Chapter Forty-Seven: The System's Gameplay

After leaving the Conservatory of Music, Chen Qi found a nearby restaurant for a meal. Perhaps due to the music college's proximity, there were many excellent eateries in the area, allowing him to try something different every day.

As usual, he picked a quiet corner to sit in. After ordering, he took out his phone.

To avoid disturbances, he always set his phone to silent during classes.

Anyway, he didn't have anything important going on, nor was there anyone particularly trying to reach him.

When he unlocked his phone, he saw a congratulatory message from the website editor.

"Immortal World" had amassed twenty-three thousand subscriptions.

Not only that, thanks to the book’s recent launch, it had appeared on multiple ranking lists overnight.

Sales rankings, monthly ticket lists, new fan leaderboards—just about every chart imaginable.

In the editor's words, this was the best-performing book the site had seen in the past two months. If he maintained both this update frequency and quality, it had every chance of becoming the top-performing book across the entire web.

Everyone saw great potential in it.

Reading this, Chen Qi merely smiled faintly, feeling little more than a ripple inside.

At the end of the message, the editor also mentioned that his almost inhuman update rate had put a lot of pressure on other authors. Several people in their group had already made grand promises to speed up their own updates.

No one could imagine doing ten chapters a day, but three or four chapters—if they curbed their laziness—was within reach for many.

This caught Chen Qi's attention.

He opened the author group chat and found it was true.

Several authors had already started taking action.

Looking at the screenshots some had posted, Chen Qi fell into thought.

Even if he hadn't completely overturned the established order, hadn't he at least shaken things up a little?

If not for his frenzied update pace, would the others have suddenly become so diligent?

After a few moments in a daze, he suddenly reached out and traced his finger over the ring.

Whether or not this counted, he would just check if his Destruction Value had increased.

The moment his finger slid across the ring, the air before his eyes flashed, and a virtual screen appeared out of nowhere.

Chen Qi looked directly to the bottom right corner.

[Destruction Value: 11]

Seeing this number, Chen Qi widened his eyes in disbelief, almost suspecting he was seeing things.

Eleven?

Eleven?!

At last, it wasn’t zero.

He looked carefully, and after confirming he wasn’t mistaken, he found himself momentarily stunned.

He was genuinely a little dazed!

He hadn’t expected anything when he checked just now—yet it had actually gone up.

But…

Why only eleven points? That was far too little.

How did the system judge these things? What exactly were the standards?

Curious, Chen Qi searched the virtual screen but found nothing.

The help section only stated that the system would increase Destruction Value based on the degree of disruption, without detailing the specific criteria or providing any breakdown of sources.

Chen Qi pursed his lips and put the system away.

Though eleven points were indeed paltry, it was better than nothing.

At least now he had a rough idea of how it worked.

Eleven points…

He was still more than nine thousand points short of unlocking the second folder.

Well, no rush—he had plenty of time.

…

Night fell.

Sitting before his computer, Chen Qi uploaded all his drafts of "Immortal World" to the author’s backend, scheduling fifteen chapters a day for release.

Now that he understood the system’s mechanics, he ought to find an opportunity to make a bigger move.

His studio was in the process of being registered, so he likely wouldn’t have time to upload chapters every day. To avoid any gaps, scheduled releases were the best option.

With over a million words in reserve, it took him several hours to upload everything.

Only after he finished setting up the schedule did he realize that, even though a million words seemed like a lot, with such a crazy update rate, it would only last a little over twenty days…

But that was fine. In those twenty days, he could easily copy another million words.

After finishing all his tasks, Chen Qi finally fell into a deep sleep.

The next day.

After classes at the conservatory, Chen Qi visited a well-known interior design firm nearby and entrusted them with the studio’s renovation.

He didn’t want anything extravagant—just something simple.

He asked them to section off the necessary areas, repaint the walls, lay floor tiles, and tidy up the ceiling. Later, a bit of greenery would be enough.

After signing the contract with the company, he received a call from Xu Buyian.

“I’m holding some interviews tomorrow morning to recruit a few people. Do you want to come?” Xu asked.

Chen Qi was taken aback. “What would I do there?”

“Don’t you need staff?”

He was startled again, instinctively wanting to refuse.

He had never considered building a team through such a random process.

The chances of finding someone truly suitable this way were slim, and even more importantly, it would be hard to trust people recruited like this in the short term.

But after a moment’s thought, he decided he might as well take a look—what if he got lucky and met the right person?

Besides, he hadn’t yet seen what Xu Buyian’s office building looked like.

“Alright, I’ll come have a look tomorrow.” After saying this, he realized something was off.

“Wait… Is the company registered already?”

“Of course not—it’s still being processed.”

“And you’re already busy recruiting?”

“Naturally. You think hiring is easy? If you don’t start early, what will you do? If you’re unlucky, you might not find someone by the time the license is approved.”

Chen Qi blinked. “Doesn’t your office need renovating?”

“Nope, it’s all done—just needs a bit of cleaning.”

“…,” Chen Qi was speechless, but let it drop.

After hanging up, he called the girl from the conservatory to let her know he wouldn’t be able to make it the next morning.

…

The following day.

Around nine, Chen Qi arrived at the base of a commercial office tower in the city center.

It was a towering building with dozens of floors, its glass exterior gleaming with sophistication.

Comparing the details Xu Buyian had sent, Chen Qi took in the scene with a sense of awe as he walked inside.

Nothing else aside, just the commercial atmosphere here was leagues above the little building he was used to.

Looking at the men and women coming and going inside, with briefcases and business attire as standard, Chen Qi—dressed in casual clothes—felt a bit out of place.

In the lobby, he noticed a wall covered with the names of various offices.

Law firms, internet companies, notary offices—every kind of business imaginable.

Chen Qi gave them only a cursory glance, not particularly interested.

Checking the floor number Xu had sent via message, he entered the elevator and pressed 23.