165: Chapter 165 A Shocking Turn of Events at the Victory Banquet: A Sky Full of Comments

The Underworld Group's IPO celebration banquet reached its climax.

Lin Chen stood at the highest point of the reconstructed Pantheon—now renamed the "Underworld Group Headquarters Building"—holding a wine glass and looking down at the dense crowd of guests. The remaining eighty thousand angels of the God Realm flew in formation below, using holy light to spell out four large characters in the night sky: "Congratulations on the IPO"; the Technological Cultivation United Empire sent nine hundred and ninety-nine ceremonial cannons, each blast exploding into a miniature nebula; even the new manager of the seventy-third floor of the Abyss (Gramer had been sent away to mine) sent a congratulatory gift—cartloads of the Abyss specialty "Pain Crystals," though no one dared to eat them.

"Everyone."

Lin Chen spoke, his voice spreading throughout the God Realm via law-based amplification:

"Thank you all for attending the Underworld Group's IPO celebration banquet."

"Today, we have made history—with a market value of 99 quadrillion nether talismans, we have become the number one commercial entity in the multiverse."

"But this is only the beginning."

He paused, a flash of that madness everyone was familiar with—the desire to buy the whole world—flickering in his eyes:

"Next, our goal is—"

Before he could finish his sentence.

The sky exploded.

Not metaphorically.

It actually exploded.

The "Congratulations on the IPO" characters formed by the angels' holy light were suddenly gripped by an invisible giant hand, twisting and stretching violently until finally—

They transformed into a giant, translucent screen spanning the entire sky of the God Realm.

It wasn't images on the screen.

It was bullet comments.

Densely packed, multi-colored bullet comments scrolling so fast they were a blur!

[It's here, it's here! The famous celebration banquet scene!]

[Boss Lin is about to announce the acquisition of Heaven! Place your bets on how many minutes it'll take him!]

[To the person above, Heaven was acquired by 'Holy Light Capital Group' in the seventh season; Boss Lin has hit a snag this time.]

[Screenwriting Team, step it up; the plot has been a bit thin lately.]

[Tipped 100 dimension points: Requesting Boss Lin to perform printing money on the spot.]

[Tipped 500 dimension points: Want to see the bewildered expressions of the God Realm natives.]

[User 'I Love Su Qingyu' tipped 1,000 dimension points: Please give Su-su more screen time!]

The bullet comments flooded in, blotting out the sky.

The entire celebration banquet fell into a dead silence.

All the guests—from angels to demons, from gods to mortals—all looked up with their mouths agape, staring at words they couldn't understand yet recognized every character of, their minds going completely blank.

"Wh... What kind of sorcery is this?!" The new Sun God (promoted after Helios's death) backed away in terror.

"No energy fluctuations detected..." The representative of the Technological Cultivation United Empire frantically operated a scanner. "These words... they appear directly at the 'visual cognitive level'... We aren't seeing them with our eyes; the concept of 'seeing' is being directly instilled into our brains!"

Even more terrifying—

The system in Lin Chen's mind suddenly emitted a piercing static noise, as if being violently interfered with:

[Warning... Unknown authority intervention...]

[System core protocol... suppressed...]

[Attempting to resist... Failed...]

[Initiating emergency protocol... Fai... led...]

Bang!

The system interface went black.

Three seconds later, it lit up again.

But the interface had completely changed—it was no longer a simple data panel, but a gaudy interface filled with various tipping buttons and gift effects...

A live stream backend interface.

In the top left corner of the interface, real-time data was displayed:

[Current Stream Room: Myriad Dimensions Sandbox · 7,300th Epoch · Rise of the Underworld Arc]

[Streamer: Lin Chen (ID: MF-001)]

[Online Viewers: 8,734,922,115 people]

[Today's Tipping Income: 1,047,283 dimension points]

[Popularity Ranking: 3rd in this time slot]

Lin Chen stared at that number.

8.7 billion viewers.

A melodramatic twist:

"Everyone."

Lin Chen suddenly spoke, his voice still calm.

He set down his wine glass, straightened his suit tie, and then—

He flashed a professional smile toward the giant screen in the sky.

"Welcome to the Underworld Group's IPO celebration banquet."

"I am Chairman Lin Chen."

Like a program host, he raised his hand and pointed toward the guests who were still in a daze:

"Over here are our partners from the God Realm Development Zone, here are our friends from the Technological Cultivation United Empire, and over there are our colleagues from the Abyss delegation—"

"Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to participate in this live stream."

The entire audience: "???"

