171: Chapter 171 Dimensional Agent, Here to Correct Errors

The moment the [Dimension-Level Plot Interference Right] was successfully purchased, a golden pillar of light erupted from Lin Chen's eyes, piercing through dimensions.

That wasn't an ordinary stream of data; it was the highest level of authority directly accessing the underlying architecture of the Myriad Dimensions Sandbox—though it only lasted for three seconds.

In the first second, he saw the true data of the third wave of offensive:

On Liu Ruyan's side, it was labeled [Performance-Level · Illusion Attack], with actual damage being zero.

On Michael's side, it was labeled [Sure-Kill Level · Causal Erasure]; even an Immortal Emperor's true body would instantly evaporate if hit.

In the second second, he saw the coordinates of the attack's source—it wasn't the Screenwriting Team, but the "Rule Enforcement Department" directly under the platform's Supreme Council! Arrogant Dragon Immortal Emperor had somehow paid a price to get the official forces to step in and cheat!

The third second, and the final second—

Lin Chen didn't go to modify the intensity of the offensive.

He did something even more ruthless:

He swapped the targets of the attacks.

He redirected the [Causal Erasure] meant for Michael, completely intact, toward Arrogant Dragon Immortal Emperor himself.

He gently redirected the [Illusion Attack] meant for Liu Ruyan toward the Screenwriting Team's headquarters servers.

The modification was complete, and his authority was exhausted.

The pillar of light extinguished.

And at that moment, the third wave of the offensive descended!

“It’s here!” A smile of imminent victory appeared on Arrogant Dragon Immortal Emperor's face as he prepared his performance of "struggling to resist"—

But in the next second, his smile froze on his face.

Because that causal beam, which should have flown toward Michael and was capable of erasing an Immortal Emperor-level existence, suddenly took a turn in mid-air and slammed straight into him!

“No—!!!”

Arrogant Dragon Immortal Emperor only had time to let out a roar of shock and fury before his entire body was pierced by the Power of Causality!

It wasn't death—he was, after all, a secondary shareholder with life-saving privileges—but his nine natal immortal swords, three avatars, and the "Invincible Dao Heart" he had accumulated over twelve seasons were instantly reduced to nothingness under the causal erasure!

Pfft!

Arrogant Dragon Immortal Emperor spat out a mouthful of golden Emperor's blood, his aura plummeting by ninety percent! From a high-and-mighty Immortal Emperor, he fell to barely maintaining the Immortal Venerable realm!

On the other side, the illusion attack flying toward Liu Ruyan had its coordinates secretly modified by Lin Chen halfway, and it crashed headlong into the data core of the Screenwriting Team's headquarters—

Boom!!!

Although there was no physical damage, the "Platform-Wide Live Broadcast Special Effects" attached to the illusion attack were activated!

In every livestream room across the Myriad Dimensions Sandbox, including Arrogant Dragon Immortal Emperor's own channel, a screen forcibly popped up:

In the Screenwriting Team's office, several bespectacled screenwriters were huddled together, laughing wildly as they watched Lin Chen's livestream:

“Haha, this idiot actually bought interference rights! Once his dimension points are burned up, the Immortal Emperor's side will immediately close the net!”

“The Team Leader is truly wise to have changed the attack data in advance. Lin Chen won't even know how he died!”

“But can the 'share dividend' the Immortal Emperor promised us really be fulfilled?”

“Don't worry, he wouldn't dare go back on his word; we have evidence of him bribing the Council in our hands...”

The footage played for three seconds before being urgently cut off.

But it was enough.

Two hundred billion viewers had all seen it.

The bullet chat was dead silent for three seconds.

Then, a total riot broke out:

[Holy crap! The officials are stepping in to cheat?!]

[The Immortal Emperor bribed the Council! The Screenwriting Team is taking dirty money!]

[Platform corruption! We demand a thorough investigation!]

[User 'Messenger of Justice' tipped 10 million dimension points: Support Boss Lin in exposing them to the end!]

Arrogant Dragon Immortal Emperor looked at those bullet chats, then at his fallen cultivation realm, his face as pale as paper.

He knew it was over.

Reputation, status, popularity... all gone.

“Lin Chen...” He glared at Lin Chen, his eyes filled with bone-deep malice, “You set me up...”

