550 ss (1/2)
Chapter 550: ”Pet King”
Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
”Eeek!”
After typing the title, Pi danced around with excitement, and high-fived Galaxy to celebrate this great achievement.
”Wait a minute!” Zhang Zian could not ignore this. ”Pi, do you want to write a novel about pets?”
”Eeek!”
Pi nodded. It pointed at him, at Galaxy, then at itself, and typed: ”A novel about pets, pet shop and everybody.”
Zhang Zian frowned slightly after hearing this, feeling worried about the future of this novel. He had not read many online novels, but his gut feeling was telling him that nobody would be interested in such a novel. For pet owners, they were so busy cuddling their cats and walking their dogs, how could they have time to read a novel about pets? For those who don't own pets, they were either not interested in pets or even hated pets, not to mention reading a book about pets. The most likely potential readers were those who didn't have time to own pets, but liked pets and wanted to own them remotely in a ”cloud”. But how many of them could there be?
Most online novels were about travelling back in time throughout history or another world, practicing Kongfu, writing poetry, being cool and kicking butts; or about being raised from the dead and returning to a city, then making monkey with prophetic knowledge and dating a few or dozens of women at the same time...He had never heard of a popular online novel about a pet shop.
Pi wanted to kill time by writing a novel. He was happy about this. But for a novel with so few potential readers, it may lose confidence after finding out nobody was reading it. It may fall into deeper self-isolation.
He knew all this, but he didn't want to kill Pi's enthusiasm at this moment. He smiled reluctantly. ”OK. Will I be in it? Then write me as a handsome man.”
”Eeek!”
Pi grinned and typed: ”This is hard...”
Zhang Xian said, ”I was just kidding. But, Pi, when is the beginning of the story? Now?”
”Eeek.”
Pi nodded and typed: ”From last year, when you just returned to this city.”
Zhang Zian thought about it. Maybe a good story can be written about it, such as writing him as a hero with hundreds of years of experience, but met his ”Waterloo” and died, then was brought back to life. This may interest the readers and meet their expectations. He smiled. ”OK. I'll tell you my story before coming to the pet shop... Do you know Wang Qian and Li Kun, the two guys working part-time in the shop? They always believed that I was a big hero during the time of Jindan. In fact, this is true...”
”Eeek!”
Pi waved its hands and interrupted him. It showed him the nameless book, and typed: ”No. Everything that happened in the past can be found in the book.”
Zhang Zian: ”I'm just an ordinary Joe in real life. Can't you gratify me in the novel?”
Famous interrupted him as well. ”Everything in the past? Does it include my stories in the Imagined Landscape?”
”Eeek!”
Pi nodded.
Famous said, ”Can't I have any privacy? I gotta pay attention to my image in the Imagined Landscape.”
”Which website will you publish your work? I mean, there are a lot of online novel websites. Where do you want to publish? There is a saying that goes: the worst that could happen to a man is getting into a wrong profession; while the worst that could happen to a woman is marrying the wrong husband. The websites have different styles. This is a book for a small population of readers. If you pick the wrong website, you may have even fewer readers...” Zhang Zian reminded it tactfully.
”Eeek!”
Pi swiped the tablet screen to unlock it. Then it opened up a reading app and showed it to Zhang Zian.
”Oh, Qidian Web novel, that's the site I used earlier for online reading...” Zhang Zian nodded. He didn't know the online novel websites very well and could not have offered more help. But he heard that this was one of the biggest literature websites. It might be a good choice for Pi.
Pi tapped on a menu button: ”Becoming a writer”, then showed it to Zhang Zian.
”A photo ID is needed?” Zhang Zian took a glance, and thought this was complicated.
”Eeek.”
Pi typed: ”I'm a residential alien. I don't have an ID.”
Zhang Zian's face twitched. He didn't know where it learned the words ”residential alien”...but it was appropriately used.
”That is to say...you need my ID?” He pointed at his nose and asked.
Pi nodded.
Fine. He was the only one with an ID in the pet shop. Although uploading his ID was not a safe move, he was an ordinary Joe after all. Not many hackers were targeting him. The internet was a free space. If all publications were anonymous, it could cause big problems. The dark web developers might blend in and advertise their illegal business.
Zhang Zian took a picture of his ID photo, and uploaded it according to the website instructions. After identity verification, he finally created a new book and uploaded new chapters with his account.