Story Harvester: Data Cage and Reverse Traverse

Inside the newly built Quantum Workshop of the Xiao Clan, the roar of gears and Douqi engines intertwined. Xiao Feng wore VR goggles, manipulating mechanical arms to embed the final piece of Star Meteor Iron into the core of the Multiverse Router; the runes flowing across the metal surface resonated with the patterns of his Emperor Scale. Suddenly, the workshop's alarm blared, and dozens of crimson dots appeared on the Quantum Radar screen—energy fluctuations that belonged to no known plane.

"Spatial tearing detected!" the system's mechanical voice carried a harsh, static-filled tone. "Target coordinates: Northwest Frontier!"

Xiao Yan kicked open the workshop door, Flame Emperor Fire condensing into a compass in his palm: "The trajectory of those dots... it's as if they're harvesting story arcs!" He pointed to the sky, where several cumulonimbus clouds were eerily arranged into a "Delete" icon, and the town buildings below were peeling away and vanishing like pixel blocks.

By the time the Xiao Clan elites arrived, the Northwest Frontier had already turned into a ruin of data. The surviving villagers huddled beside the wreckage of buildings that resembled giant hard drives, blood-red subtitles reading "Character Deletion Countdown" flickering on their skin. Xiao Feng grabbed an old man's hand, his soul power probing into the man's sea of consciousness, only to see countless memory fragments being sucked into a pitch-black vortex.

"They... they are the Story Harvesters..." the old man coughed up blood foam, "using the 'Plot Devouring Cannon' to turn our lives into blank documents..."

Xiao Zhan raised his blade to cleave through a floating "Plot Code Block," and from the debris, half of a logo from an Earth web novel platform was revealed: "These people can travel between reality and data; they are definitely not ordinary transmigrators!" His smartwatch suddenly rang with a video call request, and the screen showed the administrator's panicked face—the server behind him was spewing black smoke.

"Xiao Clan, save me!" the administrator shouted while clutching a fire extinguisher. "The Harvesters hacked the Qidian Universe main server and are formatting all unsigned works! Their goal is..." The voice cut off abruptly, the screen flashed a string of garbled code, and finally froze on the words "Story Can Packaged."

Xiao Feng's pupils constricted as he pulled up the hidden interface of the system shop. In the "Dangerous Goods Trading Zone," metal cans labeled "Douqi Continent Version 1.0" and "Rise of the Xiao Clan: Abridged Edition" were prominently displayed, with the description reading: "Condensed essence of a million words, essential for bedtime stories, Price: 100,000 Creation Coins."

"So that's it." He clenched his fists, his Emperor Scale humming, "They compress complete worlds into assembly-line products, just like fast food on Earth."

Meanwhile, chaos erupted at a comic convention in Shanghai, Earth. Dozens of fans holding Xiao Clan support signs suddenly glowed with blue light, and Douqi-infused teleportation arrays appeared beneath their feet. One girl held up her phone to livestream before she vanished: "Guys! I think I triggered a hidden plot! Help, my JK skirt is turning into Xiao Clan battle armor!"

At the Xiao Clan ancestral home in the Douqi Continent, the portal exploded without warning. A coser wearing a panda mask stumbled out holding a glowing "Pirated Heavy Xuan Ruler," followed by a Hanfu club holding "Update Faster" banners. The lead boy took off his mask, revealing a mournful face: "Clan Leader Xiao, we've been 'reverse-transmigrated'! Our heads are full of unfinished brain holes; if we keep holding them in, our data will crash!"

Xiao Yan looked at this group of strangely dressed transmigrators, and a flash of inspiration struck him. He took the data version of the Yongle Encyclopedia from his system space, connected it with the "Setting Generator" brought by the Earth authors, and projected a giant mind map into the air: "Third Brother! The 'reader brain holes' carried by these transmigrators might just be the weapon to fight the Harvesters!"

Xiao Feng understood and immediately activated the "Cross-Border Co-creation" permission. The phones of the comic convention transmigrators automatically connected to the plane network and began uploading creative ideas in real-time: some designed "Roast Energy Cannons" to convert negative reviews into attack power; others summoned "Logic Police" specifically to arrest plot holes; even more pulled out the "Author Sacrifice Codex," threatening to sacrifice filler-writing authors in exchange for combat power.

When the Harvesters' fleet—"Plot Fishing Ships" shaped like mechanical octopuses—arrived above the Xiao Clan, they were met with an overwhelming barrage of bullet comments. Comments like "Those who write outlines are devils!" and "Give me back my perfect ending!" transformed into physical light blades, slicing through the fishing ships' protective shields. The holographic projection of the Harvester leader appeared in the clouds; he wore black robes printed with "Signed" in every language, and the top of his scepter was embedded with a "Story Can."

"Xiao Clan, you are nothing but story material waiting to be slaughtered." The leader sneered, and the black beam from his scepter corroded the earth into blank manuscript paper. "Look at these transmigrators; their brain holes will eventually become our commodities."

Xiao Feng suddenly raised the Imperial Jade Seal, and the donation bullet comments from Earth readers appeared on its surface. A golden torrent of "Alliance Leader +1!" and "Explode the monthly votes!" poured into the seal, manifesting as a giant statue of "Reader Will." At the same time, Xiao Yan fused the Flame Emperor Fire with the transmigrators' creative ideas, condensing them into a "Brain Hole Black Hole" capable of devouring any setting.

"You are wrong." Xiao Feng's voice spread through the plane network to every world. "The value of a story has never been defined by the Harvesters." He and Xiao Yan launched their attacks simultaneously; the giant statue's fist collided with the black hole, and the resulting energy storm tore the Harvester fleet into fragments of code.

Before dissipating, the leader let out a roar of unwillingness: "You think you've won? In the Creator's notebook... there is something even more terrifying..." Before he could finish, he was completely erased.

After the battle, the Xiao Clan council hall welcomed special guests—the fans who had reverse-transmigrated. Some used Photoshop skills to repair the destroyed village, while others promoted Douqi Continent specialties through livestreaming. A girl wearing glasses opened her laptop, the screen displaying the "Anti-Harvester Combat Guide" she had stayed up all night to finish: "Clan Leader Xiao, we apply to establish the 'Plane Guardian Alliance', powered by love!"

The system notification sounded right on cue:

Ding! Successfully repelled the Story Harvesters, unlocked the title "World Guardian"!

Reward: "Reader Reinforcement Summoning Order" x3 (can temporarily summon the mental power of a million readers for an attack), "Story Origin Analyzer" (can crack the core logic of any setting).

Remaining word count: 1,202,167 - 2,700 = 1,199,467 words

Late at night, Xiao Feng stood by the router, gazing at the bubbles of the multiverse. In one bubble, he saw another version of himself working as a food delivery rider on Earth, with a sticker on his delivery box that read: "Xiao Clan Express, Douqi-Insulated." The system suddenly popped up an emergency mission:

Main quest updated: Pursue the "Story Company" behind the Harvesters. The Creator's notebook shows that this organization is linked to the higher-dimensional "Plot Review Committee"...

Xiao Yan handed over a cup of Fire Spirit Grass coffee, staring at the lingering bullet comments in the sky: "Third Brother, do you think we might just be characters in someone else's story?"

Xiao Feng smiled, his Emperor Scale reflecting the blue light of the router: "Who cares. As long as there are people who believe in the power of stories, we will always be the protagonists of our own." He opened the Plane Shop and entered a new exchange request: "System, redeem the 'Anti-Review Firewall', and by the way... give me ten cases of Earth's Happy Water to celebrate our victory."