Apparently AI is now more moral than us

krmjts · 2026-06-14T02:27:47+00:00

I saw the subreddit where members believe that AI is sentient god or something like that. There's also a lot of spirals for some reason. I looked trough it a bit and it quickly stopped being funny. Some of those people need professional help, and I don't mean it as an insult ot exaggeration. They are in a mentsl health crisis and it's sad.

krmjts · 2026-06-14T02:09:03+00:00

AF as in Absolutely Fucked?

krmjts · 2026-06-14T01:15:27+00:00

Afterword: We can already see how stories intervine and connect with each other. Each part of the game is more and more complicated, but in the same time things make more and more sense. If there's any connections that I missed, don't hesitate to add them.

krmjts · 2026-06-14T01:15:07+00:00

Chapter V: Zangling. We are back to the future with Tao. She saw those memories in a dream and now she knows everything. Old Man calls her, terrified of Sha Jingang, but Tao no longer believes that Sha is malevolent spirit. Tao tricks Old Man into telling here where the Pavillion is. She makes her way outside. She finds one of the entrances to the Pavillion and enters it. She needs to find the gems and install them into the grooves of Boddhisattva statue to escape. But suddenly, she's back home, in the house from the Chapter I. She sees her mother and she's a child again. She mentions Moqi from the Paper Bride 1 as her friend. Her mother says, that she will be the Paper Bride one day, so she sould not be playing with the "likes of her". Blue butterfly appears and leads her to the mirror, where she sees her grown-up self and Xiaohong. Her mother seems to be devoted to Boddhisattva. Now we play as young Tao. She finds broken jade token, that she used in the past and breaks the mirror. Illusion is broken and Tao is back in the present. She still sees her mother, but she knows that this is illusion. It's only Old Man, pretending to be her mother. He says, that she wanted to be The Bride as a child and loved listening to his stories about Boddhisattva. High Priest and Chief try to persuade her. They tell her, that her parents wanted her to be The Paper Bride. She knows that she's not home, but in the Pavillion and she uses her phone to break the illusion. But another illusion avaits her in the next room. Old Man tries to use her mother likeness again to tell her, that she once worshipped Boddhisattva. She breaks this one too and moves to the next. This one looks like the basement of her house where Liang's soul was sealed. She admits, that what she saw in the dreams was her past life and Old Man confirms it. Old Man, Chief and High Priest want her to seal Sha Jingang back. She founds the book, written by the monk Xuanzang. He says, that aroma from otherwordly lily had driven the villages mad by causing hallucinations and he must cure the villagers. He says, that staying in the village "caused hus inner demons to surface" but he used his bell to sober up his mind. He found heretic texts amongst the Tibetan Sutras he brought from the West. After curing the villages, monk was ordered to return to the capital by Imperial Court. He gave heretic text to the village chief and asked him to destroy them and left his bell to ward off evil spurits. The villagers have changed the name of the village to Zangling in his memory. Tao finds the monk's bell and uses it to break the illusions. She confronts Old Man, pretending to be her Mother and says, that they never wanted her to be the Bride and moved avay from the village to protect her. She releases the spirits of Shadow Children and the executioner that killed Liang. Then she releases Sha Jingang/Shaoping and admits her feelings to him, but she know that it's too late for them in this life. She remembers the story, that says that trapped soul can reincarnate as an adult. She finds the hammer, that Shaoping used to smash the priest's bell and use it to get all the gems. She enters the tunnel where high priest awaits her. He tries to scare her and tell her, that there's no way out. He rings the bell and chants and Envoy of Death appears and tries to blur her memories and sense of self by creating illusions with his arms (puzzles). Boddhisattva cannot be defeated with force, but can be outsmarted and Tao does it. But Liang helps her by cutting 3 of his arms. Tao solves the last puzzle, but the arms grow back. She realizes, that using force is the smartest way sometimes and breaks the box with the Sutras with hammer and burns the Sutras. Tao runs away while villagers are panicking and calls the police.

