6: Don't look under the bed tonight!

8:00 PM.

At the Technical Department of Hongguo Novel Website, the lights were brightly lit, and the sounds of keyboard typing and cursing rose one after another.

"No way, Boss! The traffic is too outrageous! The newly expanded server is alarming again!"

A programmer wearing glasses with a precarious hairline wailed.

The technical director stared fiercely at the traffic curve on the screen that was almost parallel to the y-axis, the veins on his forehead throbbing.

"Damn it, this isn't writing a novel; this is launching a DDoS attack on our server!"

What kind of deity is that author called Dream Weaver anyway?"

"Who knows, anyway the editorial department has gone crazy, the Editor-in-Chief has issued a strict order that before twelve o'clock tonight, the website must be restored to normal, and that new recommendation slot must be put up!"

"What recommendation slot is so urgent?"

"An advertising slogan, only six words."

After tossing and turning for a full three hours, until 11:30 PM.

The app and webpage of Hongguo Novel Website finally tremblingly resumed access.

Countless anxiously waiting readers rushed in at the first moment.

Then, they saw it.

On the homepage of the website, in the most eye-catching, largest banner recommendation slot.

There were no fancy book covers, no seductive synopses, only a pure, unsettling pitch-black background.

Above the background were six blood-red characters.

["Tonight, do not look under the bed."]

This headless and tailless sentence, carrying a commanding tone, instantly seized everyone's attention.

"What does this mean? Was the website hacked?"

"Is this an advertisement for a new book? What book? Where is the title?"

"I don't know why, seeing this line of words, my whole body suddenly gets creeped out..."

"Damn, I'm lying on the bed looking at my phone, and now I feel a chilly breeze under the bed..."

At first, everyone was just curious and discussing.

But soon, someone discovered that clicking this banner would directly jump to a book's page.

Book Title: "the human world is like a prison".

Author: Hell Dream Weaver.

"It's it! It's that divine book!"

"Holy crap! This advertising slogan belongs to "the human world is like a prison"? The author really knows how to play!"

This discovery was like a nuclear bomb detonating the internet.

The fear that was originally spread on a small scale among the student group, under the full push of the huge platform Hongguo Novel Website, spread to the entire society at a geometric speed.

The six words "Tonight, do not look under the bed", like a vicious curse and a psychological suggestion switch, quickly became an internet hot word.

Countless people forwarded this screenshot on social media, accompanied by various panicked meme stickers.

[My mom just asked me to get something from under the bed, and I wouldn't go even if it killed me; now my mom thinks I'm crazy.]

[Just video-chatted with my girlfriend, she was lying on the bed, I asked her to move the camera down a bit to look under the bed, and now I'm single again.]

[My bed is the kind that goes straight to the floor without a bottom, I feel like I've won the world!]

[To the person upstairs, what if... it is right inside your mattress?]

Underneath this comment, tens of thousands of replies saying "Don't come over" instantly appeared.

...

In Shen Qingqiu's apartment.

She had just finished taking a shower, wearing a silk bathrobe, and was sitting in front of the desk preparing tomorrow's lesson plan.

As a Chinese Language Teacher, she habitually opened Hongguo Novel Website, wanting to see what new literary trends there were recently.

Then, she also saw that blood-red line of words.

"Tonight, do not look under the bed."

Shen Qingqiu's breathing stagnated for a second.

This feeling again.

Exactly the same feeling as when she graded Lin Que's piece "back to back".

An unreasonable chill that struck straight at the soul.

She instinctively curled her toes, not daring to let her feet touch the ground.

"It's this... Hell Dream Weaver again."

She clicked on the page of "the human world is like a prison", looking at the rapidly growing data and the readers howling like ghosts and wolves in the comment section, her heart churning.

Who on earth is this author?

Why can his text always accurately hit the deepest fear point in a person's heart?

From the ceiling, to the knocking on the door, to under the bed...

These are all the most common elements in daily life.

Yet they were recombined by him in a bizarre way, turning into horror symbols enough to make anyone nervous.

This was a talent, a talent close to witchcraft.

She inexplicably thought of Lin Que.

She thought of the teenager who slept in class but wrote an astonishing composition.

She thought of his mischievous expression of "I am satisfied as long as people are scared".

She thought of him speaking in the classroom today in a gloomy tone:

"Perhaps, right now something is crawling outside the window"

...

An absurd thought uncontrollably popped up from the bottom of her heart.

Could it be...

No, impossible.

Shen Qingqiu immediately shook her head, denying this idea.

Lin Que was just a high school student; even if he had a bit of literary talent, how could he write such sophisticated, vicious, and even school-founding works?

Besides, where did he get the time?

He still had to go to school and prepare for the College Entrance Examination.

