182: Chapter 182 Platform Sanctions, Dimensional Blockade

Forty-three minutes after the paid subscription system went into effect, the first wave of retaliation arrived.

It wasn't from the Council—those nine phantoms had just signed the Amendment and wouldn't move openly for the time being.

It came from the platform's underlying system's automatic countermeasure.

【Warning: Abnormal economic model detected】

【Initiating Article 3 of the "Platform Self-Stabilization Protocol"】

【Sanction Target: K-742 Underworld Plane (ID: Lin Chen)】

【Sanction Measures: Stripping of shareholder Permissions (Temporary), Deployment of Rule Virus (Grade A)】

On the shareholder backend before Lin Chen's eyes, all operation interfaces suddenly turned gray.

【Your shareholder permissions have been forcibly frozen】

【Freeze Duration: 72 hours】

【Reason for Freeze: Suspected of using platform loopholes to sabotage the economic system】

【Appeal Channel: Closed】

"Permissions are locked!" An alarm came from Zhang Hao's side. "Our world's 'Rule Fine-tuning' function is disabled, and physical constants are locked at their current values!"

Su Qingyu pulled up the world monitoring screen: "It's more than that—something is invading our world's origin."

On the screen, black cracks appeared in the sky of the Underworld world.

They weren't spatial rifts.

They were infection patterns on the level of rules.

Viscous, shapeshifting black fluid seeped from those cracks. Once they dripped onto the ground, the matter they touched began to undergo bizarre changes:

A rock suddenly lost its "hardness" attribute, becoming as shaky as jelly.

A tree's growth rings began to reverse, regressing from a century-old tree to a sapling, then to a seed, before finally vanishing into thin air.

A flock of birds collided with the black fluid, and their physical structures were rewritten—feathers became scales, wings became tentacles, and they emitted non-avian shrieks.

"Rule Virus." Mo Shan's virtual image appeared, his expression grave. "One of the ultimate means the platform uses to deal with 'out-of-control worlds.' It randomly tampers with a world's basic physical laws until the entire world becomes a nightmare land of logical chaos."

"Is there an antidote?" Lin Chen asked.

"Theoretically, a 'Rule Antivirus Program' is needed, but that's a top-tier platform permission tool; we can't get it." Mo Shan pulled up historical records. "The platform has used Rule Viruses seventeen times in history. Fourteen of those worlds completely collapsed within seventy-two hours. The remaining three survived but turned into unspeakable, distorted lands."

A countdown was already ticking in Lin Chen's field of vision:

【Rule Virus Erosion Progress: 0.3%】

【World Logical Stability: 99.7%】

【Estimated Time to Total Collapse: 71 hours 58 minutes】

"Lin!" Zhang Hao suddenly shouted. "Our paid subscription system is being attacked by the virus!"

Backend data showed that the subscription statuses of those 100 million paid users began to switch randomly—some were forcibly unsubscribed, some were double-charged, and some had their accounts cleared.

The bullet-chat pool was in chaos:

"I paid! Why was I kicked out?!"

"The system shows I subscribed three times and deducted three thousand dimension points!"

"What is the platform doing?!"

Paid income began to plummet.

Even more fatal was that the virus was infecting the emotional data channel between Lin Chen and the audience.

The monitoring screen showed that when the audience generated emotional fluctuations while watching the livestream, 37% was now being hijacked by the virus and diverted to an unknown receiver.

"They're stealing our 'emotional output'!" Su Qingyu analyzed the data stream. "The virus is transferring the emotional stimulation values that should belong to us to other worlds—the worlds of those established shareholders who support the Council!"

Killing with a borrowed knife.

Using the emotions produced by Lin Chen's world to feed the worlds of his opponents, while simultaneously starving Lin Chen's paid users.

"A clever tactic." Lin Chen actually smiled. "But not ruthless enough."

He pulled up the backend data, which was grayed out but still viewable, and found the release record of the Rule Virus.

Releaser ID: 【System Automatic Execution】

But Lin Chen used his 【Causality Tracing Right】 to forcibly penetrate this layer of disguise.

Actual Releaser: Ranked 41st on the Board of Directors · Order Defender Alliance

That was a conservative group composed of seven veteran shareholders, holding a combined 12.3% stake, who had always opposed any platform reforms.

"Found the creditors," Lin Chen said.

He closed all alarm interfaces and opened his list of paid users.

He found three of the eighteen "heavy addicts"—all of whom were important figures from Level 9 civilizations.

He sent a direct message:

"My world is being attacked by a Rule Virus."

"If the world collapses, your emotional supply will be cut off."

"Do me a favor. After the virus is dealt with, I'll give each of you an extra 10% emotional dosage."

The replies were almost instantaneous:

"What favor?"

"Speak."

"Conditions?"

Lin Chen sent over a list:

"First, I want all the real-world coordinates of the seven members of the 'Order Defender Alliance'."

"Second, I want economic vulnerability analysis reports for the worlds they control."

"Third, I want your civilizations' voting rights in the Platform Council—for the next three key votes, you must vote according to my instructions."

Silence for a minute.

Then three replies arrived simultaneously:

"Deal."