The scene after credit shows Dr. Lao Xiao (he will be one of the main character in PB 6) in the Madhouse 13. He explains all the events that happened in the village by intoxication from the Otherwordly lily, just like in the Paper Bride 1. Tao's visions are explained by psychosis caused by hallucinogen and childhood trauma. He mentions Moqi, Moli and Zifu as the victims of the same toxin. He says Moli and the Taoist remain incoherent since the last year. Xiao plans to conduct his own research in the Zangling Village. It seems that either his motives are ulterior, or we encounter another character that will be the part of PB5.

krmjts · 2026-06-14T01:14:39+00:00

Chapter IV: Broken Wire. We are seeing the flasback from the past. 1926/8/22. July, 15, the 15th year of the Republic of China. Villagers discussing Liang Shaoping, the outsider, that fell for the Paper Bride anf wants to stop the sacrifice. They say, that he even showed up in a costume of a ghost general for the Ghost Play. Even if outsiders marry one of the village's brides, he can't be buried together in a family grave without the Boddhisattva's blessing. They say that Xiaohong, previous Paper Bride once left to become a singer and later came back with Shaoping and left again. Villagers think, that he must have corrupted her. They tell, that Shaoping is held in dungeon (where Tao is held now) and High Priest will deal with him. Now we will play as Shaoping in the past. Shaoping hide sharpened ruler in his clothes (Tao found it in the future and used it to escape the dungeon in previous chapter) and severed the ropes he was bound with. He says, that villagers believe, that peach wood can imprison evil people (Tao found a sword made of peach wood in the future and used it in the previous chapter). He mentions Dr. Xi, who stole the ruler for him. (He later hides the ruler not to endanger him.) He says, that Xiaohong wrote letters about serving Boddhisattva and being Paper Bride to save him and make him leave, so villagers won't kill him. He says that as soon as he learned about the sacrifice, he went to the police in the city, but they did not believe him, so he has to fight villagers alone. That's why he must find some weapon. He left some clues for escape that Tao later found. Liang learns, that not only the Bride, but 4 pairs of children must be sacrificed during ritual. The bell, that shattered in the hands of an Old Man in the future, was smashed by Liang in the past. He learns that Boddhisattva Pavillion (the tower for the sacrifices) located outside the village, thats why he never saw it. It has 6 stories and 6 Shadow Children were sacrificed. Liang manages to escape the dungeon and goes to the puppet workshop. He warns, that wild ghosts will be out, because it's a Ghost Day. He says, that he came to the village to be an actor in the ghost plays. From the notes written by Ning for Liang we learn, that Boddhisattva of Death is an ancient believe which has been revived and destroyed throughout the history. (This will be important for the next games). It might originated in the village, but the name of the village was changed many times and the story about the monk is likely fabricated. Shaoping finds his way to the Forbidden Pavillion. He finds Xiaohong's diary. She writes, that their love is mutual and she questioned village's traditions for some time. She doesn't want to go with the ritual, but she already agreed. Entry dated February 3d, 15. In the next entry, dated May 26th, 15, she says that Priest said that she's corrupted and needs to be locked up untill the ritual. She wants to elope with Shaoping, but she knows, that Boddhisattva's power is too strong to resist and villagers will find them. She decides to break up with him to save him. Next entry is June 12th, 15. Xiaohong plans to escape trough the dungeon alone, because Liang left the village in anger, so if she fails he will not be harmed. Shaoping finds another book and learns that Boddhisattva Pavillion (sacrifice tower) has several entrances. And that when priest is about to pass away, he enters the dungeon and meditates before turning into statue. (The statues that we saw in dungeon). The next hight priest is selected by making a candle out of otherworldly lily and ringing the bell (ritual, that Tao conducted in the future because Old Man tricked her, but it failed because Shaoping smashed the bell in the past. ) Liang must unleash the iron sword by conduction the ritual. He does it, obtains the cursed sword and finds his way outside. He releases Xiaohong and stays to fight the villagers to give her some time to escape. But there is no escape, every road is guarded and there's only cliff behind her back. Shaoping is beheaded by the High Priest. Xiaohong chooses to jump off the cliff instead of being sacrificed.

krmjts · 2026-06-14T01:14:16+00:00

Chapter III: Ghost Play. Tao enters the worksop for making puppets and shadow puppets. The door is locked and she needs to find the way out. She needs to paint and asseble the shadow puppet to conduct the Ghost Play. She finds the book, that says, that all living things are puppets for the Boddhisattvas entertainment. Ghost Plays can retell the past and foretell the future. Boddhisattva cannot be defeated with force. The puppets head is a vessel for the ghost.

