134: Breaking through the wall of rules with narrative tricks

He didn't know how long had passed, perhaps an instant, or perhaps an eternity.

Sword River Fish's consciousness struggled to float up from the endless abyss of darkness.

His eyelids were as heavy as lead, and it took all his strength to barely pry open a slit.

What came into view.

It was the familiar, cracked ceiling beam of a mud-brick house.

“Cough... cough cough...”

He suddenly coughed violently, which pulled at his internal organs, and a strong metallic taste of blood welled up in his throat.

Every cell in his body was wailing, on the verge of disintegration.

Direct confrontation with "Divinity" on a narrative level consumed far more than he had imagined.

He struggled to sit up, but found he didn't even have the strength to lift a finger.

He turned his eyes and saw Lin Wan'er, still unconscious, lying on a wooden bed not far away.

The girl's brows were tightly furrowed, and unshed tear stains still clung to her pale face.

It was as if she was still enduring endless suffering in her dream.

A flame, mixed with anger, guilt, and determination.

Once again ignited in Sword River Fish's heart, transforming into a faint but tenacious power, supporting his body that was about to fall apart.

He couldn't collapse.

The war had just begun.

Gritting his teeth, he moved his body inch by inch until he leaned against the cold wall.

Then, he stretched out his hand, trembling like a leaf in the wind, and dragged the laptop, stained with his blood, back in front of him.

He was not in a hurry to continue editing.

Instead, he clicked on the novel's backend and began to carefully read the explosively growing reader comments.

The previous victory gave him hope, but it also made him more vigilant.

The methods of "Divinity" Gu Jianghan could never be so simple.

He had to find all the "landmines" planted by "Divinity" that he had overlooked, from the readers' feedback.

[Reader A]: Awesome! So awesome! The Author is finally back! But seriously, Chapter 11 is a bit strange. The protagonist is so powerful, how could he not foresee the appearance of future Gu Yanci? And miss 100 years? That's not scientific!

[Reader B]: I agree! The hundred-year time jump in Chapter 12 was too abrupt. Although Rebirth is exciting, it feels like something is missing.

[Reader C]: Missing what? Missing the process! What kind of history book-like timeline is Chapter 13? Gu Yanci's 70 years of growth, the rise of human civilization, just glossed over like that? Author, are you being lazy?! I want to see the process! I want to see how Jiang Ruoxue grew from a loli into a Great General!

Each comment, like a flash of lightning, cut through the fog in Sword River Fish's mind.

He suddenly widened his eyes, and his breathing became rapid.

He understood.

He finally understood completely!

The "future me" in Chapter 11, the "hundred years missed" in Chapter 12, and the "harmonized" condensed plot in Chapter 13... these were not three isolated "pain points."

This was a continuous scheme!

An incredibly insidious and malicious narrative trap!

"Divinity" Gu Jianghan in Chapter 11.

Used an Advanced concept called "future me" to temporarily blind the protagonist (Humanity Gu Jianghan)'s Karma detection.

Making him mistakenly believe that he was merely "searching" for a future possibility.

And this "searching" process, in the narrative time of the story, was stretched to one hundred years!

This led to the tragedy of Chapter 12.

When the protagonist came to his senses, he had already missed Gu Yanci, and missed the entire human civilization's crucial hundred years of growth and transformation!

His most important human bond with this world was artificially severed!

A protagonist without bonds, without attachments.

Naturally, he would become increasingly indifferent, increasingly like that lofty "Divinity"!

And the most malicious part was Chapter 13!

Sword River Fish closed his eyes in pain, memories flooding back like a tide.

He remembered that when he wrote this part, he poured his heart and Soul into it.

He wrote a full fifty thousand words, meticulously describing how Gu Yanci, burdened with a hundred years of memories.

Grew from a slightly naive youth, step by step, into the iron-blooded, decisive "Human Emperor" bearing the fate of all human civilization.

He wrote how Jiang Ruoxue shed her childishness in the flames of war, growing from a little girl who needed protection into the most dazzling general star of the Heavenly Court.

He wrote about countless heroes, famous and nameless, who ignited the torch of hope in despair, building an unyielding Great Wall with their flesh and blood.

That was supposed to be the most brilliant chapter in the early part of the book, the most capable of igniting readers' emotions!

But when he clicked publish, the backend kept popping up that red alert box that made him despair, time and time again:

[Warning: The content you have written is suspected of violating regulations (involving politics) and will not be approved!]

No matter how he modified it or tried to circumvent it, he couldn't get around this "natural chasm."

Finally, urged by the deadline.

He could only helplessly compress those fifty thousand words of passionate effort into those more than a thousand words, as cold as historical records in a timeline.

At the time, he only thought he had triggered the platform's sensitive words.

But now, he suddenly realized.

That was not the platform's review at all!

That was "Divinity" Gu Jianghan, who used the "platform review" rules in reality.

To set up an insurmountable "Wall of Rules" for him at the root of the story!

He had severely cut a major artery of the story!

Turning the most exhilarating epic into a dry and boring chronicle, completely extinguishing the readers' enthusiasm.

What a brilliant move to pull the rug out from under him!

“Bastard, bastard!!!”

Sword River Fish trembled with anger, his chest heaved, and another mouthful of fresh blood splattered onto the screen.

He wiped away the blood, his eyes now filled only with cold killing intent.

He knew he had to fix this biggest "wound."

Otherwise, everything he had done before was just superficial, treating the symptoms but not the root cause.

He moved the cursor to the timeline in Chapter 13, took a deep breath, and pressed the delete key.

He was going to rewrite those fifty thousand words that had been sealed away!

However, just as he was about to type the first word, that terrifying "power of rules" descended again!

