"Uh, yes, there is... a project that needs the utmost urgency..." Wen Hui reluctantly gave an excuse for her student to go home late tomorrow. After all, she didn't have a choice! She sent him... "blackmail material"...

"Oh, really? Then I guess I have troubled you. Thank you." Zhou Jiahao hung up immediately.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Hearing the beeps on the phone, Wen Hui's expression turned desolate. Why... on earth did I agree?!

.....

On the other side of the phone, Zhou Lei was beaming. He already knew that the outcome would turn out like this, but now that it did, he got into a better mood.

"See? I told you! So will you let me go home late tomorrow now?" Zhou Lei looked at his father with a smug face.

"What reason is there not to? Now go away." Zhou Jiahao couldn't handle looking at his son's arrogant face anymore. It reminded him too much of himself.

"Haha!" Walking away while laughing, Zhou Lei definitely s.n.a.t.c.hed the victory this time!

For some reason, looking at his son walking away triumphantly gave Zhou Jiahao the sudden uncontrollable urge to spit blood, laugh, and cry, all at the same time...

Zhou Lei walked back to the computer room with a big smile on his face. He closed the door on his way.

He sat on the seat and opened the computer yet again. It had only been a short while after he published his novel, and he wondered how it fared so far.

As he opened the website, he noticed a flurry of notifications on his account, as well as a familiar name featured on the front page of the website.

Zhou Lei widened his eyes. This... this is my novel! What the h.e.l.l...?

He expected it to have good results, but he didn't expect it to be this fast! After all, this novel of his has only one published chapter, as well as a blank cover. How did this ama.s.s such a result?

Zhou Lei first opened his novel on the site, and he turned his eyes to the comment section. There were... 99+ comments?!

How long had it been after he published this? Not even half a day, but in the end, this novel's charm was too strong for these readers to resist!

After all, being an uncontracted novel, there was a big chance of it having trash grammar, trash premises, and trash everything else.

However, this novel of his was better than even the best contracted novels!

"This... I can't believe it! Hahaha!" Zhou Lei laughed heartily. This result was truly out of his expectations.

"I guess I should post the cover now..."

In a short while, Zhou Lei posted the cover that he casually drew. Of course, 'casually drawing' by Zhou Lei's standards is already a very high quality drawing, with his drawing skills.

After that, another wave of comments and reviews came his way!

"Five stars. This novel is fantastic. 100characters100characters100characters100characters100characters100characters100characters100characters" - TheDepressedNoodle

"Although there's only one chapter, this novel has gripped me! On another note, I hate the 100-character lower limit. I wish they'd just remove it." - GoonsofGeese

"I'm pretty sure I just had the most pleasurable reading experience in my life. I'm pretty sure I just had the most pleasurable reading experience in my life." - TheUnexaggeratingExaggerator

Of course, there were also the naysayers and the detractors, but that group made up a very small minority of the readers.

"This novel sucks! Like your grandma! And I love the 100 character limit, it's the most revolutionary thing since sliced bread." - OneoftheCancersofSociety

"Look at how recent this novel is! And look at how many reviews it has! Tell me there isn't a sinister scheme happening behind the scenes..." - SkepticalPerson

Overall, the novel reached 100 reviews, with a rating of 4.8 stars!

This was an unprecedented moment for the Webnovel team!

In Webnovel headquarters.

"Sir, the recently featured novel you said to put on the front page has just reached half a million views!" An employee said to his higher-up with an excited tone.

"Yes, I know." The manager said calmly. However, inside, he was feeling very agitated. How could this novel rise up that quickly? Could the author have used bots? Was that it?

"Have you sent him an email yet? The contract? Send it now!" The a.s.sistant manager screamed at one of the employees as he was getting impatient.

"Ah! Yes, sir!" The employee got startled as he quickly put his hand on the mouse and started clicking rapidly.

"Wait, isn't a novel supposed to have at least 50000 words before we can establish a contract?" The employee said curiously.

"Was there ever a rule like that? No! No, there wasn't ever a rule like that! Just do it already!" The a.s.sistant manager's veins were popping out.

Hearing their a.s.sistant manager's incessant insistence that there was no rule like that, another employee raised a question as well. "Hey, a.s.sistant manager, how about this novel? It's garnered a lot of attention, but it doesn't have 50000 words yet." He then put up the novel's page on his computer.

"Hmm? Let me see." The a.s.sistant manager looked at the novel his employee was suggesting to him. Upon seeing its... barely pa.s.sable statistics, he shook his head.

However, he fell into a dilemma, seeing as it truly did pa.s.s for the requirements for contracting... except for its word count. He thought of an excuse to refuse his employee... wait a second! I don't need to think of an excuse, I'm his superior!

"Have you forgotten the company rules? The word count hasn't reached the minimum quota yet!" The a.s.sistant manager harrumphed.

"But I thought you said that those rules were all nonexistent..." Hearing his superior's excuse, the employee rebuked.

"Bah, what are you even saying? You're spouting nonsense, get back to work!" The a.s.sistant manager remained thick-faced in front of his employee.

Upon hearing endless excuses, the employee didn't know whether to laugh or cry...