Lucy always knew that her idea of Prince Charming was different to that of other girls...
And then she meets Kaelyn online - and everything starts to make sense. Could her Prince Chraming be a girl?
An inspiring and uplifting novel about falling in love and finding yourself.

The stories I will upload isn't mine.
This will consist of the stories I found on Youtube or in Reddit. I'm making this so that I will be able to archive the stories and at the same time read it in WN's UI (Which is so goddamn good). You can find the authors of said stories in the 'Author's Thoughts' section at the end of each chapter. And one last note, please support the authors of the stories if you find it good. 

Like I said, I'm not the author of the stories I will upload. I'm only compiling them to read them for my own use, so do not report this pls.

Go to my Reddit to see art of characters

Reddit: 

https://www.reddit.com/user/WerewolfOfDarkness/

Discord:

https://discord.gg/VmjaVx

This is a story about a male named Zero who gets transformed into a Werewolf because of the apocalypse, with his intelligence.

It started with a message and humans turned into monsters human eating machines, but Zero is not like them, because he still has his intelligence.

'So who should I give this house to...Wait a minute, this seems suspicious...'


"Wait, is there a drawback to this?" Damien asked both Avaritia and Benevolentia.


"Master, to truly fuse one of us emotion spirits to a named object, you first need to find a white pure soul gem or black corrupt soul gem. While soul gem themselves are very common. Soul gems are created when a living being with a consciousness dies. The soul of the being goes into the afterlife and depending on how strong they are, they will leave different amounts of soul gems. However, white pure or black corrupt soul gems are soul gems dropped by beings who have done nothing but good or bad. Not only are they very rare, to combine it you need to face our aftereffects, and the only way to rid of our spirit's aftereffects is by dying. However, the longer you stay with that spirit's emotion, the stronger the weapon."


"So basically, I have to kill a baby. That's basically what you are saying." Damien looked at Benevolentia with fear. That's Kindness?


"That would be one way to do it. However, you will need to extremely lucky. As they are very weak, they will almost never drop a gem.


Moving on, you should probably prioritize getting Avaritia, Luxuria, or Gula as your first object of emotion. As much as the rest of us want a house, those three are unique. All three need to take more than 1 soul gem. For every 5 sexual items you gain, you need to give Luxuria one soul gem to get stronger. For Gula, it is every 5 food item you gain, and for Avaritia, every item you give him, the need for soul gems increases exponentially." Benevolentia pointed at the three spirits she was talking about.


"Umm, ok, well that will have to wait won't it? I mean you haven't told me the easiest way to earn these crystals."


"Oh, about that, there is no easiest way. There is the one you were talking about, killing babies. This one depends on your luck.
There is also killing children or adults. For this one, you are guaranteed a soul gem, but it will almost never be completely pure or corrupt. This also depends on your luck.
Finally, there is completely annihilating souls. First, you need to be dead. Easy right? Well, then you need to completely remove a soul from the death reality. Doing this will cause the soul to reincarnate, with their memories intact. However, you will be marked by the reality, and be chased by every reaper it has. So choose wisely!" Benevolentia gave Damien a smile and waved.


"Why did you wav..! WAIT, WHY AM I BECOMING TRANSPARENT?!" Damien looked at his body, only to see it become more and more transparent.


"Master, you are waking up now, please think which of those three you will be giving the Scythe of Spirits to. I wish you a good day, Master, bye!"


------------------------------


"Master, are you okay?" Laura looked at Damien, whose body was covered in sweat.


"Yeah, I'm fine, I was just talking to the spirits."

"Oh, what were you guys talking about?"

"They want houses, as in named objects...God, I need to find 11 more named weapons. That's gonna take 50 chapters." (No, I will not give him all 11 weapons in 50 chapters, he has already gotten a good enough start.)


"Master, come on, there's something on the news." Laura started pulling Damien out of bed.

Laura then dragged Damien to his desk and pressed a button. The button brought up a floating TV, and on it was the breaking news.

=============
!!BREAKING NEWS!!
People are trapped in their VR sets!
Groups are reporting that some people are unable to be contacted after entering the game [Worlds Collide]. The only patterns we have figure out are that the people trapped have all been, at one point, in the top 5 of a popular MMORPG. There are some exceptions, but right now we need to figure out how to get them all out.
Just in case, you must refill the trapped people with a dose of nutrients every 2 days.
=============

"Jade wasn't that good at games..." Damien started sulking. He started feeling somewhat jealous, for whatever reason. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "Laura, come on, I got to go outside really quick." Damien quickly changed into new clothes and ran downstairs. Laura, shaking her head, picked up the empty food plates and carefully walked down the stairs, before putting them on the counter, where a robot appeared and took the plates to go clean.

