115: Heaven has boats, hell has cars.

The Hong Guo Net headquarters building.

The graphs on the large screen had plummeted to the bottom half an hour ago.

It was a double blow of user uninstalls and complaints.

Zhou Tong stood before the screen.

He tightened and then loosened the lid of the thermos in his hand, then loosened and tightened it again, making a grating friction sound.

Hong Hu, meanwhile, was slumped in her executive chair, staring blankly at the smoke alarm on the ceiling.

She seemed to be calculating whether lighting a cigarette now would trigger the alarm and break this awkward, dead silence.

"Editor-in-Chief, the data... it's moving."

The voice of the technician monitoring the backend trembled slightly.

Zhou Tong's hand jerked, nearly dropping the thermos on his foot.

He suddenly leaned closer to the screen, his balding forehead covered in fine beads of oily sweat.

"Did it hit the limit down? Or did the server crash?"

"No... no."

The technician swallowed hard.

His fingers flew across the keyboard, switching to the real-time retention rate interface.

"It's a rebound. And it's... a V-shaped rebound."

On the screen, that green downward curve that originally represented death...

After hitting rock bottom, it suddenly defied physical common sense.

It jerked its head up and turned into a soaring red line.

"The completion rate for the first chapter of soul ferry..."

The technician's voice rose.

"Ninety-eight percent!"

Zhou Tong and Hong Hu looked at each other, both seeing a look as if they had seen a ghost.

There's an iron rule in the Web Novel Circle: the Golden Three Chapters.

If the first chapter's completion rate exceeds sixty percent, it's a quality work; over eighty percent, it's a masterpiece.

"Ninety-eight percent?"

This meant that out of every hundred people who clicked in to curse...

Ninety-eight of them entered swearing and came out kneeling.

"What about the comment section?"

Hong Hu suddenly sat up straight, her chair letting out an overburdened creak.

"It changed too!"

The technician switched to the public opinion monitoring chart.

"Half an hour ago, the keywords were shameless, plagiarism, and clout-chasing."

"Now... it's all 'so good', 'Zhao Li', and 'Convenience Store No. 444'."

Hong Hu grabbed the mouse and checked the backend data herself.

The tip board began to flood the screen; those old readers who had been clamoring to quit...

Were now frantically using cold, hard cash to express the pleasure of being 'slapped in the face'.

Just then, the red internal private line on the desk rang again.

Zhou Tong instinctively shrank his neck.

Half an hour ago, it was this very phone...

That delivered the cold ultimatum from the group's Vice President Liu.

Hong Hu took a deep breath, straightened her slightly wrinkled collar, and picked up the phone.

"Hello, President Liu."

She tried her best to keep her voice steady.

The voice on the other end was no longer ice-cold.

Instead, it was a hearty, even somewhat affectionate laugh:

"Hong Hu, I just saw the latest data reported by the operations department."

"Good, very good! It seems our 'Dream Weaver' is not only talented but also has a very strong psychological constitution!"

Hong Hu rolled her eyes in her mind, but said respectfully:

"Yes, Dream Weaver has always been very independent-minded."

"We must strongly support such an independent author!"

President Liu's voice carried the shrewdness characteristic of a capitalist.

"The previous... was all a misunderstanding, all for the sake of work."

"The group has decided to grant Dream Weaver an additional S-class promotional budget."

"Furthermore, since this crisis was handled properly, your editorial department's bonus for this month will be doubled."

"By the way, I've also pushed forward the year-end stock option incentives for both Director Zhou and you."

"Thank you, President Liu."

"And one more thing."

President Liu paused, his tone becoming meaningful.

"Since the hype has already started, let it burn a bit brighter."

"There's no need to clarify anything deliberately; negative publicity is still publicity."

"As long as the content is solid, readers will naturally buy it."

"You need to keep the readers steady; just don't let them get too extreme."

Hanging up the phone, Hong Hu let out a long breath of turbid air.

