Broadcasting Studio – Live Chat Stream & Judges' Reactions
In the live broadcast, Professor Tomkins watched as the contestant, Leo Maxwell, indeed prepared to start writing the main text directly.
This was a blatant, slap-in-the-face insult to him!
Look at the other contestants!
Which one of them wasn't dutifully planning their outline first?!
Who would dare to be so reckless?!
"Professor Tomkins, please don't get agitated," Professor Chen began, his voice calm and unhurried as he observed the fuming old man. "In my view, this outline, it is indeed a very important thing. However, to be fair, and I haven't said this before, I'm not saying the outline isn't important, mind you. What I am saying is, while the outline is certainly important, it's also, perhaps, not that important in every conceivable context. We could, for instance, look at it from another angle to determine if the outline's importance is truly paramount..."
Professor Chen's attempt to soothe only seemed to add fuel to the fire.
It would have been better if he hadn't spoken at all!
The moment Professor Chen opened his mouth, Professor Tomkins grew even more incensed!
Live Chat Stream:
[LMAO! This is killing me! 😂]
[Professor Chen is pure gold for live TV! What a character!]
[Live TV gold? That poor old guy Tomkins looks like he's about to have a stroke!]
[Hahahaha! He's so mad!]
[This is great! I love watching this! More, please! 🔥]
[The director is a genius for finding these two judges! Seriously!]
[One judge has a fuse shorter than a firecracker! 🧨]
[And the other wouldn't bat an eye if the sky was falling! Cool as a cucumber!]
[OMG! This is too much!]
[Hahahahaha! Best reality TV ever!]
...
Broadcasting Studio.
"Hmph! Since Professor Chen has such high hopes for your country's contestant," Professor Tomkins fumed, "I'm very interested to see what kind of work this contestant can actually produce! If it's poorly written, then don't blame me for being harsh! I'll tear him apart!"
Professor Tomkins plopped back into his chair, seething.
"Now, now, look at you. What's there to be angry about?" Professor Chen placidly responded. "There's no need for anger. Anger is not a good thing, you see. It's bad for one's health. My advice is, simply don't be angry. As for this contestant, well, I have quite a good feeling about him. Young people should be like this – bold, not bogged down by trivial details!"
Professor Chen chuckled, took a sip of his tea, and then turned his attention back to the live feeds.
...
Room 99 Live Stream.
After typing out the title, Charlie IX, Leo Maxwell began to rapidly recall the story from his memory.
Then, he clicked open the first page and typed out that most famous dedication:
This book is dedicated
To the memory of my childhood,
A time of happiness, tinged with small regrets.
...
Live Chat Stream (Watching Leo's Feed):
[!!!!]
[WHOA! No way!]
[HOLY CRAP! 🤯]
[Oh. My. God! Reading that...]
[That one line... it gave me goosebumps all over! My scalp is tingling!]
[Me too! Seriously! Same here! chills!]
[HE'S KILLING IT! ABSOLUTELY SLAYING! 🔥]
[With just that single sentence, contestant Leo Maxwell has already broken through the pack!!]
[No doubt about it! That was powerful!]
[It's filled with such beautiful melancholy! Such yearning!]
[Memories! So many memories...]
[My childhood... 🥺]
[It truly was such a happy, wonderful time!]
[It's a shame... back then, we didn't understand it at all!]
[We were always just thinking about growing up faster!]
[But now that we're grown up, all we do is look back and miss it!]
[Sigh... 😔]
[No matter how the rest of this work turns out for contestant Leo Maxwell...]
[With a line like that, I will support him with all my heart! Count me in!]
[Me too!! All the way! 💯]
[YE SHEN!! (GOD YE / LEO THE GREAT!)]
["This book is dedicated to the memory of my childhood, a time of happiness, tinged with small regrets." I'M NOT CRYING, YOU ARE! 😭]
........
Room 99 Live Stream.
Leo Maxwell's hands flew across the keyboard, lines of text rapidly appearing on the screen:
[The Ghoul of Blackwood Street]
Prologue:
Never has a street been home to so many ghostly legends!
[The Legend of Blackwood Street]
Blackwood Street, a notoriously haunted lane,
The very birthplace of all the city's undead folklore!
Both sides of the street are lined with ancient, dilapidated houses.
Headless zombies, sentient black cats that have gained demonic powers,
A mummy girl, lost for three thousand years, still wandering aimlessly—
Rumor has it, they've all found a place to live on Blackwood Street!
