I asked you to write a light novel, but you wrote about living?

The next morning at nine o'clock, in the innermost research room on the third floor of the School of Narrative Language at Weiming Academy.

Su Huaijin had just brewed a cup of hot tea when the door was pushed open.

He looked up and froze; it was Shen Yanqiu who had entered.

The old man was wearing an old dark gray sweater today, his hair was messier than usual, and there were dark circles under his eyes, indicating that he hadn't slept much last night.

"Senior brother? What brings you here?" Su Huaijin got up to pour him tea.

"Don't rush."

Shen Yanqiu waved his hand, pulled out a chair and sat down: "Call all the children you're taking care of up here."

"How many do you want?"

"They all call it that."

Su Huaijin glanced at him.

My senior brother has been doing academic research for decades, always taking his time. The last time I saw him so direct was more than a decade ago.

Without asking any further questions, he turned around and opened the internal communication system.

Ten minutes later, the doors to the research room were pushed open one by one.

The first one to come in was Lin Wan, a second-year graduate student under Su Huaijin, who was the most frequent visitor.

When she entered the room and saw Shen Yanqiu sitting there, she was clearly taken aback for a moment, and quickly bowed: "Greetings, Senior Uncle Shen."

The second one is Lu Zhao, a first-year doctoral student. He was originally trained by Shen Yanqiu himself, but was now jointly trained under Su Huaijin. When he saw that both teachers were there, he stood properly next to Lin Wan.

The third was Cheng Shuqiao, a second-year doctoral student and a recognized genius in the college. At twenty-six years old, he had already published three high-profile papers. He glanced at the two teachers, said nothing, and found a corner to sit down.

The last one to enter was Jiang Ci, a 28-year-old third-year doctoral student who would graduate in six months. She pushed open the door and saw her senior, Shen, with a hint of surprise in her eyes: "Senior Shen."

"Xiao Ci is here." Shen Yanqiu nodded to her.

Four students stood in the research room.

Su Huaijin poured his senior brother another cup of tea and sat down himself. "Senior brother, everyone's here."

Shen Yanqiu picked up his teacup, took a sip, and before speaking, put down his cup and looked the four students over from head to toe.

Lin Wan felt a little nervous under his gaze and subconsciously pushed up her glasses;

Lu Zhao and Cheng Shuqiao exchanged a glance, both wondering why Uncle Shen had summoned them today.

Jiang Ci remained calm and waited quietly.

"I called you here today for nothing important, I just wanted to talk to you about a book."

Shen Yanqiu spoke slowly, "A remarkable book."

The lab fell silent for a moment.

Lin Wan was completely bewildered. Discuss a book? Or a rare book? She had been doing research with her mentor for almost two years, and Professor Shen had come all the way from the faculty apartment, even gathering all of her junior's students, just to discuss a book?

Seeing their expressions, Shen Yanqiu laughed first:

"I know what you're thinking. A book, is it really that big of a deal?"

Lin Wan's face flushed red; that was indeed what she was thinking.

Shen Yanqiu waved his hand, signaling her not to be nervous:

"Around 1 a.m. last night, I received a message from a student I taught five years ago. The student's name is Liu Feng. After graduation, he went to Weiguang Literature to work as a content moderator."

Upon hearing the words "Weiguang Literature," Lin Wan's eyes flickered; it was a platform she checked every week.

"He hasn't contacted me in the past five years. Last night, he sent me a very short message. He said that he had reviewed a novel today, and the author had written a preface before the main text."

"preface?"

Jiang Ci spoke first, her voice filled with disbelief, "On a commercial online novel platform?"

"Mm." Shen Yanqiu nodded.

"Which book?" Cheng Shuqiao pressed.

Shen Yanqiu took a sip of tea. "To Live, by Yu Huashi. As of last night, it had a total word count of just over 30,000 and ranked over 14,000th in the Spark Cup."

Su Huaijin frowned beside him.

A ranking of over 14,000 in the Spark Cup basically means "you'll be removed from the system in two or three days."

Senior brother stayed up all night to make this trip, just for this one book?

Shen Yanqiu continued, "I read this book from beginning to end last night, which took me more than two hours. After I finished reading it, I couldn't fall asleep."

