At this point, Otto had already guessed the answer.
Su Nian simply hadn't looked at his phone!
If he had, he would have probably accepted Schicksal's invitation long ago.
With Otto himself serving as Su Nian's life mentor, only one person could refuse such a temptation...
But it wasn't a big problem.
Two judges had requested to connect with Su Nian at the same time... That was already an extremely rare sight.
Everyone present turned their eyes toward Welt.
Wouldn't it make him seem a little out of place if he didn't join in?
As it happened, he had a few questions he wanted to ask as well. Since someone had already taken the lead, he might as well go along with it.
"I agree."
Those in the know couldn't help but gasp.
What kind of prestige was this?!
Su Nian had absolutely made history in the competition!
Although the judges attending previous competitions had differed, the three judges back then had interests similar to those of the current three.
Their interests were all different.
It was difficult for any work to attract all three judges at once and satisfy them.
This was absolutely a historic moment!
Although Eden hadn't lavishly praised Su Nian yesterday, she had actually taken the initiative to request a voice call.
She kept a low profile, but the moment she spoke, she dropped a bombshell!
Judges! Where had your pride gone?!
Su Nian had become the Wailing Wall! You could only gaze upon him from afar, never overstep your bounds!
That year, he had merely made a slight move and shattered all kinds of records in the competition's history.
Su Nian had been bid on during the very first day. From that moment, I knew I wouldn't be surprised by whatever came next.
Had Heaven not given us Su Nian, writing would have been an endless night for all eternity.
"Very well. Let us now have a call with this highly anticipated rising star and lift the veil of mystery around him."
As soon as Elysia finished speaking, the production crew behind the scenes immediately got to work.
They had been busy for so long. Su Nian should be waking up around now, right?
After checking and confirming that Su Nian had opened his livestream, the staff switched half the screen over to him.
Inside Livestream Room Thirteen, Su Nian had already been staring blankly at his phone for quite a while.
Could someone tell him why there were so many messages on his phone?
Whether it was the original owner's private account or his social media accounts, the notifications had exploded. The only thing in the backend was a red 99+ icon.
Su Nian had truly never seen anything like this!
Could it be that he hadn't written the plot well enough, so people disliked it and were cyberbullying him?
Su Nian had never imagined becoming popular so suddenly. He had thought the work lacked the time to build up momentum...
Just then, the program team's call request popped up, and an announcement instructed Su Nian to check his computer.
"Contestant Su Nian of Number Thirteen, please check the pop-up on your computer... Contestant Number Thirteen..."
After the prompt sounded several times, Su Nian got up and checked the computer that had been sitting there for ages.
[New Youth Creation Competition] has sent you a communication request. Would you like to answer?
Su Nian couldn't help but freeze.
This was an even rarer situation.
Could this be... the legendary judge review process?
Because of their massive workload, judges would not casually choose contestants to connect with.
Only when they saw a work with the potential to become a smash hit would they be willing to speak with its creator and decide whether to offer a few pointers.
Could The Past's Paradise have unexpectedly become popular?
Su Nian found that a little hard to believe.
But there was nothing wrong with thinking that way. Opportunities for windfalls were few and far between.
Luck and ability were both indispensable.
If Su Nian hadn't stood out during the earlier round of 128 to 64 and caught Eden's attention, it would never have had such a huge impact.
If the words Su Nian wrote hadn't possessed a sense of imagery that even he himself didn't understand, he wouldn't have caught the attention of the people in this world.
And if the other contestants in his cohort hadn't been so weak, making him look impressive only because "comparison with peers brings out excellence"...
There had simply been too many coincidences leading to this situation, so many that Su Nian himself felt it would be enough if a few people read it.
It was also because he had never expected such a situation that seeing so many messages made him mistakenly think he was being cyberbullied.
It probably wasn't anything bad. After thinking for a moment, Su Nian chose to accept.
Then, the program team's computer in front of him was remotely controlled and automatically switched to the judges' livestream, allowing them to connect more easily.
"..." Su Nian fell silent. What was with their gazes? Even through the screen, they seemed ready to scorch him.
The pressure was a little intense.
"I am Eden. Contestant Su Nian, this is the first time you and I have met."
"There is no need to be nervous. I am merely curious about your work and need your help clearing up a few doubts. Could you share your creative ideas with me, Contestant Su Nian?"
Eden did not directly ask about that matter of "sense of imagery." It was not something suitable for public display.
Besides, she was only curious about where the story would go next.
"..."
Creative ideas, huh? Starting with a lethal question right away.
He didn't really know much about that.
Although miHoYo had all kinds of videos interviewing its writers, Su Nian... knew absolutely nothing about them.
