Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 266 Amazing First-Run Data

Yahu Fangshu, Dongyang County.

Lu Siwen rubbed her eyes and slowly put down the book "The Timeless Cohabitation Manual" in her hand.

As the serialized manager of the blog and microblog, Zhai Da's close partner and a close friend who entrusted their writing to each other, she naturally had the opportunity to read the contents of this book long ago.

But reading on a screen is different from turning the pages of a paper book and reading with illustrations. The latter allows you to calm down and appreciate the charm between the lines of the text.

Lu Siwen bought three copies of the story at the Jianshe Road bookstore early in the morning: one to read, one to keep, and one to keep as a backup. She calmed down and began to savor the story from the beginning again.

I was deeply impressed, filled with admiration, and filled with envy.

Especially at the end of the story, the male protagonist chose the loneliest yet kindest approach in order to redeem the female protagonist's broken childhood.

He changed his "future self's" past, which led to the death of Gu Xiaonian's father, and also erased the traces of his own existence.

He defeated the seemingly perfect "future self" and also abandoned the imperfect self, thus exiling himself.

"Zhong Ming has been forgotten by Gu Xiaonian in the past."

"From 2008 to 2024, sixteen years will take him to smooth out the wrinkles of time, until they are reflected on his face."

"The future has been changed. Will he still be able to wait for his Gu Xiaonian sixteen years later? Zhong Ming doesn't know."

"Only during the times of living alone, being alone, and waiting alone, do I occasionally look up."

"Yet I find myself still abandoned in this long era."

Lu Siwen sighed deeply and slumped onto the desk, the little rabbit's soft outline pressed against it.

"This is really well written!"

The interpretation of a book can vary from person to person. For a young girl like Lu Siwen, the most profound thing is the relationship between the male and female protagonists, but perhaps for others, the most intriguing thing is the suspense of "overcoming the future".

Even a certain giant might be more interested in the detailed "near future".

Regardless of its literary merit or marketability, this novel is of top-tier quality.

It took Lu Siwen more than ten minutes to break free from the sadness of being banished by time and look at his manuscript on the desk.

It was surrounded by a small wall made of multiple university textbooks, and two photos were pasted on the "wall": Kobe Bryant and Conan Edogawa.

The art styles are quite contrasting, especially the former's grinning face.

In the middle of the city wall is the manuscript of "The Past of Dongyang", with a gorgeous fountain pen on it.

Lu Siwen strictly followed the "learning methods" taught to her by Zhai Da, and the results were immediate. She felt that her writing skills had improved by at least two levels, and she was also very hardworking, so hardworking that she didn't even have time to visit Zhai Da during the winter vacation.

Aside from eating and sleeping, I spend most of my time writing.

The reason it took so long was that her "ambition" grew after her skill level improved, and the revision almost became a rewrite. Moreover, "The Past of Dongyang" reached 28 words, nearly twice the length of "The Long Road of Lü".

However, it's finally coming to an end.

It's just a little bit short.

Lu Siwen looked at the two photos. She had actually been secretly thinking of hanging up Zhai Da's photo as well, so that every time she wrote about cardiology, she could look up and see Zhai Da smiling at her.

It's better than Kobe smiling at you.
They were just afraid of disrupting the formation.

But now, she has a new solution.

Lu Siwen turned to the "someone" beside her and said, "Almost there! Just a little polishing of the ending is left. Keep it up, Zhai! I'll catch up with you!"

In the quiet room, on the "roll-up banner" that he had been persuaded to buy from the bookstore, "Zhai Da" wore an encouraging smile.

Behind the banner stood a giant rabbit doll with its two arms outstretched in front, as if "Zhai Da" had grown out his hands.

------

When the new book went on sale across the country, it sparked a sales frenzy and subtly fueled a discussion about the "near future".

The author himself is riding an electric tricycle, speeding along a dirt road in the countryside.

As the saying goes, the fewer wheels, the more enjoyable it is to drive, and he's starting to like this electric tricycle.

It feels even more exhilarating to drive than the Panamera.

Because the wind was blowing right on your face, and the motor was humming right under your bottom.

With a clatter, the tricycle bounced and lurched, causing the sheep's rump on the back to sway as well.

As expected of a mature sheep, even in death its rear end is sticking up.

After glancing back to confirm that no passengers had gotten off early, Zhai Da continued forward.

Today is the second day of the new book's release. Phoenix Media called early this morning to report the statistics for the first day of sales.

The confirmed sales figure is around 9 copies. Some bookstores have been slow to respond, so the actual sales figure should be around 12 copies.

That means the initial print run of 50 copies was only enough to sell for four days.

However, this was no challenge for a large publishing group. With additional printing and shipping, four days was enough to replenish the market.

The data from the release of "How Long Will I Love U" is truly astonishing.

The data from the first day revealed a significant increase in the number of people waiting at the bookstore. Many bookstores even had queues forming before they opened, all specifically asking to buy "How Long Will I Love U".

Some of them are classmates or friends, some are book clubs or similar groups, and the largest one is probably the "Zhai Da Bar" on Baidu Tieba, which organized a small event.