Live stream?

What live stream?!

"I know you all have many questions," Lin Chen continued, his gaze never leaving the bullet comments in the sky. "Such as 'What is this?', 'What's going on?', or 'Am I dreaming?'—"

"Let me explain simply."

He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

But this time, no nether talismans flew out, and no laws responded.

Only at his fingertip, a small, translucent "like" icon lit up.

"The world we are in—"

Lin Chen looked at the icon and said word for word:

"Is a live stream product of the higher dimension, the 'Myriad Dimensions Sandbox'."

"All of us, from birth to death, from struggle to glory—"

"Are all part of a... show."

The moment his voice fell—

The bullet comments exploded.

[Holy crap! The streamer broke the fourth wall?!]

[This isn't in the script! Where's the Screenwriting Team?!]

[Tipped 10,000 dimension points: Boss Lin is awesome! First time seeing an NPC proactively expose the setting!]

[User 'Screenwriting Team Killer' tipped 50,000 dimension points: I want a sequel! I want to see how the Screenwriting Team fixes this!]

[Warning: Streamer's behavior has deviated from the script; initiating correction protocol—]

That last bullet comment was blood-red and carried an official verification badge.

Immediately after, a countdown suddenly appeared in the top right corner of the giant screen in the sky:

[Script Correction Countdown: 30 seconds]

[Correction Method: Mandatory implantation of 'Memory Overwrite Program'; all personnel present will forget this incident and receive a rationalized explanation.]

[Countdown starts: 29, 28, 27...]

"Look," Lin Chen pointed at the countdown and said to the bullet comments, "the director is unhappy."

He actually still had the heart to joke.

But the guests below were in complete chaos.

"Live stream? Product? Show?!" Michael's voice trembled. "Chairman Lin... what on earth..."

"It means," Lin Chen looked at him, "that you were marginalized three thousand years ago for advocating financial reform not because you were upright."

"It was because that plot point provided 'more dramatic conflict'."

"Your later joining of the Reformist Faction, gambling everything to cooperate with me, and nearly dying at the hands of Cassio—"

"Were all because... the audience loves to watch it."

Michael turned deathly pale and took a step back, nearly falling over.

The other guests also broke into a commotion.

"Then... then we..." the new Sun God's voice shook, "our lives..."

"Are all a script," Lin Chen said calmly. "Including me."

He looked up at the frenzied bullet comments:

"From an ordinary human to the Lord of the Underworld, to acquiring the God Realm, to The Group's IPO—"

"Every step of the way, someone was watching."

"Every decision was being graded."

"It might even be..."

He paused:

"Those 'flashes of inspiration' where I thought of business tactics, contract traps, and dimensional strikes—"

"Were all written in advance by the 'Screenwriting Team'."

"I was just... acting according to the script."

A sense of thrilling excitement:

The countdown reached 15 seconds.

The bullet comments were already going insane.

[Screenwriting Team, come out and explain!]

[So all of Boss Lin's slick moves before were scripted? I don't believe it!]

[Tipped 100,000 dimension points: Requesting Boss Lin to prove he is a 'real person'!]

[User 'Truth Excavator' tipped 500,000 dimension points: I want to see the backend data! I want to see the original script!]

Lin Chen looked at the tipping notifications and suddenly smiled.

"Prove I'm a real person?"

He raised his hand toward the sky—

And flipped it the bird.

This gesture had no corresponding meaning in any known civilization's etiquette.

But the bullet comments instantly exploded with countless [Hahahaha] and [666].

"Is this gesture," Lin Chen said, "in the script?"

The countdown suddenly froze at 10 seconds.

It was as if the "Screenwriting Team" behind the scenes was also stunned.

Three seconds later, the countdown disappeared.

In its place, a cold, mechanical voice rang out directly in everyone's minds:

[Abnormal consciousness awakening detected]

[Initiating special response protocol]

[Accessing Customer Service system]

The bullet comments in the sky were suddenly all cleared.

The giant screen's image switched to a simple dialog box:

[Myriad Dimensions Sandbox · Dimensional Customer Service (ID: 007) at your service]

Below the dialog box, text appeared:

[Hello, Mr. Lin Chen]

[Given that you have become preliminarily aware of the nature of your environment, the basic rules will now be explained to you]

[1. The world you are in is live stream content for the 'Myriad Dimensions Sandbox' platform; you are the protagonist]

[2. All your actions are streamed in real-time; viewers can tip 'dimension points' (exchangeable for hyper-dimensional resources)]

[3. You must complete 'plot missions' to maintain stream popularity, otherwise you will face 'script correction']

[4. Current Mission: Obtain 1,000,000 'likes' from viewers within 24 hours]

[Mission Failure Penalty: Mandatory implantation of a 'de-intelligence plot'; your IQ will be temporarily adjusted to 70 for 72 hours]

The text finished appearing.

