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Chapter 9




Li Shuoxing realised.
The emotional little person was a part of the novice guide, bearing the responsibility of triggering the plot and guiding the player. When the favourability… well…
Li Shuoxing took a look at the favourability pool.
Favourability: 2
Well, it wasn’t a matter of favourability.
When the little person in the game felt he needed something, he’d make a request. Then, the system would unlock corresponding playing methods and items for the player to satisfy him.
Compared with the mode of quantifying favourability and opening whatever functions at however many points, this algorithm, although complex, was more interesting. If he didn’t get into it he could drop it, but once he got into it, he couldn’t stop playing.
After all, the unknown was the most attractive.
Sure enough, buying wasn’t as good as selling, and playing wasn’t as dirty as making.
Li Shuoxing sighed. He simply tapped the satisfy option, opening the daily check-in function.
A small calendar appeared at the edge of the screen.
The colour followed the rest of the icons, pink and white, very small and fresh.
Li Shuoxing followed the virtual finger and tapped to open the calendar. The title read “This Week – Food Week”, and there were a total of seven grids below. The check-in rewards for the first six days were all food, each of them different. The reward for the seventh day was not only food, but also a small spinning wheel. He tapped on it with his finger and the system prompted:
“Sign in for seven consecutive days and you will get a free lottery ticket.”
When he saw this reward, Li Shuoxing’s eyebrows stretched.
A little spending was pleasant, but a lot of spending hurt.
Obviously, the game also took into account that the favourability wouldn’t be too high at the initial stage, so the use of the check-in function covertly gave the player a little allowance.
As for the lottery ticket.
This wasn’t strange. It’d only be strange to not have this.
He briefly learned about the new things that came out, pocketed today’s orange juice, and didn’t forget the little person.
“What you mean is”—before answering, Li Shuoxing turned back and looked at what the little person had just said—”I need to come at a regular time, leave at a regular time, tell you when I come, and tell you when I leave?”
Su Mingqian: “Yes.”
Li Shuoxing was interested. “I have a question. You have no way to see me. Even if I don’t leave, I could still tell you I’m leaving. Then what’s the meaning of this request?”
“This isn’t a request, it’s an agreement, and the agreement has meaning.” Su Mingqian stopped and added, “On the contrary, it’s what you just said that’s meaningless. Here, you can do everything. You don’t have any need to lie to me.”
Full marks for logic!
Li Shuoxing was struck with admiration. “Cub, I’m liking you more and more! I agree to your agreement. I’ll probably—”
He thought about his work and rest, then thought about the content in the game, and said:
“I’ll come at 12pm every day, just in time to have lunch with you and take a break.”
“By the way, I still have something I want you to agree to… Well, saying it like that isn’t accurate.” Li Shuoxing corrected his wording. “There’s something I want to consult your opinion on. If you don’t agree, you can always refuse. You can rest assured that there won’t be any consequences.”
As the conversion progressed, Li Shuoxing once again remembered the problem of his novel’s main character.
Li Shuoxing probed, “I’m writing a novel, and I think your name’s pretty good, so I want it to be the name of my novel’s main protagonist… Do you mind? Would you like to be the main character of a novel? If you do mind, I’ll change the name.”
This paragraph was a bit long.
The little person was stunned for a moment.
Does he not understand?
As expected, artificial intelligence isn’t human after all.
Although he’d been prepared for this, Li Shuoxing still felt a touch of disappointment.
But, before he could do anything, another big +100 appeared above the little person’s head!
The stunned virus infected Li Shuoxing like lightning.
Can he actually understand?
As Li Shuoxing was surprised, his head was more so full of fog.
But… how exactly does the system calculate favourability? How could even this add so much favourability?
Li Shuoxing couldn’t help but ask, “Are you very happy?”
Su Mingqian: “I’m very happy.”
Li Shuoxing was puzzled. “Why?”
Su Mingqian tilted his head. “Did you say this to someone else and they weren’t happy? It’s great to have more people recognise me and know me. I’m looking forward to that day.”
…That’s a standard answer.
Is that really a standard answer?
Before Li Shuoxing could finish dwelling on it, the little person spoke again, taking the initiative to ask more about it.
“When you use my name, will you also describe my personality?”
