Chapter 6 Little Devil (6) A Grand Plan to Cultivate Popular Characters!
Xie Tan carried a takeout bag in his left hand and a bottle of cola in his right. When he got home, the locksmith was nowhere to be found.
Lu Jinzhao, clutching his schoolbag, nervously told him what had happened, his hand gently stopping him, afraid that something might be wrong inside.
In a house that had been uninhabited for twenty years, new residents moved in. In the old bedroom that couldn't be opened, a long strand of hair was pulled out. Based on his experience, it could be a corpse that had been dumped there, or it could be some strange person who had done something bizarre in there, or it could be a place where unclean things were kept.
If that's the case, whether it's dangerous or not is another matter, but the scene might be quite frightening.
Lu Jinzhao asked worriedly, "Do you have the landlord's phone number? Do you need me to go in with you to take a look?"
Following his description, Xie Tan looked at the old lock on the bedroom door with a long lock hanging down, and her heart skipped a beat.
In just one night and one day, it has been haunted twice. Is this what No. 7 meant by "ordinary house"?
He glanced furtively at the black panther cub beside him; Number 7 was sprawled out in the corner, pretending he wasn't there.
Xie Tan didn't know what was going on either, but Lu Jinzhao was right next to him, so he couldn't just say he didn't know and say, "I'm so scared, can you kick the door open for me and take a look?"
Then all that acting he did before was for nothing; his persona was just starting to take off.
A thought suddenly struck him, and he remembered the post summarizing the doubts he had read before going to bed last night. He had an idea.
Let me mislead you again.
"No need." Xie Tan put the cola into Lu Jinzhao's unzipped backpack without noticing anything amiss, and calmly went into the room.
He opened the takeout bag, placed his portion on the coffee table, and left the other portion, which was originally for the locksmith, at the door of the master bedroom.
He squatted down, brushed aside the long hair hanging in the way from inside the door, opened the lid of the spicy hot pot and rice takeout, and then broke open the disposable chopsticks and stuck them into the white rice.
"Eat."
After finishing these tasks, Xie Tan turned his head to look at Lu Jinzhao, whose eyes were slightly wide, and calmly asked, "Is there anything else?"
"N-nothing?" Lu Jinzhao, shrinking his large frame, silently took a step back. Remembering the pastries, he peeked out like a dog and put them inside the door. "These are pastries from the dessert shop downstairs. Their coconut pastries are delicious. I'm sorry about last night. Please accept them. From now on, we're neighbors... Let's help each other out! If you need any help, just knock on my door!"
His earlier words were a bit hesitant, but as he spoke, his tone lifted, and his smile returned, as if in the blink of an eye he had forgotten the strangeness of his new neighbor and was now spreading goodwill.
The most difficult type to deal with. Xie Tan thought that if it weren't for the popularity character development system, this would be the kind of person he would definitely hide and avoid at all costs.
He silently looked back, and Lu Jinzhao, understanding the implication of seeing him off, obediently retreated outside the door: "You should eat quickly, call me anytime if you need anything!"
He waved slightly and gently closed the door behind him.
Xie Tan was left alone with Cat No. 7. Xie Tan neatly packed up another takeout order and put it in the kitchen to keep for dinner.
He approached the bedroom door. After removing the lock, a fist-sized opening was left, blocked by densely tangled black hair, like a thick and tough net, with many talismans tied between the strands.
Xie Tan confronted him, demanding, "A regular room?"
The cat wagged its tail and swore, "It really is just a normal room inside! But this door must have been sealed off somehow, separating the inside from the outside, meow!"
Therefore, physical methods are insufficient to open it; only mystical methods can be used.
Since we can't solve it now, let's just leave it be.
Xie Tan ate takeout while scrolling through his phone. Since the comics weren't updated, he spent his time online looking for discussions about celebrities.
The cat rolled around beside Xie Tan. Now that its host has a place to live and has made its presence felt in the comics, it felt that its host was a thoughtful person, so it asked Xie Tan about their plan to develop popular characters!
