Yes, I did all of this!

As a good student, I usually finish most of my homework during school hours, and the rest doesn't take much time.

As Duanmu Mo closed the car door and was about to leave, he saw Xia Yan walking towards him with a sullen expression.

"Oh, what's wrong?" Duanmu Mo smiled and asked casually.

"You still ask!"

Xia Yan punched him, but the force was still weak, just like the voice she had uttered ten minutes before leaving the hotel: "It's all because of what you did just now..."

Duanmu Mo spread his hands, looking completely innocent: "But by then thirty minutes had already passed, and you still didn't want to leave, so in the end I had no choice but to finish quickly."

"You..." Xia Yan's face flushed red again upon hearing this, and she pounded on Duanmu Mo's body even harder, but the result was still weak and powerless, giving the impression of being coquettish.

As for whether she was venting or just being coquettish, only Xia Yan herself probably knows the truth.

"If all else fails, you can transform to refresh your status." Duanmu Mo said that although it was his responsibility to make her feel sore all over, he would not apologize.

"Mind your own business..." Upon hearing this, Xia Yan suddenly fell silent and muttered something under her breath.

This feeling, like ripples on water, echoed deep within her body, still lingering to this day. It would be such a waste to erase it with her transformed state.

With that thought in mind, Xia Yan pushed Duanmu Mo aside and went home with him.

"Welcome back, everyone." Shen Wuyin heard the door open again, peeked out from the kitchen, looked at Duanmu Mo and Xia Yan, and immediately showed a strange smile.

"How was your time?"

"It's alright, it's just that Xia Yan is a bit disobedient."

Upon hearing Duanmu Mo's words, Shen Wuyin also laughed.

However, seeing Xia Yan's displeased expression, Shen Wuyin didn't continue on this topic, but instead looked at her younger sister:

"Rin, how's school?"

"Not very good." Shen Wuling sat down on the sofa, took out her tablet and started playing with it. "I drew a comic to kill time. I guess the money I earned isn't considered cheating, right?"

"Drawing comics?" Shen Wuyin was somewhat surprised, but not too astonished: "You didn't use any special abilities, did you?"

"...It was still used."

Shen Wuling turned her head slightly to avoid her sister's gaze and whispered.

"Then..."

Seeing that Shen Wuyin was about to say something again, Duanmu Mo smiled and stepped forward to interrupt, saying, "Forget it, no matter what, the Zero System is Ling's own ability. She was able to move freely only after she had this thing. We can't make her cut off her own arms now, can we?"

“But this is still deception.” Shen Wuyin sighed as she watched her younger sister look at Duanmu Mo with a touched expression.

"Oh dear, Yin." Duanmu Mo stepped forward and placed his hand on her shoulder. "No matter what, this is one of Ling's hobbies. It's not really appropriate to suppress this behavior like this, is it?"

He said in a low voice, "Besides, she has helped so many people for free, what's wrong with making some money this way?"

"I don't agree with that statement." Shen Wuyin's expression changed, and she said seriously, "Because you did something 'for free,' there are some exceptions or something—once you do that, the act of helping others becomes distorted."

"It was my fault, I apologize." Faced with Shen Wuyin's accusations, Duanmu Mo directly surrendered and apologized—and this action gave Shen Wuyin a way out.

As expected, after saying that, she looked at Shinma Rin and changed the subject, saying, "...Then let's leave it at that. You can decide this yourself, Rin."

"Yay!" Shen Wuling clenched her fist, revealing a joyful expression.

"However, you can only use it for drawing. If you use Zero's abilities to gain popularity or publicity, it would be unfair to other artists."

"Don't worry, sister, I will accomplish it with my own strength."

Faced with Shen Wuling's affirmation, Shen Wuyin smiled helplessly and returned to the kitchen to continue cooking.

After her sister left, Shen Wuling immediately took Duanmu Mo's hand and led him to the second floor:

"Thank goodness for you, otherwise my sister wouldn't have agreed, Mr. Duanmu."

Shen Wuling led him to her room, took out a tablet, and handed it to him: "As a thank you, you can read my comics as you like!"

Her tone was more excited than usual, clearly pleased with Shen Wuyin's agreement.

"You know, you were my first reader of the comic."

"Issue no Rin said with a smile."

"I remember you sent it to the editor first, didn't you?" Duanmu Mo asked, taking the computer.

She smiled, her eyes flashing with data: "I hacked into the editor's computer. She hasn't seen this post yet, so you're number one now."

"Alright... let me take a look." Duanmu Mo sat down on the edge of her bed and turned on the computer.

While he was sitting down, Shen Wuling snuggled into his arms.

"You..." Faced with Duanmu Mo's helpless gaze, Shen Wuling looked up at him and smiled, urging, "Hurry up, the editor will see this soon."

"Okay, okay..." Duanmu Mo flipped through the pages, looking at Shen Wuling's masterpiece from her school days.

—He has a wide range of interests and reads all sorts of books, including several comic books, not just famous ones, but also some lesser-known works.

Judging from the visuals, Shinmu Rin's artwork is already considered to be among the better ones.

However, apart from that... Duanmu Mo had never read shoujo manga, so he didn't comment on the plot, but he was very familiar with the characters in the manga.

After reviewing the few chapters that Shenwu Ling hadn't sent, Duanmu Mo fell silent:

"This red-haired girl looks familiar. What kind of character is she?"

