I give this novel a 2-star rating. Only 2 stars. Now, let me make something clear. If I had stopped reading at around chapter 800 or so, I would still have awarded 4 stars to this novel. When I first started reading this novel several years ago, it was my all-time favorite. The dungeons were interesting. Come on, who doesn't like the idea of powering up via live-action games? The characters were interesting. I liked the idea of NPCs being real people. I liked the pet system and the shop and I was always looking forward to the MC earning more points. I wanted to see what items or what skills he would purchase next to level up. When they got the Spoiler base, which was like a mini version of Zero City, I was ecstatic for them. This novel also has an international feel to it, which appeals to me greatly. The MC and his team traveled all over the world and encountered interesting cultures. If you check out the London arc, you can tell that the author did his research into real world English history. Honest. Over the years, I've grown to love the characters in the novel. Chen Xiaolian of course. Qiao Qiao and Su Su. Lun Tai and Bei Tai. Qimu Xi, Xia Xiaolei, Roddy. Nicole and Tianlei. I even liked the side characters like Yu Jiajia and Han Bi etc. HOWEVER, I think the author got lazy despite the long hiatus and went for the Cop Out Ending of all cop out endings. There were simply too many loose ends left at the end. Here I will go through the loose ends one by one. By the way, they are all spoilers. Some of them will give away the Ending. So be warned. Loose End #1. The Countess of the Norman family Spoiler Here, I am going to talk about both her soul and the replacement Countess the Development Team made to fill the gap. During the London Arc, the Countess, exclusive account of Miao Yan, was killed by Bai Qi. And Mr. San (also known as Ambler) took out her soul and placed it in the Sword in the Stone. He then gave Chen Xiaolian a mission. The latter was to find a replacement body for the Countess (also known as Xian Yin at that time). Later, when Dawn (Chen or Shen), the leader of the Thorned Flower Guild invaded Zero City, the Sword broke and the Countess's soul was released. The last time I saw the Countess' soul was when Dawn was talking to Adam, the AI in Zero City. The author simply described her soul as looking distressed and frightened and then left it at that. After that scene, nothing more was said about the Countess's soul. Did she get a new body? What did Dawn do to her? Why didn't Mr. San (or Mr. Umbrella) ask about her soul when he saw Chen Xiaolian again? No explanation was ever given. And then, there is also the matter regarding the replacement for the Countess in the real world. During the London Arc, her tragic backstory was revealed to the readers. So, at that time, I could not help but pray for a happy resolution with regards to the Countess. But the last time she was seen in the novel, she was in the midst of a mental breakdown because her body was still being used by Miao Yan. The only way to resolve this shit would be for Miao Yan to get a new exclusive account. And, somewhere during the last five chapters of the novel, Chen Xiaolian got his hands on an empty body used by the Development Team. That would have served as a more-than-adequate body for Miao Yan. But, alas, the author got tired and went for a Cop Out Ending. At the end, Miao Yan got totally cut off from Chen Xiaolian's world so there was little point to the empty body after all. Loose End #2. Founding members of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild Spoiler After telling Chen Xiaolian to take care of his Guild, Bluesea died a permanent death. Nothing more needed to be said. Skyblade was revived as an ordinary person and his son, the Fatty, went to look for him. The last time he appeared in the novel, he was just lying unconscious in Thunderflame's car. The author did not tell us what happened to him afterward. Did Thunderflame try to revive him with a metal orb? Nobody knows. As for Qiao Yifeng, he went along with Thunderflame for his own protection. After that, the author did not tell us what happened to him and his daughter. As for Thunderflame, when she last appeared in the novel, she still had her powers as an Awakened, but the author did not tell us if she ever returned to Zero City. Around chapter 830, Chen Xiaolian was starting to rebuilt Zero City and trying to get all the Awakened to move in. But the author did not tell us if Thunderflame and the two other founding members of the guild went along with the plan. So did Skyblade get revived as an Irregularity? Did Qiao Yifeng get revived? Nobody knows. Loose End #3. Yu Jiajia Spoiler When Yu Jiajia first appeared in the novel, I thought that she was meant to play some important role later on. After all, she was related to three other important side characters. She was Qiao Yifeng's illegitimate daughter and Qiao Qiao's half sister. She was also one of the few people to show kindness to Da Gang (Tian Lie) and was kidnapped along with him. Later on, after Qiao Qiao's death in the Jerusalem's dungeon, the world forgot about her and Jiajia became Qiao Yifeng's only daughter. And according to Jiajia's new memories, she was also Chen Xiaolian's girlfriend and Su Su's stepsister. But of course, Chen Xiaolian harshly rejected her and, later on, her "loving" stepsister, Su Su, also tried to kill her. When we last saw her, she went away with her father and Thunderflame. Nothing