Settlement

The next day.

Eight in the morning.

Lin Chuan stretched lazily, instantly feeling refreshed.

At last, he no longer had to face the dorm's creaky old fan.

Nor did he have to stay in that dorm room that felt like a giant steamer.

The system mission still hadn't been completed, so Lin Chuan hadn't received the money to install air conditioning in the dorm.

Lin Chuan had gone home.

He was a local of Jianghai City.

After having a farewell dinner with Xiao Hei, Ren Hang, and the others last night,

he had taken a coach home with his backpack.

As the saying went, no place was better than one's own home.

Lying in his own bed, he slept wonderfully!

After washing up, Lin Chuan took half a bowl of flour, cracked in two eggs, and mixed them into a batter.

He greased the electric griddle, added scallions and ginger for flavor, then poured in the batter.

A few minutes later, the fluffy egg pancake was ready.

Lin Chuan spread sauce over it, added stir-fried shredded potatoes, a whole sausage, a fried egg, a generous handful of shredded cucumber, and finally sprinkled on some pork floss before rolling it up.

His homemade jianbing guozi was done.

He took a bite. It was fragrant and delicious. After finishing it, he drank a cup of freshly blended soy milk.

Lin Chuan washed his hands, turned on his computer, and logged into Bika Net.

After uploading the video yesterday, Lin Chuan hadn't checked the views for Spoon Killer Demon.

He typed the five words "Spoon Killer Demon" into Bika Net's search bar.

As he pressed Enter, Lin Chuan muttered to himself.

It can't possibly have only three views, right?

One from Ren Hang, one from Xiao Hei, and one from Senior Female Student.

If that were really the case, it would be completely fucking pathetic.

Lin Chuan's mouth twitched.

Very quickly, though, the twitch at the corner of his mouth was replaced by a smile.

Whoa!

1.35 million views!

Among the search results, Spoon Killer Demon ranked first.

Its view count was still rising nonstop.

After Lin Chuan clicked into the video, its views had already reached 1.37 million.

There was also a line of small text in the upper-left corner of the video:

Highest rank on the site-wide leaderboard: No. 14.

In the blink of an eye, that number had become No. 13.

It had 123,000 likes and had received more than 15,000 coins.

Overnight, its comments had surged by several thousand.

"Damn it, I didn't dare skip even a single second."

"Honestly, this is the most subversive horror movie I've ever seen. It isn't an ordinary horror movie—it's a very special kind of horror movie..."

"Uploader, how am I supposed to look at the spoons in my house ever again?!"

"Am I the only one who noticed that the director, screenwriter, editor, makeup artist, props master, narrator, and voice actor were all the same person?"

"I didn't understand the ending. Why was Little Fatty so devastated when he saw that the Man in Black had so many spoons?"

"It's simple. Little Fatty endured being beaten for years and finally managed to break one spoon. At that rate, the remaining spoons will last him until he's buried."

"I'd just get a giant magnet!"

"Wuwuwu, I want such a beautiful girlfriend to hold my face and call me baby too."

"Why did Little Fatty still have a full beard after getting his crotch cut?"

"The seams still work."

"The beard might have been glued on too. At 9:03, I saw something that looked like glue. Image.jpg."

Lin Chuan browsed through the comments, occasionally cracking up at the ridiculous remarks from netizens.

Every so often, another hilarious comment would pop up.

"After running for so long, Little Fatty is still just as fat."

"After getting hammered for more than ten years, I'm sure Little Fatty's flesh is bouncier and smoother than beef balls."

What could he say? This generation of netizens was just too talented.

Lin Chuan liked several especially funny comments.

Aside from those praising it, there were naturally some argumentative trolls.

"This can be called a horror movie? The whole thing is just someone holding a spoon. It makes no sense at all."

"Maybe I just don't have a sense of humor. I don't understand why it has so many positive reviews."

"If I could find something good to watch, I wouldn't have clicked on this!"

"It has absolutely no depth!"

Lin Chuan paid those comments no mind. After all, there were trolls everywhere.

On the contrary, these comments showed Lin Chuan an even broader market.

