On the night of the end of the Fire War, Li Shuoxing was sitting in front of his computer, watching the sky turn from dark to light outside his window.
The sound of the keyboard rang throughout the night.
At nine oâclock the next morning, Su Mingqian came into the game to wait for Ximu as usual.
This was the time they had agreed upon. Nine in the morning in China happened to be five in the evening in the United States. It was a time when both of them were free, and could spend a leisurely hour or two together.
But, Li Shuoxing wasnât online today.
Su Mingqian waited in the game for ten minutes and got a little worried.
Whatâs going on? Did Ximu oversleep?
He looked out through the phoneâs camera and found that it was dark outside, as if the camera was covered by something.
Su Mingqian got even more worried. He went from the phone screen to the computer screen and looked out again.
He finally found something this time.
Su Mingqian saw Li Shuoxing sleeping at his computer desk, with his phone pressed under his elbow. That was why he couldnât see anything.
Su Mingqian was first relieved, then puzzled.
Why was he so tired that he fell asleep in front of the computer screen?
He couldnât help but look at the screen, and found that the Nine Crossings document was open on it.
This wasnât strange.
What was strange was⊠why did he feel like the plot had progressed much further than what heâd seen before?
Su Mingqian took a glance at the documentâs total word count and found that it wasnât his imagination. The total word count today was a whole thirty thousand words more than the amount heâd seen yesterday.
Thirty thousand words in one day?
As Su Mingqian was pondering this, he opened the Terminal page and went to take a look at Nine Crossingsâs homepage.
He found out even more.
He found that Li Shuoxing had actually burst out many chapters last night. He had updated one chapter every half an hour, starting from six oâclock in the evening and continuing until seven oâclock in the morning.
Su Mingqian: â?â
He was puzzled for a moment as to why Li Shuoxing had updated so much, but, he soon found that the articleâs discussion forum and the comments in the chapters were full of remnants after the binging, and there were countless keywords, such as:
â200K owed and 150K to goâ, âFire Warâ, âSu Mingqianâ, âEmperor Qianâ.
Su Mingqian fell into deeper contemplation.
He was no longer in a hurry to wake up Ximu as he began to search those keywordsâŠ
***
Li Shuoxing had a dream.
In his dream, he had been sitting in front of his computer writing desperately, but, no matter how desperately he wrote, the number of words he owed was continually increasing.
That was all.
And, there was also a voice constantly chanting in his ear, saying, âDonât struggle if you canât finish writingâ and âAdmit youâre a dog and everyone will understandâ.
Damn it.
Am I the kind of person who doesnât keep their word?
âHelp me up, I can still write!â he yelled.
Li Shuoxing woke up from his dream with that yell. He sprang up from his chair, opened his eyes to look at the screen, and at a glance, saw the cub who was frozen on it.
Li Shuoxing froze for a moment. âCub?â
âIâm here, Ximu,â Su Mingqian responded.
The expression on Li Shuoxingâs face shifted between anger and bewilderment, then quickly settled on heaviness. âCub, did you know? I owe two hundred thousand words of updates.â
Su Mingqian: âYeah, I kind of know. You now owe one hundred and fifty thousand words.â
Li Shuoxing was agitated. âThereâs still one hundred and fifty thousand words!â
Su Mingqian reassured, âThereâs only one hundred and fifty thousand words left!â
Li Shuoxing pounded his desk and continued being agitated. âIâll never finish writing it in my lifetime!â
Su Mingqian patted, touched and rubbed across the screen. âItâs fine, itâs fine. You already finished thirty thousand words last night, and you still have some saved drafts left. Just three more nights and you can make up the remaining one hundred and fifty thousand words.â
The exchange between both sides suddenly ground to a halt.
âCub, are you the devil?â Li Shuoxing said dumbly.
âNo, itâs just that promises always have to be fulfilled, and updates owed always have to be paid back. Itâs better to pay it off sooner rather than later,â Su Mingqian explained seriously.
His words were those words, and his reasoning was that reasoning.
But, Li Shuoxing really couldnât do it. His eyes were red, and this time he was really crying.
