The two-hour competition passed quickly.
By this point, Huang Yifan had already finished all the questions. To make sure he got first place, he even double-checked everything.
Not bad! Unless something unexpected happened, the top score should be his.
After turning in their papers, Huang Yifan, Jiang Weiwei, and Li Luozhi walked out of the exam room together.
"How did it go?"
Waiting for them at the activity center were Ye Fei, Zhang Ming, and Deng Yangping.
"Not so great."
Jiang Weiwei looked a little discouraged. "The questions were too hard this time. Some were just plain weird. I couldn't even understand what they were asking, let alone solve them."
Seeing Jiang Weiwei's expression, the three teachers' hearts sank. They turned to Li Luozhi.
"Li Luozhi, how about you?"
Her face darkened visibly, and she shook her head without saying a word.
Clearly, her results weren't great either.
The teachers were feeling conflicted.
They had come into this hoping to place in the top three. If only Jiang Weiwei had been eliminated, it might have been okay, but it looked like Li Luozhi hadn't done well either. That left only one hope.
"Huang Yifan, how are you feeling?"
The one asking was Ye Fei, language teacher for Class 2.
He had personally confirmed that Huang Yifan was a genius, so he had high hopes.
"Well… not bad, I guess."
Huang Yifan didn't really know how to answer, so he replied vaguely.
"You little brat, what does 'not bad' mean? Is that good or bad?"
"Mr. Ye, how should I know? We'll see when the scores come out."
Since the final round only had thirty students, grading was quick, just under twenty minutes, and all the exams were done.
Ten minutes later, the results were announced.
Li Yingying: 67 points, 30th place.
Fang Xiao: 68 points, 29th.
Zhu Wenjie: 69 points, also 29th.
Jiang Weiwei: 75 points, 15th.
You Dongsheng: 83 points, 4th.
He Rui: 84 points, 3rd.
Li Luozhi: 85 points, 2nd.
Huang Yifan: 99 points, 1st.
"Huang Yifan, you kid, you really pulled it off!"
Seeing Huang Yifan's results, the three teachers finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
"Huang Yifan, you're insane!"
"You're my idol."
"Damn, now I get it. You were pretending this whole time. But I like it!"
Previously eliminated students, He Jin and Wu Haihua, also shouted excitedly.
But off to the side, when Jiang Weiwei saw that Huang Yifan had taken first place, she involuntarily took a step back. Meanwhile, Li Luozhi murmured under her breath, "Huang Yifan… I'll remember you."
"Hey, where are those two guys who made the bet? I need one of them to streak."
"Forget it, they ran off already."
…
"The Number One White Under Heaven, are you there? I couldn't find you on TT. If you see this, PM me. There's something really important we need to discuss."
The county-level competition wrapped up with Huang Yifan taking first place, and he returned home that same day.
Since he hadn't checked on his novel in two days, the first thing he did was log in to Lingdian.
As soon as he entered the backend, a pop-up message appeared.
"That's odd. What important matter could it be?"
Curious, Huang Yifan logged into TT.
The moment he got online, hundreds of unread messages flooded in.
"Brother White, are you there? I heard there's a big change at Lingdian."
"White bro, rumor is the government's cracking down on web novels, especially anything with gangs or politics."
"Brother White, your novel might be in danger."
That was from the Author Struggle Group.
"Big White, are you there? They say the government's about to ban all gang-themed novels. What should we do?"
"Big White, are you still writing 'Bad Guy'?"
"White Boss, you didn't get arrested, right?"
"White Boss, answer us. We're worried."
"White Boss…"
That was from the White Jade Hall readers group.
"The Number One White Under Heaven, are you there?"
"There's something very important we need to discuss with you."
"Number One White…"
Those were from his editor, Wuyue.
"What's going on?"
Reading all these messages, Huang Yifan was stunned.
Just yesterday, everything was normal. How had things changed so drastically overnight?
"I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. Editor Wuyue, did something happen?"
Sensing the seriousness of the situation, Huang Yifan contacted Wuyue immediately.
"Good god, Huang Yifan, you're only logging on now? I'll keep it short. The government has started a full-scale review of online fiction. Any content involving sex, gangs, violence, or politics is now subject to deletion or banning. Your 'Bad Guy' novel has been flagged for gang violence and is officially on the government's list of 100 high-risk works."
"What? No way. There are river crabs in this world too?"
"River crabs? What river crabs?"
Wuyue didn't understand that "river crab" was slang for censorship, meaning "harmony." Still, he said, "We're really sorry. Lingdian couldn't protect your work. The higher-ups already issued an order; any problematic content has to either be massively revised or deleted."
"Revision's not possible."
Huang Yifan let out a deep sigh.
Turns out, no matter the world, censorship was always there.
He still remembered, back in his previous life, even as an obscure author, several of his works had been deleted.
But at the time, his books had no readership or commercial value, so it didn't matter much.
Now, though, his 'Bad Guy' novel was finally taking off. The idea of it being wiped was hard to accept.
Especially because, aside from the beginning, which was copied, everything else was written by him.
And now, just when he was finally gaining traction, everything might be reset to zero.
It was hard to accept, but he knew he was just a regular author. There was no way to go up against the state.
Besides, let's face it, 'Bad Guy' did have questionable values and dealt with gang-related themes.
"The Number One White Under Heaven, I know this must be hard for you to take in, but there's nothing we can do. You're not the only one; even top-level authors aren't being spared. Still, to help minimize your loss, the site has decided to offer you a buyout contract for your next book. It's different from your current deal; this one won't be a royalty split. It's a flat-rate buyout. No matter what genre or topic you write, we'll pay you per word. What do you think?"
