Chapter 1 Aftermath

After Feng Bujue's article was revealed, the scene fell silent.

Perhaps the audience was hesitating… should they applaud this guy who had been messing around the entire time?

In a way, Jue-ge suddenly getting serious in the final round only made people feel even more displeased…

It would have been fine if he had just fooled around to the end. But this kind of performance was like saying… "Sorry, I was just teasing you guys before."

Even Oscar, who had a wealth of hosting experience, didn't know how to react for a moment. Fortunately, the writing content of this round didn't require him to read the entire piece aloud, and he was watching the big screen along with the audience. So he could chime in whenever he wanted, without having to rush to speak at a specific time.

"Well… everyone has seen contestant Bujue's answer, I think." After a few minutes, Oscar received instructions from the director in the communication channel and felt more confident, before finally speaking, "... Uh, Bujue. To be honest, if you had shown this kind of performance in the first two rounds, you probably wouldn't have fallen behind, right?"

"Hmph…" Feng Bujue sneered, "I don't think so."

Oscar warily realized something and didn't pick up on that line. He just turned to the camera and shrugged, then walked toward contestant number seven's seat: "So… next, let's take a look at today's grand finale…" He gestured toward the big screen, "... let's unveil the final chapter created by Ye Zhihuo together."

The next second, Ye Zhihuo's masterpiece, written over an hour and a half, was displayed on the screen.

In this round, his performance was indeed quite good. Because Feng Bujue's temporary departure from the stage had calmed Ye Zhihuo's emotions a lot. In a state of concentration, he wrote a high-quality ending.

Of course… this also had something to do with the novel that he "randomly" received. The backstage team had deliberately selected an urban novel with a writing style similar to Ye Zhihuo's, but slightly inferior to his in terms of quality. Moreover, the original author of this book hadn't left too many loose ends, and the overall structure of the story was relatively small… In short, in this round, the production team provided various favorable factors to reduce the difficulty of Ye Zhihuo's writing.

In Feiran's original words, it was: "Director, I can only help you this much."

"Wow! Ye Zhihuo is truly extraordinary!" After a while, Oscar commented loudly, "After seeing such an article… I feel that… the suspense of the Resurrection Night champion… is getting smaller and smaller." Even before the results were announced, he said something very suggestive.

Immediately afterward, Ye Zhihuo's fans took the lead in cheering in the audience. The director followed suit, directing the entire audience to applaud and cheer, and cooperating with the live DJ's timely insertion of epic background music, successfully creating an extremely enthusiastic atmosphere.

After the uproar, Oscar made a wiping-sweat gesture, sighed softly, and said: "Phew… everyone, the tense moment has arrived again… Now, please cast… your last vote of the night." After saying this, he immediately added, "The time is… three minutes."

The production team directly put the countdown of the voting time on the big screen, seemingly wanting to urge the audience to make a decision quickly.

This measure was also very favorable to Ye Zhihuo, who announced his article last… The length of the voting time was not important, what was important was that there was "a time limit". As long as they planted such a concept in the minds of the audience, their decision-making speed would be accelerated, and their thinking would become less meticulous.

In this way… the final chapter would naturally have the upper hand. First, because it was still fresh in their minds and the impression was still there; second, because it would take some time for the audience to recall and appreciate the previous six articles.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock…"

The DJ didn't forget to help, and appropriately turned on such sound effects in the audience area, as if he was afraid that they would think too much…

…………

Three minutes passed in the blink of an eye…

When the timer hit zero, Oscar followed up by saying: "Okay! Time's up!" He faced the audience, "On behalf of every contestant, I thank you for your careful choice."

After saying this, he bowed, and the audience responded with applause.

"At this moment, the deliberations of the twenty expert judges are still continuing. Facing these seven excellent answers, they must be extremely entangled…" Oscar continued, "Of course, for our contestants, today's competition has ended." He turned to face the contestant seats, "No matter what the result, I think… everyone has no regrets." He walked over slowly, "Let's complete the second part of the Q&A session in a relaxed atmosphere."

"So we…" Oscar's gaze swept over the seven writers, "... let's start the questioning in the order of the rankings up to the last round." He strode to contestant number six's seat, "Let's start with… Bujue, who is currently ranked last." He looked at Jue-ge and said, "Bujue, which writer do you want to ask a question to?"

"Ye Zhihuo." Without saying a word, Feng Bujue turned his head to look at Ye Zhihuo, who was sitting next to him, and asked, "Allow me to ask… do you like writing?"

He asked quite suddenly, without going through Oscar to relay the question, but directly finished the whole sentence with the microphone in front of the contestant seat.

Ye Zhihuo's reaction was also quite fast. He didn't want to give the impression that he was stumped by such a simple question, so he immediately replied: "I started creating under the pen name 'Ye Zhihuo' a year ago." He paused, "I have loved literature since I was a child, read many books, and wrote many articles. After graduating from university, I also made a living by writing… Later, for my literary dream, I became a full-time writer." His answer was quite clever, and he took the opportunity to add some comments to please the audience.

