After 42 days and 280,000 characters publicly released, King of Fighters: Across the Otherworld has finally gone on the shelves! This is the first book by Lao Ya to reach this milestone, so I will take a moment to express my sentiments as is customary. First and foremost, thanks! The first thanks go to my dear readers. Lao Ya is a relative newcomer, and reaching this point of being put on the shelves smoothly is entirely thanks to you. It is because of all of you that this book achieved results beyond my wildest expectations. The book was uploaded on July 21st. Day one saw 5 collections, day two saw 17, day three 25, and day four 45... The collection numbers rose continuously without pause. Seeing the strong momentum, Lao Ya decided on July 27th to aim for the New Fantasy Book List. As a result, all my readers voted for me, and Lao Ya got his wish! On the category's New Book List, the daily collection count stabilized at 500, recommendations at 200, and the overall performance steadily climbed. On July 31st, I successfully reached the Homepage New Book List! From there, it was smooth sailing, dominating the New Book List. My best ranking achieved was third place (first place belonged to Nine Cauldrons Record by I Eat Tomatoes, and second place to Yang Shen by Meng Ru Shen Ji). By the time the main site recommendation arrived on August 9th, the collections had already reached 13,000! For a new book to achieve such results without the main site's promotion truly touches Lao Ya deeply! Truthfully, Lao Ya is somewhat introverted and finds it hard to articulate gratitude. However, every little bit of help from the readers is etched in my memory—every recommendation, every click, every collection. Although Lao Ya doesn't know specifically who contributed each one, these individual stars gather to form a brilliant galaxy, and these tiny streams merge into vast rivers. Without every single click and every single recommendation from you, this book would never have reached this level of success! Lao Ya bows deeply here to thank all of you, thank you all for your support of this book, and for your support of Lao Ya! The second thanks go to my editor, Chief Chang Tian. In fact, the concept for this book was suggested by Chief Chang Tian. He revised the manuscript five times before the book was uploaded! His serious work ethic and his spirit of taking responsibility for every author's work deeply moved and grateful made me feel. Frankly, without Chief Chang Tian's suggestions, this King of Fighters: Across the Otherworld would not exist, and without his tireless guidance, I would not have progressed this far in my writing! Thanks again, Chief! The third thanks go to some "special" friends!

The first "special" friend to thank is a reader who has been by my side, encouraging and supporting me, ever since I started writing Yan Huang Jue! I have never met him or seen him, I don't even know his name, but without his support, I dare say this book would never have made it to the shelves! He is Luobo! A boy who calls himself Luobo! He is the "special" friend I am most grateful for!

The second "special" friend I'm grateful to is also a reader; he is my sub-moderator, zhoubo751. Likewise, I know nothing about him, but he selflessly helped me manage the review section, offered sensible suggestions for my book, and helped me silently... Here, I want to say thank you!

The third group I am grateful for are the readers who have consistently supported me! &Xie"Xue~DiFeng, ?HuaぷZang?, Yu Lindu Lin, Shi Dai-XiaoG, Wu Mingde Shenhua... It is you who gave me assistance. Once again, thank you!

The fourth thank you is for those friends who offered excellent critiques in the comment section. It was you who pointed out Lao Ya's shortcomings and gave me a clearer perspective. Thank you all! The fourth thanks go to my girlfriend! In the 42 days since the book was uploaded, I have completely neglected her. Every day after coming back from work, I sit down to type. When she calls, I’m always distracted, my mind filled only with chapters... She never complained, never grumbled, but supported me silently, which truly moves me. Indeed, in one's life, having a circle of close friends and a woman who understands and cares for you is enough!

