Welcome to Amazing Journey of PaperBoy and PencilMan.

Read as they venture through trials and tribulations to find Inkwell Factory. 



First time writing, so comments are recommended.



[PLEASE READ FIRST] 

This book has four different stories with different protagonists (and genres). They are connected in the same world but can also be read as standalone. 

The Sin of Innocence: Adventure, Action, Fantasy Realism, Supernatural, Tragedy 

(Recommended Age: All) 

The Lord of Servants: Action, Fantasy Realism, Romance, War and Military 

(Recommended Age: 15+) 

The Arrogance of Humility: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction, Supernatural, Tragedy 

(Recommended Age: 15+) 

The Vice of Virtues: Action, Dark Fantasy, Supernatural, Tragedy, War and Military 

(Recommended Age: 17+) 

*** 

[News] 

16/12/2020 I’m planning to finish the first season of The Arrogance of Humility first! 

18/12/2020 Thanks to holiday, I could update once every two days! 

*** 

[FAQs] 

Will I paywall the story? 

Yes, but only The Vice of Virtues 

When will I release Vice of Virtues? 

After I finish the other three 

How many chapters would I do? 

One story will have 5 seasons containing 16+2 chapters 

***

The first project focusing on four protagonists within the same world set around fictional 14th-century Europe.
This is the first P.A.R.A.D.O.X. PROJECT focusing on 3 (+1) protagonists within the same world set around fictional 14th-century-esque Europe. Each story has its own protagonists (Male or Female Lead), genres (mainly Western Fantasy), and can be read as a standalone.

Status: Ongoing
Update(s) per week: 1
Words per chapter: 3000 - 6000

***

‘A human or not; a king or a servant; hope or despair; a hero or a villain.’ 

Depending on one's perspective and how each story portrays, one will view an individual or a group as evil or virtuous. Because of that, it depends on the reader and listener to believe which one is the truth.

More people read and trust multiple (trusted?) sources that either complement or contradict one another. The contradiction becomes the source of debates between those who believe and those who don’t. 

From that difference in belief, two groups appear: The Majority and The Minority. The majority, having more people, suppress the minorities’ beliefs, claiming theirs, the majorities’, to be the truth. 

However, the majority are not only composed solely of those who share the same belief but also those who know the truth but afraid to admit it. They have to keep quiet and turn a blind eye for their safety.

The majority had to submit to those with power and authority. With the majority under control, those with power and authority can create, manipulate, and/or fabricate truth and lies by force. The reason was for one’s or group’s personal benefits.

In the end, there is no such thing as ‘absolute truth’; only sugar-coated lies created by the top. Don’t believe me? It is up to you to decide. Go and read it yourself.

But that did justice to her impeccable disguising ability. He was probably the only person in this world who knew. There indeed were times Z acted like a child.
Qin Mo lifted his lips into an enigmatic smile. 
Unaware of his thoughts, Bo Jiu walked over towards the bed.
Qin Mo reached out an arm, pulling her over before his fingers caressed the red patch. "What happened?"
"I was bitten by a mosquito," Bo Jiu replied, reaching out to scratch the itch. 
Qin Mo blocked her hands. He reached for a small bottle of medication at the side of the bed. 
Bo Jiu had never seen the medication before: There was an aromatic scent, which seemed more like western medicine.
Qin Mo poured a little on his fingers before dabbing it onto her face. 
Bo Jiu watched his long lashes as the cooling sensation from the medication spread across her face. He massaged her face tenderly, soothing the itch. 
Bo Jiu yawned, prepared to hug Qin Mo to sleep. It was a rare opportunity. The Almighty was injured after all.
Qin Mo inched over to push her away, his voice calm. "What are you doing, you little gangster?" 
"Brother Mo, wasn't it your intention for me to sleep with you? I'll focus on being your bolster," Bo Jiu replied mischievously. Her voice was handsomely smooth and her silver hair slightly ruffled and damp. She broke into a wide smile, her suave expression melting hearts.
But this move was targeted at girls, it didn't seem particularly useful on Qin Mo. He closed the medicine and swept her a glance. "Did you forget something?"
"Didn't we just clean your wound?" Bo Jiu glanced down towards the bandage around his arm. "Is it hurting?"
Qin Mo flicked her forehead. "It doesn't hurt. You are in charge of reading the bedtime story today, don't you remember?" 
Indeed, she hadn't taken it to heart. She knew her pet loved reading before bedtime but he had always been the one telling the story – she had never done it before. 
Mmh, oh, there had been once. 
Back then, the Almighty had made her read the novels in the Bo family's mansion but those were a dark history she didn't wish to think about. 
But this time, it probably wasn't the same. Since he had chosen the book, the content should be alright.
"Which book do you want to listen to?" Bo Jiu rolled up her sleeves seriously. 
Qin Mo watched her actions, one of his brows arched upwards. 
Bo Jiu spoke before him, "Reading doesn't affect my performance as a bolster, I can read while hugging you." 
Qin Mo smirked but controlled his urge to call her a little gangster again. 
Bo Jiu understood his intentions but it didn't affect her desire to hold him. She watched his calm demeanor, her desires growing. 
Once she managed to hug him, Bo Jiu brightened up. She smiled and asked, "What do you want to hear?" 
This time, Qin Mo didn't push her away. Bo Jiu was slightly confused when the Almighty brought a phone over and not a book. Bo Jiu raised a brow.
Qin Mo reached for her hand, using her fingers to swipe the screen open. "Read this." 
The Anarchic Consort?
Bo Jiu stared at the ridiculous title. She had never expected the Almighty to have such an eccentric preference. 
She swiped open the first chapter and started to read. Her tone started off calm but when the female lead's soul entered another person's body, she paused. 
Qin Mo glanced over. "What is it?" 
"The plot is ridiculous," she critiqued.
"Oh," Qin Mo replied. "What about the books in your room where the male lead falls for the female lead after she splashes water on him? Aren't those worse?"
"Brother Mo, those aren't the same." Bo Jiu chuckled. "Every Tyrant Boss has a different preference, at least they managed to attract the male lead's attention." 
With that, Bo Jiu tapped her phone. That was a subconscious action whenever she was thinking. Why would the Almighty make her read such a novel? she wondered. 
Qin Mo shut his eyes. "Forget it, it is indeed ridiculous. It's the book Lin Feng recommended." 
"I recommended him a book previously." Her only advantage was her reincarnation. As long as the Almighty didn't make the link, it would always give her the upper hand. Since Beauty Lin recommended such a book, she had to return the favor. Hence, she clicked into WeChat and send a book over, 'From Brothers to Lovers'."
Very quickly, there was a reply. "F*ck you!" 
It wasn't possible for a straight man to read such books. 
Bo Jiu chuckled. "Next time, don't recommend such weird books to the Almighty." 
Lin Feng's stomach felt bitter. 
Just then, a voice message was sent over. "When were you so close to Little Spade?" There was a hint of hostility in his lazy tone. 
But when the words 'close' came up, Lin Feng could no longer stay silent, mainly because of how possessive his captain was. He immediately replied, "Captain, it's like this, Little Spade would always harass me with random things. Since he is beside you, Captain, could you help to keep him in check? I'm going to have my meal now; you guys carry on."
"Mmh." Qin Mo turned towards the youngster. She was caressing her nose as he asked, "Harassing Lin Feng over random things?" 
"I was expressing my concern over his relationship with Almighty Yun," Bo Jiu replied seriously. 
Qin Mo tossed his phone to the side with a faint smile. "You should express more concern over our relationship. Yun Hu is definitely going overseas and no one can stop him." 
Bo Jiu fell into a daze. 
She hadn't realized he was trying to erase the evidence. In reality, Lin Feng hadn't recommended him anything. As a straight man, it wasn't possible for him to have read a romance like 'The Anarchic Consort'.
He would have read something more impressive. But when he saw the novel 'From Brothers to Lovers' sent by Little Spade, he had an urge to look up the book. 
He must be going crazy. His relationship with Yun Hu had reached such a state and he was about to study abroad. He had to grow up, just as Yun Hu had said. He had to smarten up in some areas. 
The sky started to darken. 
Lin Feng glanced up out the window. Ever since before, he noticed that the lights from the bedroom opposite his had never been switched on. This meant that Yun Hu was still in the hotel with that person. He probably wasn't coming back today.
Right…
Lin Feng smirked and stopped searching for books. Instead, he wore his spectacles and started researching about finances.
He was going to move out of the courtyard. 
He had to work harder in order to breach the gap. 
As he wasn't suited for politics, he would have to fight it out in the business world.


