Chapter 1 "Heh... Heh..." Oscar chuckled awkwardly, flashing a quick, subtle look at the director, hoping Fei Ran would bail him out.

But Fei Ran remained indifferent...

"Sigh..." Oscar sighed deeply in his heart. There was nothing he could do. As a professional host, he had to maintain control of the situation and find a way to keep the show going unless the director called cut...

Of course, the difficulty of this task wasn't extremely high... After all, Oscar had formal training. Talking nonsense and changing the subject were basic skills for a host. Even without a script or a teleprompter, relying purely on improvisation... he could talk for ten minutes straight without repeating himself.

"Bujue, if you keep dissing like that, the post-production team will make your photos look terrible when the show airs," Oscar quickly put on a smile, saying this in a joking tone.

At this moment, Fei Ran made his move, raising his arm and gesturing for the audience to burst into laughter.

And so... in an atmosphere of "comedy," Brother Jue's speech ended. From a stage performance perspective, it was pretty good. After his performance... Ye Zhihuo's earlier act seemed somewhat mediocre in comparison.

"General Fei, say a few words," Oscar didn't give Brother Jue another chance to speak. After finishing his sentence, he quickly took a few steps to stand in front of contestant number five.

"Hello everyone, I am General Fei," General Fei raised his right hand and waved at the camera. "I hope everyone will continue to support me..." He wore a smile on his face, but suddenly glared at his left side with a malicious glint in his eyes, "...I will use my strength to earn everyone's applause."

Feng Bujue propped his cheek with his hand, tilting his head to look at the other party, and thought to himself, "Hmph... this guy seems to be implying something..." Thinking this, he also slightly turned his head to look at his other side... As expected, Ye Zhihuo also glared back at him, immediately revealing a disdainful expression and scoffing coldly.

"Heh... is this when they start showing their true colors..." Brother Jue shook his head slightly, thinking, "Sigh... I really shouldn't have come... The atmosphere of this episode is a bit strange..."

Feng Bujue's feeling was correct. The situation in this revival match was very different from the episode he had participated in before... As Fei Ran had said, the show "I Am a Writer" had gradually deviated from its original intention...

Actually, during the planning stage of the show, the higher-ups at the TV station were not optimistic about this project, so they only provided a small production budget and scheduled the broadcast for Monday nights at ten o'clock.

In the first and second episodes of "I Am a Writer," the production team only invited two first-tier writers, and both of them were there as a favor. The other five were relatively unknown or washed-up writers. Overall, the show looked like a case that would likely be canceled after the pilot episode...

Unexpectedly... the team led by Fei Ran pulled off a beautiful turnaround. With a limited budget, they created a high-quality work, making "I Am a Writer" a dark horse in the ratings for the season.

As a result, the higher-ups at the TV station quickly reacted. They began to increase investment in all aspects and moved the show to the weekend primetime slot.

Soon... a large number of sponsors flocked to them, and businesses buying the online rights also scrambled to bid with generous offers. And the writers who appeared on the stage were becoming more and more famous. Basically, as long as the production team extended an invitation, people would come. Even if the writer themselves didn't want to come, the company they had a contract with would find ways to squeeze them in...

Feng Bujue was noticed by several editors behind the scenes when the show was on the rise. After the production team contacted the cultural promotion department of the Si Rui Group, they eventually found him. Coincidentally, Brother Jue was short on cash at the time, and as soon as he heard there was an appearance fee... he complied.

However, as "I Am a Writer" became popular, interference from higher-ups... also increased.

The higher-ups at the TV station, sponsors, people with related interests, and so on... These people didn't understand anything about the professional aspects of the show, but they always made some self-righteous demands. Some of the demands were made out of commercial considerations, which was reasonable, as the investors wanted to protect their own interests; others came from the mentality of "I'm paying, so I'm the boss," purely wanting to get involved, show off their presence, and display their intelligence.

In short, from that point on, the tone of the show gradually changed...

The original harmonious and polite atmosphere faded, replaced by a ubiquitous sense of competition...

As a result, writers like Ye Zhihuo and General Fei also gradually joined the show. In fact, according to the core team's philosophy, they would not have invited this type of writer. But when you're under someone else's roof, you have no choice but to bow your head... Sponsors don't know what kind of writers are suitable for this show. All they do is open a search engine, search for keywords like "popular writers" online, and then run to the professionals to give them pointers, thinking they've come up with great suggestions.

Fei Ran was also quite annoyed because, for almost every episode, he and the team behind the scenes had to readjust the rules and content of each segment to meet the needs of various parties...

Unbeknownst to them, "I Am a Writer" had become what it is today...

The writers no longer came here with the attitude of "learning from each other" or "showing themselves," but to "win" and to "duel."

