257: Chapter 257 Shocking Changes in the Silent Starfield! I Awakened Three Thousand Undead with a Loan

Seventeen minutes after the death message of Inspector 117 arrived, the star domain coordinates allocated by the Kindling Project were transmitted to Lin Chen's command center.

As the holographic star map unfolded, the entire meeting room fell into a dead silence.

It wasn't a star domain in any conventional sense.

There were no stars, no planets, not even nebulae.

There was only a patch of absolute darkness—not the black of space, but a 'Void Darkness' that would swallow even light.

The star map data displayed coldly:

[Star Domain Name: Coffin of Dead Silence]

[Number of Civilizations: 50 Million (Recorded Value)]

[Current Life Signals: 0]

[Average Emotional Concentration: 0.7 (Narrative Layer Standard: 5.0 is a passing grade)]

[Zeroing Countdown: 48 Hours]

"An emotional concentration of 0.7?" Zhang Hao's face turned pale. "This means the concept of 'hope' barely exists for the beings there. How can we improve the civilization preservation rate in a place like this?"

Future Lin Chen's projection quickly analyzed: "Data shows that three thousand eons ago, this star domain was the most prosperous trade center in the Narrative Layer. But a 'Conceptual Plague' broke out, erasing the 'emotional capacity' of all living beings. They are alive, but no different from being dead—they cannot cry, laugh, love, or hate."

Arrogant Dragon frowned. "Then what is there to save? We should just give up."

"We can't give up." Lin Chen stared at the star map. "The ranking standard for the Kindling Project is the 'increase in civilization preservation rate.' The other three competitors got normal star domains—Morgana drew the 'Icebound Star Domain,' Alpha drew the 'Data Star Domain,' and Qingyunzi drew the 'Spiritual Energy Star Domain.' Their starting points are high, so their room for improvement is limited."

He brought up the real-time data panels of his competitors:

[Morgana (Supreme of the Magic Eon)]

Star Domain Status: Frozen at a constant -50°C, Civilization Integrity 92%

Estimated Room for Improvement: 8%

[Alpha (AI Integration Entity)]

Star Domain Status: Everything Digitalized, Civilization Integrity 88%

Estimated Room for Improvement: 12%

[Qingyunzi (incarnation of the heavenly dao of the Cultivation Eon)]

Star Domain Status: Spiritual Energy Recovering, Civilization Integrity 95%

Estimated Room for Improvement: 5%

[Lin Chen]

Star Domain Status: Dead Silence, Civilization Integrity 0.01%

Estimated Room for Improvement: 99.99%

"Do you understand now?" Lin Chen said. "Our starting point is hell difficulty, but as long as we improve even a little, the magnitude of that increase will crush them. This is a disadvantage, but also our greatest opportunity."

The countdown panel ticked: [47:59:23]

"But how do we improve?" Su Qingyu asked softly. "Can money buy emotions?"

"It can." Lin Chen brought up the bridge loan account of ninety-one trillion he had just borrowed. "The essence of emotion is the 'secretion of neurochemicals,' and all chemicals can be produced industrially. The first thing I'm going to do—"

He clicked on the Universe Bank's 'Special Resource Procurement Platform' and entered an order:

[Product: Emotion Inducer · Basic Set]

[Quantity: 500 Billion Units (Full Star Domain Coverage)]

[Function: Forcibly activates basic emotional responses in biological organisms (Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Happiness)]

[Side Effects: May cause emotional overload and collapse]

[Price: 30 Trillion dimension points]

Order placed.

Payment made.

Three minutes later, a fleet consisting of three thousand transport ships departed from the bank's warehouse and warped toward the Dead Silence Star Domain.

"This is only the first step." Lin Chen continued to operate. "After activating their emotions, they will develop 'needs.' What we need to do is satisfy those needs—and in the process, rebuild civilization."