Next is the statement. The statement is to speak a few words, some true words. Some people say my updates are slow. I genuinely disagree with this. Uploading 280,000 characters over 42 days averages out to 6,666 characters per day! Over 6,600 words might not seem like much for a professional writer, but for Lao Ya, who holds a job, it is incredibly difficult! If you have doubts, Lao Ya will first describe his working environment. Lao Ya currently works on gas pipeline construction, situated in Qinghai. Here, the view is endless Gobi desert, and sometimes I drive for hundreds of miles without seeing a single soul! Don't assume this life is glamorous and romantic; only by coming here can one truly understand it! At an altitude of over 2,000 meters, what they call a grassland is just a few scattered scrub brush. The intense UV rays darken the skin, and the dry air leaves the body parched. Occasional fierce winds carrying stones strike the body, causing pain... If you know all this, you will begin to understand my work environment! Let's talk about working hours. Lao Ya works in engineering, meaning I must be on the construction site as long as the project is running! Lao Ya arrived in Qinghai in March, and for one month, I work 30 days (31 in a longer month)—no Saturdays, no Sundays, no public holidays (I didn't even get May 1st off, nor any bonus, sigh!). I wake up promptly at 6:30 AM every day, finish washing up, and prepare for breakfast. After eating dinner, I head to the site around 8 PM... There are no trees or shade on the site, so I stand under the scorching sun until 6 PM (that's just an average time). After 6 PM, I return to my lodging to eat. After finishing dinner around 7 PM, I start typing... After a grueling day of work, I persist in typing over 6,600 words every day! It would be one thing if Lao Ya typed fast, but if I tell you my actual speed, you might go mad. I type about a thousand characters per hour. A two-thousand-character chapter also requires an extra half hour for revisions! This means a two-thousand-character manuscript takes about two and a half hours to complete! This is why, without your support, I would never have been able to persevere! It is just too exhausting; I sleep less than five hours a day, and during the day, I am still working on the construction site... By mentioning all this, Lao Ya is not seeking sympathy, merely understanding! It is not easy to do anything in life; I hope we can respect each other! Thank you! After discussing my work, Lao Ya wants to talk about my dreams. Actually, Lao Ya's childhood dream was to be a scientist, but this dream shattered due to my severe weakness in certain subjects. In the college entrance exams, my English score was only 40 out of 150 (full score 150). If my Science Comprehensive score hadn't been 280 (out of 300), Lao Ya might have lost the qualification to attend university! With the first dream extinguished, Lao Ya developed a second dream: to become a writer! But due to my lack of cultivation, this dream also perished. Lao Ya then vowed, if I cannot be a writer, I will be a 'sit-down' worker! Thus began the career of typing! To be honest, before Yan Huang Jue, Lao Ya had another book. It accumulated 230,000 characters, but the total clicks were less than two thousand, total recommendations 153, and total collections 19... Sigh. It was written under a pseudonym; please don't look for it; you definitely won't find it... After that pathetic book, Lao Ya vowed to finish one book, to write one well, and realize my dream! Yan Huang Jue reached over 400,000 characters, but it wasn't contracted. Many small websites approached me to sign, but I refused! Since I chose to publish on this platform, even if I die, I will die here! That was my response to them! So, I started writing Dan Sheng Jie. It was signed when it reached 90,000 characters! I continued creating with great anticipation, but then something happened! I had a conflict with the chief editor, and he explicitly told me that if I wrote again, I would be fired immediately! Frankly, Lao Ya dislikes this job, but I have no choice. I come from a rural background; there are three brothers in my family; I have suffered and endured hardship. When I graduated from university, I couldn't even afford the 50 yuan for the farewell dinner, a regret that stays with me to this day. Remember, Lao Ya was the class monitor for four years and the department student union president for two years during university... Alas, not having a single penny can stump even a hero! Lao Ya's mother is 54 this year. To fund my schooling and support my elder brother and younger brother, she works in a brick kiln. Every day, after finishing work, her arms ache so badly she cannot sleep. Remember, she is only about 1.4 meters tall... This thought causes Lao Ya great pain in my heart. Therefore, without a definite direction, I cannot resign. If I quit, thinking of the hardship my parents endure, I simply cannot bear it! At that time, Dan Sheng Jie was not performing well, so I made a ruthless decision: I dropped it! After abandoning Dan Sheng Jie, Lao Ya, following Editor Chang Tian's advice, began conceptualizing King of Fighters: Across the Otherworld. After several revisions, I started uploading, and you have all seen the results above! After the results came in, Lao Ya decided to resign because sleeping after 1 AM every night while still working a full day shift was too much for my body. The only thing that allowed me to persist was sheer willpower! After submitting my resignation, the leadership refused to let me go; the only way to leave is to wait until the project is finished! They are currently withholding my salary for July, August, and September. If I leave now, it will likely be gone forever! Ah, life is often filled with disappointments. The project, originally scheduled for completion in September, has been postponed due to issues with utility lines. Based on the current situation, it will be fortunate if it concludes by mid-October... ???I will not pursue the matter of the unpaid wages, as everyone has their own difficulties, and I must look after my family first, but your subscriptions, though small individually, have accumulated to give Lao Ya the impetus to resign and dedicate myself fully to writing! If you truly cannot afford to subscribe, which would put me in a similar situation to my university days, then forget it; after all, one still needs to eat. But if you have time, please come to this platform and give Lao Ya a few recommendation tickets, and introduce my book to more friends! Thank you! Oh, and since the book is on the shelves, monthly tickets are naturally essential. I know every reader has their favorite established authors, and many monthly tickets are reserved for them. However, Lao Ya still hopes that if you have any spare monthly tickets and haven't decided who to give them to yet, please give them to Lao Ya! It's hard to survive on this platform, and even harder for a newcomer! Please support Lao Ya, support Lao Ya's unfinished dream! Thank you again for patiently reading my ?? Lao Ya 2:00 AM, September 1, 2009