《My Web Novel System》 Chapter 1 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Thats all for todays class. Class dismissed! The tutor on the podium put away his briefcase and strolled out of the classroom. When he reached the door, he suddenly turned around. Fang Yuan, including other foreign students with weak foundations, pay special attention. Your graduation thesis is due soon. What are you waiting for if you dont hand it in now! Do you want to delay your graduation? After saying that, he left without looking back. Then, the classroom was in an uproar. What bad luck! Last years graduation requirement was a 50,000-word novel. This year, it turned into a 100,000-word novel. Forget the length, the most difficult part is the topic! Asking us to write a fantasy novel that contains elements such as dragons and magic is giving me a headache. How much did you write? Ive only written half of it. What about you? Ive already handed it over to Hades. Impressive. Impressive, my *ss. Hades deleted pretty much my entire manuscript except the first paragraph. He called me into his office and scolded me, saying that if I keep writing this nonsense, I wont be considered a writer, so I had to rewrite the whole thing. Bro, thats really unfortunate, but Im not much better either. Fang Yuan, what about you? Fang Yuan, who was suddenly called by his classmate, seemed to have just woken up from his muddled consciousness. The students around him had all sorts of skin colors and spoke English with all kinds of accents. Everything was like a dream. Fang Yuan knew that he had transmigrated. This was not Earth, but a parallel world, the Blue Planet. The technological progress here did not change much. It was similar to the early 21st century. Perhaps due to the space-time turbulence caused by the transmigrators, the cultural progress of mankind had changed. The biggest change was that Fang Yuans motherland, China, had not started the vernacular movement1. Chinas modern and contemporary literature had completely vanished! The worlds understanding of Chinese culture was still stuck in the era of Tang poems1, Song lyrics2, and Yuan songs3, before the emergence of the Four Classic Chinese Novels 4of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Simply put, the glorious past was now desolate. Although thanks to good leadership and economic development, Chinas national standing became stronger. The standard of living of the Chinese people had greatly improved. It was not inferior to any other place in the world. However, without the bright stars of modern and contemporary literature and without the nourishment of literature, peoples souls always seemed empty. There was a sense of cultural inferiority. Thus, developing a cultural civilization became Chinas current main goal. The country allocated special funds for studying abroad. A group of young talents with potential was sent to other countries to study literary creation, with hopes of bringing about a change in Chinese literature. Fang Yuan was one of these young talents. He came to the University of Iowa in the United States with the mandate of his hometown. It was the best creative writing college in the world. The only goal of this school was to produce qualified writers who could make a living by writing. Every teacher at the University of Iowa was an author who had published at least three works and had sufficient creative experience. All of the courses at the University of Iowa were about creative writing, which included novels, short stories, poems, plays, and many more. Most importantly, the University of Iowas graduation thesis was very different from other schools. Literature students from most schools, like Harvard or Stanford, had to write a review of a famous author or an analysis of a famous work for their graduation thesis. However, Iowa did not want that. The University of Iowa only required students to write novels, high-quality novels that were worth publishing! The schools classes were even segregated based on the value of the students work. Class A students, who usually published books independently, earned more than 10,000 yuan in royalties from their writing. Class B students, who usually published their works in magazines, earned thousands in royalties from their writing. The students in Class C, where Fang Yuan was placed, usually could not publish a book or a magazine, so much so that they even worried about their graduation thesis. In other words, they were all broke writers! Of course, being a broke writer was not entirely the problem of Fang Yuans predecessor. Since he was in this parallel world, modern and contemporary literature simply did not exist in China. Therefore, in any large global awards, only English manuscripts were accepted. If the literature was not in English, it had to be translated into English first. The University of Iowas graduation thesis also had the same requirement. Writing in a foreign language was indeed too tough for anyone. Fang Yuans predecessor was talented and hardworking. He had begun preparations for the novel early on, did lots of research, and even constructed a detailed worldview. He came up with wonderful plots, created vivid characters, and honed his writing skills through day-to-day training. All he wanted was to prove to the world that Chinese people could also write good novels. In the end, he died in front of a computer screen because he was overworked from staying up all year to write. Before he died, he accidentally cut the power cord to his desktop computer. Thus, all of his manuscripts were lost. Now, there was nothing left. It was such a pity. Fang Yuan, who was Chinese, also hoped that Chinese literature would one day be revered by the whole world. He quickly pulled himself together and muttered to himself, Rest in peace, Ill realize this dream for you and for myself. Before he could finish his sentence, an automated female voice sounded in his ear: [ Ding! Due to the hosts strong will, the Culture Output System has been automatically bound to you. ] [ As long as you publish Chinese works and influence the world, you will receive reputation points, which can be exchanged for generous rewards in the system. ] Fang Yuan, who had read every web novel in his previous life, was already used to the existence of this system, which was a must-have for transmigrators. Got it, got it. This is the plagiarism system. I want to get the Complete Works of Mo Yan and win the Nobel Prize for Literature. [ Currently exchanging the Complete Works of Mo Yan. It requires 100,000,000 reputation points. Do you want to proceed with the exchange? ] Wait a sec! Check my current balance. [ The current reputation points balance: 1 point. ] Having considered his unlucky predecessor, this value was not surprising. It was just a difference of 100 million reputation points! Just as Fang Yuan was frowning about this, the system reminded him again. [ Ding! A novice gift package has been received. Do you wish to open it? ] Why didnt you say so earlier? Open It! Chapter 2 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation [ Ding! You have obtained an English oral skills book (expert level)! ] [ Ding! You have obtained an English writing skills book (expert level)! ] [ Ding! You have obtained a code word efficiency skill book (God level)! ] [ Ding! You have obtained a memory retrieval capsule (limited to web novels)! ] What did the system say? The system only produced high-quality things as it was truly honest. Fang Yuan opened the newbie gift bag and found that everything was arranged clearly. A confident smile appeared on Fang Yuans face. Wow, Fang Yuan, you can still smile? Do you even have a manuscript to hand in the day after tomorrow? Look at those gloomy eyes. I guess youre prepared to fail your course, retake it, and delay your graduation. The child must be suffocating under the heavy pressure of his studies. Save the child! Another crazy one. Send him away. Fang Yuan turned a deaf ear to the discussions and mockery in the classroom. He then got up and left the room. Finding a quiet place in the library, Fang Yuan swallowed the [ memory retrieval capsule ] with water. He closed his eyes and looked for a very old online literature in his memory. This work was once popular, with everyone talked about it. It was a classic Western fantasy of dragons and magic in China, and it also laid the foundation for the establishment of Oriental fantasy in the future. Most importantly, it perfectly met the requirements of this graduation thesis. This work was The Coiling Dragon. As the first work to be spontaneously translated by foreign readers and fans, The Coiling Dragon successfully pulled in tens of millions of English readers into the world of Chinese web novels. It was considered the pioneer of an era. Fang Yuan only needed to replicate the success of his previous life in the parallel world. After confirming the direction, memories flooded into his mind. He could see every word of the original work clearly without missing a single word. He opened his laptop. The keyboard was clicking away as he typed out the introduction. The building-sized bloody-eyed maned lion, the powerful purple-eyed golden-furred ape, the world-destroying nine-headed snake emperor, and the terrifying lightning dragon that carries destructive lightningThere are all sorts of strange things here. This is a vast magical world. Experts can stand atop the heads of giant black dragons and roam the skies. Terrifying magic can burn rivers, destroy cities, and raze Mountains. This book tells the story of the dreamlike journey of a youth who possesses the Coiling Dragon Ring He had to admit that the time he spent immersed in his writing was quite enjoyable. The next day, when the sky was bright, Fang Yuan let out a long sigh of relief and stretched. He had already finished the first volume of The Coiling Dragon, The Coiling Dragon Ring which had a total of 120,000 words. The first volume of the series, The Coiling Dragon Ring, was fairly complete. It described how the main character, Linley, had unintentionally picked up a magical ring from his ancestral home. Within the ring was an erudite old grandpa, Doehring Cowart, who had led Linley on a mysterious adventure. This could be published as the first volume of a series. Graduation was just around the corner, so Fang Yuan did not have much time left. He did not care about his reputation and went directly to the publishing house affiliated with the University of Iowa to meet with an editor. Fang Yuan planned to introduce himself and seek a publishing opportunity. Hello, Mr. Stoner. This is my work, The Coiling Dragon. Please have a look. Fang Yuan placed the printed sample book in front of the editor, Stoner. Stoner glanced at the book cover and did not even open it. He only saw the authors signature in Chinese and shook his head. Mr. Wei, I dont mean to offend you. Fantasy literature has been rooted in the West for hundreds of years. Youre from China, where modern literature is underdeveloped, and youre a new author whos writing a book for the first time. What makes you think that your work can stand out from the sea of books? Fang Yuan was neither servile nor overbearing. Because I know that this work is excellent enough. If you open the book and take a look, youll know it too. However, Stoner had no intention of reading the manuscript. He laughed very mockingly. Every writer will feel that theyre the chosen one and feel that their work is different from others. In reality, most of them are pretty much the same. You have to know that Ive been a damn editor for ten years. Ten years! How many decades is there in life? What I need now is a masterpiece thatll change my fate, not your debut novel. Fang Yuan did not say anything else. He sighed and finally understood why Stoner had been an editor for ten years. Stoner could not even grasp the opportunity that came his way! Dont be too sad. A newcomers submission is bound to be rejected. Im not sad for myself. I just feel sorry for you. It seems that youll miss the turning point of fate again. With that, Fang Yuan turned around and left the publishing house. He wanted to find another way out for The Coiling Dragon. In his previous life, web novels were published in chapters. If it was serialized in a magazine, it might be a good choice as well. Fang Yuan was very motivated and immediately turned to the University of Iowa magazine publisher. He wanted to publish his manuscript there. The editor of the magazine, Walter, was very enthusiastic. He winked and smiled obsequiously, and almost came up to Fang Yuan to hug him. I understand, I understand. Mr. Wei, every graduation season, there will always be students like you who come to visit me with manuscripts. I have to say that youve found the right person. Im an expert in solving this problem, but in terms of the price Fang Yuan thought that with his status as a newcomer, he might not be able to get a high price. Just follow your usual rules. Three thousand dollars. Three thousand dollars to sell the copyright of The Coiling Dragon was too much of a loss. Actually, I dont want to buy it out. Instead, we can follow the royalty-sharing model. Walter frowned and said, What buy-out or royalty? I mean, if you want to publish it, you have to pay me a deposit of 3,000 US dollars first. This can be considered as the layout adjustment fee for the self-financed publication. There are also printing fees, editing fees, and some other fees. If you add them together, Ill give you a discount price of 5,000 US dollars. With that said, Fang Yuan finally understood where Walter was getting at. Walter was selling a magazine space! A students graduation thesis had to be published in a print publication, but the level of creativity was not good enough to be published, so what else could he do? He would just pay a journal editor and bribed him to forcefully select works that did not meet the requirements. The editor could make some extra allowance for himself. The student would spend money and give their tutor an explanation. Hes just treating me as a fool! Ive worked so hard to write a book and have yet to earn a single cent from it, yet he wants me to spend money first? Forget it, screw him! Since there was no hope for the publishing house or the magazine, Fang Yuan returned to his dorm, turned on his computer, registered a domain name, and started a blog. He wanted online literature to return to the place where its dream began. Fang Yuan wanted to publish The Coiling Dragon on his personal website. Chapter 3 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation It was not a problem to publish them online. The biggest problem was getting the novel to reach readers. There was just too much content on the internet. How much traffic could a newly established personal website get? Fang Yuan soon realized the problem. He had to find a way to channel readership for The Coiling Dragon. Thus, he clicked on the link to the worlds largest e-book platform C Amazon. He uploaded The Coiling Dragon book once more. Only, this time, he did not publish the entire first volume and only published half of it. The main character of his novel, Linley, had discovered the mysterious coiling dragon ring in an abandoned, dilapidated ancestral home. Just as the old man in the ring was about to appearFang Yuan cut off the chapter! At the back of the book, he attached a link to his personal website. If you want to know more, please click here to continue reading. Yesterday, he had stayed up all night, and he had spent half a day today on this. After sending the book out, Fang Yuan fell into a deep sleep. The next morning. Fang Yuan was woken up by a notification from a mobile app. There were hundreds of notifications in his Amazon Writers account. They were all comments from the readers of his novel, The Coiling Dragon. Almost all of them gave a full five-star rating! The readership grew quickly and eventually pushed the novel to the top of the list in the fantasy genre. [ I stayed up all night to finish reading this book. Its been a long time since Ive seen such a good book. Good job, author! ] [ Forgive me for being blunt, but I saw that it was a fantasy novel written by Chinese people and didnt intend to read it at first. Unexpectedly, I couldnt stop once I start reading. Now, I just want to know where can I see the rest of the content? ] [ I dare say that this book is the most exciting classic fantasy in the past ten years. Its one of a kind! Its hard to imagine that it actually came from a new author. ] [ The soul of an old grandpa actually appeared in that ancestral ring! What a novel and great idea! Ive never heard or seen such a plot before. Its simply phenomenal and boundless! ] [ Author, please read this well. I just took out my gun. If I dont see the second volume within twenty-four hours, I will f*ckingkneel down and beg you for it! ] The only one-star comment was written like this. [ Im filing a complaint against Amazons e-book website! Why can unfinished works be published and uploaded? I was enjoying it so much and was brutally cut off! This is literally customer deception!! I will contact my lawyer and sue the sh*t out of you! ] It was as Fang Yuan expected. This book would shine and bring in heaps of money wherever it was published. Good works could cross national boundaries. Whether it was in his previous life or here in this parallel world, it was all the same. Fang Yuan smiled and walked out of the library to have breakfast. Good morning, Fang Yuan. I havent seen you all day yesterday. The silver-haired girl with double ponytails came over to greet him. Her name was Sakazaka Rion. The girl was in her early twenties. She was very young and looked like a student. In fact, she was Fang Yuans Japanese literature teacher. Although she was in America, she still dressed in the Japanese style. She wore a white sailor suit with a checkered skirt that wrapped her slender legs. She also wore a pair of brown leather shoes with laces. This woman looked especially cute. Many teachers in the school, including some students, admired her. However, perhaps because they were both Asian, Sakazaka Rion was always closer to Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan waved at her and the two of them walked to the cafeteria together. I went to the library to finish my thesis. Youve been busy with your thesis approval, havent you? She shook her ponytails and sighed. Sigh, I stayed up all night. Youre done? He asked casually. Fang Yuan bought two raisin muffins and found a place to sit at the cafeteria. Dont mention it. I didnt even read a single word. Huh? My mind was in a daze yesterday. I didnt want to do anything, so I decided to go to Amazon to read some novels and look for inspiration. I was browsing through the fantasy section that I usually read and found a book called The Coiling Dragon. It was so good that I couldnt stop reading it! Then, in the blink of an eye, it was already dawn, but I dont regret it at all. Not one bit! I was completely immersed in that book and spent a wonderful night reading it! Rions eyes were narrowed as if she was still immersed in the fantasy world of the novel. Hearing the words The Coiling Dragon, a few classmates who were sitting next to her quickly surrounded her. The University of Iowa was the worlds major literary and artistic college. The students there were naturally the most sensitive to the works on major book rankings. Did you just mention The Coiling Dragon? Isnt it that novel on Amazons top ten fantasy books? What a coincidence! I was reading this book yesterday as well. Me too, me too! Its really amazing! When will I ever be able to write like this? Im not asking for much. I just hope that I can write my graduation thesis at 1% of that authors standard. So who knows where to find the rest of the content? I went to the authors personal website, but the books not complete there either. Its only the first volume. Maybe the second volume hasnt been written yet. The story is all in the authors mind. It would be great if we could find the author and ask him in person. Didnt you guys see the highlights posted on the School Forum? Last night, a computer science genius used the IP registered by the domain name to locate the authors device. Now, we can be sure that the author whose pen name is I Eat Tomatoes is at our university! What! This master is actually among us? When Rion heard this, she took a bite of her muffin. Hmph! If the author was my student, Id definitely capture this fellow and chain him to the desk to finish the book. If he doesnt finish writing, he wont be fed! This is what we should do when dealing with talented authors who dont diligently update their books, dont you think so? Yeah! Youre absolutely right! This is what we should do! If the author doesnt write the book properly, he or she will be whipped. Even the donkeys in the production team dont dare to rest like this! I really wanna pry open the authors head and see whats inside. The crowd was furious while Fang Yuan shuddered at their remarks. It was true that fans would do crazy things when provoked. Sakazaka Rion looked like a cute girl, but what she said she was unexpectedly sick! Fang Yuan said, You guys have fun chatting. I still have something to do, so Ill take my leave first. He left the cafeteria and wanted to take his laptop back from the library so that he could write in a safer place. Just as he walked to the table and held the laptop in his arms, he heard a cold female voice. Mr. I Eat Tomatoes, right? Without waiting for Fang Yuan to reply, the tall and sexy lady with burgundy shoulder-length hair walked to him. She reached out her right hand as she said, Nice to meet you. Im the editor-in-chief of Rainforest Literature, a publishing company under Amazon. You can call me Lilith. When uploading a work on Amazons website, the author would need to register their identity. Thus, it was not surprising that Lilith came to find Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan also did not have a reason to deliberately hide his identity because publishing his work was his purpose in the first place. Hello, Ms. Lilith. Chapter 4 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Rainforest Publishing was located in Des Moines, the capital city of Iowa. Relying on the university resources there, the literary industry such as book publishing had been developing very well. Fang Yuan walked into the publishing company building under Liliths guidance. It immediately caused a heated discussion among the editors. Hey, do you guys know who the good-looking Asian guy next to President Lilith is? Is he a new colleague? How is that possible? When did you ever see Lilith being so polite to others? Youre all clueless. Hes probably an author. The editor-in-chief went out early in the morning with a publishing contract, so she probably went to look for the author to sign the contract. So that Asian guys a writer? Such a young writer? He doesnt look a day older than 20! There are many young writers out there, but very few who are so highly regarded by the editor-in-chief. Yeah, back when our company published the Iowa Prize Winners book, Lilith only nodded at him. The rest of the follow-up work was done by her subordinates. Why is it such a big deal this time? Who knows? I thought of a possibility. Could this guy be a celebrity? Those celebrity photo albums sell very well on the market, so maybe thats why the boss personally negotiated with him. Its possible. Otherwise, it wouldnt make sense for the chief editor to personally handle an amateur writer. Isnt the meeting room next to the editor-in-chiefs office empty? Lets pretend that were going for a meeting and eavesdrop from there. Okay, good idea! Lets go! The editorial department was the most enthusiastic place in the world to discuss gossip. Soon, Fang Yuan, who had just arrived, became the center of discussion. In the editor-in-chiefs office. The manuscript for The Coiling Dragon had been printed out and was neatly spread out on the desk. There were some comments and notes in red ink. Fang Yuan sat down on the guests seat. Lilith walked to the back of her desk and stood still. Then, she suddenly leaned forward and looked straight at him. Youre a genius, Mr. Fang Yuan. Uh Although he was a little surprised, Fang Yuan still maintained his composure. Thanks for the compliment. Lilith then changed the topic. Butthere are many kinds of geniuses. Some geniuses explode like fireworks and disappear just as quickly. Some geniuses cut through the night sky like meteors, having a brief moment of splendor in the night. The real genius, however, is the bright moon that stays in the night sky. Whether you look at it or not, its still there, indispensable. Mr. Fang Yuan, I hope that youre the latter. I can give you the best publishing resources, the most premium advance payment, the highest-tiered royalties, and the most expensive packaging and publicity. I can give you everything that other publishing companies can give you and everything that other companies cant. I only have one request for you. Even if you decide to make The Coiling Dragon a long novel and complete this book, just dont stop writing. Can you do that? Lilith had been publishing for quite some time. She had seen too many authors who disappeared after they wrote stunning debut works. From then on, they bid farewell to the literary world, ran out of talent, and stopped publishing their works. She had also seen many writers who, ever since they had written a best-seller and earned enough money, had indulged themselves in debauchery every day and live as if literature had been a dream of their past. Today, she was ecstatic when she saw a good book like The Coiling Dragon. She made the decision on the spot and was willing to sign this writer named Fang Yuan at any cost. However, she was also worried that her decision would be too hasty and would harm this young man with a bright future. Of course, Ill continue writing. I will be the first Chinese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Fang Yuan gave a very bold answer with an indifferent tone. He was so indifferent as if winning the Nobel Prize was not an unrealistic dream but a fact that would eventually be realized. Its great to have an ambitious dream, but when you reach for the stars, you also have to keep your feet on the ground. Lilith smiled and continued, Back to your novel, The Coiling Dragon. We hope to publish the paperback version of this book since youve already finished the first volume. Do you have any plans for the follow-up plot? How many volumes do you plan to write? I do have plans. Fang Yuan pondered for a while and replied, This is a long series. I estimate that itll have 21 volumes, with a total of 3.33 million words or so. Lilith was stunned. Every word Fang Yuan said caused a huge storm in her heart. One had to know that the definition of a novel in this world was more than 100,000 words. Even if it was a multi-volume novel series, most people only wrote a trilogy or a five-volume novel. 