It was time to write another preface. Looking back over the past year, Daozi was overwhelmed with feelings that words could never describe.
The book "Football Modifier" gave me so much.
Most importantly, it gave a good-for-nothing who bore the "honor" of having graduated from a prestigious university, yet was so down on his luck that he couldn't even afford to get married, the means to give his girlfriend of ten years a splendid wedding.
Along the way, I made countless friends.
There were authors who had once seemed so far above me that I could only look up to them.
And there were enthusiastic readers who had once been complete strangers thousands of miles away-you, my dear brothers and sisters.
All of you are a precious treasure to me.
After all, I intend to keep going in this industry.
Yes, I've moved my new book to Zongheng.
There are many reasons, all of them gossip, haha. Why don't you join the reader groups and I'll tell you about them? Haha.
Let's talk about the new book.
It's tentatively scheduled to begin publication on August 31.
That's because I want to compete on next month's new-book rankings.
So I'm asking all my old and new reader brothers and sisters for your support. Favorites, red votes, and clicks mean the most to Daozi, who's feeling rather anxious.
At a time like this, I need your support.
I need it desperately.
The new protagonist is a lewd, sleazy fellow, just like Madman Li once was-even more shameless than Madman Li.
What would an ordinary person do if he suddenly became the king of a country?
While the protagonist is dreaming of a wonderful future, he discovers that his city is under siege by enemies, and he's about to become the king of a fallen kingdom?
To survive, he has to save himself.
Fortunately, he has a golden thigh to cling to: he can enter the Diablo World in his consciousness space. It's another mysterious pirated disc, but this time it isn't FM; it's Diablo.
The protagonist levels up in the Diablo World, and when he returns to reality, he has the abilities of his game character.
The barbarian's close combat, the necromancer's eerie powers, the sorceress's fire, lightning, and ice magic, the druid's communion with the forces of nature, the assassin's elusive movements, the paladin's nobility and fortitude, the amazon warrior's toughness and ranged attacks...
By switching the game character he currently inhabits, the protagonist can gain the abilities of different game characters.
What miracles will occur when these abilities encounter the power of swords and magic on the continent?
Normal, nightmare, hell...
Can the power of Diablo's three difficulty levels defeat the legendary, elusive gods?
And the protagonist also has a certain chance of bringing items out of the Diablo World: town portal scrolls, identify scrolls, healing potions, mana potions, green gear, blue gear, gold gear...
The knowledge and items from the Diablo World shake this world.
And of course, the protagonist won't pass up the chance to show off.
The background is simple: the continent has long since descended into chaos, and the protagonist is the king of a country so small it couldn't be any smaller. Lewd though he is, for the sake of survival and the loved ones around him, he gradually leads his subjects down the socialist road, starting out as an ordinary good-for-nothing. The last part is a joke.
He forms the Twelve Gold Palace Saints and builds a powerful navy, with two captains, one named Luffy and the other Jack Sparrow...
He also...
He does many strange things whose meaning the continent will never understand.
Of course, most importantly, he leaves behind a legend here.
The most extraordinary emperor in history ascends to godhood, one step at a time.
Conquest isn't the main focus, and developing productive forces isn't the main focus. Slowly building up, slowly developing, and then stunning everyone with a single feat-that's what matters most.
That's the story Daozi wants to tell.
I hope you'll like it.
The new book will be uploaded soon. I hope old readers without Zongheng accounts can take the trouble to spend a few minutes registering a few accounts, then help Daozi by adding the book to their favorites, casting red votes, and so on.
The hasty move has led to Qidian blocking me, and Daozi is now at his most perilous moment. I need my brothers and sisters to lend me a hand.
This book is under a buyout contract and probably won't go premium, so it won't cost you a penny.
I desperately hope my brothers can support me.
Since Qidian has blocked my account, many old friends don't know where Daozi has gone. I'd be grateful if brothers with Qidian accounts could advertise for me in the review sections of sports novels there and tell them where I've landed.
Day and night, Daozi looks forward to gathering here with my dear Daoke brothers and sisters and continuing a lewd and fierce journey together.
Below are Daozi's reader groups. I hope everyone will join, hehe. I'll make time to chat and shoot the breeze with everyone, and hand out walk-on roles.
Regular groups: 16159252 (full) 2109341142 (new group, strongly recommended) 37173389343342585851065548206601526617118030020
I've also set up a new reader group specifically for "Long Live the King"-132548482. Old and new friends are all welcome to join; there are no restrictions.
Below is the afterword to "Football Modifier," because Qidian deleted it.
Below is the afterword to "Football Modifier," because Qidian deleted it.
