Branching Story (故事岔路) is a free site for original Chinese-language interactive fiction. Every story is a branching tree of 40+ passages: read a scene, pick what the protagonist does, and the plot forks. Each story carries 4–6 endings — good, bad, true, and hidden — so a single title is worth several read-throughs.
What you can read
The catalog covers the staple genres of Chinese web fiction: xianxia / cultivation (修仙), rebirth (重生), palace intrigue (宫斗), time travel (穿越), adventure / mystery (探险) and multi-route romance (恋爱养成). Browse the full story index for everything in one list.
Choices with real weight
The design rule behind every story: a trap must look like the reward you want. The most immediately satisfying option — the public face-slap, the instant revenge — often locks you out of the good ending three chapters later, while the true and hidden endings hide behind choices that look like losing. If you grew up on gamebooks or visual novels, the replay loop will feel familiar.
For Chinese learners
Intermediate and advanced learners use branching fiction as reading practice: passages are short, the recurring genre vocabulary builds quickly, and having to choose at the end of each passage is a built-in comprehension check. Both Simplified and Traditional Chinese (繁體) versions are available for every story. It's free and requires no account — open a story and start reading.
FAQ
What is Chinese interactive fiction?
Interactive fiction (CYOA / text adventure) written in Chinese: the story is a branching tree, and at the end of each passage you choose what the protagonist does next. Different choices lead to different plot lines and endings — good, bad, true, and hidden.
Where can I read interactive fiction in Chinese for free?
Branching Story (branchingstory.com, 故事岔路) hosts free original Chinese interactive fiction — xianxia/cultivation, rebirth, palace intrigue, apocalypse survival, and romance sims. No account, no download; it runs in the browser on desktop and mobile.
Is interactive fiction good for learning Chinese?
Yes — it works well as graded-reader-style practice for intermediate and advanced learners. Passages are short (a few hundred characters), the choice buttons give immediate comprehension feedback, and genre webnovel vocabulary repeats often. A Traditional Chinese version (/zh-Hant/) is available alongside Simplified.
What genres are available?
Cultivation (修仙), urban power fantasy (都市爽文), rebirth (重生), palace intrigue (宫斗), time travel (穿越), adventure/mystery (探险), and multi-route romance (恋爱养成) — each story with 40+ passages and 4-6 endings.
Do the choices actually matter?
Yes — that's the site's core design rule. Some options are disguised traps: the most immediately satisfying choice often locks you out of the good ending, and true/hidden endings hide behind counter-intuitive choices. Expect to replay from the branch points to collect all endings.