Get the perfect music system at the start

After a while, it was almost noon, and editor Xiao Gu couldn't hold on any longer. It was almost lunchtime, so he decided to make another call.

However, at that moment, a pop-up message suddenly appeared.

Xiao Gu's eyes were very sharp; she immediately noticed the email notification and excitedly clicked on it.

Sure enough, the first folder was called "Ghost Blows Out the Light 2", and the second folder was called "The Old Man and the Sea".

Xiao Gu almost instinctively turned on Ghost Blows Out the Light 2 and quickly sat down to watch it.

Behind him, someone excitedly shouted, "We've struck it rich! We've really struck it rich!"

Goodness, after she said that, the other editors behind her all looked over instinctively, but Xiao Gu and her colleague remained sitting there quietly.

This action instantly attracted the attention of others, and then other editors ran over with a decision in mind, only to find Xiao Gu looking at a text document.

The document's contents hadn't been read yet, but the iconic protagonist's name, Hu Bayi, immediately reminded those who had read the novel of Ghost Blows Out the Light. Upon closer inspection, there was even a watermark at the bottom of the document.

The words "Ghost Blows Out the Light 2" were clearly visible to everyone, and the editors almost instinctively stopped what they were doing.

"Xiao Gu, give me a copy, I want to see it too."

"Xiao Gu, don't read it alone. It's not nice of you to do it alone. This novel was finally published. I've been waiting for it for ages."

"Xiao Gu, how's the hot pot tonight? Send me a portion right away, I really need it urgently."

"Old Wang, what's the rush? Xiao Gu is currently reviewing the manuscript. It won't be ready until the review is finished, right? Xiao Gu, since I'm speaking up for you, could you give me a copy?"

Xiaogu: ""

Hearing the excited voices of her colleagues, Xiao Gu couldn't help but smile and say, "Sending it to you is no problem, but after all, I am responsible for this book. I don't want to cause trouble if it gets leaked. So, it's not that I'm being unreasonable, but it really has to be this way."

After this was said, none of the editors, who should have been excitedly discussing it, objected. They all smiled and said, "No problem, who hasn't signed a confidentiality agreement?"

Xiao Gu found it somewhat unbelievable, but looking back at Zhong Re's burning gaze, she couldn't help but nod.

After deleting the document, he downloaded a company-standard confidential template, which is provided within the company to protect the rights of certain individual authors.

After making a few simple changes, he pressed the print button. Xiao Gu then glanced at the printer. In fact, at that moment, everyone else had sharper eyes than him. Before she could even finish speaking, the few copies of the document were already in front of her.

Xiao Gu shook her head helplessly, took each document out separately and said, "Just sign whatever you want, and I'll send it to you right away."

After saying that, Xiao Gu suddenly realized that her usually kind colleagues seemed to have changed.

Some things are hard to pinpoint, but they're very clear. Could it be that the influence of the novel "Ghost Blows Out the Light" is really that high? But when she recalled how she was scared when she first read "Ghost Blows Out the Light" and ended up befriending her best friend, she felt that all of this seemed quite normal.

After the signing was completed, Xiao Gu did a quick check and then saved all the confidentiality agreements before sitting down and passing them to his colleagues one by one.

As a result, Qidian.com was very quiet that day. Usually, they would be busy with reviewing and recommending manuscripts, but now they were all sitting quietly at their desks.

He looks like he's working, but he's actually reading a novel.

Get the perfect music system at the start

===Chapter 552, "That Damn Snake," has been released!===

Xu Fan was unaware that after he sent "Ghost Blows Out the Light 2" over, Xiao Pu and the others did not upload it immediately, but instead started an internal "discussion meeting," which was actually just reading the novel together.

The word count of the second part of "Ghost Blows Out the Light" is actually not much different from that of the first part. In the end, Xiao Gu decided to follow Xu Fan's previous update schedule, but the word count was significantly reduced.

Since Xu Fan gave her the authority, she naturally had to take some responsibility for the novel.

She would set up a simple rule for extra chapters, such as adding a few chapters for the top contributor, but in any case, based on her many years of editing experience, this method is definitely better than Xu Fan updating tens of thousands of words a day.

After all, not everyone can read tens of thousands of words every day. Moreover, for suspense novels like "Ghost Blows Out the Light," it's not just about word count; more often, it requires a slow pace of reading, otherwise many details will be missed.

Of course, the book still needs to be published before updating.

After a brief discussion with the editorial team, Xiao Gu decided to start with a preliminary round of promotion.

I'm not releasing the book yet, but I'm telling everyone that Xu Fan's new book, "Ghost Blows Out the Light 2," will be officially published at noon the next day. After the publication, those who click to collect and read it will have another chance to win experience points or book scrolls.

