Chapter 12

【PS: Here's the fourth update. Thanks to Daocong Mi Xiaoshi and Shuyan 93 for their generous donations. Also, I'd like to recommend Shuyan's "Wuxia World Great Rescue," a very pure book~】

As cherry blossoms danced in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

Xiaoming was startled, stopped in his tracks, and was happy to share his knowledge. "The three great oddities I mentioned are actually the three great oddities of the internet, which are three very famous web novels. They include this 'The Legend of the Little Soldier' in my hand, 'A Vague Journey' that I just put down, and another one called 'Jade Dynasty'..."

Tongyan nodded inwardly. 'The Legend of the Little Soldier' indeed lived up to its title as an "oddity," with extremely high readability. However, according to Xiaoming, although these three novels were known as the "three great oddities of the internet," there were many other web novels that were just as good, if not better.

These three novels were representative of the booming era of web novels, with a large number of passionate fans. Coupled with the promotional efforts of publishers to boost sales, they earned this prestigious collective honor, which seemed to be a case of the times making heroes.

It appeared that Xiaoming had been involved with web novels for some time. He spoke fluently about the web literature world and the writing community, and could give a general overview of many of the large web novels in the bookstore, showing his considerable expertise.

After chatting for a while, Xiaoming bid farewell and left. They had a good conversation and exchanged names, officially meeting. At the same time, Tongyan gained a deeper understanding of web literature from this seasoned reader. He realized that the 'First Intimate Contact' he had read before was also a web novel, and he found himself inexplicably curious about the "web literature world" that Xiaoming mentioned. He felt a sense of familiarity from this term, a very peculiar feeling.

Xiaoming left with 'The Legend of the Little Soldier,' but 'A Vague Journey' was still in the bookstore. Tongyan didn't rush to read it. He found the list of borrowers for 'Jade Dynasty' in the borrowing records, which explained why it wasn't on the shelf.

He then skimmed through the remaining web novels on the shelf, at least familiarizing himself with the titles, authors, main characters, summaries, and the main content of the opening chapters. This way, when customers asked, he could recommend the types of books they wanted to read and provide appropriate introductions.

Xiaoming was smart from a young age and had an excellent memory. In just an hour, he had a good understanding of the general content of nearly a hundred web novels on the shelf. After doing his homework, he picked up 'A Vague Journey' and read it with great interest.

The book's introduction read: "In this book, you might see the continuation of ancient China, or advanced civilization, or enticing magical artifacts, or the remains of immortals, or medieval castles of the West, or all sorts of strange beasts. Don't be surprised, this is 'A Vague Journey'!"

Just from the introduction, Tongyan was already very curious. What kind of story did this novel tell? From the brief description, the author seemed to have depicted a complex and fascinating world, which was very captivating.

The story began with the male protagonist, Li Qiang (what a lame name), being betrayed by his brother, who had an affair with his wife. In a fit of rage, he killed someone and was then taken to Mars by a mysterious person named Fu Shan, thus beginning his grand journey of cultivation...

"Brother, I'm back! Come and give me a hand!" At five o'clock in the afternoon, the bookstore's official owner finally returned, carrying two large cardboard boxes.

Tongyan was so engrossed in reading that he only reacted when Liu Ming called him the second time. "Coming, coming!"

"Did you buy it? How much did it cost?"

"Four thousand! And it's a LCD screen." Liu Ming said proudly.

The two of them carried the boxes inside, and Tongyan took the opportunity to report the day's revenue.

After unpacking, one box contained the computer, the other the monitor, along with various wires, plugs, and other accessories, which looked quite complicated and daunting. If they had bought it locally, the seller could have installed it for them, but since Liu Ming bought it from the city, they had to do it themselves.

"Brother, can you handle it?"

"It's no problem for me." Liu Ming calmly took out the user manual and read through it step by step.

"Since you're so confident, I'll go back to my book." Tongyan sat back in his chair and continued reading 'A Vague Journey.'

Liu Ming glanced over. "Hey, Xiaoming returned the book?" He was indeed familiar with his own store, remembering the names of the borrowers for each book.

"Yep," Tongyan nodded. "He returned this one and borrowed 'The Legend of the Little Soldier.' Too bad I haven't finished it yet."

"Don't worry. Once I set up the computer, you can read novels on it. You can find any book online." Liu Ming said confidently.

"Really? Can I find 'The Legend of the Little Soldier' and 'A Vague Journey' online?"

"Of course. Otherwise, how could they be called web novels? They are all written online."

"Can I read them for free?" Tongyan asked.

"Technically, they are paid, but I've already spent a lot on the computer. I don't have money for books. Don't worry, I can find a way to read them for free."

Hearing his brother's confident words, Tongyan put down his book and started helping Liu Ming. Both of them were computer novices, with very limited knowledge, but they weren't fools. With the manual, they eventually managed to assemble the computer and connect the wires, despite some difficulties.

Successfully turning on the computer was just the first step. Liu Ming bought the computer to go online, so he connected a network cable from the neighboring barber shop's boss, Mr. Wang, to use temporarily. He planned to go to the telecom office in a few days to set up a proper internet connection.

By the time the computer successfully connected to the web and opened the 123 URL navigation page, it was already eight o'clock in the evening, and the two brothers had already had a quick dinner.

Although Tongyan was eager to use the computer, it was already late. "Brother Ming, I'm going home. I'll come back tomorrow."

"Come back. Spend the summer here. You can read all the books for free and play on the computer for free. It's better than staying at home. Once I install some software, you can start playing tomorrow." Liu Ming was busy typing on the keyboard.

That night, Tongyan took 'A Vague Journey' home. In the morning, he had brought his homework to the bookstore, and using the schoolbag that usually held his homework to carry the novel was a good way to avoid suspicion.

From then on, Tongyan became the second-in-command at Wuwei Bookstore. With him on duty, Liu Ming didn't have to stay in the store all the time and could do many other things outside. And he didn't have to pay Tongyan.

Of course, as a reward, Liu Ming's computer was almost always occupied by Tongyan, who could only use it pitifully when his brother went home at night.

Tongyan used the internet very civilly and responsibly. He had no other demands; he would go straight to the website for web novels as soon as he opened the web page.

Although Xiaoming returned 'The Legend of the Little Soldier' after just one day, Tongyan was surprised to find that the book was not yet finished.

Liu Ming remained calm. "There's nothing strange about that. Not many web novels are completed, after all, they are all huge works of several million words, which are not easy to write."

Xiaoming nodded. "That's right. 'Jade Dynasty' also doesn't have a conclusion. Among the three great oddities, only 'A Vague Journey' is truly completed."

With Xiaoming's help, Tongyan found the original website where 'The Legend of the Little Soldier' was first published (www.). The website showed that the novel had stopped being updated in April.

From that point on, Tongyan's connection with the website was unbreakable.

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