The Path of Copying Texts

That's right!

Li Congxin was determined to become a Copycat Writer, and he set his sights directly on Doupo Cangqiong, a novel that had once blazed across the internet in his past life and was hailed as a Fantasy Textbook.

As a textbook for fantasy novels, Doupo possessed many of the strengths of online literature, the most prominent being its intense conflict and rapid pacing. Once you read the first ten thousand words, congratulations—you were hooked, and you couldn't put the book down.

Li Congxin planned to be a Copycat Writer, so he naturally had to start from scratch. Using this book to break into the scene was the best choice he could think of.

Over the next period of time, Li Congxin's time was almost entirely devoted to two things: exercising and writing.

With the help of the BGM, Li Congxin managed to reduce his weight from the original 120 kilograms to 95 kilograms in just half a month, shedding a full 25 kilograms—an average of nearly one kilogram per day! His appearance had also transformed from a massive fat man into an ordinary fat man.

In the following half month, Li Congxin's weight loss continued at the same pace, smoothly dropping from 95 kilograms to 70 kilograms. After showering and looking in the mirror, his muscles were sharply defined, with almost no visible flab. Even his originally bloated face, swollen from obesity, had returned to a normal appearance.

You have to admit, after successful weight loss, this body's looks were even a bit more handsome than Captain America's.

Staring at this face that could only be described as "unremarkably" handsome, and then thinking back to the pig-headed, fat-eared look before the weight loss—truly, one fat ruined everything!

Complementing the weight loss effect was a significant improvement in his physical fitness, even more pronounced than the weight loss itself.

Now, in terms of strength, speed, endurance, reaction time, and explosive power, he had more than doubled his previous levels, placing him among the physically stronger segment of ordinary people.

When school started again, he was sure to shock everyone!

On the other side, Li Congxin's writing progress wasn't particularly fast, averaging only about 20,000 words per day.

If he were writing an original novel, that speed would be considered lightning-fast, but as a Copycat Writer, it was clearly a bit embarrassing.

Still, there was no helping it. The social and cultural backgrounds were different, so even copying couldn't be a verbatim transcription.

For example, one of the most obvious issues was the "Harem Novel" style. This was fine in Huaxia, where ancient times practiced polygamy, and emperors had Three Palaces, Six Courts, Seventy-Two Consorts, with a harem of three thousand beauties. Poems like "Three Thousand Beauties Lose Their Color" and "Three Thousand Favorites in One Body" were perfect depictions of this phenomenon.

But in the Western worldview, the concept of polygamy didn't exist at all.

To put it bluntly, you could have lovers, mistresses, or irresponsible one-night stands, but you absolutely could not commit bigamy!

On this point, even their ancient emperors were no exception, let alone anyone else.

Of course, this was just one example. There were many other aspects that seriously conflicted with Western values, all requiring modification, and it was precisely these issues that severely hampered his writing speed.

Seeing that his manuscript had accumulated to a decent size, Li Congxin felt it was time to release it and earn a wave of Impression Points.

Publishing it through online literature channels was out of the question, as there was no suitable platform. So, he had to go the physical route.

With that thought, Li Congxin immediately picked up his phone and dialed a number: "Hello, is this Uncle Marcus?"

Marcus Williams was not some basketball player who had gone to develop in an Eastern Ancient Country, but rather a police captain at the Manhattan Precinct, a middle-aged black man who bore a slight resemblance to Michael Jordan.

In earlier years, Marcus had been one of Li Congxin's parents' closest friends. After that accident, he had even served as Li Congxin's guardian for a year, until Li Congxin turned sixteen and inherited his parents' estate, at which point the guardianship was dissolved. It had only been a little over two months since then.

All in all, Marcus could be considered a close elder relative of Li Congxin's. When he needed some social connections, Li Congxin thought of him first.

"Clark?" Marcus's steady voice came through the receiver. "What made you think to call me today?"

"I was just missing you."

Marcus snorted. "Get to the point. Don't give me that fluff." Well, after being corrupted by two generations of Li Congxin's family, Marcus's speech had taken on quite a Chinese flair.

Li Congxin chuckled. "You guessed it. I called because I have a small favor to ask. It's hard to explain over the phone, so I'll come find you."

Marcus was taken aback. "How do you know where I am?"

"By listening, of course," Li Congxin laughed. "With that background music around you, besides Martha's Gym, is there any other place in New York that plays it?"

The music playing in Martha's Gym was Calories, and it was the version with an enhancement effect.

This was another attempt by Li Congxin to apply his golden finger. By attaching music produced by the God-Tier BGM System to a designated music player, he could create an amplification effect, influencing everyone within the music's range. However, since the effect was spread out, the maximum boost anyone else could receive was no more than half of what he got when using it himself.

Li Congxin wasn't about to be too generous. He set the exercise enhancement to 5% and the reduction effect to zero.

This way, he could increase Martha's Gym's appeal without being too conspicuous.

