203: Chapter 203 The Talisman Assembly Line: Creating Immortals Like Manufacturing Goods

The moment the duel countdown hit zero, the live broadcast signals of the entire universe were forcibly switched.

No matter what was being watched—be it Morgana’s frozen spectacle, Alpha’s digital migration, or the domestic trivialities within some civilization—all screens simultaneously exploded with blinding golden light, then split into two equal-sized frames.

Left frame: Long Aotian Immortal Emperor.

He sat on a supreme throne entwined by nine golden dragons, behind him stretched ten thousand miles of immortal palaces and jade towers, with a Hundred Thousand Sword Immortals lined up in formation, their momentum as magnificent as a galaxy hanging upside down. The bullet chat exploded instantly:

“Immortal Emperor! It's a living Immortal Emperor!”

“I saw his counterattack three hundred years ago! It was fire!”

“Traditional kingly style is the GOAT!”

Right frame: Lin Chen.

He just sat in that slightly messy command center of the Underworld Group, in front of him were dense data screens, and behind him were the busy Su Qingyu and Zhang Hao. In the background, one could even see Little Red Clothes munching on snacks.

Shabby; the contrast was tragic.

Arrogant Dragon spoke first, his voice amplified by immortal power, echoing through thousands of worlds: “Lin Chen, I admit you have some cleverness in business. But a popularity duel is about the story, the passion, and the love of the audience. Your set of money games is too tacky.”

A provocation, striking straight at the heart.

Lin Chen ignored him and directly pulled up the background data panel, publicly displaying:

【Current Real-time Popularity Value】

Arrogant Dragon: 4.7 billion

Lin Chen: 320 million

The gap exceeded fourteen times.

“Look,” Arrogant Dragon smiled, “The audience votes with their feet. What they want to see is cultivation breakthroughs, slaying demons, and counterattacking across classes—not some ‘bond issuance’ or ‘insurance claims’.”

The bullet chat chimed in frantically.

But Lin Chen finally spoke.

His first sentence shocked the entire place:

“Everyone, do you know who wrote the script for Long Aotian Immortal Emperor's ‘counterattack story’?”

The frame switched.

Lin Chen released an internal meeting record from the Screenwriting Team from three hundred years ago.

The record showed that Arrogant Dragon's entire life script—from loser to Immortal Emperor, every fortuitous encounter, every breakthrough, every meeting with a beautiful confidante—was all a production-line product meticulously designed by the Screenwriting Team.

Even more lethal was a line of small text at the end of the record:

【Note: This actor (Arrogant Dragon) has signed the “Fate Sale Agreement”; all copyrights, derivative rights, and emotional data earnings of his life story belong 100% to the platform. The actor himself only receives a fixed salary (0.3 dimension points per hour).】

“0.3 dimension points per hour?” an audience member exclaimed, “Then why does he still act so wealthy?”

Arrogant Dragon's expression changed for the first time.

“Forgery!” he roared, “This is malicious slander!”

“Is it?” Lin Chen clicked on the next document.

It was Arrogant Dragon's actual account transaction history.

Over the past three hundred years, his total income was indeed astronomical—but his expenditures were even more terrifying: purchasing the “Immortal Emperor Temperament Aura” (annual fee of 500 billion), renting the “Nine Dragon Carriage” (daily rent of 30 billion), hiring “a hundred thousand sword immortal extras” (charged per head)... the net income was negative 870 billion dimension points.

In other words, this seemingly infinitely glorious Immortal Emperor was actually a debt-ridden “packaged idol.”

“You...” Arrogant Dragon's immortal power surged, but restricted by the duel rules, he could not attack directly.

“Don't be in a hurry,” Lin Chen smiled, “There's more exciting stuff.”

He opened the third document—the “Renewal Supplemental Agreement” signed between Arrogant Dragon and the platform.

Agreement terms:

1. Arrogant Dragon must create a “major emotional betrayal” (Dao companion cheating/brothers turning against each other, etc.) every ten years to maintain emotional stimulation for the audience.

2. When popularity declines, the platform has the right to initiate a “forced fall plot,” making Arrogant Dragon experience crushing defeat, humiliation, and even total loss of cultivation to create “counterattack anticipation.”

