The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the UN in 2015 calls for regional and local governments to conduct regular and inclusive Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) on seventeen (17) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Among the main contents of VLRs, quantitative indicators are central to SDG localization and hide subjectivity behind the cold data. To navigate the stories behind it, this paper will focus on seven VLRs submitted to the UN DESA from Chinese cities written in English with the 2023 refinement version of the global indicator framework for SDGs by the UN as the reference. This paper will conduct: 1) the qualitative comparison of VLR indicators between cities; 2) the quantitative comparison of VLR indicators and UN SDG indicators with semantic similarity comparison; 3) a critical review of VLR indicators’ lifecycles; 4) a reasoned explanation behind the indicator differences; and 5) policy suggestions for future VLR indicators. In conclusion, I found that the diverse producing mechanisms, the different directions and degrees of SDG localization, and varied progresses and understandings of SDGs are the three reasons for different VLR indicators. I suggest more inclusive VLR cooperation mechanisms, appropriate SDG localization, and persistent calls and guidance for VLR indicators and urban indicators.