I am not a literary giant

Chapter 81 Godzilla

Looking at the colorful and varied figures of all shapes and sizes standing before him, Wang Zixu shone brightly in this desolate, industrial, and austere concrete landscape, like fireflies in the night. He was so struck by their presence that he was speechless.

The pink-haired poet girl chewed gum incessantly, the "squeak" echoing between the concrete walls. No one spoke. Everyone stared intently, even somewhat affectionately, at Prince Xu, awaiting his command.

Prince Xu cleared his throat, silently summoning the Little Prince to take over the situation, but received no response. After several fruitless attempts, he could only say listlessly:

"Well then, let's have you all introduce yourselves one by one."

The tall and strong Sakura asked, "Who should start?"

Prince Xu said, "Whoever is ready first can speak first."

After saying that, he added, "You can talk about your education, experience, reading volume, and creative achievements, and you can also talk about your personality, showcasing yourself from all angles. Try to be as detailed as possible; you can treat this as... an interview."

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances, and finally a short-haired boy stepped forward:

"I'm too embarrassed to say it directly, so let me start by saying something. I'm a lost believer, you can call me 'Believer'... By the way, should I tell you my real name?"

Prince Xu shook his head: "We don't use real names here."

"Oh," the believer continued, "I'm a senior at the University of Finance and Economics, and I used to be an editor for our school newspaper."

"The University of Finance and Economics," the poet next to him repeated, chewing gum. "Is it the local first-tier university? Or is it a non-985/211 university?"

The believer said, "No, our school is a 211 university."

"Oh, you're a student from a 211 university, here to be a speech therapist?"

The believer was a little embarrassed: "I'm just here to earn some extra money. The main reason I'm not here is because my abilities allow it; I'm consistently in the top ten of the daily sales charts, in the same boat as Sakura-chan. You know the poet, right?"

The burly Sakura laughed and said, "That's right, he was seventh and I was eighth yesterday. We rarely fall out of the top ten."

The two gave each other a high five in mid-air.

The poet said, "I haven't paid attention to anyone outside the top three for a long time."

"I'm so angry and cold. You were third yesterday, right? You managed to pull it off."

"This is the bullying we've suffered from the top three!"

Wang Zixu felt it necessary to steer the conversation back on track and asked, "How much do you read, believer?"

The believer said, "The readership is decent, probably over a thousand books, but most are online novels."

Prince Xu asked, "Have you read Tolstoy's books?"

The believer shook his head.

Wang Zixu said, "Alright, I understand your level. Next."

The believer asked, "How do we describe our reading volume? Do we say word count?"

Wang Zixu pointed to the bookshelf next to him and said, "You can take a look at the books on the shelf and count how many you've read."

The believer asked, "What if the book I'm reading isn't on the shelf?"

Prince Xu shook his head: "That means it's not very useful."

"..."

The strong and capable Sakura said, "Let me talk about it. I'm a graduate student in the Literature Department at Jiang University. As for my creative experience, apart from speech therapy, I've actually written more academic papers. Regarding my reading volume, I just glanced at the books on this shelf, and I've read 70% of them, and I've heard of the rest. By the way, Jiang University is a 985 university."

After he finished speaking, Prince Xu felt himself shrinking in stature. The good news, however, was that he discovered the believer had also shrunk in stature, which brought him some comfort.

The poet, chewing gum, said, "You, a graduate student from a top-tier university (985), are writing the script?"

Sakura-chan, full of confidence, declared, "What's wrong with writing scripts? There aren't many jobs like this that can both earn you money and give you a sense of fulfillment! Or rather, they're practically unique!"

The poet said, "You could become a cowherd."

The burly Sakura-chan said, "You think I haven't tried?"

"what?"

"Coming offline would make it easy to get caught, and if I get caught, everything will be ruined. I was planning to stay at school anyway."

The believer said, "You're a graduate student? You're not a sports student, are you?"

Sakura, seemingly cast in bronze and iron, turned to look at him: "Have you ever seen a sports student go on to take the postgraduate entrance exam?"

"Su Bingtian".

"I give up. I'd like to. Fitness is a hobby, not a job."

Prince Xu looked at the pink-haired poet: "Your turn."

She spoke quickly: "I'm from Nanjing University. I'm a freshman. My pen names include Leng Ye Chang Feng, Qu Shui Xiu, Murong Ying, Fei Tian Zi... um, that's about it. There might be some on smaller platforms, but I can't remember them all."

Everyone around pulled out their phones to check, and the believer exclaimed first, "Wow! A super influencer with 100,000 followers!"

Sakura said, "Who did you look up? I looked up 'The Emperor,' and it says that the author of 'Red Sleeve Diamond' says so, and there are two books with a million words each."

"I looked up Murong Ying. Wow, you know what? And she's also a relationship blogger."