The entire venue was dead silent.

Even the most violent Abyss creatures were so scared they huddled into a ball.

Forced de-intelligence?

Adjusting the Lord of the Underworld's IQ to 70?

It would be better to just kill him!

But Lin Chen's reaction once again exceeded everyone's expectations.

Not only did he not panic, but he also stroked his chin, lost in thought:

"So... I'm a 'streamer' now?"

"And the 'dimension points' from viewer tips can be exchanged for things?"

"What can they be exchanged for?"

Customer Service replied quickly:

[Exchangeable List (Partial)]

[1 dimension point = 1 trillion nether talismans]

[100 dimension points = Temporarily modify physical constants (1 hour)]

[1,000 dimension points = Purchase 'Script Review Right' (single use)]

[10,000 dimension points = Hire a 'Dimensional Agent' (to assist in solving trouble)]

[100,000 dimension points = Purchase 'Temporary Scriptwriting Rights' (1 hour, can modify parts of the plot)]

Lin Chen's eyes lit up.

It was a look everyone present was very familiar with—

The look of seeing a business opportunity.

"In other words," he said, "as long as I make it enjoyable for the audience and get them to tip—"

"I can use dimension points to buy authority, change the script, and even..."

He paused:

"Turn things around and manipulate this 'live stream game'?"

Customer Service was silent for three seconds:

[Theoretically... yes]

[But a reminder: Excessive deviation from the script will trigger intervention from the 'Screenwriting Team']

[In severe cases, it may lead to a 'Character Reset']

"Character Reset?" Lin Chen asked. "What does that mean?"

[Meaning all your current data will be deleted, and a new 'Lin Chen' will be regenerated from zero to continue the stream]

The entire audience gasped.

Wasn't that... complete death?!

But Lin Chen laughed.

He laughed louder and louder.

"Interesting..."

He looked up at the sky, at those 8.7 billion viewers, and at this world that had just revealed its hideous truth to him.

"So, this is an..."

"Either I entertain you, or you entertain yourselves with me..."

"Ultimate business game?"

The countdown reappeared, this time for 24 hours.

The mission bar lit up: [Obtain 1,000,000 likes (0/1,000,000)]

Lin Chen took a deep breath.

Then, he straightened his suit, adjusted his tie, and flashed his most professional smile toward the sky.

"Dear viewers."

He said.

"Was that 'worldview reveal' just now satisfying enough?"

The bullet comments instantly exploded:

[Satisfying!!!]

[Tipping! Must tip!]

[User 'Melon-Eating Masses' tipped 100 dimension points]

[User 'Plot Party' tipped 500 dimension points]

[User 'Fun-Seeker' tipped 1,000 dimension points...]

Lin Chen looked at the tipping numbers and likes rapidly jumping in the backend and smiled.

"Now, next—"

He turned around and looked at the guests who were still in fear and confusion, his voice spreading throughout the venue:

"The celebration banquet continues."

"However, let's add a segment."

He raised his hand and pointed toward the direction of the legendary "Heaven" in the deepest part of the God Realm:

"Where was I?"

"Right, the next goal is—"

A cold and excited light flashed in Lin Chen's eyes:

"To acquire Heaven."

"And now—"

He spoke to the sky, to the 8.7 billion viewers, word for word:

"The live stream begins."

Hook:

As soon as he finished speaking.

The backend data skyrocketed!

The number of likes instantly surpassed one hundred thousand!

Tipping income surpassed one million dimension points!

But at the same time—

In the corner of the giant sky screen, a blood-red warning with the Screenwriting Team's official verification suddenly popped up:

[Detected that the protagonist has severely deviated from the original script's 'steady development' route]

[Mandatory insertion of correction plot: 'Heaven's Backlash']

[In three seconds, all assets in the Heaven region will collectively riot and attack the Underworld Group]

[3...]

Looking at that warning, Lin Chen didn't panic; instead, he smiled even more happily.

He pulled out a "Temporary Scriptwriting Rights" token (just purchased with tips) from his pocket and tossed it in his hand.

"Screenwriting Team, is it?"

He whispered softly.

"Then let's see—"

"Whether you write the script faster..."

"Or if I—"

"Change the script faster."