NOVEL NEXT Chapter 40: World Presence
“What did she understand?” Qiu Wuji kept asking Chu Ge this question after Moon Shadow disappeared.
Chu Ge walked out of the bathroom, drying his hair and avoiding the question, “This girl is very cautious of others. She left as soon as I came out.”
Qiu Wuji suddenly became angry. “Chu Ge! Pay back my loss of reputation!”
“Hey, hey, why do you assume that others misunderstand you and hit me?” Chu Ge defended himself, “We have a clear conscience and know the truth. What does it matter how others see us?”
“Hmph!” Qiu Wuji wasn’t convinced. She really wanted to take that girl back with her. In that place, she was the sect leader, which was different.
She said a little annoyed, “If Moon Shadow can find a place to move out, so can I.”
Chu Ge sympathetically looked at her and said, “It seems that you can’t make money in your current situation.”
Qiu Wuji asked, “How much is this house?”
“It’s a bit far from the city center, but not expensive. Including property, water and electricity bills, it’s about less than 3,000 yuan per month.”
“Just?” Qiu Wuji was stunned. “You write for a month and a third of it is spent on rent?”
“Yes. After all, this place is still close to the commercial area. It can be cheaper if it’s further away, but it’s not very convenient if it’s too far. Besides, this is a two-bedroom and one living room. It’s cheaper if you rent a single room.”
“This place is already small enough, and you’re talking about single rooms? How can people live in that?”
“….Yes, it’s not easy for someone who’s used to seeing thousands of miles of green mountains in the Cloud Horizon Sect. I’m sorry for the Sect Leader.”
“If you buy it, how much would it cost?” Qiu Wuji asked.
“It’s not expensive, a little more than 20,000 yuan per square meter. Our place is more than 80 square meters.”
Qiu Wuji estimated it slightly. This amount of money could be obtained after 160 robberies similar to that day. Hmm, even if they robbed one per day, it would take them half a year, and robbing once a month would take over ten years. And that’s not even accounting for food and drink expenses.
And they call that not expensive?
“You make more than 10,000 yuan a month, better than most people.” Qiu Wuji asked, “How do other people buy houses?”
Chu Ge said, “…themselves, their spouses, parents, in-laws, combining the income of six people. Of course, they also need a bank loan.”
Qiu Wuji: “…”
Chu Ge looked at her, and the meaning seemed to be that the two of them can join hands and have two sources of income. His parents could also contribute, and if they didn’t have in-laws, they could just work harder and earn more…
Qiu Wuji’s desire to buy a house disappeared directly, and even the idea of renting a house became much weaker. Suddenly, she asked a nonsensical question, “When you say ‘square’, does it mean a flat surface?”
“Um, square meters, it’s about area.”Chu Ge answered.
“I see that the nightclub we went to had much higher ceilings than our house. Even though the height is different, shouldn’t we calculate the price based on cubic meters instead of area?”
Chu Ge was stumped by this question and rubbed his chin for a long time before he answered uncertainly, “Maybe…it’s easier to make money in the two-dimensional world?”
Qiu Wuji didn’t understand, “You’ve said that word several times, what does it mean?”
“Well, it’s about fantasizing and falling in love with characters in books or drawings…” Chu Ge suddenly closed his mouth.
Qiu Wuji glanced at him obliquely, her eyes with an indeterminate meaning.
Chu Ge returned to his room embarrassedly, “I’m going to meditate and sleep, it’s late.”
“Wait.” Qiu Wuji hesitated, “Is there any way to get Moon Shadow in the other world?”
Chu Ge sighed, “I knew you were thinking about this, but it’s impossible. I can’t even enter it myself, so how can I send someone else in?”
“Can we add a character like her later?” Qiu Wuji asked. “I see you keep introducing new characters, and this only requires a good setting, right?”
“Of course we can, but even if I write a new character based on Moon Shadow’s appearance, it’s still a character ‘based on Moon Shadow’. It’s like how I wrote the protagonist originally meant myself, but in reality, it wasn’t. ”
Qiu Wuji rested her elbow on her knee and propped her chin up.
Seeing her contemplative expression, Chu Ge couldn’t help but laugh, “Hey, I think you’re becoming more interested in writing. Do you want to write the sequel yourself, based on my plotline? I’ve always wanted to see how the female lead writes about what she does, ever since you first appeared. It must be fun.”
