Over the next few days, Xu Fang spent most of his time hammering out chapters.

National Day slipped by just like that. He finished the “Enhancement Card” arc and was now working on the “Transformation Card.” At this pace, he figured he’d wrap it up soon.

These days, every morning when Xiao Ming woke up, she would check if she’d turned back into a guy. Every time, the result disappointed her. In that mood, she would lean in close and complain right into Xu Fang’s ear.

Xu Fang had clearly underestimated how desperate Xiao Ming was to change back. It felt like he was being chased from behind, and he had no choice but to speed up his typing.

He often checked the readers’ comments. It was almost all glowing praise, with only a few people bringing up some nitpicky little issues.

Sometimes he’d sigh to himself: never thought a trash writer like me could have this many readers.

On October 7th, Zhou Wenjian, Big Tooth, Fatty, and Old Wang came back one after another, all dragging their suitcases.

“Xiao Ming, I missed you so much!” The second he came in, Wenjian imitated Feng Gong’s tone to greet Xiao Ming, earning himself a massive eye-roll.

As for Fatty, his phone hadn’t stopped ringing since he got back. He was chatting away with his girlfriend, the two of them all fired up. Fatty did have a girlfriend, a fellow townsman. They didn’t go to the same university, but they were both in City K. Now that school had started, they couldn’t stick together all day like during vacation. The two of them were pretty reluctant, so they just called each other non-stop.

On the surface, Liu Shuo looked like a chubby guy, but in reality he was the one who actually had a life. Sometimes Fatty even joked that he was just a hopeless otaku. That made Xu Fang roast him silently in his heart: liar, fake, there’s no way an actual otaku looks like this!

Old Wang was the same as ever, full-on “man of the streets” vibe. Sometimes he wouldn’t come back at night, and would only show up briefly in the daytime. He’d rest for a bit, then vanish again.

Big Tooth, on the other hand, was much more reliable. He flashed his trademark big front tooth and handed out some local specialties from home to his roommates, things like goji berries and such. Nothing expensive, but it was the thought that counted.

With the roommates back, the dorm instantly became much livelier. Xu Fang didn’t really mind either way, but Xiao Ming was starting to feel a bit sulky. She was afraid of being alone, but she didn’t like bustle either. And now that she was a girl, living with a bunch of guys felt even more unsuitable.

In her eyes, a two-person living space was the ideal.

Xu Fang, meanwhile, shut out everything beyond his own little world. Whoever was around had nothing to do with him. As long as he had a bit of private space, that was enough.

Time flew by, and the National Day holiday was over. That meant the last official holiday of the year was gone too. Most students sighed over it. The next break would only come after they toughed it out until winter vacation.

A few more days passed. Xu Fang started writing the last few chapters of the “Transformation Card” arc. Once this plotline was finished, the “Transformation Card” would appear in the points shop, and Xiao Ming could turn back.

Every story arc ran into tens of thousands of words, which really wore Xu Fang down. Besides class and sleep, he spent almost all his time typing. If he kept going like this, his body wouldn’t be able to handle it. He kept thinking he had to hurry up, finish it, then take a proper few days off.

But the unexpected still happened, like something in the dark was blocking his path on purpose, making sure things wouldn’t go smoothly.

That day, the weather suddenly shifted. It was a bit overcast, not so hot anymore. Xu Fang preferred this kind of day. It was neither cold nor hot, and the occasional breeze felt pleasantly cool.

After class, he went back to the dorm alone, opened his laptop, and got ready to write the final chapter. As soon as he logged into Horror Novel Web, a dark gray message box popped up.

[Horror Novel Web has been updated to version v1.1.]

Updated? This site actually gets updates?

Xu Fang stared for a moment, then went into the author backend.

One glance, and he noticed the change. The points shop was gone.

Where did it go? Why was the points shop missing? Xu Fang was stunned. He clicked around over and over, searched up and down for ages, and still couldn’t find it.

His expression sank. In the end, he clicked on Customer Service. He had to ask what was going on. In the customer service center, Xu Fang finally got an answer: for certain reasons, the site had temporarily closed the points shop function. As for when it would reopen, customer service didn’t know either. Maybe a few months, maybe a few years.

After hearing that, Xu Fang was so angry he wanted to start swearing. I slaved away my ass off for so long, finally about to write the “Transformation Card” into existence, and you just irresponsibly shut down the points shop?

The disappearance of the points shop hit him hard. Without using the settings panel, the only way for him to fulfill his wishes was through that shop. Without it, what the hell was the point of him writing this novel? Might as well just drop it.