My heart was full of a thousand things to say, but when I picked up my pen, I found myself at a loss.
Really, after uploading the final chapter, I suddenly felt empty inside, a little upset and a little incredulous: It's... really... over, just like that?
June 10, 2010, to August 17, 2011.
That was the journey "Football Modifier" took, a journey of Daozi's own growth, and even more, a journey of staying close to you and getting to know one another along the way.
To be honest, before writing this book, Daozi's life was pretty bleak.
My girlfriend of nearly ten years was waiting for me, but I didn't have the money to get married. Daozi graduated from a prestigious university, but unfortunately my major wasn't a good one. After graduation, I worked myself to exhaustion at a foreign company in Tianjin, taking home less than 2,000 yuan a month. After paying my student loans and rent, I had nothing left to live on. For a time, I even had to rely on my girlfriend for support. I was utterly down on my luck.
Eventually, I had no choice but to drag my luggage out of Tianjin.
After arriving in Handan, I initially planned to take the civil service exam and lived off my girlfriend for a while. Later, while waiting for my results after the exam, I started trying to write. I had read web novels throughout my four years at university, so I wanted to give it a shot.
I started with an Eastern fantasy novel and wrote nearly 200,000 Chinese characters. It wasn't on Qidian; another site bought it outright for 15 yuan. You can probably guess which site it was.
It was during the World Cup, and I was also playing FM, so I couldn't resist starting "Modifier."
But I'd actually had the idea for "Modifier" back in my second year of university.
After writing it, I uploaded it to Qidian. After all, I still wanted to build a career there. To my surprise, it did unexpectedly well, and I soon received a contract offer through the site's backend. I remember it was one noon in June. My girlfriend had come back from class and was taking a nap. When I saw the message, I jumped up in front of the computer, woke her, and celebrated with her, hehe...
It was only a contract, but it made me so happy I wanted to cry.
The feeling was like finally grasping a tiny glimmer of light and hope in the darkness.
After that, "Modifier" continued to do well. Although I went home once during its Sanjiang recommendation period and updated incredibly slowly, at 2,000 characters a day, I ultimately made it through with the support of you, the loveliest brothers and sisters.
Then it went premium.
It went premium eight days later than the other new books that month, but the subscriptions in the first 24 hours showed Daozi real hope. For a month, I fought hard, fired up every day, writing with boundless energy and updating like crazy as I listened to the theme song of the 2010 South Africa World Cup.
Dear brothers and sisters, at this point Daozi has to offer you another heartfelt thank-you. Under such unfavorable circumstances that month, you actually pushed a newcomer like Daozi all the way to second place on the new-book monthly ticket rankings!
Thinking about it now, it was simply unbelievable!
All at once, I had an extra 6,000 yuan in income. Together with that month's writing fees, my income came to more than 14,000 yuan, more than I'd managed to save in a whole year at my old job... Daozi and his girlfriend were so happy we were dazed and didn't know how to celebrate.
In the end, we decided to buy two Nokia phones, smartphones with touchscreens.
Both our phones had already been in service for five or six years. They were the oldest models, and we were embarrassed to use them.
Then we sent a whole bunch of gifts home to both sets of parents.
It was the first time in the three years since graduation that I'd had money to send anything home. Tears streamed down my face.
I felt that I could see hope for my life. I loved this line of work so much, and it had also given me hope in life.
Of course, to be precise, it was you, my dear brothers and sisters, who gave me hope.
Here, for the third time, I bow to thank you. Thank you!
After that came a period of steady updates.
Subscriptions and monthly tickets were consistently good-for a newcomer, at least. At one point, you and I even fought our way into the top ten of the overall monthly ticket rankings. Although it only lasted a day or two, it really was a miracle, an unbelievable miracle like Madman Li's perfect winning record.
Then the end of the year arrived.
When I saw my writing income, I knew I had the money to get married. Without taking a single penny from my family, I could give my girlfriend of ten years a splendid, respectable wedding.
At that moment, it suddenly struck me that she had waited so long she was almost an old maid!
Happiness was drawing near to us.
Around the New Year, I went back home to Yumen. There was no internet, so every day I rode a motorcycle to a phone repair shop in town to upload chapters. There were fierce winds and heavy snow during that time. A few times I fell on the road and was blown into a ditch by the wind. Every day I froze like a dog, and whenever I rode out, my parents at home had to worry for two hours...
But your support had always given me hope, so I gritted my teeth and kept going.
Here, for the fourth time, thank you, my dear brothers and sisters.
After returning to Handan following the New Year, I had another period of steady updates.
