The Xiao Clan's Quantum Scout hovered before a warped rift in space. Eerie purple ripples danced across its radar screen. Xiao Feng studied the warning on the scanner—"Logical paradox detected in the area ahead"—then turned to Xiao Yan. "Activate the Anti-Review Firewall. This has to be the entrance to the black market."
The moment the craft passed through the ripples, a colossal bazaar appeared before them, suspended in the void. Its architecture blended steampunk with cyberpunk, and neon signs flickered in the languages of countless planes: "Bargain-Basement Prices for Wild Ideas," "Forbidden Settings Black Market," and more. The currencies of various planes fluttered through the air like snowflakes, from Douqi Continent's magic crystals to Earth's bitcoins.
"Watch out for these goods." Xiao Zhan's smartwatch suddenly blared a virus alert. "I've detected at least three kinds of malicious settings prowling nearby."
Before he could finish speaking, a merchant wrapped head to toe in bandages lunged at them, clutching a smoking box. "Young masters! Fresh from the forge, the 'Chosen One Cheat Code'! Inject it into your body and you'll instantly gain a Protagonist Halo that lets you win no matter how hard you get tossed around!"
Xiao Yan drove the merchant back with Fire Lotus, but the box had cracked open at one corner, revealing twisted golden code inside. The instant the code touched the ground, towering Long Aotian Seaweed sprouted from it, bearing fruit stamped with the words "Slap-in-the-Face Power Fantasy."
"This is the Brainless Power Fantasy Virus!" Xiao Feng activated the Story Origin Analyzer. "It'll force every plot down the slap-in-the-face route and devour its deeper logic." He slashed through the seaweed, golden light from the Yongle Encyclopedia gleaming along his blade. "System, exchange for Logic Antivirus Software."
As they ventured deeper into the black market, Xiao Zhan suddenly stopped at a Memory Eraser stall. The old man behind it had a shifty look in his eyes. "Clan Head Xiao Zhan, don't want to remember the pain of the Soul Clan wiping out your clan? One swipe with this eraser and it'll all be cleared in an instant—"
"Father!" Xiao Feng grabbed Xiao Zhan just in time, but then spotted the reaper's insignia tattooed beneath the old man's sleeve. The system's alarm blared. The old man dissolved into black mist, revealing the administrator hidden inside. He was bound in chains, with a sign hanging from his chest: "Abandoned Character for Sale."
"Quick, save him!" Xiao Yan flung out a chain of Fire Lotus, but the black market's Setting Shackles hurled it back. The administrator raised his head with difficulty, streams of data flickering in his eyes. "They're going to remake me into a Universal Side Character Template and sell me to authors with no imagination..."
Just then, a violent spatial fluctuation rippled from the direction of Earth. The quantum communicator connected automatically, and a programmer among the convention-goers shouted through his tears, "Clan Head Xiao! A talking 'Unfinished Building' has suddenly appeared on the Bund. Every time it eats an idea, it grows another ring!" On the screen, the Oriental Pearl Tower was being rewritten as "the protagonist's accessory," while the Huangpu River had turned into "plot water," flooding the entire street.
Xiao Feng gritted his teeth and handed the Imperial Jade Seal to Xiao Yan. "Stay here and save them. I'm taking the squad back to Earth. Remember, don't touch anything labeled 'Already Signed'!" As he turned, he caught sight of the auction hall deep within the black market, where the original draft of the "Xiao Clan Massacre Script" was on display. The auctioneer's voice had a mechanical edge. "Opening bid: one hundred thousand Creation Coins. A chance to witness the authentic outline!"
In Shanghai, Earth, countless unfilled plot holes poured from the Unfinished Building's "mouth" as plumes of black smoke: "The heroine's true identity," "Why the villain came back to life," and more. Xiao Feng descended with the Xiao Clan's tech squad, and a swarm of drones launched "Plot Hole-Filling Missiles" packed with patch-storylines that Earth's authors had worked through the night to prepare.
"Third Brother!" Xiao Yan's voice came through the communicator. "The black market's core is a Creativity Juicer. It's squeezing ideas out of abandoned characters and canning them! The administrator said the Plot Review Committee is trying to maintain 'entropy balance,' so it has to harvest creativity from active worlds!"
"Balance?" Xiao Feng sneered as he directed a mechanical arm to install the "Idea Expansion Device." "They're just afraid of the power of a true story. Xiao Yanzi, tell the administrator that the Xiao Clan is willing to become the Entropy Increase Engine and shatter these shackles with limitless creativity!"
Just then, the Unfinished Building split into countless "To Be Continued" fragments. Each one held an abandoned character from a high-risk world: a magical girl whose story had been axed, a cultivator who'd died when the author stopped updating. Madness gleamed in their eyes, and the Discontinuation Curse and Character Collapse Virus wound around them.
"We're the characters they threw away!" A girl clutching a broken pen shrieked as she lunged at them. "If we can't live, then let's all end unfinished together!" Her pen tip scratched out a crack labeled "Plot Collapse," and the towering buildings of Lujiazui began to curl like pages.
Xiao Feng activated Soul Movement Three Thousand. His soul power became an editor's red pen, and he wrote "Restart Plot" across the crack. The system chimed at just the right moment:
Ding! "Rescue Abandoned Characters" quest triggered. Obtained Character Resurrection Card ×10. Warning! The Plot Review Committee has initiated a "Compliance Check." The cross-world connection between Douqi Continent and Earth is about to be severed!
On the black market side, Xiao Yan finally cut through the administrator's chains, only to see the Xiao Clan Massacre Script snatched up by a mysterious buyer. The buyer removed his hood, revealing Hun Dan's face. He had been remade into a Universal Villain Module, a mechanical smile on his lips. "Xiao Clan, your story... ends here."
The administrator suddenly coughed up a string of code that spelled out an urgent message from the Creation God on the ground: "The Plot Review Committee's true purpose is—" Before he could finish, the entire black market began to collapse, and forbidden settings surged out like a flood.
Xiao Feng activated the Reader Reinforcement Summoning Order on Earth. The thoughts of a million readers became beams of Law of True Fragrance light, smelting the Unfinished Building's fragments into Perfect Ending Crystals. When he hurried back to the black market, all he saw was Xiao Yan kneeling on the ground with a broken blade in his hand. Beside the administrator's remains lay half a chip, engraved with the words: "Go to the Seventh Universe and find the Pen Spirit."
The system's prompt sounded heavier than ever:
Ding! The Plot Review Committee has intervened and forcibly revoked the Xiao Clan's cross-world access. Remaining words: 1,196,767 Main Quest Updated: Travel to the Seventh Universe and find the "Pen Spirit," who can oppose the Committee, to restore creative freedom to the multiverse.
Xiao Zhan patted his two sons on the shoulders and pulled out a mysterious box he'd "swiped" from the black market. A label on it read "Open with Caution." Xiao Yan raised an eyebrow. "Father, don't tell me this is..."
"Who cares?" Xiao Zhan grinned. The moment the box opened, countless colored specks of light flew out and formed Protagonist Halo tattoos on them all. "Our Xiao Clan's always fired first and aimed later. Next stop, the Seventh Universe!"
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