Chapter 27: The Plains of Morning Radiance
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Before deciding to write, I conducted a little “market research” as well.
In this world, online novels had only just begun to emerge. Although there were plenty of literary giants making their mark, their plots were all terribly old-fashioned. They were still stuck in the kind of cliché where the protagonist fell off a cliff and obtained an unrivaled martial art. There were no storylines about domineering CEOs falling in love with ordinary girls, or beautiful rich heiresses falling for poor boys. So, by taking this as my breakthrough, I was confident I could make a name for myself!
Strictly speaking, the book I was about to write was an urban novel. Its protagonist would be named Ding Han, shamelessly modeled after myself. As for the female lead, naturally, it would be Lu Xiaobei.
Lu Xiaobei had just turned twenty-three. She was beautiful and had a sweet voice—perfect heroine material.
I had already worked out the basic plot in my head.
First, the impoverished protagonist would arrive at Flying Internet Café at the lowest point of his life, where he would meet Lu Xiaobei and become the café’s star manager. He would then reveal an astonishing talent for management, helping Lu Xiaobei’s business flourish. Later, by sheer coincidence, Lu Xiaobei would discover Ding Han’s extraordinary gaming talent. Before long, he would become a renowned Counter-Strike sharpshooter, even representing the internet café in competitions and winning the regional championship.
Lu Xiaobei would grow increasingly fond of Ding Han, gradually falling in love with him.
But just then, Lu Xiaobei’s father—a tycoon famous throughout BH City—would descend upon Creek City and bluntly declare that the two of them could not be together. He would then slap a check for one million Star Coins across Ding Han’s face and sneer, “Stop dreaming of a toad eating swan meat. How could my daughter ever be worthy of a penniless nobody like you?”
At that moment, Ding Han would remain neither servile nor arrogant. He would throw the check back and deliver the classic line:
“Three years from now, I’ll make you see me in a whole new light, Uncle Lu. Heaven is watching everything people do, so don’t look down on a young man just because he’s poor!”
After that, Ding Han would charge into the world of esports. He would travel to BH City, join the WE team, and become the youngest professional player in the Crimson Dragon Kingdom. Then, in a world-class tournament, he would defeat an established champion and ultimately become a man standing at the very pinnacle of the world.
Lu Xiaobei would be imprisoned by her father, who would still refuse to let the two of them be together, believing that even a mere world champion was nothing more than someone who played games for a living—hardly worth mentioning!
After enduring humiliation, Ding Han would decide to enter the business world. Using the resources at his disposal, he would become WE’s general manager. He would then leverage his position to raise vast amounts of capital and begin building the country’s top professional league, the CPL. In the end, he would become the industry’s power broker, take his company public, and build it into a hundred-billion-Star-Coin enterprise. He would finally become a figure powerful enough to stand on equal terms with Lu Xiaobei’s father.
And at last, he would win the beauty’s hand and live happily ever after with Lu Xiaobei.
Hmm…
This kind of plot might just become a massive hit!
I had already made up my mind. Writing My Twenty-Three-Year-Old Beautiful Boss in Star Abyss would only be my first move. I would actually keep another ace up my sleeve. Once I had the chance to return to reality, I would go straight to Origin Point and write another novel called My Days in Another World, Writing Novels to Earn Money for Weapons. That might do quite well too. If it entered the site’s premium channel, earning more than ten thousand a month and marrying a beautiful, wealthy heiress would no longer be a dream!
The future was bright. All I needed was hard work.
For now, my first task was to write the first five chapters and publish them on Origin Point Novels. I could worry about the rest after securing a contract.
And so I began writing furiously at the network administrator’s computer.
Eight hours of work, spent slacking off like mad. Writing fifteen thousand words in a day wasn’t too much to ask, was it?
…
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
My submission had not vanished without a trace. On the third day, when I opened the author’s dashboard on Origin Point Novels, a notification popped up with a chime.
[Congratulations! Your submission, My Twenty-Three-Year-Old Beautiful Boss, has passed the contract application review. Please follow the instructions to complete the signing process and mail the printed documents to our address!]
I’d done it. I had secured the contract!
Overjoyed, I instantly brimmed with confidence. Damn it, I really was a literary genius!
I busied myself with the next steps. I went to the printing shop next door, printed out the contract documents, then paid for postage out of my own pocket and sent them away. Origin Point Novels was the largest original-fiction website in the Crimson Dragon Kingdom, based in the capital, BH City. Securing a contract with such an authoritative website was more than enough to prove that my writing ability and creative ideas were competitive.
Now all I had to do was write properly. Since it was only a short novel—just five hundred thousand words—the earnings probably wouldn’t be spectacular. But if I got lucky and someone took an interest in adapting it into a television series…
Then I would truly have reached the pinnacle of life!
The very thought made every cell in my body dance with delight.
“Beep!”
At that moment, my phone rang. It was a WeChat message from Zhang Ruolin:
“Ding Han, it’s been ages since we last talked. What have you been busy with lately? You haven’t even been talking to me.”
“Nothing much. What about you? Is something wrong?”
“There is.”
Zhang Ruolin replied, “Starting tomorrow, the phase-transmission array in Creek City will officially be ready. Xiaobai and I are planning to use it to go to Dawn Plains to hunt monsters and level up, and raise the level of the Essence Furnace while we’re at it. Want to come with us? The three of us can form a party. We’ll have a tank, a physical attacker, and a mage—a practically perfect three-person team.”