Fu Jiu appears to be a normal lad in high school on the surface. But in fact, she (Yes! She!) is the hacker, Z, a villain-terminator in the online world of an alternate world. Having reincarnated into the body of a woman and being forced to disguise herself as a young man, she reigns over the game world, fights for justice, and puts a spell on all the girls around with her innate charm. However, her flirting comes across as gay to the rich Almighty Qin and his inner circle. Over time, the Almighty Qin falls for him… her. Has he turned gay for him… her? Now, that's confusing!
Keywords: Rebirth, Face-slapping, Online gaming, Pet lover, Hacking, Chocolate-flavored lollipop
Sugary Scene:
Fu Jiu said, "Almighty Qin, do you have a girlfriend?"
Qin Mo lowered his laptop. "No."
Fu Jiu lowered her voice and started flirting carelessly. "You have one now, me."
Upon hearing that, Qin Mo pounced on Fu Jiu domineeringly!
Fu Jiu was stunned. "Wait, what are you doing?"
Qin Mo replied, "Exercising my boyfriend rights."
Please support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/henyeetranslationsNSPG
If we hit certain milestones, we will release more chapters in a mass release as well as increase the release rate!

Author: Yang Chen（314）

When writing your webnovel, what "surface appearance" means is the packaging and appearance of your novel.

In our daily lives, we're well aware of the importance of packaging in influencing how well a product sells. Oftentimes, the packaging is even more important than the product itself. Yet, many authors tend to neglect their work on the packaging of their webnovel. They believe that this is the responsibility of the website staff, and that only the website staff can help design and beautiful their novel's page.

What authors don't realize is that no matter what website you post your novel at, you as an author can modify quite a lot about your novel's appearance. These factors are quite influential in the success or failure of your novel. Since improving your novel's surface appearance is vastly easier than improving the content of your novel, it could be said that this is especially important as well as efficient.

As for the surface appearance of your novel, it can be categorized into the seven types below.

1. Your novel's title

In your packaging, one of the most important elements is your novel's title. For any novel, in most normal circumstances, the reader will find out your novel's title before any other information about it. The title is the most important factor in whether a reader chooses to click on it and read your synopsis or not. It also helps the readers to understand the most important elements of your novel. And so, there's no need for me to speak any further about the importance of your novel's title.

In that case, what type of a novel title is a good one? I believe that a good novel title should accomplish the following points.

（1） Simple

Simple here refers to using easy to understand words that even elementary school students can recognize, rather than using some highly esoteric or difficult words that few people can read in order to sound fancy.

（2） Only English words in the title

Don't use a title with words from other languages. Nor should you have numbers, punctuation, or individual letters in your novel's title. This will make your novel title look more professional as well as make it easier for readers to search for your novel.

（3） Easy to read and remember

Perhaps "easy to remember" will make some authors confused, but actually, it's connected to being easy to read. A good novel title should flow quite well when people try reading it out loud. That's why you shouldn't use words that are difficult to pronounce. Otherwise, if readers can't even remember the title of your novel, how are they possibly supposed to remember your story?