The entire screen instantly turned blood red!

A line of golden characters, full of mockery and absolute authority, appeared in the center of the screen:

[Not—Approved!]

A grand, cold, irresistible will.

Smashed down on Sword River Fish's Soul like Mount Tai pressing down!

[—Give up, Author.]

[—Some 'rules,' even you cannot defy.]

[—This is the 'authority' granted to me by 'reality.' Why do you challenge me?]

The voice of "Divinity" Gu Jianghan.

Exploded in his mind, full of the victor's arrogance.

Sword River Fish's body shook violently, feeling his "narrative authority."

Being suppressed almost to immobility in front of this higher-level "reality rule."

He refused to believe it!

He mobilized all his will and frantically pounded on the keyboard.

But it was no use.

Every word he typed was instantly distorted and tampered with by an invisible force, turning into meaningless garbled characters and mosaics.

[...Gu Yanci established the [DATA REDACTED] department...]

[...Blue Star Federation, commonly referred to by the populace as [CONTENT VIOLATION]...]

[...Jiang Ruoxue led the army and launched the [NOT DISPLAYED] plan...]

“Ah ah ah ah ah—!!!”

Sword River Fish let out an angry roar and slammed his fist heavily on the table.

For the first time since reclaiming narrative authority, he felt such powerlessness.

He could resist the will of "Divinity," and he could modify the story's settings.

But he could not resist the supreme rule from "reality" that "Divinity" exploited!

What to do?

Should he just give up?

Should he just watch his most brilliant chapter forever buried under a cold timeline?

No!

Absolutely not!

Sword River Fish's crimson eyes stared intently at the glaring "Not Approved" on the screen, his brain working at an unprecedented speed.

Rules... rules... What "Divinity" used was nothing more than the rule that "the Author is forbidden to directly state sensitive history from an omniscient perspective"... directly state... omniscient perspective... wait!

A flash of lightning tore through the Chaos in his mind!

Sword River Fish suddenly looked up, his eyes bursting with terrifying brilliance!

He laughed, a wild, hearty laugh!

“I understand... I finally understand!”

“The rules forbid me from 'writing,' but they don't forbid my characters from 'seeing'!”

“Divinity! Do you think you've won? You use the rules, but you don't understand the true way to play with them!”

“The Author's game has just begun!”

He no longer bothered with that cursed Chapter 13.

Instead, he directly created a new chapter!

His fingers danced across the keyboard again, so fast they almost left afterimages!

This time, the "Wall of Rules" did not appear again!

Every word he typed was clearly imprinted on the document, radiating a burning glow!

He did not directly write the seventy years of history.

He wrote that after the grand National Celebration Ceremony in [New Era 52].

Gu Yanci, who had already become the "Human Emperor," came alone to the highest floor of the Federal Historical Archives late at night.

With the highest authority, he retrieved a video file classified as "top secret."

The name of the file was ["The Path We Walked" - Human Emperor Gu Yanci's Oral History and Complete Record of Top Secret Footage].

Then, Sword River Fish, with his pen burning with the fire of revenge, began to describe in detail.

Describing how the protagonist Gu Jianghan, Lin Moyan, Su Qingyuan, Shi Hao... all the group members, at Gu Yanci's invitation, jointly "watched" this documentary, a century late, via group live broadcast!

He wrote how the first shot of the documentary opened.

He wrote that on the ruins of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, the young Gu Yanci smashed a mirror with a punch, letting out a roar from Hell!

He wrote about the shocked, stunned, and disbelieving expressions on the group members' faces when they saw this scene!

He wrote how, in the documentary, Gu Yanci overcame all opposition to establish the "Myth Emergency Department"!

He wrote about the Great Xia Country's orderly steel torrent, completely different from other nations, when global portals opened and the apocalypse descended!

He wrote about Lin Moyan's approval and recognition flashing in her eyes when she saw those "Demon Suppression Army" similar to her hometown!

He wrote about Shi Hao's rustic, dumbfounded appearance, as if he had never seen the world, when he saw those world-destroying "Immortal Slaying" electromagnetic railguns!

What he wrote was no longer cold history.

Instead, he showcased that magnificent era through the characters' "eyes" and through their "reactions"!

This was a more sophisticated Narrative Deception!

He bypassed the forbidden zone of "statement," turning everything into "character interaction" and "plot description"!

The "Wall of Rules" set up by "Divinity" Gu Jianghan was, at this moment, completely pierced by him in an incredible way!

And at the root of the story, "Divinity" Gu Jianghan let out His most shrill and desperate wail since His birth!

Because He knew that when this history was presented to all readers in a more vivid, more passionate, and more resonant way.

The severed "bonds" between the protagonist Gu Jianghan and Gu Yanci, and the entire human civilization.

Would be reconnected.

And, they would be more indestructible than ever before!

His path to transcendence was about to be blocked!

Sword River Fish frantically pounded on the keyboard, muttering to himself, looking like a madman.

He poured out the fifty thousand words of effort that had been suppressed for so long, that heroic epic that should have shone, with unprecedented passion!

The novel's backend went completely crazy!

The comment section and tipping section were completely submerged by wave after wave of frenzy!

["Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! Author, you are a god! You are my god!"]

["So this is how those seventy years were! I cried! Gu Yanci went through so much!"]

["Watching a documentary from a character's perspective! Holy cow! What kind of divine narrative technique is this! I kneel to the Author!"]

["Tip! Tip! For nothing else! Just for the line 'If the enemy can go, so can I!' Those who invade my Blue Star, no matter how far, shall be punished!"]

Sword River Fish's body was almost at its limit.

But he smiled, a wild, hearty laugh!