Chapter 102 - 95: None Can Escape

Chapter 102: Chapter 95: None Can Escape

If you don’t even have those feelings for each other, then everything else is just bullshit.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Ran understood. His mom was giving him her tacit approval.

To be honest, it really wasn’t easy for Qiu Yuru to come this far.

For someone from her generation, accepting this was definitely pushing her limits.

Xiao Ran nodded. "Thanks, Mom."

"Don’t thank me. I’m the one who should be thanking you!" ’Thanks a lot for making my life more complicated!’

Meanwhile, the girl had finished her shower and was now lying in bed with her legs propped up, excitedly reading Xiao Ran’s new book. But then she saw a pile of bad reviews, each one nastier than the last.

Reading them left a bad taste in her mouth. ’What’s the problem? I didn’t see anything wrong with it.’

’What’s wrong with these people? How can reading a book make someone so angry?’

The more the girl read, the angrier she became. Even her delicate brows furrowed, her exquisite little face filled with solemnity.

After an indignant sniffle, the girl sat up straight on the bed, crossing her legs.

’I can’t just lie here and take this!’

Hmph.

’These people are unbelievable. If they don’t like it, they can just stop reading. I can understand normal people who might drop a few insults and then leave. But the ones who keep reading while constantly complaining? I really don’t get what goes through their minds!’

’And they were so nasty about it, even throwing around top-tier profanity!’

User Pleasant Goat: This author is f*cking hilarious, so holier-than-thou. I suggest he changes his name to Green Tea.

At this, the girl finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and fired off a reply under the comment.

User I Love Studying: You should be called Annoying Goat!

User Still Don’t Get It: Seriously, this is so hard to read. Anyone can be an author these days, huh?

User I Love Studying: Put up or shut up!

User Mahjong Tomorrow: This author has no moral compass whatsoever.

User I Love Studying: You probably lost your moral compass at the mahjong table, huh?

She sat cross-legged on the bed, her fair little hands clutching her phone, her replies typed with the utmost seriousness.

Yan Xici didn’t let a single one of these obviously malicious comments slide.

A 2,000-word Chapter had attracted thirty-something hateful comments.

The girl replied to every single one. After she finished, she rubbed her slightly sore fingers and couldn’t help but frown.

’This isn’t good enough. I feel like I’m being too gentle compared to them. My comebacks don’t have enough bite!’

Though she was usually gentle and easygoing, she could also be incredibly tenacious.

Once she got truly angry, she would never back down.

With that, she decisively got up, plopped her laptop onto the bed, booted it up, and typed in a search: "How to insult people without using swear words."

’You can always count on Baidu.’ Within a second, a whole slew of posts popped up.

The girl didn’t hesitate, immediately clicking on the post with the most upvotes and diving in to find insults that fit her situation.

’What’s that you say?’

’Giving the female lead a bottle of water makes him a simp?’

’Oh, right, right, right. You’re not a simp. How could someone like you ever be worthy of giving a girl a bottle of water? She’d probably be poisoned if she drank it, right?’

’A male lead who doesn’t even have a few ten-thousands to his name? This protagonist is such a loser.’

’Oh, right, right, right. How about you show me your bank balance, I dare you.’

The girl, sitting engrossed on her bed, grew happier and happier with each reply she sent.

Someone once said that when you lower your standards of decency, your emotional state stabilizes. She felt that while her decency hadn’t dropped, her emotions had certainly stabilized!

Time flew by as she argued with people. Before she knew it, more than half an hour had passed.

Her hands were starting to feel sore.

She stretched her legs out to get the blood flowing again.

Then, she interlaced the fingers of her fair little hands and stretched her arms out a couple of times.

Only then did she pick up her phone, ready to get back to work.

’So far, I’ve only dealt with the comments on the first ten Chapters. There are still thirty more Chapters I haven’t even gotten to yet.’

’I wonder how many more haters are waiting for me in the Chapters ahead.’

At that thought, she glanced at the dark sky outside her window and couldn’t help but sigh.

’What is it about Brother Xiao Ran? He’s such a hate magnet.’