The cat looks thoughtful: "Baby, with your looks, as long as you survive, you'll never have to worry about popularity. You're definitely a potential popular character, meow! But in the long run, you still need a persona. What are your thoughts, meow?"
"Don't think about it, just let nature take its course," Xie Tan said calmly. "My acting skills aren't that good, and I don't have the patience to pretend to be someone else every moment. It's best to just live according to my own personality."
He had thought about what kind of character to create in the comic. The more contrast there was, the easier it would be to be remembered. Lu Jinzhao was the best example. He was a sunny shonen character in a horror comic. It was an extreme contrast.
But it doesn't suit him. He already has such a contrasting role, and he's currently number one in popularity polls. Most importantly, he simply can't pull it off; he'll only make mistakes.
It's best to go along with his own beliefs, personality, and habits so that you won't easily reveal any flaws or contradictions.
Furthermore, combining certain traits that best suit his popular characters would give him, such as a riddle-maker, to increase his coolness and mystery, or being both righteous and evil, or having a shifting allegiance, to keep readers guessing, or being a classic example of a beautiful, strong, and tragic character.
All actions, whether righteous or evil, whether driven by madness or seemingly detached, are underpinned by a driving logic that runs through the character's core. The past will bring the character to a fulfilling conclusion.
But there's no rush. He's only just arrived in the comic book world, and there are many things he doesn't understand or haven't encountered yet.
There must be a main storyline in "Strange Tales". Even without the promotional slogan of a new series, Xie Tan, who has read all the comics, can be sure of this.
If there were only a few stories linked together, it might just be an author's Easter egg. But all the stories are set in the same world, and some span a long period of time, going back hundreds or thousands of years. For example, there's a story with a touch of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio about a scholar and a snake demon. The poem the scholar wrote at the end appeared in the old library in the modern timeline's episodic story.
Another type is future stories, which are few in number. Most of them are not set against a backdrop of apocalyptic or sci-fi world-changing events, but are more of a prophetic or time-skipping plot points.
There have been several post-apocalyptic stories with drastically altered worldviews, but they all eventually return to the main worldview of "Strange Tales".
For example, there is an alien episodic story that goes through another round of evolution into insect-like aliens, who eventually face extinction. The scene keeps zooming out, from an insect to an aerial view of the entire planet. The post-apocalyptic planet is grayish-brown due to pollution, but zooming out to the last moment, it becomes the eye of an insect. Zooming out again, a clock ticks, and it becomes an insect museum on Earth.
The series that story belongs to is called "Dream," so it's just a dream of an insect.
He also came across related complaints, saying that the story was good, but stories of this genre would eventually pull back to the main worldview, somewhat like how horror movies end with characters going through mental illness or having a dream.
But from another perspective, it's a stroke of genius.
Furthermore, the recurring characters and repeatedly hinted elements further solidified Xie Tan's belief in the existence of the main storyline.
Moreover, the new series is the one with the longest gap since the previous one. Before this, apart from some IP adaptations and collaborations, there was zero information about the author. Therefore, there has been speculation online that the author had a falling out with the company or had stopped writing due to a lack of inspiration.
This sudden return, with the series titled "Graduation Season," might actually be the final installment of the IP?
The main storyline hidden in the shadows will soon come to light.
If he wants to become a top-tier popular character, he needs to be deeply integrated into the main storyline; otherwise, it would be a waste of the series' selling points.
Therefore, there's no need to rush to finalize the character's story. He just needs to build a layer of narrative mystery around himself first, then fill in the details as he comes up with them, revealing clues appropriately to attract the reader's attention and make them eager to explore.
The cat raises its paw in agreement: "Baby, you're a genius, meow!"
With the plan to boost popularity through comics as a temporary measure, Xie Tan gave the house a thorough cleaning, went back to his room and slept until evening. He then prepared to get up for dinner and heated up another serving of spicy hot pot.
The cat appeared and nuzzled him, saying, "The comic has been updated, meow!"
A note from the author:
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Jinjiang was stuck just now, so I couldn't post it. Sorry, everyone.
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