This was too ridiculous.

It must be a coincidence. In this world, there will always be some gifted people who happen to appear at the same time.

She comforted herself like this, but her heart beat wildly and uncooperatively.

She closed the webpage and got up to go to sleep.

Only a dim bedside lamp was turned on in the bedroom. Her bed was in European retro style, and the edge of the bed had a significant gap from the ground, below which were deep shadows.

Shen Qingqiu stood by the bed, hesitating for a full minute.

In the end, she gritted her teeth, did not go to bed, but turned around and walked to the living room, tidying up the throw pillows on the sofa.

Tonight, she decided to sleep on the sofa.

...

The next day, Saturday.

Lin Que slept in for a rare change, not getting up until the sun was high in the sky.

His parents had gone to work long ago, and the house was quiet.

While brushing his teeth, he opened his phone to check last night's battle results.

"Not bad, not bad."

Lin Que looked at the phone screen and nodded with satisfaction.

The topic "Tonight, do not look under the bed" had surged to the top of the hot search lists of major social platforms.

The associated hot searches below were #How to scientifically check under the bed#, #Floor bed sales surge#, #Psychological experts say no need to panic excessively#.

He even saw a news report saying that the psychological counseling departments of major hospitals in Jiang City were fully booked last night, with many people claiming they had contracted "bed phobia".

The data of "the human world is like a prison" directly took off.

Overnight, readership broke one million, and the total amount of tips exceeded one hundred thousand.

A wealthy reader named "Specialist for Curing Low Blood Pressure" tipped one hundred Gift Kings in one breath.

Directly creating the single-person single-tip record of Hongguo Novel Website.

In the comment section, readers were no longer simply urging for updates, but began to spontaneously carry out "secondary creation".

[Brothers, I've figured it out! You can't look under the bed, what about the wardrobe? The mirror? The toilet? I feel like there are no safe places left in this world!]

[Is the author a devil? Is he conducting a large-scale social psychology experiment affecting the whole country?]

[I have already dismantled the bed in my home, and starting tonight I'll sleep on a floor mat. My mom asked me why, I said it's to get closer to the earth.]

Lin Que watched with relish.

This feeling of stirring up the emotions of the entire society with one's own strength was simply too exhilarating.

He was watching happily when his phone suddenly rang, call from duty editor Lvyiluo.

Lin Que cleared his throat, answered the phone, and lowered his voice by eight octaves.

It was his dedicated vocal cord for disguising as "Hell Dream Weaver".

"Hello."

"Dream Weaver Teacher!"

The voice of Lvyiluo on the other end of the phone was trembling with excitement.

"Have you seen it? We succeeded! We detonated the entire internet!"

"Mhm, saw it."

Lin Que's tone was calm and unruffled, as if he had just done a trivial thing.

"Teacher, you are simply too amazing! That sentence of yours 'Tonight, do not look under the bed', this is definitely an epic-level marketing copy!"

Now the whole company is studying your case!"

"Right, your author's fee has also been prepaid to your account in advance, it will arrive within 1 minute, remember to check it! The subsequent ones will also arrive successively today!"

At this moment, the phone rang crisply, and a bank SMS notification popped up.

Lin Que's gaze fell on the screen, his heartbeat missing a beat.

"Your account ending in 3101 received a deposit of 145,000 RMB on October 22, 2035 at 12:39, account balance 145002.67"

Looking at this string of numbers, Lin Que's eyes flashed with his parents' hands full of calluses.

They were ordinary workers, working diligently all their lives, yet it was only enough to barely make a living in this city.

This 140,000 was an astronomical sum they wouldn't even dare to imagine.

Lin Que clenched his phone tightly, an unprecedented sense of responsibility welling up in his heart.

This was just the beginning!

He suppressed the turbulence in his heart, and toward the other end of the phone, spoke indifferently with his usual aloof vocal cord:

"Money is just a number, no need to care. I just want to quietly write some things."

This act of pretending, even he himself wanted to give himself a full score.

Lvyiluo on the other end of the phone was obviously stunned, and after several seconds said in an almost worshipping tone:

"Understood! Rest assured, Great God, we will definitely not disturb your creation!"

"However... the readers are frantically asking in the app backend, tonight... are there any new advertising slogans?"

They actually still wanted them?

Lin Que thought about it and felt he couldn't play too over the top, and had to give these poor readers a little breathing time.

"Tonight there is none."

He said slowly.

"Let them have a good sleep."

Hanging up the phone, Lin Que stretched.

There is still serious business to attend to this afternoon.

That is the Semifinals of the municipal composition competition.

He changed into a clean school uniform, put on his backpack, and walked out of the house.

Destination, Jiang City Cultural Palace.

He wanted to see what level the "literary elites" of this world were really at.