As the name suggests, the story club was a place where people gathered to tell stories.
However, at this moment, this mansion was filled with perhaps the best storytellers in the history of mankind. To stand out from this group of people, winning would not be any easier than mankind’s first landing on the Moon.
In fact, even though Zhang Heng’s fantasy best-selling female writer had become the most lucrative writer of the time due to a series of novels, she was already worth around 7 billion pounds in the past 18 years, however, with her level-3 writing skills, even if she wasn’t at the bottom of the list, she would still be at the bottom of the list.
From the looks of it, it would be impossible for her to leave this place. However, Zhang Heng noticed that the best-selling fantasy author was looking forward to it after the story started.
Of course, you could interpret this as the confidence of every author. After all, her works were selling like hot cakes. Even if she didn’t have confidence in herself at first, she was still a writer, now, it was time for them to be nurtured by solid sales data.
However, when this episode of the story really began, Zhang Heng finally knew where the confidence of the fantasy best-selling female author came from.
The Hobbit housekeeper walked to the fireplace and bowed to the writers in the room. “Welcome to this month’s story party. Before the story begins, I would like to introduce a new friend to everyone.”
The Hobbit housekeeper paused for a moment before turning to look somewhere else. “Zhang Heng, he’s a rising star in the literary world. His published novels have been well received by readers and critics alike.”
The applause was low. Other than the fact that no one had heard of his name, Zhang Heng had already chosen a faction the moment he entered the room. At least half of the people in the room did not like him.
Fortunately, the female author of the best-selling fantasy novel and the others clapped enthusiastically, so the atmosphere at the venue was not cold.
The female hobbit Butler did not waste any more time, “At the end of last month’s story conference, the theme of this issue was announced. I believe everyone has already prepared their own stories. So, who is willing to be the first to share?”
Zhang Heng also understood. It turned out that every issue would have a theme, which would be announced in advance. Then, the writers would be able to use this as the theme for their stories for the next month.
The advantage of using this kind of thesis approach to compete was that there was a greater chance of a surprise. It didn’t mean that authors with good writing skills would necessarily win, because most authors had their own themes that they were good at, if they happen to encounter a theme that they are not good at, then the strong may also fail.
On the other hand, like fantasy best-selling female writers, those who have weaker writing skills will have a greater chance of turning the tables when they encounter a suitable theme.
For example, this eye-opening theme is obviously more inclined to test the author’s imagination, and fantasy best-selling female writers are famous for this, so it is no wonder that she looks eager.
However, she was not the first to go on stage. Instead, it was a French man who looked a little like Mr. Bean. He wore a jacket and a leather hat on his head, he looked like he had just jumped out of the pilot’s seat and was covered in dust.
The pilot, who had a bit of melancholy in his eyes, told a strange story in the first person that he encountered on a flight mission.
His story was not flowery, nor did it have any superb rhetorical skills. It was just plain English that even children could understand easily. However, everyone in the room was listening attentively and no one interrupted him.
In their trance, they even had the illusion that there was a child’s soul living in the body of the adult. Otherwise, how could the story he told be so pure and pure.
When the pilot left, many people were still immersed in his fairy tale.
But at this time, a second person also walked up..
Zhang Heng estimated that there were about 100 writers in the hall on the first floor. If all 100 of them went up to tell the story, then the story would probably take at least half a month to end.
However, according to the fantasy best-selling female writer, her story would only last for three days at most because not everyone was in a hurry to leave, after all, not everyone had billions of pounds lying in their bank accounts, especially those authors who did not have much money in their era and were not very rich.
This place was quite comfortable. Other than not being able to leave, no matter if you wanted to drink, eat delicious food, exercise, or do multiplayer sports, you could be satisfied with anything you could think of, there were even people who had decided to stay here forever.
Zhang Heng saw a man in a shirt who exuded a tough aura sitting alone at the side, drinking alone, as if he had no interest in the story.
The man seemed to have noticed Zhang Heng’s gaze. He exchanged a look with Zhang Heng and raised the glass in his hand.
When the story ended, the best-selling female author did not win as expected. The final winner was a Frenchman, but he was not the first pilot to go up, the latter lost by one point to his fellow countryman, who won the title of the story with a science fiction story.
Zhang Heng was not surprised by this. After all, when it came to science fiction, the prolific nineteenth-century French writer was a monument that could not be bypassed, the theme of the story was tailor-made for him.
After the twelve-member jury announced the winner, The Hobbit housekeeper came forward again, holding an envelope in her hand.
As a result, the authors who had just been immersed in the sea of stories were immediately attracted by the small envelope.
The Hobbit housekeeper did not keep them in suspense. She neatly opened the envelope and said, “The theme of the next story will be… time.”
After saying that, she turned the letter over and showed it to everyone.
For a time, some people were happy, while others were worried. Time could be said to be an eternal proposition in literary works. Many famous writers had created related works with the theme of time.
However, the more conventional the theme was, the more difficult it was to write. Because there were too many good works from before, it was not easy to write new ideas. Many people were already racking their brains.
However, Zhang Heng did not have much of a reaction. The main reason was that with his level 0 writing skills, any theme would have nothing to do with him. Coincidentally, the tough guy who had been drinking alone on the other side stood up, he grabbed the leather jacket that he had just taken off and walked to Zhang Heng. “Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?”
“Hunting. I know where the forest has the most prey.”