His gaming life consisted of only three stages: grinding furiously, having nothing to do, and figuring out how to kill time when there was nothing to do.
But Su Nian still remembered the concept PV for The Past's Paradise.
Then perhaps it would still be reasonable to use that line now?
"The Past's Paradise... merely presents a few stories that are still somewhat interesting. Nothing more."
A brief answer. Given the current situation, the more he said, the more mistakes he might make.
I knew it. Anyone who can write cryptic plots must be a cryptic person too.
Bro, this is a discussion. Don't get so immersed in the story that you can't come back out!
But don't you think that sounds cool?
Wwww, it really is a little cringe. When Raiden Mei fought Chijie earlier, the lines were pretty cringe too.
Men remain boys until they die. What's wrong with being a little cringe?
Su Nian's answer seemed to say nothing, but for Elysia, that was precisely the essence of The Past's Paradise.
The cornerstone of truth was buried beneath the dust of bygone days. The final paradise at the end of the world was also the fated grave of the Flame-Chasers.
The concept PV for The Past's Paradise had been jokingly called "the second five-year plan," and it had been foreshadowed for a very long time.
In an earlier Honkai Impact 3rd collaboration event with Genshin Impact, Otto had mentioned one of the plans: "Beyond Good and Evil, centered on thirteen sinners, telling of the life-and-death struggle of bygone days."
What an enormous game he had been setting up.
As Eden listened to those words, the fog in her heart still had not dispersed.
Yesterday, Su Nian had written in his notebook in a secretive, evasive manner for a full three or four hours.
That made Eden extremely curious. What exactly had Su Nian written?
If she interpreted Su Nian's answer only on the surface, there was simply too much room for maneuver.
It was like putting on more than a dozen layers of armor beforehand to avoid being proven wrong.
A calculating... young man?
Taken literally, it meant what Su Nian was currently showing in the main text.
All the complicated plotlines he was writing now had only one purpose: introducing the Thirteen Heroes of Fire. That matched the synopsis.
But his writing mainly focused on introducing several Flame-Chasers with relatively "special" identities.
It wasn't that the others were unimportant. Rather, novels needed to distinguish between primary and secondary focus.
Only after several main characters had been fully fleshed out would more people pay attention to the work.
Once there was enough traffic, people would start paying attention to those other characters as well.
That was perfectly normal. Some people thought too highly of themselves and wanted to grasp everything at once.
Yet they often failed to understand their true abilities. Unable to achieve what they envisioned, they instead made their work bland and lacking in distinction.
At least for now, Su Nian was not someone whose ambition exceeded his ability. Though talented, he was not arrogant.
Pride was not a major problem. Arrogance was.
Only when a creator's mindset was stable could their work remain stable. Su Nian had done well in that regard too.
"The story of the Previous Civilization and what is recorded in The Past's Paradise may seem like two different stories with two different tones, but the Previous Civilization is the story's general framework. Only when the scattered clues in The Past's Paradise are pieced together does it become a complete story..."
"While you were still writing, I told all the viewers that I would invest in your story. Now, as an investor, I ask you this..."
"In the end, do you intend to fully write both stories, combine them, and make them into one whole?"
That decision would determine the future direction of the story.
Su Nian had created the story, so naturally they had to listen to him. But Eden was uncertain about where the story was headed...
Su Nian's earlier answer had left too much room for interpretation.
That was why she needed to ask more specifically now. This was also the question she truly wanted to ask.
If Su Nian only wanted to write the story of the Previous Civilization, then why begin with The Past's Paradise?
Wouldn't it have been enough to directly write about the Previous Civilization's situation, where hope existed amid despair?
Why did things have to become so complicated?
That was the core of Eden's question.
A sudden surprise had fallen onto Su Nian's head, but this was not the time to let happiness overwhelm him and lose himself in it.
Su Nian instantly understood what Eden meant.
Only by piecing together the Previous Civilization and The Past's Paradise could one see the complete state of the Previous Civilization.
But that also raised a question, one only Su Nian knew.
Perhaps...
In their eyes, Su Nian had created Raiden Mei merely because he needed a camera.
Although Raiden Mei had received some characterization, she was not as eye-catching as the Flame-Chasers.
Indeed, if the story of The Past's Paradise were separated out on its own...
Then it seemed that it didn't matter who this successor was.
The Flame-Chasers were what mattered.
The Flame-Chasers should have been the protagonists of this story.
But Su Nian knew that the one who unveiled The Past's Paradise for the audience and players had to be Raiden Mei.
This was Kevin's promise to Elysia.
Before you continue