He looked at the -3 in the upper left corner, felt utterly disheartened for a moment, then directly cut to the home screen to delete the game!
âŠBut it still couldnât be deleted.
Li Shuoxing calmed down a bit and moved his finger away from the delete button.
Iâve already spent the money. Even if I were to delete it, I have to play back the money before doing so. Whatâs more, favourability will increase when the little person reads books. Now, Iâm only one step away from 5 favourability points. Iâll wait a little longer until the chat box is unlockedâŠ
He thought, then went back to the game.
He didnât know when it happened, but after a quick look, the little person was no longer sitting at the table reading!
Li Shuoxing: ââŠâ
Great master, are you trying to start a fight with me on purpose?
He looked at the little person with a complicated expression and watched as he walked across the room, arrived in front of the bookshelf, crammed the book in his hand into it and looked at the other books.
Books came to Su Mingqianâs hands from the bookshelf. Their covers were different. If he looked carefully, he could see the titles and a few designs. When Su Mingqian flipped them open, he could even see blurry text marks on the pages inside.
This game was quite interesting.
The content that should be done well wasnât, but the meaningless details were abundantly done.
But there was no denying that the little person, squatting under the little bookshelf and seriously flipping through books, was very cute.
Li Shuoxing watched for a while and recovered from the blow.
He was a bit overcome with cuteness, and his heart just couldnât help but move a little as he thought again:
Thereâs still one shelf on the three-shelf bookshelf that hasnât been filled. Should I give it a shot?
It just costs 68, not 680, not 6800, and Iâll be able to bring home favourability!
You wonât lose out if you buy it. You wonât be cheated if you buy it!âŠ
Li Shuoxingâs finger hovered around the purchase button.
He was still a little hesitant.
Money isnât a problem.
But buying the same thing will reduce the increase in favourability. If after this purchase the favourability doesnât even increase by 9 points, what should I do? Give a few more cups of water to the little person and see if it can add favourability?
While thinking about things, Li Shuoxing suddenly found that the little person in the game had taken all the books off the bookshelf and placed them one by one on the table.
Li Shuoxing was quite puzzled.
Whatâs this for? Does he want to bask the books in the sun? Is he that bored?
Before he could finish his thoughts, he saw that Su Mingqian had gone back to the bookshelf. He buried his head in it for a while and removed one leg from the iron bookshelf.
Li Shuoxing: â?â
He continued to watch as Su Mingqian, holding the steel pipe, walked all the way to the window, stopped to raise his hand, and hit the window with the pipe in his hand.
Li Shuoxing: â???â
The narration, worried that he didnât understand, jumped in to explain.
[Su Mingqian is attacking the window with a bookshelf.]
[Su Mingqian is trying to escape.]
What did that mean?
Heâd paid 69 yuan to develop the little personâs skills, and he learned to escape?
Li Shuoxing was thunderstruck and could only watch dumbfoundedly as Su Mingqian hit the window again and again.
Fortunately, the game was also worried that the frequent face slapping of its money daddy would discourage him from playing. Therefore, although Li Shuoxing was dazed for a long time, the window hit by the steel pipe remained intact, as firm as before.
Even though the little person wanted to escape, he obviously failed to open up an escape route.
Li Shuoxingâs heart suspended in mid air drifted back to its original position.
He pressed his chest and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.
Although the duck in the dish is ready to fly, it hasnât flown out yet after all, right? I can still salvage this, as long as I pay another 68 to bring the favourability to a positive numberâŠ
That was his reasoning, but Li Shuoxing still felt it was hopeless.
You and I have no chance; itâs all on me to spend money!
Finally, after turning it over in his mind, Li Shuoxing gritted his teeth and chopped down his hand, paying another 68!
This is the last time!
After I pay this 68, Iâll never spend any more money! This trash game wonât cheat me out of my money again!
After spending the money, the newly bought books appeared. Li Shuoxing instantly fixed his eyes on the little person.
The sudden appearance of the new books had obviously attracted the little personâs attention.
The little person stopped hitting the window. He turned his head to the bookshelf and his eyes unblinkingly looked at the newly appeared books on it.
Su Mingqian: ââŠâ
A line of ellipses jumped out of his head.
After the ellipses, another number jumped out.
-1.
The small negative number seemed to represent the little personâs inner fluctuation.
Before Li Shuoxing could react, another number jumped out.
+15.
More sentences.
âDid you buy me books again? Thank you. I didnât know you were there and was startled.â
Li Shuoxingâs attention moved to the favourability pool after seeing the number 15, and he let out an exhale after watching the -4 turn into 11.
A âbangâ of fireworks.
The system spirit, which had disappeared for a long time, reappeared with ribbons and roses, and a chat box popped up at the same time.
âDear player, congratulations on completing the task. Now you can chat with your lover. Please say hello to him first. Different conversations will produce different levels of favourabilityâŠâ
Li Shuoxing didnât wait for the system spirit to finish the demonstration before he started typing in the chat box.
He felt sore about the little personâs attempt to escape and needed an explanation. âI thought that we had initial trust in each other after I agreed to help you get out of here. I didnât expect that you would choose to escape on your own.â
Another small change took place in the room.
Some blue spots of light emerged and converged in mid air into a light screen.
The light screen was level with Su Mingqianâs line of sight.
