Chapter 914: Rain and Dew Shared Equally

Before dawn, after playing games with Xu Youyu for several hours, Li Luo finally felt tired and stopped to rest, stretching lazily in his seat.

He then stood up, twisted his body, picked up the sleeping Baige, rubbed its head, and walked over to the sofa by the window in the study.

Seeing this, Xu Youyu abandoned her chair, strolled over, plopped onto Li Luo, and effortlessly pushed him down onto the sofa.

Baige, squeezed between them, struggled in Li Luo's arms, quickly scurried away, and finally took a breath.

Li Luo held Xu Youyu without any improper thoughts, simply holding her while pulling out his phone to check messages.

The study sofa was large; Xu Youyu lay sideways atop him, with no risk of falling, and leaned forward to peek at what he was viewing.

Li Luo first opened QQ and glanced at several author groups.

Whenever he entered one, he almost always found topics related to Chongran.

Either "Night Watch of Great Qian" had ended, and the Divine Flame had written two theme songs for his own work.

Or "The End of the Sequence" was about to launch, with everyone speculating how many initial subscriptions it would get.

Because of his youthful, talented image and his habit of switching genres with every book, each outperforming the last, he had become a role model for many authors over the past two years.

Xu Youyu glanced at it and smirked: "I'm in that group too—you don't know how many people are your loyal devotees. They won't let anyone say a single bad word about you."

"Is it really that exaggerated?"

"More than that," Xu Youyu grinned. "They constantly compare you to past platinum authors, claiming you're better than all of them."

Li Luo, hearing this, felt embarrassed and helpless: "What's the point of comparing?"

As the saying goes, in literature there is no first, in martial arts there is no second—literature is inherently hard to rank, everyone has their own opinion.

Even "martial arts have no second" is hard to uphold unless you actually make everyone fight.

Otherwise, you wouldn't have threads arguing whether Huang Tian Di or Ye Tian Di is stronger.

Some even make combat power comparisons between protagonists from different novels—Li Luo couldn't understand what was worth arguing about, since they weren't even written by the same author.

In the end, it's just the author's arbitrary setting.

Thinking this, Li Luo paid it no mind and opened his QQ private messages, where he saw a message from his editor, Qianzhou.

【Qianzhou】: You launched at midnight, right? Your draft is ready, right? The launch event is already arranged.

【Chongran】: Don't worry—after launch, I'll guarantee ten thousand words daily. No problem.

Qianzhou still trusted Li Luo completely; after a few routine exchanges, he stopped bothering him.

After chatting with the editor, Li Luo, bored, opened the Qidian app and wandered through the comments section of "Gu Dao Changqing."

"Why are you looking at this?" Xu Youyu laughed.

"What's wrong with looking?" Li Luo chuckled, glancing briefly.

As soon as "Gu Dao Changqing" ended, many readers rushed to the comments to congratulate.

Some posted their final thoughts, others expressed their emotional attachment to the novel, and some were delighted they could finally start "butchering" it.

But most were simply posting "End of serialization, flowers!"

This novel had been serialized since Xu Youyu first entered university, now spanning a little over a year and a half.

At three million characters, Xu Youyu wasn't particularly lazy.

But compared to Li Luo, she looked plainly inferior.

After all, Li Luo's "Night Watch of Great Qian" began serialization nearly a year later than hers.

From its debut to its conclusion, only about ten months had passed.

In roughly three hundred days of serialization, Li Luo had written nearly four million characters—truly terrifying.

But now, with "The End of the Sequence," Li Luo didn't plan to push himself so hard.

Though he had plenty of drafts, he could clearly feel that the more he wrote, the harder it became to refine every detail.

So for this launch, he planned to proceed steadily, updating ten thousand words daily as usual.

But when he voiced this idea, Xu Youyu gave him a withering look: "Are you serious? If any other author said that, they'd already have gotten a slap."

"Then why don't you slap me?" Li Luo teased.

"Hmph~ I have other ways to punish you."

The two flirted on the sofa; Li Luo kissed Xu Youyu for a while, and when they parted, he solemnly lifted his phone and began typing a long, detailed comment in the "Gu Dao Changqing" comments section.