“Likewise,” Lin Chen smiled. “It’s just that your scheming was too crude.”

He raised his hand and pulled up the duel results:

[Guardian Duel · Final Verdict]

[Lin Chen's Guard Target: Liu Ruyan (Status: Intact)]

[Arrogant Dragon Immortal Emperor's Guard Target: Michael (Status: Energetic)]

[Both sides completed the protection]

[However, given that the Immortal Emperor's side is suspected of illegal operations, per Platform AI Arbitration—]

[Winner: Lin Chen]

[The Immortal Emperor must pay a 100 million dimension point wager and permanently withdraw from the popularity leaderboard competition]

The moment the verdict fell.

100 million dimension points were forcibly transferred from the Immortal Emperor's account into Lin Chen's backend.

Lin Chen's balance jumped to 192 million dimension points.

And Arrogant Dragon Immortal Emperor's popularity ranking in his livestream room instantly reset from first place to zero—he was permanently removed from the rankings.

[User 'Arrogant Dragon Immortal Emperor' has been banned for 30 days due to violations]

[All honorary titles revoked]

[Secondary shareholder authority frozen, pending Council review]

Three blood-red punishment announcements scrolled across the entire platform.

Spitting blood, the Immortal Emperor's figure slowly dissipated—he had been forcibly kicked offline.

The bullet chat celebrated:

[Boss Lin is awesome!]

[Take down the corruption!]

[Tips! We must give tips!]

But Lin Chen did not celebrate.

Because he saw nine pure white rifts open in the sky.

Stepping out from the rifts were nine figures wearing the same uniforms as Scavenger 07, but the badges on their chests were blood-colored ∞ symbols.

Dimensional Agents.

And they were the highest "Error Correction Level" agents.

A melodramatic reversal:

The lead blood-badged agent flipped open a record book, its voice as cold and devoid of emotion as ice:

[Large-scale rule tampering event detected]

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

[Tampered content: Attack target, attack intensity, broadcast signal]

[Evidence is conclusive]

It looked up, its blank mask turning toward Lin Chen:

[Pursuant to Article 774 of the "Platform Security Law"]

[Executing "Emergency Error Correction" procedure on you now]

[Procedure content: Forced rollback to pre-tampering state, with a fine of ten times the tampered portion in dimension points]

It raised its hand, and a bill appeared in the air:

[Tampering consumption: Dimension-Level Interference Right (50 million dimension points)]

[Tenfold fine: 500 million dimension points]

[Please pay immediately, otherwise "Data Stripping" will be enforced—stripping all your dimension points, items, and partial character permissions]

500 million!

All of Lin Chen's current assets added up to less than 200 million!

“Wait,” Lin Chen spoke up. “I reported Arrogant Dragon Immortal Emperor and the Screenwriting Team for illegal cheating. Are you not going to handle that?”

[Accepted, will be handled separately]

[However, your violation is settled independently]

The blood-badged agent showed no room for compromise:

[Payment countdown: 30 seconds]

[29, 28...]

The bullet chat grew anxious:

[This is too corrupt!]

[The Immortal Emperor was clearly the one who cheated first!]

[Tips! Let's pool money for Boss Lin!]

[User 'Crowdfunded Uprising' tipped 20 million dimension points!]

But the 500 million gap was too large; they couldn't possibly gather enough.

The countdown reached 15 seconds.

Lin Chen suddenly smiled.

He looked at the blood-badged agent:

“Mr. Agent, I have a question.”

“Speak.”

“Are your 'Error Correction Department' performance bonuses... based on a percentage of the fines collected?”

The blood-badged agent's movement of flipping a page paused almost imperceptibly.

Though its face was a blank mask, Lin Chen could feel it—it had hesitated.

There was a chance!

“I just checked the platform's public department financial reports.” Lin Chen quickly pulled up a data projection. “Last year, the Error Correction Department's total fine revenue was 12 billion dimension points, with total department expenditures of 1.8 billion. The average annual salary per employee... 500,000 dimension points.”

“And your director mentioned in last year's performance report, 'hope to improve the treatment of frontline agents to stimulate work enthusiasm.'”

Lin Chen stared at the other party:

“But more than half of this year has passed, and your treatment... doesn't seem to have improved?”