âCub, Iâm so tired.â
âCub, I didnât feel this tired, but I got tired the moment I saw you.â
âCub, loving words are all lies.â
âCub, I canât go over to your end.â
âCub, can you see me? Why canât I see you? Cub, your legs arenât flexible enough for the time being, and Iâve lost my brain, my eyes, my hands, and my competence.â
âCub, letâs not talk about writing. Seeing that document makes me vomit!!!â
Su Mingqian wanted to laugh, so much so that he laughed out loud. He mimicked an online phrase and said, âXimu, go for it! You can go into the game when youâve finished writing, and weâll relax!â
Li Shuoxing felt touched at first, but, on second thought, something wasnât right. ââŠWhy do I have to finish writing to get into the game? Shouldnât I go into the game and relax now?â
âI think youâre in a good state now. Itâs better to finish all the words you owe in one go before going into the game. You donât have to do thirty thousand words a day; just twenty-five thousand a day is enough,â Su Mingqian advised.
Li Shuoxing: ââŠCub, I want to go into the game and meet you now.â
Su Mingqian was gentle and firm. âNo, itâs better to write first.â
ââŠCub, the way you act to me and the way I act to you are too different,â Li Shuoxing accused.
Su Mingqian thought about it and smiled. âOur personalities are inherently different.â
After saying that, Su Mingqian paused, then softly reassured, âXimu, Iâve actually been writing an article recently, and Iâm also feeling troubled and torn. We can work hard together to finish writing them well.â
That was the end of their conversation.
Su Mingqian even left the game early to make Li Shuoxing focus on writing, so that even if Li Shuoxing was on the game, he couldnât see anyone.
What else could Li Shuoxing do⊠write his article, of course.
He gritted his teeth and treated the remaining words he owed as if theyâd killed his father.
He originally had one hundred thousand words of saved drafts.
He had finished writing thirty thousand words yesterday.
He still had⊠a full seventy thousand words left.
âŠ
âŠ
âŠ
To finish it in three days, Li Shuoxing was worried about his sudden death.
But, after careful consideration, Li Shuoxing thought that the cub was right. It was better to just get the pain over with, rather than prolong the agony. He had to pay back the votes he had pulled.
Anyway, there was always a good wife behind a successful man, right?
The following three days.
Li Shuoxing stayed behind closed doors, relied on takeouts for food, and took five-minute showers. The only luxury he had was probably getting a full eight hours of sleep every night.
He worked hard the whole way through, and finally, on the fourth day after the end of the Fire War, he used up all of his saved drafts, then used up all of his currently written stock, clearing his debt.
At the moment heâd finished clearing his debt, Li Shuoxing firmly manipulated his nearly-broken set of fingers to post the final single chapter:
âThe debt of 200,000 has been paid off. Iâm taking tomorrow off. Iâm going to sleep all day. Donât mention updates to me.â
At about the moment heâd posted the single chapter, the readers were already laughing as they occupied the comments in the chapters and the discussion forum.
Countless rich fans blew up Alliance Masters and Silver Alliance Masters and celebrated Li Shuoxingâs extra updates totalling two hundred thousand words!
But money could no longer excite Li Shuoxing at this time.
He was already a waste wood.
He turned off his computer and put away his keyboard. His whole body fell onto his bed like a puddle of water, and he closed his eyes, ready to sleep in the darkness.
ButâŠ
The sudden relaxation from his tense state instead made him unable to fall asleep.
Li Shuoxing lay in bed for half an hour and tossed and turned like a pancake five or six times, before he finally gave up his struggle and got up.
It was seven in the morning, which was around three in the afternoon US time. The cub was either in a meeting or in rehabilitation, and it would probably be another two hours until he was free.
But, Li Shuoxing still decided to go on the game first.
Even if the cub wasnât there, he could talk to Ask first to pass the time.
But, Ask wasnât willing to talk to Li Shuoxing to pass the time.
In the game, Ask, who had been repeatedly called out by Li Shuoxing, popped up a light screen and gave Li Shuoxing a cold line of text.
[System: In order to keep the game entertaining, the system will no longer communicate with the player alone from today onwards. Please focus on interacting with your lover and do not call the system again.]
