Volume One

Chapter 1: Winning a Prize for Reading the Official Version

　　“This is so weird, why are today’s updates so slow!” A sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy kept refreshing several web pages over and over, the screen flickering nonstop. His thick eyebrows were furrowed together, and his thin face showed deep impatience, though his cheap sportswear from a street stall was at least clean.

　　This boy’s name was Brian Carter, who turned seventeen today and attended Qingping City No. 1 High School. No. 1 High is the best high school in Qingping City, and only outstanding students can get in. Back in junior high, Brian Carter was indeed an excellent student. Even after getting into No. 1 High, he could still rank in the top fifty at school. Maybe not Tsinghua or Peking University, but getting into a key university wouldn’t be a problem.

　　But ever since his parents divorced in his second year of high school, Brian Carter’s attitude toward studying changed drastically. He stopped paying attention in class, skipping became routine, and internet cafes became his favorite hangout. Naturally, his grades plummeted.

　　At this moment, Brian Carter wasn’t playing games, but reading a novel. He was a novel fanatic, or more precisely, a web novel fanatic, especially fond of urban supernatural stories. The protagonists in these books always gain some special ability, then show off their skills at school or in the city, getting rich and winning beautiful girls. This let Brian Carter fantasize about being the main character, enjoying that carefree, cool, and flashy lifestyle.

　　Reading these kinds of novels every day had become an indispensable part of his life. However, Brian Carter always read pirated versions. There were tons of pirated sites, and they were free. The only downside was having to wait for the official sites to update before the latest chapters appeared on the pirated ones.

　　Usually, after the official update, the pirated version would be out in a few minutes. But today, ten minutes had already passed and still no update on the pirated sites. The last chapter had ended on a cliffhanger, and not being able to read the update made Brian Carter itch with impatience. The longer he waited, the more anxious he got. Gritting his teeth, he cursed silently in his heart: “Damn it, what the hell, forget it, I’ll go all out today and support the official version for once.”

　　Reluctantly, he pulled a fifty-yuan bill from his pocket, then stuffed it back in. This was his allowance for the whole week. If he spent it, not only would he have to skip lunch every day, but he’d have no money for internet cafes either. How could he bear to spend it all on a VIP subscription just to read the latest updates? But he was desperate to read now.

　　“What if it updates right now? Then I’d have recharged for nothing.” He refreshed the page again, but still no new update. He had no choice but to pull out the crumpled fifty-yuan bill again, then, still unwilling, refreshed the page once more. After steeling himself, he finally called out, “Manager, give me a fifty-yuan Shanda point card.”

　　After getting the card, Brian Carter still couldn’t help refreshing the page two more times. This time, he finally gave up. The major pirated sites still hadn’t updated, so he went to the official Qidian Chinese website and topped up his account that he’d registered years ago.

　　“Fifty yuan… Author bro, you’d better update more from now on, or you’ll be letting me down.” Brian Carter operated step by step, heart aching, muttering to himself.

　　Sitting to Brian Carter’s left was a girl with some freckles on her face, about twenty years old, watching a TV drama with headphones on. Brian Carter’s shout had clearly disturbed her. She turned and gave Brian Carter a glare, and Brian Carter immediately glared back, saying, “What are you looking at? Never seen a handsome guy before?”

　　The girl rolled her eyes, thinking, “This guy calls himself handsome? Wearing cheap clothes from a street stall and sporting a buzz cut, there’s nothing stylish about him at all.” She muttered something under her breath, but couldn’t be bothered to deal with Brian Carter.

　　Finally, after following all the steps, Brian Carter was getting impatient. But just as he clicked the “complete” button, the webpage suddenly switched to a new page. This page was quite beautiful, even festive, with two lines of artistic text that were especially eye-catching.

　　“Thank you for supporting our authors. Congratulations on becoming the 30 millionth VIP user of Qidian Chinese!”

　　“Thirty million? So many people support the authors!” Brian Carter muttered, thinking this was something every paying user saw, and didn’t take it seriously. He just clicked the confirm button in the middle.

　　“You have the chance to draw a special prize. Yes or no?”

　　A prize too! Brian Carter’s eyes lit up. No matter what the prize was, if it was free, he wasn’t going to pass it up. He immediately clicked “Yes.”

　　The page changed again, and a roulette wheel appeared, with various items labeled around the edge.

　　“Fifty thousand Qidian coins, advanced VIP, unlimited bookshelf, fifty thousand points…”