"What does she know?" Qiu Wuji kept asking Chu Ge this question even after Yueying had disappeared.
Chu Ge walked out of the bathroom, drying his hair, and changed the subject: "This girl is very wary of people. She left as soon as I came out."
Qiu Wuji suddenly exploded: "Chu Ge! You're ruining my reputation!"
"Hey, hey, hey, why are you hitting me if people misunderstand?" Chu Ge said defensively: "We're innocent and have a clear conscience. We know that ourselves, so why should we care what others think?"
"Pah!" Qiu Wuji thought to himself, this is different. I really want to take this girl back with me. Back there, I'm the sect leader, it's different, it's different.
She said somewhat defiantly, "If Yueying can find a place to move, so can I." Chu Ge gave her a sympathetic look: "It seems your money-making methods aren't up to par..."
Qiu Wuji asked, "How much is this place?"
"It's a bit out of the way, but not expensive. Including property management fees, utilities, internet, and all that, it'll be less than three thousand a month."
"Only?" Qiu Wuji was taken aback: "Three thousand just for rent? You spend a third of your month writing here?"
"Yes. It's still close to the business district, though. A place a little further out would be cheaper..." "It's a bit cheaper, but too remote a place is really inconvenient. Besides, this is a two-bedroom apartment, so renting a single room would be much cheaper."
"This is small enough, and you want a single room? How can anyone live here?"
"...Yes, Yunji Sect's Thousand Mile Green Mountain is a bit of a burden for Sect Leader Qiu."
Qiu Wuji asked, "What if we buy it?"
"It's not expensive, a little over 20,000 per square meter. This room is over 80 square meters." Qiu Wuji did a quick calculation. The 160+ robberies that day were roughly enough to buy a house. Well, even if you robbed one a day, it would take half a year of diligent robbery, and even if you robbed once a month, it would take over ten years.
And that would require not eating or drinking.
You call this not expensive?
"You said you make over ten thousand a month, living better than most people," Qiu Wuji asked. "Then who do others rely on to buy houses?"
Chu Ge: "...Myself, my wife, my parents, my in-laws, that's six wallets. Of course, you also need a bank loan."
Qiu Wuji: "..." Chu Ge glanced at her, his expression practically saying, "Let's pool our resources, then we'll have two wallets." My parents can chip in, and if I don't have in-laws, I'll just have to work harder and take on the responsibility myself… Qiu Wuji's desire to buy a house vanished instantly, and even the idea of renting faded considerably. He suddenly asked a nonsensical question: "Flat, you mean floor plan?"
"Yeah, square meters, area."
"I saw that nightclub's space is much higher than our house. The heights are clearly different, so why is it calculated by area? Shouldn't it be by volume?"
Chu Ge was stumped by this question, stroking his chin for a long time before answering uncertainly: "Maybe… money in the world of anime and manga is easier to make?"
Qiu Wuji didn't understand: "I've heard you say that word several times, what does it mean again?"
"Well, it's like fantasizing about dating a fictional character in a book or painting… uh…" Chu Ge suddenly shut his mouth.
Qiu Wuji glanced at him sideways, his gaze unreadable.
I thought it was some strange word, but isn't that just you?
Chu Ge returned to his room in a disheveled state: "I'm going to meditate and sleep; it's very late."
"Wait a minute," Qiu Wuji hesitated, "Is there any way to let Yueying enter our world?"
Chu Ge sighed, "I knew you had this idea, but it's impossible. Even I can't get in myself, how can I send someone else in?"
"How about adding this character later in the story?" Qiu Wuji asked, "I see you keep introducing new characters, right? This just requires setting up the character?"
"Of course, that's possible, but even if I write a new character based on Yueying's appearance, it's still just a character 'based on Yueying,' still two different people. It's like when I write the protagonist as myself, but in reality, it's not." Qiu Wuji rested his elbow on his knee, propping his chin up.
