Chapter 282: A Flow of Inspiration (5)
"I went to bed early last night and didn't stay up late. How come I had this hallucination in less than a day?" Li Ke rubbed her eyes.
"It's true." Chu Hengkong said.
"Impossible... I don't believe it... If a particle of 3 can be this powerful, how crazy must the world be..."
Miss Li Ke held her head in her hands in anguish, trying to ignore the horrific truth. Vand could understand her feelings very well. After all, the vast majority of beings in the Shendong Realm were still seriously on the path of transformation. 4 was 4, 5 was 5. There was no habit of calculating the true level in brackets. There would not be any terrifying people who were suppressed by 3 (5), 2 (6), or 2 (7).
There is even less reason for the emergence of a terrifying Demon King 3 (3) who can defeat all the above terrifying suppressors.
"Don't worry too much. You see, life essence doesn't represent actual combat power." Vander comforted, "There are also some wonderful beasts in the world that have low-quality essences but high-quality combat power..."
"You're talking about some ultimate prehistoric creature bigger than Dust Island! But this thing is clearly human based on its appearance!!"
"He's the super compressed kind." Ji Huaisu said with a smile, "Okay, little Li Ke, now you're in our hands~"
Li Ke took two steps back, protecting her chest vigilantly: "What do you want to do by laughing so evilly!"
Ji Huaisu took out a camera crystal and flexed his fingers with a wicked grin: "Hehe, if you don't tell me the truth, I can't say for sure what this crystal will capture later..."
"Where did you come from, a gangster?!" Rico raised her hands. "I confess, I confess! I just happened to be hired to guard the flower fields and protect the secrets of the mushrooms. That's all!"
Ji Huaisu snorted loudly, and Li Ke was horrified: "What's with that regretful expression on your face..."
"I was going to use the thorns back on you."
"What a vindictive woman!"
Li Ke was clearly a mercenary, and Chu Hengkong didn't bother to embarrass her. He showed the inspiration mushroom and said, "Please introduce your employer."
Li Ke smiled wryly, "Ah~ Mr. Big Brother, please be considerate of the professional ethics of us freelancers. Honesty and trustworthiness are fundamental to our profession. Betraying your employer is a violation of industry rules and punishable by death."
Chu Hengkong had been a killer for a long time, and seeing her working for her employer's benefit felt familiar. He smiled and said, "You're very disciplined and see things clearly. I just wonder if your employer has told you that this mushroom field is a prop for a ritual?"
"What ceremony?" Li Ke was confused. "What does this have to do with the ceremony?"
Fander poked his head out and mumbled a few words. Chu Hengkong watched helplessly as Li Ke's face turned from pale to red. A red mushroom suddenly grew on her head and exploded into a small cloud of smoke.
"That old guy——!!!" Li Ke was heartbroken. "The nature of this commission is completely different. I have to pay more!"
"That's not the problem," said Vander.
"You old bastard hid the information and cheated me out of my hiring fee, so don't blame me for being ruthless." Li Ke sneered and pulled out a conch. "Hey, otter? Is it still there? Block the door and don't let it escape. I want to settle the score with it!"
She folded up the conch and spread its wings. "We have to settle the score anyway, so how about I give you two a ride?"
"Of course you can..." Ji Huaisu said, "but didn't you just say otter..."
"You know Dudu Otter, that would be much more convenient." Li Ke shrugged. "The old guy is at the Seafood Bookstore. He was delaying his manuscript this afternoon and tried to run away, but I caught him and put him in the small dark room."
Ji Huaisu's expression was very interesting: "You kidnapped your employer?"
"No, no, that's the wrong logic." Li Ke shook her finger. "I was the one who stuffed it into the dark room first. The old man had no time to distract himself, so he asked me to help look after the flower fields~"
"What an outrageous guy!"
·
When he returned to the door of the bookstore, Chu Hengkong heard a fierce quarrel again. This time, the voices of everyone in the bookstore seemed calm and at ease, while the new shouts were like thunder.
The new member who was shouting loudly was a giant ice-blue octopus, almost three meters tall including its tentacles, with a translucent beard growing under its round head.
"You bastards, you are illegally imprisoning me. I will go to Mansa Star Castle to sue you!" Old Octopus was heartbroken.
Editor Dudu Otter held a stack of manuscripts, adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, and spoke calmly, "Let's look again at this sentence on page 289, line 14: 'I cried wildly, responding to the drifting clouds in the sky.' Coincidentally, I saw this metaphor in an essay last quarter..."
