Finished writing for now, which took a great deal of jīnglì (effort/energy). I’ll resume shortly; the first update today will be released early, at two in the afternoon.

Today is Monday, the day for leaderboard updates, but the results weren't as ideal as anticipated. In the first three weeks, we managed to reach the top 15 on the front-page weekly click rankings.

Later, during the Sanjiang recommendation, we surged to third place on the front page and first in our specific category. When the site-wide major push came, we hit second place overall and first in our category. For three consecutive weeks, we made it onto the front-page weekly click charts—truly remarkable achievements, all thanks to the efforts of my brothers here. I am deeply grateful, and I sincerely hope we can secure a good result this week too, making it four straight weeks and completing a full month.

Old Gu isn't very practiced at making direct requests for votes; I haven't developed that skill yet, and I’m not good at sentimental appeals. I remember a song by Jacky Cheung, "All The Way With You," which has a lyric: "All the way with you, I’m willing even if it’s a little harder."

On Old Gu’s creative path, you all have been with me every step of the way. Your support—every subscription, every click, every recommendation ticket, every monthly vote, every book review post...

All of this combined has brought me to where I am in my writing today—able to skip dinner just to code words, unable to play games because I need to write, staying up all night to finish chapters...

The update is late today. Because I’ve kept at it until now, I’ll write another chapter later and post it at two PM, readjusting my schedule so that everyone doesn’t have to stay up waiting. I feel terrible about that.

After three updates, I hardly feel I have the nerve to ask for monthly votes; I’ve truly let you down. So, I will work hard to adjust things over the next few days.

Now, let’s talk about updates again.

Today, I still plan for a burst of three chapters.

If, by 10 PM, the member clicks reach fifteen thousand, I will add one bonus chapter.

If, by 10 PM, the recommendation votes reach 3000, I will add another bonus chapter.

If either condition is met, there will be a bonus chapter. If both are met, there will be two bonus chapters.

Explode! (Go for it!)