Chapter 312: Ten Thousand Reached, Thank All the Bosses Who Support This Book!

Ten thousand reached, thank all the bosses who support this book!

Ten thousand reached, thank all the bosses who support this book!

Special thanks to all the bosses who support this book—I never expected this novel to reach ten thousand, and I'm truly moved; I kneel again in gratitude.

As a complete newcomer author, this book has hit many pitfalls; at first, I didn't understand why the train theme would attract so much support and love—it shot straight to number one in its category and top ten overall on the new book chart. Honestly, I was completely stunned, because I had no idea why it achieved such results.

Back then, I didn't know anything about toxic points, tropes, or pacing—I just wrote whatever came to mind. Before subscription, many bosses noticed the style kept shifting, the direction was unclear, and there were many setting flaws—I got criticized a lot…

I was truly lost then, because I didn't know why readers liked this book, so I paid close attention to every comment and every data point, endlessly revising earlier chapters to find out what the readers wanted.

Only after subscription, after completing the "Strange Radio" arc, did I finally clarify what I wanted to write, and then I wrote with renewed energy—even though my retention had plummeted to near-cancellation, and after subscription, with only 30, 00 to 40, 00 favorites, the average reads were just 700 and first-subscription numbers were 1, 00.

Though I felt discouraged at times, because I'd found my direction, I still confidently expanded the outline and refined the worldbuilding, determined to write the apocalypse I envisioned.

My impression of an apocalypse came from Interstellar, The Wandering Earth, Three-Body Problem, Independence Day, Pacific Rim, Mad Max…

Influenced by so many outstanding works, I believe an apocalypse should be serious, heavy, a process where all humanity moves from panic to struggle, from confusion to resistance—a great trial for human civilization, a grand baptism, a hymn to courage!

Even so, I worried—because in my view, this approach might lack satisfying moments.

Since I'd read few web novels, I naively thought appeal lay in satisfying moments, in showing off, in humiliating opponents, in treasure hunting and leveling up, in unstoppable dominance, in selfish survival tactics and information superiority—but I wasn't good at these, or rather, I wrote them poorly, so the satisfying moments I wanted to include were seen by readers as toxic elements, and the twists I intended became… garbage.

So the question arises: if a web novel lacks these, how can an apocalypse story be good?

I didn't know.

But when I began deeply exploring this hopeless apocalypse, launching life-or-death escapes, racing against time and darkness, shifting the protagonist's lone-wolf perspective to a human collective perspective, abandoning cheap power-ups and seriously confronting the despair brought by the apocalypse, my favorites, subscriptions, and monthly votes actually increased…

Then, within twenty days of subscription, it broke into the Elite category—this achievement came from the quiet readers who supported this story of the Apocalypse Day, one vote, one chapter at a time; it was this that made me realize: even this kind of apocalypse is a valid direction—if you tell the story well, people will still love it.

Just as one reader commented after reading the psychic evaluation segment:

【Kele, just write your apocalypse world well—I'll find someone else to read the showboating, humiliation, and borderline stuff.】

Me: …

Then I stuck to unfolding this apocalypse from a cinematic perspective (because I love movies—I'm not comparing this book to those classic masterpieces; I can't compete at all), and under the support of all the bosses, the numbers kept surging, gaining over 2, 00 average reads per month (though some plot issues still arose along the way; otherwise, it should have hit ten thousand by February—I've mentioned this before).

Honestly, reaching ten thousand is thrilling and joyful, and I've now hit 200, 00 favorites—I never expected my first novel to achieve this. Kele is immensely grateful to all the bosses who support this book.

Since this is my first novel to reach one million words, the worldbuilding, settings, outline, and materials—including mechs, maps, and more—kept growing until my Excel file hit 30MB. Because of this, inevitable flaws and bugs appeared; I hope all the bosses will be forgiving. Any errors or typos pointed out in the comments or chapter reviews, I see them immediately and correct them to improve your reading experience.

Also, about images: I love adding illustrations—sometimes two or three per chapter. Personally, I like to describe stories vividly and emotionally to enhance immersion. Since this borders on sci-fi, I look up images for strange mechanical designs, unknown creatures, and post-apocalyptic environments. I've seen comments saying some dislike images—please bear with me on this.

Finally, seizing this moment to speak, I kneel and beg all the bosses for monthly votes! Deeply grateful!

The missed updates from my trip home will all be made up before month-end!

(End of chapter)