Laura them followed Damien outside. They got on to Damien's motorbike and Damien started driving. They first when to the store to buy nutrient bottles, then traveled back home to inject Jade with nutrients. They left the house after they finished and half an hour later, they arrived at a run-down building. 

"Master, are you here to train?"

"Yeah, I've never used a scythe before, so I want to try to see how it feels."

Damien focused on the ring and the Scythe of Spirits appeared in his hand. He started twirling it in the air, with the blade of the scythe spinning around him like a twister. He grabbed the scythe with both hands and started slicing at the air. He jumped into the air and flipped while dragging the scythe behind him. As he did a 360, he brought the scythe over his head and into the ground. 

"I am a farmer." Damien suddenly spoke out a cheesy one-liner. 

"What?" Laura cocked her head in confusion.

"I saw this in my last life, on Reddit." Damien started chuckling. (I was looking for techniques for scythes, and found it on Reddit.)

"It...sucks." 

Damien picked up the scythe out of the ground and tried to think of the things he read on Reddit. He started using the scythe in a leg sweeping motion, which was followed by a jab with the top of the scythe.
Damien continued practicing with the scythe for 4 hours before stopping. The sun has already started setting and Damien was covered in sweat. Laura, on the other hand, had fallen asleep.

"Come on, Laura, let's go home." Damien started shaking Laura awake.

"Mmm, Master, two more minutes." Laura turned around and fell back asleep.

"Sigh, fine. 2 more minutes." Damien sat down and started wiping off his sweat.

All of a sudden the building started rumbling, the walls started collapsing, and the ground started cracking. A xanadu colored crack appeared in the air and started growing. Damien felt his soul being pulled in as he lost consciousness.

We reached a reality crack.  Depending on your guys' choices, this book can go in many ways. The first crack is for the Scythe of Spirits. Gula or Avaritia. Who will it go to? Here a poll.
https://linkto.run/p/ZM4OG7N5

Ira(Wrath)-Male
Gula(Gluttony)-Male
Avaritia(Greed)-Male
Invidia(Envy)-Female
Acedia(Sloth)-Male
Luxuria(Lust)-Genderqueer(Depends on the ring's owner)
Superbia(Pride)-Male

Patientia(Patience)-Female
Temperantia(Temperance)-Female
Caritas(Charity)-Female
Benevolentia(Kindness)-Female
Industria(Diligence)-Male
Castitās(Chastity)-Genderqueer(Same gender as Luxuria)
Humilitas(Humility)-Male

So this was an absolute failure. Im gonna work on my imagination and hopefully write smth better. So uh, title gonna go bye bye. Pray that I stop being lazy.

