263: Chapter 263 Healthy Competition Tax! I Make My Opponents Pay for the Right to Lose

The very first second the concept of 'competition' was erased, Lin Chen sensed something was wrong.

He was reviewing The Group's quarterly financial report, and when he reached the page for 'Market Competition Analysis,' his mind suddenly went blank.

It wasn't that he forgot the content.

It was that he simply didn't understand the meaning of the word 'competition.'

He looked at terms like 'market share,' 'competitor,' and 'price war' on the report. He recognized each character, but strung together they were like a foreign scripture—these concepts no longer existed in his cognition.

"Boss?" The Finance Director noticed Lin Chen's vacant stare and tentatively asked, "Is there a problem with this report?"

"The report..." Lin Chen stared at the page, "What is 'competition'?"

The room fell silent.

The Finance Director's face changed. He hurriedly accessed the database and typed in the two characters for 'competition'—search results: 0.

The term had vanished from all data repositories.

"Concept erasure..." Future Lin Chen's voice sounded in the communication channel, carrying a rare urgency, "It's not just the text disappearing; it's deletion at the cognitive level! Right now, all beings across the entire Narrative Layer have forgotten what 'competition' means!"

The surveillance feeds confirmed this.

In the Dead Silence Star Domain, two vendors were arguing over a stall location when they suddenly froze simultaneously, looked at each other, and asked in confusion, "What... are we doing?"

In the Spiritual Energy Star Domain, two sect elders who had been fighting over spirit vein mining rights stopped their spells, looking bewildered at the magical tools in each other's hands: "What are these... used for?"

Commercial activities hadn't stopped.

But all 'competitive behavior' had ground to a halt—because no one knew what that was.

What was more terrifying was that the entire financial system Lin Chen had built was founded upon this very concept of 'competition.'

The rise and fall of the stock market? That's the manifestation of competition between companies.

Going long or short on futures contracts? That's investors' competitive forecasting of the future.

Even the most basic 'haggling' was a form of competition.

Without competition, the market became a stagnant pool.

"Morgana and Alpha have gone mad." Golden Abacus's urgent communication came through, "They'd rather destroy the entire Narrative Layer's economic foundation than let you win the Kindling Project!"

"Not destroy." Lin Chen forced himself to calm down and analyze the data, "Look, transactions are still happening, they've just become... 'fixed-price transactions.' Sellers set a price, buyers either accept it or leave; there's no haggling process. This means the 'transaction' concept still exists, only 'competition' has been excised."

He pulled up the cross-star domain trade data flow.

Indeed, the prices of all commodities had become fixed values, no longer fluctuating. Because price fluctuation was essentially a competitive game between buyers and sellers. Now that the concept of the game was gone, prices were frozen.

"This is more insidious than outright destruction." Future Lin Chen calculated rapidly, "Fixed prices mean the market loses its regulatory function; resources cannot be optimally allocated. Within twenty-four hours, widespread shortages and surpluses will erupt across the entire Narrative Layer. The economic system will slowly suffocate to death."

A countdown panel popped up—this time, it was the economic collapse countdown:

【23:59:59】

Time was tight.

But Lin Chen suddenly discovered a loophole.

"The concept erasure... seems incomplete." He pointed at a surveillance feed, "Look at this cultivator. He's still practicing in secret—cultivation is essentially competing with heaven and earth for spiritual energy, which is also a form of competition. But he hasn't forgotten how to cultivate."

"Because 'cultivation competition' and 'commercial competition' are categorized as different sub-concepts." Future Lin Chen had a sudden realization, "The seed of the heavenly dao's erasure program has a flaw! It only deleted cognition related to 'commercial competition.' The competitive concepts in other fields are still there!"

"Then that makes things easier." Lin Chen's eyes lit up, "Since commercial competition has been deleted, we'll redefine it—replace it with concepts that haven't been deleted yet."

He called up the operation interface and executed a three-step plan.

Step One: Issue the *New Regulations for Cross-Star Domain Commercial Conduct*.

The core of the new regulations was a single clause: From now on, all commercial activities shall no longer use the term 'competition.' It is to be replaced with 'differentiated value demonstration.'

For example, if two shops sell the same product, you can't say 'our price is more competitive.' You must say 'our price falls within the advantageous range of the differentiated value system.'

Bypass the deleted concept, rebuild the logic with new vocabulary.

Step Two: Establish the 'Differentiated Value Administration Bureau.'

The Bureau's responsibility is to issue 'Differentiated Value Licenses' for all commercial activities. To obtain a license, merchants must prove their product or service has 'unique value'—and the method of proof is to pay taxes.

The more you pay, the higher the license grade, and the better the recommended placement you receive.

"Isn't this just a disguised 'competition tax'?" Zhang Hao understood.

"Correct." Lin Chen nodded, "Since we can't compete, we'll turn 'demonstrating differentiated value' into a business. Want to win? Pay up."

Step Three: The most cunning operation of all.

