And I was shocked at how many efforts our Chinese make to connect to the internet (I mean the actual internet, not china.lan).

I originally planned 3 days to install Debian, figure out proxy software, tproxy and nftables, and finally deploy to my home network. I always preferred Linux as a server over Linux is an os for embedded systems (aka OpenWRT, which usually means outdated software and not-so-secure configs).

However, no matter how hard I worked on Linux serverside, the best solution I can implement is HAProxy for failover, xray for the protocol, and nftable for tproxy. Each time I want to switch to a different server, I need to connect the SSH and figure out how to write the config.

In contrast, some unknown person/group developed a plugin called PassWall, and it sorted out all issues: integrated HAProxy, support a lot of protocols including xray, automatically set up tproxy, and come with a great web UI. To my surprise, it's working perfectly well. No random error, no ugly workaround, it just works. WOW.

(Of course, unlike server-side software, the PassWall plugin has no document, and it takes me about 3 days to figure out how to put things together without trusting random 3-rd party firmware on the internet)

Anyway, it only takes me several hours to flash the openwrt, set up the software and make things work. Now the only barrier stopping the deployment is that I forgot to purchase a proper network cable (only need 0.5 meters) and all I had is a single 20 meters long one.