more was said about her afterward. Which was a shame imo. I mean, she wasn't one of those shallow and materialistic girls. She was one of the few people who had shown kindness to Da Gang (Tian Lie) and was probably partially responsible for Tian Lie turning into a kinder and less murderous person. So I just can't accept that her fate was to live the rest of her life as a love-sick puppy. I was looking forward to her growing stronger and becoming a power in her own right. She had the right people (Thunderflame, Skyblade and her father) with her after all. Loose End #4. Phoenix & Han Bi Spoiler After receiving the metal orbs from Chen Xiaolian, she was supposed to go find her former team members and revive them. But after her departure from Zero City, nothing more was said about her. The novel ended abruptly before we could find out if she was successful in finding her team members. Chen Xiaolian was also supposed to go find Han Bi, so that he could revive his brother. But the novel ended abruptly before that could happen. What sort of life had he been living since parting ways from Chen Xiaolian in the Romanian dungeon? Nobody knows. Loose End #5. Yang Yi and Tina Spoiler Both were formerly residents of Zero City. During the merman dungeon in chapter 844, they made up their minds to return to Zero City. At that time, Yang Yi was so excited to find the survivors of the Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild but, unfortunately, the novel ended before we could even see him returning to Zero City. Loose End #6. Lin Leyan Spoiler The Taiwanese NGO worker Chen Xiaolian met in Africa. She fell in love with Chen Xiaolian but lost her memories after leaving the dungeon in Africa. Afterward, she made a reappearance in London and was picked up by Tian Lie and Nicole. At that time, when she saw Chen Xiaolian's photo, she started to remember seeing him. Later on, Tian Lie and Nicole took her along to the dungeon in Romania where she was reunited with Chen Xiaolian. But afterward, she vanished abruptly from the narrative. Nothing was said about her life after the parting of ways in Romania. Loose End #7 Takashimoto Shizuka Spoiler The Japanese air stewardess who survived the first dungeon with Chen Xiaolian and Su Su. Although she was said to have lost her memories after the first dungeon, she made several reappearances in the novel. During those times, the author hinted that she was regaining memories of the time she had spent with Chen Xiaolian. By the way, she was the first woman Chen Xiaolian kissed in the novel. It wasn't Qiao Qiao, but Shizuka. The last time she appeared in the novel was when she first started working for Dawn (Chen or Shen), the leader of the Thorned Flower Guild. Dawn himself said he was planning to use her to lure Chen Xiaolian over, so one would have thought that she had some important role to play later on. Plus, you know, the memories of Chen Xiaolian kept popping up in her mind. But immediately afterward, Dawn invaded Zero City and nearly killed Chen Xiaolian. So what the heck point was there in giving a job to Shizuka?? Even after Dawn's disappearance and the dissolution of the Thorned Flower Guild, nothing was mentioned about her. She just vanished into thin air. So she only had the job as Dawn's PA for one freaking day? What the hell, man... Loose End #8. Nagase Komi and the Japanese guild Spoiler She's the baldie Japanese girl who received a portion of Tian Lie's power. Nothing more was mentioned about her after the Kyoto dungeon arc. And it was not known whether Chen Xiaolian succeeded in inviting her and the Japanese guild to his Zero City. Loose End #9. Miao Yan Spoiler Several chapters before the last chapter, the Development Team summoned ALL the players from the upper world, gave them the right to use the angelic bodies and ordered them to clear all the dungeons. They did all that because they wanted to refresh/renew the world where the Awakened lived. By right, Miao Yan should have been summoned too but that was not mentioned. In fact, nothing was mentioned about her after she had parted ways with Chen Xiaolian in that secret mini-world. Nobody knows what she did with the secrets she had learned in that world or how those secrets affected her life in the players' Upper World. Loose End #10. Qimu Dong Spoiler Qimu Xi had a brother, Qimu Dong. He was an Awakened but died in a dungeon. Now, he's a mystery figure. Because being an Awakened, he ought to have been revived after his death. And since Qimu Xi knew about the secret of the metal orbs, reviving him would have been possible. But somehow, Qimu Xi never did that. Nor did she bring him over to the Meteor Rock Guild. Although it was said that the two had been really close before his death, Qimu Xi made no attempt at all to seek him out. And bear in mind that the Qimu siblings were beggars and orphans in the real world. So after his "reset," his new life as a non-Awakened should have been a terrible one. So why did Qimu Xi leave him alone? I suspect that the author might have wanted to include him as an Irregularity but got too lazy to do so. Loose End #11. Zhao Yun's kid from the Netherworld Spoiler The kid whom Zhao Yun was taking care of in the Netherworld (the world Awakened and Irregularities go to after their deaths). Zhao Yun was taking care of him because he looked like Liu Bei's son and she used to Liu Bei's subordinate. Anyway, during the Netherworld arc, he got sent back to the world of the living. And Chen