238: Chapter 238: Is the author going to delete their account? I'll buy out the copyright with reader subscriptions.

At the 3.7-second mark following the Author's warning, the first to vanish was Zhang Hao.

It wasn't death or teleportation; it was a total erasure from the level of existence—one second he was reporting data in The Group's monitoring room, and the next, he was wiped away like an eraser on drawing paper. Along with him, all memories, data, and causal traces of his existence vanished.

The others in the monitoring room froze. They felt as if something was missing, but they couldn't remember who.

Only Lin Chen remembered.

Because his Chairman permissions were bound to the soul imprints of all core employees, and at this moment, Zhang Hao's imprint was frantically sounding an alarm before flickering out.

“The first one,” the Author's voice echoed directly in Lin Chen's mind, terrifyingly calm. “Every ten minutes from now on, I will delete an important character. Until the story returns to the outline I set.”

Lin Chen did not panic.

He did three things first.

First, he pulled up the "Revenue Sharing Contract" previously signed with the Narrative Layer and found supplementary clause 17: “If characters are lost due to unilateral plot modifications by the Narrative Layer, compensation must be paid according to the character's valuation.”

Second, he activated The Group's valuation system to perform a rapid asset assessment for Zhang Hao—including his data processing capabilities, Fourth Wall sensing talent, and discounted contributions to The Group... Final valuation: 800 trillion dimension points.

Third, and most crucially—he sent a real-time pop-up notification to every reader in the entire universe currently reading the story of "dimension shareholder":

【Emergency Notice: The Author is deleting your favorite character, Zhang Hao】

【Reason for deletion: Plot deviation from the outline】

【Do you agree?】

【Agree / Oppose】

【The voting results will directly influence the plot's direction】

The moment the pop-up was sent, the traffic monitoring system of the entire Narrative Layer exploded.

Because the number of readers currently following this story was—9.7 quadrillion individuals.

They came from different dimensions, different civilizations, and different timelines, but they were all reading this story.

And now, they had received a plea for help from the protagonist.

The voting interface began to fluctuate wildly:

【Oppose: 78%】

【Agree: 12%】

【Abstain: 10%】

“Do you see?” Lin Chen responded to the Author in his mind. “Your readers do not agree with you deleting characters.”

The Author was silent for three seconds.

Then, Zhang Hao reappeared in the monitoring room with a dazed expression: “Boss? I think I just...”

“It's nothing,” Lin Chen waved his hand. “Back to work.”

But on the level of consciousness, the Author's voice turned cold: “You're using the readers against me?”

“Business rules: the customer is king,” Lin Chen smiled. “Right now, the readers are my customers. They pay for subscriptions and have the right to decide the direction of the plot. Your forced deletion of a character constitutes a breach of contract.”

“I am the Author! I have the right to—”

“You have the right to create, but no right to harm the emotional assets of consumers.” Lin Chen pulled up the clauses of the Universal Consumer Protection Law. “In the hearts of these readers, Zhang Hao is their 'emotional investment target.' Your deletion of him is equivalent to damaging their investment value.”

He paused: “According to the Inter-Dimensional Consumer Rights Law, you need to compensate at least 9.7 quadrillion readers with 10,000 dimension points each for mental distress. Totaling... 97 quintillion dimension points.”

The Author was silent again.

This time, the silence lasted a long time.

So long that Lin Chen thought he had given up.

And then—

The entire Group headquarters began to turn into a black-and-white manga style.

This wasn't a metaphor; it was literally downscaling from a 3D entity into a 2D image! The walls became lines, the employees became stick figures, and even Lin Chen himself felt his body flattening!

“Since you say the readers are important,” the Author's voice carried a chill, “then I'll just change the art style. I'll change this work from a novel to a manga, and all the characters will become paper people. Let's see how you use business tactics to fight a dimensional strike.”

Lin Chen looked at his hand, which was gradually turning into lines, and suddenly laughed.

“Change the art style? Then you'll need to sign a new contract.”

“What?”

“Character image copyright.” Lin Chen quickly pulled up a document. “According to the ‘Inter-Dimensional Image Use Authorization Agreement,’ any character transitioning from one art form to another requires a new ‘image adaptation authorization’ from the character themselves.”

He clicked the confirm button.

On all the employees currently undergoing 2D transformation, an authorization request window suddenly popped up:

【Do you authorize the Author to change your image from a text description to a manga form?】

【Authorization Fee: 100,000 dimension points per person/year】

【If not authorized, the Author's forced adaptation will face a hundred-fold fine】

Though the employees were confused, seeing the “100,000 dimension points” authorization fee, they all clicked 【No】.

The Author's power suddenly stalled.

Because over 99% of the employees refused authorization, the fine for forced adaptation would reach—the total number of employees (approximately one trillion) multiplied by 100,000, multiplied by 100, which is one hundred quintillion dimension points.

“You...” For the first time, there was an emotional tremor in the Author's voice.

“I'm just legally defending my rights.” Lin Chen had completely turned into a stick figure style, but he could still speak. “Now you have two choices: one, pay the astronomical fine to force the change in art style; two, restore everything to its original state and compensate us for ‘mental trauma and shock.’”

“I choose three.”

The Author's words had just fallen.

The operation interface of a novel writing software suddenly jumped in front of Lin Chen's eyes!

That was the Author's backend! He could directly edit the text!

The cursor was rapidly deleting the paragraphs describing Lin Chen's actions, changing them to:

【Lin Chen suddenly felt a wave of weakness. He realized he was nothing more than a character in a novel. This realization made him collapse; he fell to his knees, giving up all resistance...】

The moment the words took effect.

Lin Chen truly felt his strength draining away!

It wasn't physical; it was a weakness on the level of existence—he was being changed by the textual description!