Then, during this holiday, I went back to my hometown and got married. I'm ashamed that the break in updates lasted so long during that period, and of course I was also busy enough to make my head spin.
A few shameless fellows from the sports authors' group-Gaizi, Lao Guo, Xiang Xie Bu Xiang Shuo, Tiqiu, Buming, Mingyu Tianshi, Zhutouqi, XX Shen, and others-said they were coming to the wedding, but in the end only Lao Guo showed up. Let's all look down on them together.
Of course, all their wedding gifts arrived.
My fifth thank-you goes to the sleazy brothers in the sports authors' group. Thank you. I was such a tender, tender newcomer, stumbling along the way, and you helped me so very much, allowing me to become a barely qualified author and gradually grow.
There are a few more people I have to mention-
Boss Geng Xin, a god-tier author on Qidian, known in the jianghu as Fourth Brother. Although we hadn't known each other before, after chatting a few times on QQ, I felt we got along rather well. Fourth Brother is a loyal and generous man, no question. Only later did I learn that Fourth Brother had quietly given me an alliance leader reward as a wedding gift. That kindness-treating someone he'd only met by chance like an old friend-moved Daozi deeply.
And there were other god-tier authors, Li Tian, Douzi Re De Huo, Cunzhang, Feng Ling Tianxia, and so on. Thank you for your help.
During the wedding period, naturally I couldn't have done without my brothers' and sisters' support either. Although I was so busy then that I had no time to visit the review section, the more than 2,000 yuan in tips at the end of the month showed me just how many precious blessings you had given me. My wife and I thank you together!
Now, "Modifier" has finally come to a successful end.
I uploaded the final chapter with trepidation, terrified that I'd be cursed for botching the ending. Fortunately, most of the brothers and sisters I saw offered Daozi comfort.
Here, for the sixth time, thank you, my brothers and sisters.
Daozi gained so much from writing this book.
My girlfriend finally became my wife, properly and officially. No more driving without a license.
You gave me opportunity and hope, truly.
My seventh thank-you to you all. I prostrate myself in gratitude.
Having roughly covered my writing journey, let me talk about some issues with the plot of "Modifier."
First, I have to admit that the ending overlooked Gigi's [Superstar Development Plan] mission. I had originally intended to mention it later. The mission was definitely completed, and Gigi became the fourth player in world football worthy of being crowned a king. Otherwise, Old Li could never have escaped the FM System's constraints and would have been erased as soon as he retired.
I apologize. I apologize to my brothers and sisters.
Second, some brothers said the loose end concerning the pirated disc was never resolved. In fact, the disc's existence was an absurd premise, and there was no way to resolve it. I couldn't attribute it to immortals, or it would have become a xianxia story. I couldn't attribute it to aliens, or it would have become science fiction. All sorts of explanations failed to work, so just treat the disc as something of unknown origin. It was very mysterious, and no one could say for certain what it really was.
Third, toward the end, I didn't have enough energy during the time I was getting married, and many bugs and contradictions appeared. I corrected everything I could, but I still feel very sorry. Once again, I apologize.
Finally, from beginning to end, "Modifier" always had imperfections and regrets of one kind or another. In fact, even by the final chapter, its 24-hour subscriptions were still very good. Continuing to write and earning more than 10,000 yuan a month wouldn't have been a problem.
But this book succeeded because of its perfect winning record, and it also failed because of that perfect record.
Two seasons at Real Madrid, the European Championship, four seasons at Chelsea, and the World Cup-these were all major arcs. If I'd written them in detail, I could have written another three million characters. But if I'd kept going, it really would have become a monotonous chronicle, unable to break free of the previous formulas and plot devices: the same plots, Madman Li showing off, certain old players making comebacks, some rising stars emerging, sweeping aside every opponent...
In that case, my brothers and sisters would have been disappointed and drowned Daozi in their spit.
Moreover, because the novel's timeline had already gone far beyond real time, the sense of immersion was gradually decreasing too, which would have disappointed you even more.
So the ending came very quickly.
And it could only end that quickly. Otherwise, I would have been padding the word count, cheating subscriptions, and swindling everyone out of their money.
I hope you brothers will understand.
The new book debuts August 31. Please look forward to it.
One last word: to my old readers who don't have Zongheng accounts, Xiaodao asks you brothers and sisters to spend a minute or two registering an account and help Daozi by adding this book to your favorites. Of course, casting some red votes would be even better.
I hope everyone can help Daozi spread the word. Starting a new book is fraught with difficulties, but Daozi is confident he can tell this story well.
As for updates, Daozi won't disappoint you either.
My deepest thanks!
I prostrate myself!