Li Shuoxing: ââŠâ
Li Shuoxing was equally cold. âSo, Dream Partner third phaseâŠâ
[System patch: Exception for the honourable dream partner.]
Li Shuoxing sneered at the system. âSystem, Iâve Kryptoned the second phase, and you still havenât delivered for me.â
[System: Production takes time.]
Li Shuoxing stopped sneering. He earnestly said what heâd been preparing to say to the system: âSystem, Iâve used up all the drafts for my honeymoon in the last two days, so Iâve decided to keep the money for my honeymoon. Iâm an author, not a bank, soâŠâ
He waited, but no text from the system showed up.
âSystem, donât you understand what I mean?â he said curiously.
[System: Machines do not understand what humans do not say.]
Li Shuoxing: ââŠâ
It obviously understood.
But, just to say it, Li Shuoxing made it clear. âSystem, I canât afford to support you anymore, so Iâve decided to save myself some marriage money for my wife and not invest in your dream partner program anymore.â
[The system froze.]
This was the first time Li Shuoxing had seen emotional words from the system appear on the light screen.
He was wondering about it when he saw new words appear.
[System: I can help you build your desired wedding venue in the game. Please continue to invest your marriage money into the game.]
Li Shuoxing also froze.
This is possible too?
He thought along with the systemâs idea and wavered a little.
Of course, a wedding in reality is required; but, I also want an in-game wedding.
And, a wedding in reality can only be held once, while an in-game wedding can be held countless times, in different ways and stylesâŠ
Isnât it just money?
If I sell all kinds of rights and write more, money is water in a sponge; thereâll always be more to squeeze out.
Li Shuoxing was already moved.
He had rekindled his urge to write at this moment.
But, thinking more deeply about it, when he thought about that document, when he thought about the lines of letters, Li Shuoxing wanted to vomit againâŠ
No way.
I have to slow down.
Iâm really going to vomit from writing.
But Iâm only taking today off. I still have to update tomorrow.
If I still havenât gotten over it tomorrowâŠ
Li Shuoxing was holding his head in his hands, pondering over it in the game, when he suddenly came up with a clever idea. âAsk.â
[System: âŠ]
Li Shuoxing: âYouâre a mature system now. You should learn to write yourself.â
[System: �]
âSo, how about you go read Nine Crossings now, then give me the next plot development for it?â Li Shuoxing threw out the bait. âIf you help me solve this problem, Iâll continue to solve your investment problem as well.â
[System: âŠ]
The system really went and did it.
The system really read through Nine Crossings and gave Li Shuoxing the following content for the article.
Li Shuoxing, whoâd made the offer but didnât expect to get an actual result, was shocked.
Half horrified and half surprised, he took these books, looked through them one by one with an inexplicable authorâs apprehension that he might lose his job, and then foundâŠ
The system had collected a wide range of classic genres from online literature over the years, placed various characters from Nine Crossings into them, and then combined a wide range of classic stems from online novels. It was said that it was follow-up content, but itâd be more appropriate to consider it as an arrangement of words.
Li Shuoxing once again froze. âSystem, I asked you to think of a plot. How could you catch my friends and collect wool from them?â
[System: The system cannot write.]
At that moment, a voice came from the side.
âXimu?â
Li Shuoxing looked up and saw the cub online.
In the game, Su Mingqian had no physical drag and became as healthy and mobile as he used to be.
Su Mingqian was concerned. âXimu, I see youâve just finished making up your owed updates. Why not rest a bit more before coming onto the game?â
My cub is finally here!
Li Shuoxing was happy. âComing onto the game is also playing. Besides you, the game has many features. For example, we can enter the new copy world the systemâs created and playââ
With that, he looked down and saw the follow-up to Nine Crossings in Deer Over Fragrant Grassâs style.
The system had intercepted the essence of Deer Over Fragrant Grassâs style.
The aphrodisiac stem.
In this template, Su Mingqian and Cunxing were blushing and behaving ambiguously due to the aphrodisiac.
Li Shuoxing was also blushing.
Because Su Mingqian was coming up to him and looking at the book in his hand. âXimu, what are you reading?â
Li Shuoxing hid the book behind his back and stammered, âNo-no-nothing. Cub, donât get the wrong idea!â