"Well, I wish you can go further and further on the road of literature." Oscar praised him again, then turned to Jue-ge and said, "Bujue, are you satisfied with Ye Zhihuo's answer?"

"Irrelevant answer, full of bullshit." Feng Bujue replied expressionlessly with eight words.

In that instant, the atmosphere of the entire venue dropped to freezing point…

Not to mention the audience, the brains of many staff members were short-circuiting, and Oscar showed an unprecedented look of shock and bewilderment on camera.

"What's wrong?" Feng Bujue looked at the stunned Oscar and said, "Continue, the next one is Yamucha's turn to ask questions."

"Quick! Before Ye Zhihuo starts arguing with him, take action quickly!" Feiran's urgent voice also sounded in Oscar's headset at this moment.

Oscar turned around upon receiving the order and took a sliding step to contestant number two's seat… He quickly adjusted his expression and said, "Okay… next, Yamucha… who do you want to ask a question to?"

"Uh…" Yamucha's gaze was still unable to move away from Feng Bujue's side. Without turning his head, he said, "I want to ask Jue-ge… I noticed earlier… recently, there is a very popular online game, and there is a well-known player, his ID is very similar to your pen name, and he looks…"

"No comment." Feng Bujue interrupted him and continued with the tone of educating a child, "Also… young people should not be addicted to games, and should focus on writing books."

"Okay… okay…" Yamucha twitched the corner of his mouth and caved in on the spot.

"Uncle Da Di! Uncle Da Di is more reliable! Quickly go find Uncle Da Di!" Feiran shouted a few words quickly in the communication channel again.

Oscar had completely lost his mind at this moment, and he would do whatever the director said. He didn't even respond to Yamucha's words, and turned his face to Uncle Da Di on seat number three: "Uncle Da Di, it's your turn…"

"Oh, I want to ask… Soda…" Uncle Da Di was indeed very reliable. After all, he was middle-aged, very good at observing people's expressions, and would leave room for everything. Therefore, he chose to cooperate with the host to divert everyone's attention.

So, Uncle Da Di immediately asked Soda an insignificant question, and Soda also gave a brief and appropriate answer.

Then, when it was Soda's turn to ask questions, he asked Uncle Da Di a similar question in return…

With the joint efforts of these two people, the audience's attention finally shifted away from Feng Bujue and Ye Zhihuo… The atmosphere at the scene also became slightly more normal.

After that, Gothic sister Rose refused to ask questions and declared that if anyone asked her questions, she would also refuse to answer.

Then… it was General Fei's turn.

"I also want to ask… Ye Zhihuo." General Fei smiled and turned his head to Ye Zhihuo, "Was today's competition… enjoyable?"

Apart from Ye Zhihuo, General Fei was obviously the most concerned about this resurrection match among the writers. At the beginning, he had insinuated Ye Zhihuo's cheating behavior with his words. However… that was all. General Fei also understood in his heart that even without Ye Zhihuo, if he wanted to win the resurrection match, he would still have to rely on the abnormality of other writers…

But… now that things had come to this, General Fei would naturally not let go of the opportunity to make a comeback and gloat.

"Heh… hehe…" Ye Zhihuo's smile was as awkward as it could be. He had been disturbed by Feng Bujue and was almost unable to speak… He had said too many polite words… which seemed hypocritical, but telling the truth… he was afraid that it would seem petty.

…………

Fifteen minutes later, in Feng Bujue's rest room.

The lights, cameras, and recording equipment were all set up properly. Oscar sat opposite Jue-ge, ready to start the interview.

The previous recording was forced to be interrupted…

After the cut, Ye Zhihuo went off stage and said a few words to the director, then left angrily with his entourage. However, the other contestants stayed and recorded the remaining scoring part together. As for Ye Zhihuo's scenes, they would be recorded separately later.

Later… the Q&A session in this episode was naturally all cut out. The backstage staff did a lot of editing to mix many separately recorded shots together to create this episode's master tape… Fortunately, this resurrection match would not be broadcast until the end of June, so there was still plenty of time for post-production.

"Can we start?" Oscar asked, looking at Jue-ge with the manuscript in his hand.

"Anytime." Feng Bujue replied.

"Okay, action!" The director, who was sitting on the side, ordered at this time.

Oscar asked the first question in a slow tone: "Are you surprised by the result of being eliminated?"

"What do you think?" Feng Bujue actually threw the question back.

Oscar smiled, and he seemed very relaxed at this moment, like he was chatting with a friend: "Ha… yeah… I think it's pretty normal." He picked up the tablet computer in his hand and dragged the progress bar a bit, "Let's talk about the first round first… the whole passage was copied from the lyrics?"

"I demonstrated it." Feng Bujue said, "That's called plagiarism."

Oscar nodded: "So… the story of the tortoise and the hare in the second round…"

"I said it, high-level copy." Feng Bujue said.

"Why… did you do this in the competition?" Oscar said.

"I wanted to see the audience's reaction." Feng Bujue replied.

"Then there's no need to see it…" Oscar smiled, "It must be despised by people."

