422: Chapter 422 Hell is Empty, Dreams Ascend to Heaven

October 2nd.

The autumn wind in the capital was dry and cold, rattling the window glass slightly.

Inside that hidden studio in Haidian District, soundproof walls completely shut out the outside clamor, leaving only the near-frenzied sound of keyboard tapping.

From early morning to afternoon, Lin Que had been sitting motionlessly in front of the computer for a full six hours.

On the desk sat two empty cans of coffee, a half-torn bag of beef jerky, and three crumpled balls of draft paper,

as well as a jar of ice-cold cola with only a small portion left.

The light from the screen reflected on his face, his fingers flying across the keyboard with both speed and stability.

The opening of "ghost blows out the light: Jingjue Ancient City" was spread across the screen.

Hu Bayi was handling a compass amidst the wind and snow of the Kunlun Mountains, cursing under his breath while stepping on frozen soil from three thousand years ago.

At one in the afternoon, he finally stopped his fingers,

leaned back against the chair, picked up the last half can of cola on the table, and tilted his head back to finish it.

The first twenty chapters of "ghost blows out the light: Jingjue Ancient City" had been polished, and the skeletons of the three characters—Hu Bayi, Fatty Wang, and Shirley Yang—were firmly established.

The advance ammunition was enough.

He picked up his phone and sent a message to Hong Hu.

"The warm-up materials can be released."

Hong Hu's reply came almost instantly.

"Received! Materials for all channels are in place, just waiting for those words from you!"

Lin Que put down his phone, turned off the screen, and stood up to walk to the window.

Outside the window was the hazy skyline of the capital, with several planes trailing white wakes across the high sky.

At midnight tomorrow, the five words "Hell Dream Weaver" would vanish from this world.

In its place would be an even greater name.

...

2:17 PM.

The official Microblogging platform, public account, and short video account of Hong Guo Net pushed a piece of content simultaneously.

No text explanation, no event introduction.

Only a pure black background image.

In the center of the image, eight gold-leafed characters were arranged vertically.

[Hell is Empty, All Dreams Ascend.]

In the bottom corner, the Hong Guo Net logo was tucked away, with a line of fine white text next to it: October 3rd, 00:00.

That was it.

No extra information whatsoever.

But the moment those eight words smashed into the internet, the effect was more powerful than any lengthy promotional article.

In the operations department of Hong Guo Net,

the editor on duty had just brought a water cup to her lips when her peripheral vision caught the big screen.

Her hand jerked violently, and scalding tea splashed directly onto the back of her hand.

The originally flat real-time background popularity curve was now like a rocket igniting and ascending,

crashing through the red warning zone at a nearly ninety-degree vertical angle!

By the time she scrambled to grab a tissue, on the Microblogging platform's hot search list,

the hashtag #HellIsEmptyAllDreamsAscend already carried the eye-catching dark red "Explosive" tag.

Major reading forums, web novel communities, and Tieba discussion groups all exploded.

"Those eight words are definitely the Dream Weaver's work!"

"That tomb-robbing teaser hasn't been explained yet, and now another one?"

"Wait, what does 'Hell is Empty' mean? Is Hell Dream Weaver retiring??"

"Impossible! He just posted a teaser for the adventure section two days ago!"

"Then what do those eight words mean? Is there any expert who can interpret them?"

...

October 3rd. Midnight.

The Hong Guo Net app, web version, and all platform entrances simultaneously popped up a pinned announcement.

The title had only one line.

[Notice of Jian Shen Change for Our Site's Golden Serial Author "Hell Dream Weaver"]

Clicking in, the main text was even shorter.

[Upon the author's own application, starting from 00:00 on October 3rd, our site's Golden Serial author "Hell Dream Weaver" has officially changed his name to "Dream Weaver".

Original works, data, and fan relationships will not be affected. This is hereby announced.]

A sentence was attached at the end. There was no signature, but everyone knew who wrote it.

[Hell is just the starting point. Dream weaving never ends.]

Within the first second of the announcement going live, the background traffic volume pushed the server directly to the warning line.

The refresh speed of the comment section was so fast that the page couldn't even load in time.

[Waiting for Updates Even While Squatting]: "What am I seeing?? A name change???"

[The Abyss Gazed at Me]: "Wait, let me process this. 'Hell Dream Weaver' is gone?"

[Even Cthulhu Has to Pay Rent]: "He's not gone! He's evolved! Look at that last sentence!"

[Sea King Step Aside, Let Me]: "I get it! Combined with the adventure section teaser from two days ago!

He fought from horror and the supernatural to Cthulhu, and now he's going to charge into tomb-robbing adventures! Hell can't contain him anymore!"

This comment was upvoted to the very top.

Following closely, a longer analysis post appeared on the Hong Guo Net community homepage.

