18: Chapter 18's royalties are out!

After buying these things, Chen Fan had less than 1,200 yuan left from last month's royalties. With the living expenses his parents gave him this week, he had a total of over 1,300 yuan.

Although it didn't look like much, it was enough for him to live very comfortably until the royalties were paid out next month.

After returning to his rented room, he opened his computer, ready to upload today's content.

Suddenly, he realized a problem: the computer had no internet access.

The place he was renting was a private courtyard his parents had rented near the school; the landlord probably didn't even have a computer, so how could there be an internet cable?

This really had him cornered.

Leaning back in his chair, Chen Fan pondered the situation, and suddenly, his eyes lit up.

He could buy a wireless internet card.

A wireless internet card was essentially a portable Wi-Fi device, though back in 2009, it was still called a wireless internet card. It usually had a USB interface, and you could get online as soon as you plugged it into the computer.

With this, he wouldn't need to go to an internet cafe.

Thinking of this, he immediately got up, ready to head to the nearest service center.

An hour later, Chen Fan returned to his room.

He had a small bag in his hand.

It was a China Telecom 3G wireless internet card.

Chen Fan's expression darkened; he hadn't expected this thing to be so expensive.

It cost 1,150 yuan, which included the 3G wireless internet card and one year of service, providing 60 hours of internet access per month with free nationwide roaming.

Damn it, he had just said he had 1,200 yuan left, and after buying the internet card, there wasn't much left.

Chen Fan made up his mind that once next month's royalties came in, he would definitely move to a new place.

By then, it wouldn't matter if he rented or bought.

Based on his current performance, his royalties next month would be at least several hundred thousand.

A 100-square-meter apartment unit with an elevator in the county town now only cost about 150,000 yuan; he could definitely afford to buy one.

...

The next day, in the morning.

In class, the physics teacher was rambling on about problems.

Chen Fan was listening until he felt drowsy.

He took out his phone to check the time and see how much longer until class ended.

Jiang Chen, who was sitting next to him, noticed and immediately whispered, "Did you buy a phone?"

"Yeah." Chen Fan nodded.

"How much was this phone?"

"1,600."

"Did you buy it with the money you earned from writing novels?"

"Part of it was from the novel, and I added the lucky money I'd saved up from before."

Chen Fan certainly wouldn't reveal his income from writing novels.

He had no intention of bringing his buddies along to get rich, especially since he and Jiang Chen were just ordinary friends now.

So, he just gave a few casual answers to satisfy Jiang Chen's curiosity.

...

In the following days, Chen Fan's life was simple and regular.

He attended classes during the day and returned to his rented room at night to type. With the computer and 3G card, he didn't need to go to the internet cafe anymore, and his efficiency was even higher.

With Chen Fan's sustained daily update volume of 30,000 characters, the total word count had reached about 1.5 million. However, he didn't have many drafts left, with only 700,000 characters remaining.

Under such a terrifying update volume, the popularity of High Martial Era》 continued to ferment.

After the first subscription reached 18,847, the average subscription climbed all the way to over 68,000. This average subscription number was already extremely terrifying.

To achieve this result, besides the quality of the work itself, it was due to Chen Fan's terrifying update count. In this era, updating 10,000 characters a day was considered a monster of productivity, let alone 30,000.

Great authors during this period, such as Tiaowu, Sima San, Xihongshi, and Tudou, all updated 10,000 characters a day.

And Chen Fan?

He released 300,000 characters on the first day of launch, and then updated 30,000 characters daily, churning out 900,000 characters a month.

Three times the update volume of the great authors.

People in the comments section checked in every day to do the math:

Old Bookworm A-Fei: "I did the math; what this guy writes in a day is enough for me to read for half an hour."

Onlooker Xiao Wang: "Others who update 10,000 characters a day are called tentacle monsters; what do you call him updating 30,000? A tentacle demon king?"

Under this terrifying update volume, the book's popularity not only didn't drop, but instead burned even brighter.

Tips continued to pour in every day, the total number of Alliance Leaders had exceeded 200+, and the book dominated the monthly ticket chart.

Discussions on Longkong were getting hotter, and someone even opened a thread specifically to discuss whether *Battle Through the Heavens* or *High Martial Era* was the number one divine book of 2009.