300,000 to 500,000 words would usually be the maximum. Now, Fang Yuan said that he was going to write 21 volumes with a total of more than 3 million words. To Lilith, it sounded like a fantasy. Three million words?! How is that possible? How is that not possible? I only need to maintain a serial speed of more than 10,000 words per day for the rest of the book. Ill finish it in less than a year. As for the next book, we can talk about it when the book is finished. Every day10,000 words Lilith stopped smiling and could not help but frown. She had been published for so long, so she naturally knew that the average writing speed of an author was about 1,000 words per day, and they might have to rest for two days every three days they wrote. The common understanding of the literary world was that an author had to work slowly and meticulously to produce good works. Some writers could only produce a 100,000-word work in three to five years. This young man actually dared to say that he could write three million words in a year without stopping? What kind of joke was this? Lilith said seriously, Mr. Fang Yuan, I hope you understand that literature is a very serious matter, and I wont toleratewhatwhat are you doing? Fang Yuan had already opened his laptop and started to write the second volume of The Coiling Dragon. Seeing was believing. Since Lilith did not believe him, it was pointless to continue talking. The best way was to let her witness with her own eyes, the speed of creation from another world! Chapter 5 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Fang Yuan did not speak as his fingers danced on the keyboard. His typing speed was very fast. Lilith wanted to stop him, but she could not say a word. As long as the author was fully immersed in the world of creation, he would not pay attention to any changes around him. That was because he had already entered the realm of imagination. As the words on the screen became more visible to her, Lilith gradually dispelled all her doubts and was completely immersed in the fantasy world of The Coiling Dragon. until Fang Yuan typed the last word. Fang Yuan started a new page and wrote the second chapter of the second volume. Lilith felt as if she had just woken up from a dream. She felt lost. She could no longer see the rest of the story. When she turned around to look at the time, less than twenty minutes had passed. Two thousand words in twenty minutes. Naturally, this was not the limit for typing speed. However, such an exciting and smooth story actually appeared in front of her out of the blue within twenty minutes. It was simply incredible! Lilith had been in the publishing industry for so long and had seen at least 800 young geniuses. However, the only one who gave her such a huge shock was none other than Fang Yuan. After writing these 2,000 words, Fang Yuan did not stop. While Liliths mind was blank from shock, he had completed the outline of the second volume. Amazing! Amazing! Lilith clapped her hands. Theres no need to show me anymore, Mr. Fang Yuan. Youre more interesting than I thought. I have complete faith in your capabilities and I hope that youll continue to surprise us in the future. Then, they began to discuss the terms of the publishing contract. Liliths arrangement for this was very thoughtful. They were only allowed to buy the right to print and distribute printed works. The contract was signed for five years, and the payment of royalties was the highest-tiered with the most generous upfront payment. Aside from the one-time upfront payment of 30,000 dollars, royalties fluctuated between 13% and 30% based on the number of copies printed. Generally speaking, there were not many new authors who could get royalties. Even if they did, they would only get 6% to 8%. If they could get more than 10%, they were considered a rising star and the strongest newcomer that everyone looked up to. Lilith gave Fang Yuan the treatment of a famous author, with a starting of 13% gradually increasing up to 30%. Excluding the paper, printing, editing, proofreading, and other expenses of the printed book itself, almost all proceeds were given to Fang Yuan. The two of them walked out of the office. Lilith said to the secretary, Arrange for The Coiling Dragon to be printed as soon as possible. I want 100,000 copies for the first print! There were already a bunch of curious editors around the door. Hearing 100,000 copies for the first print, everyones eyes almost popped out. In the publishing industry, the number of first prints represented the publishing companys sales expectations for a book. 100,000 copies represented the top-selling work in the United States. Editors could do whatever they wanted in the industry. Now, a rookie author who was a college student who had not even graduated had 100,000 copies booked for his first print?! The editorial department was in a frenzy. This is f*cking ridiculous! Is Chief Editor Lilith crazy? The marketing department was also in an uproar. How can a rookie sell 100,000 copies? Just kill me now Sales department: According to our statistics, the average sales volume of a rookies first novel in the past few years was only3,000 copies. The input-output ratio was always negative. Budget department: Unmarketable books require the company to bear large costs in terms of logistics, storage, and turnover. Its a huge risk! I remember that the governors speech last time was only had 50,000 copies printed. Didnt that autobiography of that famous popstar only sold for 30,000 copies a few years ago? Everyone was in a heated discussion. Thousands of words converged into one idea, which was hoping that editor-in-chief Lilith would think twice about her decision. However, Lilith did not care about the discussion at all. In the company, she was a bossy president who would not back down. When I say 100,000 copies, I mean 100,000 copies. No more, no less. All of it will definitely sell. If there are any leftover copies, I will personally fork out the difference and make up for the losses. Thatthats not what we meant. Its just that hes a newbie, Im afraid Hes not a newbie. Lilith watched Fang Yuan walk out of the office door and stared at his departing back. Hes the author of The Coiling Dragon, a real eccentric. What? The author of The Coiling Dragon? Oh, thats fine then. Hes so young?! Looking at his writing skills, I thought he was a white-bearded old man! Boss, why didnt you say so earlier? I shouldve asked for his autograph I dont want his autograph. I just want him to hand over the manuscript for the second volume of The Coiling Dragon to me. Do any of you know his address? I dont mean anything by it. I just want to send him some gifts. Since the publication of the novel yesterday, The Coiling dragon had already surpassed the fantasy novel rankings and was now in the top ten of fiction novel rankings. It was ranked first on the rookie list. It even broke Amazons single-day sales record for e-books. Although everyone still had doubts in their hearts, at this moment, they had a little more confidence than before. Since it was him, he might really be able to sell the first 100,000 copies. .. Fang Yuan walked out of the Rainforest Publishing office building with a publishing contract and a sample copy of The Coiling Dragon. With proof of his publication, it was time for him to hand in his thesis to his tutor, Hades. Chapter 6 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation At the Main Building of the University of Iowa, in Hades office. There was a long line at the door of his office. It was filled with students who were waiting to hand in their graduation thesis with anxiety written all over their faces. There were also students who came out of the office. They were mostly frowning because they had been harshly reprimanded by Hades. Hades was nicknamed as King of Hell, which fit his name. It was definitely a well-deserved reputation. He was very strict with his students and many students had not seen a smile on his face even after four years with him. All of the manuscripts that were sent over were badly criticized. Many thin-skinned girls with high self-esteem were even scolded to tears by Hades on the spot. Fang Yuan overheard two people gossiping when he was waiting in line. One of them was frowning. The manuscript in his hand was filled with red marks which took up almost 90% of the manuscript. These red marks represented the parts that needed to be revised. The other persons manuscript did not have any red lines at all. It was pure white and flawless. The person with the red-marked manuscript said enviously to the latter, Im jealous of you. The manuscript that I submitted is a complete goner. Other than a few sentences that didnt need editing, the rest of it needs to be revised. The student who had the unmarked manuscript let out a long sigh. Sigh, you dont understandat least Hades marked your manuscript, which means its still worth his time. As for me, theres no need for revision because he threw it back to me and asked me to rewrite the entire story! It was soon Fang Yuans turn to walk into the office. Hades took the manuscript, put on his glasses, and looked at it carefully. Halfway through, he took out his phone to search for something, then compared the two. He suddenly threw Fang Yuans manuscript on the desk. Fang Yuan! Where did you get this novel? Do you think I havent read it? Dont get me wrong, this is the University of Iowa which is the most advanced creative writing center in the world. Everyone is engaged in creative writing, so do you think Im that ignorant?! Hades could not believe his eyes. The manuscripts submitted by his students were exactly the same as the work on Amazons best-selling list. If this was not plagiarism, then what was? I read it last night. Its a brand-new fantasy novel called The Coiling Dragon that just came out recently. The title and content meet all of the requirements of the graduation thesis, and the quality is impeccable. Youre a writer, so you can learn, imitate, and follow the trend, but you must never plagiarize! To avoid misunderstanding, I searched up this book just now and compared it with your manuscript. Hades continued angrily, The character names and places in the first few paragraphs, including every word and every f*cking punctuation mark are exactly the same! Are you trying to test my patience? Or are you just insulting my intelligence? At the door, the students were whispering and gossiping among themselves. F*ck, he actually copied word for word? Hes too bold. What do you mean bold? Thats pure stupidity! Out of so many works, why did he plagiarize The Coiling Dragon? That book is so popular now, so isnt he just digging his own grave? Hades hates it most when his students plagiarize. Fang Yuans a goner. According to the schools rules, there will be a stern warning, punishment, and immediate expulsion. Hades eyes were wide from anger and looked like a ruthless king. First, he pointed at the web page on his phone, then pointed at the manuscript of The Coiling Dragon that Fang Yuan handed to him. Fang Yuan, the evidence is right here! What else do you have to say for yourself? I have nothing to say. Then are you plagiarizing? Yes. Fang Yuans expression was unusually calm. His eyes met Hades angry gaze, yet he did not show any signs of fear. He had already become a plagiarist. That meant that he was shameless. He continued, I plagiarized a novel from I Eat Tomatoes. All the students were shocked. How could he admit that he had plagiarized sounding so righteous and reasonable while standing on the moral high ground? Then, Fang Yuans next sentence shook the entire building. What I meant to say is, I am I Eat Tomatoes! What did you say?! Hades voice rose by an octave. Fang Yuan slowed down when he said, I said, Im the author of this novel, The Coiling Dragon. I Eat Tomatoes is one of my pen names. The crowd was in an uproar. Fang Yuans pen name is I Eat Tomatoes? Thats impossible! When I had lunch with him a few days ago, he hadnt even started writing his graduation thesis. The writing style of this novel is so authentic. How could it be written by a Chinese person? I dont believe it either. It doesnt sound reliable and feels like a shoddy lie that was made up in a moment of desperation. If hes I Eat Tomatoes then Im Shakespeare! If Fang Yuan is the author of The Coiling Dragon, Ill eat this keyboard! Hades waved his hand and signaled for the students at the door to be quiet. He just looked straight at Fang Yuan. Fang Yuans eyes were clear and sincere. He did not seem to be faking it. Its not that I dont believe you, nor am I saying that I believe you. Hades continued, You need to prove yourself by today. Otherwise, I wont be able to accept your graduation thesis. It wont take a day, Hades. Fang Yuan took out the publishing contract he had just received from Rainforest Literature from his briefcase. Then, he took out The Coiling Dragon sample book and flipped to the copyright page. The author was clearly written in black and white on the copyright mark. [ Pen Name: I Eat Tomatoes. ] [ Real Name: Fang Yuan. ] This hard evidence was irrefutable. Hahaha! Good, good, good! Hades attitude did a 180-degree turn. His face, which had been expressionless all year round, was actually brimming with a proud smile. He even said good three times in a row. I didnt expect this masterpiece to be written by you, Fang Yuan. Im really proud of you, and I apologize for the misunderstanding just now. I hope you dont mind. Im just too excited. After all, its been a long time since Ive seen such an excellent work like The Coiling Dragon. Fang Yuan waved his hand to indicate that he did not mind. Hades was a straightforward person, so his anger vanished just as quickly as it appeared earlier. The annual Creative Writing Workshop in Iowa will be held soon. Writers from four nearby states will gather here to participate in the essay writing competition. The reward for the winner is very bountiful, but unfortunately, I cant reveal it at the moment. I have a VIP pass because Im a judge. As the tutor spoke, he took out a black silver-plated card from his shirt pocket. On it was a picture of Minervas owl taking off at dusk, which symbolized inspiration and wisdom. Initially, I wanted to choose the most outstanding graduation thesis for the competition, but now theres no need for that because it belongs to your book, The Coiling Dragon. Keep it. Im looking forward to your performance in the workshop! Hades patted Fang Yuans shoulder and sent him out of the office. Chapter 7 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Outside the office, the students were in an uproar. Fang Yuan is I Eat Tomatoes? OMG! Fang Yuan is I Eat Tomatoes! The author of The Coiling Dragon was actually right next to us all along?! Everyone at the University of Iowa was a writer, so everyone was aware that the most popular newcomer in the electronic publishing world right now was the author, I Eat Tomatoes. They loved and hated this author. Everyone loved him because he brought them a wonderful and delightful reading experience, and they hated him because he stopped at the first volume. Fang Yuan! Bro! God of Writing! Please give me an autograph, my girlfriend absolutely loves your novel! I knew it! I told you that our bro Fang Yuan is a genius! This author from China is indeed extraordinary. Hurry up! Lets go absorb some of his powers. Hes a living, breathing author on the bestseller list. Anyone who wants to get on the list, follow me! Im really curious how the entire universe of The Coiling Dragon was conceived. Can you give us a lecture, Teacher Fang Yuan? Who cares how he came up with it? Isnt it enough as long as its good? Since you have so much free time, go back and upload the next story! I wanna know what happened to Linley later on! Please, Im begging for new releases! Fang Yuan, stop right there! Ill send you some gifts! UmmFang Yuan, Im really sorry for what I said just now. I really didnt mean anything by it. I just wanted to ask when the second volume will be written and when will it be published? Can I have a look at the draft first? Big Brother Yuan, Ive already finished eating my keyboard. Do you have any other instructions for me? Why dont I cross-dress to cheer everyone up? Everyone present was a writer. They were all so humbling when they urged Fang Yuan for an update. Faced with the chattering of countless classmates, Fang Yuan naturally did not have the time to respond to them one by one. He just kept saying that he would write it immediately. He also promised that the second volume would be published soon. Only then did everyone leave in satisfaction. Fang Yuan finally had a moment of peace after returning to the dormitory. He turned on his laptop and finished writing the second volume, Growth. When he published it, he thought about it. The day of the paper publication was right in front of him. If he uploaded the new content online, everyone would have finished reading it immediately. In that case, it might affect the sales of the book. Thus, Fang Yuan thought about it and posted an update on the official website. Dear Readers, the author has already formed a partnership with Amazons Rainforest Publishing Company. The first and second volumes of The Coiling Dragon will be available in major physical bookstores and online bookstores within a few days. Thank you for your support and encouragement all this time. You will always be the driving force behind my continuous creation! The comments below came very quickly. [ Congratulations on the publication of your new book! ] [ Looking forward to the exciting content of the second volume! ] [ Im already waiting at the bookstore. When the new book is released, Ill buy three copies. One for personal use, one for collection, and one for sale! ] [ Good job, author! Im looking forward to your new book! ] Then, Fang Yuan updated another post that he had edited. In order to protect the interests of publishers and the rights and interests of readers of physical books, from today onwards, I will temporarily stop updating the latest serialized chapters on my personal website until the end of the contract period for new books. The contract period to protect shelf sales was a rule for physical books. It was more strictly enforced overseas. For example, it was not recommended to publish e-books for as long as the books were still available on the shelves. They were also not allowed to give more than a 20% discount for a certain stipulated period. Public libraries also could not place bulk orders for as long as the books were on the shelves. These were all forms of the publishers protection of rights and interests. If new books could be read for free as soon as they were published, it would be detrimental to the authors, publishers, and those who paid for them. Therefore, Fang Yuans action was reasonable. However, the comments section quickly exploded. Youve changed! Youre no longer the I Eat Tomato who thinks of your readers! What? Youre actually charging? I guess our fate ends here. The publishing company just wants to earn from us! When will readers take a stand? I used to love your book. Dear readers, I suggest that we boycott buying the books on the day they go on sale. It should be our choice whether we want to read a physical book or an e-book. It shouldnt be the publishers decision. Everyone, we must show them our determination! .. In the female dormitory next door, Sakazaka Rions slender fingers typed furiously on her butterfly-shaped keyboard. She left a message on Fang Yuans personal website and posted a comment saying that she was boycotting the upcoming book, The Coiling Dragon. Hey! Did you know that the real identity of I Eat Tomatoes was exposed at Hades office today? Its your student, Fang Yuan! Rion stared at her screen without blinking. Yeah, I knew it long ago. Isnt he on good terms with you? Why did you post such comments on the internet? You dont understand, do you? Rion turned around and said, Even though Im Fang Yuans teacher, Im also a reader of The Coiling Dragon! How popular do you think The Coiling Dragon is right now? There are hundreds of thousands of students at six universities in Iowa. Everyone is already talking about it, not to mention the readers in other states. Can you imagine how many copies the publishing company will print? I can guarantee that as long as the bookstores receive their stock, itll already be sold out. If thats the case, why should we create competition for ourselves? Its best to persuade everyone not to buy it online. That way, the chances of us buying it will be even higher! She went on a long monologue. The person next to her suddenly understood. Wow, thats genius! She also turned on her computer and found Fang Yuans personal blog. There were already countless replies under Rions post. That girl also left her own comment. I support this boycott! Lets boycott The Coiling Dragon physical book! Chapter 8 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation At the same time. Penguin Publishing, the worlds largest publishing company, was holding its monthly topic selection meeting. The topic selection meeting was for all the employees in the corporation. Even the editor-in-chief would attend the meeting. The goal was to gather information from everyone and find the most promising work in the current market, then sign its copyright. Their principle was that they would rather sign the wrong ones than let any go. Anyway, as long as they signed enough authors, there would always be a portion that would stand out. Then, they would package and market these authors who stood out in the sea of people. These were the best-selling authors published by Penguin. As for the rest, they would leave them to fend for themselves. In the parallel world, the authors called this method the penguins feeding strategy. Although the authors had many complaints, it was undeniable that this was how they became the worlds best. At this moment. A man with a hooked nose, high cheekbones, and deep-set eyes sat at the head of the conference table. He was the content editor of Penguin Publishing in North America, Jeffrey. Lets get the latest developments in publishing first. University of Iowa Press was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Penguin Publishing. The magazine had arranged for Stoner, the editor who had rejected Fang Yuans submission at that time, to be in charge of todays report. Yes, Mr. Jeffrey. Our companys work, Dawn, is the first place in best-selling romance books and tenth place in the general board. Ghost Hands is the first place in the mystery and horror category, and fifth place in general. Starfleet is the first place in science fiction and seventh on the general rankings. Through various efforts, they ensured that their works would be on the best-selling list. This was how Penguin Publishing operated. Stoner continued, Fantasy book sales The editor-in-chief, Jeffrey, was most concerned about this. The Fantasy book released this month was Magic Age. It was the first book that the company had poured countless resources into its packaging. It was expected to win an award for the best fantasy work of the year, then it would shine at the New York Book Fair. However, Stoner suddenly stopped speaking. Stoner looked at the document in his hand and was speechless for a long time. That was because the first place on the list was not Magic Age, which Penguin Publishing had been promoting. Instead, what was written in a large font was, The Coiling Dragon! The Coiling Dragon? Stoners first reaction was that it sounded familiar as if he had heard this name somewhere before. Combing through his memories, he vaguely remembered that a Chinese boy had come over yesterday to submit a piece that he did not even open. However, Stoner still had a slight impression of the title of the book. It was this name. How did it become the number one bestseller in the fantasy category in just one day? Isnt he a newcomer? Thats impossible! Continue. Jeffreys voice was ice-cold, so much so that his tone seemed to be able to cause frostbite. Stoner said with fear and trepidation, Magic Age in the fantasy category isrankedrankedsecond. Jeffreys pupils suddenly constricted. Then whos currently ranked first? Its a book called The Coiling Dragon. It has more than 30,000 popularity points ahead of the second-ranked Magic Age. Stoner did not even dare to raise his head. He just continued reading the contents of the report. Furthermore, it has now become the first in the overall best-selling e-book category this month. The moment he said these words, everyone fell silent. Penguin Publishing, as the worlds leading publishing company in terms of market value, had actually been robbed from first place in the overall rankings? This was something that had never happened before! It was a huge problem! Jeffreys gaze was sharp as he turned to look at his secretary. Investigate this book and its author. The secretary was very efficient. Very quickly, he got the results. Ive found out that the author is a Chinese student from the University of Iowa who majored in creative writing. His name is Fang Yuan. The Coiling Dragon has been submitted to our companys editors, Stoner and Walter, but its been rejected. For a multinational company like Penguin Publishing, all submissions were archived, so it was naturally easy to find. The author published the manuscript on his personal website, which became a huge sensation overnight. It rose to the top of the fantasy category and was now on the rise. The author even signed an exclusive publishing agreement with Amazons Rainforest Literature. Everyone held their breaths. The author of The Coiling Dragon had slapped these two editors in the face. As an editor, it was a pity to miss any author with slight publishing potential. If they missed this best-selling author, these editors were blind! Stoner was filled with instant regret. He had been an editor for so long and had been looking forward to a chance to change his fate. He had hoped to sign a best-selling author and be able to hold his head high in the company. However, when this opportunity was placed in front of him yesterday, he did not cherish it. Why didnt I even look at it at that time? If I was the one who signed The Coiling Dragon, wouldnt it be just a matter of time before I got a promotion and a raise? I wouldve reached the peak of my career! However, it was too late for regrets. Theres still half a week before the end of the month. I dont care what methods you use! Jeffrey glanced at the calendar and stared at the two trembling editors. The next time we have a meeting, I want to see that the number one bestseller is a book from our company. If the two of you make it impossible for me to answer to my boss, Ill use you as an answer! Stoner and Walter naturally nodded their heads incessantly. After the meeting was over, the two editors who had caused trouble sat together to discuss strategies. They saw that Fang Yuans personal blog was filled with the voices of resistance from the readers. It turned out that because the second volume of The Coiling Dragon prioritized the publication of physical books and would be suspending e-book uploads, it caused great dissatisfaction among the majority of the readers. I got it! We just need to hire a group of trolls to incite and amplify this sentiment. Students are most easily influenced by their peers. As long as everyone boycotts something, theyll also go along with the crowd. At the same time, well influence our distributers and get the bookstores near the universities to buy more copies of The Coiling Dragon. This will easily create an illusion of an oversupply of the new book and make it seem like no ones buying them. Then, our marketing department can send people to stand guard at the entrance of the bookstores to take photos of the empty stores along with a detrimental post. This way, the situation will definitely turn to our favor and itll only be a matter of time before our books return to the first place in the best-selling list! Walters analysis made Stoner nod his head in agreement. Brilliant! Brilliant! Chapter 9 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Never Have I Seen Such A Queue To Buy Books In 30 Years Of Opening My Bookstore The night before the first two volumes of The Coiling Dragon were published. The discussion on the website was getting more heated that it even led to a big social debate about whether a new book needed a protection period. Judging from readers feedback and professional booksellers perspectives, the situation was very unfavorable for Rainforest Publishing. The stock of Rainforest Publishing even fell a little due to it. The distributors, which were the major bookstores in the United States were cautious about this matter. That was because it caused a lot of negative news. They did not even dare to get stocks of The Coiling Dragon anymore. The employees of Rainforest Publishing were also quite anxious. On the day their editor-in-chief, Lilith, signed the contract with the author, she had boldly decided on an astonishing number of 100,000 copies of the first print for Fang Yuan, a new writer. The number itself was so exaggerated that it felt too risky. Now, everything was happening all at once, and there was still negative news before the new book went on sale. Although it was not a particularly serious problem, the internet seemed to be getting more heated due to a small group of people with ulterior motives. It was a denunciation of the author and a boycott of the book. The situation seemed bleak. However, Lilith still pushed through and carried on with their plan to have 100,000 copies of the first print as scheduled. On the other side, Penguin Publishing had arranged all the backups. Their keyboard warrior army was at full power, and their team of hired rebels was on the move, waiting to stir up trouble on the day the new book was released the next day. Late that night. Students from every college campus in Iowa jumped over walls, took detours, and skipped classes. In short, they were creative with their abilities in getting to the bookstore outside the school. They had already begun to line up for the release of The Coiling Dragon the next day. Many of them were classmates and knew each other, so they started chatting in the queue. Why did you come out? Oh, I just wanted to buy some exam materials. You came out to study in the middle of the night? Do you think Ill believe your nonsense? Hey, isnt The Coiling Dragon going to be released tomorrow? Im planning to buy a copy to take a look. You said you werent going to buy it yesterday! Didnt you also say that whoever bought it would be an idiot? Hahahaha! That was just to prevent you guys from fighting me over it. Me too, hehe. Its the second volume of The Coiling Dragon man! Can you hold back? I cant wait any longer. Its best if everyone doesnt buy it. That way, the chances of me buying it will be higher! Im relieved to see that everyones so sneaky. Sakazaka Rion? Hades, youre here too! Hahaha! More familiar faces started to appear, and the queue for this book grew longer by the hour. Those keyboard warriors and opinion leaders who clamored for everyone not to buy the book showed up there. They were the definition of double-dealing. Time flew by as they chatted. Soon, it was daytime. It was time for the bookstore to open. There was a long line of The Coiling Dragon readers on the University of Iowas intercollegiate avenue. Every student and teacher from every dorm and college nearby had gone out to line up on the street. Thinking about how the second volume of The Coiling Dragon was about to be published, what the rest of the plot would be, and whether or not Linleys crisis would be resolved, every single reader who had read the first volume were itching to know what would happen next, so much so that they were unable to fall asleep. When the owner of the bookstore near the school opened for business, she was so shocked and rubbed her eyes because she could not believe what she was seeing. Never in the 30 years of opening this bookstore had she ever seen such a scene. It felt like every reader in the world was there. They looked like they wanted to break through the door of her bookstore. What was even more shocking was that the person who led the way shouted, The doors open! Everyone, charge! The crowd rushed into the store. Everyone rushed straight to the newly published section to grab the two-part series of The Coiling Dragon. They held onto the book tightly and refused to let go. Countless pairs of hands held green dollar bills and waved in front of the cashier. These were all lucky people who managed to snatch a copy and were impatient to pay the bill. The bookstore accepted the distributing channels request and forcibly stocked up nearly a thousand copies of The Coiling Dragon. When the bookstore owner heard of the online rumors, she was originally worried about whether this book would be able to sell. However, it seemed that she was just overthinking it. Nearly a thousand copies of The Coiling Dragon were sold out in less than half an hour after the store opened. Some readers even started a fight in the bookstore for the ownership of the last remaining book. They were beaten black and blue and had to seek medical treatment after. I want this book and Ill pay three times the price! Ill pay tenfold! Ill pay a hundred-fold! A paperback that cost 12 dollars was sold for 120 dollars. Just like that, it became priceless. Every reader who bought the book was unwilling to give up their copy. Instead, they immediately squatted on the ground and started reading with great interest. They could not wait to read about the next plot. Whats the second volume about? Tell me, please Dont bother me! Im reading it right now! Then lend it to me after you finish reading it. Are you that shameless? I was here first, so get in line! Dont fight! Tell me whats so good about The Coiling Dragon. Ill lend it to whoever gets the right answer. The other bookstores near the university were also facing the same situation. Although the University of Iowa was located in the university town and there were definitely many bookstores there, there were even more students who wanted to buy this book and could not wait to go back and read it. The bookstores were all crowded. The printing stores were also crowded. Originally, these printing shops would only have business during exam season, where students would fight to copy the notes of the top students. Today, a large number of students rushed in to print a copy of the second volume of The Coiling Dragon. Although they only managed to get one book, one copy could easily become two! Everyone knew that this kind of private copying was piracy, but they could not care less about it at this moment. One should never underestimate the fanaticism of avid readers. Before noon, all the bookstores put up the sold-out sign for the second volume of The Coiling Dragon. However, there were still a lot of hungry readers at the door. This rare phenomenon quickly attracted the attention of literary media. The second volume of The Coiling Dragon was just released, yet there was a rush to buy it on all the major campuses in Iowa. Bookstores are selling out like crazy! A new wave of fantasy is sweeping across America! Breaking through the barrier, The Coiling Dragon is truly hard to come by! 100,000 copies of first print and more copies to come! Watch out for the best new fantasy author in the world! Reprint: the second print has already arrived. Would it reach a hundred prints soon? The media was naturally great at chasing headlines. Many columnists finished reading their copies as soon as possible to publish their reviews of the book. The actual situation was in stark contrast to the wildfire that spread across the internet. Penguins long-prepared post to defame the book was no longer of any use. Chapter 10 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation There was a large group of students gathered at the Creative