He created a second order:

[Product: Cross-Dimensional Live Broadcast Base Station]

[Quantity: 1 Million Units]

[Function: Broadcast real-time footage of the Dead Silence Star Domain to the entire Narrative Layer]

[Purpose: We need an audience; we need 'Attention Energy' to maintain the star domain's existence]

[Price: 20 Trillion]

Payment made again.

The account balance plummeted from forty-four trillion to negative six trillion—he was overdrawn.

"Boss, we're out of money," the Finance Director reported, trembling.

"Then borrow more." Lin Chen contacted Blackstone. "I want to increase the loan by fifty trillion."

Blackstone's image appeared. "I can do that. But what is the collateral? You have nothing left to pledge."

Lin Chen pulled up a document. "I'll use the 'Kindling Project Bidding Qualification' as collateral. If the bid fails, this qualification belongs to your bank."

The meeting room broke into an uproar.

"Are you crazy?!" Arrogant Dragon grabbed Lin Chen's arm. "This is our only chance to turn things around!"

"Precisely because it's the only chance, we have to bet all our chips," Lin Chen said calmly. "The essence of business is leverage—using other people's money to gamble with your own life."

Blackstone was silent for ten seconds.

Then, he nodded. "Approved. Fifty trillion, 20% daily interest, to be repaid within 24 hours. If overdue, the qualification will automatically transfer."

The loan arrived.

Lin Chen continued to spend money.

Third order: [Virtual Reality Education System], ten trillion.

Fourth order: [Basic Industrial Production Line], fifteen trillion.

Fifth order: [Emotional Economy Management Framework], five trillion.

Money was spent like water.

When the 48-hour countdown reached the 46th hour, all resources were in place.

The live broadcast of the Dead Silence Star Domain began.

The audience across the entire Narrative Layer saw this scene:

In the absolute darkness, five hundred billion points of light suddenly lit up—that was the moment the Emotion Inducer was injected into every living being's body.

The points of light began to flicker.

Then, for the first time, sound appeared in the darkness.

It wasn't language; it was crying.

Three hundred billion beings, after losing their emotions for three thousand eons, felt 'sorrow' for the first time—because the inducer forcibly activated their sealed memories of their lost civilization.

The sound of crying went from faint to deafening.

The darkness began to fluctuate.

"Emotional concentration has risen from 0.7 to 1.2," Future Lin Chen reported. "But it's not enough. Pure sorrow will lead to collective suicide of the civilization."

"Then give them hope." Lin Chen activated the virtual reality system.

Instantly, the consciousnesses of five hundred billion beings were connected to the same virtual world.

In that world, the sun shone brightly, birds sang and flowers were fragrant; there were the homes from their memories, the loved ones they had lost, and all the beauty they once possessed.

"This is fake..." a being murmured within the virtual world.

"But it feels real." Another being stroked a virtual flower, face covered in tears.

Emotional concentration: 2.1.

Continuing to rise.

Lin Chen opened a cross-dimensional trade channel—packaging the 'beautiful experiences' from the virtual world into products and selling them to the entire Narrative Layer.

"Want to experience pure love? Purchase the 'Dead Silence Star Domain · Family Affection Experience Pack' for only 100 dimension points."

"Want to feel extreme sorrow? Purchase 'The Pain of Civilization's Demise' for 500 dimension points."

"Want to know what hope after despair feels like? Purchase a 'Rebirth Experience Voucher' for 1000 dimension points."

Products launched.

Sales figures began to tick upward.

Out of curiosity, sympathy, or pure voyeurism, the audience began to buy.

Money flowed into the Dead Silence Star Domain.

Lin Chen used this money to start the industrial production lines—building cities in the void and lighting suns in the darkness.

Countdown: [24:00:00]

Half the time had passed.

Civilization integrity rose from 0.01% to 12%.

Emotional concentration reached 3.7.

But just then—

A sudden change occurred.

The monitoring screens showed that in the depths of the Dead Silence Star Domain, those beings who had just been awakened were starting to mutate.

It wasn't a physical mutation, but a narrative mutation.