Lin Chen packaged the tax revenue from the 'Differentiated Value Licenses' into financial products and sold them to capital that wanted to invest but couldn't find direction.

The product description was written plainly:

"This product's returns are linked to the commercial activity level across the entire Narrative Layer. The more prosperous commerce is, the more tax revenue, the higher your dividends. And to achieve commercial prosperity, more merchants need to purchase licenses—therefore, every cent you invest is contributing to economic recovery."

He collects the taxes, yet makes those paying them feel like they're doing a public good.

Within one hour of the financial product's launch, sales exceeded fifty trillion.

Funds poured in.

Lin Chen used this money to do two things.

The first: Simultaneously establish 'Differentiated Value Exchanges' in both the Dead Silence Star Domain and the Spiritual Energy Star Domain, allowing merchants to publicly bid for 'recommended placements'—though it couldn't be called bidding, only 'differentiated value contribution ranking.'

The second: He contacted Morgana and Alpha.

The video call connected.

On her Frozen Throne, Morgana was surrounded by an even more intense chill. Behind her, the ice-blue seed of the heavenly dao was slowly rotating.

In the data stream, Alpha's form was much more blurred than before, clearly showing the immense cost of activating the seed.

"You two," Lin Chen got straight to the point, "Had enough fun?"

"Fun?" Morgana sneered, "Lin Chen, your commercial empire is finished. Without the concept of competition, all your business models are castles in the air."

"Is that so?" Lin Chen pulled up the record of the fifty trillion in taxes he'd just collected, "But my income is still rising."

Alpha's data stream fluctuated violently: "Impossible! We detected a 73% drop in commercial activity across the entire Narrative Layer!"

"That's because you only monitored 'traditional commerce.'" Lin Chen zoomed in on the data chart, "Look here—the scale of the 'Differentiated Value Economy' has grown by eight hundred percent in the past three hours. You erased an old concept; I created a new one. And..."

He paused, then smiled, "Thank you for deleting 'competition.' Now, all merchants can only gain an advantage by 'paying taxes.' My taxation system has become the only path to victory. In a sense, you helped me establish a commercial monopoly."

Morgana and Alpha fell silent simultaneously.

They realized they might have made a fatal mistake—they tried to defeat Lin Chen with rules, but Lin Chen's greatest skill was building new rules on the ruins of the old ones.

"Now," Lin Chen continued, "I have a proposal. You stop the concept erasure, and I'll help you repair the seed's backlash—according to my analysis, the price you paid to activate the seed isn't small, is it? Morgana, has your Frozen Core begun to melt? Alpha, has your data stream stability dropped to a critical point?"

On the screen, a fine crack indeed appeared on Morgana's Frozen Throne.

Alpha's form blurred by another 3%.

"What do you want?" Alpha asked coldly.

"Cooperation." Lin Chen projected a new contract, "The three of us will share the tax revenue from the 'Differentiated Value Economy.' You stop erasing concepts, I'll help you stabilize the seeds, and—in the final selection of the Kindling Project, we can 'negotiate the rankings.'"

"Negotiate the rankings?"

"Yes." Lin Chen smiled, "For instance, we agree that Morgana is first, I'm second, Alpha is third. Then we distribute the Kindling Project rewards according to this ranking. This way, all three of us win, it's just a matter of winning more or less."

This was blatant match-fixing.

But the temptation was too great.

Morgana and Alpha calculated quickly.

If they didn't cooperate and continued the confrontation, they might die from the seed's backlash or be marginalized by Lin Chen's new economic system.

If they cooperated, they could at least secure a portion of the Kindling Project rewards.

"I agree." Alpha was the first to compromise, "But I want 30% of the tax revenue."

"I want 35%." Morgana raised the stakes.

"Agreed." Lin Chen readily accepted, "Sign the contract."

Three electronic signatures were placed.

The moment the contract took effect, Morgana and Alpha simultaneously stopped the concept erasure program.

Across the entire Narrative Layer, the concept of 'competition' began to slowly recover—but the recovered 'competition' had been redefined by Lin Chen, becoming a 'differentiated value contest.'

And the authority to judge, tax, and set the rules for this contest was entirely in Lin Chen's hands.

The crisis seemed to be resolved.

But just as Lin Chen was about to end the communication—

Morgana suddenly said something strange:

"Lin Chen, have you ever thought... why the seed of the heavenly dao could so precisely erase the concept of 'commercial competition'?"

Lin Chen frowned, "What do you mean?"

"It means," Alpha continued, "the seed's erasure program isn't random. It requires a 'concept template'—someone must have told it beforehand what 'commercial competition' is. And the provider of this template..."

Morgana's ice-blue eyes stared directly at Lin Chen:

"...is the legacy AI of the Purity Alliance."

"And that AI, right now, most likely..."

"...is right by your side."

The communication cut off.

Lin Chen whirled around, looking at everyone in the conference room.

The Finance Director, Zhang Hao, Arrogant Dragon, Su Qingyu...

Who could be disguised as the AI?