I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 3
As the Miss Grim Reaper left, the spacious room fell into silence once again. Sitting in the computer chair, I remained stunned for several minutes, trying to make sense of the recent chain of events. I reached out with my small hand, placing it in front of me—
These hands were graceful, with long and delicate fingers, their skin as fair and tender as white jade. The flesh beneath the fingernails was healthy, displaying a lovely pink hue, free from any blemishes or scars. They were clean and flawless, like a perfect work of art.
*Slap**slap* I patted my plump little face.
It hurt. This was not a dream.
My gaze moved to my chest. It had only slightly swelled, and the surrounding skin was equally smooth, as pure as newly fallen snow, resembling a newborn baby’s. I looked quite cute.
Then there was my flat belly, the absence of excess fat, and the elegant and shapely legs.
Without a doubt, these were the legs of a little girl. They were slender and graceful, and the tiny feet beneath them were particularly petite. An adult could likely hold one foot in a single hand. In the soft lighting, these little feet appeared slightly rosy, and each toe resembled playful pearls, alluring in their own way.
My goodness… is this really my body? Has this child already grown up?
I attempted to straighten my feet, thinking about getting off the chair. But then I discovered an awkward fact—my sitting position was so high that I couldn’t reach the ground, even with my legs fully extended.
This computer chair was one I purchased when I graduated, and at the time, my 1.75-meter height allowed me to easily touch the ground. But now, as a girl, it seemed I had to use a “jump” motion just to get off the chair!
This was infuriating!
With a heavy heart, I took a few seconds to estimate the location of the slippers under the chair. Then, with a “plunk,” I jumped off.
“Ah!”
The sensitive soles of my feet felt an unusual sensation as they came into contact with the pair of adult slippers. It made me involuntarily cry out. This body was extremely sensitive!
The size-43 slippers I had bought at a supermarket a few years ago did not provide any comfort when worn on my feet at this moment. They were much too large. Nearly with every step, I had to shuffle my feet within the slippers. Judging from the size of these little feet, my height now was probably less than 1.4 meters.
I made my way to the corner of the room to the wardrobe. Looking at the floor-length wardrobe with its handle perfectly aligned with my forehead, I couldn’t help but shake my head in frustration.
I definitely wouldn’t have any women’s clothing in the wardrobe of a grown man, but I should be able to find something that could at least cover my body. The grim reaper may have assigned me to write and sign contracts, but I couldn’t just sit in front of the computer stark naked, could I? That would be far too indecent!
Underwear—too big. Shorts—way too big. Jeans—still too big.
Even with a belt to cinch them tightly, I couldn’t wear most adult-sized clothes with my current petite physique.
In the end, after fruitlessly searching for suitable clothes, I put on an oversized T-shirt, which draped down to cover half of my thighs. When I wore it, the shoulder parts hung loosely, revealing my pale collarbones. It hung rather loosely around my body, but I made do with it as an oversized “dress.”
“Damn it! I’ll make that damn Reaper wait! Don’t underestimate a broke uncle like me! I won’t submit!”
After changing into clothes, I hopped back onto the chair, adjusted the height and angle, and took hold of the oversized mouse. I checked my email.
?I’ve read the beginning and the outline of your novel, but as per our standards, we can’t offer you a contract right now?
To my surprise, the editor from the biggest light novel website, “Honeydew Light Novels,” had sent me a message three minutes ago, a rather long one:
?The main issues with your novel are excessive descriptions of scenery and too many character introductions at the beginning. After a long passage, there’s no focus, and you haven’t created any ‘anticipation’ for the readers. Usually, a novel’s opening should have some sort of ‘cheat’ or a main character with a unique ability, and you have neither?
?Furthermore, your later plot seems a bit too ‘cruel.’ Novel authors should serve a wide range of readers. That means we need to write some plotlines that the majority of readers can accept. In Chapter 2, your protagonist’s ordeal seems a bit too off-putting. It’s not that you can’t write such plots, but if you do, you need to make the readers understand that the main character will bounce back. You didn’t create anticipation here, and the pacing of the story is also poor?
?If you’ve decided to sign a contract here, make the changes I mentioned. Trim down the excessive scenic descriptions, as well as irrelevant conversations that aren’t central to the main plot. Start with the protagonist’s introduction in the eighth paragraph and revise the later plot. After you’ve made the changes, send it back, and I’ll review it again?
