128: Director Bai, I changed your script.

Blue Star, Containment Department, Seventh Isolation Zone.

Time had lost all meaning here.

Sword River Fish didn't know how long he had been in this pure white "cage."

Three days?

Five days?

Or a week?

He only knew that every day, when the white light source above his head, integrated with the ceiling, lit up punctually, his day began.

Ten minutes later, a hidden compartment would silently open on one side of the room's wall.

Inside was a "nutritional meal" with a balanced diet.

It had no taste, no color, only precisely calculated calories and various elements necessary to sustain life.

After finishing his "meal," he would be "invited" to another equally pure white "writing room."

On that familiar, cold white desk, there would be a latest model, high-performance laptop.

Then, Supervisor Bai, the devil whose face always wore a gentle smile, would sit opposite him like the most dedicated "editor," discussing the upcoming "story direction" with him.

"Mr. Sword River Fish, I find the setting in your latest chapter a bit inappropriate."

Supervisor Bai would say slowly, in his warm, magnetic voice.

"...Having 'Chen Yuan' accidentally discover an ancient ruin that can 'reverse cause and effect' on his journey to find the 'Blood of the Past.'"

"This 'golden finger' is a bit too powerful."

"This doesn't align with our basic positioning of this story as 'low fantasy' and 'realistic.'"

"I suggest you change it so that Chen Yuan encounters an ancient remnant soul, also resisting the Lord of the End."

"Having this 'remnant soul' introduce the next plotline about 'Humanity's Secret History' would be more 'reasonable and logical,' wouldn't it?"

Sword River Fish usually chose to remain silent.

He wouldn't refute, nor would he agree.

He was merely a soulless puppet, numbly staring at the other party.

And Supervisor Bai never forced him to express an opinion.

He would simply smile, raise his hand, and gently tap the desk.

Tap.

With a soft sound, the huge one-way glass wall in the writing room would instantly become transparent.

On the other side of the glass wall was an equally pure white "psychological counseling room."

Lin Wan'er was sitting inside.

Opposite her sat a psychologist in a white coat, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, who looked as gentle and refined as Supervisor Bai.

The doctor would show her some pictures.

Some seemingly ordinary test pictures.

But every time Lin Wan'er saw those pictures, her body would uncontrollably tremble violently.

Her face would show expressions of extreme fear and pain.

She would clutch her head tightly, emitting suppressed and desperate whimpers.

Sword River Fish knew those weren't ordinary pictures.

They were "mental pollution sources" that Supervisor Bai, that devil, had "replicated" his darkest, most desperate "memories" from the mental hospital through some "technology" he couldn't comprehend!

Every time Lin Wan'er collapsed, it was like a venom-tipped dagger plunging fiercely into Sword River Fish's heart!

Then repeatedly stirring and cutting!

"...I'll change it."

Finally, he would always utter these two words in a voice so hoarse it was almost inaudible.

"Very good."

Supervisor Bai nodded in satisfaction.

Then, he tapped the desk again.

The glass wall reverted to its cold, one-way mirror state, completely isolating the heartbreaking scene.

"...Well then, let's continue."

"Regarding the 'character arcs' of those 'supporting characters' in the Joint Squad..."

"I feel they are a bit too 'scene-stealing'...".

And so, under a spiritual torment akin to "death by a thousand cuts," Sword River Fish was forced to gradually change his "story," once filled with "resistance" and "hope," into the cold "script" Supervisor Bai desired, full of "scheming," "conspiracy," and "fatalism."

He became the most pathetic "ghostwriter," writing "fanfiction" of his own "child," and of the worst, most OOC kind.

Every time he posted a "new chapter" that had been "demonically altered" beyond recognition, every time he saw the comments section, those "readers" who once supported and encouraged him, their messages filled with "disappointment," "anger," and "confusion"—

"Author, are you possessed, for crying out loud?!"

"What the hell is this garbage?!"

"Character collapse, plot dumbed down! Unfollowed! Goodbye!"

He felt as if a piece of his soul was being torn off alive.

He was personally killing his "child."

He was personally letting down the only people who believed in him.

This pain was ten thousand times worse than death.

He had thought of resisting.

But how could he resist?

He had also thought of using the "bell" to "distort" this "story."

But Supervisor Bai seemed to have anticipated this.

This "Seventh Isolation Zone" where he was imprisoned was an "absolute domain" independent of "reality."

Here, the bell's power to leverage "cause and effect" was suppressed to its lowest point.