In any case, Xu Fan's ultimate goal was simply to publish the book, and since there were no tasks related to the book, he didn't care about these things.

However, just because he doesn't care doesn't mean that the readers who were attracted by the novel "Ghost Blows Out the Light" written by "the dragon walking in the mortal world" don't care either.

At noon that day, all apps and websites associated with Qidian.com displayed pop-up notifications and reminders.

The announcement time is noon on the second day. Except for the first release, which is at noon, all other updates will be scheduled for midnight.

When such news appeared online, countless readers went wild.

"Oh my god, Brother Long actually released a new book, and it's Ghost Blows Out the Light 2! Holy crap, I'm so excited! I've read Ghost Blows Out the Light three or four times already. It's so captivating and keeps me reading. It's really so awesome."

"Exciting, thrilling, and thrilling! This is one of the best news I've heard this year, haha. I think it's even better than Fan Ge releasing a song. It's just that I'm a struggling online novelist myself, and I really love this novel."

"Same as the person upstairs, sitting here like a idiot. I have to say, I absolutely love Brother Long's books. The 'Walking in the Mortal World' Boss Long writes something that is truly surprising, thrilling, terrifying, frightening, and worrying. Every word can make your heart pound."

"The master of suspense, without a doubt. If Dragon Walking in the Mortal Realm says he is second, I believe no one can be first, haha. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to it. After the new book is released tomorrow, my patrons have already recharged and I'm ready to release the book."

"Brothers, how about reaching 100 alliances in an instant? All you alliance leaders, come on, let's do a good job and tally it up. If you don't have enough money, we can pool our resources. Haha, let Qidian feel what it means to have readers excited."

"I wouldn't dare say he's the best online writer, but in the realm of suspense novels, I really can't find a second one right now. I'm really looking forward to it."

When such messages flooded the internet, Xiao Gu, an editor at Qidian.com, saw hope.

It wasn't just the topics of discussion; the key was that she had read the first thirty chapters of the new book, and the thrilling scenes, plot structure, and detailed character portrayals always left her in awe.

Xu Fan's writing skills are beyond doubt. His words are full of stories, making them enjoyable and engaging to read. Because the stories are so interconnected, it's hard to put them down once you start reading.

If she hadn't set a rule for herself not to read it all at once, she would probably still be engrossed in it right now, since she still needs to publish the book and prepare for promotion and the arrangement of recommendation slots.

Currently, Xu Fan is the leading figure in the suspense genre on Qidian.com. She firmly believes that as long as Ghost Blows Out the Light 2 becomes a hit across the internet, it will inspire many struggling writers to follow suit, and there is a good chance that several more hit books will be published, all thanks to her efforts.

Therefore, for her now, she must do a good job of all the promotion to ensure that the effect of the second day can achieve the results she expects. After all the previews were released, she also put all the manuscripts and books for the second day on the shelves and scheduled the release.

Then I immersed myself back into the novel.

However, before reading the book, she still habitually glanced at the comments section of her preview content. She was shocked by what she saw. The comments section was full of comments, which really gave Xiao Gu a fright!

It turns out that she wasn't the only one waiting for Xu Fan to release his new book; there were countless other authors who, like her, loved Xu Fan's Ghost Blows Out the Light. Seeing the readers discussing the Alliance Leader issue, she secretly joined the group with her alternate account. Good heavens, the Alliance Leader group already had over eighty members in less than ten minutes of the announcement.

That will have to wait until tomorrow.

Xiao Gu dared not imagine what surprises tomorrow might bring, but in any case, she was determined to become the leader of the alliance.

She didn't have much money, otherwise she would definitely have spent it on a gold-tier item, but even so, she decided to spend it on a silver-tier item to show her appreciation for the book.

Although she knew that Xu Fan was not short of money at all, this was the most she could do as a loyal reader, given her own ability to advance in the game.

Xu Fan was unaware of all this online. He and Shui'er were bored at home and playing games.

It wasn't until evening that Zhao Feiyang called. Looking at the caller ID, Xu Fan felt a little uneasy. The reason was simple: what he had done yesterday was a bit unethical. After all, he hadn't discussed it with the fat man. He had intended to apologize, but when he found that it had worked well, he forgot about it.

At this moment, Zhao Feiyang's call made him nervous, but after thinking about it, he answered the call anyway. Before the fat man could speak, Xu Fan spoke up directly, because he felt that since things had come to this, it might be better to take the initiative to say it himself.

He said, "That fat guy, I was just about to call you, about yesterday's incident, right?"

Xu Fan didn't finish speaking because the fat man interrupted him, saying with a smile, "You really gave me a big surprise yesterday. I have to say, you did a really good job yesterday. Although the news is still online, it has indeed changed a lot."