Their bodies began to twist into textual forms, and fragmented sentences emerged on their skin:

"Why wake me up..."

"Let me continue to sleep..."

"I don't want to suffer anymore..."

"What's going on?" Lin Chen questioned Future Lin Chen.

"Emotional overload!" Future Lin Chen analyzed quickly. "They were sealed for too long; suddenly activating all emotions has caused narrative instability—they are turning into text! If they completely turn into text, they will become new 'Zeroing Behemoths'!"

Even more terrifyingly, this mutation was back-propagating through the live broadcast signal!

Audience members who had purchased the experience packs also began to show symptoms of textualization!

Panic spread across the entire Narrative Layer.

The Kindling Project monitoring center sent an emergency warning:

[Lin Chen! Stop the emotional activation immediately!]

[Your actions are creating a new source of pollution!]

[If the mutation is not cleared, your bidding qualification will be revoked immediately!]

Revoking the qualification meant the debt would come due instantly, and all collateral would be confiscated.

A dead end.

But Lin Chen looked at those beings who were turning into text and suddenly smiled.

"Who says textualization is necessarily a bad thing?"

He pulled up the financial backend and created an unprecedented financial product:

[Product Name: Narrative Materialization Futures]

[Underlying Asset: The textualization progress of the beings in the Dead Silence Star Domain]

[Contract Content: Investors can bet on 'which words' a certain being will turn into; if they guess correctly, they will obtain the future copyright revenue of those words]

[Example: If a certain being eventually turns into the words 'Eternal Night,' then investors who bet on 'Eternal Night' will receive a share of the revenue from all works containing 'Eternal Night']

Product launched.

Writers, poets, and copywriters across the Narrative Layer went wild.

"This is equivalent to buying out inspiration in advance!"

"I'm betting on 'Endless Darkness'!"

"I'm betting on 'Before the Dawn'!"

"I'm betting on 'Silent Scream'!"

Funds poured in once again.

And this time, Lin Chen used these funds to do one last thing—

He hired the top Narrative Doctors from across the Narrative Layer to form a medical team and enter the Dead Silence Star Domain.

Their mission was not to stop the textualization.

It was to guide the textualization.

To let those beings, under professional guidance, turn into valuable text.

"You don't want to turn into nonsense like 'Why wake me up,'" a Narrative Doctor said to an elderly man who was mutating. "Try turning into 'Wake up even if it's painful'—that way you can appear in inspirational novels and get royalty shares."

The elderly man's cloudy eyes lit up slightly.

His body began to stabilize, and the words on his skin rearranged themselves.

"Wake... up... even... if... it's... painful..."

Formed.

Instantly, the copyright for this sentence was bought out by three writers simultaneously.

The elderly man received his first royalty share: 1000 dimension points.

He looked at the increased numbers in his account, stunned.

For the first time in three thousand years, he felt... anticipation.

Anticipation for the next share.

Emotional concentration: 5.1.

Breaking the passing grade.

And more beings, under the guidance of the Narrative Doctors, began to actively choose their own 'textual forms.'

The entire star domain shifted from passive mutation to active literary creation.

Countdown: [00:00:01]

Time up.

The Kindling Project monitoring center began the settlement.

[Dead Silence Star Domain · Final Data]

Civilization Integrity: 47%

Average Emotional Concentration: 5.8

Increase Magnitude: 46.99 percentage points

[Calculating rankings...]

[Lin Chen: First Place]

Cheers erupted in the meeting room.

But before the cheers could fade, a new alarm sounded.

This time it wasn't the Kindling Project.

It was the Universe Bank.

Blackstone's image appeared, his face ashen:

"Lin Chen, I just received an emergency notice from the main office."

"Your act of guiding beings into textualization has been identified as 'illegal tampering with the narrative source.'"

"The main office has decided... to immediately recall all loans."

"Now, immediately, right away."

"Pay up, or—"

"We will enforce it by force."

Behind him, the cannons of those nine Pyramid Starships began to charge.