei being the Soul-Executing Emissary after his soul pops out of his body because of a drunk makeou session. Zhao Yunlan panic and take him to the hospital, and then he's melancholy about his situationship becoming more complicated.

Three characters I didn't grab quotes regarding:
Lao-Wu

the ghoul nighttime doorman we meet at the beginning with the joker-face and no tongue.

Chu Shuzhi book 2 spoilers

is a zombie necromancer

Guo Changcheng, the cowardly new hire comedy relief character.

Content Warnings

aromarrie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

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