Time Killing Event - Blog Posts

I just finished the Time Killing Event, it was awesome, love our trio of detectives. There are just some things I want to ramble about:

Spoilers below:

Tw: suicidal thoughts, suicidal behaviour (even if it is not stated as this and that it may not be to that extent, I prefer to put this in case, so if you’re uncomfortable with these subjects, don’t go past the photo and stay safe)

Just wanted to start with, it was an event so funny, I really liked the comical situations and the story.

I loved all the illustrations (there were so many, it was so nice)

loved the interactions between the members of the bus

loved the focus we got on Rodya and also the bit of focus we got on Ryoshu (it was super nice to see that she had warmed up to the other sinners)

Dante please go talk to Ryoda, she needs to tell someone how she feels and put off her mask for the moment of a conversation

But I have to just ask: Hong Lu, are you okay?

Because like 60% of the time Hong Lu spoke I was like: wait what

Hong Lu are you okay ?! What do you mean “when my siblings tried to kill me”, what do you mean “the first time”?! And what did you just say about your family ?!

I know, we knew Hong Lu’s past was probably as messed up as his family, and this event really confirmed it. But the way he talked about it, the way he talked about the first time (implying that there was others times) his siblings tried to kill him, how he proposed himself to be a bait to this time killing distortion, it was so unsettling but also kind of sad ‘cause Hong Lu clearly doesn’t care about his end or even, in a certain way, himself. And the fact that he understood them wanting him dead, either because Hong Lu also wishes to be dead, or (and that’s probably more this case) Hong Lu understood their hate for him because Hong Lu knows how to read people and how to understand them at a, sometimes, really deep emotional level. We saw it with Yi Sang, we saw it many times, Hong Lu is capable of very profound empathy.

Okay, sometimes he said things that are very off with what the sinner usually meant and so it passes as something pretentious or said by a rich guy who never had to live a hard life but sometimes those lighthearted comments also convey a form of truth or clue for the others to understand.

Hong Lu gave so much the impression that he wouldn’t mind dying or at least doing something akin to dying. And the fact that he just want to experience a lot of things before having to go back to his family I guess, is still concerning for me because even though it seems that his family agreed on having Hong Lu going on a trip, I can’t help but getting the impression that Hong Lu is a teenager who allegedly ran away from home following a crisis with his family. And I know Hong Lu never phrased it like that and everything is pointing toward him going on a little trip with his family’s authorisation , but I can’t shake off this impression that that’s not the case …

And this sentence about the world staying unchanged, what does this mean??? Of course, it made me think about the book, but I don’t know yet how to put it together yet. You see, if I get it right, one of the thing The Dream of Red Chamber tackles is this notion that nothing is truly unchanging, even more, that things are constantly changing and so never the same, never a fix thing/identity. And these changements are something that Jia Baoyu has to learn and recognise as being a part of his mortal life in “our” world. And there is more and more to this theme but I am not going to dwell on this now…

Bref, Hong Lu made it clear that he lived through the Hunger Games when he was with his family and that there are many things wrong with this latest and Hong Lu’s past and everything surrounding it…

Still no mentions of Lin Daiyu, I keep wondering where will she fit in all of this…

Hong Lu also mention his second oldest aunt which could be Lin Daiyu’s mother (Jia Min) or Xue Pan and Xue Baochai’s mother (Aunt Xue) and Baochai is the one who ends up marrying Jia Baoyu in the book …

Anyway, I am also glad that this event highlighted once again that fact that Hong Lu knows how to read people on an emotional level.

On another note, the story of Hong Lu’s new identity was nice because once again it proves that Hong Lu knows how to observe and analyse others and details but his left eye was not mentioned… so idk what to think because is it it hidden between the lines ? Is his left eye not involved in this ? Or is this a reference to the book? See, for the third option, which I find interesting, it reminded me of the fact that even though the jade with which Baoyu was born is recognise as something precious and magical, its existence is not really questioned nor are his magical powers. Nobody really question how, why Jia Baoyu comes to be born with a jade in his mouth, its just a fact.