I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

Sure enough, Yoyo's true nature is still Hakimi. It feels like she only switches between the "I have a big advantage, I want to be a Hakimi" and "Waaaaah, don't bully me" soft and cuddly forms.

"I can go, but if you and your girlfriend go together, I'll feel like a third wheel. Yoyo, can you come with me?"

He also casually sent Xu Youwei a friendly invitation, leaving the girl, who had already prepared her arrogant lines, momentarily at a loss for words. After hesitating for a while, she could only reply:

"Okay... at least I've played the game and can understand the match."

Okay, the underlying meaning is basically not to drag other girls who have never even played the game before, so they might ask questions like "Hey bro, why is having an economic lead an advantage?" when they're watching the game live. But thinking about the series of events that happened during this World Championship, Chen Junqian suddenly felt a bit of a sore throat and thought that the question wasn't really wrong.

"Then I'll prepare according to the standard for a trip of four people."

Zhong Yu, who was considered quite wealthy among his peers, readily offered to cover all the expenses. After all, he certainly couldn't let Chen Junqian and Xu Youwei pay, and he really didn't need the money.

"Let's see which show we can manage to snag tickets for first."

"Don't worry, I'll try my best to buy everything, even if it means paying a premium through scalpers. I'll also arrange the best accommodations. You two can just pack your bags and treat it like your honeymoon. Oh, that's what my girlfriend and I said. She'll be turning 18 at the end of this year."

It has to be said that their online romance, which started in elementary school and has continued to this day, is quite a long-term relationship. Therefore, Xu Youwei offered her blessings and added a few words:

"Remember to book a room for me and Qinqin as well."

"Okay."

After having a late-night snack, Zhong Yu went home to start her live stream, while Chen Junqian and Xu Youwei strolled along Guoning Street in the evening, enjoying the cool evening breeze. Their hands unconsciously clasped together. Since Mu Mu had also made a major breakthrough, he no longer needed to be so alarmed and report everything in advance. It was definitely better to avoid that feeling of inferiority.

As they leaned on the bridge railing, watching the little river flowing gently through the county town, Chen Junqian inexplicably understood why youth novels always have such a plot. Perhaps everyone has fantasized about a grand escape under the cover of night, heading towards freedom.

"Qinqin".

"Qinqin".

"Ok?"

Turning his head around, Chen Junqian once again realized that he had misheard the two words that sounded the same.

After a playful, brief touch, the girl in front of him wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled as she spoke:

"I'm really looking forward to this trip."

P.S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing.

Chapter 49: Life as a Game - Zero

It's no exaggeration to say that at least half of Chen Junqian's memories of his three years of high school in his previous life were focused on the last year. Or rather, many people only vent their dissatisfaction or deny the development of any story in every domestic youth romance novel or animation after experiencing the entire year called senior year of high school. After all, as the documentary "College Entrance Examination" shows, the word "oppression" loomed over all the candidates during that year.

I've been used to the two college entrance exams and middle school entrance exams every June since middle school, but now, when I return to school on June 9th after the college entrance exams, the number on the big screen that was quickly and slowly reduced to zero has grown back into a full circle, stretching to 363 days.

Chen Junqian stood in the corridor of the second-year high school building, holding onto the slightly hot iron railing. From this vantage point, he could feel that the entire campus was undergoing a silent yet dramatic transformation.

The college entrance examination is over, and the senior students have naturally packed their bags and left. Therefore, the floor where the senior classes are located, which used to be bustling with noise and seemed to have the air tense, is now like a huge building that has suddenly been drained of water, empty and quiet in an eerie way.

From that moment on, even before the start of the next semester, the term "second year of high school" began to fade rapidly in the air. The school's administrative efficiency was frighteningly high, as if it didn't want to leave a blank space on this land for even a moment. On the day they returned to school, a seamless transition was quickly completed, clearly treating them as third-year high school students. This vaguely reminded Chen Junqian of the end of the second episode of the documentary, where after the scene of checking scores, the next scene was a new batch of parents of college entrance examination repeaters counting their repeat fees and starting to register their children to join Maotanchang.

To be honest, even when watching documentaries in his previous life, Chen Junqian never really thought that this was just someone else's story. He even remembered that every classmate present would exclaim in surprise at the progress and sudden shortening of the timeline in the documentary. However, when the countdown was no longer a cold number, but a huge, chilling pointer that spun around and finally pointed directly and inescapably at him, he would still subconsciously feel a little helpless.