WEDNESDAY
7:03 am 12th of Aug. 2020
each day is the same.
wake up.
have breakfast.
watch a twitch stream on my pc and chat with people.
check my Reddit and make a post on a sub.
check Facebook and post a status update on what is happening.
watch a vid on youtube
check discord and chat with others.
and play some music on my Spotify.
that is all I seem to do while I am stuck inside.
I did see a post from my school about the thing that is happening at bean@bility this week and I am interested to come. the lockdown has driven me to boredom since I am missing events that made me an active person when going out.
witching to the discord tab I decided to see what is going on in Avi's server so I could keep my sanity without losing it in the process. exiting my room I decided to put my breakfast in the sink as I watched some video's on the USB stick that I had plugged into my tv when I got back. videos like mark. jack and other YouTubers that I love. I also use it for music pics and anime as well so I can be resourceful about building my mancave that is filled with Miku and Starset for the pc.
8:37 am 12th of Aug. 2020
I decided to log in to my Facebook and see what was happening on my Facebook feed. my feed is filled with anime, news, bands, shows, and movies that I have followed since I was on there a year back. the 1st post I am welcomed with is a post from Sao showing fan faves Yuna and Eiji who are in War of Underworld. as for Yuna. yeah, she appeared in the Sao movie. and I would love to collab with her when I am in the world of Sao.
the next post is from the anime Konosuba and it is a funny post about tea. never seen the show or films. but I do plan on binging it after seeing all of fate and Sao. and as for the no game no life anime. well... it is banned cause it refused classification.
the next post was from one of my fave artists who goes by the name of Mike Shinoda. and from what I saw. he was making music for GamesCom and it is said that he is making the theme for it as well.
and as for Linkin Park. they are doing something for there 1st album of 2020 as a celebration that is in the form of an old laptop computer. and I am hyped for it since I know they went dark since Chester died 3 years ago. and yes it was a sad day to remember that but hey at least Miku is the one who makes me smile.
and as for the thing that is happening in Victoria right now. well, the cases have started to spike and that is not all. panic buying is now returning and is also turning chaotic as we speak. and it is sad to see the days getting darker for them since this world is broken.
logging out of Facebook I decided to see what was happening on Reddit when I logged in. and while I did that I decided to put on Spotify for my chill sessions when I am vibing to my music as well. checking Starset I noticed that the debut album transmissions was now missing from there profile. and in my mind, I knew it was going to be hidden since they signed with fearless records. moving over to Dustin's side project titled MNQN I decided to play one of the songs from the 1st album as I began my 1st vibe and chill session while online and on the web.
my Reddit was filled with art, music, gaming, entertainment, anime, and mostly lewd stuff as well. and yes I am 20 years old so I do enjoy this type of stuff when it comes to what sub I join. and I do post on there and give upvotes and downvotes on posts as well from time to time. including the ones that I report from offensive users who are from that sub. not gonna go into detail but let's just say I did throw a feedback post in the Starset subreddit. as for my kama. I have 7.8k since my posts gain attention from the community that sees it.

(inspired by fate/stay night and my love for self-insert)

we wanted a perfect world. this is not the world we had in mind.

the year is 2020, the Earth is facing an outbreak crisis that has impacted the world

many people are fighting for survival against the virus while others. are ignoring and fighting the government for freedom and change.

as for me. I just wish I was in another world where it is peaceful. or so I thought.

my name is Aden. and this is my story.

Chapter 4 - Night Routine


Not again...


Adonis doesn't feel too bad, it's much earlier than the time he usually gets into bed so he does feel like he's making progress. He's too bored to do anything else on his computer so he finally shuts it down and begins his unscheduled nighttime routine.


He uses the toilet and walks out without washing his hands or brushing his teeth. He grabs his phone and lies down in his bed, ready for sleep. He is pretty sleepy. Like clockwork he unlocks his phone and goes straight to Reddit, scrolling down the most popular posts for the day. Some of the posts are entertaining or educational, but Adonis knows what he's doing. He knows what he's scrolling for.


He spends a fair amount of time reading the posts about politics and news and internet memes and keeps on scrolling. Eventually, he starts to see the NSFW posts. He clicks on all of them and even visits the subreddits they were posted to. Picture after picture, GIF after GIF, Adonis fries his brain with all the different kinds of porn one could imagine. He's liking the incest-related content recently, particularly the step-mom niche. It's weird, he knows, but the captions on the GIFS add an extra sexy touch that gets Adonis masturbating for the third time today. This goes on for a while. He purposely delays climaxing by edging towards the 'point of no return', easing off and continuing. This way he can watch more porn.


As soon as he's done, he's finally ready for sleep. He checks the time: 02:38 am


Not again...

Adonis's journey from a regular Blue Pilled boy to a Red Pilled Greek God!

Raised by hate and anger
Fueled with nation's pride
The time of change is coming
When the old beliefs have died
Make your choice enlightened
You can't trust the lies
Don't choose their side of history
Leave the old world far behind
ghost of our fathers - aviators

