Chapter 6

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

At the Main Building of the University of Iowa, in Hades’ office.

There was a long line at the door of his office.

It was filled with students who were waiting to hand in their graduation thesis with anxiety written all over their faces.

There were also students who came out of the office.

They were mostly frowning because they had been harshly reprimanded by Hades.

Hades was nicknamed as “King of Hell”, which fit his name.

It was definitely a well-deserved reputation.

He was very strict with his students and many students had not seen a smile on his face even after four years with him.

All of the manuscripts that were sent over were badly criticized.

Many thin-skinned girls with high self-esteem were even scolded to tears by Hades on the spot.

Fang Yuan overheard two people gossiping when he was waiting in line.

One of them was frowning. The manuscript in his hand was filled with red marks which took up almost 90% of the manuscript.

These red marks represented the parts that needed to be revised.

The other person’s manuscript did not have any red lines at all. It was pure white and flawless.

The person with the red-marked manuscript said enviously to the latter, “I’m jealous of you. The manuscript that I submitted is a complete goner. Other than a few sentences that didn’t need editing, the rest of it needs to be revised.”

The student who had the unmarked manuscript let out a long sigh. “Sigh, you don’t understand…at least Hades marked your manuscript, which means it’s still worth his time. As for me, there’s no need for revision because he threw it back to me and asked me to rewrite the entire story!”

It was soon Fang Yuan’s turn to walk into the office.

Hades took the manuscript, put on his glasses, and looked at it carefully.

Halfway through, he took out his phone to search for something, then compared the two.

He suddenly threw Fang Yuan’s manuscript on the desk. “Fang Yuan! Where did you get this novel? Do you think I haven’t read it? Don’t get me wrong, this is the University of Iowa which is the most advanced creative writing center in the world. Everyone is engaged in creative writing, so do you think I’m that ignorant?!”

Hades could not believe his eyes.

The manuscripts submitted by his students were exactly the same as the work on Amazon’s best-selling list.

If this was not plagiarism, then what was?

“I read it last night. It’s a brand-new fantasy novel called ‘The Coiling Dragon’ that just came out recently. The title and content meet all of the requirements of the graduation thesis, and the quality is impeccable. You’re a writer, so you can learn, imitate, and follow the trend, but you must never plagiarize! To avoid misunderstanding, I searched up this book just now and compared it with your manuscript.”

Hades continued angrily, “The character names and places in the first few paragraphs, including every word and every f*cking punctuation mark are exactly the same! Are you trying to test my patience? Or are you just insulting my intelligence?”

At the door, the students were whispering and gossiping among themselves.

“F*ck, he actually copied word for word? He’s too bold.”

“What do you mean bold? That’s pure stupidity! Out of so many works, why did he plagiarize ‘The Coiling Dragon’? That book is so popular now, so isn’t he just digging his own grave?”

“Hades hates it most when his students plagiarize. Fang Yuan’s a goner.”

“According to the school’s rules, there will be a stern warning, punishment, and immediate expulsion.”

Hades’ eyes were wide from anger and looked like a ruthless king. First, he pointed at the web page on his phone, then pointed at the manuscript of ‘The Coiling Dragon’ that Fang Yuan handed to him. “Fang Yuan, the evidence is right here! What else do you have to say for yourself?”

“I have nothing to say.”

“Then are you plagiarizing?”

“Yes.”

Fang Yuan’s expression was unusually calm. His eyes met Hades’ angry gaze, yet he did not show any signs of fear.

He had already become a plagiarist.

That meant that he was shameless.

He continued, “I plagiarized a novel from ‘I Eat Tomatoes’.”

All the students were shocked.

How could he admit that he had plagiarized sounding so righteous and reasonable while standing on the moral high ground?

Then, Fang Yuan’s next sentence shook the entire building.

“What I meant to say is, I am ‘I Eat Tomatoes’!”

“What did you say?!”

Hades’ voice rose by an octave.

Fang Yuan slowed down when he said, “I said, I’m the author of this novel, ‘The Coiling Dragon’. ‘I Eat Tomatoes’ is one of my pen names.”

The crowd was in an uproar.

“Fang Yuan’s pen name is ‘I Eat Tomatoes’?”

“That’s impossible! When I had lunch with him a few days ago, he hadn’t even started writing his graduation thesis.”

“The writing style of this novel is so authentic. How could it be written by a Chinese person?”

“I don’t believe it either. It doesn’t sound reliable and feels like a shoddy lie that was made up in a moment of desperation.”

“If he’s ‘I Eat Tomatoes’ then I’m Shakespeare!”

“If Fang Yuan is the author of ‘The Coiling Dragon’, I’ll eat this keyboard!”

Hades waved his hand and signaled for the students at the door to be quiet.

He just looked straight at Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan’s eyes were clear and sincere. He did not seem to be faking it.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, nor am I saying that I believe you.”

Hades continued, “You need to prove yourself by today. Otherwise, I won’t be able to accept your graduation thesis.”

“It won’t take a day, Hades.”

Fang Yuan took out the publishing contract he had just received from Rainforest Literature from his briefcase.

Then, he took out ‘The Coiling Dragon’ sample book and flipped to the copyright page.

The author was clearly written in black and white on the copyright mark.

[ Pen Name: I Eat Tomatoes. ]

[ Real Name: Fang Yuan. ]

This hard evidence was irrefutable.

“Hahaha! Good, good, good!”

Hades’ attitude did a 180-degree turn. His face, which had been expressionless all year round, was actually brimming with a proud smile.

He even said “good” three times in a row.

“I didn’t expect this masterpiece to be written by you, Fang Yuan. I’m really proud of you, and I apologize for the misunderstanding just now. I hope you don’t mind. I’m just too excited. After all, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen such an excellent work like ‘The Coiling Dragon’.”

Fang Yuan waved his hand to indicate that he did not mind.

Hades was a straightforward person, so his anger vanished just as quickly as it appeared earlier.

“The annual Creative Writing Workshop in Iowa will be held soon. Writers from four nearby states will gather here to participate in the essay writing competition. The reward for the winner is very bountiful, but unfortunately, I can’t reveal it at the moment. I have a VIP pass because I’m a judge.”

As the tutor spoke, he took out a black silver-plated card from his shirt pocket.

On it was a picture of Minerva’s owl taking off at dusk, which symbolized inspiration and wisdom.

“Initially, I wanted to choose the most outstanding graduation thesis for the competition, but now there’s no need for that because it belongs to your book, ‘The Coiling Dragon’.”

“Keep it. I’m looking forward to your performance in the workshop!”

Hades patted Fang Yuan’s shoulder and sent him out of the office.