A Proposal

After the initial small-scale chaos and assorted screwups caused by inexperience, the sudden surge in crowds, insufficient planning, and so on, the carnival had entered a highly orderly state.

Despite its astonishing scale, it had managed to avoid a single serious incident. Minor problems kept cropping up, of course—everyone at the Neighborhood Committee and the Urban Management Brigade had really worked hard—but that was not something the Imperial Soldiers' efficiency alone could guarantee. As the organizer of the festivities, Siweisi deserved enormous credit, and the hard work of volunteer teams from every world could not be overlooked either.

Millions of tourists traveled between their own worlds and Shadow Space through the Dimensional Hub every day, holding unprecedented celebrations across the three Assembly Halls. The cultures and goods of countless worlds were displayed and exchanged on the most open platform in history. Every day, innumerable new Thought Sparks burst forth from those encounters. Fresh knowledge, cultural ideas, and bizarre treasures from every realm immersed every reveler in a marvelous sensory experience like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. All of it came together into a magnificent, fantastical panorama. If some ambitious painter could create a realistic painting of such a spectacle, like Along the River During the Qingming Festival...

Well, they would probably have to start painting at six and a half and keep going until they died.

During the first few days, Qian Qian, the others, and I—a whole gang of fun-loving layabouts—had thoroughly enjoyed playing hands-off bosses. Every day, we left Siweisi to agonize over organizing the events, left the Urban Management Brigade to maintain order, and handed all the practical operations to volunteer teams from several major affiliated worlds. Meanwhile, the Empire's top brass, who should have been hosting this event, spent every day wandering around with nothing to do.