253: Chapter 253 Capital Pollution! The Great Purge Will Kill Us with Money

Three seconds after the "silence" light spot issued a warning, the first wave of the Great Cleansing's attack arrived.

No earth-shattering cataclysm, no monster invasion.

Only a pop-up window appeared before all sentient beings in the "dimension shareholder" universe.

Window Title: [Commercial Activity Toxicity Detection Report]

Content:

"As detected by the Narrative Layer Cleaning Committee, the commercialization index of your universe has exceeded the safety threshold by 1000 times.

Main Violations:

1. Financializing the 'right of existence' (Violation of basic ethics)

2. Trading 'emotional data' (Infringement of conscious autonomy)

3. Establishing cross-dimensional capital monopolies (Destruction of ecological balance)

According to the "Narrative Layer Sustainable Development Convention," this universe has been classified as a 'heavy pollution source.'

Cleansing Plan: Mandatory De-commercialization.

Countdown: 72 Hours."

Below the window were two buttons:

[Surrender Immediately: Strip all commercial systems and return to the primitive narrative mode]

[Resist to the End: Endure omni-dimensional economic sanctions]

Lin Chen stared at that window and suddenly laughed.

"Economic sanctions?" He looked at everyone in the meeting room. "They want to use 'money' to punish us?"

Future Lin Chen quickly analyzed the data: "It's not money, it's 'anti-commercial rules.' I've decoded the underlying protocol of the cleansing program—it will attack us from three levels."

He pulled up the prediction model:

First Level: Currency Collapse. The cleansing program will infinitely over-issue this universe's currency, leading to hyperinflation and the instant paralysis of all financial systems.

Second Level: Contract Invalidation. All commercial contracts, debt relationships, and equity agreements will automatically become void, and social credit will collapse.

Third Level: Value Zeroing. The concept of 'price' for all goods and services will be deleted, returning to a primitive state of bartering.

"If we don't surrender," Future Lin Chen summarized, "in 72 hours, our civilization will retreat to the Stone Age—not metaphorically, we will literally lose the concept of 'trading'."

The countdown panel ticked: [71:59:58]

Arrogant Dragon drew his sword: "Then let's fight! That so-called Cleaning Committee—"

"You can't fight it." The Librarian connected to the communication, "The Cleaning Committee is not an entity; it is the incarnation of the basic rules of the Narrative Layer. It's like you can't kill 'gravity' with a sword."

"So we just wait to die?" Arrogant Dragon said angrily.

"No." Lin Chen stood up, "Since they are attacking with 'anti-commercial rules,' we will defend with 'commercial rules'—let's see whose rules are stronger."

He pulled up the financial backend and began operating.

Step one: Issue [Anti-Inflation Eternal Bonds].

The bond terms were very special:

"The value of this bond is pegged to the 'purchasing power of this universe's currency.' If inflation occurs, the face value of the bond will automatically increase proportionally, ensuring the holder's assets do not shrink.

Issuance volume: Infinite.

Subscription condition: Must be purchased with this universe's currency."

The bonds went online, and investors across the universe scrambled to buy them.

Because they realized—if inflation really happened, these bonds were the only safe haven.

The cleansing program sensed the resistance.

The currency collapse attack was launched early.

[Alert: Trillion-fold currency over-issuance detected]

[Estimated in one hour, Underworld Coins will become waste paper]

But just then, something bizarre happened.

The over-issued currency, as soon as it entered circulation, was immediately used by investors to buy [Anti-Inflation Eternal Bonds].

Bond sales were booming, recovering all the over-issued currency.

Before inflation could even begin, it was snuffed out.

The Cleaning Committee's program seemed to lag for a moment.

Then it launched the second level of attack: Contract Invalidation.

[Deleting 'Contract' concept...]

[Deletion progress: 10%... 20%...]

The Underworld Group's contract database began turning into garbled code.

But Lin Chen was already prepared.

He had already "securitized" all important contracts—turning them into tradable financial products listed on the cross-dimensional exchange.

When the cleansing program deleted the concept of "contract," these securitized contracts were classified differently because they had become "commodities."

The concept deletion bypassed them.

Simultaneously, Lin Chen launched a counterattack:

On the cross-dimensional exchange, he listed a new commodity for sale—[Cleaning Committee Operation Authority Futures].

Commodity description:

"These futures track the cleansing progress of the 'Narrative Layer Cleaning Committee'.

If the cleansing succeeds, the futures return to zero.

If the cleansing fails, the value of the futures will skyrocket.

Speculators, want to take a gamble?"

Gamblers from all over the Narrative Layer flocked to the news.

They didn't care who won or lost; they only cared about whether they could make money.

Thus, a bizarre scene unfolded:

Every time the Cleaning Committee advanced the cleansing progress a bit, those shorting the [Cleansing Progress Futures] made money, while those going long lost money.

And the group that made money immediately used their profits to buy the defense bonds of the "dimension shareholder" universe—because if the universe collapsed, they would also lose.

The group that lost money desperately obstructed the cleansing, trying to reverse the market trend.

The cleansing program, inexplicably, was sucked into the financial market.