（4） Not too long

This is also an issue about readability. If your novel's title is overly long, it's not easy for readers to search for it or remember the name. Normally speaking, the average book's title has around two to six words in it.

About the length of your novel's title, there's something else that needs to be noted. Amongst authors, there's a saying that the shorter your novel's title is, the better, because this helps your novel to be ranked farther in the front. In a way, this is correct, because many websites often put the novels with the shorter titles first when giving recommended reads on the front page, so the titles that are shorter will naturally be at the forefront. However, this alone shouldn't make us conclude that a shorter title is always better.

The influence of a novel's title has so many factors involved, and being on the recommended list is only a tiny portion. If you can have a better position on the recommended list, of course, that's a good thing, but if you choose a shorter title just for this, then you'll definitely lose more than you gain. Besides, even if you have a really short novel title, can you guarantee that there are other recommended novels out there that don't have equally short names? What if you're in the middle? Honestly speaking, there's no real difference in being at the left or in the middle of the recommended novels section.

（5） Not esoteric

When choosing your novel's title, it should be just like writing your novel. You should consider your general audience. And since you're writing a webnovel, your general audience would obviously prefer to read words in an easy to understand manner. If your novel title is overly esoteric or poetic, or sounds too philosophical, then your novel's popularity will be greatly affected. The majority of readers probably won't even click on your novel to read the synopsis.

（6） Appropriate bandwagoning
From a certain standpoint, bandwagoning can be advantageous. For example, since "Library of Heaven's Path" is a highly popular novel, perhaps you could write a book titled "Library of Hell's Path," which will naturally bring your novel some attention.

However, it's obvious that this actually isn't so much of a good thing for either the readers or the website, so it's quite easy for your novel to become suppressed if you bandwagon too much. For instance, if you really do call your novel "Library of Hell's Path," then it'll be quite difficult for you to receive a recommendation on the front page because it'll be too similar to the popular "Library of Heaven's Path." Not only that, there are also disadvantages for the author, because using such a copycat name will make some readers displeased as well, making it harder to attract some readers.

And so, that's why newcomer authors should only bandwagon appropriately and observe what type of novel titles are the most popular. Then, you should create your own original title that's similar in spirit but not in style.

（7） Express the uniqueness of your novel

A good novel title should express the uniqueness of your novel. The best-case scenario would be that your title expresses the main wish-fulfillment point of your novel. For example, a novel named "Returning to the Yuan Dynasty" can already tell you the two major information points that this novel is about returning to the past and historical fiction. Or, the famous franchise "Spiderman" tells you simply from the title that the story is about someone with spider-based abilities as well as being a superhero story.

In conclusion, when naming your novel, a good method would be to organize your novel's keywords and special vocabulary as well as all the most interesting factors in your novel, then categorize and modify them while seeing which point or points would be the best to put in your novel's name. Finally, come up with an excellent novel title based on the above seven points.


2. Choosing your genre to categorize your novel as

After choosing your novel's title, you should choose the specific genre your novel belongs to. Actually, perhaps it's not quite appropriate to use the word "choose" here, because the genre is really decided by the content of your story, not what you as an author choose.

About choosing your genre, the most important, and basically the only rule there is, is to "never do false advertising." That's because the end result of false advertising will be bad for everyone.

For example, even though you're clearly writing a novel about mystical abilities in a modern-day setting, you placed your novel into the alternate history genre. This way, readers that enjoy alternate history novels will happily start reading your novel but will leave disappointed, while readers that enjoy modern novels with mystical abilities won't even be able to find your novel by genre.

For most novels, it won't be difficult to classify its genre at all. However, there are some novels that have elements from multiple genre types. Perhaps your novel is both modern as well as xianxia, with science fiction and military added as well, and even fantasy. This doesn't mean that your story is bad, however, this type of story will often confuse the author. Just what overall genre should the author classify such a story under?

First of all, what you should consider is the matter of which story elements are truly the most important. This is the foundational issue at hand.

However, if you as an author really feel like all the elements are equally important, then you'll just have to make a decision and choose one genre on your own. There are two factors you should consider here. First is that popular genres will have more readers, and the second is that less popular genres will have fewer novels and thus less competition.

These two factors are a matter of not being able to have your cake and eat it too. For newcomer authors, you can choose a genre based on your own confidence in your novel's ability. But normally speaking, it's more recommended to choose a less popular genre to categorize your novel as.

All of the same could be said for your story's synopsis as well. Make sure that your story's synopsis matches the genre that it's supposed to be under.

If you’re confused about how to write a popular webnovel, perhaps this book will be able to help you out. 

This book contains articles written by the best editors in the Chinese webnovel industry. There are introductory guides, intermediate guides, and assorted topics, with different numbers of guides in each type. Each week, we’ll be publishing three guides. If you believe that these guides are useful, please let us know by leaving your reviews. We can adjust the update rate based on your feedback.

Author introduction:

314 (Yang Chen): He is China Literature’s general manager, Xiaoxiang Academy’s general manager, Qidian’s head editor, China Webnovel Literature Committee member, Jiangsu Province Webnovel Author Committee vice-chairman, and a qualified expert on all internet literature. He has discovered many popular topics and greatly helped the industry to expand, along with having personally advised many top-tier authors. He is from the first generation of webnovel researchers. Yang Chen started working in the webnovel editing industry in 2005, and is highly skilled at summarizing and analyzing the business theories behind webnovel literature and is famed for his outstanding creativity in the industry.

 Small Team Leader（Zhou Binglin）：Small Team Leader is a high-ranked general manager for China Literature, as well as the head editor for chuangshi.qq.com. He is originally from Guilin, Guangxi.

Small Team Leader is a top-ranked editor for original novels as well as a veteran web novel expert. He has helped to discover countless popular topics as well as frameworks and has advised numerous platinum-ranked authors. He’s also one of the first generation of web novel reviewers as well as authors.