Li Shuoxing, still concerned about being suspected of plagiarism, subconsciously replied, “I’m not planning to.”
Su Mingqian boldly requested, “But I want you to directly use my personality. That way, the me they see is the real me.”
He was a little nervous. He didn’t know whether the Watcher would be willing to agree to this request, but this opportunity was really too rare.
As long as the Watcher was really willing to write him into their novel as they said just now, then his existence would be noticed. With each additional person who noticed, the place where he was imprisoned would imperceptibly become more vulnerable. When enough people discovered him, the world he lived in, this isolated island, would surely be broken by external forces.
But would the Watcher agree?
Would the Watcher be willing to break the island?
Or, to put it another way, did the Watcher really intend to build an island?
Su Mingqian was eager to know the answers, which were incomparably important to him.
Then, he saw the Watcher’s words appear on the light screen.
“Yes, I can…”
Truth be told, although Li Shuoxing was a little surprised by the little person’s request, it really wasn’t a big deal.
However, Li Shuoxing felt that he should still remind the little person of some problems.
“I can write the main character based on your personality, but art is emotional. Although I’ll write the character based on your name and personality, the character that comes out may not necessarily make you feel ‘this is me’… Can you understand what I’m saying?”
His voice fell, then again again again +100!
W…
What?!
Li Shuoxing saw it clearly at a glance and English letters burst in his heart.
How many 100’s had it been today?
The system made the player so comfortable that it caused him intense discomfort instead!
Li Shuoxing always felt that this favourability system was difficult to explain.
Another text bubble appeared above the little person’s head. Today the little person was a bit chatty.
“I understand the subjectivity of art. So I’d like to read your book and see what it’s like with me as the main character. I can also give you my opinion on the character development and action, using myself as a model.” The little person added, “Of course, please rest assured that I won’t interfere with your writing.”
“I…” Li Shuoxing typed a word and stopped.
He felt that the conversation was getting strange and was a little suspicious that he was being set up. But, from the beginning until now, he’d collected 200 favourability points on this matter. If he refused now, the system wouldn’t deduct him 1000 favourability points, would it?
After thinking about it, Li Shuoxing still gave in.
After all, it was really hard to get favourability.
“Okay then, no problem. As long as I can get it in, I’ll show it to you.”
Su Mingqian: “…”
It was just a line of common ellipses showing that Su Mingqian was thinking.
But, for some reason, Li Shuoxing felt a pang of tension.
He was afraid that Su Mingqian would say something strange to make him explain his promise, so he hurriedly escaped offline. “Okay, okay, I’ve exceeded my time here today. I have to go to work. Bye!”
With that, Li Shuoxing closed the game without waiting for the little person to respond.
But, five seconds after closing the game, he suddenly thought of something and opened the game again.
Li Shuoxing: “One more thing. There’s a carton of orange juice in the fridge, which I put in just now. In the next few days, I’ll put in food bit by bit. You can eat whatever you want and don’t need to save money for me. You just need to stay in a happy mood.”
With that he really went offline.
Sentences appeared successively on the light screen and the sound of the refrigerator door opening and closing came from the kitchen.
Then, there was no movement.
Su Mingqian waited for a while, but it was still quiet all around. So, he stood up, walked to the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator.
A carton of orange juice was placed right in the centre of the refrigerator.
Su Mingqian looked at this carton of orange juice, and his tense body and heart began to relax together… Then, pretending the orange juice was the Watcher, he raised his hand, poked, poked again, then poked again. It wasn’t until the orange juice was poked thoroughly that he closed the refrigerator as if nothing had happened.
Li Shuoxing, of course, didn’t know what was going on in the game.
Once he got off the game, there was nothing to say. After eating and resting for a while, he continued to write.
The daily life of professional writers was just this boring.
They ate, slept, wrote novels, occasionally played games and watched movies and very occasionally went out for a run at walking speed.
He didn’t know if it was because he talked with the little person at noon and relaxed his head, but in the afternoon, Li Shuoxing’s thoughts flowed like a spring, and his speed was much faster than his usual handicapped speed of 1500. At his peak, his speed was 2500 words per hour. It only took a little more than an hour to complete a chapter!
He fought with the wind, getting braver and braver.
