Chapter 3#
Fang Jun was a reader on Liuliu Web.
He was also a heavy web novel enthusiast.
From the time he started reading web novels in middle school until now, when he has already started working, it has been a full dozen or so years.
Short videos, movies, and TV series—Fang Jun didn’t care much for any of them.
He just liked reading stories, and not only did he like reading, but he also liked reading the comments of other readers.
Consequently, with a vast amount of reading under his belt, he quickly transformed from a naive reader who wasn’t picky about anything into an “old white” reader who was constantly in a “novel drought.” To find good stories to read, Fang Jun had to download several web novel apps on his phone and jump back and forth between them daily.
His standards were very low—he didn’t ask for something mind-blowing, just something to pass the time.
And today, he accidentally discovered a new serialized story called “Song of the Earth.”
Driven by a strange impulse, Fang Jun clicked on it.
But as soon as he saw the number of chapters, he couldn’t help but frown: “What the hell, only three chapters updated?”
He wouldn’t read anything with fewer than two hundred chapters!
Looking at the comments and clicks again, they were basically next to none.
A sense of pity naturally arose in Fang Jun’s heart. He opened the first chapter, planning to flip through it casually, thinking that this little author would probably be so discouraged that they’d abandon the story in a couple of days.
Since he was so kind, should he leave a comment to encourage them?
Fang Jun was fully prepared for the writing to be absolute nonsense, but to his surprise, after reading just a few pages, he couldn’t stop.
The protagonist of “Song of the Earth” was named Yang Liu, a genius youth who was exceptionally admitted to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and had just turned 18 this year.
As everyone knew, the CAS was full of talented people.
But the protagonist, purely by virtue of his extraordinary abilities, extremely high work efficiency, and intimidating sharp tongue, became the “Devil King” famous throughout the CAS—
Not only because he started the story by tinkering with a small generator in the school dormitory, but on his first day at the CAS Nuclear Research Institute, to relieve his boredom, he actually used laboratory materials to build a replica Condor air rifle by himself!
“Holy crap, is this some big shot using an alternate account?”
Before he knew it, Fang Jun was hooked.
By the time he flipped to the last page, his eyes widened. Looking incredulously at the system’s fixed pop-up message “This story is not yet finished, please wait for the next installment~”, he couldn’t help but curse out a beautiful phrase in his native tongue.
But soon he got excited again, thinking that if this was really written by a newcomer, then that was incredible!
However, as an “old white” reader, Fang Jun couldn’t help but think—with such good writing but still being so cold, it must be because the chosen subject matter wasn’t right.
It was too logical! What logic do web novels need?
Just being “refreshing” is enough!
So Fang Jun rolled up his sleeves and wrote a several-hundred-word writing guide to post:
“The author writes very well! But I have a small suggestion: you should add a system or some other ‘gold finger,’ and then place a few beautiful researchers next to him. Don’t write ‘stallion’ novels, that’s too low, but there can be jealousy and rivalry; in short, you must show the protagonist’s charm! Also, the protagonist’s personality shouldn’t be too mild; otherwise, without conflict, how can he slap people’s faces?”
“Also, the process of the protagonist doing scientific research can be appropriately omitted. Focus on how he is appreciated and promoted by big shots. No one wants to see the specific research content; it’s all fake anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Here I recommend a few books that are written relatively well in this regard, such as ‘Rebirth in the City of XXXX’, ‘Black Tech Big Shot XXXX’, etc. The author can learn from them!”
Looking at his comment, Fang Jun thought smugly that he was the first reader to give the little author a long review, and it was full of “dry goods” (solid advice). At that time, the author would surely be moved to tears of gratitude!
But to his utter surprise, ten minutes later, Fang Jun refreshed the page and a message popped up under his comment—
Yan Heqing: “Thanks.”
Thanks? That’s it!?
Fang Jun was so angry he unfavorably removed it from his favorites on the spot.
This author deserves to have no one reading!
Thousands of miles away, 008 let out a cry of agonizing grief: “You just finished replying, and you lost another favorite!”
Qiao Jing was busy coding: “Aren’t there still over twenty left? What’s the rush?”
“Only twenty-eight! No, wait, now there are only twenty-seven.”
008 felt more and more that it had been hoodwinked by Qiao Jing.
At this rate, one million reputation points—even waiting until the year of the monkey (forever) wouldn’t guarantee they could finish collecting them!
“But you reminded me, true,” Qiao Jing paused his typing, saying thoughtfully, “This alternate account is different from before; it’s better to reply to reader comments as little as possible. After all…”
The content he was about to write next was something that could accidentally blow the lid off the world.
Xingchen Web, the 7th Author Conference.
The time for this year’s conference was slightly later than in previous years, mainly because of the Qiao Jing incident.
Due to CEO Yao Jing’s instructions, the gift reception session and seating arrangements that the staff had already organized had to be readjusted. The huge posters that were ready to be hung also had to be remade because the name “Jing Hua Shui Yue” was on them.