Cheng Xing remained relatively calm and composed: "I've heard of Leng Ye Changfeng and Fei Tianzi; they're both well-known female-oriented online novel authors. I never imagined they were the same person..."

The prince asked humbly, "Why did you use an alternate account?"

The poet chewed his gum for a while and said, "Just open it if you want to, there's no special reason."

She paused for a moment, then added, "Because the books I want to write have different styles, I want to differentiate them, and I also don't want to lead my old readers to new projects."

Prince Xu nodded, and everyone else present held their breath. After a long silence, Sakura-chan finally spoke:

"Aren't you also from a 985 university? You were just talking about us!"

The believer then realized what was going on: "Yeah! You're from a top-tier university, so why are you writing scripts? And you're a woman! What was your mindset when you were a speech therapist?"

The poet tossed his hair: "So I was just curious. I thought I was pretty bored, but I didn't expect there were other people as bored as me. I just wanted to ask what you all thought."

"Also, from my perspective, I feel that none of you understand women. Your methods of verbal therapy seem quite crude to me. Only women know how to flirt with other women."

Xinzhe and Yingjiang were somewhat unconvinced. Those who can achieve a certain level of success in speech therapy are bound to be proud, but the poet's resume was too impressive. Just a casual remark from him gave them a great sense of pressure, forcing them to admit defeat.

Those involved in literature often argue, but in the end, results always prevail. Facing an opponent like a poet, it's impossible to know where to begin—she is impeccable in speech therapy, academic qualifications, and literature.

The genius girl is flawless.

The prince waved his hand dismissively, indicating that he wanted to skip the topic: "Next, next."

Next, Cheng Xing spoke, looking at Wang Zixu: "Do I need to hide my real name? My pen name is the same as my real name."

Wang Zixu said, "Your situation is special, so you'll have to skip it."

Cheng Xing said, "Okay, then I'll just introduce myself. I'm Cheng Xing, I also graduated from Nanjing University a long time ago, and now I'm a full-time writer."

"I have published dozens of short stories in magazines such as *Fiction Monthly* and *Southern Wind*. My novel *The Monk's Journey* has already been published. I have won the second prize in the New Sprouts Award and the third prize in the New Talent Award. As for my reading volume, it's not very large; I just glanced at this bookshelf and read about half of it."

The others stared at him as if he were a god descending to earth.

Only then did someone realize: "You're Teacher Cheng Xing? Is it really you?"

"Professor Cheng Xing, why did you come here personally to write the script?"

Cheng Xing smiled modestly: "I simply admire Mr. Little Prince and wanted to meet him in person. Even if I don't earn a single penny in the end, it would be worth it to learn about Mr. Little Prince's creative philosophy."

Everyone was speechless.

Wang Zixu didn't know what to say either, so he turned to look at the last, taciturn boy: "And you?"

The timid boy said, "My name is Xiao Ba... I'm nothing special compared to everyone else. If I were to say I'm special, it would be that I see myself as a fire-breathing mechanical Godzilla."

Everyone fell silent.

Wang Zixu said, "I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you meant."

Xiao Ba said, "That is to say, every time I write, I have the illusion that I am Godzilla. I feel that I am ugly and ferocious, I am strong and tyrannical, and I have the power to destroy everything. I both hate and like this version of myself."

"But I'm too emotional. I'm jealous, I'm vulnerable, I shut myself off. I piece together my own body with iron plates and use the flames of jealousy to ignite others. That's why my writing often hurts people. I'm only ranked around 30th on the daily bestseller list, and I don't know why I was chosen."

Only after understanding it did I realize its greatness. Xiao Ba's speech was even more shocking than hearing about a bunch of 985 graduate students. Everyone remained silent for a long time.

Wang Zixu said, "Regardless of your self-perception, you must first accept yourself."

"Thank you, Mr. Little Prince," Hachi said. "Actually, I feel really good right now. This is the first time I've told anyone I'm Godzilla, and I've never felt so relaxed in my life. Thank you, Mr. Little Prince."

Sakura-chan murmured, "Perhaps, that's the charm of Teacher Little Prince."

Prince Xu told them to have free time and read some books first. He then slipped away to find Ye Lan and whispered:

"Aren't there some oddities about the people we selected?"

Ye Lan was talking to the cook at the time, informing her of her work. After hearing Wang Zixu's words, she said:

"You have the nerve to call others weird? You and Zuo Ziliang are both incredibly weird, okay? I feel a lot of pressure working with you every day. You should really reflect on yourself."

After saying that, she added, "Now that everyone's involved, they've all come from far away. You and Zuo Ziliang chose them. If you're not satisfied, don't come looking for me. But the script task has to be completed! You only have 20 days."

Prince Xu said, "Don't worry about that."

He turned around and saw a figure in a black trench coat, hands in pockets, walking towards the living room. It was the Little Prince.

Reassured, he followed the little prince into the living room.

(End of this chapter)