In one night, Li Shuoxing not only stocked two more chapters of 6,000 for his Nine Crossings , but also took time to write off the remaining 3,000 words of Great Dispute .
After writing 9,000 words, it was already past 10pm.
This time, Panda didn’t respond online. He’d probably fallen asleep.
Li Shuoxing didn’t care. He stood up to drink water, moved his fingers and neck, and then sat back in front of the computer screen.
The plot was still rolling in his brain.
Although it was a bit late, he was in a good state now. How about… just stay up a bit later to write another chapter or two?
Li Shuoxing was thinking to himself when suddenly, a reminder popped up on QQ which was open.
Terminal Food Group:
@Caramel Ximu: Ximuzi, are you opening your novel soon?
Li Shuoxing clicked on the QQ group to take a look and found that it was Soren who pinged him.
Li Shuoxing: “Next Monday.”
Soren: “[OK] It’s arranged. When you post your novel I’ll give you a recommendation.”
Calm Egg: “What are you recommending with a new novel? Few people would take a look if you recommend it. Everyone’s fattening up. What’s more, Eunuch Ximu has an opening screen app recommendation, right? There’s no need for anyone to give him a direct train.”
Li Shuoxing glanced at Calm Egg.
No matter what time of day, his figure was always present in the group chat. Li Shuoxing didn’t know how he managed to spare a hand to chat when he guaranteed a minimum of 6,000 words per day.
However, although Calm Egg was boring, he spoke big truths.
Li Shuoxing also wondered why Soren would suddenly recommend him. For a new novel, it was unnecessary. With more written… it was also unnecessary.
Soren acted as if nothing had happened. “It’s nothing. It’s just that my recent updates aren’t very great and the readers have some complaints. So I could recommend Ximuzi to divert their attention. Every time I recommend Ximuzi, the readers not only stop scolding me, but also give me a wave of rewards, so that I can write well and make progress every day, not learning from a certain eunuch.”
The group was silent.
After that, lurkers emerged one after another.
Calm Egg: “It’s arranged.”
Ten Zero Ling: “It’s arranged.”
Six Flavour Monk: “It’s arranged.”
Sang Wugui: “It’s arranged.”
Calm Egg: “Sang Wugui, don’t fish in troubled waters. In this group, it’s just you who has 140,000 words a year. What are you arranging?”
The corner of Li Shuoxing’s mouth twitched. “I’m telling you to be a bit closer! Today I did 15k!”
The group was silent again.
The next second, Soren said, “How many words have you stocked?”
Calm Egg revived. “Ah So, you’re worthy of writing games, your operation’s sharp. Eunuch, tell us the total word count of your stock. Have you got 100k?”
Soren said lightly, “That’s too much.”
Six Flavour Monk: “Amitabha, the monk guesses 50,000 words.”
Ten Zero Ling: “It can’t be that bad, there must be 70,000 words.”
Sang Wugui: “According to my understanding, 30,000, no more.”
Li Shuoxing was a little tired and he didn’t want to talk.
He prepared to continue writing. But, when he reduced the chat box and returned to the document, he suddenly couldn’t find his form, his head full of those animals’ “It’s arranged”.
It was just arranged, and they still hadn’t played enough now, still circling him to come out and report the total word count of his stock.
Damn it, these guys…
Li Shuoxing was more tired.
He decided to slow down, so he opened his phone and entered the game.
The game was fully synchronised with time in reality.
In reality, it was early morning. In the game, it was also early morning.
The room was open, the faint moonlight sprinkling on the courtyard, in which a little person was panting, bending down to cut grass.
What’s he doing? How strange it is to cut grass in the middle of the night.
Li Shuoxing was puzzled. Remembering the agreement he’d made in the evening, he said hello first.
“I’m here. What are you doing?”
After he typed and sent that, the little person on the screen stopped his actions.
In a moment, a small +1 appeared above his head.
The little person turned to the room, which happened to be in Li Shuoxing’s perspective.
Li Shuoxing saw a little smiling expression pop up above the little person’s head.
“I thought in a while maybe you’d bring some seeds that can be planted, so first we’ll tidy up the courtyard, cut the weeds and clear the land. That way, when the seeds come, we can plant them directly without having to wait.”
Li Shuoxing was shocked.
This?
This cub, how could he become so sweet and cute with a turn of his face?