Lines of text appeared on the light screen.
ââŠYouâve really let me down.â
The black words were set against the blue light, flashing a cool and enchanting rose colour.
Su Mingqian was silent, hiding the shock in his heart. Since he woke up yesterday, his mind had been blank. But a blank mind also knew that such a situation was baffling.
âIâm sorry.â Su Mingqian first apologised to the person he couldnât see. âIâm just a little anxious. Thereâs nothing here but me. The world shouldnât be like this. My world shouldnât just be this.â
He replied so fast!
And whatâs more, there are many philosophical questions between the lines. Are paper people so up to the times now?
But I canât explain to you that you are a pile of data, and you can only live in a data pileâŠ
Li Shuoxing was a little surprised. He thought about it and replied:
âThe world isnât like this, but your world is.â
When he finished, he looked at the screen again and saw a grey mist sweep down from the frosted window and curl up at Su Mingqianâs feet while he stood still.
Then, a sentence jumped out of the little personâs head.
âIs it like thatâŠâ
âI want to ask you one more thing.â
Li Shuoxing: âWhat?â
âWhy did I appear here? I woke up yesterday with a blank mind.â
Li Shuoxing saw the first word of this sentence and guessed what would follow.
Su Mingqian continued:
âI lost my memory.â
âCan you tell me about my past?â
No surprise.
Very cliche.
Li Shuoxing couldnât answer this question, so he simply did the same routine as the common domineering presidents in female channel novels. âFor you now, the past isnât important, only I am.â
After saying that, Li Shuoxing suddenly felt a bit concerned.
Wait, an answer like this wouldnât lose favourability points, right? If the favourability falls below 5 again, will the unlocked chat function be locked again?
But surprisingly, the little personâs favourability neither rose nor dropped. He just stood there, silent for a long time, and Li Shuoxing didnât know what he was thinking.
Did the system crash?
Li Shuoxing thought of this possibility. He moved his finger on the interface, but everything was normal.
Then is what I said too complicated, so the system is currently calculating?
Li Shuoxing thought again. He took a look at the time and found that it was already 11am, so he simply exited the game and went back to his computer to do something serious, like writing or whatever.
Just as he returned to the computer, he received a message from someone else, his Terminal editor Calamus.
Calamus: âXimu, are you there? I want to talk to you about something. The editor in chief has approved the application you sent before. When you officially begin your novel, the website will arrange an opening screen recommendation and feature interview for you. I came to confirm with you, can you start your novel on time next Monday?â
The opening screen recommendation on Terminal referred to the advertisement when the app opened, and the feature interview would appear on the website page. Both were very good recommendation positions.
Li Shuoxing: âYes.â
Calamus: âThe opening screen recommendation requires the novel name and advertisement words. You can send them to me later. The feature interview is a little more troublesome and requires you to write an interview script. But I know that youâve never liked to write it, so I wrote it for you beforehand. If you see anything wrong, you can change it [kiss].â
Li Shuoxing: ââŠâ
Just about to say that heâd finished the interview script today, he slowly swallowed his words, received the document from Calamus, opened it to take a look, then passed it back intact.
Li Shuoxing: âItâs fine.â
Calamus: âHey, you didnât even bother to change a single word?â
Li Shuoxing: ââŠâ
He looked at his unfinished âYou wrote it very wellâ, paused, then slowly deleted it.
Calamus: âHave a think about the advertisement words and remember to send it to me by the end of the week. By the way, how much stock do you have for your new novel?â
Li Shuoxing learned his lesson and finished his words at once. âOutline of 100,000, official text of 10,000.â
Calamus: â[cry][cry][cry][cry][cry].â
She sent a series of tearful expressions.
But Li Shuoxing was as calm as ever, not rushing to send expressions. He knew that Calamus would certainly speak again.
Sure enough, it hadnât been two minutes before Calamus opened her mouth again, her tone still very optimistic. âItâs okay. When you officially write your novel, just write a bit more, and remember to add extra updates from time to time. I believe in you, Ximu! 3,000 words is the very, very, very least you can write. You absolutely canât write any less!â
Li Shuoxing didnât answer.
Everything had been said by the other, all he needed to do was send ellipses.
Calamus: âI wonât disturb you anymore. Message me when you officially post the novel.â
Li Shuoxing: âOk.â
He thought about it, but still didnât tell Calamus that although heâd written ten thousand, he still hadnât chosen a name for the main character. If she knew this, it wouldnât be conducive to the emotional harmony between the editor and authorâŠ
He ended the conversation and turned to open the document of the new novel.
There werenât too many words on the document, but this was the official version after three draft versions. If the number of words were really to be counted, thereâd actually be fifty or sixty thousand.
It was just the name. Although heâd changed it a lot from beginning to end, it always lacked some feeling and hadnât been officially decided.
After opening the document, Li Shuoxing got out a notebook from his desk.
There was a page in the notebook with alternative names heâd written over time.
He took a pen and picked out some names.
Wei Sheng, Xu Tongguang, Chen Fang, Qin Lecheng⊠Su Mingqian.
Su Mingqian?
The ink marks crossed his retina, bringing some familiar feeling. Li Shuoxingâs drifting spirit suddenly gathered. When he looked closer, he found that at some point heâd actually written the two words Su Mingqian on the draft paper.