Chen Fan occasionally browsed the forums, and looking at those complimentary posts, he felt no ripples of emotion.

After all, he knew his own situation; he was completely plagiarizing. Unlike Tudou who wrote *Battle Through the Heavens*, that was the real genius.

What truly surprised Chen Fan was that a few times, he actually heard a few male classmates in the classroom discussing his novel.

This made Chen Fan feel a bit strange.

He wondered what expressions those boys would have if they knew the author was in their school, and even in their own class.

Just like that, a month passed.

December 11th, Friday, the day royalties were paid.

With the system's notification and the bank's text message, Chen Fan knew the royalties had arrived. After all, seeing it with his own eyes was always more reassuring.

However, he still used his lunch break to go to a branch of China Construction Bank.

Inserted the card, entered the password, and clicked to check the balance.

A string of numbers popped up on the screen:

976,247.50 yuan

Nine hundred and seventy-six thousand.

Seeing this number, the finger Chen Fan used to point at the screen trembled for a moment.

Nearly one million in royalties.

A portion of these royalties came from Qidian subscriptions, a portion from tips, and another portion was from the revenue share of wireless channels.

Let alone this lifetime, he had never seen this much money in his previous life; he didn't expect to have so much income just a few months after being reborn.

Although it couldn't compare to some protagonists in rebirth novels who earned hundreds of millions in a few months.

But Chen Fan was already very satisfied.

To be honest, if he didn't have the system, writing a novel on his own would at best earn him a few thousand yuan a month, or even less.

Being where he was today was something he wouldn't even have dared to dream of in his past life.

Chen Fan took a deep breath, took out his bank card, and walked out of the bank.

The sunlight shone on him, warm and cozy.

He squinted his eyes and suddenly smiled.

Content.

The first class in the afternoon.

Chen Fan rested his chin in his hand, a smile on his face.

On the podium, the biology teacher was rambling on about a cell division diagram. Chen Fan didn't hear a single word; his mind was filled with that string of numbers from his bank card.

982,347.50.

Nine hundred and eighty thousand.

He had money now, what should he do?

Buy a house? He definitely had to buy one. But what after buying a house? Buy a car? He didn't have a driver's license yet, but he could buy a car for his dad and a gold bracelet for his mom.

"Chen Fan, what are you thinking about, smiling so lewdly?"

A voice came from the side.

Chen Fan turned his head; Jiang Chen was tilting his head, looking at him with a face full of gossip.

"Thinking of a beautiful woman I saw today~" Chen Fan said casually.

Upon hearing "beautiful woman," Jiang Chen immediately perked up, "A beauty? How beautiful? Is she prettier than Lin Xi from the experimental class?"

Chen Fan looked at Jiang Chen in surprise upon hearing this; the kid had thick eyebrows and big eyes, he hadn't expected him to be interested in Lin Xi too.

"About the same, but she's not from our school; I saw her outside." Chen Fan continued to bluff.

"Outside?" Jiang Chen's eyes lit up, "Where outside?"

"In front of the Xinhua Bookstore." Chen Fan made it up on the spot, "Shoulder-length hair, wearing black stockings and little leather shoes, she looks... anyway, she's quite pretty."

"Black stockings?" Jiang Chen's eyes lit up even more.

Chen Fan looked at him like that and almost couldn't hold it together.

"Are you sure they were black stockings?" Jiang Chen asked in a lowered voice, his expression both excited and lewd.

"...I'm sure." Chen Fan held back his laughter.

Jiang Chen swallowed hard, leaned over the desk, and got closer, "How old is she? Does she look like a student or someone who works?"

"A student, I guess, about our age."

"Then does she go to the Xinhua Bookstore often?"

"How would I know?" Chen Fan spread his hands, "I only saw her once."

After listening, Jiang Chen's face showed a thoughtful expression.

After a few seconds, he suddenly slapped the desk, "Decided, I'm going to camp out at the Xinhua Bookstore all day tomorrow."

Chen Fan was stunned, "Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious!" Jiang Chen said righteously, "A beauty in black stockings, if I miss this chance, I won't get another!"

Chen Fan opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but swallowed it back.

This fool, he actually believed it.

"Then go ahead." He patted Jiang Chen on the shoulder, "Good luck."