Inside the portal was a swirling vortex of chaotic colors. Xiao Feng and Xiao Yan felt as if countless streams of data were tearing at their bodies, yet Emperor Scale and Flame Emperor Fire protected them, keeping them whole. When the light faded, they found themselves in a bedroom brimming with girlish charm. Anime posters covered the pink walls, and the bookshelf was packed with physical copies of Battle Through the Heavens.
At the desk, a girl with twin ponytails and panda pajamas was furiously hammering away at her keyboard. Pearls clung to the milk tea cup in front of her, and in the bottom-right corner of the screen was the document interface for Xiao Family Battles the Heavenly Dao. The chapter title read, in bold, "Xiao Zhan Slays the Administrator in a Fit of Rage."
"This is the Creation God?" Xiao Yan gaped, a Fire Lotus flickering at his fingertips. "She's... a lot more down-to-earth than I imagined."
The girl whipped around, still sucking on her straw, her eyes wide as saucers. "How did you get in here?! This is the author's backstage area. Unauthorized personnel aren't allowed!" She frantically clicked her mouse, trying to close the document, but accidentally triggered the "Inspiration Gone Wild" program. The whole room began to shake violently, and the posters on the walls turned into real people, darting around the room.
Xiao Feng raised the Imperial Jade Seal. Its radiance temporarily steadied the chaotic space. "We're Xiao Feng and Xiao Yan from the Douqi Continent. We came to talk to you about freeing our world."
"Freeing it?" The girl took off her glasses and wiped them, revealing dark circles beneath her eyes. "Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to write a novel? Every day I have to come up with plotlines, fill in the holes, and deal with readers pestering me for updates. I was going to have you follow the outline—it'd be easy and profitable—but you just had to stir up trouble!" She suddenly grabbed her milk tea and took a long slurp. "And now look! The 'Everyone Creates' mode crashed the server, and the editor calls me every day to chew me out!"
Xiao Yan noticed the tablet on the desk. Its screen showed the "Qidian Author Backstage," and the ID "Xiao Family Fan Club" held a spot in the top hundred of the tipping leaderboard. "Actually, readers love your story. If you give us room to develop freely, we can all create together. Who knows? It might turn out even better."
The girl raised an eyebrow and swept her fingers across the keyboard. A massive projection of the Plot Tree appeared in the air, each branch representing a different direction the story could take. "See? This is the plotline of the Douqi Continent. Xiao Xuan..." She clicked a glowing point, and a scene appeared of Xiao Xuan writing with a brush. "He was just a tool I created on a whim to move the main plot along."
Xiao Feng felt Emperor Scale grow hot. From deep within his soul came Xiao Xuan's sigh. "So that's how it was... Father always thought he was writing history, never knowing he was just a character written by someone else."
"But things are different now!" Xiao Yan suddenly ignited Flame Emperor Fire, burning several branches of the Plot Tree to ash. "We'll break free of this setup! Every living being should be able to make their own choices instead of being shackled by an outline!"
The girl was about to argue when her phone suddenly rang. The caller ID read "Editor." She answered with a pained expression, and a roar came from the other end: "What's going on with you? Subscriptions to Xiao Family Battles the Heavenly Dao have exploded, but everyone in the comments is complaining that the plot is stale! Readers want innovation, got it?"
Taking advantage of the distraction, Xiao Feng brought out the digital edition of the Yongle Encyclopedia. "We can help. Earth has countless excellent literary works that could inspire you. For example..." He pulled up the military strategies from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. "You could use this wisdom to improve the Douqi Continent's combat system."
The girl's eyes lit up. She snatched the digital edition and began flipping through it at breakneck speed. "This 'Empty Fort Strategy' is great! The Xiao Clan could use holographic projections to scare off the Soul Clan Mechanical Legion! And this 'Borrowing Arrows with Thatched Boats'—we could gather Heavenly Flames to make the arrows..." She suddenly stopped and eyed the two of them warily. "If I help you, what do I get out of it?"
"Complete freedom for the Douqi Continent." Xiao Feng looked her straight in the eye. "Shut down the Heavenly Dao AI, delete the Plot Outline Lock, and let every living being create their own story."
The girl chewed on her straw and thought for a moment. Then she suddenly typed in a string of code, and the servers in the Heavenly Dao Mountains shuddered violently. "Fine! Following the outline was getting stale anyway. We might as well try letting everyone create together. But let me make one thing clear: if the numbers take a nosedive, I'm launching 'Plot Reset' immediately!"
Just then, Xiao Yan's phone—brought from Earth and miraculously still getting a signal—suddenly rang. The caller ID read "Unknown Number." When he answered, a voice with a Cantonese accent came through. "Hello, are you Xiao Yan? I'm Jin Yong. I've read your story, and I'd like to talk about blending martial arts and Dou Qi..."
The girl excitedly snatched the phone. "Master Jin! I absolutely love your works! We could turn 'Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms' into 'Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Flames,' and use Dou Qi to power the palm techniques..."
Xiao Feng and Xiao Yan exchanged a smile, feeling the weight on their shoulders ease. The system's prompt rang out at just the right moment:
Ding! You successfully persuaded the Creation God. The "Everyone as Creators" era has been unlocked! Reward: "Infinite Inspiration" buff (efficiency of all creative activities increased by 1000%), "Readers' Love" aura (unconditional support from the people of every plane). Remaining word count: 1207567 - 2700 = 1204867 words
Suddenly, the window burst open, and Hun Dan's USB-drive form came flying in. A red warning flashed across his body: "Formatting in progress." "Wait! I want to help create, too! I promise I won't cause trouble anymore. I've got an amazing idea—make me the Xiao Clan's mascot, and I'll be in charge of looking cute every day!"
Xiao Yan pushed him away with a Fire Lotus, looking disgusted. "Get the viruses off you first. Then we'll talk!"
The girl closed her laptop and stood up to stretch. "Come on. I'll show you the secrets of a higher dimension. But just so we're clear, if you see anything strange, don't be surprised."
She opened the wardrobe. Instead of clothes, it held a portal radiating seven-colored light. When they all stepped through, the sight before them left them utterly stunned: countless parallel worlds floated in the air like bubbles, each one playing out a different version of the Douqi Continent. In one, Xiao Yan had become a gourmet; in another, Xiao Feng had started a tech company; and in yet another, Xiao Zhan was leading a square-dancing group on Earth.
"Welcome to the Multiverse Library," the girl announced proudly. "It holds every story that could ever be. From today on, the fate of the Douqi Continent is yours to write."
Xiao Feng clasped Xiao Yan's hand. Emperor Scale and Flame Emperor Fire shone together. "Xiao Yanzi, our journey is only just beginning."
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