421: Chapter 421 Beyond Fear, Creating a Grander Dream

Magic City, the headquarters building of Hong Guo Net.

In the Editor-in-Chief's office, Hong Hu stared at those two words on the screen, feeling as if the cushion had been pulled out from under her chair.

"Change names?!"

Her voice echoed through the empty office.

It was already past nine in the evening; the entire floor was empty except for her and two operational editors on the night shift.

Her fingers hammered against the keyboard, and the first message was sent out.

"Great Master."

Three seconds later, the second message followed.

"You can't possibly be unaware of how much weight the five characters 'Hell Dream Weaver' carry in the entire web novel circle right now.

These five characters are a banner; the readers recognize this banner!"

The third message popped up immediately after.

"By saying you want to change your name now, you're essentially pulling the flagpole out of the ground to plant a new one."

The fourth message.

"Great Master, I'll be blunt.

The ID 'Hell Dream Weaver' is already deeply bound to fear, the abyss, and Cthulhu; it is a brand in itself.

Changing it is no different from destroying your own Great Wall."

After sending the four messages, Hong Hu stared at the chat box, waiting for a reply from the other side.

A minute passed.

There was no movement from the other side.

Not even the 'typing...' prompt appeared.

Hong Hu's back began to sweat.

In her seven years in the industry, she had seen authors stop updating and run away, tear up contracts, and be headhunted by rivals,

but she had never seen an author take the initiative to change a god-tier pen name while at the peak of their popularity.

Two minutes passed.

Hong Hu couldn't sit still anymore and sent another message.

"Great Master, tell me the truth. Is there something I don't know?"

She deliberated for a few seconds before continuing to type.

"Is it a matter of the revenue-sharing ratio? If you're unsatisfied with the current contract terms, I can re-apply with headquarters.

You are our site's Gold-Tier author; the sharing ratio can be renegotiated according to the highest tier."

She sent it, waited five seconds, and added another.

"Or has another company come to headhunt you? Great Master, be honest with me; no matter what terms another platform offers, we at Hong Guo Net can talk."

After sending these messages, Hong Hu's fingers tapped incessantly on the desk.

She pushed her chair back half a step, looked up at the ceiling, and let out a long breath.

Outside the window, the night view of Magic City was vibrant and colorful, the glass curtain wall cutting the city lights into grids of light spots.

The notification sound of QQ rang out.

Hong Hu's gaze snapped back to the screen.

There were only two lines in the chat box.

"It's neither."

"This ID is deeply ingrained in people's hearts because, before this, readers in the web novel circle had never seen hell."

Hong Hu stared at this sentence for five seconds.

Her fingers rested on the keyboard, but she didn't type a single word.

She wanted to refute it, but she couldn't find an angle.

This sentence was too accurate.

The reason "Hell Dream Weaver" could reach god-tier status in just a few months

was that he had personally carved out an entire genre that had never existed before, right from the underground.

the human world is like a prison, soul ferry, Cthulhu.

Before him, these concepts simply didn't exist in the Huaxia web novel circle.

There wasn't even a category for it; she had personally authorized its entry.

What readers remembered wasn't the word "Hell," but the unprecedented reading experience he brought.

Hong Hu took a deep breath and typed cautiously.

"Then if you really want to change it... what do you plan to change it to?"

The reply from the other side came quickly, so quickly it seemed as if it had been typed long ago, just waiting for her to ask.

Two words.

"Dream Weaver."

Hong Hu looked at those words, her brow furrowing deeply.

"Just... remove 'Hell'?"

"Yes."

Confusion was written all over Hong Hu's face.

She typed quickly.

"Great Master, if I may be blunt. In the name 'Hell Dream Weaver', the first word is the memory anchor.

'Hell' represents a sense of oppression, extreme fear, and the core temperament of your work.

Removing it, the name 'Dream Weaver' in the web novel circle would have its recognizability cut in half immediately."

She paused for two seconds and added another sentence.

"When readers see 'Dream Weaver', their first reaction won't be Cthulhu, the abyss, or that spine-chilling feeling.

You're essentially tearing off your most lethal label with your own hands."

The other side was silent for about ten seconds.

Then a paragraph popped up.

When Hong Hu saw the first line, her fingers stopped.

"The old Hong Guo Net was a pool of stagnant water that needed the fear of hell to stimulate its nerves.