Every one of its operations became a betting target for speculators.

The progress fluctuated, as if being pulled by an invisible hand.

The Cleaning Committee seemed to get angry.

It skipped the second level and directly launched the ultimate attack: Value Zeroing.

[Deleting 'Price' concept]

[Deleting 'Currency' concept]

[Deleting 'Trading' concept]

[Deleting...]

This time, the attack was absolute.

Lin Chen's financial defense line began to crumble—because finance itself is built on the concept of "value."

Once "value" was gone, all bonds, futures, and stocks became meaningless numbers.

In the meeting room, the screens went black one by one.

Arrogant Dragon gritted his teeth: "Is there no other way?"

"There is." Lin Chen looked at the "silence" light spot, "Do you remember the contract from when we acquired you?"

The light spot flickered: "I remember... Party A obtains 'Zeroing rights'..."

"Right." Lin Chen pulled up that contract, "What is the essence of 'Zeroing'?"

"It's... erasing existence?"

"No." Lin Chen pointed at the collapsing universe, "It's 'making existence become nothing.' But what if 'nothing' itself is also a 'state of existence'?"

He pulled up the operation interface and entered a line of code:

[Define 'Worthlessness' as the new unit of value]

[Abbreviation: Zero-value Currency]

[Exchange rate: 1 Underworld Coin = Zero-value Currency (because Underworld Coins are already worthless)]

[Issuance volume: Infinite]

The code ran.

Instantly, all zeroed assets were re-priced in "Zero-value Currency."

An item originally worth 1 million was now worth 0 Zero-value Currency—it sounded like nonsense.

But Lin Chen added a second rule:

[Zero-value Currency Transaction Tax Rate: 1,000,000%]

In other words, using Zero-value Currency for transactions required paying an astronomical tax.

So, who would be willing to trade using Zero-value Currency?

The answer was: People who didn't want to pay taxes.

Consequently, everyone desperately tried to make their assets "valuable" to avoid entering the Zero-value Currency system.

And the right to define "value"—was in Lin Chen's hands.

He redefined value:

"Acts of resisting the cleansing have value."

"Acts of protecting the universe have value."

"Acts of maintaining the commercial system have value."

As soon as the definition was out, the universe's economic system was reborn in another form.

The Cleaning Committee's [Value Zeroing] attack was twisted into [Value Redefinition].

The program was completely confused.

It couldn't understand this logic—it had clearly deleted the concept of value, so why did a new one pop up?

The countdown panel began to flash:

[Cleansing progress: 47%]

[Error: Logical paradox detected]

[Error: Cleansing target is using commercial means to define 'anti-commercial']

[Suggestion: Upgrade cleansing protocol]

"It's going to upgrade." Future Lin Chen warned, "The next wave might be the direct deletion of the concept of 'commerce' itself."

"It can't be deleted." Lin Chen pulled up the chapter the Author had just updated, "Because the concept of 'commerce' is now written in the text of 'dimension shareholder.' And the copyright of this book is in our hands."

He flipped through the work's document and found the latest chapter.

The Author wrote:

"Lin Chen used commercial rules to resist the cleansing, and he realized—in a story, the existence of a 'concept' depends on 'whether it is described'."

"As long as the Author is still describing commerce, commerce will not disappear."

Reality affects the narrative.

Narrative defines reality.

The Cleaning Committee's upgrade program ran halfway and then suddenly terminated.

Because it detected: The 'commerce' concept it wanted to delete was being protected by the creation text layer.

It didn't have the authority to delete settings under the Author's pen.

The countdown stopped.

The cleansing program began to retreat.

But before leaving, it sent one final message:

[Warning: Although you have temporarily resisted the cleansing]

[The fact of 'commercialization pollution' has been recorded]

['Anti-Commercial Alliance' will soon be formed]

[The next cleansing will be a war of all commercial universes]

The message disappeared.

The universe returned to peace.

Arrogant Dragon breathed a sigh of relief: "We won?"

"Temporarily." Lin Chen looked at that warning, "But we are exposed. Now all 'non-commercial universes' will see us as a tumor."

"Then what do we do?"

"Take the initiative." Lin Chen pulled up the cross-dimensional map, "Before the alliance forms, we will first acquire a few key universes—turning enemies into shareholders."

As he was operating, he suddenly received a communication from a stranger.

Connected.

Opposite him was an old man dressed in a simple long robe, with an idyllic natural landscape behind him.

The old man spoke, his voice gentle but carrying an unquestionable authority:

"Lin Chen, I am the representative of the 'Original Narrative Guardians'."

"We appreciate your commercial talent."

"But your universe is polluting the purity of the entire Narrative Layer."

"We invite you to join the 'De-commercialization Transformation Plan'—voluntarily strip all commercial systems and return to simple narrative."

"As compensation, we will grant you the title of 'Saint of Nature'."

"Please consider it."

The communication ended.

Lin Chen was silent for three seconds.

Then he laughed.

He replied with a message:

"Acquisition Offer: I'll trade the 'Saint of Nature' title for 50% of the original equity of your universe. If you agree, we'll sign the contract tomorrow."

The message was sent.

There was no further response.