Chapter 15: Where Does the Grandmaster Rank? (Support the New Book)

The message on WeChat was from Jiang Qi; she was coming to Spring City.

Li He found this rather odd—if you’re coming, you’re coming, but why tell me?

Secretly, Li He replied with a simple, “Congratulations.”

Jiang Qi paused for quite a while on the other side, unable to follow Li He’s train of thought.

Congratulations for what?

I’m just on a business trip for work, not going on vacation—what’s there to congratulate?

But soon enough, Jiang Qi realized: Mr. Gabe doesn’t know I’m going for work, so that explains the congratulations.

Jiang Qi typed, “Mr. Gabe, when I arrive in Spring City, let’s have a meal together. My treat.”

She wants to treat me to dinner?

“How does she know I’m in Spring City?”

Li He’s guard was up in an instant.

He couldn’t be blamed for being cautious—these days, Gabe was a persona non grata, and there was that scoundrel He Luoluo to contend with, too.

If his real identity were revealed, Li He doubted he’d even dare return to his dorm.

“How did you know I’m in Spring City?”

As soon as he sent the message, Li He regretted it—wasn’t that as good as admitting it himself?

Before he could retract it, Jiang Qi replied:

“It’s written on your WeChat profile, Mr. Gabe.”

Careless.

Li He quickly edited his profile, switching his city from Spring City to the capital.

After making the change, he was ready to refuse her invitation.

Meeting was out of the question.

If Jiang Qi decided to be unscrupulous and leaked his address, Li He would be in real trouble.

Just as he was halfway through typing his refusal, he deleted it all and sent a new message: “Jiang Qi, do you know any good recording studios in Spring City?”

He Luoluo had been busy practicing his singing and hadn’t paid much attention to recording studios.

Finding one wasn’t difficult—there were several around the university district.

But the band quality in them left much to be desired.

Jiang Qi thought for a moment and replied, “My best friend owns a recording studio in Spring City. If you need it, Mr. Gabe, you can just go straight there.”

She included the studio’s address.

Li He replied sincerely, “Thank you.”

A talented band could do wonders for a song—even the best compositions couldn’t shine with an unremarkable group.

Jiang Qi asked, “Mr. Gabe, when will you need it?”

She was doing her utmost to play the devoted fan, the sort who would do anything for their idol.

Make the songwriter happy enough, and there would be no shortage of good music.

Li He considered—the song “Dissolving Sorrows” would take He Luoluo two or three more days to master. “Four days from now,” he replied.

“That’s perfect! I’ll be in Spring City in three days, so we can go together,” Jiang Qi said excitedly.

At last, she’d get to see the real Mr. Gabe. She waved her phone in delight.

If only she knew the ‘teacher’ she so admired was actually a university student younger than herself…

Li He suddenly found himself looking forward to the public embarrassment of a celebrity.

“Get your camera ready ahead of time,” Li He said with a pure, mischievous smile.

“What are you grinning about? You look like you’re up to no good,” his deskmate Yang Qi nudged his elbow.

…

After several days of fierce competition,

the battle on the new books chart had only grown more intense.

At this point, the works at the top were unlikely to be dislodged.

Surveying the chart data, the Fantasy Editorial Department at Baitu Literature fell silent.

The new work everyone had pinned their hopes on, “The Invincible Emperor” by Little Rookie, was receiving terrible reviews.

On the official literature site, readers could rate novels.

For a five-star system, most were giving it only two or three stars.

It was as if the author everyone had supported yesterday was not Little Rookie at all.

[Cappuccino]: “Does the author think we’re fools? He’s just copying a book from Yidian.”

[Hohoho]: “Just the same old thing with different names for the factions. At least change the place names, the cultivation techniques, the protagonist’s name—don’t just swap the title!”

[Bai Bai]: “Just drop it. Keeping it up there is embarrassing enough.”

Many readers were venting their frustration.

Of course, there were loyal fans defending Little Rookie:

[Cute]: “That book on Yidian was written by Little Rookie. He’s just rewriting it here—what’s the problem?”

[Little Darling]: “I followed him here because of that book. If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t even be reading this.”

These were all readers who had followed him over from Yidian. Little Rookie had written over 100,000 words there and was just starting to make a name for himself when Baitu poached him.

Actually, continuing a work started on another site wasn’t unprecedented.

With an existing readership, why start anew?

In fact, in Baitu’s “God-level” section, there was another author recently poached from Yidian, continuing a new work from there—and it was doing very well.

That book now ranked twelfth on the paid reading chart.

But such cases were rare.

Readers who’d already read a book once were unlikely to read it all over again somewhere else.

The short-haired female editor remarked regretfully, “‘The Invincible Emperor’ has dropped to fifth place on the new books chart.”

Wang Ke’s face was dark; his spirits were low.

If things kept on like this, Little Rookie would be lucky to make the top ten, let alone compete for this month’s Rookie King title.

He was frustrated—how had it come to this?

Before the book even launched, Wang Ke had discussed with Little Rookie whether he should revise the story for a new start.

Little Rookie’s answer was that readers on Yidian wanted the sequel, and switching to something new could mean losing a lot of his fanbase.

They’d agreed on this, so why the sudden change of heart from readers?

The middle-aged editor said heavily, “‘Knight of the Sword’ is scoring okay—mostly four and five stars—but its readership numbers are poor. It’s fallen out of the top ten.”

Although White Knight was an old author using a new pen name, he’d only done so because he couldn’t make it with his old account. Otherwise, who would abandon their main account for a new one?

Every editor wore an unhappy expression.

One editor said bitterly, “Are we going to be overshadowed by Yidian again this month?”

Baitu Literature had prepared well this month—poaching Yidian’s strongest newcomer, bringing in seasoned authors with new works, and even leveraging a level-five author for traffic.

If, after all that, Yidian still outperformed them, the rookie rankings would be a lost cause for Baitu going forward.

Another editor said dispiritedly, “It’s worse than overshadowed. The top three in the rookie rankings are all Yidian-signed authors now.”

In just a few days, the top three had been completely reshuffled.

Initially, Baitu held the top two, with Yidian only managing third.

Now, Baitu couldn’t even hold on to third place.

And it wasn’t just that.

The readership for “The Invincible Emperor” was plummeting rapidly, and the ratings were dropping even faster.

While “Knight of the Sword” had decent reviews and respectable writing, its plot fell apart after the opening—after an impressive start, it quickly descended into mediocrity.

Liu Da was feeling rather low himself, but upon seeing Wang Ke’s sullen face, his mood improved instantly.

Serves you right.

Let you act all high and mighty.

Even though Baitu was being trounced by Yidian, it was “The Invincible Emperor” that was the real embarrassment.

The higher the hype, the harder the fall.

And while his own ranking was lower, he’d never been that high to begin with.

Heh!

Liu Da’s mood lifted, and he couldn’t help but let a faint smile curve his lips.

Wang Ke glanced at the secretly pleased Liu Da, his anger flaring instantly.

So you’re happy to see my misfortune, are you?

Wang Ke slammed the table and stared straight at Liu Da. “And your God-level author—what’s his ranking?”

“Ah!”

Liu Da was caught off guard.

How did the fire suddenly get turned on me?

|——
(posted for later revision)