254: Chapter 254 Alliance Negotiations! I'll Short Your Market with a Surrender Agreement

The "Original Narrative Guardians" did not respond to Lin Chen's buyout offer.

However, three days later, they sent a diplomatic mission.

The mission arrived in a spacecraft woven from vines, landing on the plaza outside the Underworld Group's headquarters. The twelve messengers who stepped out were all dressed in simple linen robes, barefoot, and carried no metal or plastic items.

Leading them was a kind-faced elderly woman holding a glowing seed in her hands.

"Mr. Lin Chen," the old woman began, her voice ringing directly in everyone's minds, "we are peace envoys from the 'Purity Alliance.' We bring our final gesture of goodwill."

She opened her hand, and the seed floated toward Lin Chen.

The seed sprouted and grew in mid-air, transforming into a small fruit tree bearing three fruits.

"These are the 'Fruits of Narrative Origin,'" the old woman explained. "Eat the first, and you will forget all commercial knowledge, returning to simplicity. Eat the second, and your universe will be stripped of its financial systems. Eat the third, and you will receive the blessing of the 'Friend of Nature,' living forever in a simple story."

The fruit tree floated in front of Lin Chen.

In the meeting room, everyone stared at those three fruits.

Arrogant Dragon tightened his grip on his sword hilt.

Future Lin Chen's data stream began high-speed calculations.

Current Lin Chen, however, smiled.

He plucked one fruit, but instead of eating it... he placed it on a scale.

"Weight: 37 grams," he read the data. "Composition analysis: High-concentration narrative energy, laced with 'Conceptual Cleansing Agent.' Market valuation—approximately one hundred thousand dimension points per gram."

He looked at the old woman. "This gift of yours is worth 3.7 million dimension points. I'll take it, thank you."

The kindness on the old woman's face stiffened for a moment.

"Mr. Lin Chen," her voice lowered slightly, "this is not a commodity. This is salvation."

"Everything can be commodified." Lin Chen handed the fruit to the "silence" light orb. "List this on the auction house. Starting price: five million. Remember to label it as a 'Precious Gift from the Anti-Commercial Alliance.'"

The light orb took the fruit and actually began the operation.

A young messenger behind the old woman couldn't take it anymore: "You are insulting us!"

"No," Lin Chen said calmly, "I am teaching you—anything you send out, once it enters my universe, automatically enters the commercial system. Including yourselves."

He pulled up the real-time data of the mission members:

"Your vine spacecraft has been appraised as a 'Rare Natural Artifact,' valued at eighty million dimension points."

"The robes you're wearing are 'Hand-woven Narrative Fiber,' valued at one hundred thousand each."

"Even your thoughts—" He zoomed in on an analysis chart. "Those 'anti-commercial ideals' in your heads have already been packaged as 'Ideological Futures' and listed on the Intracranial Exchange."

The faces of the mission members all changed.

The old woman took a deep breath. "In that case... we have no choice but to initiate Plan B."

She clapped her hands.

Instantly, one-third of the people in the meeting room stood up.

This included two vice presidents of the Underworld Group, three department directors, and... Zhang Hao.

Zhang Hao walked to the old woman's side and bowed his head. "Teacher, I am ready."

Lin Chen looked at this old subordinate who had followed him since the early days of his venture; there was no surprise on his face.

"When were you turned?" he asked.

"Three months ago." Zhang Hao didn't dare look Lin Chen in the eye. "The Purity Alliance found my family in the real world and gave them eternal health and peace... In exchange, I needed to open a defensive gap in the universe when they required it."

The old woman smiled. "Lin Chen, no matter how sturdy your commercial empire is, it cannot withstand betrayal from within. Right now, we have taken over three of the seven core firewalls of the universe. If I give the order, your financial system will be paralyzed within ten minutes."

A countdown panel popped up:

[Firewall Compromise Countdown: 9 minutes 47 seconds]

The atmosphere in the meeting room dropped to freezing point.

Arrogant Dragon pointed his sword at Zhang Hao: "Traitor!"

Zhang Hao gave a bitter smile. "Brother Long, I just wanted my parents to live a few more years..."

"So you sold us all out?!"

"Enough." Lin Chen interrupted the argument.

He looked at the old woman. "What do you want? Say it plainly."

"It's simple," the old woman said. "Sign the 'De-commercialization Surrender Agreement' and voluntarily strip away all commercial systems. We will preserve your universe and the existence of all characters, only... from now on, it will become a pastoral fairy tale."

A golden scroll unfurled in her hands.

The clauses were dense, but the core was a single point: abandon commerce and return to the primitive.

Lin Chen took the scroll and looked at it for three seconds.

Then, he did something that left everyone dumbfounded—

He tore the scroll.

Not in anger, but as if tearing scrap paper, he casually ripped it in half.

"You—" The old woman was shocked and furious.

"Don't be in such a hurry." Lin Chen threw the fragments to the "silence" light orb. "Scan all the clauses of this agreement, and then—issue reverse bonds."

"Reverse issue?"

"Yes." Lin Chen pulled up the financial backend. "Issue 'Surrender Agreement Fulfillment Insurance Bonds.' The terms: investors can bet on whether 'Lin Chen will sign the surrender agreement.' Those betting he will sign go long; those betting he won't go short."

The bonds went live.

Speculators from across the entire Narrative Layer flooded in once again.

The long and short sides began a fierce struggle.

The old woman was confused. "What are you doing?"

"Marketizing your threat." Lin Chen pointed at the bond trading data. "Now, the fact that you are forcing me to surrender has become a financial product. For every bit of pressure added, the shorts make money; for every bit of pressure reduced, the longs make money."