He paused for a moment, then said, "This book is exceptionally well-written."

"Uncle Shen, what kind of unusual thing are you referring to?" Lu Zhao couldn't help but ask.

Shen Yanqiu didn't answer directly. He picked up his teacup, took another sip, and slowly said, "I studied the stylistics of a civilization from forty years ago and always thought that those things were long dead. Last night, I admit that I was wrong."

The study room fell completely silent; none of the four students uttered a sound.

Su Huaijin's hand holding the teacup froze in mid-air. His senior brother, who had dedicated his life to scholarship, was always the most steady. The words "I misjudged" carried significant weight coming from Shen Yanqiu's mouth.

Shen Yanqiu put down his teacup. "The synopsis of this book is only one sentence long."

The old man didn't look at the screen; he read the sentence aloud from memory: "'Man lives for the sake of living itself, not for anything beyond living.'"

After reading it aloud, he glanced at the four students and asked, "What do you think of this sentence?"

Lin Wan subconsciously wanted to answer "That's quite philosophical," but she swallowed the words back.

Cheng Shuqiao thought for a few seconds and said, "The word 'alive' is repeated three times. According to the rhetorical standards of contemporary AI, this is an unacceptable sentence."

"Yes, it's substandard."

Shen Yanqiu nodded, "But have you ever thought about why a novelist would write a sentence that's unacceptable?"

Silence fell over the research lab.

"Because he doesn't want to pass the test," Jiang Ci suddenly said.

Shen Yanqiu glanced at her and smiled, "Xiao Ci is right, he doesn't want to pass. In this era where all works are desperately trying to cater to algorithms, there is someone who insists on choosing an 'unqualified' way of writing."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Don't you think people like that are quite interesting?"

"Uncle Shen, do you want us to read this book?" Lu Zhao asked.

"Yes, I hope you will all read it. Read it today. After you finish reading, come over next Monday, and I'll talk to your teacher, Ms. Su, and hear what you have to say."

The four students exchanged glances and nodded in unison.

Shen Yanqiu stood up, glanced at his junior brother, and said, "Huaijin, see me downstairs."

The lab door closed softly. The four students stood still, none of them moving immediately.

Lin Wan spoke first, her voice very low, "Senior Brother Cheng, Senior Sister Jiang, don't you think Senior Uncle Shen is acting a bit strange today?"

Cheng Shuqiao didn't speak, he just nodded.

Jiang Ci took a step towards the door, glanced back at them, and said, "Let's stop discussing this now and go back to our studies."

In the corridor, Shen Yanqiu walked slowly, with Su Huaijin following beside her.

After walking a dozen steps, the old man stopped by the window.

"Huaijin, I didn't sleep a wink last night because I read a sentence."

He looked out the window and thought, "My dad's getting old, and so is his poop; it's not easy for him to come out."

Su Huaijin paused for a moment, pondered the words, and slowly frowned. "Senior brother, those words..."

"AI can't write it," Shen Yanqiu said calmly.

Su Huaijin fell silent.

The corridor was quiet. After a long while, he spoke softly, "Senior, you want those kids to read it, not just because the book is well-written."

Shen Yanqiu smiled. "Yes, I want them to know that what our lineage has guarded for decades is not dead."

Su Huaijin nodded.

Shen Yanqiu turned around and walked towards the stairwell. After a few steps, she turned back and said, "By the way, Huaijin, that author even did a live stream."

"Live broadcast?" Su Huaijin was taken aback.

"Yes, he was writing on the live stream, typing on the keyboard."

Su Huaijin's pupils contracted sharply. "Typing with your hands?"

"Traditional Chinese character encoding".

Shen Yanqiu smiled and said, "I've lived for sixty-two years, and last night was the first time I've ever seen this."

After saying that, the old man turned and went downstairs.

Su Huaijin stood by the window without moving, watching her senior brother's hunched back descend the stairs step by step. It took her a long time to come back to her senses.

He turned and went back to the research room. When he opened the door, the four students were already gone.

Su Huaijin sat back down in his seat and picked up the cup of tea that had long since gone cold.

He opened his terminal and slowly typed two words into the search box.

To Live