Midnight.
Few pedestrians dared to walk its paths.
The moon hung like a solitary, lopsided eye in the thick, inky canvas of the sky, silently watching over this ancient street with its uneven, timeworn buildings.
A cold wind howled, and tree shadows danced like wraiths.
The faint, flickering light from the old streetlamps cast vast, shifting, phantasmal illusions, as if monstrous beasts with bared fangs and brandished claws lay hidden beneath the leaves, within the walls, and in the crevices of the stones, silently waiting for a passerby to pounce upon and devour whole!
A figure in a large greatcoat, leading a small boy by the hand, stopped before a large wooden door set into a stone wall along the street.
From the surrounding darkness, many pairs of eyes glinted, staring intently at the adult and the child.
The man in the greatcoat seemed wary of those eyes hidden in the shadows. When he glanced in their direction, the glinting eyes vanished, as if candles snuffed out by a sudden breeze.
The great wooden door looked old and heavy, yet it bore a stained-glass window. The light filtering through from within made the colors on the glass seem to flow and swirl slowly.
The little boy tugged at the man's large hand, pointing curiously at the door. "Grandpa," he said, "I want to know what's behind that door."
"Oh?" The man in the greatcoat sounded a little surprised. He spoke to the boy in a solemn, dignified voice, "Red represents courage; blue represents wisdom; yellow represents curiosity. Only when these three are combined do we find the energy to seek the 'answer to the riddle.' My child, if you wish to know what lies behind this door, you must use your 'curiosity' to open it."
The little boy listened, then walked to the great wooden door by himself. He looked back at the man in the greatcoat. "Aren't you coming with me, Grandpa?"
Standing at the edge of the light, the man in the greatcoat waved to the small boy. "No, my child," he said. "This is a trial you must face alone."
The little boy looked down, thought for a moment, then resolutely pushed open the door.
As the strong light from within gradually enveloped his small figure, a long, echoing voice reached his ears: "My child, you must remember: the process of 'finding the answer' is an arduous and perilous gamble. Use your courage, your wisdom, and your perseverance wisely... I will be here, watching over you..."
...
Live Chat Stream (Watching Leo's Prologue):
[Whoa! This contestant has got some serious skills! This is good! 👍]
[Totally agree! This is actually really engaging!]
[I'm hooked! I'm so hooked! Reading this with great interest!]
[Me too, me too! Don't stop! Keep writing! MORE!]
[Quick, write more! Don't leave us hanging!]
[Ooh, there's definitely a spooky, horror element in there! Nice! 👻]
[Zombies! Monsters! Black cats! This is getting good!]
[Red for courage, blue for wisdom, yellow for curiosity! I like that! ❤️💙💛]
[Alright! He's already hitting the keywords!]
[What? What keywords?]
[The themes, dummy! The themes! He's addressing them!]
[Suspense, Children's Literature – he's got both of those covered already! Bam!]
[Wait! Adventure too! The boy going through the door alone!]
[Whoa! This contestant is amazing! So good!]
[In just that short passage, he's already nailed THREE of the themes! Skillz! 💯]
[Can't wait for more! So hyped!]
[Hahaha! Hyped for what? The story or something else? 😉]
[Obviously for Professor 'Exploding Head' Tomkins' face-slap moment! It's gonna be epic! 😂]
....
Broadcasting Studio.
Bingbing's face was alight with curiosity.
"Professor Tomkins, Professor Chen, could you perhaps offer a brief professional analysis of this piece by the contestant from the Dragon Kingdom?"
"Ahem!" Professor Chen eagerly raised his hand. "Allow me to go first!" As a citizen of the Dragon Kingdom, he naturally wanted to support his home country's contestant!
"Firstly, this opening passage is a typical example of scene construction in fantasy literature."
Live Chat Stream (Reacting to Chen):
[Huh? Old Chen is suddenly being serious? What happened?]
[Duh! This is his actual area of expertise, of course he's serious! Show some respect!]
[Hahaha! Good point! Makes sense! 😂]
[Pretty much! Outside his professional domain, he's a rambling mess of nonsense, but here he shines!]
[LOL! So true! 😂]
"Ahem!" Professor Chen continued, "Blackwood Street, as the birthplace of undead legends, with its characteristic features such as ancient houses and mythical creatures like headless zombies, constitutes a liminal space, a boundary between the real and the supernatural."