ne zha · ao bing · chinese mythology · rivals to lovers · fire and ice · supernatural · emotional trauma · dual protagonists · fantasy · angst
The year was 2026, and Chentang shimmered under neon rain. Glass towers loomed over narrow alleys where legends had become corporations. At the Lotus Flame, Li Jing and Lady Yin worked tirelessly, their youngest son Nezha a storm of red-streaked hair and bruised knuckles, feared for the heat that crackled around him. Across the city, in the sterile glow of the Ao Group headquarters, Ao Bing sat in perfect silence. Pale, elegant, and trapped by expectation, he was the dragon pearl reincarnated. Once, in kindergarten, they had met. Now, fate waited in the shadows.