Lin Yu was now certain that Zuo Xi's sense of "familiarity" toward him had not been his imagination.
She was indeed familiar with him—the "joke" she had nearly blurted out before swallowing it back was one piece of proof.
And even stronger proof...
Was Zuo Xi's "lies" themselves.
Ninety-nine percent of her lies were true—her claims about "gathering material," "protagonists," and so on were perhaps all her genuine thoughts.
But...
Zuo Xi had used the method of deception Lin Yu was best at: lying with truth.
There was a "time difference" within her narrative.
For an outstanding writer... what she was using was the orthodox, formally trained "narrative trick."
But Lin Yu had already seen through it.
"You didn't start watching me because of this [Instance], did you?" Lin Yu looked at Zuo Xi. "You noticed me and spent some time collecting information and material about me, right?"
Zuo Xi looked at Lin Yu without denying it.
"Yes."
Lin Yu asked, "Was it after the [Ground of No Return]?"
Zuo Xi shook her head. "A little earlier than that—probably... around the time Nian died. I activated my ability and received a metaphor... It took me some time to confirm that the metaphor pointed to you."
Lin Yu exhaled. "So it was then? You were very familiar with 'Nian'?"
"We'd only met. Anyway, after that I discovered something." Zuo Xi lowered her voice, and a notebook appeared in her hand. "Your experiences are very interesting—most 'Players,' especially those who grow quickly, actually have fairly interesting experiences. But the narrative quality of their stories is limited to 'material'..."
"In literary theory, writing is divided into fiction and nonfiction—but I've never believed there is any completely fictional or completely nonfictional writing in this world. Every story has an 'archetype,' and every piece of