After all, everyone who has lived in Guoning County since childhood has been taught a sense of responsibility that "the college entrance examination is the only opportunity in life." This is especially true for students who are admitted to Ningzhong High School. It is indeed unbelievable that a small county with a permanent population of only 300,000 can produce a provincial key high school with an undergraduate admission rate of almost 100% and a first-tier university admission rate of over 60%. In other words, under such an atmosphere, the pressure on everyone will naturally be magnified infinitely.

People are always influenced by their environment; this is unavoidable.

As newly enrolled senior high school students, Chen Junqian and his classmates were naturally delighted with the extended evening self-study sessions and the further reduction of holidays. Weekends were cut to just Sunday mornings, and evening self-study sessions took over every single day of the week. It's no wonder that many reborn predecessors woke up to the summer after the college entrance examination. Even Chen Junqian himself felt a deep-seated resistance to the life he was about to lead in the coming year.

It almost feels like a nightmare coming true.

Just like last year's predecessor, the summer vacation that followed was also a no-brainer, directly shrunk from two months to only half. But considering that the winter vacation that followed was probably only a few days away, it could already be considered the super super super super long vacation of the year.

Aside from Chen Xi and Zhu Wenyun, who could probably get an A or even A+ grade if thrown into the July anime "Classroom of the Elite," a certain childhood friend has had a rather tough month. Anime often depicts this kind of hardworking ordinary person, but even with the same level of effort, the difference between getting half the results with twice the effort and getting twice the results with half the effort can be despairing.

Especially for the top students in the special admission class, their goals are already set higher, so they will care a lot about any slight decline in their grades. The homeroom teacher, Ms. Shen, was already prepared to play the role of a confidante or a cold-faced teacher. After all, the number of girls in the liberal arts class is overwhelmingly large. They are easily emotional and often do such incomprehensible things in their senior year. For every senior year homeroom teacher, it is a test that must be faced.

However, perhaps because the class sign at the entrance had not yet been changed to "Senior Year 3," or perhaps because the countdown sign for the college entrance examination had not yet been hung in the classroom, or perhaps because as long as one could still see a boy there, gentle yet spirited, facing everything with an optimistic and positive attitude, the atmosphere of the special admission class transitioned peacefully.

This isn't just Ms. Shen's wild imagination; some girls have actually expressed similar thoughts to her in conversations. Especially after the publication of "Letter from a Stranger Childhood Friend" by a certain bestselling romantic comedy author, some people are almost thinking of recreating "Letter from a Stranger Classmate." Although everyone just laughs when reading the novel, who wouldn't want to be a little dramatic, gentle, and generous, and say to their three-year-long crush at the end of their senior year, "Maybe you don't know, but I'm really getting better because of you," leaving a deep impression on the other person?

However, soon, this person, who was no different from a pillar of stability in Teacher Shen's eyes, stood in front of her again, needless to say, asking for leave again.

It can only be said that if we only consider the number of times this top student in the grade, or even the city, has asked for leave, he has almost surpassed the total number of all the other students in the class combined. But Teacher Shen himself just can't refuse, since the reasons he gives each time are perfectly legitimate, and his grades haven't dropped. So what can he do but approve it?

"But you have to give me a reason. I need to let the rest of the class know where you went, so that it won't be like last year when a bunch of people kept bothering me with all sorts of questions."

Faced with his homeroom teacher's teasing question, Chen Junqian thought for a moment and finally gave an answer:

"Then just say I went abroad."

"If that's the case, I guess news will be spreading soon that you're going to study abroad."

"It's alright, goodbye, Teacher Shen."

Chen Junqian smiled and said goodbye to his homeroom teacher. He wasn't lying, after all, he really was going to Japan. A movie he had been following for a long time, and which had been hyped up for almost half a year, was finally being released. What he was going to do now was to witness the quality of the movie with his own eyes.

If the product meets his standards, Chen Junqian will immediately begin the process of bringing it in.

Because of the pre-planned schedule, even though a certain anime-loving girl was already on vacation at home because she was a high school sophomore, Chen Junqian still didn't bring Gu Linguo or anyone else with him like he did when he went to Beijing before. Instead, he set off alone.

The next day, Chen Junqian set foot on the country he had almost been reincarnated into eight years ago. Of course, that's not entirely accurate, since the two-dimensional world and reality can never be equated, and the real Japan is certainly not the same as the one in the anime.

Then, he saw the poster for the film in front of a movie theater.

This is the earliest myth, woven in the distant past over six thousand years ago. It left no record, no memory, no story told to anyone. Now, let's begin—

No Game No Life Zero.