Xu Youyu watched him write a two- or three-thousand-word reflection expressing Li Luo's understanding and praise of "Gu Dao Changqing," her heart pounding.

No matter what, Li Luo was always the one who understood him best.

Such evaluations always struck straight to her core, as if he were a worm inside her mind.

After reading his long comment, Xu Youyu couldn't help climbing onto Li Luo's lap and leaning down again.

"Wait— it's not midnight yet."

"I can't wait."

The alarm rang at midnight, accompanied by Xu Youyu's moan; Li Luo paused, pulled out his phone, and said: "Wait a moment—I need to post an update."

Before the launch chapter's paywall is unlocked, the author cannot schedule paid chapters in advance.

So on launch day, the author must manually post the update.

At this moment, Li Luo hastily posted three chapters totaling ten thousand words, tossed his phone aside, and leaned down again, ignoring Xu Youyu's resentful gaze.

After their lovemaking, Xu Youyu lay limp in Li Luo's arms, utterly drained, her small mouth still breathing softly.

Li Luo fetched a small blanket, draped it over them, held Xu Youyu as they lay on the sofa, and checked his phone again.

It was now one a. m.; the launch page for "The End of the Sequence" showed current initial subscriptions nearing twenty thousand.

At this rate, the 24-hour initial subscription total might easily surpass fifty thousand.

This figure was terrifying.

Recall that when "Night Watch of Great Qian" launched last year, its initial subscription was barely near thirty thousand.

That had already been astonishing—no one imagined that less than a year later, Li Luo's new book would break even higher records.

And it's an urban fantasy novel.

Such results are truly enviable.

"You're not even human—" Xu Youyu murmured softly, gazing at Li Luo's first-subscription data while nestled in his arms.

No one knew whether he was praising Li Luo's success or his physique.

Since he was already familiar with paid-read data during the new-book period, Li Luo had anticipated this result and felt no surprise, merely accepting it steadily and firmly.

He then turned his head and opened the comments section of *Night Watch of Great Qian*.

Similar to Xu Youyu's, most readers had come to "celebrate the finale with flowers."

Many readers had posted long reviews, which Li Luo read one by one.

For an author, nothing was more enjoyable than this.

However, besides that, many others had returned to leave comments after listening to the songs *If Dream* and *Just Let Me Pass*.

【Who understands this feeling? After listening to *Just Let Me Pass*, I felt the plot of *Night Watch of Great Qian* replaying in my mind—I nearly cried while listening.】

【*If Dream* is also so beautiful; I think this song was written entirely from the fox girl's perspective—perfectly fitting!】

【Readers of *God of Flame* are fed too well—reading the novel and now listening to songs too; the author wrote these songs himself, and they're perfectly aligned with the plot.】

【How does God of Flame even have time to write new songs while writing? I saw him post videos on TikTok—he posted them together with Yan Zhusheng, and he alone produced their entire new album.】

【He's not even human—how does he have the energy to do so much? Isn't he still filming *The End of the Sequence* at the same time? I wonder how it's going.】

【It's reportedly finished shooting and will be released this summer vacation; his album is also a promotional push for *The End of the Sequence*. I've saved his new album on QQ Music—all previously released songs are included.】

【What a master of teasing! Fine, the web novel is serialized—but now even the album is being released in installments? Damn it, I can't wait for the next songs!】

【I'll go check out the new book first to satisfy my craving.】

【The new book is urban fantasy—I don't really like this genre.】

【Go check it out. I didn't like this genre either, but once I started reading, I couldn't stop. Try it first—if you can't get into it, then forget it.】

That's one advantage of a master author.

This is where the so-called tolerance margin comes from.

For many new authors, readers click into the book, glance at the title and synopsis, and immediately pass—never giving them a chance to open the main text and take a second look.

Even if the main text might still captivate them.

But for a master author, even if readers come solely for the author's name, many will still grant him a chance—just to see how the main text is written.

Often, just this one chance allows master authors to retain more readers.

