Morning sunlight spilled through the window.
Lin Zhi slowly opened his eyes, scratching his head as he sat up and yawned, glancing lazily outside.
The sky was bright, the sun was shining — it looked like a beautiful day.
That was his first thought, but as he stared toward the balcony, his expression grew increasingly complicated.
Wait a second... what did I run into last night?
Something told him that life in this place wasn't going to stay peaceful for long.
He ruffled his hair in mild frustration, then went through his morning routine — dressing, washing up, heading out — all in one smooth motion.
He'd only brought some clothes with him from Akita. The apartment came decently furnished, but he still lacked some essential electronics. He had a phone, sure, but a computer was something he'd need to buy here. Those things were too heavy to haul all the way from home anyway.
Aoyama Apartments sat in a quiet residential area with hardly any tall buildings — just rows of small houses and a few low-rise apartments scattered among them.
This was Usayama Town, and its liveliest spot was the shopping street not far away.
Usayama Mall.
As Lin Zhi wandered through the third floor, where they sold electronics and computers, a glint of familiar golden hair caught his eye — a single ahoge bobbing in the light.
He instinctively raised his hand and called out,
"Tenma!"
The petite girl turned around, her face brightening with recognition and surprise.
"Norihara!"
Lin Zhi walked over and, seeing that she wasn't carrying anything, asked curiously,
"What are you here to buy?"
"A computer!" the angelic girl tilted her head and smiled sweetly — that radiant expression could melt anyone's heart.
Lin Zhi blinked, caught off guard.
What were the odds?
Still, it struck him as funny — Heaven sure was keeping up with the times if angels knew about computers now.
"I'm here for the same thing," he offered. "Wanna shop together?"
Gabriel blinked in mild surprise, then nodded happily.
Although she had read about human electronics in her heavenly textbooks, Heaven didn't actually have such things. She only knew computers were considered essential in the human world, but that was about it.
As the two of them browsed together, Lin Zhi explained the basics — processors, memory, graphics cards — and the angel listened with sparkling eyes, gasping in awe at every new piece of information.
"Wow, there's so much to consider!" she exclaimed.
"So, what do you plan to do with the computer, Gabriel?" he asked. "Studying, gaming, or something else?"
"Gaming?" she repeated, blinking innocently.
Uh… do they seriously not have games in Heaven?
Lin Zhi hesitated, not sure what to think. Someone not knowing what a video game was felt almost impossible in modern society. But seeing her clueless face, he couldn't exactly expose her celestial identity.
"Yeah," he said, scratching his cheek awkwardly. "If you're planning to play games, you'll need a higher-end setup."
He sighed inwardly.
Ah… what a pain. Why did I have to call out to her?
"Oh! Then I'll buy the high-end one," Gabriel replied decisively, pretending to understand everything.
"Alright then," Lin Zhi said with a half-smile. "Once we're done, I'll help you install a few games to start with."
Aoyama Apartments already had internet access — he just needed to get his own connection activated, which wouldn't take long.
After an hour of comparing specs and prices, they finally finished their purchases. Since the mall was close to the apartment complex, the delivery staff came along with them to set everything up.
Gabriel bought a laptop. Lin Zhi, on the other hand, got both a desktop and a laptop.
"Thanks for your help," he said as the delivery crew packed up.
"No problem," they replied before leaving.
Once alone, Lin Zhi sat down, powered on his new computer, and quickly typed in a familiar web address.
The screen lit up with a beautiful, dreamlike homepage —
The top was a deep blue starry sky, scattered with glowing orbs.
The middle faded into a swirl of rose and orange clouds like a sunset aflame.
Below stretched an endless, emerald-green plain.
Fantasyland Beyond the Mortal World.
Those ethereal words shimmered briefly before fading into the main page.
This was a website Lin Zhi had built himself. It started as a personal project, but over time it evolved into a commercial light novel site.
For now, it mainly hosted light novels, but Lin Zhi had ambitions to expand it into a full ACGN (Anime, Comic, Game, Novel) platform.
After more than two years of slow but steady growth, the site had finally made it into the ranks of popular communities in the ACGN scene — though, to Lin Zhi, that still wasn't enough.
After all, light novels alone didn't represent the whole of otaku culture.
At the moment, most of the site's revenue came from referral commissions — when a light novel published on his platform got picked up by a publisher, that publisher paid a finder's fee. Additionally, the author's post-tax income would include a 5% cut to the site for the next ten years.
The contracts were all handled electronically and fully protected under copyright law in this world, so everything was clean and simple.
It was, in a sense, like being an "agent" for aspiring light novel authors.
The commissions weren't huge — but they were fair. Both publishers and authors found them reasonable enough.
Lately, though, some small publishing houses had started creating their own sites, promising better chances of discovery to lure writers away.
As a result, Lin Zhi's discussion boards had clearly grown quieter. The drop in traffic was impossible to ignore.
He leaned back in his chair, fingers tapping the desk thoughtfully.
Maybe it was time to consider a paid content model.
After all, there were still countless struggling authors out there — those without a debut, without a future.
Maybe… it was time to give them a little hope.
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