I found out after I finished this book that the author also wrote 'The Perfect Destiny'. THANK GOD I did not know that before I started because I may've never actually read this which would've been a damned shame because as much as I hated The Perfect Destiny is about as much as I loved this novel.
That was... quite a ride. There were certain things that I saw coming and certain things that genuinely left me going what the actual f*** but I definitely enjoyed the trip. I can't speak to how scary it was since I find horror on page extremely difficult to affect me and it seemed to rely more on gore (which also got kind of repetitive) but I loved the characters and enjoyed the plot. I still have so many questions about the biggest twist in the story but I think I probably just need to read the end again and actually process what I'm reading.

no seriously, tell me if I understood this right--did Ruan Nanzhu observe Lin Qiushi's progress through the doors and then literally re-write reality just so he could put himself into Lin Qiushi's experiences and be with him? That was the twelfth door? Or did the twelfth door never actually exist for Lin Qiushi since Ruan Nanzhu fell in love with him? I understand why, once Ruan Nanzhu left to be in reality with Lin Qiushi there wouldn't be a twelfth door anymore. I just didn't quite understand anything else that was happening there

.  To be fair, I was still pretty much in stunned-trauma mode thanks to the knife that the author kept twisting there at the end, so I wasn't really grasping anything I was reading anymore. 

It's not that you couldn't tell from the very beginning that one of the twins was going to die, but I think I was holding out hope for it to be Cheng Yixie, solely because Cheng Qianli probably could've recovered from his death. The emotional impact of it would've probably been a lot less, though. Cheng Yixie's despair after Cheng Qianli's death, after everything he'd done to save his brother, was some quality tragedy. I have an actual screenshot of a later knife-twisting scene that I took solely so I could write 'fuck you' on it. I wouldn't have had a scene like that if Cheng Yixie died.

 
Also, mad props to Ruan Nanzhu. I can't believe I have to say this but I've read enough CN now that one of my biggest complaints is the domineering/doting love interest who's sole purpose is to support the MC and otherwise disappears off the page. I loved Ruan Nanzhu and his female personas Ruan Baijie/Zhu Meng. I won't lie that I did like Ruan Baijie/Zhu Meng more at first, just because they were so much fun but it was nice to see those traits I loved in the doors start appearing in the Ruan Nanzhu of the real world, as he got more comfortable with Lin Qiushi. I loved his ridiculous acting in the door worlds (omg, when he acted like a wronged girlfriend after knowing Lin Qiushi for a grand total of like 4 hours XDXDXD i was dying) and it brought me intense delight to later see obvious hallmarks of him in the things that Lin Qiushi did. Both of them were wildly entertaining characters but they worked best in concert. I understand the need for Lin Qiushi to go into doors without Ruan Nanzhu later in the novel. It's just unfortunate those doors were the weakest ones of the whole book. Luckily, I think there were only two of them.
Speaking of the doors though, I found the interpretations of most of them to be fun and interesting, especially when they would get a hint and I would think 'hey, I know that one!' I actually really want to play Hako Onna now. That game seems like a lot of fun--you know, when you aren't actually dying because of what happens. That door world was also one of the best of them.  

no lie, I actually did wonder for a moment there if Ruan Nanzhu had actually died. THAT would've been a crazy twist.

 Overall, this was a massively entertaining novel and I sincerely recommend it to anyone who likes QT/infinite flow novels--or wants to dip their foot in without getting caught up in one of the monsters, like The Earth is Online or Card Room.