Xiaolian arranged for him to go to school via Qiao Yifeng's connections. He's an interesting character and more ought to be written about him. But after briefly mentioning that he would be attending school, nothing more was mentioned about him. Loose End #12. That kid in the Jerusalem dungeon Spoiler He was a quest NPC in the Jerusalem dungeon. The MC and his party were supposed to retrieve him and then kill him. In the second stage of the dungeon, he was supposed to turn into a demon and then the players on the Side of Light were supposed to kill him. MC and his party automatically became players on the Side of Darkness after saving the kid. Now, the thing is the MC's team actually had the option to choose from 3 or 4 available choices. They were all NPCs with the same name. Later, after saving the kid, the MC went to visit one of the NPCs, an elderly man in the hospital. When the old man saw the MC, he appeared to recognize the latter and called out "guild leader" before dying. And "guild leader" happened to be the form of address the kid NPC was using for the MC . Because everyone else was doing that, so the kid copied the adults. That's an interesting story right there. But even after the Jerusalem arc ended, the author did not explain anything about the time slip that had happened in the dungeon. And now, I will explain why the ending is the cop out ending of all cop out endings and why it is so damn freaking vile. Spoiler Guess what happened in the end? Well, the Development Team managed to get the Players to clear all the existing dungeons and that enabled them to go ahead with refreshing/renewing the world where the Awakened lived. Even the MC's Zero City was not spared. The rest of the world was also getting deleted and refreshed. So, in the end, Dawn sacrificed himself and went up into the Upper World of the players to deal with the Development Team. And down here on Earth, Bai Qi stabbed the Source (Qi Dian), the energy source that was part of the world's source code and something that enabled them to build Zero City in the first place. And after stabbing the Source, Bai Qi himself got deleted and the refreshing of the world was reversed. Time was reversed and then Chen Xiaolian woke up on the same plane that he had boarded back in the first chapter. Time was reversed but things did not go back to the way they were. For starters, because Bai Qi and Dawn had already cut off the connection between the Development Team and the world, it meant that Chen Xiaolian never had the chance to go into the first dungeon. It was as if dungeons had never existed in Xiaolian's world. And so, he also did not have his powers anymore. Nor his system. Nor his pet war cat. Because Xiaolian was protected by Dawn's power at the end, right up to the point when Bai Qi stabbed the Source, he retained his memories. But everyone else had already forgotten about all the awesome adventures that they had together. Qiao Qiao, Su Su, Roddy and the rest. So the novel ended with Chen Xiaolian trying to woo back Qiao Qiao again. And that's that. The end. And now let me tell you why this ending is so freaking vile. Because it negated all the hard work the MC and his team had put in! It made all their adventures redundant! And now, even his team members did not remember the times they had gone through together! Throughout the story, characters like Xia Xiaolei, Nagase Komi and Qimu Xi had done their best to better themselves and to gain strength in order to stand up for themselves. Well, all their efforts had just been negated after the reset. Without dungeons and Awakened Ones, they would never get the chance to become stronger. Xia Xiaolei would still be a country bumpkin, Qimu Xi would still be a homeless orphan and Nagase Komi would still be a weakass delinquent girl. And Tian Lie, one of the most powerful Awakened person in the game? He would still be Da Gang and probably end up crippled (or dead) after enduring severe bullying. At the very least, he would never have the chance to meet and fall in love with Nicole, since the real world Nicole was an American NSA agent and Da Gang was this malnutritioned school janitor in China. It is sad to think that all the adventures Tian Lie had with Nicole had been for nothing... Ah yeah. Finally, the loose end of all loose ends. What happened to Mr. San, Zhao Yun and the rest of the Old-time Irregularities? They were all from ancient times and if their world never had dungeons in the first place, then it was possible that all of them would have died in their own time. They would still have memories of their times as Irregularities, since they were protected until the very end, but they would have none of their original powers... So did they die in their own times? Or what?
I hate when they take out it's kind of ending, restarting everything as if nothing had happened. I've seen it several times and I already consider it as just something lazy, it's like the kind of ending of "it was all a dream".
After reading my post again, I've decided that Gate of Revelation only deservers a 1. Or 1.5 at best.
I'm sad but not surprised that the novel ended like it ended. Sadly the reader's were dicks in time's where author didn't need dick's in his life. The author most likely didn't want to finish this novel (or maybe he don't want to write at all anymore) but he was most likely "persuaded" by qi, so he just did an ending that won't give him problems and here we are. I really won't be surprised if it's his last novel.