Arlo slowly opened his eyes and noticed that his system was open. It was odd to Arlo since over the last 18 days he learned that his system only shows up when it's urgent. Even when he leveled up it would only tell him once he opened the system. Arlo began to read the screen.
[Congratulations due to your increase in stats you have gained the title "Athletic" - all stats will increase by 1]
Arlo couldn't contain his excitement and burst out into laughter of pure joy. Wanting to check his stats he closes the notification only for another to appear.
"Weird." Arlo thought.
[Alternative Goal Complete - "Get fit!" - Decrease your body body fat percentage to 15%, Rewards: 100 exp, Unlock "Classes", Free Stat Point]
Once again Arlo was extremely excited at this point he was laughing hysterically. "I got the same rewards as the original goal. Wait, why did this happen?" Arlo was confused for a second but decided to not think too much about it and just be happy.
Arlo for the second time now closed the notification barely being able to wait to see how his stats increased.
Another notification appeared. Arlo was dumbfounded as to why another notification appeared and a little frustrated as he was still not able to look at his new stats. However, the frustration disappeared in an instant as he read the new notification.
[ Secret Quest Complete - "All or Nothing" - Finish the Goal within less than half of the time limit - Rewards: Increase in all stats by 1, "Inventory" Unlocked, Mellow Meadows Key Obtained]
"No f*cking way I unlocked Inventory and Classes within 18 days. Not to mention I got a 2 point increase in every stat that's insane. Even better I got the Mellow Meadows key… wait, what even is that? I'll check later."
Arlo was now finally able to see his stats.
[ Name: Arlo Cleardew ]
[ Race: Human ]
[ Class: ??? ]
[ Level: 6 ]
[ Exp: 100/70]
[ Hp 18/18(+2) ]
[ Intelligence: 5(+2) ]
[ Strength: 17(+2)]
[ Agility: 9(+2) ]
[ Stamina: 10(+2) ]
[ Perception: 4(+2) ]
[ Free Stat Point: 5(+1) ]
Arlo wanted to be excited but was only met with more questions. He sat up in bed and kept rereading the stats over and over again until he came up with a theory. 
Up until now he has only increased stats through 2 ways. One, by working out and sleeping. Two, increasing stats manually with the free stat points. Since he gained the stats as he reads the notifications, therefore gaining the stats after he slept meaning he would have to sleep again for his stats to fully "integrate". Assuming the situation was also the same with his exp and not leveling up since it also explained why he gained level one the day after his first workout.
'Might as well sleep again I guess, better to test it now then later.' With that Arlo closed the system wanting to confirm his theory before he did anything else, rolling over in bed trying to sleep. It took another 20 minutes until he fell asleep. Eight hours later at 2pm Arlo was awake.
Arlo checked his phone for the time and was amazed he actually managed to sleep another 8 hours. He then remembered why he actually slept again in the first place and opened his stats.
[ Name: Arlo Cleardew ]
[ Race: Human ]
[ Titles - Athletic ]
[ Class: ??? ]
[ Level: 7 ]
[ Exp: 30/80]
[ Hp 20/20 ]
[ Intelligence: 7 ]
[ Strength: 19]
[ Agility: 11 ]
[ Stamina: 12 ]
[ Perception: 6 ]
[ Free Skill Point: 7 ]
Arlo's theory was now confirmed. Not only that but Arlo also failed to realize earlier was the fact that "Titles" wasn't present the last time he checked. With Arlo's theory now being confirmed he decided to move onto the next tab, Quests. To his surprise there was nothing there.
[ No Quests ]
Although this has not happened before Arlo decided to ignore it since he just finished his goal it was somewhat understandable to him.
"Now to the next two tabs" Arlo mumbled. Arlo opened the next tab to Quests, Classes. Similarly to when he first opened the Quests tab a notification appeared.
[ Please choose a Class ]
[ Path of Knighthood <Recommended> ]
[ Path of The Sage <Not Recommended> ]
[ Path of Martial Arts <Recommended> ]
[ Path of The Thief <Not Recommended> ]
[ Path of The Shaman ]
Arlo felt a sense of urgency overtake him. Unlike when he accessed Quests it gave him the option to deny the use of Quests. However, right now it didn't give him that option making him also feel rushed. Arlo knew that a rushed mindset was bad and immediately took deep breaths to calm himself down. Arlo began to analyze the information given to him.
'It seems like the system wants me to go down the route of strength or physically inclined classes. I can understand why the thief class is not recommended since someone who is almost two meters tall would easily stick out like a sore thumb which isn't the best for sneaking. As for the sage class it looks like the system maybe thinks I can get better results with physical activities then with mental prowess. In hindsight that makes sense because intelligence is my second lowest stat.'
Arlo was satisfied with his theorizing until he looked back at the Path of the Shaman. 'That must mean that the shaman class is a mix of both strength and intelligence making it an ok choice, I guess? I'd rather not invest my time in something that the system thinks I would be ok at, when I have choices that are recommended. So now that just leaves Martial arts or Knighthood.'
Arlo perked up "That makes it easier, my choice is..."