This demonstrates that Zhai Da's appeal as an author has reached the top tier in the industry, with a large and devoted fanbase and high user engagement. The name Zhai Da has acquired its own "brand effect."

As long as its reputation doesn't collapse, "How Long Will I Love U" will become another new peak in the author's career.

Will it crash?
Of course not. Even if readers read to the tragic ending, they will only love him more.

No one will remember how many times they laughed yesterday, but they will definitely remember how many times they cried.

If you love your readers, let their tears flow from their eyes.

After speeding along, a well-known writer arrived at No. 99 Luochuan Road, carrying the carcasses of four adult lake sheep.

After walking through the large iron gate, Zhai Da twitched his nose, but didn't smell any stench of decay.
I wonder how the pig underground is doing. Anyway, he has received a system message about the mission progress. The completion rate has reached (1/5). It is estimated that it has been entangled by the roots of the [Execution of Old Elm] tree and has begun to absorb it.

He was curious, but he could restrain himself; he really didn't want to dig it open and take another look.
Zhai Da dragged the four sheep into the pre-dug pit and began to cover them with soil using a shovel.

The crows overhead just stared at them, and these indigenous people seemed to prefer "observing" to "cawing," which made it all the more eerie.

There's no going back on this. If people saw him burying so many intact corpses, they'd think the famous writer was performing some kind of cult ritual.

He clapped his hands and looked up at the crows.

He was prepared and took out a handful of peanuts from his pocket.

He raised his chin to gesture to these "auspicious ancient creatures," then used his thumb as a trigger to flick the peanuts one by one.

His nimble hands provided unparalleled accuracy, and flicking objects was Zhai Da's specialty. Every peanut flew precisely to the crow's beak, at the apex of its parabolic trajectory as its force weakened and it began to fall.

For the crows, it's almost a still place; they only need to open their beaks to get to the food.

This wasn't the first time they'd been fed. The crows ate the peanuts precisely, and Zhai Da waited a while before feeding them several more times.

He had already counted them; there were a total of 13 crows executed on the old elm tree.

This is recognized as the most intelligent bird, with a very high limit to domestication. Its intelligence level is equivalent to that of a 5-7 year old human, or even close to that of a chimpanzee. In the wild, without anyone teaching it, it can use tools and even make simple tools.

Feeding them peanuts was purely on a whim, and also to prevent these guys from disturbing the corpses I buried.

After confirming that the baby was full, Zhai Da clapped his hands and prepared to leave.

Suddenly, the largest crow in the treetop flapped its wings and landed.

"Flap! Flap!"

Zhai Da instinctively wanted to dodge, but he held back.

Unexpectedly, the crow landed on his shoulder.
With a stiff neck, the crow turned its head, its scarlet eyes only centimeters from its face, tilting its head to examine the feeder.

These birds, with a body length of over 40cm and a wingspan of over 80cm, are much larger than ordinary people imagine, and standing on one's shoulder is like being a hawk.

But no matter how intelligent and perceptive it is, it's still a wild animal, and it's not impossible for it to suddenly peck at him. Zhai Da felt a little uneasy: "Brother Crow, aren't we getting too close?"

As if it could understand human speech, the crow cawed and flew back to the tree.

It resumed its posture of crouching on the branch and looking down.

Zhai Da breathed a sigh of relief, wondering if he had tamed the crow.

So he tentatively raised his arm, pointed, and said, "One more time, fly down!"

The crows:
Its small, scarlet eyes seemed to be saying: You think you're so great?
Zhai Da shrugged, abandoning his foolish attempt. Regardless of whether these guys could understand him or not, he scattered the remaining peanuts in a corner, waved his hand, and said, "You guys continue guarding the house. I'm leaving."

Old Yu should be able to complete the unsealing task before the start of the school year. I wonder how Lu Tao's design is going.

------

Back in Sanmao neighborhood, the first thing I saw upon entering my home was my mother's little grumbling.

"I haven't seen him for days. What have he been up to these past few days?"

Zhai Da smiled and said, "I've just published the book, and I have some work to do."

"The book is all finished, is there anything else I need you to do?"

"Go to the bookstore and experience the excitement of the readers."

Yu Xiaoli stopped hesitating and handed the mop to Zhai Da: "Go ahead and mop the whole house twice."

Zhai Da: ? ?

"Didn't we just do a thorough cleaning before New Year's Eve? Why are you doing it again?"

"You were still breathing before New Year's Eve, so be serious and go now."

Zhai Da knew perfectly well why his mother had started cleaning the house again, but he just smiled and didn't resist anymore.

Carrying the mop, I walked inside, glancing at the storage room as I passed by. Lu Wei was making the bed.

The original folding bed was replaced with a children's bed, which made the space seem a bit more spacious. A small desk and chair were also added at the back.

There are also potted green plants on the windows, and the curtains have been changed to a cartoon style.

You know what, this arrangement really does make it feel much warmer.

When Xiao Mutou lived there, it was still too deserted, just like her room in Harbin, so deserted that it didn't seem like a girl's room.

And now, it seems quite suitable for a six or seven-year-old girl.

(End of this chapter)