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“We can go together,” I replied. “But I’ve just rented a place, so I’m short on cash and can’t afford ammunition. I only have around eight hundred bullets in my extradimensional storage space, which isn’t enough for even one expedition. How about this… lend me a thousand rounds for now, and I’ll come with you.”
“…”
Zhang Ruolin sent a bomb emoji and said, “Why are you so poor? Do you think it’s easy for me? I regularly go to bars and work as part of the entertainment crew. Damn it, sometimes those lecherous players even take the opportunity to paw at my legs. Do you have any idea how hard my life is? Do you really have the heart to use the money I earn drinking with customers to buy bullets?”
“I said I’d borrow the money… I’ll definitely pay you back!”
“Forget it.”
Zhang Ruolin sent a sighing emoji. “There’s really no getting through to you. A thousand rounds of 9mm submachine-gun ammunition, right?”
“Exactly.”
“All right. Xiaobai and I plan to set out at nine tomorrow morning. The location is in the black market. The phase-transmission array is inside it, so we’ll meet there. Can you arrange your schedule?”
“I can switch shifts. Just remember to bring my ammunition. And tell Xiaobai I miss her.”
“Tsk, tsk. You’re awfully bold on WeChat, aren’t you? Tell her yourself when you see her.”
“Hahahaha, don’t take it seriously. It was just a joke to strengthen our team bonds.”
I sent a dog-head emoji and stopped chatting with Zhang Ruolin. Then I messaged Sakura to arrange a shift swap. I would cover her night shift that day, and she would take my day shift the following morning.
Sakura readily agreed.
Around midnight, I returned to my lodgings, so exhausted that I was practically limp.
Milo still hadn’t come back. The bar where he sang stayed open until three in the morning, so he was probably there at that moment, screaming his heart out to some rock song. I really didn’t understand why these so-called artists had to suffer so much. Singing was singing—why did they insist on shredding their voices and singing until they went hoarse? Was it really that painful?
Well, I didn’t understand it, and I certainly didn’t respect it.
After taking a hot shower, I collapsed onto the pillow and fell into a hazy sleep.
…
The next morning, I woke early. After washing up, I went downstairs and ate a bowl of spicy hot-pot skewers, five fried dough sticks, and two sesame flatbreads in the residential compound’s plaza. Once I was full and satisfied, I headed for the old city district.
“Beep!”
A WeChat message arrived from Lu Xiaobei:
“Ding Han, you’re not working today?”
“Yeah. Sakura’s covering for me. I have something to take care of today, so I’m going out.”
“Oh…”
Lu Xiaobei seemed a little disappointed. “I even bought breakfast for you.”
“Eat more yourself. I’ve already eaten.”
“All right, then.”
Lu Xiaobei sent a gloomy emoji and fell silent.
Before long, I arrived at an inconspicuous alley in the old city district.
A fine drizzle had begun to fall. Two muscular men stood beneath umbrellas at the nearly abandoned end of the alley, like a pair of gate guardians.
“Identity?”
“Player.”
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I instantly switched to combat form, causing my health bar to flash into view for half a second.
“Confirmed. Come on in, brother.”
The two men were exceptionally courteous. The main reason was probably that they had seen my level and ID.
Shadowchaser, level eighteen, currently ranked among the top five players in Creek City.
In Star Abyss, physical build was not actually important. Attributes were what mattered. Though these two men were built like mountains, their strength was far inferior to mine. If it came to a fight, killing both of them would not take much effort.
“Thanks, brothers!”
I smiled and offered them all due courtesy before stepping deeper into the alley.
There were players coming and going farther in. After asking around, I learned that the phase-transmission array was located inside a shrine at the end of the alley. The shrine enshrined an unfamiliar statue, and behind it stood a dazzling blue transmission array that crackled and flickered. Four machines had been placed around it, drawing my curious gaze.
“Wave-band sensors.”
Zhang Ruolin appeared beside me with a smile. “They’re machines capable of detecting magnetic fields. The magnetic field released by an activated phase-transmission array is extremely powerful, so we need these machines to wear down all its signals. Otherwise, the people of Creek City and the Crimson Dragon Kingdom would have discovered this hideout long ago. Then the player organization would have to search for a new base, which would be quite troublesome.”
“Mm.”
I nodded. “Pretty impressive. What about the ammunition? Trade it to me first.”
“All right.”
Zhang Ruolin traded me a thousand rounds, then said, “By the way, the phase-transmission array isn’t free. The farther the destination, the higher the fee. A round trip to Dawn Plains costs one thousand Star Coins. Do you have that much?”
“I do.”
I glanced at my little treasury. I had just over thirteen hundred Star Coins left.
Pathetic. I was so poor I was nearly down to my underwear.
“Sister Ruolin, does your bar hire male models?”
“…”
While Zhang Ruolin was rendered speechless, Xiaobai arrived.
“Fine. Tell her yourself.”
Zhang Ruolin pointed at me. “Xiaobai, Ding Han says he misses you.”
“Is that so?”
Xiaobai glanced at me. “How much do you miss me?”
“Not at all.”
“Not an ounce of sincerity.”
Xiaobai gave a faint smile. “I knew I wasn’t your type.”
“All right. Time is money, my friend. Let’s teleport and level up!”
I walked straight toward the transmission array. After confirming Dawn Plains as the destination and paying the one-thousand-Star-Coin fee, my body was sucked into the array with a sudden whoosh.
It felt as though my flesh were being torn apart and gradually reduced to particles. It did not hurt, though—only tingled faintly. After a flash of white light, my body suddenly grew heavy and dropped to the ground.
Before me stretched a vast plain.
[You have entered the dangerous area Dawn Plains (Levels 15–25)!]
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