Inside and outside the venue, on and off the stage, in the virtual and real worlds... there were constant flame wars between fans, hype from internet water armies (paid posters), and even writers attacking each other in the main body of their works.

Perhaps this is exactly what the saying means: "Writers have always looked down on each other."

This kind of situation is what businessmen want to see. What they want to show is conflict and contradiction, staging hypocritical emotions in the midst of cruel elimination. By peddling these dramas that can only fool fools, they hope to attract attention and win benefits.

To this end, they can unhesitatingly strip away that last bit of integrity and pride from the writers.

If Feng Bujue had been paying attention to this show all along, he wouldn't have come today. At least he felt that... anyone who came to this stage had already lost.

To use a phrase often said by Li Yunlong (the protagonist of "Bright Sword")... Brother Jue and the likes of Ye Zhihuo and General Fei, couldn't pee in the same pot.

"Wow, General Fei is very imposing," Oscar continued his questioning, arriving at the seat of contestant number four, "Rose, why don't you say a few words too."

Calling a young woman in her early twenties directly by the pen name "Chainsaw Rose" was clearly inappropriate, but luckily she had an English name...

"I'm just me..." Rose, dressed in all black, with bangs covering her eyebrows and heavy smoky makeup, looked seven parts like a ghost with her pale complexion, and her voice revealed a complete sense of decadence, "I have nothing to say to a bunch of walking corpses..."

"Um... This gothic girl is a chuunibyou (a Japanese term for someone who acts like a delusional teenager)..." Feng Bujue turned his head and looked over, thinking to himself, "How can someone who speaks like that have high popularity? What is the mindset of today's audience..."

"What are you looking at?" Suddenly, Rose noticed Brother Jue's gaze, and she actually said this to him on the spot.

"Why bother caring about the hollow gaze of a walking corpse..." Feng Bujue cleverly gave an answer that was difficult for a chuunibyou to refute.

"Hmph..." Rose snorted coldly, and then... she actually pulled out a cigarette and a lighter from her pants pocket.

"Hey... are you two trying to defy the heavens..." The veins on Oscar's forehead popped out, and he furiously complained in his heart, "Are you messing with me? Are you trying to mess with me! One crazy person is bad enough, but two in one episode? How am I supposed to spin this back! Why isn't the director calling cut yet! The situation will get out of control sooner or later!"

Ding—cha—the flame of the lighter lit up.

Rose lit a cigarette for herself and took a light puff. The white smoke drifted from her lips, which were painted with black lipstick, making it particularly conspicuous.

"Oh," she said to Oscar as if she had just remembered, "You don't mind me smoking here, do you?"

"You're already smoking, what's the point of asking!" Oscar roared in his heart. But on the surface, he remained calm, "Hehe... please, go ahead."

This wasn't the first time Oscar had dealt with Chainsaw Rose. According to his experience, it's best to "coldly deal with" her at this time, just ignore her. If you argue with her, saying something like "Smoking is harmful to your health," she'll probably answer with gothic statements like "My heart is already dead, this body is just a decaying shell," leaving you speechless...

"Keep it coming," Fei Ran's voice came from the earpiece again. He said enthusiastically on the staff's dedicated channel, "I have a feeling that this episode will become a legend..."

"What kind of aircraft legend are you talking about..." Oscar was sweating cold, thinking to himself, "Director Fei, you're in your forties, don't you feel ashamed to say such chuunibyou lines..."

"Yes!" "Good!" "Understood!" "Let's do it!"

Unexpectedly, all the other staff members responded to Fei Ran's words with boiling blood, each showing a fighting spirit and raising their spirits to the highest level.

"I'm going... what kind of people are in this production team!" Oscar thought, "I have to quit next year in the second season! Unless they offer me twice the salary... um... or one and a half times... um... a 20 percent increase could also be considered..."

"Then... next..." Oscar's thoughts were not at all reflected on his face. He took three steps as two, walking to the seat of contestant number three, "Brother Dadi, it's your turn."

Reforming Spring Breeze Blows Across the Land (referred to as Uncle Dadi below) raised his hand to adjust his black-rimmed glasses: "I hope... I won't let down my friends who support me today."

"Although it's very short, it's a very sincere statement," Oscar replied, then took a few more steps, turned his face, and said, "Yamucha, what do you have to say to the audience?"

"Ah... actually, I'm already very happy to be sitting here today," Brother Yamucha replied, "I came here with the attitude of learning from my seniors, but... I also hope to have a good result."

"Okay, we look forward to your performance," Oscar continued, then finally walked to contestant number one, "So finally, please welcome our very familiar... Soda." He paused for a moment, then said, "Among the seven contestants tonight, Soda has been in the main competition the longest, and his strength is beyond doubt. At this moment... what do you want to say to the audience?"

