5: 55 PM.
Zhongdian Chinese Network’s inspiration class.
“It’s time to knock off!”
“Are we going to Fish-Catching Internet Cafe this weekend?”
“Sure, I want to go too!”
“Is Big Boss Cui going?”
Cui Geng shook his head. “I’m not going. You guys go ahead.”
The author who invited him did not insist. He got up, packed his things, and prepared to leave the inspiration class. He would go back to rest after dinner.
The inspiration class was the same as the study class. They strictly followed the eight-hour work schedule. They worked from nine in the morning to six in the evening. There was an hour lunch break from 12 to 1.
In fact, given the work intensity of the inspiration class, it was basically no different from watching an eight-hour movie.
The inspiration class officially started on Thursday. Most authors would not be able to find suitable inspiration in two days. Thus, only two or three people had started writing.
Most of the other authors still planned to spend the weekend well. They would continue collecting inspiration next Monday. They would take their time to think about the new book.
After all, they were now on a fixed-rate contract by the website. The number of updates they needed every day had dropped significantly and could naturally rest on Saturdays and Sundays.
Most of these authors were very young, generally between 22 and 28 years old. It was not surprising that they had agreed to play games at Fish-Catching Internet Cafe on weekends.
However, Cui Geng was acting out of the norm when he did not join these authors.
That was because after two days of high-intensity research, he suddenly felt a flash of inspiration in his brain. It seemed like his inspiration that had been exhausted for the past few months was showing signs of recovering!
In the past two days, he had been reviewing movies, television dramas, and novels with high intensity. He had also looked up a lot of information online. A huge framework of the entire story appeared in his mind, and the background was almost complete.
Cui Geng suddenly had a strong desire to write the beginning of the story.
As the saying went, everything was difficult in the beginning. However, this might not necessarily be true when writing novels.
Most of the novels were filled with inspiration at the beginning, and they were written to their heart’s content. However, the novels would progress increasingly slowly. Their inspiration would dry up, and they would forget about the foreshadowing that they buried in the beginning… The structure of the entire novel would become a mess. In the end, they would end it in a hurry and would be scolded like dogs.
At that moment, Cui Geng was filled with inspiration. He desperately wanted to write the beginning of the story.
Thus, most of the time, novel creation was simple at the beginning, but would become increasingly difficult as it went on.
Writing was something that ate at one’s state of mind. The content written when one was in a good state was worlds apart from the content written when one was in a bad state. Inspiration was fleeting, so once authors had inspiration, they had to grasp it immediately and record it down. Otherwise, they would miss out on some details forever.
Cui Geng arrived at the working area of the inspiration class.
The configurations here were similar to those in the study class. The big screen, mechanical keyboard, and ergonomic chairs ensured the most comfortable writing experience.
Cui Geng did not plan to write for too long. He only wanted to write a simple opening. It would only take an hour or two at most.
He switched it on and created a new document.
“Hmm… where should I start…”
6pm unknowingly passed on the computer as Cui Geng deliberated over the details.
“Hmm… I think it would be better to start with an interlude. I’ll start from the moment the protagonist changed his life goal.”
Cui Geng made up his mind and reached out to grab the mouse beside him. He was about to adjust the word and line settings of the document into his preferred format.
He would feel uncomfortable all over if he used the default font and number.
However, Cui Geng’s hand missed.
Cui Geng: “?”
At that moment, he almost thought that something was wrong with his brain. The mouse was right in front of him, but he missed it? Even a Parkinson patient could not be so ridiculous, right?
Cui Geng did not pay much attention to this little episode. Instead, his hand continued to move towards the mouse.
However, he still missed!
He saw it clearly this time.The mouse moved strangely to the top right when his hand moved above the mouse!
Cui Geng was shocked. He quickly grabbed the mouse a few more times, but the mouse’s reaction was much more agile than he had imagined. It kept moving irregularly, but he could not catch it!
A notification popped up on the computer screen at the same time.
“It’s time to knock off. Please go back and rest immediately. If you continue working, you will trigger an alarm and leave a record. You will bear the consequences.”
Cui Geng: “???”
He was completely stunned. What kind of confusing behavior was this?
He could not even work overtime?
What’s more, this mouse was even more ridiculous. There was actually such a physical method to reject overtime?
Cui Geng had knocked off at midnight yesterday. He had not stayed for long, so he had not encountered such a situation before. It was the first time today.
“Forget it, I’ll write at a nearby Fish-Catching Internet Cafe!”
Cui Geng had not expected that he would ever take the initiative to write during his break.
Cui Geng had no choice. He would feel terrible if he did not write it out of inspiration. He was afraid that he would forget all the details by Monday if he did not write it today.
Thus, he immediately set off for the nearby Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, intending to write the beginning of the story there.
…
…
First would be the title of the story.
Cui Geng decided on the English title and translated it into chinese after much consideration.
SUCCESSOR.
The reason why it was translated as ‘Successor ‘instead of ‘Heir’ was mainly because he ‘succeeded’ the superhero abilities and his Captain World identity but did not inherit his legacy.
Cui Geng had also thought about the format of the title. He would paint the alphabet ‘SUCCESS’ in bright red within the artistic characters of ‘SUCCESSOR’.