Unaware that his persistent expectations had led to the theatrical version receiving more production funding and being able to more comprehensively recreate the original work compared to the original timeline, Chen Junqian immediately contacted the middleman introduced to him by Boss Cao after returning to his hotel from watching the movie and began to inquire about copyright-related issues.

As a fan who had read the original work long ago, this theatrical version truly lived up to all his expectations. Both the visuals and the voice actors' performances reached the top level, to the point that Chen Junqian can still clearly remember several scenes where the voice actors' performances were legendary.

Playing with the autographed picture of the main cast that Boss Cao had given him not long ago, Chen Junqian felt that he could ask Matsuoka Yoshitsugu, who also played the male lead, for another one in a couple of days. Back then, he had watched many of this one and only god's radio programs in the Bilibili official channel.

The negotiations were more complicated than he had imagined. The film had just been released, and the Japanese side was not in a hurry to sell the overseas theatrical rights (in fact, even in the original world, Taiwan, which was the fastest to import the film almost simultaneously, was five months behind). However, Chen Junqian still managed to complete this challenge with his super charm.

Upon hearing that he was going to import "No Game No Life Zero", Mr. Cao also discussed his views on the matter with Chen Junqian. After the copyright was secured, there was naturally no need to worry about the revenue targets. As for the market prospects, Mr. Cao was relatively optimistic.

Although No Game No Life is not as popular as Sword Art Online, firstly, the first season was quite popular and it has only been three years since it ended, so it still retains a certain level of popularity. Secondly, compared to the Ordinal Scale storyline, this movie is a prequel to the main story, so the viewing threshold is relatively lower. In addition, it was introduced in a timely manner, so it should be profitable, or at least break even.

Especially the last point.

Mr. Cao, who successfully imported the Sword Art Online movie in early July, has already tasted success. After all, this speed is even faster than many Conan movies, so he has raked in a lot of box office revenue. The current estimated total box office has reached 70 million (the original online box office was more than 50 million). There is probably nothing in the world more satisfying than doing what you love and making money at the same time. His tone was so cheerful that Chen Junqian was happy for him.

However, for him, it wouldn't matter if there was no profit in the end. After all, if we calculate based on the standard that a small goal is 100 million, even if the movie loses all its money, it would only be 5% of the small goal. So, just like Gu Linguo, who lost money but still held that comic convention, Chen Junqian could accept it completely.

The import process went as smoothly as Chen Junqian had anticipated. So, while the review process was underway, he immediately began the translation work. Having worked in the localization team for several years, he was putting in 100% of his seriousness and energy for this film that was about to be shown on the big screen. After all, even the best works require the translator's efforts to sincerely convey the emotions. In this respect, it is reasonable for some to call the translator the second author of the work.

In fact, Chen Junqian himself translated the sixth volume of the original novel into Chinese at the time, but when he translated the movie at this time, he could still feel that his state of mind was completely different from that time.

When I was a child, I thought the world was a simpler place.

There is no competition that cannot be won; as long as you work hard, you will be rewarded; anything is possible.

These are the thoughts of an innocent, naive child observing the world with pure, untainted eyes. Is such a thought wrong?

In fact, this is what Rick, the male protagonist of the story, said at the beginning of the novel, and in the movie, he repeated it at the end, which is one of Chen Junqian's favorite adaptations.

Even after typing out this translation, he subconsciously responded to the virtual character through the screen:

[No mistake]

He wants to do the same thing as him.

P.S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing.

Chapter 50: The Rules for Girls

For high school seniors who have already finished the college entrance examination, this will likely be the most carefree summer vacation of their lives. However, for Chen Junqian's graduating class, who are about to take over the baton, they are also experiencing the most difficult test of their lives so far.

Having worked hard for two years, or even eleven years, no one wants to fall behind in this final year. So even after the summer vacation, which lasts only a month, most students seamlessly transitioned into tutoring classes. Many parents even spent huge sums of money to enroll their children in small classes with one or more teachers for their weak subjects, spending hundreds of dollars per hour, hoping to give them a boost in this final sprint.

Lin Mu had originally planned to enroll in a small class for targeted tutoring, since large class tutoring was not very effective at accurately identifying and filling in knowledge gaps. However, this idea had just come to mind, and she hadn't even had a chance to tell her parents, when Chen Junqian, who had just returned from Japan and was on summer vacation, took the initiative to take on the task. He put her and Xu Youwei in a small class together, and he would be responsible for one-on-two... cough, tutoring.

