CHAPTER 84: CHAPTER 76 CAN YOU GIVE ME SOME FACE? (LARGE CHAPTER ASKING FOR VOTES)_3

"And it’s easy to go too far in self-defense."

"Vermin like you should live in pain, torture, fear, and nightmares for the rest of your life."

"You think it’s over?"

"Don’t be so naive."

"Remember, no matter where you are serving your sentence, I’ll find you."

"I want you to spend every day and night of your long remaining life regretting why you ever reached out to that girl when you think back to today!"

The hoodlum blacked out and completely fainted.

Han Lieye turned around and walked outside, where he saw his briefcase at the entrance of the alley.

He took off the Patek Philippe starry sky watch from his wrist and casually threw it in.

The briefcase originally held less than 100,000 yuan in cash, but now... it was worth more than 10 million in total.

Robbery involving large amounts of stolen goods, specifically sums exceeding 10,000 yuan, meant a one-year increase to the base sentence for every additional 50,000 yuan. Robbery amounting to over 200,000 yuan faced a base punishment of a life sentence. This applied if it simultaneously met one other condition stipulated by Article 263 of the Criminal Law (excluding multiple offenses) or caused severe social repercussions.

Touch my woman? Ha!

When Han Lieye stepped out of the alley, the sound of police sirens blared.

With four dead and five injured among the gang of hoodlums, the police approached as if facing a major threat.

He gently stroked Xi Mengjun’s cheek, softly saying, "Darling, it’s okay, I’ll take care of it."

Xi Mengjun cried inconsolably.

Han Lieye was also admitted to the hospital but was blocked by the relatives of the hoodlums.

Crying, cursing, shouting—it went on all night.

Undercurrents were surging in the shadows.

That night, Han Lieye’s assistant copied a surveillance video.

「Thus far, end of Chapter.」

Despite knowing it was self-defense and that Han Lieye had allowed himself to be injured on purpose, the readers were still extremely anxious about what came next.

Thrilled and impatient, they couldn’t wait to get their next fix.

Calls for updates and gifts flooded the comment section, pushing the novel’s popularity to its highest peak since its launch.

Margaret: "So thrilling! I’m literally blown apart!"

Nine Sighs as Ever the Only One: "What kind of godlike boyfriend is this? Forget women, if gender wasn’t such a strict barrier, I’d want to cling to him and beg for a hug!"

Bai Wuxia: "Votes for you, coins for you, my life for you, just freaking update already! Please!"

Ling’er Ariel: "Author, name your price. How much would it cost to have a Han Lieye of my own?"

Qianqian: "I’m begging you to update quickly!"

...

Not only were the readers in an uproar, but even the editor, Xiao Qilin, couldn’t help but actively communicate with Han Lie.

Xiao Qilin: "Hamster Author, this is so exhilarating! I’ve never been this addicted to a book before! By the way, it launches on the 7th. How much of a backlog have you built up?"

Hamster Swapping Cucumber: "Around 130,000 words. Is that enough?"

Xiao Qilin: "My god! That’s more than enough! Keep up the good work. We’re going to make a huge splash on release day!"

Seeing that the editor had some time, Han Lie took the initiative to ask.

Hamster Swapping Cucumber: "Is 5,000 subscribers a possibility?"

The girl was instantly ecstatic.

Xiao Qilin: "5,000?! Who do you think you’re underestimating?! Be bold, double it!"

Xiao Qilin: "Author, you just focus on writing. Leave the rest to me; I’ll clear all obstacles for you!"

Xiao Qilin: "Together we’ll charge the golden rankings and blow up those little bitches’ chrysanthemums!"

Hamster Swapping Cucumber: "..."

Hamster Swapping Cucumber: "How cruel! As a male author, all I can say is... you truly get me."

Xiao Qilin: "Hehe, once Author is launched for sale, I’ll add you to our group for authors with high subscription counts and the website’s top-tier authors’ group. Feel free to flirt with them all you want!"

Xiao Qilin: "They’re all homebound girls, easy to get along with!"

Han Lie fantasized for a moment about sneaking into a group of female authors, quietly spying on them as they engaged in risqué talk and shared private photos, then suddenly jumping out and announcing, "I’m a dude"...

Forget it, forget it. Feels like I’d get beaten to death. I should just silently watch them drive...

Hamster Swapping Cucumber: "Stop joking around. I feel like they’re going to be the death of me... I’ve long heard about the brutal battles among female authors at Jinjiang."

Xiao Qilin: "Ah, it’s all just smack talk, no big deal!"

Damn, what a fierce little editor...

Getting an editor on your side through less conventional means is all too easy. Once you have some achievements, be a bit more audacious—perhaps even posting a picture of yourself in drag, striking a pose—and you’ll quickly become chummy.

Of course, the big Kirin from Qidian is a serious person, universally well-regarded.

Xiao Qilin was in high spirits, and Han Lie took the opportunity to ask many questions, finally getting a rough understanding of the upper limits at Jinjiang.

Up to now, the highest subscription count for a single book on the main site was 75,000. The highest selling price for film and TV rights was 3 million, and for physical publication rights, it was 1 million. Audio and game rights were more Special and required specific analysis.

The highest earnings for a single book were less than 10 million.

This was nothing compared to the exaggerated levels of later generations. For instance, after the film and TV adaptation of Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s ’The Untamed’ became a massive hit, ’Heaven Official’s Blessing’ sold its film and TV rights alone for 40 million.

Similarly popular, ’The Journey of Flower’ sold its film and TV rights for just over 2 million because it had sold too early.

’The Goddess CEO’, categorized as modern romance, was one of the types with the highest subscription-to-collection ratios. However, its film and TV rights didn’t sell as well as those for ancient romance. The film and TV market at the time primarily favored ancient idol dramas.

However, according to Xiao Qilin, as long as a modern romance novel on Jinjiang got over 5,000 subscriptions, its rights would never go unsold.

’The Goddess CEO’ was expected to be between 550,000 and 800,000 words in total, easily earning over a million.

If it didn’t collapse later on, expectations could be raised even higher.

In fact, ’The Goddess CEO’ was designed to be sweet in the early stages, angsty in the middle, and toxic in the late stages. The real emotional heavy-lifting would begin after the heart-wrenching parts started.

The reason for its particularly strong performance at that moment was all thanks to Han Lie’s masterful skills in showing off and delivering satisfying face-slapping moments.

Level 3 literary and early Level 4 writing skills—how could they be so powerful?

Indeed, Han Lie’s reliance was not on his writing style, but on the mature tropes refined through future iterations.

’The Goddess CEO’, as a cutting-edge work of extreme angst and thrill, would reap many, many benefits of its era.

Jinjiang’s reader base was very solid, and the culture of paying for official subscriptions was excellent.

Add to that the fact that the platform hadn’t slacked off and was considered a channel hegemon in the mobile reading sphere...

Oh my god, I don’t dare to think about it!

To ensure a more explosive launch, Han Lie started revising his backlog and strategically placing climactic plot points.

Tossing and turning, a day quickly passed by.

When chatting with Cucumber at night, Han Lie clearly felt that her mood was down.

Did Pan Ge really cook her goose?

Han Lie didn’t ask anything, nor did he share the editor’s judgment with her.

When it’s finally time to launch, everything will naturally come to light.

For now, though, it was better to let her maintain that sense of anticipation!

Xi Luting was indeed very expectant and nervous. It was quite obvious she was becoming even more dedicated to revising the manuscript.

At 9:30 that day, she logged into her alternate account right on time to discuss the plot with Brother Ham.

Han Lie was in charge of the showy parts, while she took care of refining the text and adding her unique flair.

Having seen the final version of the manuscript, Han Lie’s assessment was that her overall writing skills were just above Level 3 but improving rapidly, while her prose alone was at Level 4.5.

Writing skills for web novels encompass prose, but even Level 5 prose can only slightly enhance overall writing technique because the diminishing returns are too severe. Everyone should understand.

Also, her skill at writing erotica was about advanced Level 4.

Talent is a force of nature. She was now writing scenes involving Si Ma that were quite vivid, with a strong sense of imagery and palpable tension; she only lacked depth in psychological description.

No matter her personality, Cucumber was truly an exceptional collaborator.

If it weren’t for her, ’The Goddess CEO’ might not have made even a tenth of the current manuscript fee, no exaggeration.

Female-reader-oriented and male-reader-oriented genres are ultimately different beasts, and Han Lie was learning a great deal through this process.

「March 3rd, Sunday.」

Han Lie had originally planned to write for another day, to build up more of his backlog.

Result, as noon approached, Pan Ge sent another invitation.

This time she was direct, dropping all pretense: "Today it’s just the two of us. Will you do me the honor?"