"What do we do now?"
After the people from the Bureau of News left, the reception room fell into silence.
It was Plum Blossom Sword who finally broke the tense atmosphere. "Old Wu, worst comes to worst, we fight to the bitter end. I don't believe they'd really shut our site down."
"Tingfeng, don't let your emotions get the better of you. We're dealing with the government here, not another company."
Hou Xiyu took over the conversation.
"Sigh, exactly. It's dealing with the government that gives me a headache. If it were Huanyue or Lianheng, no matter what tricks they pulled, we'd still have ways to counter. But the government…"
Bao Jianfeng scratched his head in frustration.
Even though Plum Blossom Sword was known for his fiery personality, he wasn't clueless. He knew very well that going against the government was pure suicide. "Fighting to the bitter end" was just something he said in the heat of the moment. In reality, it would just be the fish dying while the net remained intact. And besides, Plum Blossom Sword didn't want Lingdian to go under either.
"Actually, President Xie, President Wu, President Hou… things may not be as bleak as we're imagining."
At that moment, the editor-in-chief, 567, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up.
"Yang Guang, you've got something in mind? Let's hear it."
The three turned to look at Yang Guang.
"From what I gathered, both that guy who seemed like a Li and Director Ji actually have deep knowledge of web literature."
"Yeah, that Director Ji scared the crap out of me when he said, 'If your writing's not good enough, just stuff it with smut.' I seriously thought I was talking to a hardcore web novel fan."
Wu Wencai nodded in agreement with 567's observation.
"Right, and that Li Rong guy, sure, he's got a sharp tongue, but his understanding of online fiction is also quite impressive. I just don't get why he's so prejudiced against us."
Plum Blossom Sword chimed in too.
"I don't think they're really against us. We haven't offended anyone, and he holds a high post; he wouldn't be targeting us personally. In my view, both Director Ji and Director Li have already made their stance clear."
"First, web literature is now on their radar. The government has intentions to start managing it."
"Second, as Director Ji said, this 'management' isn't about suppression, but regulation. Once the government successfully establishes a framework for online fiction, there's a real chance it could be brought into the mainstream."
As 567 explained, the other three suddenly had a moment of clarity.
"Yang Guang, are you saying that this round of inspections may not be a disaster, but actually an opportunity?"
At that, the worry in everyone's expressions seemed to ease a little.
They were all veterans in the web literature space, having been in the industry for over a decade. Of course, they knew about the long-standing rift between mainstream literature and online fiction. The conflict came from two fronts: one, traditional authors vs. online authors; and two, the lack of government recognition for web novels.
Of those two, the government's lack of acknowledgment was the more critical factor.
If web literature gained that recognition, it would be a game-changer, a real chance to enter the mainstream.
And just thinking about that filled them with hope.
Despite its strong growth over the past decade, particularly in recent years, online fiction has consistently faced significant bottlenecks, primarily due to the lack of government support and mainstream literary recognition.
Take the Web Author Rich List, for example. Seeing web authors making it onto that list should've been a reason to celebrate. But since online fiction wasn't officially recognized, it stirred controversy instead.
Some people said web novels were just money-making schemes.
Others criticized: What the hell are these web authors even writing that makes them so much money?
In the end, the authors on that list only gained wealth, not fame.
But if literature is purely commercial and carries no cultural weight, can it even be called literature?
This has always been one of the main arguments traditional authors used to attack web novels.
But now, a new opportunity seemed to have appeared.
The state had stepped in.
"Yes, I think this is our biggest chance yet. If we handle it right, we might even surpass Lianheng and Huanyue, and become the true number one in web literature."
Yang Guang answered with certainty.
"Yang Guang, your insight is valuable. But practically speaking, we've still got one huge hurdle to overcome."
Their brief moment of excitement was soon tempered by Wu Wencai.
"This might be a huge opportunity, but if we handle it poorly, it could just as easily become a disaster. Like this new web fiction regulatory guidance they gave us: do we follow it or not? If we don't, the government will definitely come after us. But if we do, half of our authors will be impacted. Especially our top-tier writers, if we go down this route, even if they don't jump ship, they'll be easy pickings for the other platforms. I don't believe for a second that Huanyue and Lianheng will just sit this one out."
"Exactly, what do we do? If Huanyue and Lianheng make a move while we're busy deleting books and go on a signing spree, even our lower-tier authors could get poached, let alone the big names. Plus, this mass deletion of books will seriously damage our platform's credibility."
Hou Xiyu added on.
"That's our biggest crisis right now."
Yang Guang also frowned, unsure of what to do.
"Yang Guang, you're the editor-in-chief. Tell us, if we start a mass deletion of content, how many authors do you think will stick with us?"
Plum Blossom Sword turned to 567.
"Well…"
Yang Chen shook his head. "Hard to say."
"Even though we won't be deleting everything, just stuff involving violence, porn, crime, etc… the truth is that kind of content is everywhere in web novels. Nearly every book has some of it. And we never told our authors to avoid it before. If we suddenly delete their work now, a lot of them are going to be upset. Besides, online fiction is an industry now; it's tied to people's livelihoods. If we just ban things out of nowhere, we're literally taking away their income."
"We could consider compensating the authors whose books get removed."
Plum Blossom Sword suggested.
But as soon as he said that, financial officer Hou Xiyu shook his head. "We've done better these past two years, but our funds are still limited. Even if we do offer compensation, we can't cover most of the authors; someone's going to end up losing out. And even if we do pay, I bet Huanyue and Lianheng will offer better deals. Out of the three platforms, we're the weakest. Facing both of them at once is nearly impossible."
At that, the room fell silent again.
This was both an opportunity and an incredibly difficult challenge.
If they succeeded, they'd rise to the top.
If they failed, it would be ruin.
Lingdian was standing at that very crossroads.
Just then, 567's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Everyone, I think I might have a solution."
"What is it?"
"Have any of you been paying attention to an author and the genre he pioneered?"
"Yang Guang, who do you mean?"
"The Number One White Under Heaven, and the genre he created: noob-style."
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