My Web Novel System - Chapter 37

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“I feel that ‘Ghosthand’ is much better than ‘Candle in the Tomb’ and ‘The Lost Tomb’.”

“Hey, you’ve been exposed! Tell me, troll, who hired you?”

Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms released a few chapters of “Candle in the Tomb” and “The Lost Tomb” for the general public to comment on.

Internet trolls were real fans. They often gathered together and spat at each other.

Suddenly, someone’s comment attracted everyone’s attention.

“These are internet trolls hired from a traffic manipulating company. Their true colors will be revealed once someone reports them. It’s simple to report them and you can just do it online. This is the link.”

Everyone was stunned.

Some people did not believe it and clicked on it, but there was only one item on it. “‘Ghosthand’ data manipulation…”

“Don’t click on it! Why are you so stupid? It’s clearly a virus! If you click on it, you might lose all the data on your computer.”

“Don’t worry, I’m at the cybercafe. I’ve already reported it. Thank you!”

At the same time, this comment was forwarded by countless people.

Some people believed it and some did not.

However, that did not matter. With such a large population, even if one out of a hundred people believed it, that was enough.

Although “The Coiling Dragon”, “The Lost Tomb”, and “Candle in the Tomb” were published not too long ago, they had indirectly and directly affected tens of millions of people. The number of people who participated in this voting was over a million.

With such a huge base, if one percent of the people clicked on the link to report it, that would account to tens of thousands of people making the report, which was a huge deal.

This immediately attracted the attention of the relevant literary boards and an investigation was carried out.

The investigation revealed a big problem.

The truth was uncovered that a lot comments, tens of thousands of them, were all from one IP address, and a few dozen IP addresses controlled a million comments.

This was enough to affect the performance of a book.

It was enough to push a rubbish book to a good ranking.

They immediately alerted the police, who mobilized a large number of officers to track down the IP addresses. They all went to a small office, but it was empty.

However, the police found a note on the boss’ desk.

“We work for Penguin Publishing Company. The two editors in charge of ‘Ghosthand’ hired us. As long as you arrest them and question them in isolation, they will definitely tell you the truth.”

The police officers just looked at each other because the entire office was empty except for one computer.

“Take it back.”

There were some important emails and messages on the computer.

Some important information pointed the blame to Penguin Publishing Corporation.

..

At the venue.

An award ceremony was being held.

The popularity of “Ghosthand” and its rankings plummeted because of the report.

“OMG! Did you guys see it? ‘Ghosthand’ is a hot topic now.”

“No way! What happened?”

“How does it compare to ‘Candle in the Tomb’ and ‘The Lost Tomb’?”

“Obviously it can’t compare to such a masterpiece!”

Now, the fans of “Candle in the Tomb” and “The Lost Tomb” were working together to fight against “Ghosthand”.

What a joke! How could a mediocre book compare to “Candle in the Tomb” or “The Lost Tomb”?

This was everyone’s consensus.

Dunbar did not know what to say, and his face was glum.

His ranking kept falling, and most importantly, his book had been surpassed by another rising star, “Carrie”.

Moreover, the reviews for “Carrie” from those who had read it were really good.

The story structure was simple, about a supernatural girl and a paranoid mother.

The girl grew up without any care from her Catholic mother, which led to the girl going on a rampage in her town.

Several people stood on the stage.

Since “Candle in the Tomb” and “The Lost Tomb” were both written by the same author and their rankings and popularity data were consistent, the two books were tied for first place after discussion with the judges.

This way, “Carrie” came in second, and “Ghosthand” was ranked last.

During the award ceremony, a few important people from the literary world came to give the awards to the three of them.

“Hmph! Who are you to be my equal?” Dunbar looked at Stephen King and said scornfully.

In his opinion, Fang Yuan was able to stand there because they were from the same school, so he was still a worthy competitor.

However, Stephen King did not come from a literary background, so Dunbar looked down on him.

All of his previous income from royalties was not even to survive, so he still had to rely on the support of others.

Stephen King felt a little inferior, so he just lowered his head after being ridiculed like this. No one knew what he was thinking.

However, Fang Yuan knew that Stephen King would become popular all over the world because of his book, “Carrie”.

In his previous life, Stephen King was the godfather of horror novels in America.

He was just waiting for his big break.

Fang Yuan smiled and said, “Stephen, “Carrie” is really a masterpiece. It’s even better than my book in some aspects of emotional pull. Your future is very bright, so there’s no need to feel depressed.

Stephen King suddenly looked up at Fang Yuan and said, “Are you just saying that? I’ve doubted myself many times.”

Fang Yuan smiled and said, “Why? You’re the protagonist in your life. Just like the protagonists in our novel, we’ll all experience some hardships before we soar.”

Stephen King’s eyes lit up. He had been working hard for more than ten years to write a good novel.

The reason he was able to persevere was that his wife always supported him.

“Thanks for your reminder, Fang Yuan. You’re like a light showing me the right path.”

During the awards ceremony, Stephen King respectfully received the medal and prize money.

A gray-haired old man held a medal in front of Dunbar and said, “Congratulations, I hope you will continue to work hard.”

It was a simple encouragement, and Dunbar remembered what Fang Yuan taught him that night.

It would impress the judge if he could respond in Chinese now.

Thinking of this, Dunbar said, “yǒu shì?” [Translation: what’s the matter?]

The judge’s facial muscles clearly twitched, but he still remained calm because it was a public event.

He could not be rude and smiled slightly as he said, “Mr. Dunbar, you really have a personality. No wonder you can write such good work.”

The judge looked at his colleagues.

When he saw that they were smiling, Dunbar continued to say proudly, “jiù zhè?” [Translation: that’s it?]

“Why are you like this?” The judge could not hold it anymore and he snapped back.

Dunbar was even more satisfied and said with confidence, “nǐ zài jiào wǒ zuòshì?!” [Translation: who are you to tell me what to do?]