Writing Department of the University of Iowa. Hey, did you guys manage to buy the second volume of The Coiling Dragon? Please lend it to me after youre done reading it, I promise Ill pay you handsomely! Me too! I got up at 5:00 am and didnt even get to queue up. 5:00 am? I f*cking waited outside the bookstore since last night! In the end, all copies were sold out right before I reached the door. Oofthats tragic. No way! Our class is so big and not even one person managed to get a book? Youre all trash! Useless piece of sh*t! As the classmate of the author, I cant even buy his book. Im furious at my own incompetence! Sakazaka Rion said, Even though every copy was sold out online and you cant buy them anywhere, I know a place where you can still see it. Where?! Ms. Sakazaka, please dont keep us in suspense! Hurry up and tell us! Rion said sneakily, Its in Fang Yuans computer. His first draft should be there. Hades creative writing class will be held at the lecture hall in the afternoon. Arent there excellent works to share in every class? Why dont we share about Fang Yuans new volume of The Coiling Dragon this time? Hades, I remember that you were queuing behind me this morning, so you didnt manage to buy a copy either, right? Hades was speechless. Wonderful! I cant wait to go to your class! Ive never looked forward to class this much. Ill go to the lecture hall now to book a seat! Lets go! There arent that many seats available. First come, first serve! .. In the afternoon, Fang Yuan, who had stayed up all night writing, woke up from his sleep in a daze. Hades class was about to begin. He remembered that creative writing classes were usually small classes held in the office. Today, Fang Yuan was notified at the last minute that there was a change of venue to the largest multimedia classroom in the school, the lecture hall. Along the way, he met many students who he did not recognize rushing in the same direction. Hades class was a public elective. In fact, not many students chose that class. After all, Hades was known as King of Hell and had very high requirements for attendance and passing marks. No one wanted to ask for trouble. Unexpectedly, so many students showed up for that class today. Fang Yuan even had the illusion that every student in the school was rushing to the lecture hall. Fang Yuan was afraid that if he was late, there would be no seats left. When he arrived at the lecture hall, all three thousand seats were filled. The atmosphere was even more spectacular than the opening ceremony of each school year. On the stage, Hades was happily reading the excellent works of his student, which was Chapter One of the second volume of The Coiling Dragon. Shadowmouse? A magical beast? Grandpa Doehring, whats so special about this creature? What is its rank? Linley was communicating with Doehring Cowart telepathically while he looked at the old man expectantly Hades storytelling was quite intriguing. He was playing two characters and managed to convey the ignorance and inexperience of Linley as well as the wisdom of Grandpa Doehring, who was in the ring. Everyone in the audience was mesmerized. The stairs in the auditorium were also filled with seated people, but not a single person made a sound. Not even a cough could be heard, as if they were afraid of missing out on the next part of the story. As a plagiarist, Fang Yuan naturally knew which part of the story they were at. This was Growth, the second volume of The Coiling Dragon, which was also the most exciting part of the book. The main character had just realized that the old mans soul that had appeared in the ancestral ring was actually a magical leader of the Pouant Empire. He had been framed by his opponent five thousand years ago and hid his soul in the coiling dragon ring. With his vast knowledge and vast experience, Grandpa Doehring was able to continuously guide Linley through his early stages of growth. At the same time, the main character, Linley, had just left the small town of Wushan, where he was born. On his way to the Ernst Institute, he had unintentionally tamed a violet Shadowmouse that had boundless potential and had named it Bebe. Bebe was an important supporting character and had the ability to devour anything. Afterward, it proved great assistance to the main character. .. When Fang Yuan entered the room, they were at the exciting part of the plot. It was a story about how, during the Ernst Institutes innate talent magic test, the main character Linleys spiritual energy was eighteen times more than his peers. The spiritual energy of a sorcerer was closely related to the strength of spells they cast. Linley, with his boundless potential, had gained the favor of many teachers as well as the envy and jealousy of his classmates. Suddenly, someone shouted, Fang Yuan is here! Everyone turned to look in Fang Yuans direction. Someone took the lead in clapping, then very quickly, a round of applause reverberated in the hall. It lasted for a long time. Fang Yuan tried to take a seat, but he was bombarded with questions from his classmates no matter where he went. When will Linley awaken the true power of the Dragonblood Clan? Will Grandpa Doehring, whos trapped in the ring, be released in the future? Whats so special about Bebe the Shadowmouse? Fang Yuan, did you use yourself as a model to create the main character, Linley? Now that you mention ithis talent in writing is indeed eighteen times greater than ours! Hades slammed the blackboard eraser on the podium a few times to get everyones attention. Students, calm down! Settle down, everyone! Only then did everyone shut up. Fang Yuan heaved a sigh of relief and felt like he had been saved. He cast a grateful look at his tutor from afar. However, Hades said, Since everyone has so many questions, then this class will be conducted in a Q&A manner. Now, lets invite our beloved Fang Yuan to come up to the stage and answer everyones questions! Fang Yuan was dumbstruck. Chapter 11 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Since the tutor had already said this, Fang Yuan had no choice but to go up to the stage and answer every question. Somehow, Hades creative writing class was forcefully turned into a book launch for the second volume of The Coiling Dragon. Hello, Mr. Fang Yuan. Im a reporter from the Iowa Journal of Literature. Id like to ask you one last question. At some point in time, a reporter had snuck into the lecture hall and raised his hand to ask a question. The Iowa Journal of Literature was originally bribed by Penguin Publishing and was waiting outside the bookstore early in the morning to write a defamatory piece about Fang Yuan and The Coiling Dragon. However, the situation was completely out of his expectation. Once the physical book of The Coiling Dragon was released, the entire city went crazy for it. Even if they wanted to write something bad about it, they did not have the chance to. However, for the newspaper, there was no reason to return the bribe that they had received. If one plan did not work, they could always come up with another. The reporter said, Current Chinese literature is in a period of decline, which is a common understanding of the literature world. However, with the release of your new book, The Coiling Dragon, youve given everyone a whole new perspective. It turns out that Chinese writers can also create excellent works. Many even think that youre the only hope for the future of Chinese literature. Youre the light of Chinese literature that shines overseas! Mr. Fang Yuan, as a rookie author who just made a debut, are you pressured? Do you feel that youre overpraised? The reporter was obviously a shrewd person. He just raised a very unpleasant and thorny question. The reporter was digging a hole for Fang Yuan to jump into. Suppose Fang Yuan answered yes, the newspapers headlines the next day would be about the new author lacking in responsibility and felt that his work was unworthy of such praise. If Fang Yuan answered no, the newspapers headlines would be about the new authors arrogance as he claimed to be the light of Chinese literature. Even if Fang Yuan avoided answering the question, they could write that the new author had an inferiority complex and was rendered speechless just by some harder questions. No matter what Fang Yuan did, they could spin it to their advantage. This was the insidious part of the question. When the reporter asked this question, their defamatory article already had a direction. The reporter expected this new author to be stunned by his overwhelming question. However, Fang Yuan did not lose his composure. He stared into the reporters eyes and answered frankly, Praise just means anticipation, and I understand the hopes my readers have on me. If anyone thinks that Im overpraised, I will use my work to prove that youre wrong. I fully deserve this. The reporter froze. He did not expect Fang Yuan to defuse this difficult situation so skillfully. The reporter laughed dryly and said, Mr. Fang Yuan, you seem very confident. May I ask if you have a detailed career plan for your future? If you do, can you please enlighten us? This was also another tricky question. Fang Yuan only published his first work yesterday, so in theory, he was still a newcomer. It was certainly not easy for a newbie to publish a book, so would he even have a career plan? Who could say for sure? Write more? Sell more? Earn more? No matter how he put it, it would appear awkward. Making Fang Yuan sound awkward was exactly what the reporter wanted. That way, he would have something negative to write about. However, Fang Yuan did not do as he wished. In fact, on the first day he transmigrated, he already had a plan after seeing the current situation of Chinese literature. Soldiers who dont want to be generals are not great soldiers. My career goal is the same as all writers, which is to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The audience gasped. Win the Nobel Prize in Literature? That was like a new employee saying that his career goal was to be a CEO! It was like crazy, absolutely insane! However, Fang Yuans tone was very serious, and his expression was stern. It really did not seem like he was joking at all. He was very calm and collected. Although the Nobel Prize in Literature has never revealed clear details of the award, after researching about the past winners, Ive summarized a few similarities. First, Id have to receive official certification. An author must win at least three world-class literary awards before receiving the Nobel Prize. For example, the Pulitzer Prize in the US, the Booker Prize in the UK, the Goncourt Prize in France, the Naoki Prize, and Akutagawa Prize in Japan, just to name a few. Secondly, the author must have public support. Before receiving the Nobel Prize, the author must participate as a special guest in the four global book fairs. That is the New York Book Fair, the London Book Fair, the Bologna Book Fair, and the worlds most important book fair, the Frankfurt Book Fair. Third, we must receive the support of a distinguished person. Before receiving the Nobel Prize, the author must receive the recognition and attention of respected peers in the literary world, whether its an academic translator, critic, linguist, director, or screenwriter in the entertainment industry. The circle of judges for the Nobel Prize isnt very big, so itll be easier to get in touch with them with the help of their recommendation. Fang Yuan paused for a moment before he continued. Just like my novel The Coiling Dragon, the main character Linley will not always be stuck in Wushan Town. In reality, I wont always remain in Iowa either. One day, my characters will be known to an even wider audience. I want the world to see and recognize Chinese literature. This is my career plan. As soon as he finished speaking, the lecture hall broke out in thunderous applause. Amazing! Well said! An old man with white hair and a white beard walked into the classroom and clapped repeatedly. Hades looked closely and quickly welcomed him. This old man was none other than John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, a visiting professor at the University of Iowa and a professor of Linguistics at Oxford University! Due to the time-space turbulence caused by the time travelers, the timeline and events in this world altered slightly. At this time, Professor Tolkien had just written his famous The Lord of the Rings trilogy and its prequel, The Hobbit. Although this was only a short book of hundreds of thousands of words, it outlined a huge worldview of Middle Earth. Tolkien even wrote a four-volume chronicle for this work and invented his own language. Therefore, he was the number one author in the world of fantasy novels. Hades was incredibly courteous. Respected Professor Tolkien, please come in! When I passed by the classroom earlier, I overheard you reciting the book. It was really emotional and full of cadence, so it immediately got my attention and I couldnt help but stop to listen! Tolkien teased Hades. Hades dared not take credit for it and was blushing slightly. Professor Tolkien, you flatter me too much. This work was just well written. The author of The Coiling Dragon. You must be Fang Yuan, right? Tolkien looked at Fang Yuan with his jade-blue eyes. Even though the old mans hair was already white, the wisdom in his eyes could not be concealed. I like your work very much. After listening to your answers to the reporter just now, I admire your ambition even more. There arent many people in this world who truly have dreams, and there are even fewer people who have the talent to match their dreams. After reading the two volumes of The Coiling Dragon, Im very certain that youre a rare young man who has both ambition and ability. Youve completely aroused my interest, and I look forward to seeing you on a bigger stage. Before that, if you need someone to vouch for you, Im willing to do so. I can even write a foreword for your book. Even Hades was shocked when he heard this. Professor Tolkiens status in the fantasy novel scene was equivalent to a god. If he stomped his feet, he would literally shake the literary world. At this level, if a great writer wanted to ask Professor Tolkien to write something, it was not just a matter of money. What they needed was his heartfelt approval. Now, Tolkien took the initiative to suggest writing a recommendation for Fang Yuan. That was him using his reputation to endorse The Coiling Dragon! It was so that he could bind the relationship between the two of them. Whether it was for the sales of The Coiling Dragon or for Fang Yuans future career as a writer, there were countless benefits. This kind of relationship between distinguished writers and rookies was very common in the literary world. Fang Yuan was not dull. He could see that Professor Tolkien was intentionally helping him, so he was very willing to accept this favor. Thank you so much, Professor Tolkien. Ah, Im so jealous! Fang Yuan is too lucky! What luck? He relies on his strength. If you have the ability, why dont you try and write The Coiling Dragon? Im clenching my teeth and fists so hard right now. Im so envious of him! Fang Yuan said he wanted a recommendation and got one right away. What kind of coincidence is this? Even Professor Tolkien vouched for him. When this news is released tomorrow, The Coiling Dragon which already has insufficient stock will probably be sold out again! The publisher who signed him really made a fortune. Sigh, Im so envious. I also want Professor Tolkien to write a foreword for my book. Forget it. I think your novel is only deserving of my recommendation! Hahaha! Dont you think that Tolkiens relationship with Fang Yuan is similar to the relationship between Grandpa Doehring and Linley in The Coiling Dragon?! Fiction meets reality Chapter 12 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation The next day. Tolkien published a literary review in every major newspaper and magazine in the country. Rainforest Literature attached this review to The Coiling Dragon as a foreword written by Tolkien the author of The Hobbit. The book sales increased several fold. The foreword read: Empires rise and fall on the Yulan continent. Saints, immortals, beings with unimaginable power, used spells and swords to fight, leaving behind vast destruction. Magical beasts rule the mountains. Brave people, or rather foolish souls, would go there to test their strength. Even the most powerful people would fall and be eaten by the beasts. The strong lived like nobles, and the weak struggled to live. This was the world Linley was born to. Linley grew up in Wushan Town and was a descendant of the Baruch clan. This clan had once been the legendary Dragonblood Warriors. Their name had once shaken the world, but now they were in decline, so much so that they sold off their family heirlooms. Linleys mission was to reclaim his clans past glory. He would experience countless trials and tribulations, make powerful friends, but also have fatal enemies. Read this book to witness a new legend that is currently still in formation. The story of Linley Baruch will be the legacy of the author, Fang Yuan. The comments section was filled with Fang Yuans question and answer session with the reporter from the Iowa Journal of Literature. Everyone knew that Fang Yuan was a young man who had been chosen by Tolkien. No media would dare to act rashly in front of such a major public figure. Thus, all of the fabricated negative articles naturally vanished. .. At the Rainforest Publishing Company. The statistics are out! Yesterday, the sales of The Coiling Dragon in online bookstores and offline channels totaled 158,000 copies! It far exceeds the number of first prints. Moreover, the number of pre-orders is still rising. The warehouse already called several times last night to rush us asking when will the new batch arrive. What did the printers say? Increase it to the maximum production capacity as soon as possible. Theyve already stopped all the other product lines. Now, 90% of their machines are printing The Coiling Dragon. Whats the other 10%? Its the school exam season, so some are still printing the schools exam papers Double the price and ask them to stop printing exam papers for the moment and finish printing The Coiling Dragon as soon as possible. We need to print another 300,000 copies as soon as possible! Yes, editor-in-chief! The whole company was excited and full of energy. They knew that The Coiling Dragon had completely blown up. .. Everything in the world was always so, with some happy while others were sad. Penguin Publishing Corporation. Editor-in-chief Jeffrey sat at his desk. There was a newspaper on the table with the front-page headlines showing that The Coiling Dragon was out of stock. Bang! He slammed the newspaper on the table. Is this your f*cking strategy?! The two editors, Stoner and Walter, did not even dare to lift their heads. They had already bribed the media and manipulated distribution channels, which cost the company a lot of money and resources. However, instead of being pulled off the best-seller list, The Coiling Dragon was doing better than before! Even Tolkien recommended it. After informing the Human Resources Department to deduct the annual performance bonuses of the two editors, editor-in-chief Jeffrey slammed the door and left. Before he left, he said, The annual New York Book Fair is right around the corner, and our headquarters leaders will be there. I dont care what you do, I dont wish to see that eyesore at the fair. The office began to discuss this issue nervously after the editor-in-chief left. Right now, The Coiling Dragon was in the limelight, and its momentum was irreversible. If they continued to cause trouble, it would be like trying to stop an oncoming truck with a mosquito. According to this sales volume, it was only a matter of time before the sales volume of a single volume exceeded 500,000 copies. Having sold 500,000 copies was one of the thresholds for the New York Book Fair. In other words, it was very likely that Fang Yuan would use the sales volume of The Coiling Dragon to participate in this years New York Book Fair as a special guest. Stoner was so anxious that he scratched his head. Walter, what do you think we should do? Walter was also cracking his brain. Let me think about it carefully. Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the office. It was the author of Magic Age, Dunbar. He came to the Editorial Department to cause trouble. Dunbar was the nephew of their editor-in-chief, Jeffrey. He was also a student at the University of Iowa and was considered a somewhat famous author. Due to his relationship with the editor-in-chief, Stoner and Walter made a promise saying that they would use all possible resources to make Magic Age the best-selling book. Dunbar was already prepared to be the star in all of Iowa this graduation season. In the end, he was upstaged by The Coiling Dragon that appeared out of nowhere. His mentor, Hades, was also praising Fang Yuan while the goddess, Sakazaka Rion, was extremely fond of him. Even his idol, Tolkien, had personally written the foreword to Fang Yuans new book. How could Dunbar not be jealous? You have to think of a solution. This falls creative writing workshop is about to begin. All authors who have published new works in the first half of the year will be invited to participate in the competition. Fang Yuan will be there, and Ill be there too, so you guys will have to think of a way for me to upstage him in this competition! Chapter 13 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation The creative writing workshop for the Fall Cup was an annual large-scale cultural event in Iowa. All authors who published new books in the spring and summer were invited to a specific location according to the requirements of this years competition. The authors would have to create a novel over a period of 14 days according to the required topic. In the end, the judges would select the best works according to the quality of the text, and the winner would receive an invitation to the New York Book Fair. It was indeed a very attractive prize. Therefore, rookie and experienced authors all over the country would make a trip to Iowa to participate in this event as long as they met the conditions of publishing their works in the first half of the year. Considering that the participants were all writers with publishing experience, and different writers had their own identities, reputations, and fan bases, it would be a little unfair to other contestants if great writers who had already achieved fame and success came to participate. Even the judges would know how to judge. After all, it was inevitable that everyone would have their biases. If they revered a certain author, anything that the author wrote would naturally be a masterpiece. Due to this, the organizers set up special rules. Each author was required to enter the competition anonymously. All authors were not allowed to sign their real names and were not allowed to use any of their previous pseudonyms. They were could only use a new pen name to submit their works. This would basically ensure that the competition was fair and impartial, without the influence of other factors. With their past glory wiped away, each author started with a blank slate. They had to prove themselves with their writing. This interesting condition also encouraged many young authors to join the competition. After all, this was a great opportunity for them to take down a legend! .. Hearing Dunbars complaints and thinking of the rules of the competition, Walter looked around and suddenly thought of an idea. This year, Penguin Publishing happened to be the sole sponsor of the Fall Cup Creative Writing Workshop. Thus, they would have access to more information earlier. They also had the jurisdiction to recommend judges. Walters approach was simple and crude with two steps. The first step was to arrange for himself and Stoner to be the judges in the finals. The second step was to get the topic ahead of time so that Dunbar could make preparations before everyone else. Since they would have colluded with each other, they would know which was Dunbars final draft. When the time came, it would be a piece of cake as long as they worked together. Entering the finals and upstaging Fang Yuan would also be a breeze. .. One week later, the Fall Cup Creative Writing Workshop was held as scheduled. Since Fang Yuan received the VIP pass from Hades early on, he was able to skip auditions and enter the official competition. Sherry, the President of the University of Iowa, was in charge of the competition. She was also a well-known figure in American literature. Born into a literary family, her father, Bourne, was one of the few Nobel Prize winners that were still alive in this world, while her mother was a famous critic of the Department of English Literature at Harvard University. Sherry received a good literary education from a young age as she was born into such a family. Some people even joked that she had been listening to Byron, Shelley, and Keats in her mothers womb. Her parents also intended to groom their only daughter towards literature. Thus, they formulated a very strict study plan to cultivate her literary sentiment from an early age. Eventually, Sherry lived up to her parents teachings. At the age of 16, she graduated from UC Berkeley and became a famous talent in school. Sherry was appointed by the Governor of Iowa to be the University of Iowas President. She had won numerous awards since then, with her highest achievement being the Poet Laureate awarded by the Queen of the United Kingdom. After all, no one ever received such an honor before the age of 30. Once this title was awarded to her, she became a sensation in the literary world. Critics claimed that she was a true genius. Although Sherry had been called a genius countless times since she was a child, she did not believe in this word. That was because she thought it was impossible for a genius to appear in the literary world. Shirley knew that if she had not come from such a family background, she would not have been able to get to where she was today. Therefore, this was definitely not innate talent, like what many outsiders thought. Instead, it was the result of rigorous training. Recently, when Sherry heard that another genius named Fang Yuan had appeared out of the blue, she did not believe it either. Sherry even looked through Fang Yuans student file through the universitys administration office. He was an international student from China. His previous classroom performance, exam results, and the professors impression of him were all just average. Average meant that he was not bad, but definitely not excellent. How did he suddenly manage to write a groundbreaking novel like The Coiling Dragon? There must be something wrong with that guy. This was also the reason why Shirley had taken time out of her busy schedule to be the chief examiner of this Fall Cup Creative Writing Workshop. She wanted to see for herself Fang Yuans performance in this competition. Sherry thought, I wont let go of any signs. As long as he left any trace, Ill definitely expose him Chapter 14 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Sherry, the President of the University of Iowa, announced the official start of the contest. Soon, more than a dozen buses carrying all the participants drove to the competition venue. It was already afternoon when they set off. By the time they arrived, it was almost evening, and there was a slight rain. It was fall, so the wind was chilly. Compared to the downtown area where the University of Iowa was located, the place where they got off the bus was very quiet, or rather, it was a little eerie. The contestants looked around warily. They wanted to know what kind of place they were in. Suddenly, a girl screamed, Theretheres a ghost! All the contestants looked in the direction of the voice. Everyone looked in the direction the girl pointed at, which was an arched tombstone with the face of the deceased carved on it. An old man with a hunched back silently appeared behind the tombstone. His face was wrinkled by the passage of time. What was even weirder was that it was almost the same face as the carving on the tombstone. Ahhhhh! Someone else screamed and there was a commotion among the participants who got off the bus. F*ck! Are we in the plot of a horror movie? Can someone explain where the hell are we?! Why is it so chilly? I suddenly feel so cold! OMGI wanna go home! Sherry put both hands up and signaled for everyone to calm down as she said. Everyone! Calm down! This is the arena for the Fall Cup Creative Writing Workshop Competition, the Peace Cemetery. The person you saw just now is the groundskeeper here and not a ghost, so please dont panic! Why did you arrange a competition venue right next to the cemetery? Its so creepy! This is terrible! I dont feel like writing anymore. Its a really strange venue Sherry said, The competition is held in a different place every year. The year before last, it was at the seaside, and last years competition was in the forest. We chose the cemetery for this years Fall Cup because the theme this year would be based on the cemetery. We believe that a qualified writer should be able to write in any environment and maintain his writing state, which is a compulsory course for our profession. Since Sherry said so, there were no more objections from the audience. When the crowds voices gradually died down, Sherry continued, The organizer has booked a five-star hotel near the cemetery. All participants must write in isolation here. Meals and accommodations will be carried out in the hotel. Your submission must not be signed by your real names or past pseudonyms, nor should your real identity be revealed in your content. If discovered, you will be disqualified immediately. The competition will be held for 14 natural days starting today. These rules are the same as previous Fall Cups, however, its worth a reminder that theres an additional rule this year. Each author will be accompanied by at least one mentor, who will provide guidance and confirm your identity beforehand. The author and the mentor could pair up on their own. As the competition was conducted anonymously and the entries submitted were all pseudonyms, it would be difficult to identify them. Thus, Sherry specially added this mentor mechanism. This allowed the novels produced in each competition to be traced back to the original author. Of course, this was only one aspect. More importantly, Sherry had hidden her motives in this competition. She wanted to find out what was going on with this Chinese boy named Fang Yuan. Would he be able to live up to his famous reputation? Alright, thats all for the rules! Weve arrived at the hotel, so please go to the front desk to get your room number. After confirming with your mentor, you can start writing. Best of luck, everyone! .. Fang Yuan got his room number at the front desk. This writing competition was very new to him. To him, since it was a writing competition, they could very well just write from home and hand in their manuscripts. It was a little strange to gather everyone so that all writers would eat and stay in the same place, then get someone to keep an eye on them. Many authors had already found their own mentors. Fang Yuan also saw Hades and Sakazaka Rion in the crowd. However, he was not worried about landing a mentor. Instead, he was more focused on the concept of the novel. Since the