During the early 2000s in a time of relative peace, a phenomenon quickly changed everything. The phenomenon in question is the Third Great Awakening a more literal continuation of the multiple Great Awakenings present throughout history. The Third Great Awakening started with multiple beings seen floating up into the sky and in each case, the beings are seen disappearing through a slit in the sky radiating pure white light. This caused people to swarm churches and temples, or anything religious, as this seemed to prove that god and supernatural beings exist. However, that was only the first reaction, as the main event came a few months later with something appropriately called Awakenings started to take place. People in the vicinity or people able to watch the supernatural beings ascend became aware of an energy all around them. The people who were able to feel this energy were also able to wield it with some practice. As Awakening became commonplace the Electronic Age came to an end and the Era of Power arose. The story follows the main character Arlo Herz who will face many difficulties during the Era of Power but will still manage to rise to the top.
***********************************
Support me at:
https://www.paypal.me/chrisfweih
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https://ko-fi.com/chrisfweih

Wu Lan read the chat history between Brother Dog and the other party, and nearly laughed to death.
Especially when she thought of such a handsome face being so serious and saying such a thing, she couldn't help but held her face and fantasize. "How handsome ah!"
Brother Dog, "..."
He wanted to hit someone.
He resisted the urge to crawl through the network and beat the other party up, and continued to send messages.
Dogtail Grass: Your updating speed is also too fast. Currently, our website's suggestion is to update about 4000 to 6000 words a day. It's unwise for you to directly update 20,000 words, and you will need to slow down in the future.
Emperor: I'm short of money at the moment and need to get the book on the shelf quickly.
When a book is on the shelf, it means entering the VIP system. Readers will need to pay to read the chapters behind, they will be charged.
It's an affirmation of the results of an author's labor and it's the equivalent of a job.
Of course the author had to receive remuneration.
It was such a bitter sentence, yet Brother Dog heard like it was a matter of course.
Having a lack of money is so cool, huh?
Wu Lan got emotional, "Brother Dog, ask him for his account number! I want to provide financial aid!"
Brother Dog, "..."
Dogtail Grass: The standard for getting a novel on the shelf is 200,000 words, and we will start recommending the book to readers after 100,000 words. So if you really need the novel to be on the shelf as soon as possible, I can arrange for your novel to be recommended as soon as possible. That way, you can update quickly.
Emperor: I'll directly update it to 100,000 now, and then you can arrange for it to be recommended, okay?
Dogtail Grass: How many words do you have in your drafts right now...
Emperor: 100,000.
Dogtail Grass: Then it's not urgent. You have too little in your drafts right now, we can go at it slowly. After all, the updates need to be faster after getting the novel on the shelf. Without any drafts saved, it won't be easy to sustain.
Emperor: I can produce 300,000 words a day, it's fine.
Brother Dog was instantly thrown into a pit of blood.
When he saw Jun Ci's reply, he turned to Wu Lan and scolded, "He not only acts cool, he brags as well!"
300,000 words a day. Hmph, this speed was enough to even go to the heavens!
Emperor: I can send the current drafts to you right now. If you don't believe me, I can send all drafts of this novel over to you within a week, it will be about 2,000,000 words.
Dogtail Grass: ...if you really can, I'll recommend it right now!
Emperor: /OK!
The moment Jun Ci read that, she immediately got Gu Lu to upload the remaining 100,000 words in her drafts.
When Brother Dog saw the sudden update of 100,000 words on the backend, he was stunned.
"Ay, that's not right either, is the upload speed of our website so fast?"
Jun Ci had about 3,000 words in each chapter and would have needed some time to upload them one by one. How did they appear all at once?
But actually, Brother Dog was also chasing Jun Ci's novel.
He had been in the sci-fi category for a long time and had finally found one that suited his tastes.
This was also why he was willing to tolerate Jun Ci and arranged for her novel to be recommended as soon as possible.
If it were someone else, Brother Dog would have chased him away!
When he saw the updated content, he didn't care about anything else and immediately went to relish in them.
Reading promising novels from the authors under him was also one of the tasks of an editor.
Jun Ci had uploaded all of her content even though the Luo Do literary site was really too new and Brother Dog was her only reader.
But this didn't affect Jun Ci's passion to write.
She smiled. While the teacher was engrossed in teaching, she was already frantically writing in her head.


(A refreshing novel about rebirth and disguise, with the male lead Jiang Yi and female lead Jun Ci)
The popular and magnificent ‘crown prince’ was reborn into a disfigured little pathetic girl whom everyone loathes.
The Crown Prince expressed that this all didn’t matter!
The body’s original appearance was actually a face that everyone, men and women, old and young, would go crazy for.
“He” was the perfect lover in the hearts of countless men and women.
Anyone would dream of marrying her!
But one day, the prince charming became a goddess?
Male fans: How explosive!
Jiang Yi: I’m not going to accept this, I am her husband!
Jun Ci smirked. So what exactly are you not accepting?


