Chapter 535: Novel Release, Internet Sensation

Chapter 535: Novel Release, Internet Sensation

Dongzi had long known that his grandfather was incredible. Back in the days of the production teams, his grandfather, as a master of large vats, had a skill with large vats that no one in the surrounding villages could match.

After the reform and opening up, his business acumen only grew stronger. Not only did his family's business flourish, but after becoming the clan head of the Ye Clan, he raised funds to establish the Deng Clan Group and brought it to heights that the clan members could only dream of.

What Dongzi didn't expect was that his grandfather also had such insight into writing web novels.

Looking at the incredibly detailed outline and chapter summaries of "Rebirth: Thief of the World," Dongzi was truly in awe of his grandfather. The old man was really amazing!

Even though the novel hadn't started yet, just reading the detailed chapter summaries made Dongzi feel a surge of excitement. This novel, which his grandfather defined as a web game, was truly brilliant. As long as he followed the chapter summaries and wrote the book smoothly, he had a feeling it would definitely become a sensation online.

Thus, with great enthusiasm, Dongzi began his first-ever novel creation.

When he started writing, Dongzi once again thanked his grandfather. During the holidays, his grandfather took him and his sister on trips all over the country. After each visit to a scenic spot, his grandfather would assign them homework, requiring them to write an essay related to the place.

Dongzi's writing skills were honed during those times.

Now, starting his novel creation with a detailed chapter summary to guide him, Dongzi found the writing process to be incredibly smooth. This feeling was something he had never experienced before, making him more and more excited and passionate as he wrote.

In just one day, Dongzi completed the first three chapters of "Rebirth: Thief of the World," totaling about 12,000 words. The speed was impressive.

After completing the first three chapters, Dongzi carefully checked and revised them from start to finish before sending the manuscript to his grandfather for review.

Deng Shirong didn't expect his grandson's writing speed to be so fast. Although he had never written a novel, he understood the saying "the beginning is the hardest part." If the beginning could be written so quickly, then once he got into the flow, wouldn't he be another Lao Ying?

Having read web novels for over a decade in his previous life, Deng Shirong naturally understood the principle that "speed is the ultimate weapon." Why was Lao Ying so incredible in the future? It was all because of his fast updates!

With updates of two to three thousand words a day, there would be no shortage of rewards and monthly votes when the plot was exciting.

Moreover, with more updates, the plot setup would quickly pass, leading to exciting scenes in no time.

For the same book, if the updates were slow, say a few thousand words a day, the setup might take more than a week, and readers wouldn't have the patience. They would just keep spamming the "water" word.

Therefore, to achieve good results, frequent updates were essential, a consensus among all authors.

Unfortunately, not everyone could become Lao Ying.

Dongzi's writing had the potential of Lao Ying, and with Deng Shirong's guidance, he had the conditions to easily become a sensation, even in the future, let alone in the current era with professional management.

Deng Shirong carefully read the three chapters Dongzi had written and compared them to the "Rebirth: Thief of the World" in his mind. He found no significant differences, and in terms of writing style, Dongzi even surpassed his expectations.

After reading the 12,000 words, Deng Shirong knew that Dongzi's status in the web world was secure. He couldn't help but praise him, "Very good, really very good. You write both quickly and well. I didn't expect you to have such a talent for this."

Encouraged by his grandfather's praise, Dongzi's confidence soared. He grinned and said, "It's all thanks to your guidance, Grandfather. With the complete outline, I have a clear direction for the entire plot. With detailed chapter summaries to guide me, writing naturally becomes smooth and easy."

Deng Shirong smiled and said, "Alright, just keep this pace. I'll check your work every day, and we'll save up a good amount of material before uploading it to the website for readers to see."

Dongzi was greatly motivated and happily replied, "Okay, Grandfather."

Thus, in the following days, Dongzi spent most of his time writing the novel, aside from a few hours each day when his sister tutored him.

No matter what one does, the first time is always filled with passion, and writing a novel was no exception.

Many authors enjoy the process of writing their first work, regardless of its success. However, after the initial phase, when they start writing their Nth novel, they often find it hard to recapture the initial passion.

Currently, only Dongzi and his grandfather knew about his novel writing. The rest of the family was still unaware.

On March 31, 2003, Dongzi finally registered as an author on Qidian and uploaded his debut novel, "Rebirth: Thief of the World."

...

That evening.

Yulin, Guangxi, a certain internet cafe!

Since Yulin had not been affected by the pandemic, the business at internet cafes and other public places was booming.

At one of the computers, Xiao Yifei was engrossed in playing a game.