competition venue was right next to the cemetery, with the latter location as the theme of the location, one would assume that their works would be centered on horror or the supernatural. Most of the authors would have written similar content. They would have made it more thrilling and visually impactful by describing gory or eerie details. Fang Yuan was not the type to read horror novels in his previous life. Even if he were to recall his memory, he would not be able to find anything. This path definitely would not work. Thinking about it carefully, Fang Yuan wondered if it was necessary for the cemetery theme to be a horror novel that was as scary as possible. Since everyone would probably be writing horror novels, was there any other way to break the situation? While Fang Yuan was pondering, he saw a beautiful woman in a white chiffon shirt walking towards him. When they passed by the corridor, everyone who saw her nodded and greeted. Hello, President Sherry. SherrySherrySherry Young? Sherry Upon hearing her name, Fang Yuan soon made a series of connections. He suddenly thought of the most suitable title. Fang Yuan thought that he would be the contemporary successor of traditional tomb culture and the strange novels of the founder of Chinese tomb-robbing novels from his previous life. I got it! Candle in the Tomb is most suitable! Chapter 15 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation After the publication of the two volumes of The Coiling Dragon, Fang Yuan had earned over 100,000 reputation points. It was more than enough to exchange for two memory retrieval capsules. [ Ding! ] Soon, the rewards arrived. Seeing that there were still a large number of points left in his account, Fang Yuan conveniently browsed the systems store. There was a skill book called [ Psychological Insight (special agent level) ] that caught his attention. The price of this skill book was not exactly cheap and almost added to his current reputation points. The effects of this skill book were summarized. The human heart is very hard to predict. Words may not necessarily convey the hearts thoughts. After learning this skill, you can read another partys innermost thoughts through facial microexpressions and body micromovements. Although it sounded strange, science proved that it was particularly useful in official interrogations or covert special agents investigations. They truly used this skill to increase their emotional intelligence. In some cases, it even achieved the effect of lie detection and even mind reading. Of course, Fang Yuan was enticed by this great skill and exchanged it. Then, he used the last remaining points to buy a body strengthening supplement. Like the saying, treat your body like a temple, there was no harm in improving his health. There were a few crisp sounds in his mind. [ Ding! You have obtained the Memory Retrieval Capsule (limited to web novels). ] [ Ding! You have obtained the Psychological Insight Skill Book (Special Agent Level) ] [ Ding! You have obtained the Body Strengthening Supplement! ] .. Sherry greeted Fang Yuan. Fang YuanFang Yuan? Everyone has already found their mentor. What about you? Fang Yuan sitting down at this moment, recovering from his absent-minded state. Hello, Dean Sherry. I was thinking about the concept of the novel just now. As for a mentorI havent found one yet. Sherry frowned slightly and said, Oh? You have a concept already? I think I have a preliminary idea. I may need to consider more carefully how to write it though. In fact, as long as he had a memory retrieval capsule, every manuscript that he had read in his previous life, which included every word and even punctuation used, would clearly appear in his mind. It was just that Fang Yuan still had to find an opportunity to swallow the capsule. You already have an idea so quickly? Youre truly as they say! Your ability to think quickly is superb. Sherry narrowed her eyes and said continued, Ive recently heard rumors about you in school that you wrote the first volume of The Coiling Dragon overnight in the library. Its really quite astounding. Now that Fang Yuan had the psychological insight of a special agent, he could clearly read Sherrys microexpressions and micromovements. He could see that she was very interested in him. However, it was not a romantic interest and was just a pure curiosity about his writing ability. It was understandable when he thought about it. A mediocre student suddenly seemed like a different person overnight. He had made a name for himself in the world of fantasy novels and had become the talk of the entire state of Iowa, even the entire United States. It did sound very strange. If you dont mind, you can give me a brief introduction of your idea. Perhaps I can even help out with some suggestions. Are you going to be my mentor? Sure, I wont mind that. Sherry smiled lightly. She was known as the Goddess of Literature in the industry. Not only was she good-looking, but she also had a great talent for writing. Naturally, many people would ask for her guidance. Even if they did not win the competition in the end, at least they would get a chance to get up close and personal with her for two weeks, which was also a wonderful experience. However, Sherry declined all previous requests from other contestants even though some among them were famous writers. She wanted to coach Fang Yuan, whom she was most skeptical about. At this moment, Hades saw Fang Yuan and walked towards him. Oh, Fang Yuan! Considering our student-teacher relationship, I initially wanted to avoid suspicion in this competition, but since you havent found a mentor yet, I cant just stand by. Ill look for you later in your room. Fang Yuan did not know what to say. Hades had good intentions, but he was not comfortable with the idea of two grown men staying together. Rather than Hades, who was a rugged man, Fang Yuan would much prefer to stay with the beautiful dean, Sherry. They would have many long and thorough literary talks. UmmHades, thanks for your offer but Ive already found my mentor. After Hades left, Sherry suggested that they could have dinner at the revolving restaurant on the top floor of the five-star hotel. During the meal, they ordered wine and drank together. Sherrys alcohol tolerance was relatively high among the girls. She was the type who would go out to socialize and basically would not get drunk. However, she was a little anxious today as she was extremely curious about what had caused Fan Yuans huge change. She was planning to get Fang Yuan drunk to see if she could get anything out of him. However, although Sherrys alcohol tolerance was good, it was still impossible for her to defeat Fang Yuan, whose physique was strengthened by the system earlier. After three rounds of drinking Sherry started to feel a little tipsy, but Fang Yuan pretended not to notice. Fang Yuan, can you tell me whats the concept of your novel now? Yes, I can. Fang Yuan smiled as he looked at Sherry, whose skin gradually became flushed with misty eyes. I want to write about tomb-robbing. Chapter 16 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Tomb-robbing? After hearing this, Sherry quivered and seemed to become sober. What do you mean by tomb-robbing? Have you heard of traditional Chinese tomb-robbing? In ancient times, nobles with remarkable statuses had ideals about their afterlife. They believed that as long as they built a tomb, they could bring their glory and wealth from their existing life to the next. Thus, they would place many treasures they had used when they were alive in the tomb that they built. These included all kinds of jade, precious metals, and even pottery figurines that represented the illustrious identity of the tomb owner. There were carriages, horses, soldiers, weapons, and everything they could think of. The Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang were typical examples of this kind of burial culture. Whats even more terrifying is that some people would even designate a living person to be buried alive upon their death in an attempt to bring their loved ones to the afterlife with them. Fang Yuan introduced Sherry to what he knew about the ancient Chinese burial culture. He liked these strange folk stories in the traditional culture and was very familiar with these stories. Sherry had never heard of such a strange thing and stared into the distance with her light brown eyes. She was already engrossed in his story. Due to the ancient burial culture, there are probably countless treasures buried under the land on anywhere you step in China, especially in the ancient capitals of the Chinese dynasties. Where there are treasures, there will be treasure hunters. Thus, we have tomb robbers. My novel will be about this. I have to admit that the Chinese story you just told me is very interesting. Sherry put down the glass she was holding. Butthats purely from a creative point of view. We actually recommend following the existing genre of work. The reason why The Coiling Dragon could achieve such success is that it meets the readers expectations about the world of swords and magic. She paused for a moment before she continued, Forgive me for being blunt, but this tomb-robbing novel that you came up with off the top of your head isnt the conventional Western novel. In the American literary world, the cemetery theme usually only goes in three directions. Its either a gothic novel about vampires and werewolves, a horror novel about spirits and ghosts, or a detective mystery novel about murder and solving crimes. No one has ever seen or heard of tomb-robbing and wouldnt even know what it is, so they probably wouldnt pay for it. However, I can see that youre very talented based on your concept! Id suggest giving up on the idea of a tomb-robbing novel. I dont want to see you walk into a wall and bleed. Perhaps a different idea would be a better choice for this competition. After a long discussion at the table, Sherrys impression of Fang Yuan had improved greatly. Thus, she was analyzing Fang Yuans concept as a fellow writer and put forward many suggestions for modification. Fang Yuan also knew that most things in the world were so. New things always came with risks, so they would always encounter obstacles one way or another. Since it was human nature to seek stability, many simply would not innovate to avoid risks and would prefer a path taken by predecessors. This thinking would not bring change to the world, but at least they would not have to bear the disaster of a total loss. Fang Yuan was different. He had a strong belief and proof that his concept would work. He knew that the novel, Candle in the Tomb, was a huge sensation in his previous life. Fang Yuan also knew that this work had once been bought by one of the five largest publishing houses in the world for the rights to be translated and published. It even was well-known overseas. He was certain that this was a trump card that would bring him a sure win. Sherry, thanks for your suggestion, but Fang Yuan smiled faintly and recalled a classic quote from the great scholar, Lu Xun, from his previous life. Due to the alteration in this timeline, this quote did not exist in this parallel world. Thus, it was right to put it out there. Expectation isnt something that just exists, just like a path on the ground. In fact, the world was originally untouched. Paths only exist because one person braved walking that path. Eventually, a path will appear when more people take the same route. A path will appear when more people take the same route Sherry repeated this sentence in her mind and understood what Fang Yuan meant. Earlier, she had persuaded Fang Yuan to write common genres in the West, such as gothic, horror, or mystery novels since these were all paths that had been tested and verified by previous generations. Fang Yuan was clearly saying that there was always a road that had not been taken, and he was brave enough to be the first person to forge that path. He wanted to write the worlds first tomb-robbing novel and become the founder of this genre! Youngsters nowadays are really unpredictable. Sherry smiled with squinted eyes. The drunkenness on her face was obvious. Although she called him a youngster, she was certainly not considered old. She was not even thirty this year and was only twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. She also had a beautiful face and a perfect figure. However, with countless awards under her belt, she seemed solemn, graceful, and unattainable. Sherry said softly, Lead the way to your room. I want to see how you walk this path. Huh? Chapter 17 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation When Sherry blurted out that she wanted Fang Yuan to take her to his room, Fang Yuan was not the only one who was stunned. In fact, Sherry also felt a little regretful for her somewhat rash words. After all, she was born into a literary family. While she was influenced by the highest level of literature, she was also taught to be conservative. Sherry usually had very little contact with the opposite sex outside of a work setting, let alone get so tipsy that her mind was a little muddled. However, she had unknowingly lost track of time and drunk so much wine with Fang Yuan. After drinking, she even went to his room! Even she was baffled by her own thoughts. As a writer, she was simply curious about the later part of this tomb-robbing story, so she wanted to see how Fang Yuan would proceed with this brand-new topic. Or perhaps, she had subconsciously developed an interest in Fang Yuan, who was five years younger than her and was theoretically still her student, that surpassed pure literature. Sherry shook her head slightly, trying to get rid of these unseemly thoughts. Since Im your mentor, Ill need to follow your work in detail to make sure that no other factors affect your creation. These were indeed the rules of the Fall Cup. After all, this was a creative writing workshop competition. During the writing process, the participating mentors and authors could communicate openly and thoroughly to bring excellent works to the judges. Fang Yuan fished out his key card and opened the hotel room door. The two of them walked into the dimly lit, warm room. Every room in this five-star hotel had a small study room that was spacious enough to fit a desk. When the two of them were alone in the room, Sherry suddenly felt the need to express her innermost thoughts perhaps due to a sense of security in this enclosed space or perhaps because she was still a little tipsy. Fang Yuan, let me make it clear to you that I dont actually believe that there are any literary geniuses in this world. Since the very beginning, Ive been very skeptical about you and signed up as a mentor in this workshop because of it. Of course, I have to admit that our conversation during dinner earlier left a very deep impression on me and mostly dispel my doubts about you. Buton second thought, it wont be of much help to you if I support you just because of this good impression because most people will still doubt you, so its best if you prove yourself with your work. Thats why Ive made a decision to stay here and watch you write your novel until youre done. As long as you can write another successful novel after The Coiling Dragon, this will naturally dispel everyones doubts. If there are still people who doubt you then, Ill vouch for you because I wouldve witnessed your writing myself. Fang Yuan nodded and said, You mean, I have to write the novel in front of you now? Sherry said, Yes. Can I take a shower first? Sherry replied, I will follow you wherever you go to make sure that you dont cheat. Then Id better not take a shower. Fang Yuan shook his head and turned to the computer. Seeing that Sherry was still following him, he could not help but smile bitterly. Are you going to keep an eye on me even when Im writing in front of the computer? Sherry said, Of course! I need to make sure that no one contacts you from outside our venue to ensure that your work is original and completed by you. She looked so serious like an exam invigilator. When Fang Yuan wrote, he felt uncomfortable knowing that someone was staring at him from behind. It was like a thorn in his back. Fang Yuan stood up from the table, plopped down onto the bed, and said to Sherry lazily, Alright then. Since youll be watching me no matter what I do, why dont I dictate from here while you type in front of the computer? Sherry was stunned. There were indeed famous writers who used this method to write novels dictation, like Borges in his later years. It seemed very convenient because it only required voice input. However, every writer who had tried this method knew that dictation was much more difficult than writing or typing on the keyboard. That was because when speaking, it was inevitable that they would include some sort of colloquial slang or verbal nuances. Some expressions would be intermittent and not coherent enough as the authors train of thought would sometimes jump all over the place. Sometimes, authors would suddenly stop because of writers block and remain silent for a long time until inspiration settles in, but then they would have forgotten the previous content. It was like playing chess blindfolded, which was probably ten or a hundred times more difficult than normal chess. Sherry raised her eyebrows. Im fine with it, but do you want to make an outline first? She was familiar with dictation. It was impossible for someone to write completely off-script, just like how a teacher needed a lesson plan for lectures. No matter how talented the author was, an oral novel should at least have a concise outline. However, Fang Yuan did not take the pen and paper that she handed to him. Instead, he said calmly, The first volume of Candle in the Tomb titled Ruins of the Ancient City. Introduction. Tomb-robbing isnt a walk in the park, nor is it elegant or graceful. It is a technique of destruction. When the ancient nobles built a tomb, they must have thought of ways to prevent their treasures from being stolen. That was why they did everything they could to set up all kinds of booby traps in their tombs. They set up ambushes with huge rocks, quicksand, poisonous arrows and insects, traps, and anything they could imagine. There were countless of them everywhere Chapter 18 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Fang Yuan leaned back on the headboard of the bead and recited the famous introduction to Candle in the Tomb from memory. Tomb-robbing isnt a walk in the park, nor is it elegant or graceful. Rather, its a technique of destruction. He did so with such ease as if the words were etched into his mind. There was no pause, nor the slightest bit of hesitation. Fang Yuan spoke so eloquently and theatrically, but Sherry did not even have time to be stunned because she dared pause for a moment. She just typed rapidly on the keyboard, afraid that she would miss a word. In Fang Yuans previous life, Candle in the Tomb was a groundbreaking novel about tomb-robbing. It was not the kind of work that was slow to read. Readers need not savor it or let the contents sink in. In fact, it was originally written and posted on a small forum for lovers of folklore. The amount of traffic on that forum was minimal. However, with this captivating introduction, it managed to attract a large number of readers. This was the strength of the novels introduction. Candle in the Tomb was a no-nonsense, straight-to-the-point novel. It began with defining tomb-robbing, which was a concept that most people were unfamiliar with. He then pointed out that tomb-robbing was a technique of destruction, which made everyones eyes light up with interest. Then, he immediately analyzed the dangers and difficulties that tomb robbers might encounter. When the ancient nobles built a tomb, they must have thought of ways to prevent their treasures from being stolen. That was why they did everything they could to set up all kinds of booby traps in their tombs. They set up ambushes with huge rocks, quicksand, poisonous arrows and insects, traps, and anything they could imagine. There were countless of them everywhere As the saying went, good literature should be like a mountain and should not be flat. Thus, the problem was clear to the readers. It was not as simple to steal treasures from these ancient tombs. Although the owner of the tomb was long gone, the living might not be smart enough to navigate such a treacherous environment. If they were not careful enough, it would be very easy to lose their lives in those underground tombs. Tomb-robbers would find ways to crack these mechanisms so that they could enter the tomb to search for treasures. However, in modern times, the harder problem was finding an ancient tomb rather than digging up these treasuresThere were very few who mastered secret techniques to analyze the mountains and rivers, who could use Chinese geomancy to locate the tomb. I am one of them. During my career as a Tomb Raider, Ive traveled all over the world and experienced a lot of strange things. My adventures and sightings were enough to shock anyone. After all, those hidden, earth-shattering experiences were truly extraordinary. Fang Yuan started finished narrating the first chapter. The main character of the novel, Hu Bayi, quickly brought readers into the magnificent and strange underground world in China. Sherry listened with great interest and felt like she was caught in an elaborate dream. Fang Yuan was still reciting captivatingly. It was as if Hu Bayi in the story was Fang Yuan himself and the main characters adventure to the ruins of the ancient city was his own experience. Check the mound; touch the gold talisman; move the mountain ridge; seek the Dragon Puzzle. Humans light candles; ghosts blow them out; survey the landscape; seek the Starred Peak. Mercury eclipse; shiny weapons; countless treasures await in the Dragon Hall. Scented coffin; bronze coating; horoscopes determine your approach. During the exploration process, the supporting characters were introduced. Each characters personality was distinct. Hu Bayi was the bold one while Wang Kaixuan was the joker. Da Jinya was greedy for money, and Blind Chen was mysterious. There was also the beautiful and intelligent Shirley Yang. When the character, Shirley Yang, first appeared in the novel, Sherry blushed a little. However, it was not very obvious due to her already flushed cheeks from the alcohol. Sherry thought that Fang Yuan had modeled a heroine in the novel based on herself. Even the characters name, Shirley Yang, was a homonym of her name, Sherry Young. This is just sosovery exciting! That night. Fang Yuan and Sherry toiled until dawn in the hotel room. After getting through the initial stage of getting used to each other, Fang Yuan and Sherry got along much better as time passed. Their speed and intensity also gradually increased. After spending the whole night working on the novel, the first draft of Candle in the Tomb was finally completed. Sherry had never stayed up late, but the story narrated by Fang Yuan was so intriguing that it kept her on her toes and left her wanting more. She just could not help but continue chapter after chapter. When Fang Yuan said end of the first volume, Sherry threw herself onto the hotels soft bed. She laid down beside Fang Yuan and felt so sleepy. Her eyelids were struggling to stay open and the words that came out of her mouth sounded dreamy. Fang YuanI have to say that you were really amazing last night Before she could her words, the hotel room door was suddenly pushed open. Chapter 19 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Japanese novels were known for their detective, reasoning, and suspense genres. There were countless literary masters. Although Sakazaka Rion was a bit inappropriate at times as a teacher, her writing ability was undeniable. Rion was actually a very famous screenwriter who specialized in adapting suspense genre novels to films. Many films became box office winners after they were released. She had many loyal and stable fans in both the United States and Japan. Therefore, the organizers of the Fall Day Cup invited her to be the judge and mentor of the competition. There were too many investors who came to her at the dinner party last night, so she was constantly engaged in social activities. As a result, she really had no way to extricate herself from entertaining them. That was why she did not have time to see Fang Yuan. Early that morning, Rion had asked the front desk for Fang Yuans hotel room number and key card. She fiddled with the key card in her hand and wanted to go over to look for him. Since the organizers had arranged for a mentor-buddy system, Sakazaka Rion made up her mind to become Fang Yuans mentor. She was very curious what kind of surprises Fang Yuan, who had debuted with the fantasy novel The Coiling Dragon, would bring in his creation of suspense novels. Fang Yuan! Fang Yuan, are you still sleeping? Its time to wake up! She whistled out of tune with delight as she tapped the key card on the door and pushed the door open. That was when Rion heard a tired yet contented female voice coming from inside the room, Fang YuanI have to say that you were really amazing last night Rion was shocked! She was used to the complicated private affairs of people who dabbled in literature. Fang Yuan, I didnt expect such a goody-two-shoes like you would do such a thing behind my back! Rion strode into the bedroom as if she was about to catch her husband having an affair with someone else. Tell me honestly, did you really call the number on the back of your key card?! Rion lifted the quilt that was piled up on the bed. The person hiding under the quilt was none other than a disheveled and tired-looking beauty, Dean Sherry Young. DeanDean Sherry?! Rion had been writing horror stories for a long time and was very good at telling ghost stories. Due to this, she was quite a brave soul. The students even joked with each other that when Rion told ghost stories, even ghosts would probably get scared. However, when Rion saw this scene, her expression was as shocked as her usual audience when she told her ghost stories. This was the Poet Laureate, Sherry Young, the most respected Goddess of Literature in all of Iowa! Even someone as bold as Rion would not dare to take liberties with Sherry. From the looks of it, Fang Yuan managed to seduce Sherry and did all sorts of intense exercise last night? This man is really something! Rion, with her mind stuck in the gutter, had imagined many unseemly and indecent scenes. When Rion turned to look at Fang Yuan, she could not help but feel respect for this man. Fang Yuan said, I know what youre thinking, but this is just a misunderstanding! Let me explain! No, no, theres no need. I know that youre just gonna make up a story to cover this up. Sakazaka Rion winked at Fang Yuan. Dont worry, I understandI understand everything Fang Yuan was speechless. Anyway, I dont care how amazing you are in bed or what methods you used to seduce Sherry. Rion snorted and crossed her arms. I know that men are sexual beings and everyone has their private lives, but for the next two weeks, youre a contestant here. Since youre my student, your task is to achieve good results in the Fall Cup, so I certainly wont go easy on you. She went forward and grabbed Fang Yuans hand to yank him out of bed. Fang Yuan! You gotta snap back into writing and not indulge in your desires. So, for this Fall Cup competition, Ive decided to be your mentor! Huh? What? Any objections? Sakazaka Rion glared at him. I know that with your stand-offish personality, you definitely didnt get a mentor yesterday. Ill just offer you my wisdom for two weeks then. Dont look at me like this! When it comes to writing horror novels, Im pretty experienced. Even Hollywood invited me to hold a few sharing sessions, but I rejected them all. Since youre my student, Ill make an exception and teach you. Youre really lucky to have me! Fang Yuan said, Oh, but Ive already promised Sherry that she could be my mentor. Do you think I believe you? Rion looked at Fang Yuan with a teasing gaze as she thought, Do you think I was born yesterday? Sherrys lying on your bed and even said such things. I know what a single man and woman could do in bed all night. Do you think Ill believe that you actually discussed literature or come up with the outline of your novel? Please, what kind of outline could they come up with under the sheets? Im sure whatever they did was arousing Fang Yuan, stop making excuses. Rions eyebrows were furrowed. From now on, I will conduct Devils Training in my room every morning, and I expect you to be there! Chapter 20 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Without further explanation, Sakazaka Rion dragged Fang Yuan into her room that was right across the hall from his. Rion had specially asked the front desk to arrange this room for her. She initially wanted to live closer to Fang Yuan so that she could work with him. However, she did not expect Dean Sherry to make the first move. Therefore, before Sherry woke up, Rion decided that she needed to be more aggressive. After all, the best defense was a good offense. Rion just grabbed her prize. Come, tell me about your creative idea. She stared into Fang Yuans eyes and continued, Everyone says that you came up with The Coiling Dragon overnight. Do you have any ideas for the theme this time? Of course, Fang Yuan had ideas, but he had already told them to Sherry. He was very helpless. What? If you can be so energetic when youre with Sherry. Why do you look so listless when it comes to writing a novel? Rion pouted and swung her double ponytails backward. She unbuttoned one of her shirt buttons to reveal a bit of cleavage. Do you have to be stimulated to get to work? Well, theres really nothing much to see here Fang Yuan had a good relationship with Sakazaka Rion in school, and she often teased him. At first, Fang Yuan felt shy, but as time passed, he got used to it and even teased her back. What are you talking about? Rion took her laptop from the bed and handed it to Fang Yuan. I mean, do you want to watch some horror movies to get some inspiration? Righttheres nothing much to see in horror movies Fang Yuan pursed his lips and continued, I already have an idea. He was not about to lie to Rion and had it all figured out. Now, Sherry was his mentor and the work that would be submitting was Candle in the Tomb. He also knew that Rion meant well. She just wanted to be his mentor. Fang Yuan checked the Fall Cup Creative Writing Workshop competition rules which stated that each work needed to be witnessed by a mentor. What was not clarified was the number of entries an author could submit. Thus, there was nothing stopping him from submitting two works under two pen names and receiving guidance from two mentors at the same time. After all, this competition would go on for 14 days. Writing a novel with more than 100,000 words was already difficult enough for many authors, so submitting two novels within two weeks was simply mission impossible. Therefore, the organizers did not specify or limit an authors submissions. As long as it was not illegal, none of the rules prevented Fang Yuan from exploiting this loophole. Actually, it was not really a loophole. It was just that he was a capable person who could submit more work. Thinking of this, Fang Yuan already had a detailed plan. He would write a second book for this competition. It would also be about tomb-robbing. Moreover, in his previous life, this series of books attracted countless fans, even more so than the previous series, Candle in the Tomb. It was called The Lost Tomb: Palace of Qixinglu. Sakazaka Rion was rather surprised. It had only been a few minutes since they came into the room and he had already thought of an idea? What do you wanna write about? You can tell me about it first. I have quite a lot of experience in this area. Rion sat cross-legged on the chair ungracefully. The hem of her white pleated skirt was slightly raised. It was a scene where most men would inevitably feel his blood pumping. Although I havent written many novels myself, Ive written quite a lot of scripts over the past few years and have been a Hollywood scriptwriter. As long as you give me a brief outline, Ill be able to point out some flaws. You dont necessarily have to follow all of my suggestions, but at the very least, itll certainly improve your previous draft. After she said this, she waited for Fang Yuan to come over and kneel before her. However, Fang Yuan had already gone to the desk. Theres no need. Ill show you after Im done writing. Women will only affect my writing speed. After saying this half-jokingly, Fang Yuan used the memory retrieval capsule to search for the full text of The Lost Tomb. The beginning of The Lost Tomb was different from Candle in the Tomb. It started with a third-person narration of a tomb-raiding account fifty years ago. A group of country bumpkins, who called themselves The Tomb Raiders, discovered a silk book about the chronicles of tomb-raiding from the Warring States in a tomb in Changsha. The second chapter then changed to a first-person perspective and jumped to fifty years later. One of the tomb raiders descendants, the protagonist, Wu Xie, told the story of a mysterious person who came to him asking about his grandfathers grave. Out of curiosity, Wu Xie followed the other tomb raiders to the Palace of Qixinglu to solve the mystery of the silk book. On that journey, he met his friends for life. They were a solid trio C Wu Xie, Wang Pangzi, and the introverted Zhang Qiling. .. After figuring out the whole book and seeing that there was no computer in the room, Fang Yuan used the pen and paper on the desk to write. Rion had a habit of writing on paper. As a screenwriter, she was used to writing an outline first. Thus, she was scornful of Fang Yuans style of not writing an outline and jumping straight into writing the novel. How could a novel turn out to be good without an outline to keep him on track? However, Fang Yuans hand never stopped writing. Hey, hey, hey, youre not messing around again, are you? Seeing that Fang Yuan refused to respond, Rion simply walked over to him. She wanted to see what Fang Yuan was scribbling. Chapter 21 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation With the help of the memory retrieval capsule, Fang Yuan quickly wrote the beginning of the first chapter of The Lost Tomb. The ink flowed down the iridium tip of his fountain pen as his beautiful cursive words appeared on paper. As an international student, your handwriting is pretty good. Sakazaka Rion was chattering on the side while she read the words Fang Yuan just wrote. As a scriptwriter, her style of working was different from that of novelists. Scriptwriters usually wrote as a group, so it was rare for them to sit alone in the study like novelists. Sometimes while writing their lines, they had to look from the perspective of the characters and read the sentence out loud. Scriptwriters were often the best actors at a table read. Thus, Rion was rambling on and wanted to tell some nonsensical stories. Rion did not believe that someone could write a novel just by sitting at a desk without getting writers block for a few hours. Some people could not even finish writing before the deadline to submit the manuscript. Being able to write at will as soon as one held a pen was nothing more than an urban legend. However, Fang Yuan demonstrated this ability to Rion at made her realize that this urban legend was true. From the moment the tip of his pen touched the paper, Fang Yuans hand never stopped. A story that carried the essence of Chinese classic folklore was spewed out on the blank pages of a notebook. 