After reading the comments section of *Night Watch of Great Qian*, Li Luo went to check *The End of the Sequence*.

Many readers were congratulating the release, but the comments section had also gained a new feature.

It was the suggestion Li Luo had previously made to Qidian, now adopted and tested for the first time on *The End of the Sequence*.

With the release of *The End of the Sequence*, all readers who subscribed to paid chapters could choose one upgrade path on the release event page and receive a corresponding title.

After that, any comments posted in the comments section or Chapter Speak, as well as tips, monthly votes, and recommendation votes, would grant certain experience points and various alchemical materials needed to upgrade one's "cultivation" level.

In the novel's own terms, this meant "assuming" and "digesting" the alchemical substances.

This design delighted many readers, who enthusiastically joined in, subtly boosting *The End of the Sequence*'s first-subscription numbers.

While Li Luo was reading the comments, the first-subscription count had already surged past twenty thousand, rapidly climbing toward thirty thousand.

"I'm so envious," Xu Youyu murmured, curled up in Li Luo's arms, savoring the skin-to-skin contact, her eyes half-closed as she gazed at the data on his phone, her gaze filled with longing. "If only my new book could achieve this."

While Li Luo was reading the comments section, the first-month subscriptions rapidly surpassed twenty thousand and surged toward the thirty-thousand goal.

"Only you would soothe me like this," Xu Youyu sighed. "When can I ever experience a first-subscription over ten thousand? That's all I'd ask for."

"That's too easy," Li Luo chuckled. "I think ten thousand is too low. How about we set a smaller goal—thirty thousand?"

"Thirty thousand?!" Xu Youyu stared at him in disbelief. "You might as well just let me die—that's easier."

"Don't believe me?" Li Luo raised an eyebrow. "The idea of *Becoming the Richest Loser*—thirty thousand first-subscriptions isn't unreasonable at all. Believe in yourself."

"Thirty thousand?!" Xu Youyu heard the number and stared blankly. "You might as well just let me die—that'd be easier."

"How about we make a bet?" Li Luo chuckled. "If your first-subscription reaches thirty thousand, I win. If it doesn't, you win."

"What's the stake?" Xu Youyu asked, intrigued.

"That's up to you," Li Luo smiled. "Just promise to do one thing for the other."

"Fine~" Xu Youyu agreed, then clicked her tongue. "But who would ever bet that their own performance will be bad?"

"I'm just giving you confidence," Li Luo said, turning to kiss her. Suddenly, desire stirred again—he couldn't help but want to pin her down once more. "Youyu—how about—"

"W-wait—" Xu Youyu's face changed instantly; she hadn't recovered yet!

She scrambled off the sofa, threw on her clothes, and bolted away: "Go find Zhusheng or Chanxi! I'm done!"

Although Xu Youyu was a foodie, her appetite was small—after one round, she couldn't go again for a while.

Li Luo watched her fleeing figure and couldn't help but laugh. He sighed, got up, pulled on his clothes, and followed her to the third-floor bedroom.

Xu Youyu had already entered the bathroom to shower, while Ying Chanxi and Yan Zhusheng had finished bathing and were lying in bed.

Li Luo knew Chanxi refused to be playful in front of the others, so he walked to the bed, said nothing, and picked her up.

"Y-you're doing what?!" Ying Chanxi was startled by the sudden lift, clutching his neck tightly—only to be carried out of the room, straight toward her own bedroom next door.

Li Luo only smiled, then turned to Yan Zhusheng and said: "Good girl, stay here. Don't peek."

"Mm," Yan Zhusheng knew what they were about to do and had no intention of interrupting—she'd been teased just that evening.

Chanxi's cheeks flushed deeply at Li Luo's words, but she didn't dare refuse—and secretly, she felt a faint anticipation.

Finally, she bit her lip softly and whispered: "Y-you go slow…"

"I'm afraid if I go slow, some little glutton won't be able to wait."

Finally, she softly bit her lip and whispered, "You… you go slower."

"I'm afraid if I go slower, some little greedy cat won't be able to wait."

I'm not a little greedy cat.

So you really couldn't wait?

You're so naughty————