But with so many readers, Xu Fang wouldn’t screw them over like that. It was just that his motivation to write had taken a nosedive.

“Ugh.” He let out a sigh and flopped down, frowning. How was he supposed to explain this to Xiao Ming? If he told her she couldn’t change back anymore, she’d definitely think he was messing with her. He really had been grinding away for her sake. He’d pushed himself so hard these days he was practically malnourished.

The dorm was dead quiet. Only Xu Fang was there. Luo Xiaoming wasn’t around; she’d probably gone out to play too.

The air felt very still.

Xu Fang had lost all desire to write. He leaned against the side of his bed, alone, and started thinking about his future plans.

He had a vague bad feeling, the same one he’d had when he first became an author on Horror Novel Web. Back then, greed had gone to his head and he’d forgotten about the hidden danger. Now, at last, he’d completely cooled down.

Was the disappearance of the points shop just a coincidence, or was it planned from the start? If it was the latter, then it was terrifying.

If Horror Novel Web could revoke the rights it had promised its authors just like that, then maybe one day he’d end up in a place beyond redemption for real. On the surface, it looked like it was offering authors a bright, beautiful blueprint. In reality, was it actually a man-eating monster?

The more he thought about it, the more cold sweat broke out on his skin. He shook his head, trying to push away that horrifying thought.

“I really hope I’m just overthinking it.”

Muttering to himself, he opened his browser and did a random search to see if he could find anything on “Horror Novel Web.” As always, nothing turned up. This wasn’t the first time he’d tried; he had never gotten a single hit, not even anything remotely related.

He sighed and was about to close his browser when he suddenly remembered the run-in with the ghost a few days ago. He had shoved that whole “ghost encounter” to the back of his mind. He’d doubted if it had really happened and could never prove it was real.

He had even asked customer service if he’d run into a ghost. Customer service replied that they wouldn’t answer questions unrelated to the novel site.

Xu Fang opened “China Paranormal Web.” It was a large forum for supernatural topics, full of everything from fortune-telling to ghost stories. Tons of users, new posts popping up every second.

He scrolled for a while but saw nothing really useful. Lots of people were posting eerie encounters they claimed had happened to them, who knew if they were real. Before, Xu Fang definitely wouldn’t have believed any of it, but now he wasn’t so sure.

He suddenly wanted to talk about the bizarre events he had gone through. But he couldn’t mention Horror Novel Web. How was he supposed to write it?

After thinking for a bit, Xu Fang created a new thread.

“I want to talk about the bizarre events that have happened to me recently. First, around late September, I came across a certain ‘thing.’ I can’t reveal what that thing is, or I might be in danger. Ever since I met it, my life has been turned completely upside down…”

Xu Fang briefly described the bizarre things that had happened to him these past days, ending with his “ghost encounter.” He didn’t mention any names or places. As for Horror Novel Web, he didn’t say a single word that could be linked to it. That way he could protect himself as much as possible. But it also made his story a lot less believable.

Ten-odd minutes after posting, replies started coming in.

First floor

TroubleSeeker replied: Not bad, I almost believed you.

Second floor

Bai Xiaoyu replied: OP, if you’re gonna make stuff up, at least try harder. Time travel and all that? That’s way too much.

Third floor

khg12 replied: Nice idea.

Fourth floor

DreamChaser replied: I feel like I’ve read this plot on a certain site before. Did you adapt it from someone else?

…

Not a single one of them believed him. After reading for a bit, Xu Fang lost all interest in talking to them. His story was too complicated anyway. If he’d just made up a normal ghost story, maybe people would’ve bought it.

Disappointed, he left the paranormal site.

****

Back on Horror Novel Web, he opened the chapter he was about to publish and looked it over again. After thinking it through, he went to the settings panel and typed in a new line.

[In Dorm 607 of K City Transport University, Luo Xiaoming turns into a boy.]

This was probably the last time Xu Fang would ever use the settings panel. This time, he tweaked the wording, changing “Luo Xiaoming is a boy” to “Luo Xiaoming turns into a boy.”

The former stated bluntly that Luo Xiaoming was male, while the latter expressed the wish for her to turn back into a male. If you really nitpicked it, there was a bit of a difference. Maybe the latter would pass review.

If even this couldn’t get approved, then Xiao Ming’s return to normal would be nowhere in sight. Who knew when the points shop would ever open again.

Xu Fang didn’t hold out much hope for the result.