“…”
So detailed!
It took me five minutes to read and reread this response from the editor named “Tuzi.” After confirming that my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me, I moved my trembling mouse to the chat box and clicked it.
“Tap-tap.”
Because my hands had become much smaller, the keyboard on the desk was relatively larger for my current self. This had some impact on my typing speed and feel. However, this didn’t dampen my excitement. In less than half a minute, I rapidly typed, “Thank you, Editor-san. I’m going to make the revisions now,” and pressed the Enter key.
As expected… the rumors online were true. This “Honeydew’s Number One Beautiful Girl Editor-in-Chief” was indeed very responsible towards authors. Even for my draft, which had been rejected by several websites, she had gone into such depth to review it and even provided revision suggestions.
You see, the websites I submitted to before either replied with “Unable to contract” or “Doesn’t match our website’s standards.” Some of the less polite ones even said, “This is too dark,” or “What did you write?” Only this Honeydew Light Novels editor pointed out the issues in my novel’s beginning and gave me a general direction for revisions.
There’s hope!
As long as I can get a contract, half of my financial problems will be solved. It’s May 2nd today, and if I can get a contract today, there will be nearly 30 days left until the end of the month. During these 30 days, I might receive some rewards from readers for my new book, and I’ve already gotten used to cooking at home. I have plenty of rice and eggs at home, so with an income of around 300 per month, I’ll definitely have enough to eat.
The only thing left for me to deal with was my rent…
“Ding-ding-ding-ding—”
Shortly after sending the message to the Honeydew Light Novels website’s editor, I received an invitation to a new group chat on Messaging App, titled “Yae-Do Authors’ Rights Protection Group.”
“Uncle’s here.”
“Uncle! We’ve been waiting for you!”
As soon as I joined the group, several chat messages popped up in this clearly recently created group chat.
Most of the people in the group were familiar to me. They were authors from the same website where I used to publish, all under the same editor. My author ID used to be “Uncle Loves Loli,” and people who knew me well would refer to me as “Uncle.”
Yae-Do Novels was the website that owed us one month’s worth of payment and then went bankrupt.
The reason I was in such a predicament this month was because I assumed there would be payment to cover my rent, but it never came.
“What’s going on here?”
After a quick check of the group members, I replied to the message about me: “What are you guys up to?”
Someone messaged me: “Uncle, I remember you live in Shenzhen City, right?”
I responded, “Yes, I do live in Shenzhen City. What’s the matter?”
“Perfect, the owner of Yae-Do Novels is in Shenzhen. Some authors and I have already discussed it, and we plan to go to your place tomorrow. At least 20 people, all old friends, we want to meet up together.”
“Yeah, let’s get together and also demand the overdue payments from that owner.”
“We’ve been writing books together for so long and haven’t met in person yet. Uncle, you were the most active in the group before. Don’t stand us up. After we meet, we’ll collect the payments together. Those who don’t show up will be left out.”
“I must go then!”
Seeing the opportunity to recover overdue payments, I quickly replied, “You guys can decide on the location, just announce it in the group when it’s set.”
“OK, we’re waiting for that response, Uncle.”
“All right, I’m off to revise the beginning of my novel. Carry on chatting.”
Thinking about how I could get a contract and recoup the overdue payments, two things that had been giving me a headache just an hour ago, I stretched happily in my computer chair.
“Oh no…”
Then, I heard my current voice.
It was soft and cute, a perfect imitation of a little girl’s voice.
Wait, this didn’t make sense.
Meeting offline?!
Realizing what I had said earlier, I quickly reopened the “Yae-Do Authors’ Rights Protection Group” chat:
“See, I told you Uncle is very easy-going. Shenzhen City is a supercity, having a local guide will be much better.”
“I remember Uncle saying he’s almost 30, is he really an uncle?”
“Why are you harboring unrealistic fantasies? Did you write a silly novel? I’ve read Uncle’s books. With that writing style, he’s definitely a hardcore real man.”
“Haha, I was just asking casually. I might be there around 12 PM tomorrow. Uncle is a key figure in our operation.”
“…”
Um, guys, I’d like to take back that statement “I must go.” Is there still time?