She’d never written a book, but she did post videos regularly. Yan Xici was sure that if she received this much hate, she’d probably die of anger on the spot, or maybe just quit posting videos forever.

After a short rest, the girl continued her work.

She had just reached Chapter twenty when she heard the beep of the electronic lock on the front door, followed by footsteps.

The girl subconsciously looked over at the digital clock on her nightstand.

She stared at the bold "23:05" on its display, lost in thought.

’Has time flown by that fast? I’m not even halfway through my mission, and it’s already past eleven?’

Xiao Ran changed his shoes, casually tossed his car keys onto the shoe cabinet, and glanced at the girl’s door.

The door was tightly shut, and no light came from the crack underneath.

’Looks like she’s already asleep.’

"Get some rest," Qiu Yuru said casually as she finished changing into her slippers.

"Okay, good night, Mom," Xiao Ran smiled.

...

Soaking in the hot spring really did help one sleep. Xiao Ran felt certain he would sleep well tonight.

After changing, he lay down in bed and, as was his habit, opened his author dashboard, planning to take a quick glance before sleeping. He never expected that what he saw would give him a huge shock.

Normally, he’d get about thirty comments in half a day, which was pretty standard.

But today, the number of comments had doubled. He was so surprised that his eyes widened in disbelief.

He quickly clicked open the comment section and began reading them one by one.

To be honest, Xiao Ran had seen his fair share of haters, and he’d seen supporters too.

But in all his years of writing, he had never seen a fan like this!

’Holy crap. This person is flaming every single hater.’

’How much must this person like my work?’

The author dashboard wasn’t all-powerful. It only showed comments and usernames, but its biggest drawback was that it didn’t display any reader profile information.

To see that, you had to go to the public page for your own book.

Xiao Ran immediately went to his book’s public page and easily found the reader in question.

However, when he clicked on their profile, he was greeted by a completely blank introduction page.

Xiao Ran was bewildered.

Yan Xici rarely read web novels, and she commented even less. She was the type to binge-read something she liked and immediately drop anything she didn’t, not even bothering to leave a comment.

This meant her account looked pristine, without a single comment history.

All of its comments were related to his book.

This left Xiao Ran completely baffled. ’What in the world is going on?’

’Who is this person?’

Honestly, even he almost thought it was one of his own sock puppet accounts.

And sure enough, as he was watching, a new comment popped up: "This has to be the author’s alt, right?"

Xiao Ran: "..."

’None of their damn business!’

But in all honesty, having a reader defend him so fiercely warmed Xiao Ran’s heart. At least his efforts were being recognized and appreciated.

So, like a bystander enjoying the drama, Xiao Ran lay in bed and watched this reader trade barbs with the haters.

But book review sections weren’t like social media feeds; you had to keep refreshing the page to see new replies.

After refreshing a few times, Xiao Ran groggily fell asleep.

However, the girl in the room across the hall had no intention of sleeping.

Lying in her own bed with her head on a soft pillow, she felt her composure starting to crumble.

Arguing with one person would have been one thing, but she was up against a huge number of them. To make matters worse, a lot of people were accusing her of being the author’s sock puppet account.

This made her even angrier.

But anger could only get you so far. As the saying goes, two fists are no match for four hands. She couldn’t possibly win against all of them by herself.

Forget one person; she felt like even ten people would struggle to keep up with these trolls.

As the saying goes, even a cornered rabbit will bite back!

’Besides, I’m no rabbit. I fight back!’

The girl had already made up her mind. First thing in the morning, she would summon all her besties to help out.

’None of these people who humiliated Brother Xiao Ran will get away with it!’

With that in mind, the girl screenshotted all the comments from her detractors. Tomorrow, she would show them to Si Yingying and her other girlfriends. They had to help her get revenge!

The next morning, Xiao Ran woke up very early because his mom was leaving.

He had even thoughtfully made breakfast: a pot of eight-treasure congee, a side of the pickled vegetables his mom had brought, and three fried eggs.

Just as breakfast was ready, the girl finally emerged from her room, her hair slightly disheveled and looking utterly drained.