After being away from school for over twenty days, Huang Yifan returned to his old routine, doing his own thing during class. The teachers simply turned a blind eye. After all, with his first-place finish in the county-wide academic competition, getting into No. 1 High School was already a sure thing.
The day's lessons flew by, and Huang Yifan finished reading a few more classic novels from this world.
After the evening study session, he headed home as usual.
But before he got far, he heard Zhang Huiping call out to him softly.
"Huang Yifan, did you get the messages I sent on TT a few days ago?"
"Uh, sorry. I haven't logged into TT at all recently. I'll check later."
"No, "
Zhang Huiping waved her hands quickly. "Actually, everything I said in those messages was just random nonsense. Just delete them when you see them. Doesn't matter if you read them or not."
"Alright."
"Great! Just be sure to delete them, okay?"
Blushing, she parted ways with him.
Ten minutes later, Huang Yifan arrived home. Since it was still early, he turned on his computer.
He wasn't sure if 'How a Bad Guy Is Made' had been deleted or not.
He logged into Lingdian Chinese Web and searched for it, but nothing came up.
Yep, 'Bad Guy' had been taken down after all.
A slight pang of regret surfaced, but Huang Yifan didn't dwell on it.
No matter what, he had finished writing it and given readers a proper ending. Whether it got deleted or not didn't matter much anymore.
Next, he logged into the Feilong forum.
He wanted to see what had been happening in the web novel industry lately.
The "Jianghu Chatter" section, a place for gossip and industry updates.
If anything stirred in the online literature world, it could be found here.
"Lingdian in Turmoil: Book Deletions Cause Public Outrage"
"Online Censorship Not an Isolated Case, Authors Urged to Stay Calm"
"Lingdian Hit Hard by Censorship Fallout, Falls Out of Top 3 Platforms"
"Many Top Authors Declare They Won't Publish New Works on Lingdian"
"Huanyue Headhunts Badao with Major Offer; Lianheng Responds Swiftly"
"New Challenges for Revenue Sharing Model, Buyouts Become Hot Topic"
Feilong's forums were indeed the industry's weather vane, with all sorts of discussions constantly emerging.
Huang Yifan read through post after post, and after about half an hour, he had a decent grasp of the latest developments in online fiction.
Government censorship had struck hard, and once the state got involved, it reshaped the entire industry.
The worst-hit was clearly Lingdian.
Though they were forced into it, choosing to take down and lock many books, the decision still violated authors' interests.
Some authors had left Lingdian for other platforms; it was to be expected.
Naturally, top-tier competitors like Huanyue and Lianheng wouldn't sit still. Now was the perfect time to hit Lingdian while it was down.
Authors like Badao, who had once competed with Huang Yifan, had already been poached by Huanyue.
And Badao wouldn't be the last. Over the next month or two, more big-name authors would surely jump ship.
Alongside all this, a new buyout model had been introduced.
Unlike the revenue-sharing system, where authors only got paid if the book made money, buyouts meant the website paid a flat rate per word, regardless of sales.
For example, if an author was paid a certain amount per thousand characters, the platform would pay based on word count alone, even if the novel didn't earn a cent.
No doubt, this stable and predictable income was more tempting than uncertain royalties.
And with Lingdian in chaos, even the top-tier authors were being drawn to these buyout offers.
After reviewing everything, Huang Yifan remembered what Zhang Huiping had said and logged into TT.
He was curious what she had written to him.
But the moment he logged in, the computer beeped nonstop. Message alerts flooded the screen.
You've got to be kidding.
Judging by the chaos, at least a few hundred people had messaged him.
Suppressing a headache, he opened them one by one.
"White Boss, you've been gone for days. We all miss you."
"White Boss, hope you're okay."
"White Boss, just check in if you're alright. Let us know."
"White Boss, looking forward to your next book."
These were from readers, over a hundred of them. Huang Yifan was moved and replied to each one.
Then came messages from author friends: 32, Jiangcheng Yinan, Red Bean Bun, Supergod, Qingyun… all checking in.
He wanted to respond to each personally, but his hands still ached. Instead, he opened the "Hardworking Writers" group chat and posted one message:
"Hey everyone, just checking in, I'm still alive, no need to worry."
The moment it appeared, the group exploded.
"Whoa, White Boss's back!"
"So glad you're okay!"
"We were all so worried."
"Ah… your 'Bad Guy' got deleted. Hope you're holding up."
Everyone in the group was a fellow author, sending messages of support.
"I'm fine. Just overdid it a bit these past ten days, gonna rest for a while."
Huang Yifan smiled. It felt good to be cared about by peers.
Even though he didn't know any of them personally, they still cheered each other on and sent best wishes.
"Yeah, definitely take care. Your crazy update streak over those ten days really put us under pressure. But it also earned our respect. Still, don't push yourself like that again; health comes first. By the way, did you get any offers?"
That was from 32 in the group.
"Offers? What offers?"
"You didn't get any?"
"I've been resting up, just logged into TT today. I have no idea what you're talking about."
"No wonder, you should check your messages, some editors might've reached out."
32 gave him a heads-up.
"Alright, I'll take a look."
Having already browsed Feilong, Huang Yifan now had a basic understanding of what was happening in the industry.
He didn't know the specifics of these "offers," but he was starting to get the picture.
He exited the group chat and resumed going through unread messages.
"The Number One White Under Heaven, we're very sorry we had to delete 'How a Bad Guy Is Made'. Hope you understand."
"Any plans for your next novel? If so, we'd like to offer a buyout contract."
"Are you there?"
"The Number One White Under Heaven, what's your phone number? I'd like to give you a call."
These were from Wuyue, Lingdian's editor.
"Apologies, I hadn't logged in, so I missed your message. I haven't been using my phone either, so no number at the moment."
Huang Yifan replied to Wuyue and then reviewed the friend requests he'd received.
One was an editor from Huanyue.
Another was from Lianheng.
A third was from Tianying Literature, formerly considered a second-tier platform.
The last two were from websites he didn't recognize well.
After thinking it over, Huang Yifan accepted the requests.
Not long after, the fastest to respond was the editor from Huanyue.
"Hello, is this The Number One White Under Heaven? I'm Xueliu, chief editor at Huanyue Fiction. We're very interested in your next novel. Have you considered publishing it with us?"
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