6:57 am
8/29/2020
Perth WA
day 6
it was a sunny morning in my quarantined and locked hometown of beach boro. I had woken up, had my food, got on my pc, and started my stretches. I had just finished watching Starset's new music video for the new single titled trials reimagined that had just been on youtube since I know that divisions 2.0 is coming and I am also aware that they are milking the 10th track of there 3rd album for some reason since it has something to do with the song being an anthem for the rebels in the Starset lore of the story and it could be the theme for the people who are surviving this COVID crisis as we speak.
turning on my tv I had started watching the news just to see what is going on in our world. and from the look of the state America is in now. a black lives matter uprising is still going ever since the incidents were now set in motion because of the one incident that caused a violent cry out for justice in that area.
more this world changes. the more fucked we truly are in this world as we see the truth in front of our eyes. and from what I heard on the news when I watched tv. it is scary that this virus will stay around for long and will not stop until we are all dead.
as for me. well, I am still at home. witch is what I call a cage now. sitting on my chair I put on a 24/7 CreepyPasta stream for Quarantine at the End of the World. and yes this stream does change as I watch and sleep to it as well since I am a fan of spooks and love having inspirations for writing stories in any site I am putting the story's on. and if you do not know what a 24/7 CreepyPasta stream is. well... it is where you hear your fave story's on the stream while you relax and sleep. and if you are still confused. there here is the description of the CreepyPasta stream.
Sit back and enjoy some creepypasta Horror. Great Halloween Horror Creepypasta stories, Reddit Nosleep stories, and Audiobooks From MrCreepyPasta for listening to nonstop.
if it does sound familiar to you. then that is good. anyway here is what had happened today.

inspired by first-person shooters and MMO games. this story is set 9 months after the virus outbreak and is also going to be in the collection of scenarios in different worlds. this story may contain swearing and sex. read with caution.

in the final days of winter. I had spent days. maybe months at home during this crisis. and during that time I was missing a lot of events that have happened around me when this year went to complete shit.

knowing that I would be stuck in the house for god knows how long. I decided to keep a journal with me just in-case I do tend to go insane while inside lockdown.

however.

that changed when I saw Yui materialize in my room dus scaring the shit out of me or leaving me in shock.

either way depending on my reaction. but what came next was just enough to make my dreams come true.

I started getting bored with chaos magick, well not bored so much as getting used to it. I need constant change otherwise I get bored. I need puzzles, I need adventure, I need.... superpowers?

I decided to look into psychic abilities, telekinesis, telepathy, astral projection, things like that. Although they fall under chaos magick they are technically a specialization of their own, called psionics.

As with usual I set out to do research on the subject in preparation for practicals. To get any good information on psionics is a pain in the ass, to say the least. A simple google of the phrase "psionics" lead me down a path of D&D and XCOM, neither of which had any roots in reality so google was utterly useless. I turned to Reddit and its community of wonderful people. Truthfully speaking Reddit is one hell of a source when it comes to occult studies, just don't ask about demon summoning. I asked about psionics on a group r/psionics. It is there where I met the person I will come to call master(u/boxofmelons), although it kinda annoys him.

Psionics has a lot of similarities with chaos magick and yet they are also quite different. Psionics is about using your chakras (and chi if you want to) whereas chaos magick is more about tricking your subconscious into performing magickal acts. I chose psionics exactly for that reason. I needed training in energy manipulation and I felt that psionics would be best suited for the job. It was through my master that I started learning about my chakras and psi. I learned how to feel the energy and manipulate it. On his Reddit page, he had exercises aimed at beginners to teach the basics.

I asked him why he doesn't have more tutorials and he said that it's because every person is different so there is no "one fits all" way to doing psionics. So this is where psionics is quite similar to chaos magick. You can manipulate techniques to fit you and still get the same result its not necessary to go dig up a million-year-old book on a technique for manipulating your energy.

I read all his posts and I went and read as much as I could on the Reddit page. Because the information on Google was so diluted, finding this Reddit page was like striking oil. I absorbed as much as I could in preparation for starting with my practicals.

