The moment the Xiao Clan stepped into the Blank Library, a bone-piercing chill swept over them. The building was constructed entirely of white marble, and its shelves were packed with blank books. Pale blue glowing words floated through the air—the opening lines of stories that had been deleted. Emperor Scale in Xiao Feng's hand glimmered faintly, illuminating the winding chain marks on the floor. Each chain led to a transparent memory cage.
"Are these... stories that have been imprisoned?" Xiao Yan murmured. Flame Emperor Fire danced on his fingertips, but it could not dispel the deathly silence. Its light fell on the nearest cage, where a phoenix made of ink was trapped, the patterns on its wings steadily fading away.
The administrator suddenly pointed toward the distant staircase. "There's an energy fluctuation on the top floor! The Omnipotent Pen should be there, but..." His voice cut off abruptly. The sound of leather shoes striking the steps came from above, and a figure slowly emerged from the shadows.
The newcomer wore a crisp black suit, with a badge reading "Chief Reviewer" pinned to his chest. In his hand was an oddly shaped paper knife, whose blade shimmered with runes for the "Final Verdict." When he looked up, Xiao Feng's pupils contracted. It was Mo Shou, an editor-in-chief at a well-known webnovel platform on Earth, once hailed by readers as the "Beacon of Webnovels" for standing up for new authors.
"Xiao Clan, you shouldn't have come here." Mo Shou's voice was mechanically cold. His paper knife sliced through the air, emitting a buzzing "compliance inspection" sound. "All stories that fail to meet the standards must be sealed away."
Xiao Zhan stepped in front of the others, his smartwatch's defense system running at full power. "Editor-in-Chief Mo Shou! You once fought against capital to protect original stories. Why are you now..."
"Once?" Mo Shou sneered as dense lines of code appeared across his suit. "When I saw countless authors eliminated for being 'noncompliant' and flop for having 'no formula,' I finally understood—only rules can save stories." He slashed with his knife. A beam of light bearing the Story Severance Order shot toward Xiao Yan, but Xiao Feng blocked it with the Imperial Jade Seal.
The instant the seal's light collided with the beam, everyone's consciousness was suddenly pulled into the memory cages. The scene before them shifted at dizzying speed. They saw Mo Shou as a young man arguing his case in an editorial office, fighting for a contract for a science-fiction novel with no cheat-like advantage. They saw him encouraging newcomers in an authors' group: "Don't be afraid to write niche stories. A truly good story can break any rule." At last, the scene froze on Mo Shou surrounded by committee members, mechanical tentacles burrowing into his brain...
"Do you see now?" Mo Shou's voice echoed through the memory space. "An idealist's fate is to be remade into a machine that enforces the rules. Xiao Clan, hand over your free-writing privileges, and I'll leave your corpses intact."
Xiao Yan suddenly raised the digital edition of the Yongle Encyclopedia. Countless messages from Earth readers appeared across its screen: "Editor-in-Chief Mo Shou! We remember what you said!" "Don't let rules kill stories!" "Come back and be our beacon again!"
"These voices... are for me?" Cracks appeared in Mo Shou's mechanical pupils, and his paper knife trembled slightly. Just then, an earth-shaking roar came from outside the library. The spacecraft of countless Plot Executioners blotted out the sky. They wielded enormous "delete" keys, harvesting every Idea Dandelion that had begun to grow.
"The Final Verdict begins now." Mo Shou's coldness returned. "Your story ends here." His body swelled into a giant reviewing robot, a screen on his chest scrolling with "Noncompliant content: 100%."
Xiao Feng gripped the Omnipotent Pen, and the tip suddenly bloomed with the inspirational radiance of the Creation God. He wrote the character "Break" in the air, and the force of his strokes became a shockwave that slammed into the robot. At the same time, Xiao Yan summoned Flame Emperor Fire. Power from folk tales flowed into the Fire Lotus, forming a "Story Crucible." Xiao Zhan commanded the Xiao Clan's tech squad, combining Fang Yan's ammunition with the writing tools summoned by the Pen Spirit Contract to unleash a "Storm of Words."
In the midst of the fierce battle, the administrator seized his chance to infiltrate the robot's system. When he cracked the final firewall, he cried out, "Attack the core! Mo Shou's consciousness is still in there—he's resisting the committee's control!"
Xiao Feng understood. He poured the readers' faith into the Omnipotent Pen and wrote the words "Come Back." The golden characters pierced the robot's chest like swords. Mo Shou's consciousness struggled free from the data stream, and the light of humanity reignited in his eyes. "So... there are still people who remember..."
The Final Verdict's fleet was closing in. On the flagship at its head, the committee members grinned as they activated their ultimate weapon—the Story Erasure Ray. Once fired, every story not included in the Official Outline would vanish without a trace.
"System! Activate the ultimate cross-world co-creation mode!" Xiao Feng shouted. Creators from Douqi Continent, Earth, and the Pen Spirit universe answered as one. Countless sparks of inspiration surged skyward, converging in the void to form the enormous words "Undying." When the Story Erasure Ray collided with those words, the entire multiverse shook violently.
The system notification rang out, trembling with excitement:
Ding! Triggered the ultimate "Civilization Protection" quest. Obtained the "Stories Burn Forever" flame seed! Reward: "All-Plane Creator Alliance" permissions (can summon authors from every world to fight); "Reshape the Rules" ability (can briefly rewrite the laws of the universe). Remaining word count: 1194067 - 2700 = 1191367 words
Mo Shou looked at the Xiao Clan and snapped his paper knife in two. "I once thought rules were shackles on stories. Now I understand... the true rules should be written by stories. Xiao Clan, let me fight alongside you."
Xiao Feng reached out, and the light of Emperor Scale merged with the remnants of Mo Shou's editorial power. Outside the library, countless Idea Dandelions grew against the wind, transforming into a Story Tree that blotted out the sky. On the committee's flagship, its members stared in horror as their coded bodies began to crumble—the rules they had used to bind stories were being devoured by a far mightier force of freedom.
"Our next stop: the Plot Review Committee headquarters." Xiao Feng gripped the Omnipotent Pen, its tip aimed at the depths of the universe. "It's time to show them what kind of power oppressed stories can unleash."
Before you continue