"Is that so? Then why is it not like this on the bigger stage of reality?" Feng Bujue answered the question with another question, "Is it possible that such a simple truth will only become clear-cut here, at this time?"

Oscar was slightly stunned: "This…"

"Is it saying… no matter what means I use to succeed, as long as someone washes the floor for me afterward, I can feel at ease? I'm really clean?" Feng Bujue said again.

"You'll offend your colleagues by saying that." Oscar said with a smile, trying to change the subject.

"Hehe… not only colleagues… film and television media, game software, electronic products…" Feng Bujue said, "I've seen too much, I'm already numb…" He smiled, "So… I'm very happy to see my fans in the audience booing me just now."

Oscar was silent for a few seconds, looked at Jue-ge with a rather admiring look, and then moved the progress bar on the tablet computer: "In the third round, your performance was very good, and the total time spent before and after was less than half an hour." He paused, "Sure enough… is this your true strength?"

"You can think what you want." Feng Bujue smiled slightly.

At this time, Oscar looked at the question draft and raised his hand to signal the staff behind him. The sound engineer and camera brother immediately understood and stopped shooting.

Then, Oscar changed his tone and said to Jue-ge: "Well… according to the regulations, all the contestants who come to participate in the resurrection match today have to say a few words to the writer who successfully resurrected, Bujue, what do you think…"

"I have an idea." At this moment, Feiran, who was sitting in the corner of the room, suddenly interjected, "Bujue, let's discuss it…"

Feng Bujue squinted at the other party and replied: "Director… your resentment towards Ye Zhihuo is really deep, I've already helped you to this point, what else do you want to do…"

Seeing this, everyone should understand. That's right… the person who really felt extremely unhappy about Ye Zhihuo… was the chief director, Feiran.

As early as during the "pre-match mobilization," Feiran had reached an agreement with Feng Bujue. These two insidious guys secretly colluded and directed today's show together… But Ye Zhihuo, who had a guilty conscience, could only accept it gloomily.

…………

Evening of June 8th, Feng Bujue's home.

"You guys… don't you have to go to work or school tomorrow?" Jue-ge looked at the group of people in the living room and said in a helpless tone.

At this time, Li Ruoyu, Wang Tanzhi, Gu Xiaoling, An Yueqin, Bao Qing, Landlady Liu Dama… this large group of people were all sitting in front of his home theater screen, watching the uncut version of "I Am a Writer - Resurrection Night" that he brought back from the TV station.

"It's rare for your house to have guests, you should be happy." Ouyang Jian took an apple and walked all the way from the kitchen, standing next to Jue-ge, and said, "By the way… why is there underwear in your refrigerator?"

Feng Bujue slowly turned his head and glared at the shyster, "Every single one of you… really don't treat yourselves as outsiders!" He snatched the apple from Ouyang Jian's hand, "I haven't asked you yet? Why did you come to join in the fun?"

"I called him over on the way here." An Yueqin, who was sitting not far away, looked up and said.

Ouyang Jian took the opportunity to pick up the topic and said: "That is to say… I, a professional, was asked to come and see… whether your various behaviors in this episode will constitute grounds for litigation." As he spoke, he took back the apple in Jue-ge's hand, "If there is any problem… I can prepare early."

"You're obviously here to watch the fun… and you're saying it so reasonably…" Feng Bujue squinted and continued, "I've already colluded with the chief director, how could there be any loopholes left in the version that will be officially broadcast?"

"Shh - don't talk, it's starting!" Xiao Tan said quite excitedly.

Before he finished speaking, the first scene of the show appeared on the TV screen.

One hour later…

The main film of the competition was all played, and the recording entered the backstage interview stage. Oscar's conversation with Jue-ge, as well as his interviews with other writers, appeared alternately.

"Bujue, before leaving our stage, can you say a few words to Ye Zhihuo, who entered the finals?" Oscar in the picture asked with a smile.

"Well… I can…" The camera cut to Feng Bujue, who replied in a long tone with a listless expression.

"Oh, by the way, according to our backstage staff statistics, you quoted many songs written or composed by Teacher Li Zongsheng today…" Oscar said again, "Why don't you…" As he spoke, he handed the tablet computer in his hand to Feng Bujue, "Why don't you leave a message in the form of lyrics?"

"Ha, ha, ha…" Feng Bujue laughed dryly in a straight voice, "That's exactly what I want…"

Then, as if he had prepared in advance, he quickly wrote on the tablet:

[What you want but can't get, what can you do about life.

What you should give up, but can't bear to, only caring about being entangled in mundane affairs.

When you find out that compromise is a thief, it has already stolen your choices.

Fame and fortune are just a high fever, regret is a cough that follows closely and can't get better.

I can forgive, but I can't stop it.

Feeling sad alone at night.

It's youthful and frivolous, but pretending to be vicissitudes.

Who gave you the courage to pretend.

The discarded ideal is like a slap in the face.

Every time you remember a sentence, you get a slap in the face.

Then you start reflecting and hating your own dirt.]