"Hasegawa Noah threw a jab at the current state of the modeling industry with his sudden appearance in ankoROCK's latest photos, oozing vibes of punk together with his now official girlfriend, Gasai Yuno. The couple appeared in the latest issues of Kera, Zipper, Fineboys and Sense and are currently the hottest trending topic on social media"
    Yuno and I were both embarrassed at our sudden appearance on TV. Not because of the appearance itself, but...
"Why... why did they have to show that picture?" Yuno asked while hiding herface between her knees. I just sighed heplessly... there was nothing we could do now.
    Hirohiko had decided to use the picture were I was grabbing Yuno's chin during the kabedon, before kissing her, as the main picture of the photoshoot. The problem with that is that he was interviewed shortly after presenting his latest designs for autumn, and when asked about us, he showed the photo where I kissed Yuno and confirmed we were a couple.
"Fuck you Hirohiko... but I still enjoy working with him" I said to no one in particular. The most embarrassing thing was receiving messages from the other S-Rankers congratulating me and Yuno on our relationship... I promised then and there to find something to tease them with, no matter how long it took.
    Going out of the house, I called Toshiro. It was time to give him my answer and set a date for the announcement.
"Yo, Toshiro-san" I said as I placed my phone by my ear. "Good morning, Noah-kun, what did you need? By the way, congratulations on your relationship, once again"
    I wanted to swear at him for teasing me, but I just thanked him before moving on to the main topic.
"I made my choice. Set a date and we'll make the announcement"
*
    The announcement was set for three days later, so I took my the two days before to research on Olivier and rest with Yuno. She and Cassim were going with me to Germany, after all. Talking about Yuno, I didn't tell anyone she had the potential to be an Apostle. Who knew what people might try to do if they found out about it. Better safe than sorry.
<Now... what do I know about you, Olivier...> I thought as I searched through the Mercenarie's official site and on other information sources like Wikipedia. I even went on Reddit to see if there was any info on her there, and even if most where memes I found an interesting thread on the official Mercenaries' sub-reddit. 
    Olivier Mira Armstrong, 37 years old, born on January 12th. She is commonly known as the Ice Queen or the Wall of Briggs in honor of the city she defended for the past 10 years since the first appearance of the Gates. She especializes in swordsmanship and agility, but boasts an incredible physical strength. 
    She is a German stereotype. Pale skin, straight blonde hair and blue eyes. The most particular thing about her are her full lips which give her an exotic look. She despises those who are weaker than herself and values loyalty above anything else. Her Guild, Stärke, is known to be ruthless in cases of unsubordination or weakness. Still, she had been known to take the blame for mistakes made by her Guild members, especially those on the lower ranks. If she was selected by the Gods of Fertility she probably had a very caring personality behind that cold behaviour she gave.
    I was also able to find a picture of the weapon and her Garments. The weapon was a very stylized rapier of silver with green accents all over it. If anything, it was very beautiful. As for the Garments of the Provider, as she herself called them... they just looked like something she wouldn't wear if she had an option. The thing about the Garments is that they were made to allow movement, so as I had seen previously, hers was supposed to be a short, green dress with a tailcoat, but for some reason what I found on the more... underground, information channels was something more similar to Cassim's own Garments of the Defender. 
    It consisted of a pair of grey pants, knee high boots, a white shirt with a green 'corset' and a green coat with elbow length sleeves. It also had a cape of an autumn kind of green color, tied on the front and falling over one shoulder only. I didn't know which was the real Garments, but I leaned towards this one a lot more, considering that Olivier didn't sound like the kind of woman who would wear a too revealing dress... or any dress at all. 
"*sigh*... I've been researching for a couple of hours now..." I said as I turned off the computer and walked towards the kitchen to grab a late afternoon snack. Yuno was sitting on the couch while checking some news regarding stock movements on her phone and with her free hand she was petting Felix. "Do you want anything, Yuno? I'm going to prepare some snacks" 
"Can you make me a tea?" she asked, her face never leaving her screen. She was oddly serious about managing the Guild's finances. "Sure"
    Our days advanced like that, being oddly peaceful and harmonious. Most of the time we were at home doing our work from there, since our presence wasn't actually required on Infragilis Headquarters, unless something like business meetings or a major changes in policies took place. 
    Three days later, it was time to make the announcement. 
*
"According to the words given by Hitsugaya Toshiro, the President of the Japanese Bransh of the Mercenaries' Association, Japan has a big announcement to make in response to Germany's Olivier Armstrong's statement about being an Apostle chosen by the Gods" said a reporter who was waiting for the press conference to start, since the main parties hadn't arrived yet. Of course, those were the S-Rankers and Cassim, who barely had any idea of how he had become such an important person. After all, Cassim was a simple guy who only wanted a better life for him and his sister, something he aready had now. 
"We don't know why this decision was taken or what the announcement's content is yet, but one thing we are sure of..." she said with excitement, taking a pause to add mistery and entertainment, only to finish it off on a high-note. "It is definitely going to be a shocking piece of news!"
    Meanwhile on my Bugatti, Cassim, Yuno and I were heading towards the venue where my previous press conference was held. Toshiro had arranged everything, so there had been no issues with rallying the media on a worldwide level. As soon as we arrived, the other S-Rankers also made their appearance. We entered together in a straight line, with me walking behind Toshiro to uphold appearances and formalities. 
    The reporters and journalists were going wild, shouting questions left and right. They were quickly silenced by a few words from Roy, who apparently had a lot of respect from the media. I was pretty sure he was the one who got this whole thing up and running. 
"Now, I know you all are curious" Toshiro began talking. "But our announcement isn't that shocking now, considering that Miss Olivier already beat us to it" 
    The media had already understood what exactly was going to be announced, so they held their breaths and kept their mouths shut. Every words was gold for the news. 
"Japan has not only one, but two Apostles. One of them is none other than Noah-kun, our newest S-Ranker and founder of Infragilis" he said with joy clear on his face. Then he continued talking, though I didn't expect the sudden shift in responsibilities. "Then, I would appreciate it if you introduced the second yourself, Noah-kun" 
"Ah. The other Apostle is someone I met by coincidence and who is currently working for me" I said while smiling warmly at the cameras, thanking my training as a model on my previous life. I swore to get revenge against Toshiro for this. "His name is Himura Cassim, my assistant and someone who just recently became an Apostle" 
    After that, Cassim took a step forwards and stood besides me. I so wanted Yuno to be standing by my side too, but unluckily she still hadn't become an Apostle. After that, what followed was pretty much an interrogatory. From 'why hadn't I revealed this beforehand' to 'how did you become and Apostle', every question was asked. They even asked for a demonstration on our powers, similar to what Olivier did in Germany. I simply said that my powers had already been shown a few times, when I purified souls after closing a Gate.
    When they asked Apostle of what I was, I simply said 'Death' with a small smile. The S-Rankers smiled wryly and the media got scared, but then I explained that it didn't mean my power was killing, but rather sending lost souls to the afterlife. I was pretty sure I had now began a cult without intending too, so I did my best to ignore the people hailing me as the son of God. I was pretty sure Olivier went through the same with her powers to grant fertility. 
    Cassim's case was rather delicate. His powers were emotions-based and on the destructive side of things, so I simply said that there was no way we would show them in the middle of a city. We also revealed he was the Apostle of War and the fact that he worked under me both because of his contract to my Guild and a more complicated 'contract' of divine origin. 
<Things are going to get so much more hectic...>
    Those were my thoughts as I drove back home with Yuno after the press conference. I was mentally exhausted, and all I wanted was to sleep my tiredness away. After all, I was going to Germany in 24 hours.

