The world has turned into Hell's Game, why should I stay human?
Chapter 178 Not Good, the Novelist is Going to Rob the House

Chapter 178: Chapter 178 Not Good, the Novelist is Going to Rob the House

"I’m sorry to disturb you, Senior."

The novelist began by apologizing, her politeness almost heart-wrenching.

Liu Zheng glanced at Niu Ma, finding that compared to the novelist, all other bizarre residents he knew could only be considered barbarians from beyond the borders.

"What are you looking at? Keep staring and I’ll poke your eyeballs out."

Niu Ma menacingly waved his broken horn.

"Tsk."

He shifted his gaze away.

"No worries, we don’t need to be so formal. What’s up?"

Liu Zheng asked.

"Here’s the thing, the Metropolitan Writers Association has organized a salon dance, and they invited me to attend. I’d like to ask you, Senior, to be my plus one and accompany me."

The novelist said.

"Huh?"

He was taken aback for a moment.

"I know this is sudden, and if you’d rather not, that’s fine. Sorry to bother you, Senior."

The novelist, thinking he was reluctant, spoke in a calm tone.

However, Liu Zheng could detect a thread of sadness in that bland tone.

"Oh, I’m not surprised you invited me, I’m surprised you actually got an invitation."

He said bluntly.

"Ah?"

The novelist gasped softly, then fell silent.

The awkwardness was visibly palpable in the air.

Just as Liu Zheng wondered whether to say something to ease the tension, she finally spoke up.

"Senior, don’t judge my novels by their length; my short stories are actually quite good. You can take a look if you don’t believe me."

As if to prove herself, she quickly sent several text messages.

Liu Zheng opened the first one, and his pupils shuddered.

"I ended up in bed with my childhood friend after getting drunk, thinking that ten years of affection and companionship had finally led somewhere."

"But when I woke up, all that was left by my pillow was a morning-after pill and two thousand yuan."

"I called him to confront him, ’What does this mean?’"

"He said indifferently, ’It means nothing, you spoke ill of Xiao Mei, and I was just taking revenge for her.’

"My heart was in agony because I knew that Xiao Mei was the class beauty and the girl he was pursuing."

...

The rest of the text went on for about a thousand or two thousand more characters, but he dared not continue reading.

Because he feared his eyes would go blind, the irreversible kind.

"Senior, these are some of my proudest works, what do you think?"

The novelist asked expectantly.

"Well, they are quite powerful in terms of emotional engagement."

Liu Zheng squeezed his brain to find a fair but positive comment.

"Senior is amazing, you quickly grasped the essence of the short form."

The novelist said admiringly.

"Given the length of these stories, they couldn’t really go in any other direction,"

He replied.

The essence of web novels, especially, lies in emotion, but there are many types of emotions, including the feeling of accomplishment, novelty, and exploration, all of which are forms of emotional response.

Long-form web novels, due to their length, can choose which emotions to focus on based on their theme and can also incorporate other emotional expressions.

But short stories don’t work that way; they have limited space and can only choose the most intense, straightforward, and evocative emotions to pull the reader’s heartstrings directly and roughly.

It’s not that short stories are inferior to long ones, but someone like Liu Zheng, accustomed to and skilled in long-form writing, reading short stories feels like a classical musician listening to a DJ.

"That’s true. It’s because I saw the limitations of short stories that I turned to long-form,"

the novelist agreed.

"Actually, writing short stories can also be quite lucrative, not worse than long-form. There’s no need to take a risk in switching."

Liu Zheng sincerely said.

Indeed, moving from short to long stories is more than just a shift; it’s almost like changing careers.

"I’m definitely going to write long-form. Writing short stories is only lucrative, but long-form stories take you to a higher level."

The novelist shook her head.

"Alright, whatever questions you have, just ask me. I’ll teach you everything I know."

If he was still in this instance.

To these bizarre residents, reaching a higher level might have other, deeper meanings.

Although Liu Zheng wasn’t sure how writing novels could lead to a higher evolution, he didn’t care either.

"So, Senior, does that mean you’ll be my plus one?"

The novelist asked.

"Agreed."

He had done many part-time jobs before, and being a plus one was relatively decent.

"That’s great!"

The novelist said joyfully.

"However, you’ll have to order our takeaway yourself."

"Of course. By the way, Senior, do you have suitable clothes? The salon is quite high in standards; you need to dress formally."

The novelist reminded.

"No, and we’re only supposed to wear our uniforms while working, right?"

Liu Zheng pondered and said.

Mainly because he would suffer a huge drop in fighting power if he took off the Legendary Armor.

"Well, a Bloody Restaurant uniform is presentable enough. But still, do dress up a bit, Senior."

The novelist didn’t insist.

"Dress up, sure, no problem."

Liu Zheng agreed.

When it came to dressing up, he knew quite a few experts.

"Then tonight at seven, it’s a date."

The novelist hung up.

"Is it that woman who helped you out?"

Niu Ma suddenly asked.

"Right."

Liu Zheng nodded.

"Not good, she’s going straight for a home run. The number of people betting against her has grown, the odds have dropped to 1:1.1."

