Chapter 152: A Lasting Solution (Please Subscribe)

"Is this guy out of his mind? How on earth did he get into Peking University?"

Yang Ling complained from the side. To challenge Zhang Chu for nothing more than an illusory reputation—no matter how one looked at it, this train of thought was completely abnormal.

An Mi couldn't figure it out either. That title wasn't something Zhang Chu had given himself in the first place; why did some people always regard fame as so terribly important?

No wonder he had helped sign him up; it turned out he wanted to step on him to make a name for himself!

Zhang Chu had seen right through Tang Wanli's intentions. He wasn't afraid of a fight, but he refused to be manipulated by others.

His previous approach of keeping the peace had probably led Tang Wanli to believe he was a pushover. Zhang Chu rubbed his nose; of course he had to strike back fiercely now, lest every Tom, Dick, and Harry start thinking they could trample all over him in the future.

"I definitely have to accept the challenge. But I can never let myself be dragged down to the level of a pure lunatic; he'll pull my IQ down to his level and then defeat me with his rich experience."

Zhang Chu muttered to himself. He simply took out his phone, logged onto the BBS, and replied: "Self-awareness is a virtue; the weather's cleared and the rain has stopped, so now you think you're capable again. To all my friends who have opinions or views about me, feel free to join Tang Wanli and come at me together. That way, we'll save others from popping up to trouble me in the future."

What he wanted was a once-and-for-all solution. He had probably courted too much the spotlight lately, and Peking University was full of hidden talents. While some might not share Tang Wanli's extreme views, many likely felt that the title of Peking University's top literary talent was somewhat undeserved.

A fierce life apparently needed no explanation; Zhang Chu intended to take on an entire crowd all by himself!

If people were going to pull stunts like this every day, he wouldn't have any time left to study, live, or write. A permanent solution was much more thorough.

His three roommates were all stunned by Zhang Chu's overpowering arrogance, while simultaneously feeling a vague sense of anxiety.

People in the country traditionally valued the Doctrine of the Mean; someone who displayed their edge so sharply probably wouldn't win much public affection.

The forum, which had long fallen silent, had sprung back to life over the past week. Many former upperclassmen had abandoned the Weiming BBS long ago, failing to log in for ages and even forgetting their login passwords.

Something long discarded by the times was now experiencing a massive surge of users utilizing the "Retrieve Password" function, all triggered by Tang Wanli and Zhang Chu.

The forum hadn't been this lively in ages, and the concurrent user count had even hit a three-year peak!

Tang Wanli was somewhat well-known within Peking University, having won high placements in quite a few literary competitions and essay contests. At the same time, his eccentric personality had greatly boosted his notoriety.

As for Zhang Chu, although he was a newcomer, his fame was by no means small. He had made a sensational splash during the college entrance examinations, followed by earth-shattering lawsuits and copyright transactions, and then compounded by his recent freshman welcome speech. Even those senior PhD candidates knew that Peking University had produced such a freshman.

The collision between the two was like a bolt of lightning striking dry firewood; both freshmen and seniors flocked to watch the spectacle, eager to see who would emerge victorious!

"This seems to be an essay competition hosted by the China Writers Association. I feel like Tang Wanli's writing style is better suited for this."

"I just went and searched for this competition; it has many different categories. If Zhang Chu chooses to compete in poetry, what is Tang Wanli going to do? Nobody's ever heard of him writing poetry before."

"If I were Zhang Chu, I'd definitely choose my own strengths and target Tang Wanli's weaknesses."

"Hahaha, I heard there's a good show to watch, time to rise from the dead and check in."

"I've been at Peking University for almost six years, how come I've never heard of this title 'Peking University's top literary talent'? Who bestowed it?"

"What does Zhang Chu's reply even mean? Is he planning to take on ten thousand single-handedly?"

"I don't know how great his skills are, but he sure talks big!"

"What kind of competition is this? I'm going to sign up too!"

...

"Old Zhang, why don't you choose poetry? Both of your poems were selected and published in *Poetry Periodical*, your chances there seem higher."

At the dining table, Sun Ruiqi and the others began offering advice, well aware of Zhang Chu's current predicament.

Zhang Chu took a sip of water, shook his head, and said, "Writing poetry isn't all that interesting. If you want to defeat people, you hit them right where they excel the most. Coincidentally, I have a new book coming out, so we might as well do both at once."

Compared to the anxiety of others, Zhang Chu was far more composed. He had absolute confidence in the quality of *Life of Pi*. While it might not be a masterpiece on the same tier as *One Hundred Years of Solitude*, it was definitely a soul-stirring piece of work.

It explored the conflict between Eastern and Western cultures, was rich in religious metaphors, featured a thrilling, intricate, and engaging plot, and boasted exceptional prose and narrative structure.

"Once I write it out, you'll understand. I plan to use a foreigner as the protagonist for this new book. I'll head over to the library later to borrow some reference books."

Seeing Zhang Chu's utter confidence, Yang Ling's curiosity instantly flared up. "I'm actually looking forward to this. Roughly when can you finish writing it? The deadline for that essay competition is very close—only five days left."

"Five days??" An Mi puffed out his cheeks in extreme astonishment, hurriedly swallowing the food in his mouth. "Is five days enough to write a full-length novel? You still have classes!"

Zhang Chu stroked his chin and calculated earnestly. When he went home tonight, he would use the system to repeatedly review the contents of *Life of Pi*. The ten-fold time dilation would give him more than enough time to study the material.

Once the material was digested, he could type it out directly in the real world. Writing two to three hundred thousand words in five days was indeed a formidable challenge.

"It should be enough. The deadline isn't until Sunday midnight, so I'll go into seclusion and write over the weekend."

When the time came, he would have to fly through the keyboard. Zhang Chu, normally a slow typist, suddenly felt eager to leap into action and test his limits.

Yang Ling wanted to say something else, but not wanting to dampen his friend's confidence, he twisted his words mid-sentence. "Then you'd better give it your all. If you can't finish a full-length novel in time, writing a novella or a short story works too."

"Exactly, Old Zhang, don't let yourself get trapped by Tang Wanli's reverse psychology. Since he signed you up so quickly, he must have prepared his competition entry long in advance."

Sun Ruiqi saw through the situation clearly. Though Tang Wanli's emotional intelligence was lacking, his raw intellect could not be underestimated.

That fellow had waited until the essay competition deadline was right around the corner before challenging Zhang Chu—clearly premeditated, attempting to use a meticulously polished piece to defeat Zhang Chu, who was rushing into the contest.

"I don't care what ghosts or monsters he throws my way; writing a good work in five days isn't impossible."

Zhang Chu said nonchalantly. As long as the judges for this essay competition were fair, his odds of winning were quite high.

His only concern was that while this essay competition was called "China Good Literature," he was writing a story about a foreigner. That would likely cost him some impression points in the eyes of the judges, even if the contest didn't explicitly restrict the content.

Perhaps his next book should involve adapting a foreign classic into a localized story, but the workload for that would certainly be massive and ill-suited for this particular contest.

After all, with only five days left, Zhang Chu wasn't confident he could rewrite a work in such a short window. That wasn't just a matter of changing the protagonist's name and identity to Chinese; the entire cultural background, character dialogue, and psychological activities all needed to align with Chinese domestic thinking.

That could only be considered a deeper, future goal. Since he was currently studying modern and ancient Chinese, after studying for a while longer, he could put his learning to the test!