Time passed quickly, and before anyone noticed, it was already August. Yang Yi's new book, *Yu Zui*, was gradually hitting its stride in updates. Although the plot hadn't yet reached the training scenes in Yangcheng, the protagonist Yu Zui's character had already been vividly revealed through a series of small incidents.
He was a scoundrel—not from the best family, not the most handsome, not the top student—but possessing a mix of endearing and infuriating cleverness, a deep sense of brotherly loyalty, and the ability to effortlessly become the ringleader among his friends. This was the scoundrel Yu!
As one seasoned reader put it, "There's nothing about him that screams 'future cop,' yet he's the one readers most want to see become the best in the selection process!"
Of course, Yu Zui didn't pass the selection. The story explained that he returned to his hometown, while the students' idolized police king Xu Pingqiu seemed poised to make repeated visits to recruit him.
This scoundrel had firmly gripped the readers' hearts. More and more readers flocked to follow the updates, eager to see his eventual comeback.
Backend data from Qiyue showed that in just over a week of updates, *Yu Zui* had already surpassed the sales of Yang Yi's previous two books. It ranked second in the urban category, and judging by the momentum, it was only a matter of time before it toppled the first-place book and claimed the top spot itself!
Editors at Qiyue's editorial department exclaimed that this was a phenomenon!
If *Yu Zui*'s sales were better than *Soldier Assault* and *Bright Sword*, that was understandable—after all, the urban category's readership accounted for half of Qiyue's total, far surpassing niche genres like military fiction.
But the fact that *Yu Zui* could compete with other hot-selling urban books was something they never expected!
After all, *Yu Zui* didn't seem like a typical web novel. The protagonist had no rebirth, no time travel, no superpowers or other cheat codes. He was just an ordinary commoner, a bit clever, but that cleverness was clearly no match for the towering challenges of reality!
Without cheat codes, how could you write a web novel?
For a non-gratifying genre to achieve a comeback, how hard could it be?
Yet the data spoke for itself. *Yu Zui*'s sales kept climbing. Many readers who initially cursed and threatened to drop the book eventually couldn't help but return.
"Dammit, I just want to know how much energy this scoundrel, who can even hitch a ride on a government car repatriating petitioners, can unleash!" One review captured the sentiment of many new readers.
Admittedly, the review section for *Yu Zui* was polarized—some praised it, others cursed it. This divide was similar to *Soldier Assault* in its early days, but the curses were more like the complaints during *Bright Sword*'s period of constant side-character deaths.
Those who cursed the most were actually still following the updates, far from having the resolve to drop the book as they claimed.
It was much better than the overwhelmingly negative reviews when the book first launched!
Clearly, Iron Army Network had decided not to renew their payments to the trolls. After making a fuss for a while and realizing they were just performing a solo act, with no one paying attention or even being affected, Lingyun Jueding and his group slunk away in defeat.
The editorial team at Iron Army Network had no time to bother with *Yu Zui*, which had no direct conflict of interest with them. Their main focus now was on the physical book sales of *Soldier Assault* and *Bright Sword*.
As previously arranged, their star author "Scar from Bullet Wounds" also held a book signing event on August 1st. By the next day, his results were out: driven by the signing event, the national sales of his new book and old physical editions totaled 250,000 copies!
This wasn't a great result, but given the generally low physical sales of web novels, 250,000 copies was still respectable!
To celebrate, Iron Army Network's editorial team even popped open a bottle of champagne.
The opponent's results, however, had to be tallied through data released by the Copyright Association, which typically lagged by half a day to protect original channels.
So, at noon, Lingyun Jueding didn't rest, constantly urging Yuwan to refresh the webpage: "Any news yet?"
"Uh..." Yuwan stared at the computer screen, dumbfounded. "There is, but..."
Impatiently, Lingyun Jueding walked over to see for himself. The glaring string of numbers left him stunned.
"Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands..." Lingyun Jueding counted over and over, refusing to believe it.
"Could the Copyright Association have made a mistake?" Yuwan asked weakly. "How could the highest single volume be over five million copies?"
The screen showed that *Bright Sword* had the highest sales, selling over 5.36 million copies on its first day, while *Soldier Assault* was slightly lower at 4.83 million copies.
Lingyun Jueding also found it impossible. He returned to his office, found a number, and made a call. A moment later, he walked back in with a grim face.
"I had a friend at the Copyright Association check. The numbers are correct," Lingyun Jueding said dejectedly.
"No way? How is that possible? This is practically god-tier!" Exclamations of disbelief echoed through the editorial office.
"Of course, that's not their first-day sales!" Lingyun Jueding said irritably. "The military purchased two million copies, and their earlier online pre-sales contributed over a million copies. All of that was included."
"But subtracting those, they still have over a million copies in first-day sales," Yuwan, the naive one, pointed out the obvious.
"Exactly!" Lingyun Jueding shot Yuwan a harsh glare, then sighed. "We've picked a fight with an opponent we can't beat!"
Breaking a million copies on the first day was noteworthy not just in the web novel world but in the publishing industry as a whole. With this momentum, both books might even crack the annual top 100 sales list!
Iron Army Network trying to compete with such a vastly superior opponent was nothing short of overreaching and humiliating.
"Forget it. Pull all the promotional materials. Consider it our surrender," Lingyun Jueding waved his hand, somewhat disheartened.
"But there's still some good news," Lingyun Jueding, as deputy editor-in-chief, quickly composed himself and encouraged the team. "Yang Yi is now writing urban fiction, so there's no direct competition with us. We don't have to worry anymore."
Leaving aside Iron Army Network's hot start and ignominious retreat, the entire publishing world was now focused on Yang Yi, the rising star.
Sahara Publishing wanted to capitalize on the momentum, pushing Yang Yi's fame and the sales of his two physical books even higher.
However, Yang Yi declined the signing events.
"You really don't want to do a signing? Not even in Jiangcheng?" Mr. Lu, who was in charge of contacting Yang Yi, couldn't convince him. Fu Jun even called personally to pester him. "Do you have any idea how loud the readers' calls are? With first-day sales breaking a million, it's only right for you to show some gratitude to your readers!"