"A supporting character who likes the male lead but can't get him and ends up alone." Shen Wuling paused, then added, "Simply put, he's a loser."

"..."

"What about this girl who looks like the girl next door? And why is her sister white-haired? The family has different hair colors."

"These sisters also liked the male lead, but because one was too oblivious and the other was too aloof, they couldn't get him and ended up alone."

Duanmu Mo really wanted to complain, but he still patiently read on: "What will be the fate of this suddenly appearing blue-haired guy?"

"To desire but not to obtain, to die alone."

"..."

Duanmu Mo was silent for a moment, then pointed to the female lead's sister and asked, "So, what about this character? Is she also destined to be lonely and suffer unrequited love?"

"Her?" Shen Wuling pondered for a moment, then hesitated and said, "She's tentatively cast as the second female lead, and in the end, she and her sister end up with the male lead."

"..."

This time, Duanmu Mo remained silent for a long time before finally managing to utter a single sentence:

"Is the genre of your comic a shoujo manga?"

Chapter 534: Belief

buzzing-

He shifted his hips slightly on Duanmu Mo's lap, took out his phone, and looked at the number on the screen.

"Who is it?" Duanmu Mo asked, looking at the unfamiliar number.

“The manga editor.” Shen Wuling’s eyes flashed with data as she said, “She had already read the chapter I posted and came to see me right away.”

"...Luckily, this editor didn't see your follow-up outline." Duanmu Mo shook his head as he watched her answer the phone.

So Duanmu Mo leaned back a little, moving further away from the phone.

Unexpectedly, after seeing Duanmu Mo move away from her, Shen Wuling lay down as well, resting her body against his chest once more.

Duanmu Mo was caught off guard by Shen Wuling's unexpected action. He immediately lay down on her bed, while Shen Wuling lay on top of him.

With a mysterious smile, she looked at Duanmu Mo and put the phone to her ear:

"Hey?"

"Hello, is this Teacher 'Bell'?"

Bell...

“It’s me,” Shen Wuling said calmly.

"I've reviewed your work, and it meets our standards for publication. We will send you an electronic contract. Please print out two copies and send one to our address." The editor began with industry-standard language, speaking formally and professionally.

"I noticed that your procedures also allow for electronic signing, which is why I submitted my work here." Shen Wuling lay on Duanmu Mo's chest, her expression incredibly calm, creating a rather inexplicable contrast.

"Yes, there is. Since you've chosen this method, I'll send you the instructions later."

"Okay, are there any other questions?"

"Yes, after all, we need to understand the value of your work to our company first, and at the same time, our company will devote corresponding resources to your work."

“Okay, let’s start asking.” Shen Wuling snuggled against Duanmu Mo and rolled over as she spoke.

"So first of all... 'Bell' teacher, you haven't published any works elsewhere, have you?"

The editor remained polite to Shinmuri, and although she hadn't explicitly stated it yet, her editorial intuition told her that this manga had a bright future.

While I don't know if it can compare to top-tier works, it's certainly much better than those comics whose potential is predictable.

"No, this is my first published work." Shen Wuling picked up a lock of her long hair and ran it over Duanmu Mo's trench coat, playing with it as she spoke.

"That's truly impressive," the editor praised. "Your drawing skills are exquisite yet well-balanced, allowing the reader to immediately grasp the most crucial content. There aren't many people in the industry who reach your level. Have you undergone systematic training?"

"Hmm... I guess so." Shen Wuling pondered for a moment, then nodded.

Upon hearing this, Duanmu Mo almost laughed. Judging from the editor's words, Shen Wuling was indeed not lying; she had indeed studied very "systematically"... The Zero System was a system after all.

"I see. So, how long would it take to finish a chapter of your quality?" The editor paused and added, "By the way, normally the first chapter will have a lot of pages, and then it will get shorter, so don't put too much pressure on yourself."

"I can finish one or two episodes a week. After all, I'm just a student and don't have that much time."

"I don't intend to announce my identity publicly, but I don't plan to hide it much either. I'll just let things take their natural course," Shen Wuling said.

Although the outside world has paid less attention to the Shenwu sisters under her control, her older sister, Shenwu Yin, still goes out to buy groceries frequently in her daily life, so she still needs an income in the open.

Of course, there's another point. When she searches online, she occasionally sees discussions about herself and her sister, mostly about their miserable lives after losing their parents, as if they couldn't survive without the Shenwu Group. This makes Shenwu Ling a little unhappy.

"One or two chapters a week? That's a lot? And she's just a student?" The editor was stunned for a moment before exclaiming in amazement, "Wow, that's amazing! You can only be described as a genius, 'Rin-chan' teacher."

"It's alright." Shen Wuling's tone remained calm, but she had already started fiddling with the pocket of Duanmu Mo's trench coat: "I have a question. If I sign a contract to publish this book with you, what kind of resources will you invest in it?"

"We can't give you a direct answer on that, but I can tell you that although we've invested a lot of resources in the shoujo manga genre, we don't have many that we can use to make a name for ourselves."

The editor has seen works that started well but ended up being a mess, so they can't give Shinmuri a definite promise. So everything depends on the popularity. If it becomes popular, the manga publisher will still release it even if the plot is terrible.

Her words were tantamount to giving Shinmuri a clear indication that as long as she continued to draw well, she would definitely receive strong support from the manga company.