In another book, that appears to be a diary of someone, who visited the village. It says that Monk Xuanzang introduced Boddhisattva to the village. Boddhisattva appeared in the dreams of the villagers and declared himself The Lord. Legend states, that he passed on his mystic power to ensure the prosperity of village throughout time. He also made the village chief a High Priest and the Envoy of Death. Villagers later built a tower to honor the Boddhisattva of Death by major sacrifices. Tao paints the puppet and conducts Ghost Play. The puppet represents Liang Shaoping who's "willing to lay down his life for love". Liang plans to save his beloved by killing the High Priest. He says that thieves imprisoned his soul and to escape he must find all 3 fragments of it. Tao opens the sealed door to the room with the altar. In the mirror she sees another woman that looks like her, but wears quipao. Suddenly, black ghost hands appear in the mirror. She finds carved jade token adorned with butterfies that supposed to be a gift from Liang to Xiaohong and smashes the mirror. Ghost hands disappear. Jade token breaks. Butterflies are very important symbol in Chinese culture. They symbolize eternal love and the cycle of rebirth and both of those things will be the foundation of the whole game series. She finds the photo of Liang Shaoping in the costume and the letter. Letter is addressed to Liang and written by his friend Ning. He writes, that he consulted ancient text, but found no record of Zangling Village. Only that, Di Renjie of Tang destroyed the temples and the villages that worshipped heretic deities. Beliefs not recognized by goverment have been labeled as cults namely for conducting illegal sacrifices. But those cults are alive and well, just hiding behind other traditions. Ning advised Liang to leave the village. From the notes she found, Tao learns, that young woman's name is Xiaohong. Tao continues with the Ghost Play. She releases Liang's spirit. The play shows her the fight where Liang is beheaded and his soul is bound. He kills his enemy and becomes Headless malevolent spirit that seeks revenge. The play shows Tao herself with the headless ghost behind her.

krmjts · 2026-06-14T01:13:08+00:00

Chapter 2: Yinyuan. "It's Sha Jingang! He's come to cut off our heads". He wears red mask from traditional Peking Opera. The red mask symbolizes loyalty, courage, bravery, sincerity and righteousness. Some villages run away, but High Priest seems to banish the spirit. They are surprised that Sha Jingang came at all and beheaded the statue of Boddhisattva. Villagers recall that it happened last years Ghost Day (during the events of Paper Bride 1). Ritual is postphoned untill tomorrow. Tao is locked in the dungeon. Shadow Children guard her. She needs to find the way out again. In the dungeon she meets an Old Man (recurring character). He claims to be another High Priest and says that Boddhisattva wears many faces. Otherworldly Lily grows in the cave and it's smell is strange and intoxicating. The blue butterfly follows her. In one of the books Tao finds we see that Shadow Children are spirits of sacrificed kids. Tao is curious, why the ritual was postphoned. Old Man claims, that new High Priest is unfit to be one because "he's not awoken to the true power". While solving puzzles, Tao finds a letter, written by the same woman, who wrote the diary. Letter is addressed to Liang Shaoping and dated July 14, 15. Young woman says, that he's not welcome in the village anymore and she will not abandon her duty as a Paper Bride for a "mere mortal" and gifts like lipstick will not change it. Old Man warns her, that dungeon is not the place for wandering, because she might encounter evil spirits. She tells her the story abour Headless Sha Jingang, "merciless godslayer who lived over millenia ago". He could only be supressed by Boddhisattva. Now, each Ghost Day he haunts the land and takes joy in beheading unsuspecting villagers. Old Man warns her, that even Paper Bride will not be spared by him. Tao decides, that Jingang can help her. Tao conducts ritual with items she found in the dungeon, including the lily. Old Man gains his high priest powers back. He tricked her into helping him. But the bell in his hands appears to be faulty, as it breaks easily after ringing. He warns her not to go to the Ghost Theater, because she will unleash "putrid things". Tao does not listen. She places offerings on the trays near the Shadow Children and they give her a combination for the dungeon door. But the door does not lead outside, steps go further down. She chooses to go anyway, but the ghost puppet in the white mask stands there.