50 years ago at Sand Citys Dart Ridge. Four rugged men were squatting on top of a mound. No one said a word as they stared at the shovel on the ground. The head of the shovel had aged soil on it because they were digging an old grave, but the strange thing was that the soil was constantly oozing a bright red liquid, as if it had just been dipped in blood. Great! Now were f*cked The old chain-smoker threw his tobacco pipe on the ground. Theres a bloody corpse down there! Lets get the hell outta here lest we get buried with it!'' .. Rion had only read a few lines, but she was deeply engrossed in this story. How could she not be attracted to the plot? A group of tomb robbers had just dug up a dead persons grave, but blood was oozing from the shovel. This was less than 200 words, but this scene written on paper was evidently impactful. Wow! I can really visualize it! This was Sakazaka Rions first thought. As a scriptwriter, the manuscripts Rion created would eventually have to be presented to the audience in the form of film and television. To them, the most important thing was imagery. Without imagery, it would be impossible to convince the director, let alone an audience. The beginning of The Lost Tomb truly gave Rion the feeling that she traveled through time and space to that grave in Sand City fifty years ago. She could see this ominous scene and was instantly baffled. Who are these people? Why did they want to rob the tomb? Since it was a corpse lying in the grave, why would it bleed? Most importantly, what was buried underground that they just dug up? Rion thought and finally stopped talking. This story was so enticing that she did not dare to interrupt Fang Yuans train of thought. She was afraid that she would break his concentration and ruin his inspiration, which would make it impossible for the story to be presented in the best form. In the film industry, Sakazaka Rion could already see the value of this work if Fang Yuan were to sell it. Fang Yuans work was definitely fresh blood to the American horror scene. If such a good story was ruined, Rion would never forgive herself for all eternity. Thus, Fang Yuan sat at the desk and wrote while Rion stood by his side and watched him in silence. The story progressed very quickly. Out of the four grave robbers, only one person survived because they stole something that should not have surfaced on Earth. In chapter two of the book, time jumped to 50 years later. The scene was at an antiques market. The protagonist of the book was a young man named Wu Xie. On that day, he had an unexpected guest, which connected his fate to his grandfathers experience 50 years ago. .. When Fang Yuan finished the first half of The Lost Tomb, the story had developed to the point where Wu Xie was about to embark on a tomb robbery journey with his third uncle. The novel came to an abrupt end. It was mainly because Fang Yuan was exhausted. He did not stop writing from the morning until it was almost dinner time. Even with the body strengthening supplement, Fang Yuan felt a little tired. He turned to look at Rion. She was still standing next to him seemingly in deep thought. When Rion read his work, she was already extremely sure that his work would cause huge waves in the United States and even in the entire world. Rion had actually witnessed the birth of this miracle. She even had the title of a mentor, what an honor! Thinking of this, Sakazaka Rion changed her usually frivolous tone and asked in a pious and reverent tone, Can you tell me the name of this book? Its called The Lost Tomb, said Fang Yuan. Rion nodded. Yes, yes! Its simple and catchy. What a great name! You must write this well. Im sure Hollywood will love this story! She even said that she would contact her network of people in showbiz. Fang Yuan was not too concerned about this. After writing for a whole day, he was a little hungry and wanted to have a meal first. Just as he pushed the door open and left, a hand reached out from the room across the hall and dragged him over to the bed. There was steak and wine on a tray in bed, coupled with a beautiful woman. It was Sherry! You went out to fool around for a whole day when I wasnt paying attention, right? Sherry jumped down from the bed and hit Fang Yuan on the shoulder. You cant go out anymore. Ive already prepared all that you need to continue writing, so you can just stay here and write Candle in the Tomb! Chapter 22 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation During the day, Fang Yuan was dragged into Sakazaka Rions room to write The Lost Tomb. At night, he was dragged back to his room by Sherry Young to write Candle in the Tomb. As time passed, Fang Yuan finished the first volume of these two works. The Fall Cup was coming to an end. On the eve of the final selection, a dinner party was held at the revolving restaurant on the top floor of the hotel. Many authors were unable to complete a novel with more than 100,000 words within the stipulated time. Thus, they had already left the competition venue. As a result, there were much fewer participants compared to the beginning. The authors who had finished their manuscript had already printed it out in the font and font size stipulated by the competition inspectors. The manuscripts were then handed over to the judges. Every author at the dinner party was happy. Regardless of the final result, whether they won or not, they had at least finished a 100,000-word novel in half a month. Finishing a novel brought great pleasure for any writer. It meant that they could have some downtime before they started the next book. At the reception, the authors socialized with each other and clinked their wine glasses. They celebrated with each other for having completed the toughest part of the Fall Cup. This was also the purpose of this workshop. Most writers were solitary creatures. They usually stayed in their study and would not go out much, so naturally, they did not socialize often and only had a small circle of peers. This dinner party was a good opportunity to get to know more peers. Therefore, many writers kept coming over to Fang Yuan and clinked glasses with him. Everyones seats were arranged randomly. Two American male authors sat on both sides of Fang Yuan. The man on the left was in his early thirties and had a crew cut. He spoke in a muffled voice and looked like a geek. The man on the right was wearing gold-rimmed glasses and looked like an old-school gentleman who was a few years older than Fang Yuan. Both of them looked very refined. When everyone broke the ice and introduced themselves. The two men next to Fang Yuan immediately piqued their interest when they knew of Fang Yuans identity. The geeks eyes lit up. Are you that Fang Yuan? The author of The Coiling Dragon? Ive read your novel and think that its amazing! Its also very new. Nowadays, American fantasy novels are all about some epic fantasy. It seems that whoever has a grand narrative will get more validation in the literary world. Very few authors actually pay attention to the growth of ordinary characters, so your angle is quite unique. The old-school gentleman sighed slightly. Are you talking about The Coiling Dragon? Its extraordinary! I stayed up all night reading it, and after I finished, I felt a little depressed for a few days. I was down because the book ended and felt a little lost. From a fellow authors perspective, I was truly depressed because I know I cant match up to you! Fang Yuan, youre literally sent from the heavens. Its only your first book yet you had already gotten Tolkiens praise. Im serious, we can never compare to you. After reading your book, Im planning to change my genre. Just like Stephen, Ill try to get into horror. The old-fashioned gentleman pointed at the geek, who nodded and said, Yes, indeed. Recently, Neil felt pretty beaten up by you, Fang Yuan. He almost gave up writing! Thats why I persuaded him to come to the Fall Cup Workshop. At the very least, he should write something first so that he can gain some self-confidence and experience. A writers profession is very much like an athletes. We cant stop training our minds! If we dont write for three days, the pen will feel unfamiliar to us. After a long time, writing will feel foreign. This is a fatal blow to any author. Things that havent been created cannot be judged. Even if we cant write well, its necessary to maintain this habit of writing. After all, practice makes perfect, right? The geek and the old-school gentleman chatted non-stop with Fang Yuan. The topic between authors naturally revolved around writing. However, compared to Fang Yuan, who had already made a name for himself, the two of them did not have any outstanding works at the moment, so it felt like they were just consoling themselves. However, as long as they were brave enough to chase after their dreams, they would achieve it. Fang Yuan also said a few encouraging words. He then asked casually, Speaking of which, I havent asked for your names yet. How should I address you? The geek pointed at himself and said, My name is Stephen King. Mr. Fang Yuan, you can call me Stephen. Anyway, Ive already set a path for myself and hope to be the best author in the horror genre. Id love to get any advice from you if you dont mind. As for this sad young man Stephen King pointed at the old-school gentleman beside him and said, Hes Neil Gaiman, so you can call him Neil. He used to write a lot of fantasy novels, but the results werent great. Recently, Ive been advising him to try out horror novels. Seeing Fang Yuans gaze, Stephen King immediately added, You may not have heard of us, but well certainly make a name for ourselves in the literary world! Stephen King? Neil Gaiman? Of course, Fang Yuan had heard of them! In his previous life, Stephen King was the undisputed King of American horror novels! Neil Gaiman was not inferior either. He was one of the top fantasy authors. His novel, American Gods, shocked the literary world. His works won the Hugo Awards, Nebula Awards, Orbit Awards, and many others. In this world, they were still at the bottom of the bunch? Thinking about it, that seemed reasonable because only a few gained fame with just one book. Countless literary idols who were looked up to by people in later generations all had a period of struggle. The two of you must persevere, Fang Yuan said seriously, Stephen, your work will definitely shine in the world of horror novels. As for you, Neil, I suggest you keep on writing fantasy novels. One day, youll surely have a breakthrough. Fang Yuan, as the author of The Coiling Dragon, said his words of encouragement to the two new authors. There was no doubt that they did feel encouraged. Stephen King said, Thank you, Fang Yuan. Thanks for saying that. Neil Gaiman held back his tears. He had worked too hard on this path for too long, but he had repeatedly hit a wall. He had reached the point where he could no longer support himself. However, his favorite author just told him that he would see the light at the end of the tunnel. Neil was even in disbelief. ReallyReally? Fang Yuan patted his shoulder. Its nothing surprising. You just need a few more twists and turns. [ Ding! Your reputation in Neil Gaimans heart has reached Reverence Level. ] [ In the future, reputation points earned by Neil Gaimans works will be counted to the host by a certain percentage. ] Chapter 23 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation This system was really useful! In Fang Yuans previous life, Neil Gaiman was not an ordinary person, but a man who was firmly at the top of best-selling authors lists. Now, Fang Yuan pointed Neil Gaiman in the direction of his future success. At the same time, his words encouraged this young writer who suffered a blow and almost gave up writing. This was an important matter that could not be overlooked. Thank you, Fang Yuan. I dont know how many novels I will write in the future and Im not sure what kind of achievements I will achieve. The only thing I can be sure of is that in the future, I will dedicate the title page of all my works to you, Mr. Fang Yuan. Thanks for encouraging me to persevere. Neil Gaiman held Fang Yuans hand tightly. The dedication page was a traditional practice in Western publications. The author would usually put this on the first page of the book and would dedicate their work to important people who helped them. It usually expressed gratitude for these peoples support. For example, thanking my parents who raised them and thanking friends who showed loyalty. Neil Gaiman promised to make a dedication to Fang Yuan in his future works, so one could only imagine how grateful he was to Fang Yuan. Imagine, the title pages of famous works like American Gods, Good Omens, and The Sandman would have the same words printed on them. To a respected author, Mr. Fang Yuan, who guided me on my writing path. That was world-class treatment! Fang Yuan could only say, Thank you. Keep your spirits up and keep up the good work! .. At the same time, on the other side of the restaurant. Jeffrey was the President of Penguin Publishings Atlantic Division. His nephew, a recent graduate of the University of Iowa, was sitting at the head of a table. With a lofty smile, Dunbar raised his wine glass, shook it gently, and clinked it with the people around him. Actually, Dunbar would not have attracted so many followers if he was just an author. Who here was not an author? The key was that Dunbar was affiliated to the worlds strongest publishing group, Penguin Publishing. This was why other authors wanted to curry favor with him. As long as they got close to Penguin Publishing, their works could easily take off no matter what kind of work it was because this company had great marketing resources. Otherwise, how could a new graduates graduation thesis be ranked at the top of Amazons e-book sales rankings? Obviously, Dunbars background was somewhat unusual. Money could make the world go round. This saying was also applicable in the publishing industry. There were many who hoped to get opportunities from Penguin Publishing by getting close to the big shots. Therefore, whether intentionally or unintentionally, many authors went over to talk to Dunbar. Mr. Dunbar, you published a masterpiece like Magic Age at such a young age. Your future is very promising! Id say its expected coming from such a scholarly background because his education must be very stringent. Hes really different from us ordinary people. If were talking about this Fall Cup competition, Mr. Dunbar is definitely going to win first place. Thats right! Im afraid that only the author of The Coiling Dragon, Fang Yuan, who has suddenly become popular recently, has the potential to compete with you. No wonder everyone calls you two The Iowa Duo. When the last person finished speaking, he suddenly realized that the air around him had turned cold. The first few people who spoke turned around to glare at him. He then immediately realized that he had a slip of tongue. For this years graduation thesis, The Coiling Dragon had extremely high e-subscription and offline sales. It greatly surpassed the second-ranked Magic Age and they were certainly not on the same level. The sales of The Coiling Dragon had two more digits than Magic Age. Fang Yuan and Dunbar were both new graduates, so they were both praised as geniuses. Dunbar also had the backing of a top-tier firm like Penguin Publishing. All the marketing channels had their capital worked out, and they even spent a lot of money to increase sales. The result? They were completely defeated by Fang Yuans book, The Coiling Dragon. Everyone knew this, but because the people who were surrounding Dunbar more or less had the intention of sucking up to him, they deliberately avoided talking about this. However, there were always some slow-witted ones in any social occassion. Bringing up this matter was equivalent to shooting themselves in the foot. At this time, the people at Dunbars table were all silent. Of course, there were also some who wanted to ease the awkward atmosphere, but they really did not know what to say. They were afraid that they would make more mistakes if they said something. Thus, they just picked up their glass and sipped on the brandy. Everyone was waiting for the others to speak. The atmosphere became even more awkward especially when the other tables were chatting happily. This table was completely silent. It was really torturous. Dunbar waited for a while, but when he saw that no one around him said anything, he could only laugh dryly and said, Nah. Fang Yuans future is far brighter than mine. To tell you the truth, my relationship with him is quite good because were both writers in the fantasy genre and would usually discuss and exchange ideas with each other. Speaking of which, when the thesis started, the idea for The Coiling Dragon was created by us! Although friendship comes first and competition comes second, Ive put in all my effort in preparing for this Fall Cup. Im quite satisfied with the work Ive written, so this time, Im serious about the competition. No matter how good our relationship is, I wont just hand it over to Fang Yuan. If only Hades or Sakazaka Rion were there, they would definitely scold Dunbar for being shameless. Back then, when Fang Yuan had not handed over his manuscript, Dunbar was the one who led the class in ridiculing him. Now that The Coiling Dragon became so popular, they suddenly turned out to be good friends and even tried to take credit for the idea of the book! However, the people present did not care about these things. I see. I was wondering how a newcomer could have the demeanor of a master in writing. It turned out that there was an expert behind the scenes giving him pointers! How nice of you! Heres to winning the Fall Cup! Wow, this is the friendship between geniuses! Finally, the people around Dunbar found an opportunity to speak and scrambled to fan his ego. Chapter 24 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation For a moment, many authors went over to Dunbar, and many who passed by also stopped in their tracks. Beautiful girls with graceful figures came over one after another. They crowded around Dunbar and asked him for his contact details, which made him feel flattered. It was as if he had really become the center of attention. Thank you! Thank you for your support! Im just a newly debuted author of a fantasy novel, and there are still a lot of improvements to work on. My book, Magic Age, is available on Amazons e-bookstore and Penguin Publishings physical bookstores. Youre all welcome to buy it. The beautiful girls around him waved their arms and kept talking, but Dunbar could not hear them clearly because it was too large of a crowd. This is the first time Ive met such passionate readers. Thanks for your support. Ill do my best to help if theres anything you need. A charming smile appeared on Dunbars face. His heart was burning with passion. These fanatical female fans were incredibly good-looking, and now they were at a hotel. If he could just bring them back to his room tonight Dunbar started to have some lecherous fantasies. Really? Can you really help me with anything? Yes, of course. Dunbar looked at the beauty who asked the question. Ill help you as long as Im capable. Thats great! The beautys eyes were obviously filled with joy. Since youre Fang Yuans friend, can you help me get an autographed copy of The Coiling Dragon? I love his novels! Dunbar was baffled, but even so, his habit of acting cool made him agree to it. Of course, I can. Thats a piece of cake! Were such close friends that hell even sign a hundred copies for me. Thats amazing! OMG! Im impressed! Im so envious! Everyones praises bombarded Dunbars ears. However, they did not give him any time to revel in this kind of flattery. The girls continued to ask him more questions. Although its my first time meeting you and Im a little embarrassed to have to trouble you, butId also love one. Me too! Will it be too much if I want three? My twin daughters especially love Fang Yuan. Its definitely not a problem since he said that he can get a hundred signed copies! Soon, many adorable young women went over to Dunbar. This was ridiculous! They were so passionate, excited, and uncontrollable, but it had nothing to do with Dunbar. These continuous questions were like one punch after another to him. Dunbars impudent attitude earlier shattered. These questions continued and became more exaggerated. I didnt expect you to be so familiar with Fang Yuan! Can you give me his contact information? Wow, Dunbar, youre such a good person! If I want to pursue Fang Yuan, can you be my wingman? When Im successful, Ill definitely treat you to a good meal! I have 9,999 roses here. Can you help me to bring them to Fang Yuan? Ill pay you! Heres the Bento box that I made for Fang Yuan. I have a black card from the Swiss Bank. Please help me to pass on a message to him. The other readers only care about how high he flies. Im the only one who cares about whether hes tired from soaring. If hes tired, he can come right into my arms and Ill take care of him. I have two boxes of Okamoto 001 here. I want you to pass them to Fang Yuan! Many pretty girls came to look for Dunbar, but when these girls opened their mouths, they could not stop talking about Fang Yuan. There was not a single girl who truly cared about Dunbar. Dunbar could not take it anymore and shouted, Enough! The beautiful girls stopped their questions and looked at the red-faced Dunbar with puzzled eyes. Dunbar could only suppress his frustration. He naturally would not embarrass himself in front of so many people, especially in front of these beautiful ladies. Thus, he just coughed and said to the crowd, I understand everyones love for Fang Yuan, but I know his character. Hes not used to such a noisy environment. If you ask him to do so many things, he wont be able to handle it. Moreover, he needs to spend more time and energy on his creation, so he cant be distracted. Dunbar found a lame excuse to reject them. He was going to compete with Fang Yuan, but now, he was forced by Fang Yuans fanatical female fans to be his manager. This was ridiculous! Fang Yuan and Dunbar were classmates, so their names were often mentioned together because of their writing, but they did not have a good relationship. In school, they were practically strangers who did not even greet each other. Dunbar did not want to lower his stance to beg Fang Yuan for his autograph. Thus, he said, Soits best if everyone could leave Fang Yuan alone so that he could focus on his writing. Once he said this, the crowd immediately exploded. Psh! If you cant do it, then dont talk big! Yeah! I thought you and Fang Yuan had a good relationship, but your friendship means nothing! Did you only claim to be Fang Yuans good friend just to be respected? Lets go! Lets find someone else. You shouldnt go back on your word! Just now, you said you could get 100 autographed copies, but now you cant even get one. Little baldywhat a joke! After hearing these taunts from the perfect girls, Dunbars face became even redder. Dunbar was a sensitive guy and hated being ridiculed in front of others. He suppressed his anger and said in a resounding voice, Fine! Ill get 100 copies for you and keep my word! Chapter 25 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation It was only 100 books. The two volumes of The Coiling Dragon had been reprinted several times, so the supply of the books was going up. As for Fang Yuans signature, Dunbar would never ask for it from Fang Yuan himself. He only needed to buy an autographed copy online. Then, he could just imitate his signature for the rest of the 99 copies. This was not a big problem. After thinking of a solution, Dunbar said, So what if it was one hundred? The girl in the lead continued to speak. But I feel that just an autograph is a little too boring. Since its an autograph book from a friend, it should be more personal and more customized, right? Otherwise, it would be the same as those autograph books we can queue to get! Thats right! That makes sense! The crowd responded and the leading girl said again, Since were here for the Fall Cup, it means that were all authors. Every author must have a common goal, which is to write better works. Why dont we get Fang Yuan to write us a message to wish us all the best in our writing? What do you think? It can be considered a memento for all of us for participating in this competition. Everyone cheered again. They all agreed that this was a good idea. Just as the leading girl said, everyone here was an author. However, before they became an author, they were first excellent readers and had writers they looked up to. Being encouraged by a writer that they liked was such an inspiring thing. Okay! Dunbar watched as the discussion continued to go out of hand. He was afraid that they would come up with some crazy idea and cause trouble again. Thus, he immediately agreed to their current request. I promise you that Ill ask Fang Yuan to autograph the books for you. Dont mention other unreasonable requests anymore. Its settled then. There will be no more changes. All the beautiful women nodded. It seemed that Dunbar had snapped back to his usual self. Next, it was time to settle this autograph book. It was not difficult to get an autograph. Unlike what Dunbar told the girls just now, Fang Yuan was a very approachable author. Generally speaking, if someone asked him for his autograph, he would just sign it. Dunbar asked someone to get a copy of The Coiling Dragon. Fang Yuans signature had both Chinese characters and English letters. Although the Chinese characters were somewhat unfamiliar, the two characters in Chinese, Fang and Yuan, were relatively easy. There were not many strokes and it was easy to learn. It was also relatively easy to imitate. However, the custom autographs that those girls asked for were a little difficult. They wanted Fang Yuan to write some words of encouragement, but Dunbar did not know how to express it in Chinese. Dunbar has considered using translation software to translate English into Chinese, but machine translations were not very reliable and the grammar would be a bit strange. Moreover, in case there were Chinese readers among this group of girls, Dunbar would be exposed and it would simply be embarrassing. Dunbar would never embarrass himself in front of others. He could not afford this risk. Of course, it was not impossible if he were to go to Penguin Publishing and find a Chinese person to write this sentence, but everyone said that the Chinese language was broad and profound. The same sentence could be expressed in several different ways. Who knew what kind of expression Fang Yuan was used to? Dunbar thought about it and found that the best way was to find Fang Yuan personally for a signed book. .. On the other side, Fang Yuan was talking happily with the two future great writers, Stephen King and Neil Gaiman. He saw Dunbar walking over from afar. Dunbar regarded Fang Yuan as his lifelong enemy. Naturally, Dunbar would not humble himself to tell Fang Yuan that his fans came to him asking for a bunch of autographed books. This was too much for Dunbar, so he hid the truth and casually made up a story. I recently made a friend from China whos about to celebrate his birthday. I wanted to give him my new