Because the enhancement was just right—people could feel a tangible difference after one workout, and through word of mouth, Martha's Gym's reputation spread.

And since the enhancement wasn't too strong, even if someone suspicious noticed, they'd just attribute it to good feng shui, good air, or some other reason, without ever imagining a golden finger they'd never heard of.

As it turned out, after sharing the effect of Calories, Martha's Fitness Club's popularity indeed soared. Now it was packed every day, and Li Congxin had earned a considerable amount of Impression Points from it. His balance had gone from zero to a new high of 3,546 points.

More than half of that was thanks to this bold move of his.

When he saw Li Congxin again, Marcus was so shocked he could hardly believe his eyes. "Clark?"

Li Congxin nodded with a smile.

"Oh, my God!" Marcus made an exaggerated expression. "I heard you'd lost weight, but I didn't believe it. I never thought you'd succeed to this extent. You know? Before you spoke, I was wondering who this handsome young man was!"

Li Congxin gave a polite smile. "Uncle Marcus, I came to ask for your help with two things." He pulled out a printed document and handed it over. "I wrote a novel over summer break. Here's the first thirty thousand words. You have a wide network—could you introduce me to a publisher?"

"You wrote a novel yourself!"

Marcus wiped the sweat off with a towel from the treadmill, then took the manuscript and glanced at it. "I don't read much, so I can't say if this book is any good. But you're in luck—I happen to have a friend who works at a publishing house right here. I'll have him take a look. Hey, Cook, come check this out!"

At Marcus's shout, Li Congxin turned his gaze to two white men on the other side, who were chatting and laughing while working out their arms.

One was a middle-aged man in his forties, looking steady, while the other was a young man of sixteen or seventeen, with a fierce face like an angry Gorilla, whose terrible looks ruined the vibe of a sporty boy.

Wait, doesn't that description sound a bit familiar?

That's right!

That young man was none other than "Gorilla" Joe Cook, the same one who had fainted from anger at school after clashing with Li Congxin!

Just now, Uncle Marcus had called that middle-aged man "Cook." Did that mean the two of them...

Just as an ominous feeling arose in Li Congxin's heart, Gorilla's gaze landed on him.

The next moment...

"Clark Li! What the hell are you doing here?"

Even Marcus, who had once been Li Congxin's guardian, hadn't recognized him at first, yet this Gorilla managed it easily.

As they say, your enemy always knows you best, doesn't he?

"Dammit!" Gorilla spoke again: "I was too careless in our last match. I demand a rematch—the loser apologizes!"

Seeing Gorilla's attitude toward him and his closeness with the man Marcus had called Cook, Li Congxin knew he'd need another way to get his novel published.

In that case, why hold back?

Time to clap back!

With that thought, Li Congxin answered without hesitation: "I refuse."

"Why?"

Li Congxin said matter-of-factly: "If I lose, I apologize to you. If I win, I get nothing. Would you take a deal that stupid?"

Received 3 Impression Points from Joe Cook!

Gorilla fumed: "If I lose, I'll apologize to you again!"

Li Congxin refused without missing a beat: "An apology is like a woman's first night—only the first time has real value. From the second time on, it depreciates tenfold. That kind of bet still puts me at a loss."

"So, you'd better give up on that idea."

Received 6 Impression Points from Joe Cook!

The middle-aged man seemed uninterested in the children's quarrel. He took the manuscript from Marcus's hand and asked casually: "What's this?"

Seeing Li Congxin and Gorilla at each other's throats, Marcus felt a headache coming on. As for getting the favor done, he'd already lost hope.

But since the man had asked, he had no choice but to steel himself and introduce Li Congxin, then said: "Clark recently wrote a novel. This is the opening draft. He wanted me to help find a publisher."

"Alright, I'll take it home and look over the quality first. I'll give you my answer tomorrow."

Though the man's words were polite, Marcus could already tell the chances were slim. He turned to Li Congxin with an apologetic look: "Clark, you said you had two things to ask me. What's the other one?"

Li Congxin said: "I want to learn some fighting techniques. Uncle Marcus, do you have any recommendations?"

Marcus's face showed difficulty: "My combat skills were all honed at the police station. You definitely can't go there. So... I'm sorry, I can't help."

"I'll take Joe home and look over this manuscript. We won't disturb you any longer. Goodbye." After politely taking his leave of Marcus, the middle-aged man left Martha's Gym with Gorilla.

As soon as they stepped out the door, Gorilla couldn't help protesting to the middle-aged man: "Dad, you were way too polite to that kid today. If it were me, I'd have thrown those scraps of paper right in his face."

The middle-aged man patted his shoulder: "If I did that, I'd not only seem classless, I'd lose Marcus as a friend. Even if I wanted to throw the manuscript in his face, I'd wait until I'd read it first. Then I can tear it apart as worthless. That'll get back at him for you and leave him speechless. Even Marcus won't have anything to say then."

Gorilla's eyes lit up, and he immediately gave the middle-aged man a thumbs-up: "Dad, you're way smarter. Why didn't I think of that?"