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18 Stories, 6 Characters, 18 to Go — A Half-Time Check-In on the 36 Stratagems

xulingfeng on July 26, 2026

I took a week off from Dev.to. Not a planned one — I just sat down last Sunday and realized I had nothing left. Eighteen stories into a 36-story s...
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 •

Congratulations on reaching this amazing milestone and building such a strong community of 9K+ followers! 🎉 Your 36 Stratagems series shows how powerful storytelling can make ancient wisdom feel relevant today. Excited for the next 18 stories!

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xulingfeng •

It's actually 13K+, but hey, probably half of them are bots anyway 😂 Working on the next 18 as we speak. Let's go 💪

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 • • Edited

9k+ is also considered 13k, right?

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xulingfeng •

Math genius! 🤣

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technogamerz profile image
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐳𝐲 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 •

Mathematically proven
Let 9k + x = 13k
So, x = 13k − 9k = 4k
Therefore, 9k + 4k = 13k ✅
Hence, if the ‘+’ has a 4k upgrade installed, 9k magically becomes 13k
Q.E.D. (Quite Easily Done)

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xulingfeng •

I hereby declare you the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Mathematics! 🏆😂

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Daniel Balcarek •

55 articles, 13,560 followers, 15,858 views, 1,791 reactions, and 961 comments, that’s an amazing achievement in such a short time. Congratulations!! 🎉

I’m not reading the stories as fast as you’re writing them, but at least I don’t have to wait for each new part. 😄 It’s the same with TV series, I usually wait until the whole season is available before I start watching. 😂

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xulingfeng •

Think of it like a TV series — Season 1 (first 18 stratagems) is out and ready to binge. Season 2 just dropped its first episode. Catch up while you can 😂

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laxman Subedi •

Every developer deserves an AI that does more than generate code. It finds bugs, explains issues, and helps you ship faster.

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xulingfeng •

Thanks! Good luck with BugDetectAI 🚀

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LunaWu •

Use AI to help, and you also should one word by one word to check, it is not a easy work too. I hate this.

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xulingfeng •

Haha, yeah — but I'm a QA myself, so this kind of repetitive work is second nature at this point. Occupational hazard, I guess 😅

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Hemapriya Kanagala •

I could relate to the part about wondering why a quick post ends up getting more attention than something you've spent weeks or months working on.

I think finishing something you're proud of matters more in the long run. Looking forward to seeing how the rest of the series unfolds 😀

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xulingfeng •

The next few stratagems are already in the works — edits and all. Stay tuned!

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leob • • Edited

Yes, your rant was popular, it 'resonated', to use that word - but your 36 stratagems is unique, it's something that hasn't ever been done on dev.to (as far as I know) ! The rant was a nice intermezzo, and of course it's also cool to do something like that once in a while ...

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xulingfeng •

Stratagem 19 is already in the works 🔥 First post of the second half has to be solid — my QA OCD is kicking in hard 😂

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Sarah Pan •

Your narrative style is truly captivating!Look forward to your next 18 stories

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xulingfeng •

Stratagem #19 is out, #20 is on its way. Looking forward to your brilliant comments! 👊