Chapter 89

【ps: One update today, normal update schedule resumes tomorrow~】

On the first day, *Raging Thunder* received nearly 1,800 subscriptions within 24 hours. Among the readers who had bookmarked the book, about one in ten subscribed to the official version. This was a very good ratio, and it was only the first day. The number was expected to rise. If the highest subscription reached 7,000, Tong Yan would be eligible to attend the author's annual conference. Tong Yan believed he still had a chance.

After the book went live, Watermelon reported the good news to Tong Yan. She could see the backend statistics, and the subscription numbers were already very impressive. Tong Yan's pure subscription income for the past half month would exceed 2,000 yuan, which was a significant amount of money for a high school student.

Watermelon: "Seeing these numbers, you should feel relieved. Focus on your exams first, and write more during the break. Your monthly votes will definitely increase."

Monthly votes were what Tong Yan was most worried about. In his heart, *Raging Thunder*’s monthly vote performance was not ideal. It had received a total of 121 monthly votes, ranking 46th overall. Among the new books released in January, it was fifth, behind *Beast Blood Boiling*, *Desire Emperor*, *Unscrupulous Emperor*, and *Lingyun Zhiyi* (by Futian). This was a bit of a distance from his goal of being the second most popular new book after *Beast Blood Boiling*.

However, to be honest, considering that *Raging Thunder* had only been released for five weeks, with a relatively small word count and being released mid-month, and given that Tong Yan was a 16-year-old high school student whose writing speed couldn't match that of adult authors, ranking in the top 50 of the monthly vote list on the first day was already a remarkable achievement. His old friend Huabiao's *Guo Po Shan He Zai* couldn't even make it into the top 50, so Tong Yan had every reason to be proud.

If he could maintain this ranking until the end of the month, he would receive a 1,500 yuan monthly vote reward. But Tong Yan was not satisfied; he wanted the higher 2,500 yuan reward, which meant he needed to surpass the new books that had been on the list for half a month.

Overtaking them was Tong Yan's top priority after the break.

His current top priority was the exams, followed by waiting for the break.

Tong Yan uploaded two more chapters, appending a pitiful plea for votes at the end. Having read many books, he had mastered this skill. However, at this point, most VIP readers had already cast their monthly votes. Some might save their additional votes for the end of the month, so the effect of Tong Yan's two chapters was minimal. Many *Raging Thunder* fans were eager but powerless. After gaining 8 more monthly votes, *Raging Thunder* surpassed Lan Di Meichen's online game novel *High-Hand Loneliness* and was now just one vote away from Futian's historical fiction *Lingyun Zhiyi*, which was 13 votes ahead. The gap seemed hard to close.

The next day, all the exams were over, but the results wouldn't be out until the next day. Before the break, students had to restore the exam room to a classroom and clean it up. Teachers, besides grading and scoring, had to prepare holiday homework, adhering to the belief that high school students should never be idle.

Tong Yan supported this view. He had never been idle, but he hadn't used his time for studying. During evening self-study, he returned to the dorm to write his novel. His stock of pre-written chapters was exhausted, and he needed to keep writing to avoid a hiatus.

Tong Yan hoped to avoid any breaks in his serial updates. He had discussed this with many readers, and the ability to read fresh stories daily was a major motivation for them to follow a novel. If an author frequently took breaks, it would significantly dampen their enthusiasm. Tong Yan did not want his readers to lose interest in his work.

He spent an hour writing a chapter, checked it, and immediately uploaded it. The plot had reached another climax. The protagonist, Han Ting, stunned everyone with his skills despite being looked down upon, earning the respect of his tribe. From the feedback in the book reviews and reader groups, Tong Yan could see that readers were eagerly anticipating the next developments. The previous discontent over the female characters had become a thing of the past.

Building tension and then releasing it was a simple writing technique, but using it well was not easy. Tong Yan had become adept at it recently. By describing the antagonists and the supporting characters, he had created a tense atmosphere that exploded into a satisfying climax, making readers feel as if they were the protagonist, Han Ting. Many of them had experienced being looked down upon and wished to prove their strength like Han Ting, making those who had once belittled them feel inferior.

This technique had been used by Jin Yong in *The Return of the Condor Heroes* with Yang Guo, and Tong Yan applied it to Han Ting. However, after reading it himself, he felt it was a bit forced and seemed to deliberately create enmity. Clearly, his skills were still lacking.

