Responses
Gang politics aside, I found Missing Love to have also delivered its themes much better than Wetsand. It wasn't really a love triangle, but there was a looming 2nd person whose role in the story wasn't cheap and predictable.
So, here's a rec if you wanna see good, high stakes noir BL: Gold Class Fighter (danmei/Chinese novel). Full translation on chrysanthemum garden.
Wet Sand truly delivered on its art and aesthetics, but failed to complete the world it's built on. It had a promising beginning/introduction to the world, too. At the end of the day, it's romance first before noir, but when you read other noir BLs, you'd know there was really no excuse to be sloppy with the system when that's the major conflict between the "main" couple.