281: Chapter 281 May the spark of hope illuminate this ordinary land.

In the early morning of mid-August, the old residential area of Yun City had not yet awakened from its hangover-like sweltering heat.

Inside a cramped rental room.

Wen Xun curled up on a single bed that smelled of sour sweat.

Even in his dreams, he still clenched his fists tightly.

He mumbled dark words incoherently,

weaving a grand funeral about exposing hypocrisy in his half-asleep state.

In his dream, he was no longer that bottom-tier writer who begged everyone for a few hundred yuan in manuscript fees,

but had transformed into a lone hero exposing the dark side of capital.

He stood on a magnificent podium, the flashes from below blinding him.

Those Editor-in-Chiefs of physical magazines who usually ignored him

were now lining up to toast him, praising him as the "last gatekeeper of traditional literature."

And that unattainable Jian Shen was dragged down from the altar by his own hands, fleeing in disgrace amidst the spurning of the entire internet.

"Beep, beep, beep—"

The piercing sound of the alarm clock was like a pair of rusty scissors, shredding this pipe dream.

The screaming of the alarm clock dragged Wen Xun back from the podium.

He threw off the thin quilt, not even bothering to look for his slippers,

and stepped barefoot on the cold, sticky floor,

rushing toward the second-hand computer that was currently panting heavily.

"Let me see if those leeks are awake yet."

He skillfully pressed the power button, his fingers even twitching slightly from excessive excitement.

In his view, after last night's brainwashing with the pig-farming theory, the internet should now have become a battlefield for crusading against Jian Shen.

He had even already thought of the title for today's second call to arms:

"Tears of Capital, Tombstones of Readers."

The faint blue light of the computer screen reflected on his greasy face.

Wen Xun picked up the half cup of cold water left over from last night and took a gulp; the cold liquid slid down his throat, refreshing his spirit.

He first clicked on the Longdekong Forum.

This was a gathering place for web novel writers and the place where the smell of gunpowder was strongest last night.

However, the moment the page loaded, the smile on Wen Xun's face instantly froze.

"This post has been deleted due to violations of relevant laws and regulations."

A line of cold system prompts struck him in the face.

Wen Xun was stunned for three seconds, then frantically refreshed the page.

"404 Not Found."

He then opened Tieba and clicked on the repost links he had published on major forums last night.

Without exception, they had all vanished without a trace.

"Gagging? Xinchao Publishing House actually dares to directly gag people?!"

Wen Xun slapped the table in anger.

With trembling hands, he logged into his alt account, preparing to post a complaint against this "capitalist tyranny."

But when he pressed the enter key, a pop-up window appeared on the screen that nearly made him collapse:

"Your account has been permanently banned. Reason: Maliciously spreading rumors and damaging the online ecosystem."

"Crazy... everyone's gone crazy..."

Wen Xun slumped in his chair, panting heavily, his eyes bloodshot.

He thought he had grasped New Tide's vital point, but he didn't expect the other party's reaction to be so violent.

"The more they gag me, the more it shows I've hit the mark!"

Gritting his teeth, he opened Microblogging platform again.

He thought to himself that forums could be blocked and Tieba could be deleted,

but surely New Tide couldn't bribe all of those hundreds of thousands of discussions on the hot search list?

However, when he habitually scanned the top of the hot search list, his mouse cursor froze in mid-air, unable to move.

His gaze seemed to hit an invisible wall,

and the previously fast-moving mouse cursor was nailed firmly to those two purple-red words,

as if the blood in his entire body had stopped flowing in an instant.

The first and second places on the hot search list were no longer the skeptical topics from last night.

In their place were two eye-catching purple-red "BURST" tags.

#New Tide Notarization#

#Jian Shen's Great Righteousness#

Topic discussion volume: 120 million.

An extremely ominous premonition crawled up his spine from his ankles.

Wen Xun swallowed hard and tremblingly clicked on the term.

What caught his eye was a pinned post published by the official Microblogging platform of Xinchao Publishing House at 3:35 AM.

There was no long-winded emotional appeal, no aggrieved explanation.

Only a high-definition image clear enough to see every anti-counterfeit pattern.

It was a legal notarization letter issued by the Su Province's highest-level notary office, stamped with a bright red steel seal.

Under the light, that steel seal appeared so solemn and yet so cold.

Wen Xun's gaze was locked onto the main text of the notarization letter; with every line he read, his face turned a shade paler.

[Notarization Article 1.]

"As notarized by this office, the entire ordinary world series (including subsequent planned publications) under Xinchao Publishing House will have a fixed uniform price of 0.1 yuan/1,000 words across the entire network from this day until the copyright expiration. This price is the maximum price limit for the work, and no form of tiered pricing, time-limited price increases, or bundled consumption will be opened in the future. If there is any violation, Xinchao Publishing House is willing to bear double refunds and legal responsibility."

This first article was like a heavy sword, directly cutting through the pig-farming theory that Wen Xun had painstakingly constructed.

Permanently fixed.

Uniform for the entire series.

What kind of bait was this? This was clearly welding the price shut in the basement!

Wen Xun only felt his brain buzz; those smug inferences from last night

now appeared so naive and laughable in the face of this single notarization.

"Impossible... how do they dare to do this? What about server costs? What about labor?"

He murmured to himself, and before he could recover from the shock, the second article struck him like a bolt of lightning again.

[Notarization Article 2.]

"All subscription revenue generated by the ordinary world, after deducting necessary technical maintenance costs and legal taxes, 30% of the remaining profit will be unconditionally injected into a dedicated oversight account by Xinchao Publishing House. This account is supervised throughout by the notary office and a third-party auditing agency, and the funds are limited solely to the operation of the 'Ordinary Literature Foundation'."

Wen Xun's hand shook, and half a cup of cold water spilled directly onto his pants.

But he could no longer care about that.

As an insider, he knew all too well what this meant.

In this era where traffic is king and people wish they could split a penny in half, New Tide was actually going to spit out thirty percent of the profits they had already obtained?

This was no longer doing business; this was cutting their own flesh!

"Jian Shen... what on earth do you want to do?"

Wen Xun's teeth chattered as his gaze fell upon the final article.

And this article completely destroyed all his psychological defenses as a man of letters.

[Notarization Article 3.]

"The 'Ordinary Literature Foundation' does not belong to New Tide, nor does it belong to Jian Shen. This foundation is specifically used to support ordinary people who are at the bottom, stuck in the mud, yet still harbor dreams of writing. New Tide APP will officially launch a brand-new section next month: 'Spark'. This section will provide a free display platform for all unsigned, unknown bottom-tier creators. Based on reader evaluations and work quality, the foundation will provide creative subsidies, medical insurance, and legal aid for these writers of the ordinary world."

At the very bottom of the image, a line of small print was written:

"May the light of a single spark illuminate every inch of the ordinary world.

——Jian Shen"

...