Xiao Yifei was 18 years old, a student at a mediocre high school. Since the school's management of students was lax, sneaking out at night to stay up all night at the internet cafe and returning to school in the morning to sleep was a routine he had mastered.

Of course, not just him, many others chose to sneak out at night to surf the internet until dawn. Among them was Pang Chuan, his dormitory brother who shared a room with Xiao Yifei.

However, their goals for surfing the internet were different. Xiao Yifei either played games or chatted with girls in the same city on forums. His good brother, Pang Chuan, had only one hobby: reading novels.

Pang Chuan had finished reading most of the martial arts novels from rental bookstores during junior high school. After entering senior high school, he started reading web novels online.

That night, as the two of them sneaked out to surf the internet until dawn, Xiao Yifei was engrossed in playing his game "The Legend," while Pang Chuan opened websites like Dragon Sky, Qidian, and Fantasy Sword Union, first finishing the updates of the books he was following, then searching for new books on each site.

After checking Dragon Sky and Fantasy Sword Union, he couldn't find a satisfying new book, so he turned his attention to Qidian.

In less than three minutes, Pang Chuan found a new book that caught his attention, mainly because the title of this new book was incredibly appealing, making it hard to look away once he saw it.

This new book Pang Chuan found was "Rebirth: Thief of the world."

In this era, rebirth novels didn't exist yet, so the title with "Rebirth" naturally had a strong appeal.

The book's content summary, while perhaps not as attractive in the future, was still quite engaging in this era:

A solitary wanderer, pursuing the footsteps of shadows, this is the ode to the thief.

With the memories of a level 180 grand thief, he returned to ten years ago, as fate played a joke on Nie Yan.

What was once lost and taken away, he vowed to reclaim it all.

Then with a set of divine gear, he would crush the old, slay the gods, and be unstoppable.

After reading the summary, Pang Chuan couldn't wait to open the first chapter and got engrossed in the story...

Half an hour later, completely immersed in the novel world, when Pang Chuan clicked the next chapter, the screen displayed no more content.

Damn, just when he was getting hooked, it was gone!!!

Pang Chuan felt as if thousands of ants were biting him, the novel's excitement far exceeded his expectations, and it was no exaggeration to say it was more refreshing than all the web novels he had read before, perfectly to his taste.

In the previous life, once rebirth novels were created, this genre became the largest school in web novels, without a doubt.

And this genre had always been thriving, showing how appealing rebirth novels were.

Although Pang Chuan was very eager to know what happened next in the book, it was gone, so he could only wait for updates.

Driven by curiosity, Pang Chuan couldn't help but tap Xiao Yifei's shoulder and call, "Old Xiao."

Xiao Yifei, engrossed in his game, turned his head and responded without looking, "What is it?"

Pang Chuan said, "Forget the game for now, I'll introduce you to a novel that will guarantee you can't stop reading once you start."

Hearing Xiao Yifei turned his head and touched his forehead, "Are you running a fever? What are you talking about? I'm not interested in novels."

Pang Chuan slapped his hand away and "Old Xiao, I'm telling you, this novel is different, you'll definitely like it."

Xiao Yifei sneered, "It's just a novel, what's so special about it? Even if it's one of those erotic novels, I wouldn't be interested. I'd rather watch porn, it's much more direct, everything is clear as day, and it's a hundred times better than reading a novel."

Pang Chuan smiled faintly, "I know you're not interested in martial arts novels or erotic novels, but what if it's a game novel? Are you not interested?"

Xiao Yifei was taken abackack,then furled his brows, "Brother Chuan, are you kidding me? There are game novels in this world?"

Pang Chuan said, "I didn't know there were game novels in this world either, but I just saw one, so I asked if you were interested in game novels."

In fact, in this era, game novels had already appeared abroad, one called "Chronicle of the Dragon Spear," which originally provided a background setting for the Dragon and Underground City game series. Unexpectedly, after its release, it became a global sensation, and many later game novels were influenced by its settings.

As for China, the first game novel should be "Battle in the Galaxy" published in a science fiction magazine in 1996.

However, this work was only a short 20,000 words, barely a novella, far from a true long-form game novel.

Therefore, in the previous life, the first widely recognized long-form game novel was "King of the Illusory Realm," released on Qidian in 2003, written under the pen name X.

This work was the first long-form game novel serialized online by chapter.

Unfortunately, this pioneer of game novels was a 700,000-word incomplete work.

At this point in time, this game novel hadn't appeared yet, meaning "Rebirth: Thief of the World" would directly replace "King of the Illusory Realm" as the ancestor of game novels.