3. Agreement term: Permanent. Unless Arrogant Dragon pays 10 trillion in liquidated damages.

“A permanent contract,” Lin Chen said to the camera, “means you will always be an actor, always living according to a script. Even if you become an Immortal Emperor, you're just a puppet on a string.”

Arrogant Dragon froze on his throne, his fists clenching with a cracking sound.

The direction of the bullet chat began to shift:

“So the Immortal Emperor is also a wage slave...”

“Thirty cents an hour? I make more than him moving bricks!”

“No wonder his counterattack tropes are the same every time...”

Lin Chen's popularity value began to jump: 320 million → 500 million → 800 million → 1.5 billion...

“You think this is over?” Arrogant Dragon suddenly sneered, “Lin Chen, you're not clean either!”

He threw out a document—Lin Chen · Test Period Violation Records》.

It recorded all of Lin Chen's “shady operations” in the Spark Test Zone: usury, bond fraud, insurance scams, and even encrypted records of bribing Dimensional Agents.

“Look!” Arrogant Dragon roared, “This guy who calls himself a savior uses nothing but illegal means! He's even filthier than the platform!”

The bullet chat exploded again.

Lin Chen, however, laughed.

“Yes, I used them all,” he admitted frankly. “Because I knew from the very beginning—in a dog-eat-dog system, if you want to save people, you must first learn to be better at eating meat than the ogres.”

He pulled up the fourth, and most lethal, document.

Platform Civilization Harvest Data Overview (Past 300 Years)》.

The document showed:

· Cumulative number of civilizations “harvested” by the platform: 94 million

· Sales revenue from “emotional data” generated as a result: 7.8 quintillion dimension points

· Share allocated to “actors” (like Arrogant Dragon): 0.0003%

· Share allocated to “shareholders” (Council members): 99.997%

“Arrogant Dragon,” Lin Chen looked at him, “You and I are the same; we're both being exploited. The difference is—you're helping the exploiter count the money, and you're doing it quite happily.”

A killing blow to the heart.

Arrogant Dragon opened his mouth but could not make a sound.

His popularity value began to plummet: 4.7 billion → 4 billion → 3 billion → 2.2 billion...

While Lin Chen's popularity value soared to: 2.5 billion.

The gap was narrowing.

But at that moment, the live broadcast signal was suddenly interfered with.

It wasn't a technical failure—it was content censorship.

Inspector 117's voice forcibly cut in: “Lin Chen, the content you are broadcasting involves platform secrets and has violated the Live Broadcast Safety Regulations. Your signal is now forcibly interrupted for 10 minutes.”

Golden light enveloped Lin Chen's frame, and the sound and image were cut off.

Only Arrogant Dragon's side could still broadcast.

“Hahaha!” Arrogant Dragon laughed loudly, “Lin Chen, have you forgotten who the rule-maker is? You can only broadcast if the platform lets you!”

His popularity value began to rise again.

In the bullet chat, viewers supporting Lin Chen protested angrily, but to no avail.

In the command center, Zhang Hao slammed the table in frustration: “They're cheating! How can we compete like this?!”

Su Qingyu looked at Lin Chen: “In 10 minutes, we might have already lost.”

Lin Chen didn't speak.

He opened a channel no one expected—the backend interface of the audience tip data stream.

That was the last gift the Dimensional Agent gave him before dying: a loophole that could temporarily bypass platform monitoring and communicate directly with the audience at the data level.

“Everyone,” Lin Chen's voice surged directly into the consciousness of all viewers watching the broadcast in the form of a pure data stream, “What you are hearing now is what the platform doesn't want you to hear.”

“Those scandals just now were only the tip of the iceberg.”

“What I'm about to say now is the platform's ultimate secret—”

“How they manipulate ‘popularity’ itself.”

Data packets began to transmit.

Inside was the source code of the platform's “Popularity Algorithm”:

· The highest weight is “emotional stimulation value”—the more tragic, angry, and desperate the plot, the higher the popularity bonus.

· Next is “trope familiarity”—the more familiar the plot is to the audience (like a loser's counterattack), the more the algorithm recommends it.

· The most terrifying part is the manual intervention module: the platform can secretly add popularity to a certain live frame at any time, and can also subtract popularity from competitors at any time.