During the breaks and rest periods between tutoring sessions, Chen Junqian proactively posed a question to the two of them:

"If I were to ask Wenyun to write a story about all of us in the future, would you have any keywords you would particularly like to add to it? Or would you say creative principles? What kind of style do you hope to see, and what kind of plot do you not want to see?"

"Ah, this is something that Qianqian and Wenyun agreed on a long time ago, right? Are you finally planning to start writing it now?"

“I’ve heard Wenyun mention this a lot, but does it mean writing about everyone? That sounds like a huge project, and it’ll probably end up as a really thick book.”

"Yes, that's why I plan to start preparing now. So, Mu Mu and You You, what are your thoughts on the question I just asked? If you can't think of anything right now, you can take your time. You don't need to express yourself very clearly. Just say what you really think, even if it's vague or even abstract."

Lin Mu sat there, resting her chin on her hand, deep in thought as Chen Junqian posed this question. This pose of her childhood sweetheart always tempted one to pinch her cheek. However, before Chen Junqian could do so, she seemed to have just thought of something, clapping her hands together in front of her chest and exclaiming excitedly:

"If it were up to me, I would say that in this story, all the promises will be kept."

Well, childhood sweethearts are indeed the ones who care the most about things like "promises," and it's no wonder that their exclusive achievement is named after this. Mu Mu has indeed inherited the tradition of childhood sweethearts in this regard, showing her persistence in the concept of "promises," and even using the prefix "all."

"All...even those said casually?"

Xu Youwei, who was standing next to her, subconsciously remarked that the idea was a bit too presumptuous.

"I'll try my best, mainly because in reality there are always too many 'next time for sure,' 'let's go together another day,' and 'I'll take you when I have time.' When those words are said, they may be perfunctory, or even if they were serious at the time, they are too easily washed away by various unexpected events. It feels like everyone is always breaking their promises, and after breaking their promises, they still add a sentence like 'this is growing up, this is youth,' etc. I can't stand this kind of work."

As she spoke, Lin Mu gently gathered a stray lock of hair that had fallen from her shirt collar, a warm smile curving her lips:

"So I wanted a sturdy castle, a world like this."

Xu Youwei seemed to want to complain about something, but Chen Junqian had already nodded in agreement, which surprised her a little.

"Qinqin will agree first... so the pressure will be put on Wenjun in the end, right?"

"No, we were just talking about the imagined world of the novel. It's like Youyou has a pen that only gods can use. Why should it imitate the mundane realities of life? Of course, people in real life will be timid, their steps will stop, and their memories will fade. But in a novel, it's just a matter of a single sentence. So of course, those little fingers that were solemnly linked in childhood can still glow with warmth like they've been enchanted in the early morning more than ten years later."

As Chen Junqian spoke, he looked tenderly at his childhood sweetheart. The two of them, without uttering a word, simultaneously recalled the pinky promise they made at the childcare center. So Chen Junqian added with a smile:

"Since we dared to say it, then heaven and earth must be witnesses. Even if time wears everything down, we must act as the most loyal messengers, ensuring that the promise we made is faithfully carried into each other's life trajectories in the future."

Having said all that, Xu Youwei realized what kind of answer Chen Junqian wanted, so she simply spread her hands in response:

"Since Mu Mu wants a promise... let me think, then I should reply. Does this word feel a bit repetitive? But Qin Qin should understand what I mean."

As the only person who finally conveyed her feelings and achieved a good result after three confessions, this is exactly what Youyou wanted. After all, no one wants to experience the feeling of throwing their heart into the dark ocean a few times. It was like when she was walking down the street and suddenly thought of Chen Junqian, her heart was pounding so hard that she stopped and looked back, but all she saw behind her was the endless stream of cars and indifferent faces. At that moment, she felt that reality was a giant sound-absorbing cotton, and even if she crushed her whole heart and threw it into the darkness, she wouldn't hear a single dull thud.

For Hsu Yu-wei, who knew nothing about romantic comedies, being overwhelmed by the sound of fireworks exploding in the night sky or being interrupted by other things was always an annoying thing, which is why she came up with this idea.

Cat training expert Chen Junqian certainly lived up to his years of experience in grooming cats. Although Xu Youwei's words were vague, he easily extracted her meaning:

"So, Youyou hopes that everyone's sincere feelings will never sink into the sea, and that there will be no unreceived signals in your story. In that world, every time you stop and look out the window, the wind will carry your longing to the right person's ear."

"Wow, Qinqin is quite good at summarizing. No wonder Wenyun always said that you are her teacher in writing. That's pretty much the idea."

As she spoke, Xu Youwei's eyes sparkled, as if a secret she had kept hidden for many years had finally found its rightful place: