Chapter 116: Oh No, I’ve Gone Viral

Chapter 116: Oh No, I've Gone Viral

When Lin Miao received the notice from the school, he was completely stunned. He had been wondering why he kept getting stock alerts. Even with a stock of 9999, it wasn't enough to meet demand. The sales had surpassed the number of students at the school. Turns out, there was a resale service!

Lin Miao, who had once again become the poster child for scarcity marketing: "..."

Can't you guys just take your own notes already?!

Fortunately, the school sent a teacher to help him register an account and set up the store, with prices still the same as on the campus network.

Lin Miao usually didn't have much time for online distractions. He was busy tinkering with his mech all day, so he had no time for online activities.

This time, he was a bit curious about what online buzz prompted the school to specifically arrange for someone to help him open a store outside the campus.

Out of habit, Lin Miao opened the Star Network and entered a social platform similar to Weibo but with way more traffic, more functional sections, and no bot accounts.

The notes he had just uploaded had hit the trending list and were gaining popularity at a visible speed, quickly going viral.

Lin Miao: "..."

People in this world... really love studying, huh? Go figure.

Lin Miao clicked on the trending topic and, following the breadcrumbs, ended up catching up on the gossip from the past few days.

The Star Network had a built-in translation system, allowing people from all over the galaxy to communicate without barriers. With the increase in comments, all sorts of vile insults had reached new lows.

Gu Yunting noticed Lin Miao reading the negative comments and brought him a plate of roasted sunflower seeds to snack on while he read.

Lin Miao: ?

Oh, his Doraemon-like Gu Yunting, what a cheeky little guy.

Shouldn't he be consoling him not to care too much about the online hate? What's with bringing him sunflower seeds? It's oddly considerate.

Lin Miao assumed that his original self probably wasn't overly sensitive, and Gu Yunting wasn't worried that he would be hurt by the harsh words online.

In fact, Lin Miao was indeed unfazed. He even munched on the seeds while picking up some creative insults, enjoying it thoroughly!

After finishing the plate, Lin Miao went back to Gu Yunting for more, but the stingy guy said they were too salty and eating too many would make him prone to getting "heaty." He refused to give him more! Lin Miao threw a tantrum for a while before finally scoring another plate, which he took back to continue his online surfing.

He spent hours scrolling, and time flew by in the blink of an eye.

No wonder parents are always warning about internet addiction. It's so easy to lose track of time online!

After browsing through various social sites and forums, Lin Miao went to bed feeling satisfied.

He did feel a little hollow, though. Maybe it's better to stay away from these things in the future.

But Lin Miao didn't overthink it. Time wasted is just that—wasted, and he didn't dwell on it too much.

He had a good night's sleep.

The next day, Lin Miao woke up unusually early.

It was the first day of the new semester, and there were new courses and teachers to meet. Lin Miao was especially looking forward to the mech simulation class. Finally, he could attend a proper mech simulation course!

Previously, Lin Miao's teacher could be said to be Gu Yunting, but today was his first official class.

However, since Gu Yunting had obtained the qualification to enter the simulation pods a semester earlier, he had already moved up to the beginner-level class this semester. Lin Miao, on the other hand, was still learning the basics of the simulation pods!

Unfortunately, even though there were finally some classes they could attend together, Gu Yunting had become his senior.

Is it possible to skip grades?

As Lin Miao walked toward the teaching building, he noticed countless eyes staring at him.

He had grown immune to such attention after living through so many experiences. How could he be intimidated by such a minor situation? As long as no one bothered him, he simply ignored the stares.

Perhaps it was because his face seemed unapproachable, or maybe the online filter for his mom was too strong, or perhaps... Lin Miao’s reputation in the past wasn’t exactly great.

On the way to the teaching building, no one really came up to talk to him.

Lin Miao appreciated the quiet and walked straight into the classroom, not bothering to look around.

It seemed like there were more people than usual in class today.

Those who were curious about Lin Miao gathered around after he took his seat, and some even craned their necks during class to peek at his notes, trying to see if the ones circulating online were really written by him.

Lin Miao even noticed someone sneaking photos of his notes...

Oh well, let them have their fun. If they could help clarify the notes online, he would be grateful.

As the class neared its end, the teacher finished the day’s content early and called Lin Miao’s name, asking him to come to the podium.

Lin Miao was confused. Had he spaced out today?

"Bring your notes here, let me take a look," the teacher said to him quite kindly.

Lin Miao: "...Okay."

Old professor, aren’t you a bit too hip for your age, surfing the internet for gossip?

Lin Miao reluctantly handed over his notes. Before the teacher could finish going over them, the bell rang.

"Okay, you can all go now," the teacher waved his hand and then said to Lin Miao, "Do you have another class next? Come with me to the office."

Lin Miao awkwardly admitted he had another class, as the second year was the busiest academically. If you added self-study on top of that, the workload wasn’t much lighter than high school.