“Arrogant Dragon's 4.7 billion popularity just now,” Lin Chen said, “at least 3 billion was brute-forced by the algorithm. Because the platform needs him to win—he represents the ‘ obedient actors’ (obedient actor).”

Arrogant Dragon's face turned completely pale.

And Lin Chen's data broadcast continued:

“Now, I give you two choices.”

“First, continue watching the script arranged by the platform, watch Arrogant Dragon ‘counterattack’ to defeat me, and then return to your daily life of being harvested.”

“Second—”

“Use your tips to vote for me directly.”

He opened a temporary voting channel.

The rules were simple: every 1 dimension point tipped counted as 1 vote. The votes were recorded into the popularity value in real-time.

“This isn't a bribe,” Lin Chen said, “this is crowdfunding a different ending.”

Three seconds.

The first tip popped up: 【Eternal Eye tipped 100 billion dimension points, message: I've been fed up with the platform for a long time!】

The second: 【loves watching money burn tipped 80 billion: I'm betting on it!】

The third: 【Anonymous user tipped 500 billion: Don't ask who I am, I'm voting for change.】

Tips flooded in like a tsunami.

Lin Chen's interrupted live broadcast frame remained a black screen, but his popularity value in the backend began to explode:

2.5 billion → 10 billion → 30 billion → 80 billion → 150 billion...

The 10-minute censorship ended.

Lin Chen's frame lit up again.

At this time, the popularity value settlement:

Lin Chen: 172 billion

Arrogant Dragon: 3.1 billion

The gap exceeded 55 times.

Arrogant Dragon slumped on his throne, the nine golden dragons wailed and dissipated, and the hundred thousand sword immortal array wavered.

“It's over,” Lin Chen said.

【Duel result being determined...】

【Winner: Lin Chen】

【Reward obtained: 50% of Arrogant Dragon's equity (0.4%)】

【Lin Chen's current total shareholding: 1.35%】

【Congratulations on being promoted to ‘Official shareholder’】

Golden light enveloped Lin Chen, his administrator uniform automatically upgraded, and the nameplate on his chest changed to: 【shareholder · Lin Chen (1.35% stake)】.

Permission unlock prompts popped up frantically:

【Obtained Board of Directors attendance rights】

【Obtained financial report review rights】

【Obtained proposal voting rights (requires a stake of 3% or more to be effective)】

But Lin Chen didn't look at these.

He looked at the collapsed Arrogant Dragon and sent a private message:

“Now, you have two choices.”

“First, continue to be the platform's puppet, carrying a debt of 800 billion and slowly paying it back.”

“Second—come work for me. I'll help you pay off the debt and give you a real share, but you have to do one thing for me.”

Arrogant Dragon looked up, his eyes filled with the blankness of being broken: “...What thing?”

“Be a witness,” Lin Chen said. “At the Shareholders' Meeting, testify how the Council manipulates popularity and exploits actors.”

Silence.

“I... what do I get?”

“Besides debt repayment and a share,” Lin Chen paused, “there's also the chance for revenge.”

Arrogant Dragon looked at his hands, which had once held a sword to cleave the heavens but were now trembling slightly.

Then he slowly stood up, faced the camera, and tore off the “Immortal Emperor” badge on his chest.

“I'll testify.”

Those three words set off stormy waves.

Inspector 117's figure instantly appeared at the venue, his voice cold: “Arrogant Dragon, do you know what you are saying?”

“I know.” Arrogant Dragon smiled, a smile filled with relief and a hint of madness, “I've acted out counterattacks for three hundred years; today—I'm finally going to do it for real.”

He turned and knelt on one knee to Lin Chen:

“Boss, let's sign the contract.”

“This time, I want to play a role that belongs to me.”

Lin Chen nodded.

He pulled up the shareholder backend and looked at the list of permissions that had just been unlocked.

Then he clicked on the most dangerous one among them:

【Initiate Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting (requires a stake of 1% or more)】

【Agenda: ‘Vote of No Confidence’ against the current Council】

Clicked confirm.

【Proposal submitted】

【The meeting will be held in 24 hours】

【Please prepare】

Outside the window, the Zeroing Storm was one step closer.

And in the meeting room, a storm aimed at the platform's rulers had just begun.

Lin Chen looked at his 1.35% stake, knowing it was far from enough.

But he had already obtained the entry ticket.

Next—

It's time to acquire more “allies”.