Zhang Zian was busy the whole day and now it was almost time for him to go to bed. 
Zhang Zian had been exhausted throughout the day, but now that he knew the elves' lives could be extended, his tiredness vanished completely. However, he hadn't told the news to Old Time Tea or the other elves yet. As Pi had said, it wasn't the right time. If he hastily told the news to everyone, they would be too expectful. The reality might be too disappointing. For that reason, they might as well not know about it in the first place. 
Even if the lifetime of the elves really could be extended infinitely, the elves had to go through an extremely difficult process to do so. Judging from Pi's stern expression as it read the untitled book, Zhang Zian figured that this may be his biggest challenge and trial since he downloaded the Pet Hunter game.
Although he couldn't understand the untitled book, whether it was the Hyperwebster Dictionary, The Book of Sand, or a fantasy book from another civilization in the universe, he was still very grateful for it. Without it, he wouldn't have found out about such reassuring and hopeful news.
The elves had fallen asleep, one after the other. Before going to sleep, Richard had been very active that night, as if everything put him in a good mood. Zhang Zian had to hang it upside down to calm it down. 
When everyone was in bed, Pi was still sitting in front of the computer, typing away.
"Pi, did the noise bother you?" Zhang Zian came over and asked. He knew how annoying Richard and Snowy Lionet were.
Pi shook its head no.
"Well, we're all going to bed now. Please go to sleep as soon as you finish writing." Zhang Zian brought over a small desk lamp. The lamp light was turned away from the bedroom, so it wouldn't affect anyone's sleeping.
He didn't plan on telling Pi what he was doing later, because he wasn't sure whether he would be successful or not. He didn't want Pi to be disappointed after giving it so much hope. 
Pi grinned and nodded.
Zhang Zian glanced at the elves again. After confirming that each elfin was in its correct place, he turned off the ceiling light. 
With the light from the desk lamp and his own nightlight, he laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling, listening to Pi type. He thought about the elves' lives for a while, and then thought about the situation of Uncle Li's diner. He tried to allow all of his thoughts to occupy his mind and keep himself from falling asleep.
About an hour later he heard a click, and the fan noise from the laptop disappeared. Pi turned off the desk lamp and the room grew darker. It climbed into the basket hammock chair to go to sleep.
Zhang Zian kept his eyes open for a while, and almost fell asleep. He pinched his thighs to keep himself awake. 
He looked up and guessed that Pi had already fallen asleep. Then, he grabbed his cell phone by his pillow and opened the Qidian app.
That day, as he watched Pi write, he had secretly browsed the Internet on his cell phone, trying to find out what the amazing reading lists were.
After he finished researching, he knew that reading lists were an important supplement to the Official Recommendation Spots from the Qidian website. A reading list was created by an individual, who would list his or her favorite books and the reasons why they would recommended those books on their list. If other readers agreed with the owner's suggestions, they would start following the creator of the list. The reading list owners were similar to bloggers who reviewed digital products on video websites, and the digital products recommended by bloggers tended to receive more attention. Some reading list owners even had tens of thousands of followers. 
After careful searching, Zhang Zian discovered that the reading list owners were roughly divided into two categories. One type introduced and reviewed each book in great length, while the other kind of reading list owners introduced each book with only one sentence. The former type attracted much more followers than the latter. After all, through the detailed evaluations and introductions, the readers could tell that the reading list owners had put in a lot of work into every book. 
That day, he had mentally noted the reading list owners' IDs who wrote long book reviews and then went to the comment sections of their lists. He first ruled out the most popular reading list owners, because in their comment sections, numerous authors or authors who pretended to be readers were promoting their own books. Those reading list owners wouldn't be able to read all the books being recommended to them, even if they tried to read 24 hours a day.
As for the reading list owners that attracted fewer followers, their comment sections were basically empty. It wouldn't be helpful for Zhang Zian to advertise Pi's novel in those lists. 
After more research, he targeted a reading list owner who had the tenth most followers. The ID name of the reading list owner was Morning Gorilla Star, who was mentioned by the author of Diplomats of the Underworld. 
Morning Gorilla Star had written down his requirements about posting advertisements in his comment: Do not copy and paste your ads. I will promote urban novels that have no or only one female protagonist.
Zhang Zian felt relieved when he read these requirements. He was extremely popular with women, and many cute girls were desperately hoping to be his girlfriend. Pi had just hidden this fact while writing the novel based on the life in Zhang Zian's pet shop. Therefore, Pi's novel had managed to meet Morning Gorilla Star's requirements.
Advertising was like sending resumes to hiring managers. The key points of the novel must be written as concisely as possible. What was the highlight of Pi's novel? It certainly wasn't that the protagonist didn't have a girlfriend! 
He typed on his phone: Can I promote my own book? The title of the book is Pet King. The protagonist, who is the owner of a pet shop, downloads a game that can capture elves. Together with the elves, he witnesses the growth of the pet shop. There is no female protagonist in this book. 
He thought it over and added "Currently" in front of the sentence, "There is no female protagonist in this book." Then, he satisfyingly clicked the "Send" button.
After sending the message, Zhang Zian repeatedly refreshed the comment section and anxiously waited for a reply from the reading list owner, just like a job seeker who was constantly refreshing emails and nervously waiting for replies after sending out his resume. Zhang Zian had read the books recommended by Morning Gorilla Star, and all the books were well-written. Perhaps Morning Gorilla Star wouldn't think Pi's novel was good enough. However, Zhang Zian hoped that Morning Gorilla Star, who had read countless books, could at least tell him why Pi's novel failed to be recommended by him. In that case, Zhang Zian could help Pi revise the novel. Zhang Zian was acting like a job seeker who was close to starving to death and desperately needed a job, whatever the job was, to feed himself.
Since it was nearly one o'clock in the morning, the owner had probably gone to bed already. Watching his comment drowning in other comments from authors promoting their own books, Zhang Zian couldn't help but sigh in dismay.
Perhaps he sighed too loud, because Zhang Zian heard a squeaking sound come from the hammock chair. It sounded like Pi had turned over.
He locked his phone screen and waited a little longer. He didn't unlock his phone until there wasn't any more sounds coming from the chair.
What should he do?
He was very sleepy. Should he wait till the reading list owner woke up and try advertising again? 
No, he shouldn't wait. Tomorrow, Pi would receive its first Minor Recommendation Spot. If its novel failed to be ranked in the top three or top four spots, it might never have a chance to receive a recommendation again.
With that thought, he decided to advertise on another reading list. Advertising was just like begging, and as long as he could swallow his pride now, he would gradually become thick-skinned. 
This time, he lowered his expectations by moving his attention from the reading list owners with tens of thousands of followers to ones with hundreds of followers, hoping that some of them hadn't fallen asleep yet.
Zhang Zian noticed that there was one whose ID was Yang Chenkong. In his reading list, Yang Chenkong wrote reviews with thousands of words for each book and offered many thoughtful insights. However, Yang Chenkong only had a mere 3,000 followers. Would it really be useful to advertise in this list?
Zhang Zian desperately went to the comment section. To his surprise, he saw that this reading list owner was still online, discussing his opinions with his friends about a certain book. 
Zhang Zian hadn't read the book that they were talking about. However, from reading their conversation, Zhang Zian felt as if he had read it and learned about its successes and failures. From observing, Zhang Zian could tell that Yang Chenkong was very professional. 
For some reason, the comment section of his reading list was blank and had no advertisements. Zhang Zian chuckled to himself. He could take advantage of this rare opportunity to advertise. 
There were some basic rules of advertising for all reading lists. Unlike like people who put advertisements in bathrooms,  book-promoting advertisements couldn't be randomly posted. Each reading list owner had different requirements for advertisements. For example, Morning Gorilla Star had explicitly stated that he would only recommend novels with no or one female protagonist. Yang Chenkong, however, had a wide range of book choices. Except for supernatural novels, Yang Chenkong basically read every genre. 
However, the most difficult thing was that the list owner didn't specify which book genres he would recommend, and Zhang Zian didn't know how to cater to his preferences. After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Zian rewrote the message that he had sent to Morning Gorilla Star. He deleted the sentence "Currently, there is no female protagonist in this book." He added, "Feel free to read the sample chapters, but don't blame me if you're poisoned (Translator's Note: Read and Poison sound the same in Chinese)," hoping that his self-deprecating tone would draw Yang Chenkong's attention. 
After clicking "Send", he was too tired to repeatedly refresh the comment section as he did before. It was almost half past one in the morning, and he would need to get up early that day.
Putting down his cell phone, Zhang Zian lay down flat on the bed. Soon, he was half-awake and half-asleep, and he would completely fall asleep at any moment. 
In the darkness, Pi had been watching him the whole time. It had barely moved, except to slightly change its posture after its legs started to get numb.
Pi had always known about Zhang Zian's actions. It could tell from Zhang Zian's exhaustion. 
Since Zhang Zian was so tired, it wouldn't matter if he did these things later, right?
Pi opened its mouth and silently imitated the shape of someone saying "thank you."
What?
Zhang Zian thought he heard something. It seemed like someone was talking to him. He barely could open his eyes. His drowsiness was as heavy as a mountain, pressing down on his eyelids.
He looked around and found nothing out of the ordinary. He unlocked his phone screen and saw that it was past two in the morning. 
Since he hadn't logged out from the Qidian app yet, he clicked open Yang Chenkong's comment section, the second reading list owner he advertised on that night, hoping to find Yang Chenkong's review on Pi's novel. However, he found no review, and saw that the advertisement he had posted was gone.
No wonder the comment section was so empty. As it turned out, Yang Chenkong deleted all of the advertisements in his comment section. Zhang Zian's efforts were again all in vain. 
He couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. He shoved his cell phone under his pillow and fell asleep.