Niu Ma mused.

"Well, I hope all of you lose a fortune."

He sent his sincere wishes to these people who had nothing better to do.

Niu Ma didn’t care, taking it as though he was sour not being able to bet himself.

"Big guy, can you make a call for me?"

"What for?"

"Didn’t you just hear? The novelist asked me to accompany her to the salon, and I need to dress up."

Liu Zheng said,

"No matter how much you dress up, you still won’t look like a human."

Niu Ma retorted sarcastically,

"As if you look any more human. Hurry up and make the call; those 270,000 were earned with someone else’s help."

If it weren’t for the novelist’s help in recovering the Nightingale, the subsequent tomb overturning movement wouldn’t have succeeded, and Niu Ma wouldn’t have made a big windfall.

"Hmph, since when is it your place to rush me?"

Despite his words, Niu Ma still made the call.

"Niu Ma, these past few days, you’ve called me more times than you did in the entire last year."

Once connected, Big White Goose complained.

"I’m helpless, big brother, having such a troublesome little brother."

Niu Ma glanced at Liu Zheng, who looked up at the ceiling.

"Hurry up, whatever it is, talk to your big brother about it."

Niu Ma handed him the phone.

"Hello, big brother!"

Liu Zheng greeted energetically.

"Not so good. You’ve really been giving our customer service department a hard time."

Big White Goose’s tone revealed no emotions.

"Big brother, that fish you wanted, I’ll bring it to you when I go out later."

He attempted to change the subject.

"Young man, trying to change the subject won’t work on me,"

Big White Goose said with a smile.

"It’s not entirely my fault, after all, the gadget was agreed to be installed by the British Minister himself."

Liu Zheng played dumb.

"But you’re the one who recovered it. You know, during this period, everyone in customer service felt threatened; I didn’t even dare to stay outside for long."

Big White Goose complained.

"Is that gadget really that powerful?"

It looked pretty dry to him; could it expand when soaked in water?

"Powerful is an understatement. Just where did you get it from?"

Big White Goose asked curiously.

"I bought it from a mummy doctor,"

Liu Zheng responded.

"That explains it. The stuff from those mummies really does work well. Back when I was in the kitchen, mummy cuisine was quite popular for a while,"

Big White Goose noted.

"Oh? What happened after that?"

"Well, due to the shortage of ingredients and City Hall’s intervention, it was taken off the menu,"

Big White Goose explained.

Damn, no wonder Dr. Nile said that only he and Sasha were left from Lara’s descendants.

Turns out others were turned into dishes by the Bloody Restaurant.

It’s a wonder that Dr. Nile didn’t kill him on sight; Liu wasn’t sure if it was due to his generosity or Niu Ma’s influence.

Liu Zheng glanced at Niu Ma, formulating some guesses.

But he decided it wasn’t the right time to ask, better wait until after the phone call.

"There’s a silver lining, isn’t there? The British Minister’s personality must have brightened a lot?"

he stated.

"Indeed, much sunnier, and his energy extremely high. Just yesterday, he changed the customer service department’s regulations three times."

Big White Goose chuckled.

"Ahahaha."

At this, Liu Zheng didn’t know what else to say and simply laughed it off.

"You should think of a way to cool down the British Minister. Otherwise, if it continues like this, the customer service department’s staff will collectively apply to be transferred."

Big White Goose remarked.

Employees from the three major departments could apply for a transfer, whether approved or not was another matter.

However, such a collective transfer request was not a good thing for department heads.

"What can a newbie like me do?"

Liu Zheng complained.

This truly was a case of shooting himself in the foot.

Indeed, taking shortcuts always comes with a price.

"To untie the bell, the bell ringer is needed; didn’t you buy it from that mummy doctor? Go find him."

Big White Goose reminded him.

"Right."

He realized suddenly.

Plus, he could discuss how to deal with hemorrhoids in the sewer.

"Alright, I’ve said my piece. What did you need me for?"

Big White Goose inquired.

"Oh, right. I need to accompany someone to a salon dance at the writers’ association. I was hoping you could help me get ready, maybe do some makeup,"

Liu Zheng explained.

"Is it a female?"

"Yes."

"How did you meet?"

Big White Goose’s curiosity was not inferior to Niu Ma’s.

"That, let’s save it for when you help me with the makeup?"

He tried to stall.

"Fine. Should I come to you, or will you come to me?"

Big White Goose asked.

"It’s less trouble if you come here."

If caught by the British Minister, it’d be more than just a layer of skin off.

"I see. That will be an extra five fresh fish."

"Okay,"

Liu Zheng agreed readily.

"Shall I come now?"

"No rush, I’ll call you later."

He had to take a trip to the sewer first; he didn’t want the makeup to get smudged.

"Alright."

After hanging up, Liu Zheng looked at Niu Ma.

Niu Ma tensed slightly, guessing what he might ask, slowly retreating toward the pile of grass.

But Liu Zheng wasn’t about to let him go.

"Boss, was Sasha the one you rescued?"

He asked directly.

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