"Hmm... Then I’ll finish going over them here. If you’re late, I’ll let your next teacher know."

"Okay," Lin Miao couldn’t very well refuse.

He’d heard that many of their teachers this semester were last-minute replacements. For example, today’s teacher was a retired professor who had been rehired by the school and only taught their class once a week.

Lin Miao felt the pressure was a bit overwhelming, but soon, as the old professor began explaining the highlighted issues he had prepared to address, Lin Miao stopped thinking about anything else.

"I forgot you haven’t covered this theory yet. Here, I’ll grant you access to the reading materials. You can use the booklist I’ll give you to study, and you should be able to understand. I’ll go over these extra parts in the next class. Lin Miao, you can either summarize and share these contents in the class group or just post the outline and let the others preview on their own," the old professor said. "In fact, from now on, you’ll be my class representative. I’ll email you if there’s anything, and you can notify the class."

"Ah, okay, sure," Lin Miao replied. He wondered if naming him class rep so casually would annoy the others, but the old professor was already so advanced in age, and it would be troublesome to impose too many formalities.

Little did Lin Miao know, similar conversations occurred nearly ten times that week!

Why not more? They only had about a dozen courses, not counting the easier ones.

The faculty this semester was so stacked that even Lin Miao’s classmates felt the pressure.

It was terrifying.

A group of decorated experts, their medals practically covering their entire outfits, were now teaching a bunch of second-year rookies. The pressure was insane!

What's even more laughable is that almost every teacher wanted Lin Miao to be the class representative.

Lin Miao: Sometimes, I don't even know if I'm here to study or to teach.

In the end, Lin Miao didn't become the class representative for any subject; he ended up being a teaching assistant for all of them.

While class representatives handled various tasks, Lin Miao was responsible for... submitting class notes?

Lin Miao felt helpless, wondering how things had turned out this way.

In fact, the situation online was even more exaggerated than what he encountered in real life.

Netizens were practically at each other's throats!

When Lin Miao was notified to list his notes on a public online store, he thought about his sales and suggested to the teacher in charge that only the mecha science-related notes should be listed.

Initially, the store manager only uploaded the mecha science notes, but due to the sheer number of netizens, many asked about other courses, so the manager ended up listing Lin Miao's other class notes as well.

Mecha science is actually a relatively niche subject. General courses like advanced mathematics and English, once listed, ended up outselling specialized courses like mecha science.

After purchasing the notes, netizens found them incredibly useful, and as soon as the second academic year began, they started urging the store to update.

Lin Miao was torn between amusement and exasperation—his class notes had turned into a serialized publication!

But uploading the notes was just a casual task for him, and the store manager even thoughtfully... included recorded lectures as a bonus.

This instantly made the 50-star-coin-per-chapter notes a steal!

Especially when netizens found that second-year teachers all had StarNet entries, and the honor lists were so long that the scrollbar shrank significantly!

Such prestigious courses could cost 1,000 to 3,000 star coins per semester at certain institutions.

But with Lin Miao, a single chapter cost just 50 star coins, including recorded lectures!

The value of Lin Miao's notes kept increasing!

Note sales in the store were astonishing, easily surpassing a million in a week.

Not total sales, but per chapter link.

This was pure profit with zero cost, and many online were so envious that their eyes were practically bleeding, accusing Lin Miao of profiting from others' hard work, using the professors' reputations to build his own, and pocketing all the money from selling the courses.

This was quite unfair to Lin Miao, who had no idea about the video uploads!

Luckily, the old professors were quick online. Before Lin Miao even knew about it, the professors had already published open letters on their blogs.

They explained that the recorded lectures were uploaded at their request, as they wanted to leave a mark before retiring. If this could spark more interest in the subject, their mission would be accomplished.

Later, these courses were even listed on the school's official video channel, organized into open courses.

Some netizens watched out of curiosity and found...

It was hilarious—they couldn't understand anything.

Lin Miao felt the money earned from these notes wasn't just his doing, but his teachers didn't accept his "profits."

Lin Miao thought about it: "Maybe I should donate a building to the university?"

Gu Yunting, standing beside him, fully supported this idea.

Lin Miao: "..." I can't believe you're actually supporting this.

He said, "Isn't that a little too high-profile?"

Gu Yunting didn't even lift his eyelids: "It's no big deal."

Lin Miao was puzzled: "Is it?"

He always felt something was a bit off.

The development of events had been too smooth, as if there was a hand behind it, constantly pushing him to the forefront of public attention. Lin Miao was almost a minor celebrity by now, with every one of his classes being eagerly anticipated online, and his follower count across all platforms on the Star Network had already surpassed a hundred million.

His sixth sense inexplicably picked up on something, yet he still couldn't pinpoint where this sense of incongruity came from.

Lin Miao looked at Gu Yunting, who was reading a book in front of him, and always felt that this protagonist, who was the most similar to the original story, seemed to be the most enigmatic to him.