1. Download a suspicious game
2. Catch a few magical pets as partners
3. Go through interesting daily routines and lead the pet shop to a whole new level

Greetings, Nogami here.

 

 

It's been quite some time since I last posted a chapter—a work which I can say that I can truly be satisfied with.

 

 

Ever since the time I posted Chapter 4 from my main work, Scum of Humanity and His Youth, I couldn't feel content with anything I wrote. Rather, the feeling of discontent came about before that Chapter even went up.

 

 

Back in May, by the time I was about to post Chapter 4, a friend recommended me this book for a real quick read. It was a Novel written by a famous mystery author— the greatest one of our time, in my honest opinion. Though, there were no english translations present for the said work so we settled for the manga adaptation instead. And after going through the book in the span of two days—

 

 

It seriously hit home. 

 

 

Rather, it was as if that story was writen to make the clean hit. 

 

 

It was as if my friend had recomended it for that sole reason. 

 

 

Such the foul play, if I do say so myself.

 

 

Though, I merely jest.

 

 

Ever since then, I had a hard time feeling content with anything I wrote. I even ended up changing a lot of things in the Chapter before putting it up just because of that particular book. It really left the strong impression, frankly speaking.

 

 

Because of that, I ended up spending the past couple of months reading his work and watching their adaptations—thoroughly studying his unique writing style. In the end, it resulted in four unproductive months and three unfinished titles. No matter how much I wrote, I never found any of those titles satisfactory. They kept on ending up being straight-out copies of that author's works.

 

 

As a result,  I dropped the pen for some time and fully indulged myself in different hobbies. Though, in that span of time, I never felt satisfied and kept on switching from one to the other. It was then when this story came about.

 

 

I put all my frustrations to the tip of my pen—the surface of my keyboard, to be more precise, then wrote something in which I can be truly proud of. In the end, I guess frustration's the thing that keeps the pen on writing? Hopefully not.

 

 

Ke-ke-ke.

 

 

To wrap up, I'd like to pose a simple question: where do people draw satisfaction from? Surely, it doesn't have to reach the point of death, just to feel satisfied. In fact, who can say for sure that death truly puts an end to our endless wanting. I wouldn't want to be the one to prove it, that's for sure. 

 

 

Surely, after some time has passed, I'd find this short story somewhat dissatisfactory and end up asking myself why I felt so proud about it, and probably also curl up in bed asking how I got the nerve to put up such an cheesy (?) afterword. Heck, do short stories even need to have an afterword? It really makes you think, doesn't it?

 

 

Though, in the end, I'm sure that would only show that I truly am human—flawed and imperfect, hard to find contentment. And it would also be the sign of how much I've grown as a writer.

 

 

To TRULY wrap up, I'd like to thank those of you who've given the time to read my work and would like to invite you to read my main work. The first two chapters aren't up to my standard as it's been almost a year since I first put them up. But regardless, the invitations always there. I intend on continuing the story, even though it's been quite some time. It's already under works.

 

 

Once again, thanks for the read and I hope for your continued support.

 

 

This has been Nogami with my short story, Manzoku.

 

 

I hope you found it satisfactory.

 

 

P.S

For those of you who are interested, the book my friend recommended goes under the name of Shoujo Fujuubun (Broken Girl/Imperfect Girl), written by the great NISIOISIN.

 

Manzoku—roughly translated as contentment in English, and directly translates to satisfaction. When we’re posed certain questions in regards to satisfaction, in regards to where people may find contentment, each person would answer in varying ways. Reason to that being, we find satisfaction in varying things—temporary contentment that lasts for only how long. And as we pass through each phase of temporal contentment, we begin to ask ourselves:

Where can we find true satisfaction?
_______________________

note: This work was transfered from my account from a different site, dates specified in author's afterwords (or any form of word outside of the narrative) may not coincide with present time.

