Chapter 14: Let’s Go! I’ll Take You to Rule the Online World
Rong Ziyin hesitated. Based on past experience, he knew this ten-pull would definitely yield nothing. But since single pulls could sometimes produce miracles—he’d once pulled a frozen codfish—he figured a ten-pull might be worth testing the waters.
The system sensed his thoughts and instinctively offered, “Why not wait and save up for twenty pulls? The salted duck eggs aren’t sold out yet anyway!”
Rong Ziyin considered it. “That’s not a bad idea. There’s no rush right now.”
Thus, after deliberation between the system and Rong Ziyin, he decided to save up for twenty pulls.
After all, this lottery business was merely a minor diversion. Rong Ziyin had far more pressing matters to attend to—he needed to scrape together the publication fees and review costs for his paper.
As the saying goes, a penny can trip a hero. What Rong Ziyin lacked was a full twenty thousand.
“Sigh!” The system let out a genuine sigh of melancholy. It couldn’t possibly expect Rong Ziyin to earn twenty thousand from selling salted duck eggs—that would be no different from a fairy tale.
Then again, what was Rong Ziyin’s biggest advantage right now? Being a licensed veterinarian?
But the village wasn’t like the city. Pet hospitals charged high fees. Rural animal stations usually received government subsidies. Rong Ziyin only made three yuan fifty for castrating a boar. Even if he neutered every pig within ten miles, it wouldn’t be enough.
There’s simply nowhere to make money.
Rong Ziyin, however, wasn’t particularly worried. He countered the system, “In the Heavenly Way System, I see there’s not only a lottery but also an exchange system. What exactly can be exchanged through this exchange system?”
“Plenty!” The system pondered for a moment, “Though there are level restrictions. But generally speaking, anything you can win in the lottery can be exchanged.”
“I haven’t unlocked it yet, right?”
“Nope. Your total coin accumulation isn’t high enough. You’re still short 900,000. Once your total coin earnings reach the threshold, the system will upgrade to Phase Two. At that stage, every consecutive draw guarantees at least one R-grade item as a minimum reward. Plus, all N-grade items become exchangeable for coins in the redemption system.”
“Are there any particularly valuable items among the N-grade ones?”
“You bet there are!” The system bristled at the mention. It clearly saw gold, silver, jewels, and diamonds among the N-grade items, yet Rong Ziyin always ended up pulling salted duck eggs and dried fish. That was what drove it absolutely mad.
Rong Ziyin breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Now I know where to get the money for my thesis.”
The system processed this for a moment before realizing Rong Ziyin meant using gold coins directly from the system to exchange items for cash once the exchange feature was activated.
But that would require 900,000 gold coins! How could that be achieved quickly?
“Actually, it’s not that hard,” Rong Ziyin chuckled. Gold coins stemmed from human or animal emotions, so the place with the most people was…
“The internet!” The system perked up with excitement.
The web teemed with users, and netizens ran wild behind their screens. Rong Ziyin didn’t need to do much—just drop a string of curses under any major celebrity’s Weibo posts, and the coins would pile up in minutes.
But what it never anticipated was that Rong Ziyin didn’t open Weibo—he opened Zhihu.
Was he planning to make a splash in Zhihu’s entertainment section? The system speculated slyly.
Instead, the system watched helplessly as Rong Ziyin created an account, navigated to the agriculture board, and swiftly posted the following highly technical threads:
How to Get Your Sows Pregnant Quickly Six Months of Pig Farming Wasted—How to Select Age-Appropriate Piglets One Ounce Difference at Birth, One Pound Difference at Weaning, One Pound Difference at Weaning, Ten Pounds Difference in Final Weight—Rational Rearing of Young Piglets
The system sighed helplessly: “Host, I’m afraid nobody will read this.” Simultaneously, it pulled up Zhihu’s top ten trending posts for Rong Ziyin to review.
The front-row hits were either celebrity gossip or major public affairs.
After all, in the online world, achieving instant fame requires either tapping into personal interests or relying on the bizarre.
