Anyway, after Yu Mian was forced to burst out this eloquent analysis, he did manage to subtly stabilize the situation by the end of the conversation.
“Anyway, we really appreciate your help today. Are you planning to head home now?”
As the conversation ended and they walked toward the office door, Secretary Hals looked at Yu Mian again.
“Uh, I should still make a trip to the library. I was in a bit of a rush earlier and didn’t have time to return the books I borrowed.”
Yu Mian immediately shook his head in denial.
He definitely couldn’t be caught; going home meant going to the aquarium in your study, right?
After all, right now, Huo Ting really was his landlord. Orz
However, while Yu Mian was saying he was going to the library, his mind was entirely occupied with the conversation he had just had.
So, his writing actually produced some kind of mental soothing effect, which caught Huo Ting and Secretary Hals attention?
In response, Yu Mian almost immediately recalled the system reward he had discussed with the little system last time.
Could it be that the original reward from the Superstar Popularity System, “Mermaid Song,” had transferred the buff from the song into his novels?
This would explain why the experiment subjects experienced a mental power boost while reading.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this reward might have far exceeded his expectations.
It was hard to imagine the reward for the second book when the rewards for the first were already so powerful.
“Please wait a moment. The driver is already downstairs. Since our matters have delayed your time, we’ll send you back to the library. We really appreciate your help today.”
Secretary Hals immediately called out to stop Yu Mian, who had absentmindedly turned to leave.
“Wow, thank you! Actually, it didn’t take much time, and the chat was quite enjoyable. It also gave me a lot to think about regarding my career development.”
Unexpectedly, there was a car ready to take him back, and Yu Mian’s impression toward Huo Ting and Secretary Hals improved by +1.
It was actually a good thing he ran into Huo Ting today; otherwise, if he had been contacted by Huanyu without any preparation, it would have been a real horror story.
Now, even though they still planned to contact his author account, at least he was mentally prepared.
As for Secretary Hals, after watching Yu Mian shake hands and bid farewell before going downstairs, he felt something strange.
“This young writer is quite interesting.”
What was even stranger was that, although they hadn’t met many times, their conversation felt unusually familiar and relaxed.
‘Could it be that I am also a face con?’
Was it because Yu Mian was so good looking that he judged by appearance and felt an inexplicable sense of intimacy?
The more Secretary Hals thought about it, the more he felt like a pervert, and he even suddenly understood why Yu Mian often wore a mask and a hat.
Otherwise, with such looks, the chances of attracting unwanted attention and harassment would definitely be high.
After sighing for a while without getting an answer, Secretary Hals turned and glanced at his boss.
But he found that Huo Ting was looking down at his palm in a daze.
Because when Yu Mian shook hands to thank him earlier, he not only shook hands with Secretary Hals but also swiftly grabbed Huo Ting’s hand, expressing his gratitude as a federal citizen for the government’s thoughtful service.
Huo Ting, who was always very vigilant, actually subconsciously wanted to pull away the moment his hand was held, but he hesitated for an inexplicable moment because of the sincere, clear look in Yu Mian’s eyes.
After hesitating for a second, he was naturally caught by Yu Mian’s grip as he thanked him.
“Hmm… not only is he interesting, but he’s also quite bold.”
Secretary Hals looked at Huo Ting’s hand, realized what had just happened, and added silently.
It was rare to see someone so enthusiastically and sincerely shake hands with his boss to express gratitude
Although arranging for the driver to take him back was something Huo Ting had privately instructed, the gratitude really wasn’t necessary.
“But we still need to contact Huanyu about that Fish Soup Noodles, right?”
“Mm.”
Huo Ting nodded in acknowledgment to Secretary Hals.
They would definitely still need to contact Huanyu.
“But the approach doesn’t need to be forceful. We must respect the other party’s personal wishes to the greatest extent.”
Recalling Yu Mian’s urgent, pleading look from earlier, Huo Ting suddenly realized that dealing with this issue couldn’t be handled the same way as dealing with military affairs.
“Understood.”
Secretary Hals nodded thoughtfully.
—
“Hey, I held his hand! My mental power increased!”
As soon as Yu Mian turned the corner and confirmed that Huo Ting and the others couldn’t see him, he looked at his hand excitedly and reported back to the little system.
In fact, when he first completed the task, he had already realized that Huo Ting’s mental power was the highest quality he had encountered so far.
The mental power he absorbed was like a powerful battery, able to store power for transforming his legs or typing for a long time.
That time, his task almost went wrong, and he had been thinking about trying again with a handshake. He never expected that he would really get a chance to hold his hand!
