"To help you, I'm even willing to expend half of my system's energy. I do this precisely because I see your value."
After hearing this, Gu Qingze felt a warm current in his heart. He said to Feng Ying seriously, "Feng Ying, thank you."
Feng Ying smiled faintly, as if simply stating a fact, yet with a hint of barely perceptible emotion: "This is the second time you've expressed your gratitude to me."
After hearing what Feng Ying said, Gu Qingze fell into deep thought. After a moment, he slowly spoke: "So according to what you said, Feng Ying, the world I originally lived in evolved from a romance novel, and this world evolved from multiple novels..."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "As far as I know, one of the novels that makes up this world, 'The Road to Immortality,' was written by an author from my original world."
"So...does the creation of these small worlds follow some specific pattern?"
Feng Ying shook his head, a look of helplessness on his face. "Actually, I can't explain it in detail. But small worlds do continue to be generated and increase, just like the example you just gave."
“However, this does not mean that there is a subordinate relationship between them, but rather that they are parallel.”
He thought for a moment and then changed his explanation to something more understandable: "You can understand it as small worlds constantly 'giving birth' to other small worlds."
"And these newly generated small worlds will continue to 'give birth' to more small worlds. This is a perfectly normal thing."
A glint flashed in Gu Qingze's eyes, as if he had thought of some key information. He hesitated for a moment, then decided to speak: "Feng Ying, I seem to know the author of the novel 'The Road to Immortality'."
Feng Ying nodded slightly, with a subtle hint of meaning in her tone: "You do know him."
"Also, the villain in this novel is partly based on you. Of course, this is only part of the story, so you don't look exactly like Gu Qingze in the original novel."
He didn't continue to delve into the topic, but instead changed the subject and looked at Gu Qingze: "I left you some clues before, do you remember?"
Gu Qingze nodded and replied, "Remember, during the previous 'Three Lives Flower' incident, Ling Xiao and I speculated that there must be another person involved. Now it seems that person must be you."
He paused, then continued, "Whether it was guiding me to the auction house in the demon world, allowing me to discover Ye Li, who looked just like me in my original world, and thus realize something was amiss, or the subsequent brothel incident..."
Gu Qingze did not continue talking here, but cleverly circled back to the previous topic:
"I guess the reason why Ye Li looks the same as the Ye Li I knew in my original world is because the author created her completely based on her prototype."
He looked at Feng Ying: "And Feng Ying, you just said that the reason why Gu Qingze in this world is different from me is that he was only partially created based on me, and was also mixed with other beings, right?"
Feng Ying smiled slightly and gave an affirmative answer: "Yes, it's exactly what you think."
Feng Ying turned his gaze towards Gu Qingze, his tone filled with helplessness: "However, as to why the author used you as the prototype, and any other matters that may have existed between you, that is your personal grudge, which I am not too clear about."
He paused, then explained, "The reason I was able to investigate some of the things related to you is because you occupied a small part of the plot in the original world."
"As for the author you know, the one who created 'The Road to Immortality,' he's completely outside the plot, so I can't find any information about him."
A familiar figure emerged in Gu Qingze's mind, but then he shook his head, as if he didn't want to dwell too much on the past:
"It doesn't matter anymore. Although I don't know why he used me as the prototype and wrote the villain so miserably, but... now it doesn't matter anymore."
He seemed to have suddenly thought of a key point and asked hurriedly, "Feng Ying, since Gu Qingze and Ye Li both have prototypes, then Ling Xiao..."
Feng Ying shook his head gently and explained, "Chu Lingxiao is not."
"Except for a few characters he substituted into real-life people, for the rest, he basically just used the template of a comeback-themed cool novel."
He looked at Gu Qingze with a hint of amusement in his eyes: "Don't you find that the protagonist's experience at the beginning is very similar to that of a certain novel?"
Gu Qingze frowned slightly when he heard this, as if trying to recall something, and then said uncertainly: "You mean..."
Feng Ying nodded, confirming his guess: "Well, because that novel was a huge hit back then, many novels that used its template appeared afterwards, and 'The Road to Immortality' is one of them."
Gu Qingze thought for a moment and then raised another question: "But I remember... that popular novel didn't have so many harem settings."
Feng Ying smiled and explained, "It's just applying the template, but it doesn't mean it's exactly the same."
"The large number of harems may have been added by the author based on his own creative preferences."
"This novel has a prototype. Aside from you, Ye Li, and a few other harem characters, the other characters were simply created using a template."
Feng Ying looked as if he had thought of something interesting: "Speaking of which, authors of cool novels tend to put themselves into the protagonist's perspective and emotions to some extent."
"But the author of 'The Path to Immortality' is an exception. He has no sense of immersion at all and simply applies the template, like a cold machine, without even a trace of creative passion."
Gu Qingze's thoughts drifted back to the past, and he remembered the scene when Shen Yichen first talked to him about creation.
At that time, Shen Yichen's eyes were shining with love and persistence for creation, and he devoted himself to every character and every plot.
Gu Qingze really couldn't imagine that one day Shen Yichen would become so numb to creation that he would no longer create content that he truly loved, but would simply chase hot topics and write whatever genre was popular.
He didn't know what Shen Yichen went through later, nor could he understand his transformation.
He also didn't understand why he had offended Shen Yichen so much that he had used him as the prototype to create the villain of this novel...
The young man who was once full of vigor and vitality has now become like this. Thinking of this, Gu Qingze couldn't help but feel a sigh and regret.
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