The poster was an old bookworm registered for over three years, with the ID [Midnight Reader].

Only one paragraph of the core content was repeatedly forwarded.

"Most authors, after becoming famous, will stick to the track they are best at and live off their past achievements for a lifetime.

Changing tracks is too risky; success means expanding territory, but failure means destroying one's own brand.

But this person is different.

He personally removed the word 'Hell'.

He is telling everyone: I am not just the person who can scare you.

My ambition is much larger than you think."

In web novel fan groups across the four cities of the capital, Magic City, Guang City, and Shenzhen, people were still frantically discussing at two in the morning.

Some took screenshots, some recorded their screens, and some set those eight words as their phone wallpaper.

The real-time online users of Hong Guo Net between midnight and one o'clock set the highest record since the site's establishment.

...

At the same moment.

The capital, Qingbei University dormitory building.

In the student dormitory of the Qinglan Project training camp, the lights were still on.

Dan Yi sat at his desk, with three sheets of draft paper covered in writing and crossed-out lines spread before him.

He had tried writing about signal towers on the ice plains, satellite wreckage in the Arctic Circle, and iron rails cracked by the minus forty-degree cold of Mo City winters.

But every beginning lost its momentum by the third paragraph; the shell of science fiction and the core of reality just wouldn't stitch together.

Chen Jiahao, on the opposite bunk, was lying half-down, with music faintly coming from his headphones.

Dan Yi's phone vibrated.

He didn't mind it, continuing to stare at the crossed-out beginning on the draft paper.

It vibrated again.

A third time.

A fourth time.

The continuous vibrations pushed the phone half an inch off the edge of the desk.

Dan Yi frowned as he reached out to flip it over.

The screen was full of push notifications from Hong Guo Net.

He glanced at the title, his fingers tightening on the pen for a moment as he slowly sat up straight.

Chen Jiahao was startled by the movement, and his headphones even went crooked.

"What are you doing?"

Dan Yi didn't answer.

He stared fixedly at the phone screen, the line of text in the announcement reflected in his eyes.

"He changed his name..."

His voice was very low, as if he were talking to himself.

"He actually changed his name."

"Who changed their name?"

Chen Jiahao leaned his head over, and before he could see Dan Yi's screen clearly, the notifications on his own phone also exploded.

He looked down, his eyes instantly rounding.

"Holy crap!"

Chen Jiahao took off one headphone, looked down at the notifications exploding on his phone, and his eyebrows shot straight up to his hairline.

"Whoa—Hell Dream Weaver changed his name?"

"Just called Dream Weaver? What kind of stunt is this?"

Dan Yi didn't respond, his finger quickly sliding down, flipping through the densely packed comment section below the announcement.

Those comments scrolled so fast that dozens more appeared every time he refreshed.

Chen Jiahao seemed to suddenly think of something and jerked upright.

"Right."

He muttered a word, sat back at his own desk, and picked up his phone.

"I have to ask that buddy what he thinks."

Dan Yi didn't even look up, continuing to stare at a long comment in the discussion area about the meaning of the three words "Dream Weaver".

That long comment was written in great detail,

analyzing everything from historical cases of Jian Shen changes to the possible future creative landscape.

A dozen seconds later, a private message notification popped up in Dan Yi's Hong Guo Net background.

Sender ID: [Online Alias].

The message was only one sentence.

"Your idol changed his Jian Shen, what do you think?"

Dan Yi's finger stopped on the screen.

He looked up.

Opposite him, Chen Jiahao was sitting at his desk with his arms crossed over his chest,

head tilted as he stared at his phone screen, looking like he was waiting for someone to reply.

Dan Yi's gaze moved from Chen Jiahao's face to the reflection on his phone screen, and then back.

Er Dong. Shi Kou Jia.

Chen Jia...

Dan Yi remembered the last time in Xu Zhengqing's class, when they were discussing "ordinary world," the way Chen Jiahao was the first to stand up and speak.

His face was flushed red, his voice trembling, and his eyes were even wet when he said "Jian Shen seemed to have lived a life in the fields."

Looking back further, during that flame war on the Wenyuan Pavilion forum, an account named "Online Alias" had spent nearly forty thousand yuan to buy site-wide sticky cards, using money power to push his long review down from the front page.

Dan Yi lowered his head, looking at the private message dialog box.

The curve of his lips was hidden in the shadow of the phone.

He slowly typed a line of text and hit send.

"Just like your idol Jian Shen, his perspective has broadened."

The other side was quiet for two seconds.

Chen Jiahao's phone screen lit up.

He looked down, scratched the back of his head, and looked up with a face full of confusion.

"Ah? What does this guy mean?"

Dan Yi didn't explain.

He placed his phone face down on the desk, picked up his pen again, and looked down at the draft paper covered in scratches.

That curve on his lips was still there, impossible to suppress.

...