The blood-badged agent remained silent.

The countdown reached 10 seconds.

“How about this.” Lin Chen transferred 50 million dimension points from his backend, condensing them into a golden check. “This money isn't a bribe—it's a 'Report Reward.'”

“I am reporting Arrogant Dragon Immortal Emperor and the Screenwriting Team for criminal conspiracy under my real name, with conclusive evidence. According to platform regulations, reporting major violations can earn a reward of up to 50 million dimension points.”

“I am now advancing this 'rightful reward' to your department as 'work support funding.'”

He handed the check over:

“As for how to use it... that's up to your director.”

“Perhaps you could get new uniforms for the frontline agents? Or add some travel subsidies?”

The blood-badged agent looked at the check, then at the countdown.

5 seconds.

It suddenly raised its hand and paused the countdown.

Then, it took the check and quickly wrote in the record book:

[Upon review, streamer Lin Chen's rule-tampering behavior constitutes 'reasonable self-rescue under emergency circumstances']

[Pursuant to Article 33 of the "Emergency Necessity Clause," he is exempt from punishment]

[Case closed]

After writing, it closed the book.

But it didn't leave.

Instead, it lowered its voice, speaking at a volume only Lin Chen could hear:

“Watch out for the Council.”

“You didn't just mess with the Immortal Emperor and the Screenwriting Team...”

“You messed with their wallets.”

With that, it turned and stepped into a rift with the other eight agents, vanishing.

The crisis was averted.

A thrilling sense of satisfaction:

Lin Chen hadn't even had time to breathe a sigh of relief—

Customer Service 007's voice screamed in his head:

“Mr. Lin! I just intercepted an emergency internal communication from the Council!”

“After seeing the Immortal Emperor fall, they are activating a backup plan!”

“What plan?”

“The 'Streamer Purge Project.'” 007's voice trembled. “The Council has decided to forcibly purge all underperforming streamers this quarter under the guise of 'data optimization' within the next 72 hours—but the list is predetermined, and it's full of your potential allies and supporters!”

“Including 'Crowdfunded Uprising' who just helped you, the 'Tycoon Group' in the top ten of the tip list, and even... Su Qingyu's Vice Chairman permissions are within the purge scope!”

Lin Chen's expression changed.

He pulled up the backend data to look—

Sure enough, a countdown had appeared in the top right corner of every livestream room on the platform:

[Platform Data Optimization Countdown: 71:59:59]

[Approximately 370,000 inefficient streamers will be purged this time to release server resources]

People in the bullet chat had already noticed:

[My friend just received a purge notice! He clearly met his targets this quarter!]

[I got one too! But my popularity is in the top 50 of my sub-zone!]

[Corruption! This is absolute corruption!]

Lin Chen quickly scanned the purge list.

Of the 370,000 people, over 300,000 were viewers who had just tipped him and supported him against the Immortal Emperor—many of them were small streamers themselves.

The Council was trying to purge his supporters!

“What do we do?” Zhang Hao said anxiously. “We only have 140 million dimension points left; it's not nearly enough to save 370,000 people!”

Su Qingyu suddenly spoke up: “We can't save everyone.”

She pulled up a set of data: “But we can 'acquire' them.”

“What do you mean?”

“A platform's 'streamer status' is essentially an 'operating rights contract,'” Su Qingyu explained quickly. “If we establish a 'Guild' and use the Guild's name to bulk-acquire these streamers' contracts, turning them into our signed artists—”

“Then the purge procedure will categorize it as an 'asset transfer' rather than 'data purging.'”

“As long as we complete the acquisition before the countdown ends...”

Su Qingyu looked at Lin Chen:

“The Council won't be able to touch them.”

“But acquiring 370,000 contracts...” Zhang Hao did the math. “Even for the lowest-priced contracts, one costs at least 100,000 dimension points. 370,000 contracts is 37 billion! Where would we get that much money?!”

Lin Chen was silent for three seconds.

Then, he smiled.

“We indeed don't have 37 billion.”

“But...”