"I came as soon as I got the notice," Soda shrugged. His attitude toward participating in the show was relatively peaceful. "I just... hope I can have an outstanding performance today too."

"Well, I'm sure you will," Oscar said.

At this point, the warm-up was over, and Oscar could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He turned around, returned to the center of the stage, and looked at the camera, saying, "After listening to the contestants, I wonder... who do you, the audience, think will win tonight? Please send your answers to..." What followed was a formulaic monologue about text message guessing, sweepstakes, and advertising.

During the official broadcast, a minute or two of commercials would be inserted here.

Oscar finished reading the previous section, paused for a few seconds, changed his posture and expression, and then said, "Welcome back to... I Am a Writer - Revival Night."

Music and lights became more boisterous.

"Without further ado, let's move on to the first round of the duel..." Oscar raised his arm again, coordinating with the subtitles on the big screen, "...Instant Composition."

"Isn't this the same segment as last time..." Feng Bujue thought to himself, "Could it be that the rules have changed?"

"Of course, as I said before," Oscar's words confirmed Brother Jue's guess, "The rules for this episode will be changed. Please look at... the big screen..."

As he spoke, the complete rules were displayed on the large screen in the venue. The contestants didn't have to look up there, though. The screens on their consoles also showed the rules, so they could see them just by looking down.

"Okay..." After the rules were displayed for a while, Oscar continued, "First, let's see what the first 'keyword' is, ready... go!" As he shouted, the words in the middle of the screen began to scroll rapidly.

When Feng Bujue came last time, the screen was scrolling with dozens of words such as "event, character, animal, scenery," but this time... the number of these random keywords seemed to have decreased. Perhaps the general audience and even the contestants didn't notice. But Feng Bujue noticed this with his excellent dynamic vision...

"Stop!" Oscar shouted again after several tens of seconds, and the keyword on the screen suddenly stopped on the word "Emotion."

The audience immediately became restless. This seemed to be a keyword that the general public was very fond of.

"Then..." Oscar said to the camera, "According to the new rules, all the contestants will also receive a keyword. And the keyword that everyone receives will be the same..." He deliberately changed his expression, "In other words... this time, the seven writers present will be creating under the exact same conditions. And the time... is still only seven minutes. Now..." He turned and said, "The first round officially begins!"

As Oscar spoke, the second keyword appeared on the consoles in front of the contestants—"Time."

"Ladies and gentlemen, as we have repeatedly stated, all the creative segments of this show are recorded live and do not contain any false elements," Oscar began to speak in a formulaic manner, "Every writer who comes to our show creates without the Internet or any auxiliary tools."

As he said this, Fei Ran's voice came from Oscar's earpiece again. It seemed the director had some new instructions.

Oscar kept talking, silently remembering the instructions in his mind. Then, he naturally followed up on what he was saying, "According to the special rules of our Revival Night, the order in which the articles are announced will be based on the time each contestant finishes..." He looked back and said, "Writers, as soon as you are sure you are finished, you can directly click the submit button at the top of the screen, and the system will record the time you completed it."

Beep—

Before he could finish speaking, Brother Jue's console had already sounded...

Feng Bujue was seen resting his head on his hands, leaning against the back of his chair, leisurely looking around. And Ye Zhihuo and General Fei, who were sitting on either side of him, were indeed affected by this sudden situation. Both of them couldn't help but glance at Brother Jue, and they both became nervous.

"Uh..." Oscar paused for two seconds before reading, "Oh, we see that contestant Bujue has already finished... His time is only fifty-two seconds, it's incredible..."

Even though he was a million times unwilling, Oscar went towards Brother Jue out of professional ethics...

When the show got to this point, the close-up photographer should be on stage. The photographer, Little Wu, who was carrying the camera, happened to be the one who walked quickly to Oscar's side at the director's behest and came to the contestant seats with him.

After shooting close-ups of the six writers creating, the camera finally landed on Brother Jue's face.

Oscar also happened to walk to the seat of contestant number six, saying, "Bujue, you finished so quickly."

"Yeah..." Feng Bujue responded weakly.

"You're not going to turn in a blank paper, are you?" Oscar said jokingly.

"Do you want to take a look?" Brother Jue replied.

"Hehe..." Oscar smiled at the camera, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the benefit of being a host. I'll take a look first..."

Two seconds later, Oscar's smile froze. What he saw was—"From acquaintance to now, from indifference to care, from rejection to dependence, from unfamiliarity to love, from trust to doubt, from affection to hurt, from brilliance to paleness, from staying together to separation, from emotion to regret, from understanding to blame, from expectation to helplessness, from ecstasy to sorrow."