Rong Ziyin pondered this and found the system’s reasoning sound. After browsing Zhihu’s trending topics, inspiration struck. He immediately crafted a title perfectly suited for self-media sensationalism:
After the Rich Kid’s Failed Attempt to Steal My Fortune, He Turned Evil and Lured Me Into a Debt Trap…
The system fell silent for a moment. “Host, I think we should go bash popular celebrities on Weibo—it’s a quicker way to make money.”
Rong Ziyin flatly refused. “No. Gold coins will come eventually. There’s no need to insult innocent people.”
In Rong Ziyin’s view, writing science popularization articles on agricultural and livestock forums, helping others, and earning gratitude points was the reward for his labor. Writing jokes based on trending topics to entertain people was also a matter of skill. But insulting celebrities? That was just too low.
After all, they had no grudges or enmity, being complete strangers, and he knew nothing of their specific circumstances. Even as a public figure, Rong Ziyin felt he had no right to arbitrarily condemn others.
Moreover, the public’s expectations for morality are generally high these days. If these celebrities truly had issues, public condemnation would naturally follow. But if they were morally unblemished, then someone like him—who never mingled in those circles, paid no attention to celebrities, and knew nothing of the actual situation—had even less business opening his mouth to pontificate.
As a human being, if one couldn’t even control their own tongue, what difference was there between being human or a dog?
No, even dogs know when to keep quiet.
This was Rong Ziyin’s unwavering principle—an area where he remained stubbornly consistent.
Convinced by his stance, the system also fell silent.
Yet no matter how strong one’s principles, they crumble when posts go unseen. Zhihu boasts tens of millions of daily visitors, with countless posts flooding the platform. Only those that are sufficiently bizarre to spark fierce debates, or those touching on public hotspots and major social issues, ever make it to the trending list.
Thus, Rong Ziyin’s posts vanished into thin air the moment they were published, leaving no trace.
The system was deeply troubled. “Host, what should we do now?”
Rong Ziyin was equally stumped. Just then, he noticed a notification on Zhihu.
Invitation to Answer.
This was a feature of Zhihu, which would push questions based on the categories the account owner posted in.
For instance, Rong Ziyin’s current page displayed five or six questions inviting him to answer. They seemed categorized based on his posts—one was about animal husbandry, while the rest were relationship questions.
Rong Ziyin stared at the questions and suddenly thought: Maybe answering them could be a solution. After all, helping others solve their problems would earn him gratitude points. It might be slow, but that was fine—he could make up for his shortcomings with diligence.
Unfortunately, Rong Ziyin forgot that in certain areas, he was truly a straight-laced guy. His solutions might not be the answers others were looking for.
Zhihu: What happens to the relationship between a guy and girl who’ve been duo queuing and grinding together for years?
Rong Ziyin: Thanks for the invite. They’ll go bald together.
Zhihu: In Honor of Kings, I’m carrying a girl who misses all four of Da Qiao’s skills. How should I react?
Rong Ziyin: Thanks for the invite. I’m too noob to carry girls.
Zhihu: My wife is beautiful, but after marriage, looking at her face suddenly makes me feel utterly disgusted.
Rong Ziyin: Thanks for the invite. Sleep with a boar for one night, and it’ll be solved.
The system was completely flustered by Rong Ziyin’s answers, speechless for a long while.
Yet Rong Ziyin grew more enthusiastic with each reply—to him, these questions were child’s play!
Later, he even sought out trending posts on the homepage, especially those about relationships. After reading each question, he answered with heartfelt sincerity, his replies sharp as a tiger’s strike. Had the village chief not rushed over with urgent news, Rong Ziyin could have tackled several more pages of questions.
After all, it had been ages since leaving school that Rong Ziyin had felt this exhilarated from answering questions. Thus, after putting down his phone, he contentedly hoisted his medicine box and followed the village chief out.
Half an hour later, Rong Ziyin was already deep in work, but over on Zhihu, several thread starters were absolutely fuming.
Take the first one asking about a guy and girl duo queuing for PUBG—he’d intended to brag about his online romance turning into real-life happiness.