This title had three different meanings:
First of all, all superheroes considered themselves as successors of the first superhero, Captain World. Captain World spread his superpower throughout the entire country, giving everyone the possibility of becoming a superhero. At the same time, he was deeply loved by the American people and was regarded as the model of a superhero.
Therefore, all the superheroes that appeared after that regarded themselves as successors, meaning that they would act like Captain World and would not disappoint those who supported them.
Second, there would be a very critical plot in the book. It would be a television program named ‘Successor’. This program was an important part of the protagonist’s plan.
Finally, the word ‘success’ happened to be included in the word ‘SUCCESSOR’.
Painting SUCCESS in bright red implied that it looked like the story of a “successor” on the surface, but it was actually the story of a “successful person”. On the surface, the so-called “success” here was a “success” for ordinary people to become superheroes, but in fact, it was a “success” that was accumulated by blood and killing, a “success” for ambitious schemers to achieve evil goals through dirty means.
Cui Geng thought about the specific way of writing before he started writing.
There were many entry points at the beginning of the entire story. He would probably use a proper narrative method if he followed his habit of writing online literature.
However, Cui Geng thought about it. Strictly speaking, the content that he was writing should not be written in the format of online literature. Instead, it should be written like a movie script or a short story with strong literary value. Thus, he decided to adopt the flashbacks writing method in order to make the story more compact.
…
America, Hope City, 2010s, on a rainy night.
Hope City was one of the most prosperous cities on the east coast of the United States. The weather here was complicated and ever-changing. At times, it would be filled with dark clouds and at other times, it would be sunny.
This bustling metropolis was like a huge melting pot. Buildings of different styles could be seen in every corner of the city. On the surface, it looked luxurious and extravagant, but it was filled with filth in the dark alley.
It was one of the most prosperous cities in the United States where the rich gathered. It was also one of the cities with the highest crime rate in the United States.
However, the crime rate was decreasing year by year with the cooperation of the superheroes and the police. The entire city and its citizens were bathed in hope, just like the city’s name.
The crime rate in Hope City might be high from the statistics, but people here often saw various superheroes patrolling in the air. They could hear news of criminal organizations being destroyed by superheroes every day. The citizens’ sense of security and happiness were at the forefront of the entire country.
Phil Simmons, the only son of the real estate tycoon, Ryan Simmons, was a famous playboy in Hope City.
Sports cars, yachts, private planes, models, sea parties… Phil was very good at spending money and enjoying his time.
Phil was definitely not the richest second-generation heir, but he was definitely the most high profile of the second-generation heirs. He had a strong sense of self-promotion as a 31 year old and had accumulated millions of fans for his personal social media account.
Millions of fans did not seem like much compared to superheroes, actors, sports stars, and political figures who had tens of millions of fans. However, Phil was none of them, as a pure rich second-generation heir, being able to obtain these fans showed his “talent” in certain aspects.
Of course, Simmons Media had also contributed a lot in this area.
At that moment, the 1.92 meters tall, handsome man with a perfect body, the CEO of Simmons Media with a law degree and an MBA, was crying on the rooftop of a skyscraper.
He lost control and wet himself due to fear. His urine stained with the tailored expensive suit pants, leaving an embarrassing dark wet spot that was slowly expanding.
The high profile bright red tie that he loved so much was held on by an extremely muscular and hairy arm with throbbing veins. His entire body was already outside the rooftop of the top floor. He would have fallen from more than a thousand feet high and come into contact with the ground if not for the arm that was holding onto the tie.
Phil Simmons’ handsome face was completely distorted by fear. His tears, mucus, and rain mixed together. A small portion of it flowed into his mouth, which was screaming for mercy, and then spat out with a small portion of his saliva.
“Please, don’t kill me!”
“My father has a lot of money. He will give you no matter how much you want!”
At that moment, the person holding onto Phil Simmons’ bright red tie was a strong man who was nearly 2.5 meters tall and weighed nearly 200 kilograms.
Phil Simmons was driving his sports car on that rainy night as usual. This burly man suddenly appeared in front of his sports car and smashed his beloved sports car into pieces. Then, he dragged Phil Simmons, who had fallen into a temporary coma because of the collision, out of the deformed driver’s seat. He arrived at the top of the skyscraper as though he was carrying a little chick.
Phil Simmons’ entire body was hanging out of the skyscraper by the time he was woken up by the cold rain. His life was in the hands of this burly man.
Phil Simmons had no intention of resisting at all because this ferocious-looking man was as strong as the weakest superhero.
There were not many “super villains” in Hope City with such destructive power, but every one of them gave the police who maintained the city’s security a headache.
However, while the crime rate in Hope City was high, they usually occurred in the districts where some poor and homeless people lived. Phil Simmons lived in the wealthy district and had never encountered such a situation in his thirty-one years of life.
Extreme fear caused his limbs to turn cold and his body to lose control. There was nothing he could do except to cry and beg for mercy.
This villain, who looked like a mountain of flesh, looked at Phil Simmons’ twisted expression with interest and revealed a mocking smile.
His background, looks, wealth, intelligence… all of these were incomparable to Phil Simmons.
However, the villain had something that Phil Simmons did not have: Power.