But now, as you should know better than I do, various categories are blooming. The soil of web novels shouldn't only contain the abyss and hell."

Hong Hu's gaze moved down.

"I'm removing 'Hell' because I want to create a grander dream beyond fear and suspense."

The office was very quiet.

The cold air from the air conditioner vent brushed against the back of Hong Hu's neck, yet she felt as if a warm current had been poured over her from head to toe.

She read the paragraph again from beginning to end.

She thought back to half a year ago.

At that time, the data for the supernatural and horror sections of Hong Guo Net was half-dead, the Cthulhu category didn't exist yet, and the site's daily active users weren't even a fraction of what they were now.

It was this person who used a single work, "the human world is like a prison," to blast an entire genre into existence from nothing,

and then used "soul ferry" and "Cthulhu" to push the ceiling higher and higher time and again.

She stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, crossed her arms over her chest, and stared at the night view of Magic City.

She thought he would keep going down this path, writing fear to the extreme and digging the abyss to its deepest point.

But she was wrong.

This person never intended to run in only one lane.

The Cthulhu sub-section had gone from zero to one hundred and twenty-three works, and the adventure sub-section had just been blown wide open by a single teaser of his.

Everywhere he went, new things would sprout.

His own works were growing wildly, and the entire ecosystem was coming alive along with him.

Hong Hu lowered her arms and put her hands back on the keyboard.

She typed a sentence, deleted it, typed again, and deleted it again.

Finally, she only sent four words.

"I understand."

The other side didn't reply with an emoji or any pleasantries.

He only sent a practical message.

"The name change time is set for midnight on October 3rd."

Hong Hu's eyes lit up.

October 3rd.

"Great Master, do you also plan to release that new book in the adventure section on the 3rd?"

"Depends on the situation."

Hong Hu didn't press further about the release time.

Her attention was already fully occupied by another matter.

Changing the name at midnight on October 3rd.

If this was just a quiet ID change in the backend, it would be a waste of a god-given opportunity.

"Great Master, leave the name change to us."

Hong Hu's typing speed suddenly accelerated.

"I'll contact the Public Relations and Propaganda Departments immediately to start preparations now.

At midnight on October 3rd, a notice will be posted on the homepage of the entire Hong Guo Net site."

She typed faster and faster.

"The notice title will be: Notification of Pen Name Change for Our Site's Gold-Tier author Hell Dream Weaver.

Readers will only see the specific details of the name change after clicking in."

"The homepage banner, site-wide pop-ups, and APP splash screen—all three entry points will launch simultaneously.

The Cthulhu section, horror section, supernatural section, and adventure section—the pinned positions in all four sections will display the teaser."

Hong Hu's fingers danced across the keyboard; the marketing plan seemed to have been brewing in her mind for a long time, and now it poured out all at once.

"Hong Guo Net's official account, official Microblogging platform, and official TikTok will all sync the push notification.

The push copy will only have one sentence: 'Hell Dream Weaver is no longer Hell Dream Weaver.'"

After typing this line, she looked at it for two seconds, deleted the second half, and changed it to another version.

Push copy: "Hell is empty, all dreams ascend."

The suspense was maximized.

Hong Hu picked up the cold coffee on the desk, took a sip, and put it back.

She had been in this industry for seven years.

In those seven years, she had seen too many authors be a flash in the pan, too many hit works lose momentum, and too many platforms turn into ruins after the traffic dividend receded.

But she had never seen an author, at their most powerful moment,

voluntarily tear off their sharpest label simply because they felt they should go further.

This kind of thing was either an overestimation of one's abilities,

or it was because they were truly standing at a height that no one else could see.

Hong Hu closed her eyes briefly.

The scene from half a year ago, when she first saw the manuscript for "cthulhu mythos" in the backend, surfaced in her mind.

The system had flagged it; the content defied logic.

She had braved the pressure to authorize its entry and created a category that had never existed before.

Back then, she was betting on an author.

Now, she was betting on an era.

Another message popped up on QQ.

Lin Que's reply was simple.

"Okay, thanks for your hard work."

Hong Hu stared at those words for three seconds, then stood up from her chair, grabbed her phone, and headed for the door.

When she reached the door, she paused, turned back, and glanced at the chat box on the screen.

From "Hell Dream Weaver" to "Dream Weaver."

One word was removed.

But the remaining two words felt heavier than the original three.

...