The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 1351

**Author’s Note**
—Sifting sand for gold, picking grains from a shell, drawing blood from water, all require effort.
It’s been so long…
From May 21, 2023, to August 7, 2025.
808 days, 4.2 million characters. Averaging 5,200 characters per day.
Despite taking many breaks, I managed to catch up on all of them!
This is the longest book I have ever written, bar none. It is also the most exhausting book I have written.
All plot threads have been tied up, and the design of the “Sacred Number” has been woven throughout from beginning to end.
Except for the planned detour to visit the Dwarves and Frost Giants with Edward, which was cut halfway because it lacked significant meaning, everything else from the initial outline to the conclusion has held firm!
The outline was finalized at the start of writing and remained unchanged for the entire four million characters, which presented a considerable creative challenge.
While the reception dipped during the Church arc in Volume 2, it began to rebound by the end of the volume, and Volume 3 reached even higher peaks. Due to my deteriorating health, updates became very unstable, so I felt too embarrassed to ask for votes, causing my ranking on the monthly vote chart to slide significantly. Furthermore, losing my full attendance bonus meant no promotional slots.
However, without relying on rankings or promotional slots for a year, my average subscription count not only didn’t drop but even increased slightly. For a four-million-character book, this is quite remarkable.
The income from this book has now surpassed the combined total of all my previous books written on Qidian, even nearing twice that sum… I am truly grateful for everyone’s support!
Although I still have a slight regret about not being able to use “Ouroboros Ring” as the title, looking back now, “Shepherd’s Secret Manual” is also quite an interesting choice.
I’ve been sick since the beginning of this year. For the past six months, besides reading web novels, I’ve mostly limited my reading to a few quality mystery novels by emerging authors such as San San, Ma Shen, Yu Xue, and Tomoyuki Shirai. The only other readings were “Calling Souls” and “An Examination of Chinese Folk Magic” for extracurricular purposes, so there aren’t many good recommendations to list separately.
My insomnia has now become a chronic condition. My average sleep this year has been only six hours, and this month’s average sleep is even less than five hours.
Perhaps it’s due to age, or COVID-19 after-effects, or maybe the weakened immunity from prolonged insomnia… I now have high blood pressure, fatty liver, hyperuricemia, eight subcutaneous lipomas, three nodules in my lungs, and neurasthenia. My heart, kidneys, cervical spine, lumbar spine, and wrists all have issues. And since last month, following allergic conjunctivitis, I’ve been experiencing some blurred vision when looking at screens, with a noticeable decline in eyesight. I also need to go to the hospital to see if it’s an early sign of diabetes.
This completion will require at least a four-month break. I’ll need to get some exercise during this time. In the past six months, my weight has inexplicably surged by over twenty pounds without any changes to my diet, which is quite alarming. I hope to lose it before starting a new book.
Next, a preview of my next book.
I deliberately controlled the density of “A Mu’s Dungeons,” not writing too many or making them too complex. After all, my specialty lies in short stories and dungeons, and relying too heavily on dungeons would slow my growth in other areas, causing me to fall behind authors at a similar level. This is something I worry about.
The next book will focus exclusively on dungeons, minimizing elements of Occult and fantasy. Training these aspects separately should yield better results.
Furthermore, I’ve written three books in a row with the overarching theme of saving the world, and I’m starting to feel a bit tired of it. The next book will feature a protagonist with lower moral standards, and the main plot will no longer be about saving the world. Without any major surprises, this protagonist will likely have the second-lowest moral standing among all my protagonists, surpassed only by Roland, who is a true villain and anti-hero.
The next book will be a dungeon-type Infinite Flow novel, similar in style to “Thriller Paradise,” focusing on puzzle-solving or intellectual battles. The protagonist will be Eivass’s roommate, a screenwriter by identity, and the theme will be the “Moon,” the opposite of the “Sun.” His personality will be the opposite of Eivass’s “Fox”—a “Wolf,” a ruthless and decisive silent hunter who never lets go once they bite. You can look forward to the cat’s dungeon; I’m quite confident in this aspect.
Four months is a somewhat tight schedule; while I’m recuperating, I also need to gather materials. Although I’ve read excellent works like “Gambler’s Daydreams,” “Kaiji,” and “Alice,” those were almost ten years ago, so I’ll need to refresh my memory.
I won’t state the exact release date for the new book, as I’m not entirely sure myself. However, if my health doesn’t continue to deteriorate, it should be released before the end of the year.
Afterward, I plan to open a Douyin account, using the name “Bu Qi Shi Xian.” If I have free time, I’ll share books I’ve recently read, my writing experiences, and about my cats—well, if I have time.
Tomorrow, August 8th, at early morning, I will release the final chapter, a free epilogue that tells the story of the world after its salvation, to bring everyone a final moment of healing!
Then, I’ll take a count here: who else would you like to see in the side stories? If I have the time during my recuperation, I’ll write them!
Everyone, I’ll see you in the new book. I hope we can meet again.
Finally, I’ll end with the same words—
—May happiness always be with you.
(End of this chapter)