FWTS ### Chapter 133: Project Approval

Back in Ruicheng, there was no waiting around for Taizan and the others to eat. After sitting in the board game café for a while, Hou Muyun headed home. The café was close to his place, just a five-minute walk, and he parked the car at the store's entrance to avoid parking hassles. Although there were empty parking spaces in the community, with all the running around recently, he hadn’t yet gotten a permit for the gate from the property management after getting his car registered.

Once home, Hou Muyun really did get to work on his drafts. Although one of his new books had some stored drafts, he took it very seriously and felt the need to make further revisions. The other book wasn’t as urgent, given the ample time available. 

He had the story outline ready quite some time ago, but back then, he wasn’t confident enough to write it. Now, with improved writing skills and inspiration, he felt ready. Over the next few days, he planned to slowly organize a detailed outline and gather some substantial materials—hard science facts.

Regarding the new book, Qichuang had suggested holding a launch event, considering Hou Muyun’s current popularity. However, due to time constraints, Hou Muyun declined, opting to promote it himself through livestreams and Weibo. Since he held all the rights to the book, Qichuang didn’t insist but promised to provide ample promotion in other areas.

After revising the draft of the new book, he started looking for materials on Good Books Online with his phone.

"**A Brief History of Time**, **A Brief History of the Universe**, **A Brief History of Black Holes**, **A Short History of Nearly Everything**, **The Universe in a Nutshell**…"

Hou Muyun quickly picked out books. He then added "**The Grand Design**, **Does God Play Dice?**, **Antimatter**, **The Theory of Crystal Dynamics**, **Mechanical Behavior of Materials**, **Quantum Universe**, **The Human Brain is Slightly Bigger Than the Entire Universe**, **The Long Things**, **Earth and Space**, **Inevitable**, **Out of Control**" to his cart—a series of books related to science and nature.

Continuing his search, he added "**I, Robot**, **Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea**, **The Time Machine**, **Shockwave Rider**, **The Fountains of Paradise**, **The Stars My Destination**, **The Mars Trilogy**, **The Diamond Age**, **The Rainbow’s End**, **Blazing**, **The Three-Body Problem**, **The Maze of Death**, **Killing Algorithms**"—about fifteen hard science fiction novels.

Altogether, he selected around thirty books of popular science and about fifteen hard sci-fi novels, totaling around fifty books.

Undoubtedly, Hou Muyun’s other new book was a sci-fi novel, but he wasn’t aiming to write hard sci-fi despite buying so many books. Even with his high comprehension, he couldn’t acquire deep knowledge of scientific and physical laws just by reading these books. Writing a hard sci-fi novel was beyond reach.

His goal was simple: to understand and learn some common scientific and natural knowledge as well as interesting scientific fantasies, and then use that foundation to brainstorm. He intentionally avoided selecting soft sci-fi novels to stay uninfluenced by their writing styles and related imaginations. As for plots and ideas, he never lacked those.

Of course, Hou Muyun didn’t know how much of the purchased books would be genuinely useful, but he bought them anyway, deciding to read and see.

After placing the orders, he washed up and went to bed.

The next morning, he spent writing his old book and drawing comics, returning to livestreaming at noon. In the afternoon, he received the express delivery—a whole box of books, which was quite heavy.

In previous instances, Hou Muyun had many book deliveries, but he usually had them dropped off at the security office.

“Hey handsome, why do you always buy so many books? You really love studying, huh? This is really heavy, let me help you carry it up.”

The delivery guy struggled to move the box and looked at Hou Muyun, saying, “Um, um…are you Houzi? It’s really you! I love watching your streams. When I miss them, I even watch the replays! You’re so talented and hilarious!”

“Thanks, thanks,” Hou Muyun replied, taking the box.

The delivery guy didn’t let go, “It’s heavy, I’ll help you take it up.”

Hou Muyun took the box and smiled, “No need, no need. Your van is still here. Losing any packages wouldn’t be good. I can manage it. Didn’t you see the gym episode? I’m quite strong, you know.”

“Oh, that’s true.”

The delivery guy smiled shyly and hesitated for a moment, "Could you give me an autograph?"

"Sure."

Hou Muyun signed for the package and turned to walk into the building.

The delivery guy was stunned. "Not a receipt, though. I need to submit this delivery slip to the company, man."

"Just kidding."

Hou Muyun laughed heartily and came back, "Got any new paper?"

"Yes, yes, I do."

"Smile, buddy, I'll draw a picture for you."

"Hey~~~"

"Yeah, just like that. You look great. Oops, too much, dial it back a bit."

With a few quick strokes, Hou Muyun sketched a simple yet bright cartoon of the delivery guy, signed it, and took a selfie with him.

"Keep it up."

"Mm, will do."

The delivery guy, holding the paper, watched Hou Muyun enter the building. Feeling exceptionally cheerful, he hopped back on his electric tricycle and continued his deliveries, full of energy.

After getting home and unpacking the delivery, Hou Muyun organized his things and, after some thought, placed a second book order. This time, it consisted mostly of books on robotics, artificial intelligence, dynamics, mechanics, and thermal weapons—over fifty books in total.

Time to dive in!

Hou Muyun closed his eyes and picked a book at random from the pile of popular science books. With so many, he wasn't sure where to start. As for basic knowledge of chemistry and physics, he had some foundation. If he encountered anything too tricky, he'd look it up online.

He made himself some coffee and settled in on the tatami mats and cushions on the balcony for the afternoon.

Without a doubt, these books were extremely challenging to read. At first, he frequently had to look up additional information. Despite his ability to read quickly and his remarkable memory and comprehension, he only managed to get through three books by the end of the afternoon.

Still, even three books would be an impressive feat for most people.

With those three books down and a lot of supplementary reading, his pace gradually picked up. After three days, he could read seven books in an afternoon and ten in a day, including evening reading!

He also took a lot of notes.

After all, the saying "the faintest ink is better than the best memory" holds true. Writing things down helps reinforce memory.

Time flew by, and on January 8th, Hou Muyun received a call from Chu Qing around noon. "Xuanyuan Sword Master I" had successfully been approved for production and had obtained a filming permit.

Additionally, the basic setup of the crew was complete. Departments like directing, cinematography, art, costumes, and makeup were all in place. Locations were being coordinated, and pre-production was nearly finished. The only major task remaining was casting.

In terms of actors, Qing Tian Films and the production team had already shortlisted some candidates and started initial negotiations.

Soon, news of the "Xuanyuan Sword Master I" TV series approval spread online!


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