"Offline Writing Competition? Writing a novel? Me and Deep Blue?"

Seeing the content that popped up in the chat box, Lin Jingxuan rubbed his temples.

He was already overwhelmed with matters related to Great Xia, and then a few leave requests just came through like this?

Lin Jingxuan was just about to refuse, but stopped preparing to click send.

"Forget it."

"Work isn’t all of life; giving them a couple of days off occasionally isn’t much."

"If only Celestial Net’s computing power could be upgraded a bit sooner."

Unexpectedly, compared to humans, Bob’s computing power was the first to exhaust.

There’s no choice, after expanding Great Xia’s territory at least tenfold after the war with the Imperial, Celestial Net was deployed massively in a few months.

Moreover, it still had to continue deducing the condensation trajectory of Energy Bricks, leaving Bob as Celestial Net stretched thin.

If performance could be upgraded, it would greatly reduce others’ workloads.

"Upgrading Celestial Net’s performance is no easy task unless we could annex Can Shang Company’s Celestial Net itself."

Thinking of this, Lin Jingxuan shook his head again to himself.

He stopped thinking about unrealistic things and typed two periods in the chat box in the end.

Not agreeing is his final stubbornness.

Over in Deep Blue City,

Li Lingzhen glanced at the sudden pop-up chat box content and said, "Second senior brother seems very angry."

Han Zhan was a bit surprised.

"Second senior brother replied? I thought he’d disagree or simply not reply."

Given what he understood of Lin Jingxuan, that would be a normal reaction.

"He replied with two periods," Li Lingzhen added.

Alright then, that’s very Lin Jingxuan indeed.

"It’s alright, we can catch up on the work that falls behind over the next couple of days when we get back," Shang Siteng leaned over and said.

She had already recovered from her intoxication.

To be precise, as a Nuwa Stone Contracted Spirit possessing the Heaven’s Origin Divine Talent, she would never get intoxicated.

She just wanted to experience being drunk moments ago, and that’s it.

"Forget about Lingzhen, what’s with the rest of you?" Han Zhan looked at the other girls while speaking.

He was filled with question marks, unable to comprehend what kind of story Gongyang Jin and Nuannuan could have with Deep Blue.

"Participation is what counts!"

Li Lingzhen quickly covered up before they could respond, thus deflecting the topic.

It was getting late.

After leaving the Breeze Bar, Han Zhan and the others returned to their original teacher Li Shutong’s residence in Deep Blue City.

Because the competition was the next day, everyone unanimously decided to give Han Zhan a day off.

Sitting on the bed, they began discussing the competition situation for the next day.

"I heard for this writing competition, to ensure fairness, everyone needs to use a pseudonym to enter. Have you all thought of your pseudonyms?"

Having thoroughly studied the rules of competition, Han Zhan reminded them.

"Already thought of it," the first to reply was Li Lingzhen, "my pseudonym is [1024]."

Classic Lingzhen. Han Zhan couldn’t even find the words to jest at Li Lingzhen’s pseudonym.

At this point, Shang Siteng followed without hesitation, "My pseudonym is [Energy Bricks]."

Indeed, it shows how obsessed you are with your work task.

Han Zhan put his hand to his forehead, suddenly regretting asking the question.

Next, Xia Youwei, Gongyang Jin, and Nuannuan also shared their pseudonyms one by one.

Xia Youwei’s pseudonym was [Main Palace Lady], Gongyang Jin’s was [Sword Qi of Clear Autumn], and Nuannuan’s was [Time Thief], all very fitting for each of them.

At least Han Zhan could easily identify who each pseudonym belonged to.

Then, they started eagerly discussing.

Han Zhan found himself unable to get a word in and went to sleep early.

...

The next day.

When they arrived at the writing competition site, they realized there were far more registrants than they expected.

It seems the people of Deep Blue City have a strong desire to express themselves.

The entire competition process for the offline writing competition was a half-day creation in the morning, with evaluations in the afternoon.

The results would be announced at dusk in a bulletin style, with judges from the organizers commenting on each entry.

From the schedule, it seemed quite proper and well-organized.

Han Zhan was not a participant, so he couldn’t enter the competition venue. He could only stand at the entrance to cheer them on.

Watching them walk into the venue was almost like sending kids off to the college entrance exam.

Han Zhan quickly shook his head to clear away such odd connections.

The competition process isn’t detailed.

When Han Zhan waited at the entrance for their return, he noticed their faces were brimming with confidence as if certain of winning first place.

"Judging by your expressions, did it go well?"

"This time, the first place is definitely mine! I used at least ninety-nine percent of my power!" Li Lingzhen proudly declared, waving her small fist.

However, Xia Youwei shook her head, expressing a different view: "What I wrote is the best, only the page limit constrained my full potential!"

Gongyang Jin gently coughed. Facing Han Zhan’s inquisitive gaze, she simply said, "I wrote with great enjoyment."

Oh dear, one more confident than the other, was it really that easy to write?

Seeing their reactions, Han Zhan started to suspect the competition topic might have been too simple.

As he was thinking, he heard Shang Siteng’s voice beside him: "Within the limited time, I created a great work!"

Han Zhan: "???"

This is getting more ridiculous.

So he focused his gaze on Nuannuan, the last one yet to speak.

Imagining what Nuannuan might say at this moment.

Seeing everyone’s eyes on her, Nuannuan lightly raised her arm, revealing a fair and delicate wrist. While brushing back the strands of hair near her temples, her soft voice sounded.

"My sisters are all so amazing, only I’m useless, couldn’t match up to you all."

"Looks like the first place this time has nothing to do with me, boohoo!"

Ah, the familiar hint of green tea.

Nuannuan fake-cried and ran into Han Zhan’s arms.

The other girls, seeing this, felt a pang in their teeth, never imagining the little green tea could pull such a move.

They chatted and joked around for a while,

until evening time when the writing competition’s results were out, displayed in an electronic form at the entrance to the competition area.

Each participant could download the form to their communicator for viewing by connecting their terminal.

As friends with Celestial Net Bob, Han Zhan and the others naturally didn’t have to bother with this step, promptly receiving the competition results "thoughtfully" sent by Bob.

Everyone was stunned upon seeing the results.