Chapter Seventy-Eight: The Impassable Path of Literature

“Huh? Xiaoyuan, you’re not going?” Wen Hui looked over in surprise when she heard Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s refusal.

“No, there are some things… I want to take care of later.” How could she possibly say she needed to make money? Zhuang Xiaoyuan could only offer a vague excuse, hoping to get by.

“I see. Well then, Wen Hui will come with us—it’ll be a good experience for her. Xiaoyuan, just do what you need to do.” Hua Jing nodded thoughtfully at Zhuang Xiaoyuan’s calm expression and didn’t try to persuade her further.

“Crunch, crunch. Be prepared, we’re leaving tomorrow morning.” Clutching her cookies, Man Yutong withdrew her gaze from Zhuang Xiaoyuan and turned to give instructions to Wen Hui.

“No problem, Senior Yutong.” Although this trip might just make her a burdensome bystander, Wen Hui was clearly interested in the advanced and high-ranking Burrower-class fiends and just how powerful they could be.

With the group set, the topic came to a close. They chatted idly for a while longer, with Hua Jing and Man Yutong sharing some of their experiences from the Prayer and Divine Descent levels. The short gathering ended in this relaxed atmosphere.

Everything that needed to be said was said, and all the necessary tasks were completed. After bidding farewell to her seniors, Zhuang Xiaoyuan left alone. Wen Hui, however, stayed behind to prepare for the upcoming journey—it wasn’t going to be just a day or two away.

“Ah~ finally home.” The moment she returned to her dormitory, Zhuang Xiaoyuan flopped onto her bed. Her body didn’t feel tired, but mentally she was unexpectedly exhausted.

After all, the two months of trials she had just endured—even if most of the time was spent playing various lighthearted games—were still in the world of trials, with her nerves constantly taut. Now, back in her private space, she could finally relax completely.

“That’s right, money, money.” After lying there for a moment, Zhuang Xiaoyuan suddenly remembered her plan to earn some money. She rolled off the bed, took a few steps to her desk, and sat down on the room’s only chair. She picked up her Starplanet Notebook, which lay flat on the desk.

This was a smart device similar to a touchscreen phone, though its usage differed from a smartphone. She fumbled for the switch on the back of the Starplanet Notebook. As the power came on, a virtual screen projected from the notebook’s “touchscreen.”

The projected image was a bright interface strikingly similar to the operating systems of her previous life. In fact, the technology in this world was centuries ahead of her former one. Though the interface was a bit different, Zhuang Xiaoyuan had learned basic computer operations back at the agency, so she quickly adapted to the Starplanet Notebook’s various functions.

“Let’s see, novel websites, novel websites… Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any sites like that here before.” She tapped directly on the virtual light-screen, the projection sensing the warmth of her finger and responding accordingly.

She opened the browser and, on the search page with a background exuding a sense of battle and slaughter, typed “novel site” and hit confirm. The results appeared in an instant.

“Huh, this world actually has Qidian Net and Genesis Net too. Let’s see if their benefits are the same as before. Such familiar names. If they’re similar, writing novels for money should still be best done on these two.” Seeing the top two results, Zhuang Xiaoyuan clicked on the first: Qidian Net.

With her tap, the site popped up with a notice: [Shutdown Announcement: Due to reasons known to all, Qidian Net has ceased operations. All equity and assets have been donated to the military agency. Thank you for your support and love over these centuries. We hope to meet again in the future.]

“…Shut down… Why? What are these ‘reasons known to all’? All assets donated to the military… Could it be because of the fiend invasion?” The announcement left Zhuang Xiaoyuan utterly stunned. So much for becoming an online literary sensation, for a legendary debut, for the time-honored transmigrator’s road to riches via plagiarism.

In a daze, Zhuang Xiaoyuan could almost see her dream of becoming a web-novel celebrity sprouting wings and flitting away. Following the words “web-novel celebrity” was a stream of bright red bills. My money~~ Don’t go~~

Unwilling to give up, she closed the Qidian Net page and clicked down the search results one by one: Genesis Net—ceased operations. Flying Donkey Net—ceased operations. Red Sleeve Sweet—ceased operations… All the novel websites had shut down, for various reasons, but without exception. What a hopeless world this was.

Staring at the endless list of defunct novel sites, Zhuang Xiaoyuan suddenly thought, if the novel sites are all gone, what about comics, games, animation, TV dramas? Dreading the answer, she started searching for comic and TV sites. And there it was again: all shut down. It was over. This entertainment-less world was finished.

Just as Zhuang Xiaoyuan was about to collapse in grief for her soon-to-vanish income, she accidentally clicked open a site… Phoenix Sky Net.

She hadn’t expected this world to have Phoenix Sky Net—a famous site from her previous life—whose full name here was Phoenix’s Sky Network, or Phoenix Sky Net for short.

It was probably out of operation too, she thought, reaching to close it. But to her surprise, the site loaded a perfectly normal forum homepage.

“Huh, Phoenix Sky Net actually works? So all the novels are posted here now?” She clicked further in, discovering a forum interface quite different from the one she remembered—after all, it was a different world.

Phoenix Sky Net was still a forum-based site, but its categories had changed significantly: Novels, Comics, Games, Current Affairs, Military, Research Institute, and Divine Gear Academy—a total of seven categories.

She clicked on the Novels section, which opened a handful of subcategories: Qidian Net Temporary Station (Five Stars), Genesis Net Temporary Station (Five Stars), Red Sleeve Sweet Temporary Station (Five Stars)… Many of the closed novel sites were now present as sub-forums here.

“What’s this five stars?” Next to the top subcategories was a red five-pointed star. Curious, Zhuang Xiaoyuan tapped the star beside Qidian Net, and a small page popped up: [Thank you, Qidian Net, for your support and help to humanity. The military has awarded the Human Contribution Prize, and will fully support Qidian Net’s revival in the future.]

“So that’s it. No wonder they’re a giant in the online literary world. They probably donated everything to support the military and earned this solid promise in return. But it’s the wise choice—if humanity perishes, novel sites are pointless. With things as they are, if humanity wins, Qidian Net will definitely rise again, and with strong backing too.” She sighed softly. The online literary world would not die so easily; its spark would inevitably ignite a prairie fire in the future.