But right after setting up the premise, Rong Ziyin’s bald-headed retort hit him like a ton of bricks. He was left speechless, unable to breathe.
The kicker? Rong Ziyin was dead right. Staring at his own dark circles and receding hairline in the mirror, the poster’s confidence shattered instantly.
The second poster was no better off. He’d intended to complain about his girlfriend’s poor skills, only to find the tone shift completely—now everyone was laughing at him for being unable to carry the team and questioning why he’d bothered to show off.
The third one was even more baffling. He was just mindlessly trolling online when Rong Ziyin’s “sleeping with a boar” comment brainwashed him, wiping out all traces of his lecherous fantasies. As for the thread’s subsequent direction, it was completely derailed by Rong Ziyin’s devilish first post.
The rest followed a similar pattern.
Zhihu’s random recommendations follow a time-based pattern. Rong Ziyin’s excessive activity that afternoon, combined with his perfectly timed, straight-guy quotes, instantly piqued many people’s curiosity.
Especially those poor OP victims—they gritted their teeth and clicked into Rong Ziyin’s account, desperate to see what he actually read in his spare time.
The very first post that greeted them was How to Get Your Sow Pregnant Quickly
…Damn it, what the hell is this?!
Finally stumbled upon one about people, only to see the title: “After the Rich Kid Failed to Steal Me Away, He Turned Evil and Lured Me Into a Debt Trap…”
What the hell is this? Some modern urban Mary Sue fairy tale?
Many couldn’t resist the urge to rant, yet upon clicking in, they were surprised to find that Rong Ziyin’s writing was actually kinda good?
It wasn’t the typical trope of an ordinary girl being targeted by a domineering rich heir, subjected to forced possession, confinement, and abuse, only to end in a tortured yet ultimately blissful happy ending.
Instead, it was an empowering tale of a top student outmaneuvering the rich heir, staying true to himself, defying authority, leveraging power against power, and forging his own path to survival.
Surprisingly refreshing at first glance.
And despite Rong Ziyin’s plain vocabulary, the sentence structure is seasoned and highly logical. With just a few words, he can stir the reader’s emotions, making them follow the plot and empathize deeply with the protagonist.
When the story reached courtroom defeat, where the scholar lost his chance to continue his studies and was forced to go to a small village for support, everyone’s heart was in their throats.
So… what happens next?
Will the debt be repaid?
Did they take down that rich kid?
Yes, everyone desperately wanted to see the conclusion. But scrolling further down, there was no continuation!
“Damn it, I got my hopes up for nothing?”
“What the hell? Get back here and finish the ending!”
“I’ve read so many made-up stories on Zhihu, but this one actually moved me! OP, hurry back and finish the plot!”
As time passed, more and more comments piled up under Rong Ziyin’s rich kid thread, eventually propelling it straight to the trending list!
And as the post trended, more and more people fell into the pit.
Typically, on Zhihu, the more views a self-narrative post gets, the more diligently the author updates it.
But Rong Ziyin did the exact opposite. When no one was reading, he churned out pages and pages. Now that everyone was begging him to write more, he vanished.
The kicker? They waited for hours, through the entire afternoon, and still didn’t see Rong Ziyin return. His Zhihu account showed no further activity.
So, did he just ghost us?
Anticipation instantly turned to resentment. The group who’d diligently refreshed the thread waiting for Rong Ziyin’s return instantly transformed from devoted fans into bitter, resentful wives.
No matter how they bumped the thread or pleaded, Rong Ziyin never replied again. He acted like a scumbag who teased and ran, leaving without even wiping his mouth.
[Resentment Level: 10,000]
[Resentment Level: 20,000]
…[Resentment Level: 100,000]
The gold coins Rong Ziyin earned on the forum rapidly broke through the 100,000 mark.
The system was nearly scared out of its wits, but Rong Ziyin himself had no time to care about such things.
At that moment, he was on the highway leading from the county town to Yanjing, assisting local traffic police… in capturing escaped wild boars.
The largest boar bore the words written on its forehead: “Shameless rabble, kneel before this emperor!”