The Scholar's Monstrous Life: Web Novel Authors Are So Twisted

6/10.

Since Zhao Liang died, this was Wu Xie's current progress toward being born.

[Keep going, Father! I'll be born very soon.]

Little River Crab cheered Wu Wei on in a babyish voice.

Wu Wei's expression turned strange.

"Ever since I got pregnant with you, I feel like the people and things around me have been getting weirder and weirder."

[Father, that just means you're gradually embarking on your legendary journey. That's how it always goes in novels: the protagonist gets a cheat ability, then the whole world becomes their enemy.]

Wu Wei felt like that made sense.

It was just a little over the top.

"I'm not going to argue with you. I've been working on an app to get some practice these past few days, and it's almost done. Don't bother me for now."

"No one can stop me from studying." That was what Wu Wei, a model student since childhood, thought.

[Be careful, Father. What that woman named Lan Meng said might not all be lies. I've caused you some trouble, too.]

"???" Wu Wei stared in bafflement.

[Because I'm still too weak, I have to release some information on purpose so that the troublesome elements will gather around. That way, I can be born sooner and absorb their energy. You can think of these elements as a hate aura.]

A thousand alpacas raced through Wu Wei's mind.

He understood, which left him feeling conflicted.

No wonder he'd been so unlucky lately. So the real culprit was right here.

[Father, are you blaming me? Wu Xie will be good.]

Wu Wei was silent for a long time, then went back to working on his practice project.

What else could he do?

He could only choose to forgive her.

That night, Wu Wei worked until very late.

When he got up the next day, he had dark circles under his eyes. Wu Tian was so concerned that he checked in on him.

"Did you have trouble sleeping?"

The night before, the two men had shared a heartfelt moment over dinner. Wu Tian thought he'd moved his son, and his heart had been warm ever since.

Looking at Wu Tian's moved expression, Wu Wei swallowed the explanation he'd been about to give.

As long as you're happy.

"Yeah. Dad, I'm going out to buy steamed buns and savory tofu pudding. After we eat, I'll head back to school."

"Go ahead. Remember, I want the tofu pudding savory."

"Of course. People who like it sweet are heretics."

After breakfast with Wu Tian, Wu Wei returned to school.

He'd already taught himself the university curriculum and informed his teachers.

So Wu Wei didn't need to attend classes anymore. He could go whenever he felt like it.

He hadn't finished his project the night before, so once he got back to the dorm, he continued working on it.

Before long, he was completely absorbed.

Wu Wei had no idea that the trouble caused by a roommate he'd already forgotten about wasn't over yet.

That roommate was Li Long, the first person Wu Wei had accidentally killed.

Li Long hadn't left any particular impression on Wu Wei, but in the eyes of many others, he was a rather successful and talented person.

His new book, The Scholar's Monstrous Life, had already surpassed ten thousand average paid subscriptions, with nearly a million readers following it across the internet. He was practically guaranteed a contract as a top author and was a rising star in the web novel world.

As long as he kept up that momentum, Li Long would clearly achieve success in the conventional sense.

But unexpectedly, a few days ago, Li Long suddenly stopped updating.

After several days without an update, his readers couldn't help thinking of one word: dropped.

In the web novel community, abandoning a story was by far the thing readers hated most.

And soon, Li Long's history of dropping stories came to light.

Over the past few years, Li Long had abandoned a great many novels. He was nothing short of a serial story-dropper.

Now even Li Long's loyal fans were panicking.

They swarmed into his reader group and found the group admins, asking them to get in touch with Li Long.

In Shanghai's Jinjiang Villa District, Mo Yu had just calmed down yet another irate paying reader when she suddenly lost her temper herself.

"Damn it, why should I have to make excuses for a heartless jerk? He hasn't even replied to me in days."

Staring at the enlarged chat window on her computer, where she'd been the only one messaging Li Long for several days straight, Mo Yu couldn't hold back her anger.

She was the leading patron of Li Long's new book, a devoted fan, and an admin of his reader group.

Those were just her public roles.

In private, she had another identity: Li Long's online flirtation.

He liked her, and she liked him. They were both single, and after flirting for a while, they'd both started getting a little restless.

Mo Yu had even been planning to meet Li Long in person. She hadn't expected him to suddenly pull a disappearing act and drop his story.

Mo Yu couldn't stand for it.

"Wu Wei, this is my last warning. If you don't reply to my messages, you're going to pay for it."

Naturally, no one replied.

A dangerous glint appeared in Mo Yu's eyes.

"Fine, Wu Wei. You brought this on yourself. Don't blame me when you gave me your real name and even showed me your picture."

Mo Yu opened an image from a folder on her computer. If Wu Wei had seen it, he would have been very surprised. It was a high-resolution, handsome photo of him.

"Heaven and earth, heed my command. Track him across ten thousand miles. Find him!"

A minute later, Mo Yu's eyes narrowed. She'd successfully pinpointed his location.

A sinister smile appeared on her lips.

"Wu Wei, get ready to face my wrath."

Wu Wei's eyes widened. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

He was writing a program to catch something on his computer, and it was almost finished. Just then, the screen suddenly went black.

Then a jade-white, delicate hand reached out from inside the screen.

Had you ever seen The Ring?

It was exactly like someone crawling out of a television.

Wu Wei was especially impressed by his own nerves. He hadn't even screamed.

He just sat there, silently watching an arm stretch out and then retreat.

A moment later, a beautiful head poked out of the screen.

The eyes in its face were vivid and lively. When they saw Wu Wei, they lit up even more.

Wu Wei sensed both delight and murderous intent.

"Wu Wei, so it really is you."

Wu Wei: "(￢_￢)"

Miss, do we know each other?

"Tell me, why did you stop updating?"

"Why did you toy with my feelings?"

"Why didn't you reply to my messages?"

Wu Wei: "(?ω