"I'll think about it."
He wasn't in the mood. Huang Yifan had no interest in flat-rate contracts at the moment.
"All right then, just consider it."
After finishing the conversation with Wuyue, Huang Yifan replied to a few messages from fellow authors in the Struggle Group.
Then he entered the White Jade Hall fan group.
It was the first true fan group he had, and by now, it had nearly five thousand members.
"Everyone, I'm okay. Nothing happened to me, so don't worry."
Even though he was feeling terrible, Huang Yifan still posted a message to reassure his readers.
"Whoa, Big White is back!"
"I thought you got arrested!"
"White Boss, I heard Lingdian is done for. The government's going after them because of all the problematic books. Your 'Bad Guy' might get caught in the crossfire. We've been worried sick, thinking you might've been taken in for 'tea' by the police."
"Yeah, White bro, thank goodness you're okay."
Seeing the support from his fans, Huang Yifan gave a bitter smile. "No, I didn't get arrested. But the book might not make it. The editor already gave me a notice, saying I have to rewrite a bunch of stuff. You all know what kind of book 'Bad Guy' is; there's no way to revise it. So I'm sorry, but this might be the end for 'Bad Guy'."
Whether people liked it or not, that was the reality.
Actually, even in his past life, the original author of 'Bad Guy', Liu Dao, also got called in for tea.
"Sigh, another great book gone."
"Damn this censorship. Do they think we're stupid? Just because we read gang novels doesn't mean we're gonna join a gang."
"Exactly! What I see in 'Bad Guy' is the heart of a warrior. It's a classic. How could they delete something like this? Where's the justice?"
As soon as Huang Yifan dropped the news, the group exploded with hundreds of angry replies.
After ten minutes, once things calmed down a bit, a reader named MeowMeow from White Jade Hall spoke up.
"Guys, stop cursing. What's the point? We're just ordinary readers. We can't change the government's mind. I think the one feeling the worst right now is probably Big White."
"Yeah. Imagine pouring your heart into a book, only to have it deleted. Anyone would be devastated. Especially since 'Bad Guy' was doing so well. It was on the verge of becoming legendary, and now it's all gone."
"Stop it, you're making me feel even worse for White Boss."
"White Boss, don't be sad."
"White Boss, stay strong. We're waiting for your next book."
"White Boss, chin up. We'll always support you."
"Thank you. Thank you, everyone."
Seeing all the messages of support, Huang Yifan felt a bit better inside.
At least the book was gone, but the readers were still here.
"Don't be sad for me. As you said, books can be deleted, but they can also be rewritten. Besides, 'Bad Guy' was just a trial run for me. If it's gone, it's gone. Just wait a little, I'll give you all Book Two very soon."
"Awesome, Big White. Hurry up. We can't wait!"
"Now that's the Big White I love!"
"Braveheart. White Boss is a true warrior. I believe your second book will be even more successful than 'Bad Guy'."
"Yes, Big White. We believe in you."
After chatting with his fan group for over an hour, Huang Yifan finally got ready for bed.
The next morning, he got up with red eyes and got ready for school.
He hadn't slept well at all the night before. All night long, he kept dreaming about 'Bad Guy' being deleted.
In those dreams, he saw two versions of himself.
One said, "It was just a trial novel. So what if it's gone?"
The other said, "Trial or not, deleting 'Bad Guy' feels like someone stole my child. It hurts."
The two argued endlessly and eventually got into a fight.
"Huang Yifan, what's wrong with you? You look like you lost your soul, and we're in the middle of class."
Zhang Huiping poked him with a pen tube and tossed a note over, puzzled.
"It's nothing."
"Nothing? Then why are you like this? Come on, tell me. If something's bothering you, talk to me. When I used to have problems, I'd tell my grandma. After that, I'd feel so much better. You should try it."
"Uh…"
Huang Yifan felt a headache coming on.
Looking at her innocent little face, he sighed and wrote on the note, "All right, I'll tell you."
"How should I put this…"
Scratching his head, he wrote, "If someone took your child away, what would you do?"
"Huang Yifan, what are you talking about? You don't have a kid."
"I'm just making a metaphor. Like, say in the future, you and I have a child. She's a sweet little girl. But then someone kidnaps her. What would you do?"
Sadly, this metaphor still didn't land.
"Huang Yifan, I'm not talking to you anymore."
With a pout, Zhang Huiping turned away.
"All right, all right. My metaphor was wrong. Let's say a bad guy kidnapped your grandma. What would you do?"
"I'd call the police."
"What if that doesn't work?"
"Then I'd go find her myself."
"What if you still can't find her?"
"Doesn't matter. Even if I can't, I'll keep looking. I'll find her or die trying."
Find her or die trying.
Listening to that childlike, yet deeply sincere response, Huang Yifan froze for a moment.
That was the best answer he could have ever heard.
"Thank you, Zhang Huiping."
With that, Huang Yifan suddenly stood up and dashed out of the classroom.
"Huang Yifan, where do you think you're going?"
It was still class time. Homeroom teacher Lin Jinfen shouted.
"Sorry, Miss Lin! I'm going to save my world. I'll be back in ten days. Please don't come looking for me."
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Glossary
"river crab" (河蟹 héxiè) is a satirical slang term used in mainland China to refer to censorship, especially internet censorship imposed by the government. The Chinese government promotes the concept of a "harmonious society" (和谐社会 héxié shèhuì). But because "héxié" (和谐) sounds very similar to "héxiè" (河蟹), which means "river crab," Chinese netizens started mocking the term by replacing "harmony" with "river crab." As a result, "being harmonized" became internet slang for "being censored or deleted." So, "this world also has river crabs" means "this world also has censorship
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