Shen Qingqiu was amused by his "mischievous" attitude:

"You! Alright, go back to class. In the future... in the future, try to avoid writing this kind of thing late at night!"

Watching Lin Que's departing figure, Shen Qingqiu felt a strong premonition:

This student will likely shake up the entire literary world in the future.

Back in the classroom, my deskmate Wu Di immediately came over, looking on with a gossipy expression:

"Brother Que, what does Sister Bingbing want with you? Did you go off-topic in your essay?"

Lin Que smiled mysteriously:

"It's nothing, we just exchanged some thoughts on being afraid of ghosts."

"Ghost? What's a ghost?"

Wu Di looked completely bewildered.

Lin Que patted him on the shoulder:

You'll find out soon enough.

...

In the following days, the data for "Human World is Like a Prison" skyrocketed.

In a world lacking entertainment, a novel that can send your adrenaline soaring spreads like wildfire.

It quickly broke into the top ten of the new book charts on Hongguo.com.

And in an unreasonable manner, it blew up the science fiction and urban fiction works of those veteran authors one by one.

Hongguo.com Editorial Department.

The editor, nicknamed "Green Ivy," was staring at a data monitoring screen with her mouth slightly open.

On the screen, a new book called "Human World is Like a Prison" is displaying a strange red alert status across all its data indicators.

"Sister Hong, come and see this!"

She called out towards the editor-in-chief's office.

Editor-in-Chief Red Fox walked over, looked at the reader retention curve that was almost perpendicular to the timeline, and frowned:

"What kind of book is this? Did they inflate the data?"

"It doesn't look like it."

Green Ivy brings up user review analysis.

"Look, the comment section of this book is thirty times more active than that of other new books of the same level, but the vocabulary of negative emotions..."

For example, fear, inability to sleep, and being so scared that one wets oneself accounted for as high as 70%.

A normal book would have been pulled from shelves long ago due to reader backlash, but this one has a very high readership rate...

98%!

Readers were simultaneously criticizing and following the story, with some even posting updates in the comments section to let everyone know they were safe.

Red Fox's expression turned serious, and she quickly flipped through the novel.

When she saw the setting that "ghosts cannot be killed," she gasped.

"This... completely violates our platform's content principles, which are centered on science fiction."

She murmured.

The head of the content risk control team, who was standing nearby, came over upon hearing the noise, his expression grave:

"Editor-in-chief, the content of this book is very dangerous. Colleagues in the legal department have already warned that it may cross some red lines."

The red fox fell silent.

She looked at the alarming growth in the backend data and then at the risk warning from the Ministry of Legal Affairs.

After a moment of struggle, he made a decision.

"The higher the risk, the greater the opportunity."

She finally made the decision.

"Green Ivy, contact the author immediately! Send him a Level 4 contract; we need exclusive rights and priority signing rights for all subsequent works!"

Just then, Lin Que's phone vibrated.

A private message popped up from Hongguo.com:

[Dear author "Dream Weaver of Hell", your work "Human World is Like Hell" has met the signing criteria. I am your editor, Green Ivy. Please add my contact information on QQ: XXXXXX...]

Lin Que's lips curled slightly.

But he wasn't in a hurry to add more editing.

We're only at the beginning. We'll talk again once we reach the top of the new book charts and have more leverage in negotiations.

Evening self-study.

Lin Que was typing on his phone when he suddenly heard a suppressed gasp from the row in front of him.

"ah!"

It's Su Qianqian, the class beauty.

She was holding her phone, her face pale and her body trembling slightly.

But his eyes were glued to the screen, unwilling to look away even for a moment.

Lin Que glanced at her screen; the familiar black background with white text was his novel, "Human World is Like Prison."

Su Qianqian seemed to sense something and turned around to meet Lin Que's gaze.

She looked like she'd been caught doing something wrong, frantically slamming her phone face down on the table, her face instantly turning bright red.

"Lin... Lin Que, don't misunderstand, I wasn't looking at any nonsense..."

Su Qianqian stammered as she explained.

Lin Que suppressed a laugh:

"It's okay, I also like watching this kind of...exciting stuff."

Su Qianqian's eyes lit up, as if she had found a kindred spirit, and she lowered her voice mysteriously as she said:

"You watched 'Human World is Like Prison' too? That's terrifying! That door-knocking ghost is absolutely amazing!"

Do you think... our school might have something like this too?

Looking at the girl in front of him who was both incompetent and playful, Lin Que suddenly felt a mischievous urge.

He lowered his voice and said in a sinister tone:

"Who knows? But I heard that our school was a mass grave before it was built..."

Maybe there's something lurking outside the window right now, watching us go to evening self-study...

"ah!"

Su Qianqian was so frightened that she immediately covered her ears, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Lin Que, you're so annoying! I'm ignoring you!"

Just then, the classroom lights flickered twice.

The whole class fell silent instantly, and everyone subconsciously looked out the window at the pitch-black night.