Noah Hasegawa was walking back from school when a bright circle appeared below him. Next thing he knew, he was surrounded by a bunch of unkown people with a weird screen in front of him. 

"Everyone hurry up! The Gate is about to close!" 

"Come one rookie! You need to pull your weight!"

'Gate? Rookie? What the hell is going on?!'

Luckily for Noah, this story isn't one of survival and death, but the bright story of the worlds strongest "Mercenary".

---------------------------------------------

As mentioned before, the world is a crossover of many anime and the general set-up is that of "Solo Leveling", "I Am The Sorcerer King" or "The Tutorial Tower of the Advanced Player". That means the world was suddenly turned upside down by the appearance of "Gates" from which monsters invade Earth. No characters from the previously mentioned will appear. Also: This isn't a Harem.

Author (me): I kinda tired of writing a fanfiction so I decided to make an original. I'm working on a novel, the title's going to either be: "Mr. Protagonist's System " or "The Reincarnation of an Anarchist". 

I don't know if I'm going to upload it in Webnovel though, honestly even Wattpad is BETTER at this point. Why?

Google this link: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/HobbyDrama/comments/gc5vlw/chinese_webnovels_how_tencent_the_chinese_reddit/

Or just google: "reddit how tencent is about to destroy" 

But here's the news:

Webnovels

Webnovels are a subset of contemporary Chinese literature published exclusively through Internet platforms. Think ArchiveOfOurOwn but not free, and for original content. My extremely subjective view of them is that they are generally speaking, terrible pulp fiction mostly written for emotional satisfaction rather than because the author is chasing the Nobel Prize for literature. However, I don't mean to demean them because they're the exact type of stuff from which really good shit will emerge, so I've been eyeing them from a safe distance for a while. They're basically the combination of what YA novels and shitty romance novels and Dan Brown books and stuff are to English readers - utter shite, but also an important part of the ecosystem.