Many people gave it bad reviews, yet still couldn't resist clicking into the video and contributing views to Spoon Killer Demon.

The reason was nothing more than the current entertainment industry being far too lackluster.

Ordinary people couldn't find the entertainment content they wanted to watch, and their spiritual needs weren't being met.

And Lin Chuan could fill all those gaps in the entertainment market in the future.

What a thriving, flourishing scene!

At this rate, he would probably complete the system's mission of reaching two million views by this afternoon.

Then he would receive a 200,000 yuan reward!

At the thought of that, Lin Chuan took half a watermelon from the fridge.

He picked the best-looking spoon from among dozens of them, sat in front of the computer, scooped watermelon into his mouth, and kept refreshing the page.

How should he put it?

Before falling asleep yesterday, Lin Chuan had truly imagined how he would feel if Spoon Killer Demon surpassed one million views.

At the time, he thought that even if he couldn't remain utterly calm, he would at least appear composed.

But now, Spoon Killer Demon had really surpassed one million views.

Yet Lin Chuan found that he simply couldn't force down the corners of his upturned lips.

One stone created a thousand ripples.

As Spoon Killer Demon's views continued to climb,

more and more people learned about it.

Quite a few people developed a fear of spoons.

Summer was originally the time when the body's yang energy was at its strongest.

Many timid people who normally never watched horror movies had started seeking them out.

To cool off, of course.

Quite a few people had originally been holding watermelons and scooping them with spoons while watching the video.

After finishing the video, they all coincidentally put down their spoons and started cutting their watermelon with knives instead.

And, just as coincidentally, hid their spoons away.

What normal person used a spoon to eat watermelon?!

As the saying went, amateurs watched for fun, while professionals were left stunned.

Students from acting departments and the Director Department were passionately discussing the plot of Spoon Killer Demon.

"Have you seen Spoon Killer Demon? It's such a creative short film!"

"I finished it ages ago. Now all I can think about is that spoon knocking and knocking and knocking!"

"The actor playing Spoon Killer Demon is Ren Hang from the acting department, right? I saw that his follower count has already passed sixty thousand. He's only a freshman—he's totally struck gold!"

"I heard that Little Fatty, who played the male lead, was just an ordinary amateur."

"Even though both of them acted well, the most impressive one is still that director who never showed his face!"

"The concept behind Spoon Killer Demon is incredible. The director and editor's fundamentals are insanely strong. Every frame is exactly the kind of shot I want to see, and the music is used perfectly!"

"I searched online, but I couldn't find a lot of the music. What does that mean? It means the soundtracks were original!"

"That black-and-white scene where Little Fatty encounters the killer in the bathroom was too classic! Even though it was a parody, it was absolutely master-level!"

"I want to cling to someone's coattails too, boohoo~"

"By the way, do you still use spoons to eat watermelon?"

"I think those Uploaders on Bika Net deliberately avoiding spoons in their videos are just following the trend. The short film is good, but there's no Spoon Killer Demon in real life.

It's not like using a spoon will make some killer with a pale face and black clothes chase me down with a spoon, right?"

"So do you use a spoon to eat watermelon?"

"I use a kitchen knife. I love my watermelon with a garlic flavor!"

Lin Chuan ate watermelon while watching Spoon Killer Demon's view count.

At this point, it had reached 1.96 million views.

The number was still rising continuously.

Soon, it hit 1.97 million, 1.98 million, then 1.99 million.

Two million!

Ding dong.

The system notification sounded.

[Congratulations, host. You have completed the mission. B-grade Talent: James Wan's Directing Skills has been issued.]

[200,000 yuan has been transferred to the host's personal account. Please check it.]

[For every additional one million views the video receives, the system will transfer funds to the host's account. There is no upper limit.]

After checking his bank account, Lin Chuan took a deep breath.

Judging from the current rate of growth, Spoon Killer Demon's total views should surpass five million.

It might even exceed six million.

Didn't that mean that, during this summer break, even if he spent ten thousand yuan a day,

he still wouldn't be able to spend all the money the system gave him?

Lin Chuan finished his last bite of watermelon, wiped his mouth, spread his arms, and gave a silent cheer.