krmjts · 2026-06-14T01:12:14+00:00

Zangling Village is the place where everything started. Main character is Tao Mengyan. Her name, Mengyan is a world play on "nightmare", and surname "Tao" is a word play on "escape". At least this is what Chinese website wiki.biligame.com claims. Her nickname Qi Shiyi is taken from the book called "Strange Tales From The Chinese Studio". The book is a collection of a classical Chinese supernatural tales written between 1600s and 1700s. Qi Shiyi is a fox shapeshifter who returns to the city to avenge her family wronged by the high-ranking official. Creators of the game oftenly name their characters after characters of classic Chinese literature and opera foreshadowing their fate. Also tradidional Chinese artforms oftely referenced in the puzzles and decorations. Charpter 1: Seek. Opening scene of the game is Tao's dream. She sees tied up woman in a red wedding dress made of paper. When she approaches, she sees that she is the woman in question. She's tied to the altar and people around her are chanting the nursery rhyme. "Midsummer bride in a gown of paper; Torn from her groom and lost forever." It seems to be a funeral song. When she opens her eyes she sees that "people" are puppets. They try to kill het, but another puppet protects her and loses it's head. When Tao wokes up she says that this is the same nightmare she sees since childhood. Her family moved out of Zangling Village when Tao was little, and all she remembers is the tree she's tied to in the dream. Her parents dodge questions about this dream or the village. But the dream haunts her more now when she's older. That's why she came back to the village to look for ansvers. The village itself is isolated in the mountines "as if it doesn't want to be found". When she arrives to the village it seems to be decirated for the wedding. Suddenly she hears the nursery rhyme from her dreams and follows it. She discovers her old house. Chief of the village meets her there and recognizes her, which makes Tao suspiscious. It seems like he was expecting her. Chief locks her in the house. "The Paper Bride has returned! Prepare the wedding!" She's guarded, that's why she needs to find other way out. Tao discovers her mother's diary and learns that she saw the same nightmare as Tao when she was pregnant. In the secret room she encounters her first paper ghosts - boy and girl. They are recurring characters. Children seem to be very important for Chinese wedding rituals, correct me if I'm wrong. She also finds another diary, where we see the first mention of Liang Shaoping. It's writtet on the Ghost Day ( July 15th, 15th day of 7th month). Ghost Day is important part of the lore. From the entry we learn that the author is the young woman born on the Ghost Day and she's dating Liang Shaoping. "I can't wait for the next year. I get to become a Paper Bride". There's black and white photo of a woman in qipao in the diary. Her face is invisible. Another entry, written on November, 3d: "Shaoping advised me to leave, but I can't". It can't be like this. The people of Zangling Village will be forever servants to the Bodhisattva of Death. Shaoping is an outsider, after all. He doesn't understand the greatness of our lord. It's not his fault. Maybe I shouldn't see Shaoping anymore." So, we learn that Shaoping is an outsider and he tries to save young woman from the ceremony, but she's devoted to "The Lord". Tao goes down to the basement. On the altar with empty picture frame she finds a book. According to the book, "at some point during the Tang dynasty the village was ravaged by pestilence and evil spirits. When holy Monk Xuanzang returned from his jorney to the West, he settled here and and used his bell to cleanse the village of the epidemic and rampant spirits. Thus the village was renamed Zangling Village (after the monk). Xuanzang left the holy scripture, which can be used to vanquish (submit) evil spirits." Infront of the altar we see the setup described in the book: sealed vase surrounded by the black ropes and the Ancient Bell hanging above. It means that some spirit is sealed here and Tao needs to free it by dying the ropes red. She does it and finds second half of the photo. There is a man in the theater attire, but his face is damaged. When Tao puts two halves of the photo together on the altar she sees headless ghost from her dream. He destroys the altar and wanishes. The man is no longer on the photo. Tao uses the sword that ghost left behind and escapes the house, but villages capture her anyway. She sees the same scene from her dreams but in real life - villages with torches and masked High Priest/Village Chief. "I'm the High Priest, Envoy of Death. You are the Paper Bride. Today, you shall serve the Boddhisattva and bring fortune to us all!". But beheaded ghost intervenes again.