"Doubled?"

Zhou Tong leaned in, his eyes gleaming with greed.

"Doubled."

Hong Hu pulled a pack of cigarettes from her drawer.

This time, she didn't care about the smoke alarm and lit one directly.

She took a deep drag, the nicotine circling in her lungs and washing away all her anxiety.

"Capitalists, huh? They change their faces faster than flipping pages in a book."

"One second he wanted me to resign, the next he's talking to me about stock options."

Zhou Tong nodded:

"Whatever, at least we made it through this time without any mishap."

"But the title Dream Weaver chose for this book is seriously brilliant!"

"Do you think he planned all this from the start?"

Hong Hu looked at the data still climbing on the screen, blew out a smoke ring, her eyes complex:

"I don't know if he planned it or not."

"But I know that from today on, the ceiling of the Web Novel Circle has been raised another level by him."

...Jinling, Xinchao Magazine Agency.

Xu Lan sat at her workstation, staring at the document on her computer screen.

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, unable to type a single word for a long time.

The title of the document was 'Statement Regarding Recent Online Controversies (Draft)'.

As Jian Shen's editor and the number one supporter of the ferryman, she should have been the angriest one.

When she arrived in the morning, she even planned to write a call to arms on Microblogging platform...

To denounce that arrogant web novel author.

But now, after finishing soul ferry...

That anger had vanished without a trace.

In its place was a complex, indescribable shock.

"Can't write it?"

A cup of hot coffee was placed on the corner of her desk.

Wang De'an held a freshly printed manuscript, which was the content of the first chapter of soul ferry.

Xu Lan looked up, her eyes a bit dazed:

"Editor-in-Chief, I... I don't know how to define it."

"From a business logic perspective, he's riding the hype."

"But from the content... it seems he has redefined 'ferrying'."

Wang De'an pulled over a chair and sat down, took a sip of tea, and pointed at the manuscript:

"Tell me, what do you see?"

"Cold."

Xu Lan said instinctively.

"Master Jian Shen's the ferryman is warm; even the evil spirits on the wasteland serve to highlight Tristan's protection."

"But this Zhao Li, and that Convenience Store No. 444..."

"There's a coldness that goes down to the bone. But..."

She paused, seemingly organizing her words:

"Beneath that coldness, there's a strange... compassion?"

"The little ghost who wants to drink cola, the woman with the broken neck—they aren't scary; instead, they make you feel pity."

"If Master Jian Shen is writing a fairy tale, then this Dream Weaver is writing... writing about life."

"Exactly."

Wang De'an nodded approvingly.

"It's a mirror."

"A mirror?"

"the ferryman is the front of the mirror, reflecting the radiance of humanity, love, and hope."

"And soul ferry is the back of the mirror, reflecting obsessions, regrets, and those dark corners that can't bear the light."

Wang De'an's gaze became deep.

"These two books aren't competitors; they are two sides of the same coin."

"If they can exist simultaneously, that would be a blessing for the literary world."

Xu Lan was stunned. She hadn't expected the Editor-in-Chief's evaluation to be so high.

"Then... do we still issue the statement?"

"Issue it. Of course we issue it."

Wang De'an smiled.

"But it's not a call to arms; it's an invitation."

"An invitation?"

"Have you contacted Master Jian Shen?"

Wang De'an asked.

Xu Lan nodded:

"Sent an email, but no reply yet."

Wang De'an nodded:

"Last time Jian Shen said, 'Flowers bloom in two colors, each on its own branch.' Since the author himself said so..."

"As editors, we can't appear too narrow-minded."

He stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked at the heavy traffic of Jinling City:

"Xiao Xu, use the official account to post an update."

"Don't criticize, and don't deliberately praise."

"Just talk about the word 'ferry'."

"Tell the readers that ferrying doesn't have just one form."

"Heaven has a boat, and hell... naturally has a car."

...