Upon hearing that the fat man didn't blame him, Xu Fan felt relieved and said, "As long as all of this can pass, things will get much better in the future."

The fat man smiled and said, "I have some more good news. Want to hear it?"

Xu Fan asked in confusion, "What good news?"

Then the fat man said, "I told you before that a snake named Snake Broken Snake wrote a novel called 'Ghost Blows Out the Light'. This noon, he released a preview saying that he is going to write a new book, and it will be the second one. These days, the internet is full of news, and everyone is talking about this book. There is almost no news about it anymore. Do you think this is good news for you?"

Before Xu Fan could answer, the fat man continued, "If you know this damn snake, you should definitely thank him properly."

Get the perfect music system at the start

===Chapter 553 The Entire Internet Explodes===

Xu Fan was speechless. He had never imagined that the fat man would insult him and he wouldn't be able to talk back.

In the past, Fatty would just complain a few times, which wasn't a big deal. But today, this kid didn't say a single nice thing. I was furious, but before I could say anything, Fatty said, "And let me tell you, this time the book isn't going to be 60,000 words a day like before. Instead, it's a minimum of two chapters a day. That's heartbreaking. I think I'll take a break for a while before reading it."

Xu Fan nodded silently, giving Xiao Gu a thumbs up in his heart. That's how it had to be done, otherwise who knows what might happen to this kid.

This will make readers like the fat guy, who don't appreciate the pleasure of reading, unhappy, haha.

As Xu Fan thought about it, he wondered if he could discuss with his editor, Xiao Gu, about taking a break from updating the series, which might be better.

But of course, he wouldn't tell the fat man any of this. He simply asked, "You mean, this author has stirred up all the online discussion right now?"

The fat man said, "That's right, the author is called 'Dragon Walking in the Mortal World,' which is just a broken snake."

Xu Fan was speechless. These were clearly lines from Song Runrun's poems, and they were clearly very poetic. But now that you've said it like that, it does seem a bit awkward.

Regardless of these things, Xu Fan simply said, "Since the topic has been changed, it's all good for me."

The fat man shared the same opinion, but only said one sentence: "You wait for me at home, don't go anywhere."

Then he hung up the phone. Xu Fan was speechless, but he didn't think too much about it. Anyway, he didn't plan to go out today. He had chatted with Xiao Pu on WeChat for a while and had already arranged for Xiao Pu to come to his house, so he didn't have too many thoughts about it.

Xiao Pu wanted to go back to work, but Xu Fan thought about what he had heard that day. Of course, Xu Fan knew very well that Xiao Pu must have heard it too, otherwise she wouldn't have gone to the Huangpu River so early in the morning.

So, he didn't need to go to work anymore. Anyway, Xiao Pu was very capable; he just said he had chosen the real estate industry.

Regardless of all that, after hanging up the phone, Xu Fan frowned as he thought about the problem the fat man had mentioned. After much deliberation, he finally opened Weibo.

Good heavens, it was indeed not much different from what the fat man said. Xu Fan was both angry and delighted.

The good news is that there are indeed fewer topics about my name now, and even if there are, it has dropped to eighth or ninth place. Moreover, it seems that fewer and fewer people are discussing it, and the hype has passed, which is fine.

But the key thing is, I'm furious.

What angered him was that his pen name was being used by everyone online to refer to him as "Broken Snake".

Good heavens, how did I, a dignified dragon walking among mortals, become a broken snake? Do you even know what humor is?

The key point, and the most important one, is that the novel hasn't been published yet, but Xiao Gu has already revealed the update rules. The readers don't know that this was arranged by Xiao Gu; they all think it was Xu Fan's doing.

So, for a time, there was an overwhelming amount of criticism.

However, it must be said that amidst all the criticism, there are still some elements that are friendly towards Xu Fan.

Well, I may criticize them, but I like them too.

Perhaps it's because they like someone that they criticize them.

Xu Fan looked at the messages on Weibo, shook his head helplessly, and muttered to himself that his online friends these days were really hard to manage.

"Goodness, this rule of the broken snake really scared me. Suddenly, being prepared to become the leader of the alliance doesn't seem so appealing anymore."

"I thought it would be 60,000 words. Even if it's not 60,000 words, 50,000 words would be fine. Even if it's not 50,000 words, 40,000 words would be okay. Even if it's not 40,000 words, 30,000 words would be acceptable. Even if it's 20,000 or 10,000 words in the end, I still think it's acceptable. But you, Brother Liang, are just messing around with 4,000 words a day?"

"Exactly, Brother Broken Snake, bring out your speed from tonight! We need you to update, otherwise it's really frustrating to see a game stuck like this."