九九影院

The following day, early morning.

In the old city district, the first light of dawn spilled through the hazy clouds onto the patchwork city, draping Anling in a golden veil.

The wind, at times, gently swept across the streets, kicking up dust, and at others, carried a cacophony of irregular sounds, much like an old cat snoring around the corner, seeping into Lin Chuan’s narrow rented room.

Yesterday.

Lin Chuan had set up firewalls for the summit of Zijin, and then played games with Old Wang and the others, so he had gone to bed early.

This morning, it wasn’t the wind or the early sunshine that woke Lin Chuan, but Youyou.

Ding dong ding dong.

9:00.

Youyou sent a message right on time.

“Darling~”

“Time to get up.”

“Mmm—”

Lin Chuan stretched lazily, rubbed his bleary eyes, pressed his temples, and, after waking up, replied to Youyou, “Youyou, I’m here.”

“Have you had breakfast yet?” Youyou asked with concern.

“Not yet.”

Lin Chuan was brushing his teeth while replying to the messages.

“Darling~ about ‘Hacker Kingdom,’” Youyou sent a barrage of messages.

In the rented room, in front of a sink tiled with old porcelain.

Lin Chuan’s hand clutching the toothbrush stiffened, “Is the data not looking good?”

Youyou replied, “Yes, I arranged a ‘Chief Editor’s Recommendation’ for you yesterday, which has a significant number of exposures.”

Lin Chuan frowned, feeling a sense of foreboding, “How’s the conversion rate?”

“Not great.”

Youyou replied with three words.

Then, she sent over a backend data chart.

[04/02 Sailing Novel ‘Chief Editor’s Recommendation’ Results]

[Title: Hacker Kingdom]

[Favorites: 2607.]

[Average Subscriptions: 318.]

[Reading Conversion Rate from Recommendation: 0.4‰, Average Standard: 1.2‰]

[Chapter Retention Rate from Recommendation: 67%, Average Standard: 50%]

The reading conversion rate refers to the ratio between the number of recommendations and the number of readers.

0.4‰!

“Only four in a thousand?”

Lin Chuan’s gaze sharpened, instantly focusing on one piece of data, his brow half furrowed.

A big banner, a small horn, Chief Editor’s Recommendation, Bestseller Selection, are the four main recommendations from Sailing Novel with the largest exposure.

If a novel gets featured in one of these recommendations but doesn’t show any significant performance improvement,

Then, it can pretty much be pronounced dead.

The early morning breeze fluttered the curtains in Lin Chuan’s small rented living room, slapping against his body, creeping into his boxers, sending goosebumps all over him.

Chilling to the bone!

System, can you brush some subscriptions for me?

The system quickly replied—

‘Host, brushed subscriptions do not count towards the actual Popularity Value.’

‘Currently at 318 Popularity Value, you are 5682 points short, keep up the effort, host.’

Hissss!

Lin Chuan took a deep breath and muttered, “5682 points short in Popularity Value, that’s quite a gap. Could it be that I will fall at the hacker hurdle?”

He had only just tasted the sweetness brought by the capability of ‘Top-Level Hacker Technique’ yesterday, but today’s novel data had jerked him awake.

No wonder nobody has been writing novels about hacking these years.

It’s really cold!

“Darling~”

“Don’t be discouraged just yet.”

Youyou noticed that Lin Chuan hadn’t replied for a long time and guessed his mood, so she quickly sent a comforting message.

Lin Chuan took a deep breath, “Youyou, I’m actually okay.”

“That’s good, about your book ‘Hacker Kingdom’, Principal Editor Mingyue and I have some thoughts.” Youyou’s message came back quickly.

“Youyou, just say it, I can take it,” Lin Chuan forced a smile, waiting for Youyou’s analysis.

Soon, Youyou sent a string of messages.

“Honey, Mingyue and I both think that the reason for your low reading conversion rate might be two-fold.”

“First, ‘Hacker Kingdom’ has a bit of a high threshold for readers.”

“As editors, Mingyue and I went through the first hundred thousand words and found it quite challenging; the technical aspects are too strong.”

“This professional jargon isn’t like that of an assassin’s, it’s technical jargon that laymen really struggle to get.”

“Second, there are very few domestic readers for this topic.”

“When hacker-themed novels were flourishing on Sailing Novel, it was the time when the hacker culture wave was hitting our country, but that was ten years ago.”

“To revive the glory of the hacker theme from those days, our country would need to ignite another hacker culture wave.”

At this moment.

Lin Chuan leaned back in his chair, his brows knitted tightly.

The two reasons Youyou mentioned were spot-on.

‘Hacker Kingdom’ has a high reading threshold and a small domestic audience, which is why it has performed so dismally.

However, the solution Youyou proposed, ‘to ignite another hacker culture wave,’ is extremely difficult.

“Indeed it is,” Lin Chuan felt somewhat helpless.

“Honey, can I ask you something?”

“Ask away, Youyou.”

“Do you have confidence in the quality of ‘Hacker Kingdom’?” Youyou inquired.

Lin Chuan furrowed his brows, pondering for a moment: “Yes.”

After acquiring top-level hacker technique, he had carefully reviewed ‘Hacker Kingdom’, the book generated by the system based on his experiences, and its quality was definitely top-notch.

But the sales were abysmal.

“Honey~ then wait for some good news from me!” Youyou sent a message.

…

In Modu, the office building of Sailing Novel.

Youyou put down her phone, gazed at the Excel table ‘Overseas Publication Application’ on her computer screen, clenched her fist, and began typing in information about ‘Hacker Kingdom’.

Recently, Sailing Novel had started preparing for ‘novel going overseas’.

That is to say, they were going to publish novels overseas.

Each editor had the power to recommend works, but the least qualification required was an average subscription of ten thousand.

By all rights,

Lin Chuan’s ‘Hacker Kingdom’, with an average subscription of 318, stood no chance of joining the ranks of ‘novel going overseas’.

But Youyou wanted to fight for Lin Chuan’s chance.

Lin Chuan was the most promising author under her, with two huge hits in a row, both aiming for ten thousand subscriptions.

If ‘Hacker Kingdom’ completely flopped, Youyou was worried it would crush Lin Chuan’s confidence and he would never recover.

Therefore, Youyou made up her mind to push ‘Hacker Kingdom’ overseas.

Her thinking was simple: if the hacker culture wasn’t thriving domestically, then push it overseas.

Hacker culture was flourishing overseas.

Especially in North Bear.

But while the idea was simple, implementing it was difficult.

So after filling out the ‘Overseas Publication Application’, Youyou took a deep breath and headed to the office of the Principal Editor of Sailing Novel.

“No way!”

In the office, the Principal Editor just glanced at ‘Hacker Kingdom’s’ numbers and rejected it outright.

Youyou pursed her lips and argued, “Principal Editor, the author of this novel, Mr. Lin, has written two huge masterpieces in a row.”

“‘Swindler’ won first place in ‘Heroes Compete’. ‘This Assassin Is Too Professional’ is on its way to ten thousand subscriptions. If ‘Hacker Kingdom’ could go overseas, I believe it would definitely make a brilliant showing.”

The Principal Editor frowned slightly and still shook his head, “Youyou, letting a book with only three hundred average subscriptions go abroad is hard to justify to the higher-ups.”

Youyou gritted her teeth, “I can guarantee it!”

“What do you guarantee with?”

“With… with my year-end bonus!” Youyou’s delicate eyelashes trembled slightly, a firm determination appearing on her delicate face.