“This time,” the Author said coldly, “how will you break this?”

Lin Chen gritted his teeth and used his last bit of strength to do one thing—

He took the residual energy of the Creator's permissions he had previously obtained from the Fallen Conscience and injected it all into his Chairman work badge.

Then, the work badge activated a hidden function:

【Function Name: Real-time Reader Comment Projection】

【Effect: Projects the reader comments of the current chapter into reality in the form of bullet comments】

In an instant!

In the space surrounding Lin Chen, billions of translucent reader comment bullet messages appeared:

【What is the Author doing? Why the sudden protagonist abuse?】

【No way, I'm dropping this book!】

【Quick, let Boss Lin fight back!】

【I've subscribed for so many years just to see this?】

【Is the Author at his wit's end?】

Each bullet comment carried the emotional energy of the readers. These energies converged into a torrent, counter-attacking the Author's writing backend!

“You...” The Author was shocked and furious.

“Reader anger is also a commercial resource,” Lin Chen said weakly but firmly. “Now, every word you write will be met with resistance from reader emotions. The more you write, the stronger the resistance.”

He looked at those bullet comments: “Why don't you try writing the next paragraph as ‘Lin Chen knelt and begged for mercy’? See if the readers don't flame you into retirement.”

The cursor on the writing interface trembled.

The Author was hesitating.

And at this moment, an even more fatal blow arrived—

Using his last ounce of strength, Lin Chen connected to the complaint hotline of the Universal Literary Creation Commission.

“I want to file a complaint against the Author for ‘abuse of creative rights, malicious character mistreatment, and damaging the reader experience’,” he said to the void. “Evidence is being generated in real-time.”

The moment the complaint was submitted.

A red warning suddenly popped up on the Author's writing interface:

【Notice of Investigation from the Universal Literary Creation Commission received】

【Your work "dimension shareholder" has been reported for suspected violations】

【During the investigation period, you will temporarily lose the authority to modify this work】

【Estimated investigation duration: 30 Universal Days】

The cursor froze.

The text editing function was locked.

The Author's power receded like a tide.

The Group headquarters returned from 2D to 3D, and all employees were restored to their original state.

Lin Chen's strength also returned.

The void remained silent for a long time.

Then, the Author's voice sounded again, this time tinged with exhaustion:

“You win.”

“But I have a question—how did you know the readers would support you?”

“Because I've seen the data.” Lin Chen pulled up the reader profile analysis. “The readers of this story are 75% business practitioners, 18% financial investors, and 7% fantasy enthusiasts. They don't read this story to see the protagonist kneel and beg for mercy; they want to see ‘solving all problems through commercial means.’”

“You were destroying that core appeal.”

“So they were bound to stand on my side.”

The Author was silent.

Finally, he sighed: “Fine, you can continue to write the story according to the current direction. But the outline must return—Arrogant Dragon must eventually become your opponent; that was decided long ago.”

“Fine,” Lin Chen nodded. “But it must be in the form of commercial competition, not a life-and-death struggle. That is the bottom line.”

“...Deal.”

A new “Creative Consensus Agreement” was generated in the air, and both parties signed it.

The moment the agreement took effect, Lin Chen felt a certain sense of restriction vanish—that was the Author's right to forcibly intervene in the story's direction, which had now turned into a “right to suggest.”

“By the way,” the Author said one last thing before disappearing, “let me give you a reminder. The source of the Zeroing is more complex than you think. It's not just a universal law, it's also...”

The sentence wasn't finished.

The communication was forcibly cut off.

It wasn't the Author who cut it.

Some higher-level existence had snapped the conversation shut.

Lin Chen's expression darkened.

He immediately contacted the Manager: “Creator, the Author just mentioned the source of the Zeroing, but he was cut off before he could finish. Do you know what's going on?”

The Manager's projection appeared, his expression solemn: “The only ones who can interrupt a conversation with the Author... are the ‘Platform Side.’”

“Platform?”

“Yes.” The Manager pulled up an interface Lin Chen had never seen before—it was a vast ocean of book covers, each book the story of a universe. "dimension shareholder" was just one of them, ranked somewhere in the middle of a certain category.

“The story we are in is being serialized on a place called the ‘Genesis Reading Platform’,” the Manager pointed at the interface. “The Author is just a writer; the Platform is the true controller. If the Platform feels a story is ‘violating regulations,’ they can ban the book directly.”

“What happens if a book is banned?”

“The entire universe, along with all its characters, vanishes completely,” the Manager said word by word. “As if it never existed.”

Lin Chen's pupils contracted.

He looked at that platform interface—on the cover of "dimension shareholder," a yellow 【Under Review】 tag was currently glowing.

“When did this start?”

“Right when you were confronting the Author,” the Manager smiled bitterly. “The Platform detected a ‘conflict between character and Author’ and automatically triggered the review process. Now, our life and death are in the hands of the Platform's reviewers.”

Before his voice could fade.

A new message suddenly popped up on the platform interface:

【Review Notice: The work "dimension shareholder" has entered the re-evaluation stage due to suspected ‘character loss of control’】

【During the re-evaluation period, all plot developments must comply with Platform regulations】

【Violation: Characters must not possess clear awareness of ‘breaking the Fourth Wall’】

【Rectification Requirement: The protagonist, Lin Chen, must ‘forget the realization of being in a story’ within 24 hours, otherwise the work will be taken down】

Lin Chen looked at those words and laughed.

“Forget?”

“Sure.”

He pulled up a contract template from The Group's legal department.

“But the Platform needs to pay a ‘Character Cognition Zeroing Fee.’”

“As for the price...”

“I want 51% of this Platform's equity.”

“Otherwise, I'll take all the readers—”

“And collectively jump ship to a competitor platform.”