“The tea goes cold as soon as the person leaves,” a young man with the pen name Sa’en, whose real name was Sa Yi, sat lazily in the seat with his nameplate, watching the staff busy themselves below. “Jing Hua Shui Yue was a veteran big shot of Xingchen Web after all, right? CEO Yao is really… resolute. Have they thought about how to deal with his readers?”
The editor nearby, Wang Cheng, looked at the messages on his phone and said without looking up, “Merchandise and books will continue to be sold as usual. As for other issues, the website won’t provide any explanation. The data department previously calculated that the average age of Jing Hua Shui Yue’s readers is several years older than the average age of web novel readers, so they won’t make a scene. Don’t worry.”
Hearing this, Sa Yi’s face darkened.
What did that mean? Was he implying that the readers following his own stories were all elementary school students?
“I just hope Brother Jing’s ‘Buddhist-style’ readers will continue to support him as always,” he said sarcastically. “However, I don’t know which corner he’s run off to now to write stories. Or has he just given up and stopped writing altogether?”
“Don’t think too much,” Wang Cheng frowned and looked up. To be honest, he really didn’t like Sa Yi’s personality—not only was he arrogant, but he also spoke with hidden barbs. “Since Jing Hua Shui Yue has left the website, he has absolutely nothing to do with you, me, or CEO Yao anymore. He won’t be unaware of his own outcome, and there’s no need for you to treat him as an imaginary enemy anymore.”
“Who’s treating him as an imaginary enemy?”
Sa Yi’s eyes widened. He slammed the table hard and sneered in a raised voice, “Don’t make me laugh! Is Jing Hua Shui Yue even worthy? We’re all just coding to make a living, yet he always acts like he looks down on everyone. The higher-ups told him to edit his story and he wouldn’t; they told him to engage on Weibo to coordinate with celebrities promoting TV dramas and he wouldn’t do that either. So the one who’s kicked out today is him! Not me!”
Isn’t it just that he’s been writing for a few more years than me?
It’s not like he’s some international superstar, acting so stuck-up!
Watching Sa Yi’s angry departing figure, Wang Cheng shook his head.
He didn’t bother explaining to Sa Yi that Qiao Jing wasn’t actually arrogant; he was simply not good at—nor did he like—socializing.
“Indeed,” he murmured to himself, “a wolf that eats meat is not as good as an obedient dog.”
This little interlude didn’t affect the smooth opening of the Author Conference.
As Wang Cheng had said, the readers of Jing Hua Shui Yue at the scene indeed did not cause any trouble.
Since many had come, they would also buy a few books by other authors to queue for signatures.
—But the final tally showed that the ones with the highest sales were still the books by Jing Hua Shui Yue.
Yuan Chengdao, while packing his things, loudly lamented to several other authors participating in the conference: “Aiya, this might be called ‘The brother is not in the jianghu, but his legend lives on.’ All those side tricks are low-class; in the end, you still have to clash with real blades!”
Sa Yi expressionlessly picked up his backpack, kicked his chair aside, and left the venue without looking back.
“A-choo!”
Qiao Jing, who was being talked about behind his back, let out a loud sneeze.
He looked at the favorites count on the screen, which finally surpassed a hundred, and nodded: “Look, three digits.”
008 forced a smile: “Ah, yes, three digits… haha, finally three digits…”
Even a “nugu” (nobody) idol who was unsearchable on the internet could get several thousand viewers in one night by starting a livestream!
Hearing 008’s listless voice, Qiao Jing knew it definitely hadn’t given up on its plan to have him debut as a star.
“It’s already serialized up to over twenty chapters; it’s ready for recommendations. Didn’t the editor just ping me today saying I need to add more updates to climb the new book rankings? At that time, the readers will surely increase. Don’t be so pessimistic.”
He rarely spoke such a long sentence in one breath.
But 008’s kitten appearance was just too deceptive; Qiao Jing felt as relaxed in front of it as if he were home alone, with absolutely no communication barriers.
Hearing these words, 008 managed to muster a bit of spirit: “Will they increase? By how much?”
“Well…”
Qiao Jing had never written on Liuliu Web before, so naturally, he wasn’t sure.
When he was at Xingchen Web, except for his first book, every time he started a new story, tens of thousands of readers would follow the daily updates from the beginning.
If he were to take a massive discount based on that, a conservative estimate would be…
“Maybe two or three hundred more?”
He guessed.
008: “…”
The kitten let out a groan of agonizing grief.
Facing such a “Buddhist-style” host, it was completely in despair.
The goal was to earn one million reputation points, but the reality was a debt of ten thousand and zero daily income.
What author? It would be better off going out on the street to find a beggar!
However, just as 008 decided to give up and lie flat in despair, in a laboratory of a certain C9 university, several students were engaged in a heated debate over the content of the latest chapter of “Song of the Earth.”