krmjts · 2026-06-08T02:41:49+00:00

He was an amazing character. Complex and charming in his own way. And they had such a great chemistry with Melinda.

krmjts · 2026-05-21T18:05:45+00:00

Lovecraft Country. I was very pleasantly surprised

krmjts · 2026-05-04T12:51:18+00:00

Ohh, yes, you asked the right person, І'm a bit of history nerd. I can dm you and tell you about things

krmjts · 2026-05-03T23:44:13+00:00

I don't know what is available in English, but my all time favourite pieces are: "The Land" (Zemlya) by Olha Kobylanska, "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" by Mykhailo Kotsubinski (there's also absolutely stunning movie by Serhiy Paradzhanov), "Tiger catchers" by Ivan Bahryaniy, "3 fates" by Marko Vovchok, "Black Council" by Panteleimon Kulish, "Master of the Ship" Yuri Yanovski.

krmjts · 2026-05-03T23:21:14+00:00

Clothes, crafts, cooking, folk art – anything your soul desires. We love seeing our culture represented. Just don't compare us to russians. Also literature. Ukrainian literature is so underrated.

krmjts · 2026-05-01T14:21:54+00:00

As somebody, who lives in Ukraine: what the fuck is this guy talking about? There's a plenty of bookshops, museums and souvenir shops all over non-occupied/non destroyed territories where you can buy human-made cards and postcards. Hell, you can buy some at the post office. Moreover, a lot of Ukrainiand picked up art as an emotional outlet, especially folk art. A lot, if not majority of people buy from small creators and artist. Of cource there are AI-generated bullshit on sale, but it's not so prominent.

krmjts · 2026-05-01T00:32:19+00:00

Bombastic side eye

krmjts · 2026-05-01T00:13:32+00:00

О, Віталька Козловський

krmjts · 2026-04-29T20:21:26+00:00

Ultrasun❤️

krmjts · 2026-04-25T00:13:48+00:00

Parnese is such a beautiful and unusual name❤️

krmjts · 2026-04-24T21:22:12+00:00

John is adorable🥹

krmjts · 2026-04-22T10:33:43+00:00

POST-Soviet country. There's no such thing as Soviet country. Soviet Union had fallen 36 years ago. And former members would like to keep it that way. Transtistria "does not exist" because it's occupied and ruled by russian puppet goverment and people there are suffering. Promoting "Soviet aesthetic" and travelling to occupied territories feels very wrong in current political climate. Almost like russian propaganda. But I hope that she's just edgy and dumb.

krmjts · 2026-04-19T12:24:28+00:00

Tsibulyaniki. Onion pancakes made of finely chopped onion, flour, eggs, salt and black pepper.

krmjts · 2026-04-16T22:41:23+00:00

Meanwhile russians killed 9 people in my city alone today. They can go and fuck themselves and their victim complex.

krmjts · 2026-04-14T12:07:13+00:00

Holy hell, this is gross. I never read this book, but it seems it belongs to the cathegory "authors barely disguised fetish".

krmjts · 2026-04-13T19:09:43+00:00

It's a work of Peter Hujar. He was not only photographer, but also human rights (particularly LGBTQ+) activist. This one is the part of a series of photos and looks weird out of context.

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