When Ren He got home and was about to take a shower, his body suddenly stiffened because he saw his father sitting on the living room sofa watching the evening news as he opened the door. He knew Uncle Huang must have reported the school incident to his dad, and as far as he remembered, his dad was supposed to be on an inspection in the county at this time; how had he suddenly come back?
In the two parallel worlds, the historical trajectories of Ren He's parents hadn't changed much, so at this moment, he felt as if he were back to being a child waiting for judgment after committing a mistake. This feeling was quite strange; it had been many years since he last experienced it.
Sir Ren turned to glance at him, "I heard from the neighbors when I came back that you've been exercising lately? Going for a run downstairs every day?"
"Yes, it's for fitness and health..." Ren He replied offhandedly, knowing this was just the opening act, and the main topic was about to come.
"Don't engage in dangerous behavior anymore. When it's time for school, focus on studying; when it's time for work, focus on working. Only by doing what's appropriate for each stage of life will your life be mistake-free and without regrets," Sir Ren spoke in a matter-of-fact manner.
"Mhm, got it," Ren He knew he absolutely couldn't talk back at this time. The things he wanted to do had to be done in secret, or else he would face a disastrous situation... there was no reasoning with this man.
"Go on, take a shower and get some sleep. Exercise is good, but you also need to know your limits," Sir Ren put a full stop to the conversation for today.
Ren He hurried back to his room and let out a sigh of relief. He hadn't expected that even in this new life, he was still so nervous in front of Ren. He had known from the start that it was better to keep a low profile with his punishment task and writing novels, at least it was best to keep Ren from finding out, because for a parent like Ren, heresy was not acceptable.
Without any tasks pressing on him, Ren He enjoyed this brief moment of tranquility; by the end of this month at the latest, when the royalty payment was issued, he feared another task would appear.
However, just as Ren He was breathing a sigh of relief, the Divine Punishment System suddenly said in his mind, "A new task has been released. Within 3 days, create new work. The host may choose the content. Reward: 0.5 body quality."
Ren He was stunned, then cursed in his heart, couldn't it just let him have a break? It seemed he had guessed right; the Divine Punishment System truly encouraged the cultural entry into parallel worlds. Perhaps this world's entertainment industry had taken a wrong turn, as Zhou Wumeng had said. This world's China had undergone too many events like the burning of books and burying of Confucian scholars, literary inquisitions, etc. Hence, entertainment had never really advanced, and now the System wanted to slowly make up for it?
But the problem was, creating new work brought on new punishment tasks!
Ren He asked, "The works I create for these tasks, there won't be any punishment, right? There shouldn't be, since you're the one requesting the creation."
"There will be punishment!"
Damn it! Really shameless! Ren He then asked, "What if I don't accept this creative task?"
"Annihilation!"
"You win," Ren He lay down on the bed, his mind racing. It seemed his future tasks would come one after another, and unlike the punishment tasks, tasks like this direct creative one would inform him directly of the rewards.
A 0.5 increase in body quality meant that if he completed this task, he might reach his adult body strength ahead of time.
Alright, since it's another assassination task, no point talking about that. Right now, the real deal is pondering what to create that can be finished within three days—it definitely has to be a short piece.
Copy another classic like the Three Character Classic? Forget it, that kind of classic stuff, one might get away with creating without suspicion, but if there are more, chances are it won't work. This isn't like writing songs or fluffy fanfiction; crafting a classic requires depth.
Hey, I can write songs. Although I've never planned on taking the singer-songwriter route and don't want to dip into that circle, I can still sell songs; after all, the income from selling songs is rather substantial. Ren He doesn't want to enter that circle because, in his past life, he'd heard too much about the entertainment industry. His best friend was the assistant director to a certain Mr. Zhang, a big-name director in China, so he knew quite a bit of insider information.
The entertainment industry is a mess; depression is common, and the slightest things can trigger a full-blown spat. That's not the life he wants.
Of course, there are also those who naturally go their own way, never caring about rumors and gossip, never wishing to partake in social events, just wanting to sing. But that's based on an unending stream of quality works. Yet, who dares to guarantee their creative inspiration and wellspring will never run dry?
If you can't achieve that, you're just struggling on the fringes of the industry, not even really part of it. What's the point then?
Ren He considered for a moment and decided to use songwriting to complete this task. After all, writing songs is fast, and he'd just obtained the reward of music theory knowledge from the task.
He picked up some manuscript paper from the desk, drew the staff lines freehand, and began to write out the complete music for that classic song from his memory. Once the music was written, he started filling in the lyrics—this was all too easy for Ren He now.
After finishing, he wrote the title at the top of the manuscript paper: The Brightest Star in the Night Sky.
Ren He, having a voice akin to a drake's in both of his lives, quite enjoyed listening to music. He listened to everything, as long as it was good—folk and rock being his favorites.
However, even though he had written the song, he had no plans to send it out immediately. After all, he was still unfamiliar with this world's entertainment scene and didn't know who it would be best to send it to. For now, it was best to hold onto it. He chucked the manuscript paper into a drawer.
After creating, he awaited the Divine Punishment System's reward and the corresponding penalty task...
As expected, the Divine Punishment System arrived on time: "Congratulations on completing the creative task, reward: 0.5 in physical fitness."
Then came the task: "Penalty task: Complete 90 push-ups within one minute, task deadline 20 days, failure results in assassination."
Hey, this task doesn't come with a risk to life, that's interesting. It seems the Divine Punishment System does have a conscience after a creative task, the difficulty level has dropped quite a bit.
But now the problem arises. Ren He had heard that the Guinness World Record for the most push-ups in one minute is 110. Although his task is 20 less, it's still not that easy to accomplish. After the reward, his physical fitness has increased to 3.11, which is still within the range of a normal adult, but those who achieve world records are beyond ordinary people's capabilities! He timed himself and managed to do 76 push-ups in a minute.
He knew he had an advantage: although his strength had reached that of an adult, his weight was still that of a teenager. So even though he hadn't trained at all, he could still do 76. The principle behind this is simple: adults have greater strength, a burst capacity of about 480 pounds, but they also weigh more, so push-ups consume more stamina. Ren He weighed at most 100 pounds, so with the same strength, it was, of course, easier for him.
It looks like the remaining gap of 14 push-ups is the target for his efforts over the next 20 days.