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

[Observer (Cheng Shuqiao)]: "Uncle Shen, this 50,000-word text is almost 'emotionally nuanced' in its narrative technique, stripped of all rhetoric. From the perspective of textual deconstruction, how should we define its current literary merit?"

Shen Yanqiu did not immediately respond to the academic questions posed by Cheng Shuqiao.

He leaned back in his chair, his fingers lightly tapping the solid wood armrest, mentally reviewing the outline of the 90,000 words and the literary theories he had studied throughout his life.

He typed out an extremely rigorous yet weighty evaluation on the virtual keyboard.

This assessment touches upon almost the deepest understanding within the literary world regarding narratives of suffering:

[Shen Yanqiu]: "You feel pain because this work is subverting our traditional definition of 'tragedy'."

[Shen Yanqiu]: "In the pre-civilization enlightenment literature or wasteland resistance epics that we have studied in the past, 'suffering' is usually a tool that is used to stimulate the protagonist's resistance, lead to the final redemption, or prove the value of some grand ideal. But in the current 90,000 words of 'To Live,' I don't see these things."

[Shen Yanqiu]: "The heavy hammer of fate struck, Youqing died, Fengxia died, Jiazhen died. These hardships came without any logic. The author did not shout and vehemently denounce the injustice of the times, nor did he endow Fugui's family with any halo of 'awakening'. He simply coldly peeled away all the meanings attached to life (wealth, status, even kinship), showing us the most primitive and strongest essence of life—endurance."

The students in the group held their breath, watching the text gradually appear.

[Shen Yanqiu]: "It shows us that people live for the sake of living itself, not for anything beyond living. This is an extremely profound and level-headed perspective. It doesn't write epics of heroes, but only the resilience of ants. Based solely on this insight into the essence of survival, it already possesses the framework of a masterpiece."

Su Huaijin read the passage on the other end of the screen and nodded slightly. He knew very well that his senior brother's evaluation had touched upon a philosophical depth that very few people in the contemporary literary world could reach.

But then, Shen Yanqiu abruptly changed the subject, maintaining the utmost calm and rationality befitting a scholar:

[Shen Yanqiu]: "But now, I cannot give a final conclusion to it, nor can I predict its final historical position."

[Xin Yi (Jiang Ci)]: "Why, Senior Uncle Shen? Is it simply because it's not finished being serialized yet?"

[Shen Yanqiu]: "That's right. Because the touchstone for testing whether a tragedy can become a great masterpiece is not how ruthless the author is in destroying beautiful things, but how the author finishes the story on the ruins."

[Shen Yanqiu]: "Fugui has now lost most of his family, but he still has Kugen by his side, a faint link to him. The author uses 90,000 words to push him to the very edge of the precipice. Next, as the gears of fate inevitably continue to grind him down, Fugui will most likely end up truly alone."

[Shen Yanqiu]: "If the author had made him break down and go crazy at this point, or made him choose suicide to rebel against fate, the book would still be a first-rate tragedy, but it would not be 'great' at all; if the author had forced a bright ending for him, the suffering in front of him would have become cheap sentimentality."

Shen Yanqiu typed the last line, his gaze deep:

[Shen Yanqiu]: "How will the author ultimately deal with Fugui's absolute loneliness in the rest of his life? How will Fugui face the world that has taken everything from him? Will he curse it or reconcile with it? This is an insurmountable chasm standing in front of the author. How this author, Yu Huashi, crosses this chasm today will directly determine whether this book remains 'tragic' or moves towards 'greatness'."

There was a long silence in the group.

[Observer (Cheng Shuqiao)]: "Understood, Uncle Shen. The final conclusion is the soul of this work."

[Shen Yanqiu]: "Since the author says it will end today, let's quietly wait for him to put a period to it. The seminar next Monday will proceed as scheduled, but the theme has changed. Starting next week, 'To Live' will be the core text for our research group this semester."

Upon seeing the words "research project approved," the students in the group simultaneously focused their attention. At Weiming Academy, the fact that a serialized online novel from the lower district could be approved as a core text for a research project signifies that scholars from the Federation's highest academic institution have officially recognized the work's academic potential.

[Su Huaijin]: "I agree with my senior brother's arrangement. Lu Zhao, Shu Qiao, I'm giving you two a task. Go to the Weiguang platform immediately, use your academic accounts to activate advanced permissions, download these 90,000 words offline with encryption, and create an independent file. I'm worried that this kind of purely grassroots narrative might be flagged as abnormal by the platform's 'anti-depression algorithm' and get banned. We must preserve the most original text."

[The Uneducated Salty Fish (Lu Zhao)]: "Understood! Teacher Su, I'll create a local database backup right away!"

After arranging the academic follow-up work, Shen Yanqiu closed the group chat interface.

He stood up and walked to the French windows in the study.

Outside the window are the towering skyscrapers of the central district, and a huge holographic GG sign flickers with illusory light and shadow in the smog.

Shen Yanqiu stood with his hands behind his back, quietly looking out the window.

He was now eagerly anticipating what kind of final answer the young man sitting in the moldy basement would give to this cyber wasteland when night fell again.