Data Eye

Data Eye is a science-fiction web novel by the online author Zhanpao Ranxue, written after Dao Guo. It was serialized on Qidian from November 2015 and completed in 2016, running to roughly 1.82 million Chinese characters across about 727 chapters. The story is set in a modern world of information overload: images, sounds, text, codes—every kind of data—combine with the human mind and each evolves into a "world." These worlds diverge in history and branch in technology, but always come back to the human heart. After an accident, the protagonist comes into contact with a strange space known as the "Big Data World," and with his "Data Eye" he perceives the flow of data, gradually masters "data energy," and becomes an "Authorizer" able to enter "theme worlds" of various levels. In the data world, the traditional fantasy power system is replaced by the ascent of authorization levels, and supernatural arts become data modules that can be invoked, compiled, and combined; the protagonist moves through different themes and shattered worlds—future-tech planes, the Shadow City—learning each world's rules and skills, spreading his own ideas, and climbing in authorization amid the maneuvering of multiple factions. The book front-loads dense worldbuilding and terminology, and the opening is rather opaque, only finding its stride late in the first volume; the protagonist is cool and rational, methodical in action, and the book has no romance line, with worldview extrapolation and system progression as its main draws.