Packing up his life and moving into a simple apartment in one of the sketchier neighborhoods in Manhattan with three roommates hadn't been too difficult for Jeremy. He was used to bad neighborhoods. They didn't vary much from city to city.
He would have moved to one of the cheaper of the five boroughs if not for the fact that it would make commuting to work harder. Making a good impression was vital; he could not allow himself to be late. Ever. 
On his first day of work, Jeremy made sure to wear the better of his two suits and what he considered his lucky tie. He stared up at the skyscraper before him in awe. He actually made it.
The secretary at the front desk directed him to the HR department to get his badge photo taken and fill out a bit of hiring paperwork. He was finally able to meet Emma Wilson in person by doing that. She was the one who brought him to the analyst department once the formalities were taken care of.
"Simon," she called out. "I have your new recruit."
A man in his early fifties with a receding hairline poked his head out of one of the few offices in this part of the building. Most people had individual desks out in the open.
He strode forward and offered Jeremy his hand to shake. "Nice to meet you. Jeremy Ward, right? I'm Simon Peters, the department head. I do hope you'll live up to my expectations. I've heard a lot of great things about you."
Jeremy was baffled but accepted the praise humbly. Did this man know the headhunter who recommended him? Who was it? Would Simon be able to tell him?
"Sir…do you know who recommended me?"
Simon shrugged. "No. My orders came from the top. They probably recommended you to Mr. Hale directly."
A bolt of lightning could have struck Jeremy in that moment; he was so shocked. Someone close to Aaron Hale had recommended him. Aaron Hale knew his name. This was the most unbelievable thing that had ever happened to him.
"I see," Jeremy managed to get out. "Do you see Mr. Hale often?"
"Our departments do coordinate with upper management a lot but I mostly see him in meetings with all of the other department heads. I normally report to Mr. Singleton, the vice president."
This was a bit disappointing but not terribly surprising. Aaron Hale was at the very top; seeing him wouldn't be so easy. But if Jeremy managed to get noticed by the vice president that would be nearly as good, right? 
Simon ended up giving Jeremy a tour of the department, showing him his desk, and giving a basic outline of what he would be doing before calling over a man who was probably in his mid-forties.
"Kyle, I need to get back to work. I want you to train Jeremy here for me."
The man gave him a thumbs up before turning to Jeremy. "You're fresh out of college, aren't you?"
"Yes, sir."
Kyle waved it off. "No need to 'sir' me. I'm a pretty casual person. Call me Kyle. I know I'm your trainer but if you ever can't find me, feel free to go ask my friend Roger over there for help."
He pointed to a man about his age who was working diligently at his computer. Roger momentarily looked up and smiled at them. Clearly these two were quite familiar with each other.
Jeremy wondered how long the two of them  had been working here together. Were all of the people here so friendly with each other or had they been friends for a long time?
"How long have you worked here?"
"Well I've only been in this department for about seven years. Before that I was a financial advisor for fifteen," Kyle said cheerfully. "I'm lucky I got to switch over at all. I suppose it helps when you're friends with the big boss."
This man was friends with Aaron Hale? How exactly had that happened if he never visited other departments?
Although…there were a lot of Ivy League graduates here. Including ones from Harvard. Maybe they went to school together; they did seem to be about the same age.
It was difficult imagining his idol once being a college student. He had probably done nothing but study, like Jeremy had. Aaron had graduated summa cum laude too according to an article he read.
"What's he like?" Jeremy couldn't help asking.
"Who, Aaron? He's a hard one to describe. I've known him for twenty-six years and I still don't really understand him." Kyle called over to his friend. "Hey, Roger! How would you describe Aaron?"
The other man shrugged. "Contradictory?"
He mulled it over. "Contradictory…that's a good one."
Jeremy was confused. What was so contradictory about the man he admired? According to everything he had read, the man was the silent but brilliant type and most people were afraid of him.
These two didn't seem terribly afraid. In fact, they were quite flippant considering they were talking about their boss. Exactly how close to Aaron were they?
Twenty-six years wasn't a short amount of time to know someone but at least twenty-two of them had been when Kyle was working at his company. Based on the camaraderie between the two analysts in front of him, Jeremy was willing to bet all three of them had known each other a long time.
He wanted to ask exactly how Aaron Hale was contradictory but Kyle had already started talking about stock market trend reports. He said that a lot of the time there was an algorithm to predict things with 87% accuracy.
Jeremy was astounded such a thing existed and his mentor noticed. He laughed. "Yeah, that was Aaron and Aiden's brainchild. Aiden Quinn is the head of the cybersecurity department but he's also basically Aaron's left hand. He does a lot around here."
He took mental notes. So Aiden Quinn was the left hand and Cameron Singleton was the right. If he ever ran into either of those two he would have to be sure to make a good impression.


Keeley, a simple plain Jane, hits the jackpot.  [No, she did not win the lottery!]  At least that's what she thinks when she marries the most eligible bachelor in New York City: Aaron, a wealthy cold-hearted heartthrob and Tycoon. 

She wants to show the world that she deserves her position and bends over  backward to fit into his world.

One beautiful day, Aaron hands her a document asking her to sign.  A divorce paper...

"She's pregnant, and I need to take responsibility."

That is the last thing that keeps on playing in her mind before she takes her last breath.

Keeley dies, a 'hit and run'. [End of story.  Not!]

For some unexplainable reason, she wakes up as her younger self.  A young high school girl, around the time when she first meets her cheating husband.

Remembering her life with Aaron before she died, she makes a promise to herself that she will do everything in her power to avoid him at all costs.

Will she be able to keep her promise when Aaron has his own plans as well, specifically for her?  Or will she repeat history and fall for him once more...

Why not journey with me and find out the truth behind their story.

*Cover art by polkadottedscrunchie*

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