Seeing Qiu Wuji's thoughtful expression as he wrote, Chu Ge couldn't help but laugh: "Hey, I see you're getting more and more into writing now. Why don't you write the rest yourself, according to my outline? I wanted to see how the female lead would write her own story when you first transmigrated; it'll be so much fun." Qiu Wuji's eyes lit up: "Will it work?"
"Whether it works or not, I wouldn't dare let you write it, just kidding. Our writing styles can't be consistent. If readers discover it was ghostwritten, that's a disaster. If you really want to write, learn my style first. Learn about 70-80% and you can try. I think it should work then. That world can't judge development based on who typed it. As long as the writing style is consistent and the plot follows my complete vision, it should work."
At this point, Chu Ge paused, then said seriously, "I always felt that the fundamental meaning of 'self-consistency is the ability to convince readers." "Effect." Qiu Wuji paused, taken aback. She hadn't considered this angle before, and hesitated before saying, "If it's related to readers, then our world's abilities should also be affected to some extent by the number of readers. A world read by many people shouldn't be the same as one read by only one or two people." Chu Ge thought for a long time, lost in thought, then shook his head slightly: "No, it's not about world abilities. World abilities are already fixed; the upper limit is just that high—the human realm, which hasn't yet ascended, can't escape this framework. What's likely affected is... presence and influence." He murmured dreamily, "How much reality and manifestation can my writing achieve... because the more people read the book, the deeper the imprint in this world, the stronger the sense of presence. Just like people believe there was a Diao Chan at the end of the Han Dynasty, whether she existed in real history or not is no longer important. She has a more real presence than many real people, so she exists." Qiu Wuji listened, somewhat stunned.
Originally, she thought that as long as he finished writing, it didn't matter whether it flopped or not, but now, looking at it this way, it seems there is some connection? "At a certain point, your world will become more realistic, and you'll definitely have a more stable connection with this world. I can go in, and your original body can come out. I might even be able to let more people in," Chu Ge concluded. "I don't know if this counts as affecting my abilities, but how much I can utilize my abilities will definitely be positively correlated with this; they complement each other." Qiu Wuji remained silent for a long while, then said softly, "Then Father God, why don't you hurry up and start writing!"
Chu Ge: "…" Chu Ge went off to write miserably, while Qiu Wuji slipped back to her room to go online. This time, she didn't watch videos; she read Chu Ge's old books.
Studying his writing style?
In the room across the hall, Yueying was curled up on the bed. The wound in her lower abdomen had been treated by Qiu Wuji sometime during the night, but the simple treatment hadn't completely healed it, and it still ached faintly.
She lay awake, lost in thought, unable to sleep all night.
Meanwhile, at the Miracle Nightclub.
Lin Wuyang led his group through the nightclub's doors. The pole dancing had long ended, and the patrons were dancing and drinking as usual, the scene peaceful.
Someone approached: "Hey, officers, working so late! Have some tea, please?" Lin Wuyang didn't reply, casually strolling around with the person—ever since learning from the "wall-penetrating man" about the underground boxing matches at this nightclub, he'd been planning a surprise raid.
However, the search warrant application was blocked, so a routine inspection was the only option, meant to distract the person in charge and allow Gu Ruoyan to search for clues about Yueying through other channels.
The "employee entrance" was already sealed off by a secret door, so a routine inspection would naturally yield nothing.
Instead, it would alert the enemy.
Lin Wuyang wasn't disappointed; there was no need to alert them, the other side was prepared.
He listened to their casual banter, then suddenly turned to look them in the eyes and asked, "What's downstairs?"
Ability activated: Forced Truth! The man smiled slightly: "There is a stage lift facility underground, officer, would you like to take a look?" Lin Wuyang frowned. Was there really nothing there?
He shook his head and continued, "Are you the owner here? I don't think it was you before."
The man smiled again: "Yes, it's a family business, I just took over a few days ago." Lin Wuyang recalled the legal representative of the Miracle Nightclub; it had indeed just changed hands a few days ago.
That was true.
The new legal representative was named Zhang…
The man promptly introduced himself: "A newbie begging for help from a master… Oh, my name is Zhang Qiren, I hope the officer will take good care of me."