Qiu Wuji’s eyes lit up, “Would it be effective?”
“I wouldn’t dare let you write it, joking aside. Our writing styles couldn’t possibly be the same, and it would be a disaster if readers found out that someone else wrote it. If you really want to write it, first learn my writing style. Once you’ve learned about 70-80% of it, you can give it a try. At that time, I think it should work, because that world cannot judge development based on who is actually typing, as long as the writing style is consistent and the plot follows my ideas to continue the complete world, it should work.”
At this point, Chu Ge paused and said seriously, “I always feel that the fundamental meaning of consistency is that it can persuade the reader to believe.”
Qiu Wuji was taken aback by this perspective, she had not thought about it before and hesitated, “If it’s related to the reader, then our world-building ability should also be influenced to some extent by the number of readers. The worlds that many people read and the worlds that only one or two people read shouldn’t be the same.”
Chu Ge thought for a long time, lost in thought, and shook his head slightly, “No, not the world-building ability, that has already been set in stone, the upper limit is already as high as it can be. The influence is likely to be…the sense of presence and influence.”
He continued in a dreamy tone, “How much of what I write can be made real, can be materialized… because the more people read the book, the deeper the imprint of the world in their minds, the stronger the sense of presence. Just like how people believe there was a Diao Chan in the end of the Han Dynasty, whether or not she actually existed in real history is no longer important. She has a stronger sense of existence than many real people, so she exists.”
Qiu Wuji listened in a daze.
She used to think that writing the book was enough and whether it was popular or not didn’t matter, but now it seemed to matter a little?
“At a certain point, your world becomes relatively more real, and you will have a more stable connection to this world. I can go in, and you can come out, and maybe I can even let more people in.” Chu Ge concluded, “I don’t know if this counts as an extension of my ability, but how much my ability can be exerted is definitely positively correlated to this, and they complement each other.”
Qiu Wuji fell silent for a while and whispered, “Then why don’t you go write, Creator God!”
Chu Ge: “…”
Chu Ge went back to writing with a bitter face, while Qiu Wuji went back to her room and surfed the internet. This time, she didn’t watch videos, but instead read Chu Ge’s previous books.
It looked like she was pondering his writing style.
…
In the room across the hall, Moon Shadow curled up in bed, the injury on her abdomen had been treated by Qiu Wuji, but the simple healing spell was not enough to completely cure it, and it still throbbed with pain.
She opened her eyes, not knowing what she was thinking, just zoning out, sleepless all night.
On the other side, at the Miracle Nightclub…
Lin Wuyang and his team walked through the door of the nightclub. The pole dancing had already ended, and the guests were dancing and drinking normally, creating a peaceful atmosphere.
Someone greeted them, “Oh, the police are working hard so late. Do you want some tea?”
Lin Wuyang did not respond, seemingly casual, and walked around with the other person. Ever since he found out about the underground fighting arena in this nightclub from the Wallwalker, he had been planning a surprise inspection for the past few days.
However, they couldn’t get a search warrant, so they could only do a routine inspection to distract the attention of the person in charge here, and cooperate with Gu Ruoyan to find clues about Moon Shadow through other channels.
The “employee passage” had already been sealed off with a secret door, and their routine inspection naturally turned up nothing.
But it ended up alerting the people here.
However, Lin Wuyang wasn’t disappointed. There was nothing wrong with alerting people, as the other side had already prepared for it.
He listened to the person chattering away without saying much, but suddenly turned to look into their eyes and asked, “What’s underground?”
He activated his power, forcing the truth out of them!
The person smiled slightly and said, “There is a lift stage facility underground. Would you like to see it, Officer?”
Lin Wuyang furrowed his brows. Was there really nothing else?
He shook his head and continued, “Are you the boss here? You weren’t before.”
The person continued to smile, “Yes, it’s a family business. I just took over a few days ago.”
Lin Wuyang thought of the new legal entity of the Miracle Nightclub; the change had only happened a few days ago.
That was the truth.
The new legal entity was named Zhang…
The person introduced himself in a timely manner, “I’m a newbie, begging for guidance from the pros… Oh, my name is Zhang Qiren. I hope the officer will take good care of me.”
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