He looked up at those two hundred billion viewers:

“They can lend it to us.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Chen opened the platform-wide announcement slot, dropped another 10 million dimension points, and released an announcement that shook the entire Myriad Dimensions Sandbox:

[Underworld Guild · Emergency Recruitment]

[Acquiring 370,000 streamer contracts platform-wide. Package price: 40 billion dimension points]

[Funding gap: 39.86 billion]

[Issuing 'Guild Bonds' now, with an annual interest rate of 30%. Principal and interest to be repaid within 24 hours]

[Minimum subscription amount: 100 dimension points]

[Subscription channel opened, limited to 1 hour]

As soon as the announcement went out—

The bullet chat and backend data exploded simultaneously!

[30% annual interest?! That's insane!]

[But Boss Lin just took down the Immortal Emperor; his credit is solid!]

[User 'Investment Genius' subscribed 10 million dimension points!]

[User 'Retail Alliance' collectively subscribed 230 million dimension points...]

The subscription amount soared at a rate of hundreds of millions per second!

1 billion... 5 billion... 10 billion...

In just thirty minutes, the 39.86 billion gap was completely filled!

Lin Chen's backend displayed:

[Guild Bond issuance successful]

[Funds raised: 40 billion dimension points]

[Number of creditors: 180 million people]

“Buy!” Lin Chen ordered.

[Bulk acquisition procedure initiated]

[Target: 370,000 streamer contracts]

[Total price: 40 billion dimension points]

[Acquiring...]

The progress bar began to roll.

1%... 10%... 50%...

When the countdown reached the final five minutes—

[Acquisition complete]

[370,000 streamers have all been transferred to the "Underworld Guild"]

[Purge procedure determination: Asset transfer valid, purge canceled]

The bullet chat went wild!

But Lin Chen didn't stop.

He pulled up the audio he had secretly recorded using his last bit of Screenwriter authority when the blood-badged agent had whispered the warning.

Then, he pressed play for the platform-wide livestream.

The blood-badged agent's words, "Watch out for the Council, you messed with their wallets," were clearly transmitted.

Immediately after, Lin Chen released a second recording—an "internal Council meeting snippet" he had purchased from Customer Service 007 with dimension points:

“...Lin Chen must be dealt with. His 'pay-to-win crushing' model will make all viewers realize—power can be bought with money, rather than through tens of thousands of years of bitter cultivation.”

“Once this perception spreads, our 'Cultivation Civilization' and 'Bitter Cultivation Ascension' series of livestreams will be completely ruined!”

“Those viewers will all run off to watch Lin Chen throw money around. Who will still watch the Arrogant Dragons go into seclusion and get struck by lightning every day?”

“Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents...”

The recording came to an abrupt end.

But it was shocking enough.

In the entire Myriad Dimensions Sandbox, every livestream room and every viewer heard it all.

Silence.

Absolute silence.

Then—

The uprising began.

The hook:

The bullet chat turned from celebration into an ocean of rage:

[So the platform has been manipulating our preferences all along!]

[Forcing us to watch bitter cultivation dramas and not letting us watch pay-to-win satisfaction dramas?]

[User 'Awakened One' tipped 100 million dimension points: Boss Lin, lead us in rebellion!]

Streamers from other livestream rooms also stopped their broadcasts one after another to join in support:

[Cultivation Zone streamer 'Azure Cloud Sword Immortal' announces joining the Underworld Guild!]

[Sci-Fi Zone streamer 'Interstellar Marshal' announces joining!]

[Fantasy Zone streamer 'Elf Queen' announces joining...]

In just ten minutes, over two million streamers collectively jumped ship!

In the Council's data monitoring center, alarms blared everywhere:

[Online viewer loss rate: 47%]

[Total tip revenue plummeted by 89%]

[Platform credit rating dropped from AAA to C]

And at this moment, Lin Chen's backend received an...

Emergency peace talk invitation from the Supreme Council.

The signature was:

[Speaker of the Supreme Council of the Myriad Dimensions Sandbox · Morpheus]

[Requesting a face-to-face meeting; all terms are negotiable]

[Please reply with coordinates; I will come in person]

Lin Chen looked at that invitation and smiled.

He said to Su Qingyu and Zhang Hao beside him:

“Look.”

“When you touch what truly matters to them—”

“Even the Speaker...”

“Has to come to the door in person to beg for mercy.”

“Prepare the meeting room.”

He turned, a cold light flashing in his eyes:

“Our 'acquisition plan'...”

“Is about to enter its next phase.”