The old octopus immediately shrank a few inches, but he still insisted, "It's just a coincidence! It's just a coincidence! It's just inspiration... you call it, plagiarism? The overall framework is original!"
"The general plot of the story is a pretty good nod to the original. Since your book's ending is innovative, I'll turn a blind eye." Poison Otter raised his eyebrows. "But this whole, identical sentence is absolutely unacceptable. Change it for me."
The old octopus howled as he lay on the counter: "Is there any justice left in the world? Manager, please be fair. You, the editor, are really trying to kill me!!"
The big seal handed over a handful of dried fish and said sympathetically, "Mmm."
"Oh, it's dried fish, thank you..." Mr. Octopus took the dried fish and threw it on the table, "It's not something that can be solved by eating fish!"
The big seal nodded sympathetically and handed over a large piece of ham: "Mmm."
"It's ham, it looks delicious..." Old Octopus slammed the ham on the table. "Is there nothing else on your mind except food, you bastard!"
Its tentacles danced wildly, its expression fierce. "I'm putting this right here. I won't change the manuscript again! If you don't let me go, don't blame me for getting serious!"
"—Move on, old man. I want to see how much benefit you've gained from this ritual!"
Li Ke pushed the door open and pointed the wooden spear at the octopus' tentacles. The old octopus flinched and faltered, "What ritual are you talking about... I don't understand what you're talking about... Ugh!"
As it was talking, it suddenly saw something small peeking out from behind Rico. The octopus was so startled that it leaped three meters off the ground onto the top of the bookshelf. It trembled violently: "You, you! You are!!"
Vander jumped in front of Li Ke and waved his hands excitedly: "Professor Fratelli, I didn't expect you to be in the city-state too. Long time no see~~"
The old octopus Fratali looked like he had seen a ghost. His head expanded violently and then shrank quickly, and his eyes were filled with fear and confusion.
"Mu..." It hesitated and changed its words, "No, Vander? Are you Vander?"
"I'm so touched that you still remember me." Vander smiled. "Let me introduce you to everyone. This is a senior professor at the Twilight Library, a master of octopus karate, and a master of hand-to-hand combat among marine creatures known as 'Melting Ice'—"
Fratelli frantically mouthed to someone to stop, but the overly excited Vander didn't notice at all. Instead, he introduced the old professor's most famous title with abundant pride: "'Plagiarism Demon' Fratelli!"
"Plagiarism?" Li Ke glared.
"Devil!" Ji Huaisu laughed evilly.
The old octopus covered his eyes with a snap and slid down from the bookshelf. The venomous otter patted the stack of manuscripts, making a clicking sound.
"Very good, very good, Mr. Fratelli. I was wondering how it was that you had written eight books and still hadn't changed your ways despite repeated warnings. It turns out you have a deep-seated problem of plagiarism!"
"What's wrong with me copying a little?" Fratali rolled on the ground and started to throw a tantrum. "I'm not seeking fame or fortune. It's just a few sentences, not murder or arson! I feel uncomfortable if I don't copy. Please be kind and take this manuscript away, good animals..."
Poison Otter smiled and said, "Come in and revise the manuscript."
“Help—!”
Ji Huaisu rushed forward, blocking the way in front of the old octopus. Without a word, she grasped the shadow blade and said, "There are more important things to worry about than this, right? This guy is a demon, and judging by his aura, he's at the level of a fantasy. Are you guys letting him go?"
"What's wrong with being a demon? I'm a citizen of Jingsha," said Fulatali confidently. "Little girl, I advise you not to engage in racial discrimination and bring your outside ways into the city-state. Although I don't have an ID card, household registration, or native place, I am still a member of Jingsha. What gives you the right to attack me?"
Ji Huaisu was stunned: "Damn, the devil is now talking about reason!"
Vander tried to smooth things over: "Captain Ji, you don't know that there are indeed demon citizens within Jingsha... Some demons don't kill or do evil, they just have some special habits. People like Professor Fulatari have never done anything bad except plagiarizing. Why can't they live a peaceful life?"
Fulatali wiped his tears with the dried fish in his hand. "Oh, Fander, it was worth my teaching you all those years ago... Even in the face of such a vicious villain, you still spoke up for me. I am so moved..."
Vander narrowed his eyes and turned around, his expression changing. "So the Inspiration Mushroom Ritual was your work, right? Don't try to argue, old man. I wrote a special report on your core system back then. I'm more familiar with the theory than you!"