book as a birthday present, but it wont be nice to just give him a book without writing anything on it. Id like to write a paragraph in Chinese that roughly goes, I wish you all the best in your writing. This will give him a small surprise. Seeing that there were many authors participating in the Fall Cup next to Fang Yuan, Dunbar added, Do you think you can help me write this sentence? Were all classmates, so this small favor shouldnt be a problem, right? Dunbar thought that in front of so many people, even if the two of them had a rocky past, Fang Yuan would not reject him rashly. Fang Yuan looked at Dunbar from head to toe. [ Psychological Insight (special agent level) ] had already seen through Dunbars real motives. What friend? Dunbar clearly made up this friend out of the blue. Also, Dunbar was too arrogant, so how could he make any Chinese friends? Seeing Dunbars act at his table just now, Fang Yuan had already guessed what was happening. Sure, thats not a problem. Fang Yuan smiled and continued, I can write this on the book if you have it. Dunbars smile was naturally very bright. When the time came, he only needed to copy the Chinese characters on the paper a hundred times according to Fang Yuans handwriting. It would be able to satisfy those girls requirements. Anyway, he had already planned to imitate the signature of the two Chinese characters Fang and Yuan. Now, it was just a matter of writing a few more words. It was totally doable! Yes, thatll be great! Dunbar placed the paper and pen in front of Fang Yuan. You can just write it here. Thank you. No problem. Were classmates anyway. Fang Yuan nodded and lifted the pen. On the piece of paper, Fang Yuan wrote a line of the most complex Chinese characters he could think of in small, beautiful handwriting. In Chinese, this means, I wish you all the best in your writing. Dunbar was baffled. WTF??? Chapter 26 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation When Fang Yuan wrote this line of Chinese characters, Dunbar finally understood the profundity of Chinese culture. All of the characters looked square, but why did it look so enchanting? This was ridiculous! However, Dunbar did not express any dissatisfaction. After all, Fang Yuan was kind enough to help him. Okayin that case, thank you, Fang Yuan. No problem. The smile on Fang Yuans face grew wider. He pushed the paper to Dunbar and said, Chinese characters are easy very easy to learn. Just practice it more. Theres a Chinese saying that if you copy someones writing a hundred times, youll be a master in no time. You should practice this a hundred times before writing it on your friends book. Dunbars eyes were filled with despair. These characters were stuck together with so many strokes that it was hard to see clearly. Writing this a hundred times would take forever! Dunbar braced himself and started writing. The first time. The second time. .. The tenth time. By the time Dunbar wrote it for the tenth time, he stopped and felt that his hands were already numb. Why were these words so difficult to write? It was like a spell! Fang Yuan said, Not bad! Youve improved compared to your first time. Keep up the momentum and write it 90 more times. This devil! Dunbar thought about how he had to write this 100 times when he got back to his room later and felt a little helpless. Thanks, Fang Yuan. I think that Ive practiced enough, so Ill continue to practice later when I go back. Dunbar quickly changed the topic. Isnt the live broadcast of the final judging session tomorrow? The judges will review all the shortlisted works, and at the same time, theyll reveal the identity of the anonymous author. Why dont you teach me some Chinese? I heard that the head judge is the head of the Cultural Administration and has a Chinese background. Itll be great to learn a few sentences in advance. He made a direct reference to tomorrows award as he tried to draw Fang Yuans attention to something else. Now, Dunbar was eager to learn spoken Chinese. Anything was better than writing these complex Chinese characters. No matter how difficult spoken Chinese was, it was probably not as difficult as this line of gibberish. Alright. Since I dont have much time, Ill just teach you a few things that you can use tomorrow. Okay, okay. Ill listen to you. Dunbars strategy of changing the topic was very successful and nodded with interest. Since were still students, we cant seem too immature when we get the award tomorrow. Well need to master some social skills. For example, if the judge looks for you personally, you can answer, yu sh?. This will show the judge that youre straightforward and concise. If the judge praises you, you can answer, ji zh?. This expresses that there are still many shortcomings in your writing and will make you seem neither too arrogant nor impetuous. Itll make you look humble and down-to-earth. If the judge criticizes you, you can answer, n zi jio w zu sh? This is a humorous expression to avoid being in an awkward situation. Did you get all that? Fang Yuans expression was incredibly serious. Dunbar was a little stunned and even began to imitate what Fang Yuan just taught him seriously in an awkward accent. yu sh? [Translation: whats the matter?] ji zh? [Translation: thats it?] n zi jio w zu sh? [Translation: who are you to tell me what to do?] Dunbar learned these phrases very quickly. Fang Yuan nodded and said, Not bad! Youve basically mastered it. These are some commonly used phrases, so the judge will certainly look at you in a new light. Thank you so much, Fang Yuan! Fang Yuan waved his hand. No problem. Remember to practice more when you get back and dont forget to apply what youve learned tomorrow! .. The next day was the day of the final judging session. As usual, the final judging session of the Fall Cup Creative Writing Workshop was carried out through live broadcast nationwide. A professional reader judging panel of 3,000 people signed up in advance. Those who were selected for the panel of professional readers had to go through a series of screening processes to determine their reading preferences before they could reach this stage. Each reader would be randomly assigned to the participants works on the spot. They would then mark the works according to creativity, plot, character, worldview, writing style, and thematic values. Based on the average score of each work, the final four submissions would be chosen. Then, the final judgment would be made by the star jury present. The winner of this competition would be chosen from these four works. Alright. Sherry stood in front of the stage in the middle of the hotel lobby, facing the live broadcast camera as well as the contestants below the stage. She began to announce the shortlisted works. The four shortlisted works for this years Fall Cup Creative Writing Competition are as follows. The first work is Candle in the Tomb: Ruins of the Ancient City by author The World Stops Singing. The second novel is The Lost Tomb: Palace of Qixinglu by author Southern Sect Third Uncle. The third one is The Witch Carrie by author First Creation. The fourth one is Ghosthand by author Winning The Championship. A huge congratulations to the four anonymous authors mentioned above! There was a round of applause below the stage. There was a mixture of joyful and sorrowful expressions from the authors. Many curious contestants also asked each other if they were part of the four finalists. Anyhow, I think that Fang Yuans book is one of them. Which book though? Yeah, which book do you think it is Without letting the contestants below the stage get into their discussion, Sherry continued, According to the rules of the competition, we will publish the full text of these four books online. Well also make the first three chapters free for a trial read. Each book will be priced the same, and the winner of this competition will be determined by the total online sales and the judges ranking! Chapter 27 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation The judging period was three days and three nights. At Sherrys order, all four works, Candle in the Tomb, The Lost Tomb, Carrie, and Ghosthands, were uploaded to the Fall Cups official website at the same time. Live coverage of the judging was broadcasted by ABCs Iowa Television Station and on various live streaming platforms. Those contestants whose works were not mentioned became ordinary readers and read the four shortlisted works released on the official website. In the afternoon, there were already readers who had finished reading a few books. Everyone, if you havent read Candle in the Tomb, you should definitely read it! Its simply amazing! Did anyone here read The Lost Tomb? If you have, lets discuss it together! Id say its a contemporary masterpiece! Im completely mind blown! Although the other two books were also discussed, they were clearly not as popular as the first two. As time passed, this topic gradually developed among the readers. At the same time, the Executive Vice President of ABC TV was conducting a routine inspection. His duty was to monitor whether there were any abnormalities in the ratings of the various substations programs. As he scanned the screens that were filled with all sorts of charts, he suddenly paused on one of the screens. He discovered that within 24 hours, there were obvious anomalies in the Iowa stations viewership ratings. The viewership ratings were rising very rapidly. Hey, whats going on with the data? Is that a glitch? The VP pointed at the screen and questioned the data guy. Judging from the viewership ratings, the Iowa stations viewership ratings had been rising steadily since the afternoon. It had reached a terrifying magnitude, jumping from 2% to 6%. This was equivalent to a popular TV series or variety show this season. The audience rating for the live debate of the presidential election was only 8%! What was going on at the Iowa station? A state-owned local television station would already have to thank the heavens for its usual 2% audience rating. Why did it have such a rating today? Moreover, this rating was still soaring. When the data analyst was questioned by the VP, he quickly turned to check the uploaded data. After confirming it several times, he broke out in cold sweat and said, After repeated checking, the audience rating of the Iowa station is accurate Did the Iowa station get some new programs recently? The data analyst answered, No new programs. As in previous years, this Fall Cup Creative Writing Competition is being held as scheduled. The VP stopped in his tracks. Check the viewership ratings of the same programs in previous years. Ive checked. Its 2.3%, which is still within the normal range. I dont know why theres a sudden increase this time The VP frowned and slowly relaxed. With his many years of working experience in the news media, he could already tell that there must be a phenomenal piece of work at the Fall Cup this time. Quickly arrange for entertainment reporters from the main station to get there for an interview! .. The VP of ABC TV had a keen sense of viral news. In this era of internet connectivity, as long as there was really good content, it would spread like wildfire. At night. Many readers had already finished reading all four books. Discussions began on various social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook. Everyone, Ive read an absolutely wonderful novel called Candle in the Tomb. Ive made a summary of why everyone should read this and condensed it to a short 140-word post, but this isnt even enough to describe one-thousandth of it. Please click on this link to read it! I guarantee itll be an unforgettable experience! Although were only halfway through the year, The Lost Tomb is undoubtedly my favorite of the year! Ive never read such a story before and Im looking forward to seeing this work as a movie so that itll reach out to more people! These books went viral. The content spread quickly on social media because anyone who saw the posts could easily retweet them. More people saw them, and every new reader who saw the posts were immediately attracted to the story. When they finished the book with satisfaction, they would retweet the post. This happened over and over again, so much so that Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb became trending hashtags on Twitter. This is equivalent to being on Weibos trending list. Two works with such similar worldviews and such obvious cultural characteristics appeared at the same time. Inevitably, it caused some discussion. Most importantly, there were two groups of readers. Everyone felt that the book they read was the best. Among fans of the same work, there was naturally a strong sense of identity because they all liked Candle in the Tomb and shunned the readers who liked The Lost Tomb. Although these two books were about tomb-robbing, which was the better one? Soon, fanatics of the two works created separate Facebook communities, or more accurately, fan clubs for the books. The two groups brought their loyal fans together in their own fan clubs. Chapter 28 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation On Facebook, the Candle in the Tomb Global Fan Club held a meeting among the members. In my opinion, The Lost Tomb is just a fun read, but if youre really into tomb-robbing novels, youd still have to read Candle in the Tomb. Candle in the Tomb is the best! Its simply an encyclopedia of traditional Chinese feng shui tombs! Theres just so much information in there, from landscapes and constellations to tomb feng shui and the cruel customs of ancient dynasties. There are also all kinds of mysterious and unpredictable creatures and strange ancient jade coffinsthe detail is astonishing! After reading it, I want to learn Chinese so I can study The Book of Changes! Everyone has their own favorites, but I have to say, in terms of tomb-robbing, Candle in the Tomb is more advanced than The Lost Tomb. Thats right! Reading Candle in the Tomb feels like youre sitting across from a retired tomb robber whos talking about his past experiences while reading The Lost Tomb just feels like youre sitting across from an anonymous big shot and listening to his made-up story. Hahahaha! Awesome! To better compare which of the two works is better, I purposely read The Lost Tomb as well. When I looked back, I felt that these two books could be works from the same author. All I can say is that a classic work like Candle in the Tomb is unique and cant be imitated by others. Actually, I read The Lost Tomb first. Logically speaking, I should have favored this, but after I read Candle in the Tomb under everyones recommendation, I realized that The Lost Tomb is quite shallow. Candle in the Tomb feels like an elaborate chess game. After reading The Lost Tomb, I just think that its too exaggerated, but Candle in the Tomb makes me think that the world is unpredictable. If I were to use an anthropomorphic view to judge the two works, I would think that Candle in the Tomb is a high-spirited man who talks big. The Lost Tomb is a petty man who likes to scheme. I think that Candle in the Tomb will be the best tomb-robbing novel there is in all eternity! Among the fan club, consensus meant strength. It was very common to step on ones heels to support the others works. It seemed that it would be impossible to reflect the excellence of ones work if they did not do so. In another Facebook community, The Lost Tomb Fan Club also started a discussion on their page. It was an entirely different scene. No way! The sales of The Lost Tomb far exceeds Candle in the Tomb! Those idiots must be getting jealous of us right now. Is there really someone who reads novels to get information on tomb-robbing? This isnt the main point of the novel at all! A novel should be about the characters story and feelings between the characters. If its all about imagery, I might as well watch a documentary! I love the two characters, Wu Xie and Zhang Qiling. Third Uncle is my hero and the greatest of all time! Whats scarier than ghosts is the human heart. This is something that fans of Candle in the Tomb will never understand. Im afraid of ghosts, but they didnt hurt me. Humans, on the other hand, have caught me off guard and hurt me deeply! Although both books have been greatly recommended, after reading The Lost Tomb, I really couldnt bear to read Candle in the Tomb anymore. There are so many types of creatures, traps, and so much feng shui. Is it tomb robbing or fighting monsters in the dungeon? Indeed, indeedI feel the same way too! Its a little like the clich of traditional adventure novels about fighting monsters to level up. If thats the case, why dont I just watch The Tomb Raider Movie instead? Its so interesting to see Wu Xies growth in The Lost Tomb. He went from being a sly rookie with a kind nature to becoming a ruthless evil emperor. Thats what makes the story interesting. If Candle in the Tomb is a star, then The Lost Tomb is a galaxy! I can barely remember the trio of main characters in Candle in the Tomb, but The Lost Tomb is about a group of characters. Each character has its own background and story, including love, family, and friendshipso many complex relationships are formed. This is a truly good story! .. The number of fans in the two communities was expanding rapidly. Having the same interests would bring people together, but what made people more united was having a common enemy. In an afternoon, the readers of Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb had each forged their own fortresses. When the voting began on the third night, they would attack the other side! The voting rules for the Fall Cup were as follows. On Friday and Saturday until Sunday before 6:00 pm, the books would be available for sale, and anyone who was interested could buy the e-book on the website. The voting would begin after 6:00 pm on Sunday, which was restricted to those who had paid for and read all four shortlisted works. With this relatively strict restriction, it was a good way to eliminate fake votes. Voting would begin from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm, while live counting of the votes would begin at 9:00 pm. The final results would be decided by expert judges before midnight, and the identity of the anonymous author would be revealed. Chapter 29 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation After receiving instructions from the higher-ups, ABC Iowa Station began a follow-up report on this years Fall Cup Competition. The resources mobilized were almost equivalent to the quadrennial governors election. It was also promoted on their official Twitter and Facebook accounts. Like the election, Iowa TV stations program analyst also conducted a poll. Which book would you like to see winning this years Fall Cup Creative Writing Competition? This semi-official poll quickly spread on social media and attracted more people to participate. After the TV station got the real-time data, they immediately carried out an analysis. The results of the analysis were synced to everyone through live broadcast. Looking at it now, among the four shortlisted works, Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb have the highest approval ratings, leaving the other two books far behind. Candle in the Tomb has a majority of male supporters and attract an older audience over the age of 30, while interestingly, The Lost Tomb has a majority of female supporters with a younger audience between 18 to 30 years old. Although the two books has the same theme, the content is completely different and are aimed at completely different groups of readers. What an interesting phenomenon! Right now, the number of supporters for these two works is increasing, and theres not much of a difference between the two. Based on the data alone, were still unsure who will win! Lets wait and see the final results tonight! I will be looking forward to the real-time voting session tonight. The TV station invited two guest commentators to cover the Fall Cup. One of the commentators was Ockham, who often published op-ed pieces in world-class literary magazines such as The New Yorker, Granta, and The Paris Review. He had a considerable influence in the industry. The books he recommended would have outstanding results in the selection of literary awards in the future. The other commentator was Iris, a 24-year-old Youtuber. She recommended interesting and good books from all over the world on her Youtube account and had more than a million subscribers. These two commentators were so diverse in terms of gender, age, background, and many more aspects, which allowed them to have completely distinct perspectives. Thus, their evaluations of books would be different. This was also the highlight of the review program. After the host introduced the difference in the composition of fans of the two works, he asked, Id like to ask our guests what are your comments on the participating works this time? Ockham spoke first. Without a doubt, I think Candle in the Tomb is well-deserving to be the champion of this competition. The authors excellent literary foundation and powerful plot sucks the audience into the ancient Chinese times like its our personal experience. I hope that this book will reach more readers after this competition. In the evening vote, Ill also urge my family to vote for it. The host smiled and said, Mr. Ockham, it seems that you really love this book and fit into the target reader of this book based on our analysis earlier. Ms. Iris, which book do you prefer? Iris answered in a light voice, Of course, its The Lost Tomb. Id have to disagree with Ockham, although I like your literary criticism very much, I cant agree with you this time. The characters in Candle in the Tomb are flat and have no depth, unlike The Lost Tomb, so Id say that the latter will be this years winner. Mr. Ockham said that he wants his son to vote for Candle in the Tomb earlier. I think that his son will much prefer The Lost Tomb. Id also like to appeal to the young people in our country to vote based on which work you think is best, not according to your parents wishes! Although Iris did not say it directly, she was implying that the younger generation should vote for The Lost Tomb. While Im at it, let me give you a little tip for our young supporters of The Lost Tomb. What are you going to do if your parents want to vote for Candle in the Tomb? Im sure you guys probably have encountered difficult math problems in school, right? When its time to vote, take your difficult math problem, the harder the better, and ask your parents to help you. Theyll certainly try to help you. This way, even though you cant vote, your parents cant either. Youll exchange one vote for two of theirs and its a good deal! After she said that, the audience, including many young viewers in front of the television, burst into laughter. Ockham frowned and said, Then I have to add too. Parents who are watching right now, if your children like The Lost Tomb, remember to cut off the wifi at home tonight and get them to do their homework. As parents, you have to tell the children whos really in charge at home! Chapter 30 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Penguin Publishing Company, marketing department. Stoner and Walter, the two editors, were nervously monitoring the real-time data of popular books on the Internet. How is it? How much of a chance does Dunbars Ghosthand have this time? According to our calculation, his chances of winning is zero. Are you kidding me?! How can it be zero? Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb, which are ranked at the top, are rising too fast. Were ranked last in popularity and its only a fraction of their ratings. Maybe these two books are faking their numbers. If they can be popular, why cant we? Stoner and Walter decided that the first two books were only popular because of marketing and other means, so they had to use their own marketing ways to counter it. Penguin Publishing Company was the worlds leading publishing platform. As long as they poured resources into and advertised a book, even if the content was rubbish, it would still be pushed to readers and would be at the top of the best-seller list. This was Penguin Publishings ability to make money. Are you sure you want to use our outsourcing marketing platform? The so-called outsourcing marketing platform was just a euphemistic way of saying they wanted to hire internet trolls. Their way of doing things was simple and crude. If Ghosthand was not popular enough, they would throw money at it until they reached their desired level. Walter made a phone call to the service outsourcing company that they worked with. It was a leading company in the black market in the United States called The Traffic Players. Rumors even spread that Trumps election campaign was fully contracted by that company. This meant that as long as the money was right, they could make you a president, let alone a mere book. Twitter was their main battlefield. They were extremely good at operating through multiple accounts and multiple threads. They would find plenty of internet trolls to like and retweet comments, then create their own hashtags so as to get into the hot topics and increase the popularity of specific information. They even promised that they could get into the top 10 trending topics on Twitter. The editors gave the order. Do it! The marketing team then took action. Machine No. 10,000-19,999 is in operation. Operation completed. Current likes: 90,000. Machine No. 20,000-29,999 is in operation. Operation completed. Current likes: 160,000. Machine No. 30,000-39,999 is in operation. Operation completed. Current likes: 80,000. .. There was an account tied to every machine, and every 10,000 accounts were controlled by one employee. They had hundreds of thousands of such accounts. Traffic Player was a company that was around for many years, so they were proficient in this business. They managed likes, retweets, and comments, and had humans behind each account working part-time to read and post comments so that it was more realistic compared to bot accounts. Thus, the results that they obtained were more substantial on the popularity rankings. Penguin Publishings order was not small, so Traffic Player used all they had. Alright, alright! Its about time! They watched as the popularity of Ghosthand slowly returned to the readers feed and there was a climbing trend. Tom, the boss of Traffic Player, took a deep puff of smoke and said, I thought itll be harder, but I guess there arent many good novels nowadays. Ill leave the rest to you guys. Jerry, keep an eye on it and remember to increase traffic regularly to stabilize the numbers. With the large injection of funds from Penguin Publishing, Ghosthand, which originally went unnoticed by people, quickly became popular. It was at the top of the list and was even slightly better than Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb. Fans of these two works were in separate camps and viewed the other as the enemy. They even warned each other not to mention the others work so that the other camp would not gain popularity. Although there were a lot of fans that were very fond of both books, no one dared to say anything as the situation escalated and was on the verge of breaking out. They were afraid that if they said a few words of mediation, they would be deemed a traitor on both sides. Before the voting for the Fall Cup officially began, the entire social media was focused on the rankings. Temporarily, Ghosthand was the most popular book with more than three million likes. The second and third most popular works were oscillating between Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb. The two works hovered between 2.8 million and 2.9 million likes. They gradually caught up with each other. .. Finally, at 6:00 pm, it was time to vote. While the online real-time voting was being counted, the judges had already arrived at the hotel one after another and began to comment on the shortlisted works. Good evening, everyone! It is my honor to be the host of this Fall Cup Finals. My name is Hades, the Director of the English Literature Department at the University of Iowa. Please allow me to introduce our VIPs here today. They are all well-known figures in the literary world. First up, Ms. Sherry Young. Of course, Im sure theres no need for further introductions. Shes the current President of the University of Iowa and the Poet Laureate of the United States! Next, we have Ms. Sakazaka, Professor of Japanese Literature at the University of Iowa. Shes also an honorary member of the Hollywood Film and Television Observation Team. The sponsor of this years Fall Cup is, Penguin Publishing Corporation, and representing them today is the Executive Vice President of the Atlantic Region, Mr. Jeffrey. Last but not least, Ms. Lilith, the editor-in-chief of Rainforest Publishing Company under Amazon, the worlds largest online bookstore. Chapter 31 Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Actually, weve already discovered two days ago that the discussion on this years Fall Cup on social media was gradually growing, especially Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb. These two works were especially popular. Of course, Ghosthands, which suddenly became popular today, is also a force that cant be underestimated. Next, we are about to go into the public voting and real-time vote counting segment! Professor Hades, who was usually humorous in his lectures, was surprisingly adept at being a host. He did not have any stage fright in front of the audience below the stage or in front of the television crew. After reading for two and a half days, Im sure the readers will have their favorite book in mind, so let the voting for this Fall Cup begin! The voting poll on the Fall Cup official website was unlocked. Countless readers logged on to their computers, mobile phones, tablets, and other devices and started voting. They saw that the two novels, Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb had surpassed the other two books by an order of magnitude and had reached ridiculous heights. The other two books were also on the rise, but they were slow to catch up. Penguin Publishing was able to generate traffic and buy likes, but the voting process was very strict and only allowed those who read all four books to vote. Traffic was nothing more than just giving the book more exposure. The real attraction for readers to pay and read the books depended on the quality of the work, not anything else. Thus, this scene now was like students who were used to cheating showed up exposed at the college entrance examination with their cover blown. Good marketing worked, but it was just icing on the cake and could not change the authors quality of writing. Since everyone was a veteran publisher, they tacitly did not say anything when they saw this scene. Hades just led everyones attention to the outstanding works, Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb. Just as we expected, these two works have already started a war from the moment voting started. Before the final result of the poll is out, purely out of personal curiosity, Id like to ask the judges and guests, which work do you think is more likely to win the championship in this final? Lilith pondered for a moment and spoke first. Its hard to say. In my opinion, the two works each have their own strengths, and the supporters are also evenly matched. I feel that giving it will be a pity if either one of the authors lost tonight. Hades said, Thats right. I feel that if we choose either Candle in the Tomb or The Lost Tomb, the fans of either one will come and attack our competition venue. It looks like were in a very precarious situation! The director of the live broadcast from the Iowa TV station cut the camera scene to the entrance of the hotel where the event was held. Outside, fans of Candle in the Tomb roared the names of the main character trio, Hu Bayi, Wang Pangzi, and Da Jinya, in support of this work. The fans of The Lost Tomb were even more outrageous. The girls had already raised their homemade glow-stick signs, screaming that love between men was the purest love. They waved their glowing signs and shoved their way to the front of the crowd. If it were not for the security measures of this five-star hotel, the fans would probably have occupied the lobby where the finals were held. Please allow me to first express my most sincere thanks to the enthusiastic readers on behalf of the two excellent anonymous authors. Dean Sherry smiled gently. Although theres no such thing as being the best in literature, today is a competition after all. Thus, there will be winners and losers, so only one work will win first place. I wish that no matter what the final result is, everyone will remain calm and rational. In my opinion, I personally prefer Candle in the Tomb to win this time. Waves of vigorous cheers came from the entrance. The plot of this work is very firm, like a handsome young man with a well-proportioned body and a delicate face. Sherrys face suddenly blushed as she said this. Her thoughts drifted back to the time she had co-created this book in Fang Yuans room that day. Although some people have criticized that the characters lacked growth in Candle in the Tomb, the main trio and Shirley Yang the heroine, are clearly described and molded. This is actually very useful for genre novels. Hades nodded repeatedly and said, Dean Sherry is right. In terms of the plot, Candle in the Tomb has the upper hand. It can be seen that the author of this book is very experienced, and its obvious that hes a veteran with solid fundamentals. He probably has more writing experience than the author of The Lost Tomb. I cant agree with Ms. Sherry. Sakazaka Rion stood up. In my opinion, Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb are indeed first-class works, but if we must decide a winner between the two, it will undoubtedly be The Lost Tomb. As the mentor for The Lost Tomb, Sakazaka Rion had personally seen words that were as vivid as movie scenes flowing out from Fang Yuans pen. From the perspective of film and television adaptations, The Lost Tomb, which has a strong character relationship, clearly has a stronger advantage. Candle in the Tomb is just a good novel, but The Lost Tomb is a rising star that is about to break through the entire entertainment industry. We can find more value from this work, so it deserves to be the champion of this competition. Hades turned his head and said, Indeed, this is the difference between commercial writing and traditional literature. Ms. Sherry may be more concerned about the value of the words themselves, but from the perspective of the film and television, Ms. Sakazaka has clearly enlightened us on the reach of The Lost Tomb. He was very good at dealing with people and did not offend either side. It seems that these two authors each have their own strengths and personalities. Since its getting late, its time to have a look at the final voting results! Chapter 32 - Tie! What A Dramatic Situation! Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Among the four judges present, Sherry voted for Candle in the Tomb, Sakazaka Rion voted for The Lost Tomb, Jeffrey voted for Ghosthand, and Lilith, who was supposed to decide the final result, voted for Carrie out of the desire to support a newcomer. The current situation was that each of the four works received one vote from the expert judges. In other words, the one with the highest score in the reader selection would be the winner of this Fall Cup. The results of the vote counting were announced. The final vote for Candle in the Tomb is 193,783 votes! Congratulations to the author! The final vote for The Lost Tomb is 193,783 votes! When Hades announced the two figures, the audience was in disbelief. These two works even had the same number of votes from the readers! This is too much of a coincidence! Even Hades was in disbelief. This was an automatic vote counter, so he wondered if there was something wrong with the machine. It was not just him. The other judges and the audience were also puzzled. There was an uproar in the audience. Fans of both sides were criticizing each other on social media because The Lost Tomb fans distracted their parents with difficult math problems while fans of Candle in the Tomb cut their childrens internet connection. They were all dumbfounded when they heard the results. This is too much of a coincidence! I have to say that we have never encountered such a problem in all the years the Fall Cup has been held! It was indeed as Hades said. Even the organizing committee of the competition was a little confused as they did not have any rules for this. This Fall Cup was held just like other previous Fall Cups, which were never this dramatic. The organizing committee started to work out a solution. In the meantime, Hades had to bite the bullet and continue to host the show. After all, it was live on Iowa TV and the internet. It was impossible to stay as awkward as they were now and neglect the audience. Everyone, please calm down! The organizing committee of the competition is currently in the midst of some emergency planning. I believe that they will definitely come up with a proper solution. Before that, we just need to remain patient. Actually, all the judges have expressed their views just now, but I havent said my piece yet. These two works chose Chinese burial culture as the topic and used tomb-robbers as the main characters. The authors of these books participated in the same Fall Cup and even obtained the exact same number of votes in the final selection. This feels like fate! There were even rumors online that the two works were actually written by the same author. Id like to say that its extremely unlikely that Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb were written by the same author. Why do you say that? First of all, the writing style of the two works is completely different. One is experienced and worldly, while the other is amiable. Secondly, the focus of these two works is completely different. One is about exploration, while the other is actually about character growth. Lastly, its the technical difficulty. You should know that the Fall Cup Creative Writing Competition is held in the form of a workshop. In other words, all authors need to create their works on-site within a limited amount of time. Think about it. In just two short weeks, the author would have to come up with two stories with similar themes but with completely different focuses. They would have to complete two books totaling about 200,000 words. This is just amazing talent and efficiency! If there really is such a genius in the worldIm willing to be his student! In my opinion, these works each have their own pros and cons, so I cant make a judgment. Hades talked for a long time, but in the end, all he said was nonsense. He could not come up with a conclusion from his analysis. Thus, it was impossible to determine the final winner of the competition. However, his analysis had indeed attracted many peoples attention and diverted everyones focus from the tie to other places. It had also given the organizing committee enough time to find a solution that everyone was satisfied with. At this moment, a young man came up from behind and whispered a few words into Hades ear. Hades nodded repeatedly. Alright. Then, Hades turned to the audience and said, The result of the discussion by the organizing committee just now was that since the reader and expert votes for the two works are the same, it means that the quality of the works is about the same. Or, at the very least, they each have their own strengths. Behind such excellent works are excellent authors who have completed such ingenious stories. Therefore, the organizing committee has decided to continue as scheduled and reveal the true identity of both anonymous authors. Please welcome the author of Candle in the Tomb and the author of The Lost Tomb to the front of the stage to share their creative perspective and the process of completing this work. In the end, we will give the two authors a score based on that and a winner will be decided! Chapter 33 - The Change In Public Opinion Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation A reporters question was always incisive. This question was tantamount to asking a man if he would save his mother or wife first if they were to fall into the river. This reporter was bribed by Penguin Publishing to deliberately make things difficult at the scene. No matter how Fang Yuan answered, he would fall into their trap. If Fang Yuan said that Candle in the Tomb was better, then he would definitely offend a large number of The Lost Tomb fans and would be labeled as arrogant on the headlines the next day. Arrogant Candle in the Tomb author thinks hes the King of tomb-robbing stories. Southern Sect Third Uncle smiled in silence. If Fang Yuan answered that The Lost Tomb was better, then he would definitely hurt the hearts of his many fans and would push The Lost Tomb to the peak of fame. A winner still had yet to be decided. No matter how Fang Yuan answered, it would have an impact on Candle in the Tomb. However, this question was not difficult for Fang Yuan. He picked up the microphone and said without the slightest hesitation, That depends. From the point of view of artistic creation and style, as well as knowledge depth, theres no doubt that Candle in the Tomb is better than The Lost Tomb. OMG, how can he say that? Hes so arrogant! What right does he have to say that? The Lost Tomb is creative and has plenty of depth! The internet exploded. The judges at the scene were also discussing animatedly. Arrogant! Truly arrogant! The reporter who had just asked the question was also extremely excited. The author of Candle in the Tomb had made a scene denying his opponent in public. This was big news! The reporter wanted to make this a big deal in his article later so that it would create a butterfly effect tomorrow once it was published. He thought, My promotion and a raise is just around the corner! Fang Yuan continued, The Lost Tomb is intended to be more of a commercial novel. This is something that Candle in the Tomb cant compare to. If we talk about impression, perhaps The Lost Tomb is better than Candle in the Tomb. Just as he finished his sentence, the scene was silent, so much so that they could hear a pin drop. What did he mean by this? Fang Yuans first sentence was arrogant, saying that Candle in the Tomb was the best. However, in the next second, he said that his work was not as good as The Lost Tomb. Was that not self-destruction and admitting defeat? The reporter seized the opportunity and asked, Mr. Fang Yuan, do you mean that in terms of artistic creativity and knowledge, Candle in the Tomb is better than The Lost Tomb, but in terms of reading interest, The Lost Tomb is better? Yes, exactly. Is there any other questions? The audience was in an uproar. Many people sighed saying that Fang Yuan was too young. If he maintained his arrogant and unruly attitude earlier, perhaps he could still attract a group of diehard fans. The number of people might be small, but they would be loyal to him. What he was doing now was so capricious that he was only digging his own grave. It would be extremely disadvantageous for his future career as an author. I originally thought that Candle in the Tomb was pretty good with sophisticated writing. I even thought that the author was an older person, but now it seems that The Lost Tomb is still better. Bullsh*t! The Lost Tomb is meant for children. Candle in the Tomb is a masterpiece. If you dont understand, stop talking nonsense! On Twitter, Facebook, and various social media, the debate became even more intense because of Fang Yuans words. The fans were still divided into two factions. However, it was obvious that more people were leaning towards The Lost Tomb. Penguin Publishing was a giant company. If they did not do anything now, they would not have a chance to strike later, so now was the best time to stir up public opinion. There would be a huge amount of traffic if they did so, which meant that there would be a huge amount of profit as well. Controlling public opinion was the key to everything. The two editors, Stoner and Walter, were even happier when they saw the debate on social media. This is a huge opportunity! The two of them clapped their hands in joy. If they took advantage of this opportunity to add fuel to the fire, the whole thing would explode. Sometimes, a book really did not have to be well-written to be number one. It had to rely on the operation of a professional team. The two editors immediately contacted the internet trolls. The money was pouring in. All kinds of comments, likes, flowers, and gifts were presented to Ghosthand. After this, Ghosthand actually exceeded the approval ratings of Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb. Obviously, the judges at the scene realized that the final result was very likely to be a three-sided war. Stoner also felt that he was about to get a promotion and a raise. He said excitedly, Do you think thats enough? Give me more! The two groups of internet trolls got to work. One group said that The Lost Tomb was not as good as Candle in the Tomb while the other group was arrogant saying that Candle in the Tomb was art, literary foundation, and knowledge. It was much better than The Lost Tomb and that The Lost Tomb still had lots to catch up on. After three rounds of operation, the rhythm was going. The comments were retweeted to the point it was trending. They also commented on Fang Yuans objective evaluation of both works. At this time, the two editors, Stoner and Walter, led a group of internet trolls to say that the quality of Ghosthand surpassed both these works, and perhaps it was a hidden pearl. When this kind of public opinion erupted, it revealed ones own purpose and would naturally attract everyones attention. It became a chain reaction. Out of curiosity, people began to look at Ghosthand. There were always people who thought a novel was good while others thought it was bad. Ghosthand also gradually rose in popularity. Hmmalthough its a lot worse than The Coiling Dragon, Ghosthand is not bad. Reading it gives me goosebumps. Although this extinguished the popularity of Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb, it actually helped Fang Yuans previous book, The Coiling Dragon. More people became curious and looked at Ghosthand. The reviews were not bad. The two editors at Penguin Publishing were going crazy with joy as they used such a storm of public opinion to achieve such a miraculous effect. At the same time, the judges were puzzled. Previously, Ghosthand was clearly inferior to the other two works in all aspects, so how did it rebound? Was it that good? .. At this moment, someone suddenly went on stage, indicating that there was a big change in the top four books. Ghosthands online fan support had exceeded 400,000. As for Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb, their current fan support was only 200,000. If this continued, the judges would have no choice but to announce Ghosthand as the final victor. Furthermore, the battle between the two works stopped momentarily. If they got the author of The Lost Tomb to go on stage and answer everyones questions at this moment, it would cause a backlash. Hence, the judges decided at the last minute to have the anonymous author for Ghosthand speak on stage first. Chapter 34 - The Author Of Candle In The Tomb” Makes An Appearance Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation When Fang Yuan heard that he was called to the stage, he naturally did not shy away. He walked to the stage under everyones watchful gaze. At this point, although people knew that he might be one of the top few works there were still cries of surprise when they saw Fang Yuan walking to the stage. The writing styles of The Coiling Dragon and Candle in the Tomb or The Lost Tomb were so different. One was fantasy, and the other two were suspense. They were two completely different styles of writing. OMG! Its really unbelievable! Hes the author of The Coiling Dragon, I Eat Tomatoes! Yeah, I didnt expect that! I thought Ghosthand might be Fang Yuans. After all, both of those novels have a strong fantasy tone. Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb are oriental books. Actually, Im more concerned whether Fang Yuan is the author of Candle in the Tomb or The Lost Tomb! Everyone was extremely curious and the scene quieted down. Everyone in front of the television held their breaths. Fang Yuan looked at everyone and finally fixed his gaze on Sherry for three seconds. Sherry blushed slightly from his gaze. Hello everyone, Im Fang Yuan, the author of Candle in the Tomb. Ah! OMG!! Hes so young, how did he write such a mature piece of work? Every sentence of Candle in the Tomb contained so much ancient knowledge that required a lot of experience. Most people thought that the author was a white-bearded old man, but this author was so young. Unbelievable! When I read Candle in the Tomb, I was so deeply immersed in it and couldnt extricate myself. Sometimes, I even wondered if the author had really experienced an adventure in the ancient tomb to create such a divine work. OMG! Im in love with him!! I have to read his other book, The Coiling Dragon when I have the time. Even though Candle in the Tomb is good, I still firmly believe that The Lost Tomb is the best. Are you kidding me?! Didnt you see that the organizers asked the author of Candle in the Tomb to go up to the stage first? So isnt it obvious? Candle in the Tomb is the king. You dont understand. Usually, they announce the last place first. Otherwise, whats there to look forward to? No! The authors of the two books are going up on stage to express their views, then the judges will decide which book is the winner. The fans of the two books were split into two factions and started to fight. In the end, Fang Yuan had no choice but to raise his hand, signaling for everyone to settle down. Candle in the Tomb was inspired by the ancient Chinese burial culture. Fang Yuan spoke, and everyone became quiet. The Lost Tomb and Candle in the Tomb were all based on Chinese burial culture. However, Candle in the Tomb leaned more towards adventure, so readers were more easily captivated. The Lost Tomb focused on human nature, which was more terrifying than ghosts. Fang Yuan continued, The reason why China has such a long-lasting burial culture is that it has a connection with Chinas traditional myths. In Chinas historical legends, after a person dies, its not the end for that person, but another starting point. There are even legends that after death, various glories in the material world can be brought to another world, which is the netherworld, using a special method. Due to that belief, the rich and powerful in ancient times were unwilling to lose everything when they go to the netherworld after death. Hence, this tradition began as early as the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang. He began to bury his gold, silver, and treasures, everything that he owned when he was alive. He even buried the living, wanting them to accompany him when he died. This was the so-called burial culture back then. Since there was a burial culture, tomb-robbing became a trend as these tombs were often buried with precious gold, silver, jewelry, silk, brocade, and many other valuable items. Therefore, there were two sects. One defended the tombs, and the other attacked. Ancient Emperors were also smart enough to create fake tombs as they didnt want tomb robbers to steal everything they had. Moreover, in their real tomb, there were all kinds of traps. Quicksand, poison, and even some trapping mechanisms. When the owner of the tomb was alive, he would find Taoist priests and place some zombie guards to protect the tomb. Ive always wanted to write an adventure novel that contains the mystery and magnificence of tomb culture and bring this adventure to the Western world. Fang Yuan explained his original intention of writing Candle in the Tomb. He had said these words when he had dinner with Sherry on the first night of the workshop. However, at that time, Sherry had vehemently opposed it. She thought that Western literature was fixed and this was an independent and pioneering work. If it was not especially outstanding, the market would not have any reaction at all, but reality proved that this young man on the stage was really outstanding. He really did it. Hes really amazing Sherry said in a low voice. Sakazaka Rion, who was next to Sherry, widened her eyes and said, Are you saying that his body is amazing? Sherry just nodded in a daze. Rion was dumbfounded and pursed her lips as she thought, Do you have to be so honest? At this moment, Rion recalled what she saw when she went to Fang Yuans bedroom that morning. Her mind was in a mess and her breathing became rapid. However, there was also a wave of jubilation below the stage and on the Internet. After hearing so much about the burial culture, everyone was in an uproar. Even the fans of The Lost Tomb were not against it because they really could not find any fault with it. Although I still think that The Lost Tomb is the best, I have to admit that this authors understanding of burial culture is very profound. Yeah, this author is very knowledgeable. Otherwise, he wouldnt have written such a book. Yeah, ancient Chinese civilization is indeed worth studying. After all, this tomb culture is passed down from ancient times. At this moment, a reporter raised his hand. Mr. Fang Yuan, are those gold and silver treasures buried in the tomb, as well as those talismans, all real? Fang Yuan smiled and said, Of course they existed. They may even exist today, but some of them remain unknown. What I wrote in the book may have been exaggerated for artistic purposes, but who could say what was real and what was not? This tomb culture didnt only exist in China. It also exists in Egypt. Up until now, there are still many places in the pyramids that have yet to be explored, right? Thank you for your answer, Mr. Fang. I have one last question. Which of these two books do you think is better? Candle in the Tomb or The Lost Tomb? Everyones eyes lit up at the mention of The Lost Tomb and listened attentively. Chapter 35 - Shooting Himself In The Foot Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Many people cursed at such an ostentatious operation. What the hell is Ghosthand? How can that thing compare to The Lost Tomb? Thats right. Theyre not even on the same level! I cant bear to read another chapter. Its so lousy! After reading two chapters, I still dont even know who the main character is The scene was filled with curses, but the judges could not do anything about it since everything was based on data. Now, Ghosthands popularity surpassed Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb. Is it that bad? I think its very good. I just finished reading it. A different voice came out from the crowd. This time, everyone was very unified. The fans of Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb collectively denounced it. F*ck that! Ghosthand is just trying to scare people. Its not literature! How can that be good? Yes, I agree. Please read The Lost Tomb or Candle in the Tomb first before commenting. Theres no place for you here! At the scene, everyone who had read Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb was in an uproar. An opponent was only worthy when their strength was equal. Otherwise, that opponent would just be an ant. Ghosthand was not horrible, but it was just far inferior to the previous two books. Dunbar went on stage and heard the commotion below the stage. He pretentiously raised his hand and signaled for everyone not to speak. However F*ck! What the hell is he doing? Does he think that hes a president? No, hes just reaching out his Ghosthandhahaha! Get it? Dunbar had not even spoken yet. The reporters below who supported Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb raised their hands to ask questions. Dunbar really had nothing to say when it came to writing inspiration, so it was especially uncool to share it. Fang Yuan, the author of Candle in the Tomb, mentioned a lot of cultural knowledge in his writing inspiration. He even gave a brief explanation of Chinese tomb culture so well that it made Dunbar feel a little inferior. Although Dunbar saw that his book was ranked first and was naturally ecstatic, he felt a little guilty. After going on stage, he was somewhat regretful. How could he make his creative inspiration sound good? In the end, he only said that he got his writing inspiration from a strange dream. He was a little embarrassed and could not say anything else. At this time, when a reporter asked him a question, it naturally gave him an excuse not to share his creative inspiration. Dunbar maintained a gentle smile and said to the female reporter who had a question, Please go ahead. Mr. Dunbar, are you able to stand on the stage and say that youre number one? What are the merits of your work compared to the two top tomb-robbing novels? This was such a sharp question and was a f*cking deliberate provocation. Dunbars face sank as he said, My work is recognized by the public, so naturally, it has its advantages over Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb. I dont need to say more because wont I be like the author of Candle in the Tomb that said The Lost Tomb was inferior to my own book? What the f*ck? How thick-skinned is he to say that his book has received the publics approval more so than Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb? How is it better? Why cant I see It? I think those who have agreed to it are either trolls or have never read Candle in the Tomb Afterward, more reporters raised extremely sharp questions. Dunbars good expression also gradually disappeared. He felt that he was not shining in glory, but standing on stage to receive insults from a group of trolls. .. Penguin Publishing Company. Stoner and Walter, the two editors, clinked their wine glasses together. It looks like were going to win this time. The two of them thought so at the same time and even prepared to have fun with many beautiful women at the villa tonight. This was a victory that could turn the tables. Ghosthand relied on the gap between the two works and eventually rose in popularity. This was yet another successful commercial novel. Suddenly, there was a knock on their office door. A wretched middle-aged fat man came in. He was the boss of Traffic Player, the outsourcing company. Look, your goal has been achieved, so shouldnt you fulfill your promise? Stoner drank a glass of red wine and took out a card, handing it to the man as he said, Ill pay you $150,000 first. As for the remaining half, if Ghosthand can dominate the rankings for a long time and suppress Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb for a month, Ill give it to you. Fatty held the card in his hand and said with an unpleasant expression, Mr. Stoner, the current situation is different from the past. To surpass the two books that topped the rankings, my cost is already far higher than $200,000. If you want to dominate the rankings for a week, its impossible to do so without $1 million. Even that is quite impossible, not to mention dominating the rankings for a month. I actually came to negotiate the price with you aside from the initially agreed $300,000. Enough, enough! I know how you operate. Youre just trying to get more money from us. Is $300,000 not enough to eat your fill? Take this and scram! Otherwise, forget about the remaining $150,000. Stoner and Walter were completely oblivious and only thought that the man was just trying to up the price. This sum was already very high. The fat man had a troubled look on his face. He gritted his teeth and said, If thats the case, then you can give me the remaining $150,000. We cant help Ghosthand to dominate the rankings for another week. Its truly a loss for us. Stoner picked up another wine glass and poured half a glass of wine for the fat man as he said, Mr. Kaft, I can give you the remaining $150,000, but from now on, we will stop hiring you for our outsourcing business. Is this the result you wish to see? The fat mans expression was a little ugly. All these years, he had been relying on Penguin Publishing and had indeed earned quite a bit of money. If it was a normal day, he would have endured it, but the current situation was different from the past. The rankings of Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb kept increasing. If he wanted to suppress these two books within a week, the cost would be ten times or even more than usual. Naturally, he would be spending out of his own pocket. $300,000 was only enough to suppress them for a day. If this continued for a week, he would probably lose his business. Thinking of this, the fat man cried, Boss, its really different this time. If you want me to suppress them for a week, I will need at least $1.5 million. $1.5 million? The two editors looked at each other and laughed. Thats impossible, Mr. Kaft. You have two choices. $300,000 to help Ghosthand dominate the rankings for a week, or take this $150,000 and get out of here. From now on, well cut off all Penguins outsourcing business with your company. There are so many outsourcing companies like you, so if you dont want to do it, Im sure others will. Suddenly, the fat man jumped up and pounced towards Stoner. Since he was a big guy, Stoner fell to the ground. Without any explanation, Mr. Kaft punched Stoner wildly on the face. Chapter 36 - It’s Me! Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation After being carried out of the building by security, Mr. Kafts eyes turned cold as he sat on the ground. F*ck, such a big company doesnt even have any moral integrity when it comes to doing things! Ive also read Ghosthand and its complete trash compared to Candle in the Tomb! Mr. Kaft stood up and dusted off the dirt on his body and muttered to himself, I think I should look for the author of Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb. The competition between these two books seems even more intense. Once it was the first volume was uploaded, its already so competitive. The disputes in the future will simply be unimaginable. I might need more internet trolls. When the fat man thought of this, his eyes lit up and he was instantly in a good mood. He turned around and looked at the tall office building of Penguin Publishing. Hmph! I dont even need to sabotage Ghosthand because its so bad it speaks for itself. Stoner, all of you just wait and see! Ghosthand will return to its original position in the rankings in no time. .. At the venue. The smell of gunpowder was so thick that the hotel was about to explode. It was clearly a sharing session, but it had become a quarreling session between the author and the audience. It was one person fighting against many members of the audience. The audience was chattering. In the end, Dunbar could only leave the stage with a dark expression on his face. Hades quickly went up to the stage. Only then did everyone settle down. That was because, according to reliable sources, Hades was Fang Yuans mentor. Next, lets welcome the author of The Lost Tomb to the stage! This sentence was like throwing a nuclear bomb into the crowd. Everyone was caught off guard. Whos the author of The Lost Tomb? I dont knowout of all the famous authors, who would write in such a style? The introduction of The Lost Tomb is similar to Tomb Raider. The only difference is that when I read the book, I feel like Im there because of the historical presence. This book is simply refreshing after all those books about magic and swords. Yeah, its much better than Candle in the Tomb. Candle in the Tomb is the originator of tomb-robbing novels. The Lost Tomb is a little too exaggerating and the story is much worse than Candle in the Tomb. It seemed like Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb were two big topics that could not be avoided. Not only did the audience quarrel, but the judges also argued endlessly. As for Ghosthand which supposedly ranked above the two works, no one discussed it at all. Hades retreated to Sherrys side and asked, Sherry, which of these two books do you think is better? Shirley said without a second thought, The Lost Tomb is not as elegant as Candle in the Tomb. Sakazaka Rion said, I dont think so. The Lost Tomb is so mysterious and more interesting than Candle in the Tomb Everyone was still discussing. Now, everyone was extremely curious as to who the author of The Lost Tomb was. Everyone slowly became silent because the one who went up to the stage was actually the same author C Fang Yuan. Everyones eyes widened and they gasped. Whats he doing up there? Is the author of The Lost Tomb not present today? I guess thats possible. Everyone was a little confused. Even the judges were confused. According to the competition rules, no one knew who the authors were even if they knew their mentees book. What was going on? The author of Candle in the Tomb went up on stage once again. Was Fang Yuan going up to diss The Lost Tomb? Earlier, the audience was already annoyed that the author of Ghosthand, who was nothing in their eyes, took to the stage. Fang Yuan could feel the crowds nervousness. He also felt that if his next words were not right, he would immediately face a storm. However, he still swept his gaze across the crowd and finally said with confidence, Its me He did not say anything else. What do you mean? What does he mean by that? Everyone was stunned. Go down! The one who should be standing on the stage is the author of The Lost Tomb! Someone could not stand the torture, so he shouted at Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan was not mad at that person and said with a smile, Its me The scene was completely silent. What do you mean Finally, a reporter stood up and asked, Mr. Fang Yuan, what do you mean Fang Yuan interrupted him and said, Its exactly what you think. Its me. Are you saying that youre the author of Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb? The reporter finally reacted and screamed. Fang Yuan nodded and said, Thats right, its me. The whole place was silent for three seconds. Kaboom! Thousands of people screamed at once that it caused a shockwave like an explosion. After arguing for so long, it turns out that Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb are by the same author! OMG! Its really hard to imagine that someone could perfectly merge the writing styles of an old man and a young man into two books. I cant even tell that these two books were written by the same person! This is too incredible! Theres something even more amazing. Have you forgotten that hes also the author of The Coiling Dragon? The style of The Coiling Dragon is not at all similar to these two tomb-robbing novels! I cant believe that its the same author. Previously, to support The Lost Tomb, I saw the author and fans of Candle in the Tomb as my enemy! But now, youre like my half-brothers and half-sisters! All fans who support Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb, unite! At this moment, the internet was in a frenzy. Previously, due to Penguin Publishings interference, many fans of The Lost Tomb went to vote for Ghosthand as well to suppress the number one Candle in the Tomb. After all, Candle in the Tomb was a good book. Thus, when The Lost Tomb fans saw such a strong competitor, they went all out. What was happening now? The same author wrote both works all by himself?! Everyone was dumbfounded and could not help but laugh. What the hell? Is this real?! If youd told us earlier, I wouldnt have fought with my wife! Hahaha! There were all sorts of complaints, but no one cursed at him. It was a completely different treatment from when the author of Ghosthand went on stage. In the end, the rankings of both books increased crazily. The numbers of Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb surpassed Ghosthand by a long mile. The number of fans support even reached a terrifying figure of 500,000. Everyone talked about it endlessly. Seeing that Fang Yuan was still on stage, someone was the first to applaud, then the second, and the third. Everyone gave Fang Yuan a standing ovation as they seemed to have witnessed a new Oriental literary star on the rise to fame. Chapter 37 - Commotion At The Awards Ceremony Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation I feel that Ghosthand is much better than Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb. Hey, youve been exposed! Tell me, troll, who hired you? Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms released a few chapters of Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb for the general public to comment on. Internet trolls were real fans. They often gathered together and spat at each other. Suddenly, someones comment attracted everyones attention. These are internet trolls hired from a traffic manipulating company. Their true colors will be revealed once someone reports them. Its simple to report them and you can just do it online. This is the link. Everyone was stunned. Some people did not believe it and clicked on it, but there was only one item on it. Ghosthand data manipulation Dont click on it! Why are you so stupid? Its clearly a virus! If you click on it, you might lose all the data on your computer. Dont worry, Im at the cybercafe. Ive already reported it. Thank you! At the same time, this comment was forwarded by countless people. Some people believed it and some did not. However, that did not matter. With such a large population, even if one out of a hundred people believed it, that was enough. Although The Coiling Dragon, The Lost Tomb, and Candle in the Tomb were published not too long ago, they had indirectly and directly affected tens of millions of people. The number of people who participated in this voting was over a million. With such a huge base, if one percent of the people clicked on the link to report it, that would account to tens of thousands of people making the report, which was a huge deal. This immediately attracted the attention of the relevant literary boards and an investigation was carried out. The investigation revealed a big problem. The truth was uncovered that a lot comments, tens of thousands of them, were all from one IP address, and a few dozen IP addresses controlled a million comments. This was enough to affect the performance of a book. It was enough to push a rubbish book to a good ranking. They immediately alerted the police, who mobilized a large number of officers to track down the IP addresses. They all went to a small office, but it was empty. However, the police found a note on the boss desk. We work for Penguin Publishing Company. The two editors in charge of Ghosthand hired us. As long as you arrest them and question them in isolation, they will definitely tell you the truth. The police officers just looked at each other because the entire office was empty except for one computer. Take it back. There were some important emails and messages on the computer. Some important information pointed the blame to Penguin Publishing Corporation. .. At the venue. An award ceremony was being held. The popularity of Ghosthand and its rankings plummeted because of the report. OMG! Did you guys see it? Ghosthand is a hot topic now. No way! What happened? How does it compare to Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb? Obviously it cant compare to such a masterpiece! Now, the fans of Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb were working together to fight against Ghosthand. What a joke! How could a mediocre book compare to Candle in the Tomb or The Lost Tomb? This was everyones consensus. Dunbar did not know what to say, and his face was glum. His ranking kept falling, and most importantly, his book had been surpassed by another rising star, Carrie. Moreover, the reviews for Carrie from those who had read it were really good. The story structure was simple, about a supernatural girl and a paranoid mother. The girl grew up without any care from her Catholic mother, which led to the girl going on a rampage in her town. Several people stood on the stage. Since Candle in the Tomb and The Lost Tomb were both written by the same author and their rankings and popularity data were consistent, the two books were tied for first place after discussion with the judges. This way, Carrie came in second, and Ghosthand was ranked last. During the award ceremony, a few important people from the literary world came to give the awards to the three of them. Hmph! Who are you to be my equal? Dunbar looked at Stephen King and said scornfully. In his opinion, Fang Yuan was able to stand there because they were from the same school, so he was still a worthy competitor. However, Stephen King did not come from a literary background, so Dunbar looked down on him. All of his previous income from royalties was not even to survive, so he still had to rely on the support of others. Stephen King felt a little inferior, so he just lowered his head after being ridiculed like this. No one knew what he was thinking. However, Fang Yuan knew that Stephen King would become popular all over the world because of his book, Carrie. In his previous life, Stephen King was the godfather of horror novels in America. He was just waiting for his big break. Fang Yuan smiled and said, Stephen, Carrie is really a masterpiece. Its even better than my book in some aspects of emotional pull. Your future is very bright, so theres no need to feel depressed. Stephen King suddenly looked up at Fang Yuan and said, Are you just saying that? Ive doubted myself many times. Fang Yuan smiled and said, Why? Youre the protagonist in your life. Just like the protagonists in our novel, well all experience some hardships before we soar. Stephen Kings eyes lit up. He had been working hard for more than ten years to write a good novel. The reason he was able to persevere was that his wife always supported him. Thanks for your reminder, Fang Yuan. Youre like a light showing me the right path. During the awards ceremony, Stephen King respectfully received the medal and prize money. A gray-haired old man held a medal in front of Dunbar and said, Congratulations, I hope you will continue to work hard. It was a simple encouragement, and Dunbar remembered what Fang Yuan taught him that night. It would impress the judge if he could respond in Chinese now. Thinking of this, Dunbar said, yu sh? [Translation: whats the matter?] The judges facial muscles clearly twitched, but he still remained calm because it was a public event. He could not be rude and smiled slightly as he said, Mr. Dunbar, you really have a personality. No wonder you can write such good work. The judge looked at his colleagues. When he saw that they were smiling, Dunbar continued to say proudly, ji zh? [Translation: thats it?] Why are you like this? The judge could not hold it anymore and he snapped back. Dunbar was even more satisfied and said with confidence, n zi jio w zush?! [Translation: who are you to tell me what to do?] Chapter 38 - I Read Your Book And Got Clean Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Whats Dunbar saying? Chinese? It sounds polite, right? Is there a translator here? At this time, the man on the broadcast was translating the words of the Chinese literary guest. Hmm, it is indeed polite words. However, why did the Chinese guest look so glum at this moment? In the next second, the female translator translated Dunbars words. Whats the matter? Just this? Who are you to tell me what to do? Everyone was stunned. Was the translation was wrong? However when they saw that the famous guests face turned red as he spoke. Everyone realized that this was really an argument. Dunbar had a confused look on his face as he thought, I was being polite, why is this old man so anxious. The Chinese guest also fought back in English. At this time, a few men in suits and sunglasses appeared in the crowd and said to Dunbar, Mr. Dunbar, you are a suspect for falsifying online data, please come with us. Everyone was stunned. What the hell is this? Why are the police here? Dunbar did not dare to be arrogant in front of the police. Dunbar settled his emotions and said, Okay, Ill go with you for the investigation. The commotion seemed to end just like that. Awards party at night. Fang Yuan and Stephen King became the focus of attention. It was found that the rankings for Dunbars Ghosthand were falsified and related to two editors of Penguin Publishing. This caused a sensation on the internet. As a result, Ghosthand was also removed from the website. Fang Yuan wrote two of the top three books while Stephen King was the author of Carrie. Before this book, Stephen King did not have any other famous works. The two of them held a glass of red wine and clinked it with each other. Mr. Fang Yuan, I really admire your imagination to be able to write such groundbreaking works that Ive never seen before. Stephen King praised him. Fang Yuan drank a sip of wine and said, Stephen, you and I are both writers. Since we managed to cross paths, I consider you my friend and brother. Youre also older than me, so theres really no need to be so polite with me. Just call me bro or Fang Yuan. Stephen was flattered because he did not get any recognition from anyone thus far in his writing career. He had submitted hundreds of manuscripts, none of which had been approved by an editor. Stephen was only slightly famous now because of this book, but his future was still unknown. Usually, many writers would run out of inspiration after publishing a book, and would not produce anymore great works. Stephen King was distressed about this because he had no idea what kind of book he should write next. Fang Yuan, youre a great person. I used to think that those famous writers were all very arrogant and unapproachable like Dunbar. I never thought that a writer of your level would be so down-to-earth! Fang Yuan smiled and said, Its because I know that the path of a writer can be lonely, so isnt it better if we all become friends to support each other? Stephen King had never been treated like this, so he was quite emotional. The young man in front of him was the author of the three great books, The Coiling Dragon, Candle in the Tomb, and The Lost Tomb. Fang Yuan, I dont understand one thing. How did you maintain such inspiration? All three of your books that were published not long ago are legendary works. In the future, there might be very few who could surpass your books. I truly admire your inspiration because you churned out all these works in less than a month! Stephen King was telling the truth. Writers were all lonely. Some writers became famous when they were young, and their inspiration dried up when they were middle-aged. Most fell into a slump, smoked marijuana, became alcoholics, or even committed suicide because they could not produce any more good works. They intoxicated themselves to numb their minds. This was what happened to most writers who could not surpass their own peak. Fang Yuan frowned and said seriously, A writers inspiration comes from life, its basically the accumulation of knowledge and experience. If you havent experienced it or you dont understand it, how can you write such a theme? Both of their hearts lit up at the same time. Fang Yuan said, A story comes from ones own experiences, but a writer without inspiration is like locking yourself in a cage. Just like Dunbar, who is originally a talent that could be molded. Since he thought too highly of himself, he lacked inspiration and locked himself in a cage, so he could not produce good works. Stephen King frowned and had a feeling that Fang Yuans words had a hidden meaning, but he could not think of the key point. What exactly was this cage of inspiration? How can a writer release himself from this cage of inspiration? Seeing how philosophical Stephen King was, Fang Yuan shook his head. This was a common problem of writers. What they could not figure out would often bug them incessantly. Since you cant figure out, why dont you write a book about prison because its a cage? Stephen Kings eyes lit up. A prison is a physical and mental cage. When a person is in prison, they yearn for freedom. I think there are many things to write about because of the conflicting themes in prison. Fang Yuan, thats genius! Stephen stood up excitedly and bowed to Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan quickly got up and returned the bow. [ Ding! The hosts reputation value has increased by 1000 points. ] [ Ding! The hosts reputation with Stephen King has reached Worship Level. The host will be rewarded 50% of Stephen Kings reputation points from future published works. ] The two notifications from the system made Fang Yuan very happy. Although Fang Yuans hints were very accurate, it was just based on his past life. If Stephen Kings book was not as wonderful as his previous life, then he would be in trouble for hinting too much. For Stephen King, it was better to teach a man to fish than fish for him, which was what Fang Yuan decided to do. Stephen, perhaps you can write about a man who was wrongly convicted of a crime and was sentenced to life imprisonment. That would be a starting point. You can make the protagonist stand out from the rest of the prisoners and gradually influences the other prisoners to want to be free. Hope may not be a good thing for some prisoners. Think about it, what kind of life will a prisoner live after getting back out to society without anyone watching over everything they do? Although the protagonist is in prison, his cage of thoughts is actually more frightening because his inspiration dried up. The final redemption is the redemption of his thoughts. Stephen King and Sherry, who had just walked over, were both stunned. Fang Yuan easily summarized the essence of a book in a few sentences. What kind of crazy talent was that? Stephen King was simply amazed by Fang Yuan. He was about to say something to express his gratitude, but he did not have the chance at this moment. Fang Yuan picked up the phone. Hello, is this Mr. Fang Yuan? I am the Director of Shawshank Prison. I heard that youre a great writer. Recently, I heard that one of our inmates who was released read your novel and got clean. Im also a fan of your book, The Coiling Dragon, so I would like to invite you to be a guest speaker at Shawshank Prison. Chapter 39 - The Magical Power Of The Coiling Dragon” Continues Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation The week before. The second volume of The Coiling Dragon was released. Under Liliths guidance, 500,000 copies of The Coiling Dragon were printed and sold in various bookstores, but even so, it was not enough for readers. All kinds of pirated copies eventually emerged, and the legal department received a continuous stream of customer complaints. In the end, the price of the book went from $19.99 to $1,999 per book. It was simply hard to find it on the market. The popularity of The Coiling Dragon exceeded everyones expectations. Putting aside the writing style, its smooth plot and its carefree rhythm made this book a rare treasure in this world full of traditional fantasy literature. In a world where everything was gold, people would not think that gold was very precious. Instead, if a small piece of iron suddenly fell from the sky, it might become a treasure. The mainstream media like Chicago Daily even interviewed the masses about The Coiling Dragon. Before this, my son never knew what his goal was and never read a book until The Coiling Dragon was released. He actually learned to love reading now. This is too incredible! I read The Coiling Dragon too and its truly magical. Im really looking forward to volume three! OMG, I absolutely love this book! Ive read a lot of books in my life, but Ive never read anything like The Coiling Dragon. I feel this book gave me confidence. I beat up my bully today, so he wont bully me anymore. I got back together with my girlfriend today because of it. The Coiling Dragon is so my savior, literally. I used to be a drug addict and the only thing I wanted to do when I got home was cocaine or drink. That was all I could think about before. I wouldve stolen money or hurt someone just to get what I wanted. Im just regretful that I didnt find such a good book sooner. After reading The Coiling Dragon, I actually succeeded in quitting. Im already 10 days sober now, which is more than I couldve ever accomplished. Now, all I can think about are the plots in The Coiling Dragon. I really want to read the third volume! A long confession suddenly exploded on the internet. At first, there were many people who were skeptical and checked the IP address of the person who had posted the long comment. In the end, they verified that everything was true. Everyone felt that it was quite unbelievable and amazing that a mere book could be so magical that it could change ones mental state. Soon, more news like this emerged. All these doubts were silenced when the Iowa News Channel reported, Since the release of The Coiling Dragon, the crime rate in Iowa has dropped by 15 percent. Thefts, prostitution, and other crimes were significantly reduced. There are even fewer police on the streets at night. Reliable sources show that the Italian Mafia, who used to cause trouble during this time, locked themselves at home to discuss and read The Coiling Dragon. They actually stopped going out to terrorize people for a book The news anchor could not keep a straight face in front of the camera. Although this was edited out the next day after the live session, a lot of people managed to record the full version. Iowa Evening News also reported similar statistics. With the release of The Coiling Dragon, the number of drug addicts in our city has plummeted by 10%. Many of them have voluntarily entered rehab. This is a truly rare phenomenon. At this time, people recalled the ex-drug addict who posted the comment online. They were all a little dazed. This was a little too astonishing. .. At this moment, Fang Yuan, who was at the party, hung up the phone in a daze and could not help but laugh. He did not expect that The Coiling dragon would have such an effect. Fang Yuan, please excuse me. I can feel an inspiration coming, so I need to shut myself in a quiet room for three days. Im really sorry to have to leave so soon. Stephen King quickly stood up as he said that. Fang Yuans words earlier had given him great inspiration. Fang Yuan smiled and nodded. Sherry also smiled and said, Little guy, it seems that youve just realized how much of an impact The Coiling Dragon has on others. Fang Yuan instinctively said, My little guys not that little. I can show it to you if you want to see it yourself. Sherrys face turned red all the way to her neck, which was obvious because of her white skin. She thought about that day when the two of them were in the same room, sleeping on the same bed. When she turned around, she inevitably bumped into the wrong place. It did look quite bigah! What the f*ck am I thinking?! Sherry was a little distressed because she was already 30 years old and Fang Yuan was only in his early 20s. She was the dean and he was her student. Although he was already somewhat famous, he was still a student. How could I have such thoughts? A strong sense of guilt made her shut her mouth, lower her head, and take a few deep breaths. Then, she raised her head and said, Mr. Fang Yuan, you now have a chance to participate in the New York Book Fair. A writer near them heard the words New York Book Fair and was shocked, then started to discuss with her friends in a low voice. OMG, Fang Yuan really made it this time! Yeah! The New York Book Fair is a world-class stage! Many big shots books are being displayed at the exhibition and theyre being signed. Yeah, this is definitely the biggest new book signing venue in the entire United States. Many Nobel Prize winners would sometimes participate in this book fair too. Yeah, before this, I thought that Fang Yuan was just talking big about winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, but I totally believe him now! Everyone around her nodded in agreement. Sherry saw everything and laughed even more. No matter what, Candle in the Tomb was written by her. Although Fang Yuan dictated while she wrote, for some reason, having written this personally gave her an indescribable feeling. Perhaps that was because she made a contribution to this masterpiece. It was a feeling of achieving great harmony in life. Thinking of this, she felt elated like never before. Little punk, I helped you so much yet you didnt even thank me? How rude! Sherry went to Fang Yuan and patted his shoulder. You should think about how to properly thank me because I worked so hard that night! Fang Yuan was a simple-minded person and was thinking whether he should go to Shawshank Prison to have a look, so he did not think much about Sherrys words. He thought she was talking about their co-creation that night and said, Oh? If you dont think that night is enough, we can work together for a few more nights. Chapter 40 - Stephen King Getting Inspiration In Prison Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation The people around them were all stunned. What? They already had a one-night stand and he wants more? I thought they were working Well, Im guessing its the kind of work that requires no clothes! Sherry felt the urge to run away, but if she ran away now, that would only make her seem guilty and confirm the truth of the matter. Even if nothing happened, everyone would assume that something did. Sure, as long as youre not afraid of getting tired. Fang Yuan was stunned again. His body had been strengthened by the system, so he might not even feel tired even if he stayed up for a few days and nights to write. Ill be fine. I might not feel tired even if I do it for a few hours After listening in on the conversation between the two, the people around them felt like their head was about to explode. Theyre really something! OMG, this is crazy! Now I wanna become a famous writer too so that beautiful women will throw themselves at me. Yeah, even if I cant become a famous writer, I want to become a strong independent woman like Dean Sherry. The next day. Fang Yuan went straight to the Shawshank Prison. There was a man in a police uniform at the entrance with two other police officers beside him. When the man saw Fang Yuan getting out of the car, he walked over and smiled as he reached out his hand. Mr. Fang Yuan, The Coiling Dragon is so well written! Im Carter, the warden of Shawshank Prison. Welcome to our prison! Although it felt a little awkward, Fang Yuan did not say anything. After thinking about it for a long time last night, he felt that he should advocate his book in this prison. The Coiling Dragon could reduce the crime rate in Iowa. It could even make drug addicts go to rehab. This was definitely a good opportunity to earn reputation points in the system. People in prison often had obsessive personalities. Thus, there were often gamblers, perverts, alcoholics, and maniacs in prison. There were also real geniuses. These people were often obsessed with one thing. The prison warden was in charge of 300 cells and was one of the two leaders of Shawshank prison. The other was an inspector, who had the power to supervise the internal management of the prison. His real power was no less than Warden Carters. Mr. Fang Yuan, your book is really amazing. After I showed it to a few of my unruly prisoners, they all became obedient in just two days. The two of them chatted as they walked. Fang Yuan smiled and said, Really? Its truly an honor to be able to make them turn over a new leaf and start a new life. I guess thats one good thing that came out of it. Carter shook his head and said, Thats right. I feel that these prisoners still have the opportunity to be reformed. They just lack some guidance. If theyre not properly guided, even if they leave this place, theyll still feel caged. Then perhaps they will commit crimes again and return to this place. Fang Yuan nodded his head in agreement. Carter pondered for a moment and continued, However, Im not the only one in charge of this prison. The inspector general doesnt believe me. He thinks that your book, which can help get rid of drug addiction, is just a commercial gimmick. He doesnt believe me and still manages the prisoners so harshly. This would only backfire. Mr. Carter, if you have anything to say, just say it. Today, someone from Ohio State Prison came to learn from us because Shawshank Prison has been the best-managed prison in the past few years. As my guest, you can also give the inspector some ideas on how to better manage the prisoners. Fang Yuan was in a dilemma because he felt that it was not his place, as an author, to comment on prison management. He originally wanted to find an excuse to leave immediately, but there was a notification on the system. [ Ding! Complete the mission of educating prisoners to do good and earn reputation points. Getting to know law enforcement and judicial people would be of great help in the hosts future career development. ] Although the system only gave a simple hint, Fang Yuan easily understood that there were benefits to completing this mission. Carter felt a little nervous from his suggestion. Managing the prison well was his career achievement. These few days, he could see clearly the effect The Coiling Dragon had on the prisoners. Even the ferocious prisoners became quiet. Perhaps education was a good way to manage the prison. If this method was used as a pilot in Shawshank Prison under his suggestion and actually worked, then it would be followed by other states. By then, Carters reputation within the law enforcement system would soar. He might even get a promotion. Let me think about it. Report! At this moment, someone shouted outside the door. Carters expression was a little glum. He was in charge of this place, so his subordinates clearly knew that he was meeting important people in his office today. He frowned and said, Come in. In the end, three people came in at once. Two police officers were in neat uniforms as they dragged a disheveled-looking man behind them. Mr. King? Whatwhat happened to you? Fang Yuan was shocked. The person who was being held by the officers was Stephen King, who had told Fang Yuan yesterday that he needed to be somewhere quiet to look for inspiration.