"Data sent."

"Voting rights authorization signed."

The efficiency of high-level civilizations was terrifyingly high.

Lin Chen received three encrypted data packets.

He opened the first one.

The true identities and coordinates of the seven veteran shareholders were fully exposed—they weren't all high-level civilization individuals; three of them were actually mid-dimensional creatures posing as high-level civilizations, having climbed to high positions only by investing in the platform early on.

"So they're just paper tigers after all," Lin Chen sneered.

The second set of data was even more lethal: the thirty-nine worlds controlled by the seven shareholders had their economic lifelines, rule loopholes, and dependent resources all marked out.

For instance, the "Eternal Spring World" controlled by one of the shareholders relied entirely on "Sands of Time" imported from other dimensions to maintain its unchanging seasons. If the supply was cut, the world would experience ten thousand years of time erosion within three days, and all life would instantly age and die.

The third set of voting rights authorizations meant Lin Chen now had the backing of three Level 9 civilizations in the Council.

"Alright," Lin Chen said to his team. "Now it's time for our counterattack."

"But our permissions are frozen—" Zhang Hao said.

"Our permissions are frozen," Lin Chen interrupted, "but the audience's permissions are not."

He pulled up the paid system backend and found a hidden function: 【Audience Reward Manifestation - Advanced Mode】

Normally, audience rewards could only be converted into dimension points.

But in Advanced Mode, the audience could directly gift physical items—as long as the item existed in the platform's resource library.

"Elder Mo," Lin Chen asked, "is there a 'Rule Antivirus Program' in the platform's resource library?"

"Yes, but it requires S-grade permission to exchange—" Mo Shan suddenly realized. "Wait, you want the audience to... gift it directly to us?"

"Correct." Lin Chen clicked on the exchange page for that antivirus program.

Price: 100 billion dimension points

Permission Requirement: S-grade (holding 5% or more shares)

But he didn't plan to exchange it himself.

Under the program page, he created a new "Reward Request":

【Urgent Need: Rule Antivirus Program × 1】

【Gifter will receive: Permanent 20% emotional dosage increase + 50% off coupon for Dimensional Reduction Experience Service】

Then he sent this request to those three Level 9 civilization addicts.

Almost simultaneously.

System notifications exploded:

【Received reward from user 'Eternal Eye': Rule Antivirus Program (Full Version) × 1】

【Remark: Get it done quickly, I can't wait for the increased dosage】

A golden data cube appeared directly in Lin Chen's hand.

He clicked to use it.

Golden light erupted from the cube, sweeping across the entire world like a tide. Those black Rule Viruses hissed sharply upon contact with the golden light, then dissolved like ice and snow.

The cracks in the sky began to heal.

Distorted matter returned to its original state.

The countdown stopped.

【Rule Virus Cleanup Progress: 100%】

【World Logical Stability Restored: 100%】

【Warning: Illegal use of Advanced Reward function detected—】

"Shut up." Lin Chen closed the notification.

Holding the data backup of the antivirus program, he pulled up the platform's backend loophole database.

He entered the command: 【Reverse Compile】

Three seconds later, he obtained the full source code of the Rule Virus.

And—all the technical details required to manufacture such a virus.

"Now," Lin Chen said to Su Qingyu, "upgrade our world's defense system to the 'Virus Immune' version."

"Then," he turned to Zhang Hao, "package this virus source code into thirty-nine customized variants."

"Each one specifically targeting a single world."

He selected the thirty-nine worlds controlled by the Order Defender Alliance.

He clicked 【Batch Deployment】.

But he didn't deploy them yet.

He set a trigger condition:

【Automatically activate when the opposing world launches an attack on world K-742】

Using their own spear to strike their own shield.

No, it was striking their own home.

Having done all this, Lin Chen reopened the shareholder backend.

The permissions were still grayed out.

But he didn't care.

He sent a group message directly to the seven shareholders of the Order Defender Alliance:

"I've cleared the virus."

"I've obtained your coordinates."

"I know all the loopholes in your worlds."

"Now, let's talk terms."

Thirty seconds later, seven urgent communication requests popped up simultaneously.

Lin Chen rejected them all.

He only replied with one sentence:

"In 72 hours, when my permissions are unfrozen, I want to see a 1% equity transfer agreement from each of you."

"Don't want to give it?"

"Then let's see if your defense systems are stronger, or the virus the platform itself built is stronger."

After sending it, he blocked all communications.

Then he looked at Zhang Hao: "Is the paid system restored?"

"It's restored! All subscribers have returned to normal, and because of the chaos just now, we've added over thirty million new paid users—they were afraid of a real cutoff and rushed to renew!"

Monthly income: 13 billion dimension points.

And it was still rising.

"Good." Lin Chen sat back on his throne.

"Now, we wait 72 hours."

"To see if they choose to hand over the equity with dignity."

"Or choose to—"

"Become a petri dish for Rule Viruses along with their worlds."

Outside the window, in the dimensional void, the worlds of the seven veteran shareholders were quietly being implanted with "Counter-attack Viruses."

And they were completely unaware of it.

Just as they had done to Lin Chen at the start.