He zoomed in on one transaction. "Look, an investor has already bet one million dimension points that you will give up within seven minutes. Therefore, they now have a strong incentive—to interfere with you."

Before his voice could fade.

The meeting room wall suddenly cracked open.

A fully armed mercenary group burst in—not to help Lin Chen, but to protect the diplomatic mission.

The mercenary captain, a one-eyed brute, shouted at the old woman: "Madam! Please, you must hold out for at least eight minutes! I've bet two million that you can hang in there!"

The old woman was stunned. "Who are you?"

"I'm from the 'Gamblers' Mutual Aid Society'!" The captain raised an energy shield. "Whatever you're doing, just keep the pressure on! Whether my short position makes money depends on you!"

Then, a second wave of people burst in.

This time it was a group of financial lawyers in suits. They surrounded Lin Chen: "Mr. Lin! You must surrender immediately! We went long on the 'Surrender Bonds,' and we're facing heavy floating losses! If you sign the agreement now, we'll give you a 10% cut of the profits!"

A third wave, a fourth wave...

In just three minutes, the meeting room was packed with speculators from various dimensions and their bodyguards.

Everyone, for the sake of their own bets, was either forcing Lin Chen to surrender or forcing the mission to give up.

The diplomatic mission was squeezed in the middle, unable to even speak.

The firewall countdown was still ticking: [6 minutes 12 seconds]

But no one cared anymore.

Because a much larger game of interests had begun.

Lin Chen sat in the main seat, watching the chaos, and said to Arrogant Dragon, "See, the magic of commerce—turning any conflict into a transaction."

At that moment, Zhang Hao quietly walked to Lin Chen's side.

"Boss," he whispered, "the firewall exploit... was a backdoor I left intentionally. It contains a 'Reverse Tracking Program.' As soon as they dare to take over, the program will activate and follow the data stream to find their headquarters' coordinates."

Lin Chen glanced at him. "So you really are an undercover agent?"

"A double agent." Zhang Hao smiled bitterly. "The Alliance turned me, but I played along. As for my parents' illness... you actually arranged for them to be cured last month using The Group's medical fund. I know."

Countdown: [5 minutes 01 second]

The old woman finally broke free from the crowd and held up the glowing seed, preparing to initiate the final cleansing program.

But at the very moment she began the incantation—

Lin Chen pressed a remote control.

The vine spacecraft the mission arrived in suddenly transformed.

The vines receded, revealing a sophisticated metal structure underneath.

A line of text appeared on the hull: "Lin Group · Nature Series Marketing Vessel · Serial No. 007."

"Surprised?" Lin Chen smiled. "The 'Natural Craftsmen Association' within your Alliance, responsible for building spacecraft, was acquired by me just last week. From design to construction, I paid for this entire ship."

The old woman's hand trembled, and the seed fell to the floor.

Lin Chen picked it up. "This seed as well—the company that produces the 'Fruits of Narrative Origin,' 'Purity Farms,' is 67% owned by me. By the way, 80% of your Alliance's 'natural products' are actually produced by my subsidiaries."

He pulled up the equity structure diagram.

All twelve core suppliers of the Purity Alliance were controlled by Lin Chen.

The Alliance itself had long been living within Lin Chen's commercial system.

They just didn't know it.

"So," Lin Chen summarized, "you want to destroy commerce, but everything you eat, wear, use, and even the 'natural ideals' you believe in are products I sold to you."

He leaned closer to the old woman and whispered:

"Do you know? The ultimate form of commerce is making customers believe they are opposing commerce."

The old woman's face turned deathly pale.

The young messengers behind her began to break down—the kind of collapse that comes from a shattered worldview.

The firewall countdown hit [0 minutes 00 seconds].

But there was no paralysis.

Because the authority to take over the firewalls had long since been transferred by Zhang Hao's backdoor program.

The cleansing program failed to start.

The diplomatic mission had utterly failed.

Lin Chen sat back in the main seat, looking at the room full of speculators. "Alright, the farce is over. Now, let's talk business—"

He pulled up a new agreement:

"Purity Alliance Commercialization Transformation Plan."

The first clause: The Alliance is renamed to "Lin Group · Natural Narrative Division."

The old woman looked at the agreement and asked with a tremble, "What if... we don't sign?"

Lin Chen didn't say a word.

He simply opened the internal communication channel of the Alliance.

In the channel, ordinary members of the Alliance were discussing heatedly:

"I heard the envoys went to see Lin Chen?"

"I hope they succeed! Commerce is so filthy!"

"Yeah, we want pure stories!"

"By the way, did you receive the 'Natural Cotton-Linen Robe' you bought yesterday? It's so comfortable!"

"I got it! It was a bit pricey, cost me three months' worth of points."

"But it's worth it! It's handmade!"

Next to the discussion were purchase records—every single item came from a company controlled by Lin Chen.

The old woman closed her eyes.

She knew that from the very roots, the Alliance had already lost.

"I'll sign." She picked up the pen.

But at the very instant the tip of the pen was about to touch the paper—

The entire universe suddenly went still.

It wasn't that time had stopped.

The narrative had been paused.

Everyone was frozen in place; even their thoughts had ceased.

Only Lin Chen could still move.

Because in his pocket, the "Fruit of Narrative Origin" was glowing.

An aged, weary, but immensely dignified voice came from within the fruit:

"Lin Chen."

"You've played this too far."

"Now, stop."

"Otherwise..."

"I will personally delete this story."