Fulatali gasped: "You evil disciple, you exposed my past for no reason!"
It immediately tried to flee the bookstore, but the seal had just crouched down at the door, physically blocking its escape route. Furatali turned his head tremblingly, meeting the demonic gaze of the venomous otter.
"You kid..."
"I made this as a wonderful little tool to facilitate everyone's creation..." Fratali trembled.
"Nonsense! Collecting fragments from millions of books, modifying and piecing them together into a piece of writing—isn't that plagiarism? No matter how you look at it, it's plagiarism!" Dudu Otter was furious. "Fuck you, what you did is even worse than plagiarism. Most people only copy three or five books, but you copied millions in one go! You dismembered and pieced together perfectly good works into a patchwork monstrosity, then spit it out through other people's mouths as a 'new work'. What a bastard!"
Fratali twisted his body and thrust his head back, retorting, "You're being too biased. This is the early stages! There are always deficiencies in the early stages of technological development. My inspiration mushroom has a built-in advanced algorithm that will automatically iterate and optimize based on the number of samples to complete its evolution."
The traces of plagiarism you see now are still obvious, but as the mushroom runs more, it will naturally move beyond the patchwork stage and begin to independently imitate and even generate according to the learning process. At that time, who can still say it is plagiarism?
"You!" Poison Otter stretched out its claws and stabbed the octopus furiously. "Look in the mirror and see how much fatter you've become since the last time you came to the bookstore. You, a plagiarizing devil, have gained this much weight through this ritual, and you still have the nerve to say this isn't plagiarism?! Besides, which of these authors has ever given you permission to use them as source material? How dare you make such blatant claims of copyright infringement?"
Fratari raised his head proudly, like a martyr dedicated to the truth. Vander glanced at him and said, "So, Professor, why are you planning this?"
Fulatali immediately shrank his head, laughing awkwardly. "Alas, you have to know that in this world, it's not easy for us little devils to survive... The city-state is very strict about copyright now, and blatant plagiarism is not allowed to be published. But I am a plagiarism devil after all. If I don't plagiarize, I won't be able to eat!"
To survive in the city-state, I can only contract with non-sentient animals. My body is already weak, and this lack of harvest is even more difficult. If you don't find a way to replenish your energy, I'm afraid I'll just follow your lead... No, just follow the trend..."
Chu Hengkong watched silently, realizing the octopus hadn't lied. Its possessor was a rather large octopus, barely even a beast. Such a body was quite unsuitable for a demon of the delusional level, comparable to the gluttonous demon that possessed the eel.
Fulatali raised his tentacles repeatedly: "My dear heroes, please go easy on me. I invented this not for fame or profit, but to make a living. There's no need to punish me."
Dudu Otter raised his eyebrows and said, "You old fellow, you've eaten your fill. But what about the creative atmosphere in the city-state? What about the other writers who are diligently writing books?"
Li Ke blocked the octopus with one hand and spoke up for it, "To be fair, the old man may have benefited this time, but he didn't do much wrong. While the inspiration mushroom is a headache for creators, it's a very useful tool for ordinary people who don't know chess, piano, calligraphy, or painting, and it has many uses in other fields. It's not appropriate to destroy it just for the creator's family's livelihood, right?"
"I'm talking about the current atmosphere created by the mushrooms!"
"Are you planning to change the minds of hundreds of millions of people?"
The venomous otter and Li Ke started bickering, while the big seal and the crucian carp nervously ate their ham. Chu Hengkong pondered the mechanism of the mushroom and suddenly came up with a plan.
"In my opinion, the inspiration mushroom itself doesn't need to be destroyed. We just need to reveal its principles and its advantages and disadvantages, and everyone will naturally have an objective understanding of it."
Inspector Chu showed a mysterious smile, and Ji Huaisu shuddered violently. She remembered that the last time she saw this smile was during the Blessing Battle on the eve of the attack on the swamp.
"Fuck you, what stupid idea have you come up with..."
Chu Hengkong lowered his head and asked, "Fander, since you also understand the principle of the inspiration mushroom, you should be able to make it increase the search weight of a certain type of material."
"Yes, yes...what do you want to do?"
"Add some ingredients to the mushroom field." Chu Hengkong patted Ji Huaisu's shoulder. "Do you still have the video recording of the last blessing operation?"
(End of this chapter)
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