Despite this, Tong Yan continued to use this technique frequently because it satisfied readers' desire for a satisfying read. His goal was to make the tension and release more varied and layered to avoid being repetitive and losing readers' interest.

The next day, Tong Yan packed up his computer and prepared to leave. Old Liu's eyes flashed with a hint of reluctance, but he hid it well, asking, "Will you come back after school starts?"

"Of course, I'll still need your help to cover for me." Over the past two months, Tong Yan and Old Liu had built a deep trust and friendship. If Tong Yan wanted to write novels at school, he could only rely on Old Liu.

"That's good, that's good." Old Liu smiled, his face creasing with wrinkles.

"By the way, this is for you." Tong Yan remembered something and pulled a card from his pocket.

"What is it?" Old Liu saw a black spider on the card.

Tong Yan said, "It's a membership card for Spider Internet Cafe on Qingyun Road. There should be about ten yuan left on it. If you want to go online during the break, you can use this."

Since getting a computer, Tong Yan no longer needed to go to the internet cafe. He figured he wouldn't use the membership card anymore and decided to give it to Old Liu. However, he wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do, as he might be encouraging the old man's habit.

In the dorm that evening, Zheng Jing shyly said to Tong Yan, "Tong, we know you have a laptop, but we've never seen it. Since the break is coming up, can we, can we..."

"Can we play with it!" Wang Ping said directly.

Among the residents of Dorm 121, Qi Delong was the only one who could be considered well-off. He had a 130-square-meter apartment in the city, a car, and a computer, but he chose to live in the dorm because the school was far from home. The others came from ordinary families and had never used a laptop. Luo Xiaoxu's family lived in a remote rural area, and the farthest he had ever been from home was to the school.

"Sure, I can show it to you, but I can't turn it on," Tong Yan said.

"Why not?" Zheng Jing asked indignantly, thinking Tong Yan was being stingy.

"Because the laptop's battery doesn't hold a charge. Without a power outlet, it won't last more than a few minutes. If I turn it on, I have to turn it off immediately, or it will shut down automatically."

"That's too inconvenient," Wang Ping complained. There were no power outlets in the dorm, so they couldn't use it anyway.

Tong Yan also found it inconvenient, but he was short on money when he bought it and couldn't afford a better battery. He planned to get a new battery from Wang Mo's father once he received his manuscript fees.

The final results were out, and Old Song was not in a good mood. Class 2's overall performance was still good, with the highest average score and three students in the top ten of the grade. Dong Mian, as expected, took the top spot. Everything was perfect except for Tong Yan's results.

Tong Yan was not among the top three in Class 2 or the top ten in the grade. He was 12th in the class and 67th in the grade, which meant he had fallen to the level of a third-exam room student!

The students at Yangping No. 1 High School were exam experts. Sometimes a 10-point difference could separate dozens of students. Although Tong Yan was only 20 points away from the top ten, those 20 points could change his fate in the college entrance exam. He was not an only child, not a minority, and did not qualify for any bonus points. He had to rely on his own solid performance to succeed. If not for his outstanding Chinese score, Tong Yan would have fallen out of the top 100, which was unthinkable to Song Xiancheng. How could such a well-rounded student end up like this?

Moreover, Tong Yan's Chinese score was not the top in the grade this time. The top score went to a girl from Class 7, and Tong Yan was second. Fortunately, considering the average of the mid-term and final exams, Tong Yan barely maintained his top single-subject honor. Otherwise, he would have had to pay a year's tuition in tears.

Song Xiancheng wanted to talk to Tong Yan, but with the break approaching, he decided to wait until school resumed to counsel him.

Old Song didn't counsel Tong Yan, but Tong Yan took the opportunity to counsel Song RAO.

"This month, you must think of me, but don't think of me during the exams. Otherwise, your dad will ground you like he did to me."

"Did you burn the food because you were thinking of me during the exam?" Song RAO felt incredibly sweet inside.

Tong Yan didn't want Song RAO to feel burdened, so he was honest. "No, I was thinking about subscriptions and monthly votes."

Then Song RAO became upset. "If you weren't thinking of me, who were you thinking of? Huh!"

Women, indeed, are incomprehensible! But Tong Yan still enjoyed being affectionate with Song RAO and repeatedly reminded her to stay in touch online. Not seeing each other for a month was a great torment for them, but at least they could communicate through the internet.