While online publishing exists in the west, it's not nearly a big of a deal as it is in China. A very large portion of the top IPs mainland Chinese people consume originated from webnovels - Mo Dao Zu Shi is one that I know has some recognition on Reddit. Off topic but is it a coincidence that webnovels, the the most loosely-regulated medium available to most people, is also the most popular? Worth thinking about isn't it. Unfortunately the webnovel community had also suffered some intense state-run censorship over the past two years which has greatly reduced creative freedom (ie. many no longer dare to describe any physical contact between characters in fear of being reported as pornography, no kidding).

Webnovel authors rely on a few large platforms for publication and readership. Without getting too specific: readers purchase works they like through the platform, and the platform gives a portion of the income generated by a novel to the creator. This system works - many authors depend on it for a living, others use it as a side hustle or write for fun.

Fucking Tencent enters the game

A few days ago, Tencent, which owns one of the two major webnovel platforms (and holds 50% of shares in the other one), updated their contract for authors. Some of the changes are as follows:

All copyright of any given work now belongs to Tencent, until 50 years after the author's death. Tencent can do whatever the fuck they want with it without having to negotiate anything with the author.

Legal fees caused by copyright disputes will still be entirely paid by the author, not Tencent.

Tencent can release any work on the platform for free.

Tencent has the right to any social media accounts of the author.

Tencent is not obligated to provide authors with any employee benefits.

Upon signing the contract the author is obligated to provide an exact schedule for how and when a work will be completed. Failure to following the schedule will be seen as breaking the contract, to which Tencent can respond by not distributing benefits to the author, or requiring the author to take responsibility for losses incurred.

Why this means fucking Tencent is about to ruin everything

As you can see, this is basically a slave contract. It will completely re-shape the existing Internet literature landscape - authors lose all rights to everything and Tencent gets a free IP farm. Tencent can adapt your work in any way they like. If Tencent doesn't like you, they can kick you off and give your penname and social media handles to someone else. Tencent can change your work any way you want, without your permission. Tencent doesn't even need to pay you, in fact you might wind up paying Tencent. While the most famous authors will be temporarily unscathed, everyone else will probably lose any income they receive from writing.

This all happened a few days ago, and the community is in chaos. The most commonly reposted comment is that authors have been collectively reduced to a bunch of ghostwriters. Some of the most successful authors have made long posts on social media denouncing the whole thing, while many others stayed conspicuously quiet. A very popular book "Gui Mi Zhi Zhu" (Lord of the Unknown? something like that) that updated periodically for years suddenly concluded yesterday with an ending many readers found disappointing, likely in low-key protest against the change.
Even worse, numerous less-famous authors who are well-aware that they aren't popular enough for Tencent to feel the need to financially compensate them properly have announced they will just stop writing entirely.

-----------------------------------------

Author (me): Lord of Unknown is Lord of Mysteries if I'm right. 

-----------------------------------------

In the long term since Tencent, a profit-incentivised megacorp has complete creative control over so many works, a sharp decline in the quality of popular media available in simplified Chinese is inevitable - everything from adding lowbrow fanservice to completely altering the themes of a book will likely happen, based on Tencent's track record. It's a truly horrifying prospect for Chinese-only readers who had little high-tier pulp to consume in the first place. Someone posted: "Censorship by the socialist regime killed Internet literature, and now capitalists are here to eat its corpse," very edgy but pretty accurate in my opinion.

While saying that this will "destroy" Internet literature in mainland China might be an overstatement right now, it's another clear step towards the medium's demise because the other webnovel platforms are likely to follow Tencent's footsteps if this implementation turns out to be profitable. I've never felt more sympathy for my friends who aren't bilingual, they'll be stuck with shittier and shittier IPs until the whole thing collapses.

Why isn't anything being done about all this?

Because there's little anyone can do. Tencent famously possesses "the most power legal department in China", a lawsuit will go nowhere if not bite you in the ass. Organised protests and labour unions of any form are illegal in China. Ironically enough, most of this happened on Labour Day.
Not using the platform this happened to is an option that many are taking, but no one knows if it will be effective since only users who actually care will participate.

Conspiracy theory time

Archive Of Our Own, the free fanfiction platform, was banned in China around a month ago due to idol fandom squabbles (there are good posts covering it on this sub). Could Tencent have been behind that, since AO3 is non-profit and actually endorses creative freedom?
EDIT: the relevant post on this sub about the AO3 ban is gone, RIP

Conclusion

Fuck Tencent

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