[Ah…]
The little system could only express its admiration for Yu Mian’s behavior of taking advantage of the opportunity to absorb mental power.
Fortunately, Huo Ting didn’t think of its host as a pervert.
[But didn’t you think he was quite scary before?]
“Ah, really? You’re making things up. It was clearly just calmness and responsibility.”
Yu Mian immediately retorted at the “slander” from the little system after he had just absorbed some mental power.
In Yu Mian’s eyes, Huo Ting was now like a walking, large power bank or generator.
‘Oh, that was really true.’ The little system was a bit stunned by the realization.
[So, you’re really socially anxious? Why didn’t I see it at all just now…?]
When Yu Mian heard the little system, he sighed deeply.
“Come on, my vest almost fell off. What are the consequences of not making that up? Instant social death.”
It was clear which was worse—social anxiety or social death!
For an author, nothing was scarier than having their writing vest fall off in the real world.
Especially when he still planned to write some unspeakable things.
The little system could only admit defeat.
‘Anyway, if you look good, whatever you say must be right.’
A few days later, Huanyu Group’s headquarters received an official notice.
“Strange, why would the federal government need to contact Fish Soup Noodles?”
The editors in the editorial department were all discussing it.
After a hesitant Shaxs was called into the office by the deputy chief editor for a long conversation, he directly contacted Yu Mian online to explain the situation.
What he didn’t expect was that Yu Mian remained remarkably calm.
[Fish: Mm, I understand. I can cooperate with all inquiries, but I don’t want my real-world identity to be revealed by Huanyu. Can that be arranged?]
[Crispy Shark: Of course, of course! They specifically emphasized respecting your personal wishes and not making any compulsory requests. Please rest assured. We just can’t figure out what happened that they need to inquire about something related to your work.]
Of course, this was all because his book had received the system reward buff.
Yu Mian silently complained, but since Editor Shaxs wasn’t told the details, he didn’t plan to say more.
Moreover, it was the military that stepped in directly, but instead entrusted a government official to coordinate the contact. This way, it seemed much more legitimate.
The government official responsible for contacting Yu Mian was clearly briefed on the matter in advance, and during the online conversation, their attitude was very polite.
Yu Mian had already prepared a set of excuses.
He first stated that he had learned about the matter in advance from a “friend,” and although he wasn’t entirely sure why this was happening, he was willing to cooperate with the investigation and the experiment. Once he had some free time, he would start working on a new book on a relevant and specific topic, and so on…
This conversation proceeded much more smoothly than expected.
As a result, the message received by Huanyu was that Yu Mian had already chosen a subject matter for his new book.
[Crispy Shark: So you have a new idea?!]
However, when Shaxs thought about the tragedy of weekly updates of “Eternal Night Rose”, he couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious.
Could their author possibly be thinking of writing… three books at once!?
[Fish: A bit, but I think I’ll save a draft first. After all, the new subject matter is quite challenging. I’ll start working on it after “Contract Marriage” is officially completed.]
[Crispy Shark: Okay, okay, that’s good, but could you reveal a little bit about the new book’s subject matter?]
[Fish: It’ll be a feel-good book. Since readers have given good feedback about this type of plot, I plan to write exactly that for the new book!]
Yu Mian’s reply helped ease Shaxs’ anxiety.
Honestly speaking, whether it was “Contract Marriage” or “Eternal Night Rose”, the chapters with feel-good plots had received very enthusiastic feedback from readers recently.
This kind of plot was simply something people could read over and over again and still feel refreshed!
Shaxs even became curious. What would it mean to write a whole book like that?
Wouldn’t the entire book make readers feel euphoric from beginning to end?! That would be amazing.
But once Yu Mian finished his reply, he flicked his tail, held her chin and continued browsing the material on the star network.
When it came to feel-good novels, the tropes were indeed vast.
There were many possible settings for the story’s background.
Modern urban settings, interstellar futures, fantasy cultivation…
But obviously, it wouldn’t be possible to write all of them into one book, and this time, he also needed to consider a specific target audience.
After all, this new book would be vastly different from “Eternal Night Rose” and “Contract Marriage”.
The key difference would be the sense of immersion for the target reader group.
For the romance plot in “Eternal Night Rose” and “Contract Marriage”, readers tended to follow the sweet or dramatic romantic developments between the couples, viewing the book from a third-party perspective.
However, for the male-oriented adventure novels, most readers would immerse themselves directly into the role of the protagonist, following their rise from humble beginnings to greatness.
