Chapter 75

In this world, there is no such thing as a "wall," and netizens in the country can basically browse any other websites freely, be it Twitter, Facebook, or sites like B or NSR, BR, and the like.

Lin Han easily found the official website of the Mirror and checked the ongoing heated voting. He discovered that the top-ranked entry was "Dwarf Jump," a few simple English words that somehow counted as a novel, which Lin Han found quite impressive.

"The competition time is almost up, I wonder if there will be enough people to vote."

As he spoke, he quickly typed, translating the shortest science fiction story he had written into English and posting it, just for fun. Whether or not he won didn't matter; it was a way to pass the time and show foreigners the creativity of the Chinese.

After writing this, he noticed that more than 180,000 people had already participated in the voting, but his science fiction story had a pitiful zero votes, making it unlikely to break through.

"The rewards are quite generous; you can publish an article in the Mirror and receive a 100,000-pound prize."

This competition was just a fun activity, not about how brilliant the stories were, but about keeping them as short as possible while still being engaging. It was about writing a few words to win 100,000 pounds, truly making each word worth a thousand!

Lin Han scrolled down a bit and carefully read through the other comments. Many people were imaginative, and the stories they wrote were very novel.

The Mirror is one of the influential newspapers in the UK, a national daily tabloid. The news it publishes is generally considered unreliable and lacks authority, similar to the Sun.

However, this newspaper has the largest circulation in the UK, with each issue selling over a million copies, and it can reach up to three million copies if there is explosive news.

As he read on, Lin Han found many interesting micro-stories. "Oh God, the Queen is pregnant, who did it?" This story, with few words, included religion, royalty, mystery, and sex, making it very eye-catching and receiving over 10,000 likes.

Another story, "Awake, with my own corpse lying beside me," was equally captivating. Lin Han found it both terrifying and absurd, making the hair on his arms stand up, with suspense at every turn.

A film critic also posted his review, criticizing the newly released movie "Cliff's 13 Victims," saying, "I am the 14th!"

These few words made Lin Han laugh uncontrollably. The critic was indeed humorous, sarcastically pointing out the poor quality of the film, making everyone who saw it unable to hold back their laughter, and even some people became interested and wanted to see the bad movie.

Since there were no restrictions on the type of novel, all kinds of content emerged, including many cold jokes, which made Lin Han want to share the links with his friends so they could all have a good laugh.

Suddenly, Lin Han realized that the most influential story he remembered had not been written. The story, translated into Chinese as "God is Dying," and in English as "SN," also had only three words.

"Can't be, this story hasn't appeared?"

Lin Han asked himself and then used Google to confirm his thoughts. Indeed, this three-word story did not exist in the world.

If one were to talk about the shortest novel, it would certainly be this one. Although it wasn't a science fiction type, it didn't stop Lin Han from knowing its fame.

The novel "The Last Earthman" is very short, only 25 words, but "God is Dying" has only three words, making it even shorter!

God is a deity, the starting point of the universe, and according to the Bible and Christian doctrines, God is immortal. However, this story says God is dying, in the present continuous tense, not that God has already died, but is gradually dying.

The original author's intention is unknown, but critics continuously analyzed it, and ordinary people could freely imagine. This blank space in the story made it full of charm.

After hesitating for a moment, Lin Han submitted "God is Dying" just before the deadline. If he had been a minute late, he wouldn't have been able to participate.

Since he submitted at the last moment, his two micro-stories didn't gain much popularity, unlike other stories that had fermented over half a month. Whether he would win was left to fate.

The next day, when Lin Han noticed that fewer elderly people were exercising outside the community, he realized that the Spring Festival had truly arrived.

Beijing seemed to be half-empty, with no traffic on the second ring road, and the malls were quite empty, some areas even feeling like ghost towns, with large residential and office areas without any lights on.

On this joyous family reunion day, Lin Han transformed into a writing maniac, desperately writing the Chinese version of "The Martian." A novel of several hundred thousand words was no easy task, and the writing style was completely different from before.

Unlike the serious and earnest tone of science fiction, "The Martian" is more like a cheerful first-person narrative. The lonely protagonist tells the story of his survival in a dire situation, without emotional entanglements on the space journey, ethical conflicts, or bureaucratic political contradictions. It purely presents the power of science.

There are no villains in the novel, no one stopping the protagonist from surviving and returning to Earth, except for the natural environment of Mars.

This is something that is almost impossible in most novels, as the portrayal of villains is usually a driving force for the plot and a way to highlight the protagonist. A novel without a villain is hard to imagine.

Besides the rigorous science, what attracted Lin Han the most was the optimism in the dire situation. The protagonist, stranded on Mars, did not despair but kept making jokes, sometimes mocking his colleagues' poor taste in music, and other times ridiculing the tastelessness of potatoes.

The protagonist's optimism comes from the realization that pessimism serves no purpose, and optimism is often a byproduct of focused thinking. The reason hard science fiction is so captivating is that it adheres to the highest principle of realism, avoiding unrealistic elements like aliens from billions of light-years away.

The cutting-edge technology in "The Martian" is almost entirely based on existing technology, without deliberately creating a futuristic feel. Whether it's the spacecraft, spacesuits, Mars rovers, or research bases, they are all high-tech that can be achieved with a stretch.

Even the final rescue plan, which involved the Jinguo spacecraft gaining acceleration by flying close to Earth, is a technology that is within reach in reality.

Empowering technology for the present is the unshakable first mission.

With no one to disturb him, Lin Han wrote 60,000 words in the next three days, an astonishing efficiency.

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