Xiao Yifei and Pang Chuan, both with poor academic performance, had no idea about the existence of "Chronicle of the Dragon Spear" and "Battle in the Galaxy," so it was quite normal for them to be unaware of the existence of game novels.

Hearing his good brother's words, Xiao Yifei became a bit interested, and asked, "What novel are you talking about? Which game is it set in?"

Pang Chuan said, "The book is called 'Rebirth: Thief of the World.' You can find it by searching on Qidian. As for which game it's set in, you'll find out when you read it. I promise you won't be disappointed."

Hearing this, Xiao Yifei stopped playing his game and followed his friend's instructions to open the Qidian website. He found the book "Rebirth: Thief of the World" and read the content summary, which immediately piqued his interest. He began to read the novel slowly, and once he started, he was completely engrossed.

The charm of a novel is something that only those who read it can truly understand. Some people might have the misfortune of reading a poor-quality novel as their first, which could dampen their interest in reading. However, if their first novel is a classic, they are likely to become deeply immersed in the world of novels, becoming a small but dedicated part of the reading community.

This was Xiao Yifei's first time reading a novel, and he started with "Rebirth: Thief of the World," one of the masterpieces of web game novels. This work is widely recognized as a highly entertaining novel, and during its serialization on Qidian in the previous life, it set a record with a 200,000 RMB reward during a monthly vote competition.

To put that into perspective, this was around 2010, when the highest honor for a supporter was "Alliance Leader," and the maximum amount for a single reward was 100,000 points. A 100,000-point reward would result in a prominent red thank-you post in the book review section, known as "100,000-point red post." The 200,000 RMB reward was equivalent to 20 million points, resulting in 200 red posts.

The scene of 200 red posts dominating the review section caused a sensation across the internet, even prompting Qidian to display a congratulatory banner on the homepage. This 200,000 RMB reward was a significant milestone for that era.

Such a classic work, appearing in an era where web game novels were nonexistent, had an unparalleled appeal.

Xiao Yifei read the novel without stopping, and when he tried to click to the next chapter, he found it was gone.

"Damn, why is it over?"

Xiao Yifei tapped his friend's arm and asked impatiently, "Brother Chuan, what's going on? It was so good, and now it's just gone?"

Pang Chuan calmly replied, "It's normal. The author has only written up to this point. If you want to read more, you'll have to wait for the next update tomorrow."

Xiao Yifei's eyes widened. "What? The novel isn't finished?"

Pang Chuan nodded. "That's right, it's not finished."

Xiao Yifei looked confused. "You read an unfinished novel and even recommended it to me?"

Pang Chuan laughed. "What's so strange about that? Most web novels are unfinished. The authors write and upload daily, and we readers follow along, chapter by chapter. It's like watching a TV series, where you eagerly wait for the next episode each day. It's a unique kind of enjoyment."

Xiao Yifei sighed. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I was really enjoying it, and now it's just gone, leaving me feeling like my heart is being scratched by a cat."

"Part of the fun of following a novel is this anticipation. You'll understand it better in the future."

Pang Chuan laughed and then asked, "So, how was it? Did you enjoy it?"

Xiao Yifei nodded vigorously. "Yes, it was great. I never thought a novel could be so captivating. The virtual reality game described in the novel is incredible. If there were such a game in real life, it would be amazing. The author's imagination is truly outstanding."

Pang Chuan agreed. "Yeah, the author is amazing. The idea of being reborn with memories from the future is just brilliant."

After that, the two of them stopped playing games and instead discussed the plot of "Rebirth: Thief of the World," speculating about how the story would develop. They became more and more excited as they talked.

Xiao Yifei and Pang Chuan were just two of many readers who were captivated by this novel. Countless other readers were equally drawn to this groundbreaking web game novel, which was equally enjoyable whether or not they played games.

In this era, with a limited selection of books, the sudden appearance of "Rebirth: Thief of the World" caused a huge stir among readers. This novel, which can be described as the progenitor of both the rebirth and web game genres, had the potential to become a sensation on its own, even without special promotion from Qidian.

And indeed, that's exactly what happened. "Rebirth: Thief of the World" caused a sensation in the web novel community within a week of its release. Not only did readers avidly read and discuss the plot, but many fellow authors were also amazed by the author "Grand Thief's" creativity.

Moreover, this novel inspired many creative ideas among authors, such as the concept of rebirth and web games. It was clear that in the coming days, a flood of rebirth and web game novels would emerge on various websites.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end