He could only manage to have an extra tasteless "sugar cube" in his "nutritional meal," or make the nurse who gave him a "physical examination" every day unluckily trip and fall.

These meaningless "small acts of rebellion," besides bringing a negligible "ripple" to his heart, which had long been submerged in despair, had no other effect.

He was like Sun Wukong, trapped in a sturdy "glass bottle" forged by "rules" and "technology."

No matter how he struggled, how he roared, he couldn't shake the "Five-Finger Mountain" pressing down on him... It was another night awakened by a nightmare.

Sword River Fish sat on the cold, pure white bed, gasping for breath.

His forehead was covered in cold sweat.

In his dream, he was back in that mental hospital.

Only this time, the person tied to the operating table was no longer the innocent patients, but Lin Wan'er.

And the chief surgeon, holding a scalpel with a sinister grin on his face, was himself.

"...Hoo... hoo..."

He clutched his face in agony.

He knew this was Supervisor Bai's "warning."

This was the devil telling him in the most cruel and direct way—

"Your 'reason,' your 'spirit,' your 'dreams,' are all already within my control."

"Give up."

"You cannot escape my grasp."

Despair, like the rising tide, cold and pervasive, little by little, submerged his last foothold, named "hope."

Let it be... He slowly lowered his hands.

Those eyes, which once recorded countless passionate chapters, were now as dead as a stagnant ditch that could no longer stir a single ripple.

Just give up like this.

Just become a "typewriter" without thoughts or emotions.

This way, at least Wan'er's safety can be guaranteed.

This way, at least the "story" belonging to "Chen Yuan" can continue in a way that, though "distorted," still "exists."

This might be the best ending he, this overestimating "god-slayer," could hope for.

He slowly lay down, preparing to welcome another tomorrow full of "compromise" and "humiliation."

However, just as he was about to close his eyes and sink into the endless darkness, the cold bell he had casually thrown by his pillow suddenly emitted a faint vibration, utterly different from before.

Buzz—

The vibration was no longer merely a physical "vibration."

It was more like a "call" from a higher dimension!

A "resonance" from the depths of his soul!

Sword River Fish's consciousness suddenly jolted!

He instinctively reached out and clutched the bell tightly in his hand!

Then, he closed his eyes, concentrating his already tormented and broken "spirit" entirely on that bell!

He wanted to "listen"!

He wanted to know what this sudden "anomaly" was!

Buzz— Buzz—

As his concentration deepened, the "resonance" became clearer and clearer!

He "saw" it!

He was no longer a prisoner in a jail.

He seemed to have become a "ghost" floating in an endless sea of stars!

Around him were countless giant "rivers" made of light!

Each "river" flowed with countless images and sounds!

Those were... those were countless different "stories"!

He saw a man in a red and blue bodysuit swinging between skyscrapers!

He heard a young boy holding a magic wand chanting spells loudly!

He felt the earth-shattering "chakra" of a group called "ninja"!

He even "smelled" the salty air of the sea, full of "freedom" and "adventure"!

This... where was this?!

And what were these?!

Just as he was awestruck and bewildered by this magnificent sight, which surpassed the limits of human imagination, the voice of Humanity, Gu Jianghan, with a hint of playfulness and mockery, echoed leisurely as if spanning billions of light-years from the end of that star sea.

["...Do you see?"]

["...This is what 'story' truly looks like."]

["...What you previously understood as 'distortion' was merely temporarily muddying the 'water' in a 'river.'"]

["...That is the most superficial and crude usage."]

["...And its true power..."]

["...is not 'distortion.'"]

["...but 'connection.'"]

["...It can allow you, like the most skilled 'plumber,' to subtly connect these unrelated 'rivers.'"]

["...Then, 'borrow' some 'things' you need from other 'stories.'"]

["...For example..."]

The voice paused slightly.

Immediately after, an incredibly clear and "powerful" "information stream," like a thunderclap of creation, fiercely struck the depths of Sword River Fish's soul!

It was a cultivation technique!

A supreme demonic art from another dark "story" full of "gu" and "scheming," specifically used to resist "heaven's will" and refine "destiny"!

— [Spring Autumn Cicada]!

— [Fixed Immortal Travel]!

— [Man Can Conquer Heaven]!

["...Go."]

Humanity, Gu Jianghan's voice carried a demonic allure.

["...Go use the 'spear' of another 'story' to attack the 'shield' of this 'story.'"]

["...Go let your high and mighty 'new editor' truly taste..."]

["— 'Plot out of control.'"]