The wall

[Dear author, why aren't you saying anything? Are you really that moved?]

In the quiet, dim room, even the light had warped. It was as though a dome had been placed over it, cutting off all sound from outside.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

The mechanical keyboard clattered.

[Dear author, your computer's graphics card is terrible. You're a famous writer, aren't you? Go get a better one. I can't even squeeze my head out.]

The comments kept refreshing.

As those words rang out, the corners of Xu Ye's mouth twitched.

A black shadow suddenly appeared on the screen, resembling a human head struggling to push against the glass.

"Y-you stay away!" At the sight, Lu Mingwang darted back to the doorway and grabbed the door handle.

Xu Ye shot him a contemptuous sidelong glance.

Then he gestured for Zhang Rongxuan to answer.

Zhang Rongxuan was pale and had collapsed to the floor the moment the head appeared, but he was a novelist, after all, and had written a few eerie stories himself. He swallowed and said stiffly,

"I'm planning the plot. Don't come out. You'll disrupt my train of thought."

The black shadow on the computer screen vanished.

In its place, five fingers squeezed out of the screen, only to get stuck at the second knuckle.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

The mechanical keyboard started typing again.

[Dear author actually replied to me! Hehe, I really do enjoy your books. I won't kill you, dear author. There's no hurry. I can wait until you finish.]

[But could you kill off the heroine of your previous book first? I really like the supporting female character.]

"Huh? Oh, okay!"

Zhang Rongxuan nodded hastily.

He tottered over to the computer and sat down. "Could you pull your hand back first? I need to edit the story."

[Okay, dear author. I'll be waiting. (Smiley face)]

Xu Ye took out his phone, typed up a plot, and told Zhang Rongxuan to write accordingly.

The latter got a fright.

The plot Xu Ye had written was completely different from what this reader had requested.

The supporting female character was actually a sinister, vicious person who had secretly orchestrated everything. In the end, the heroine uncovered her schemes, and, overcome with shame, she drowned herself in a lake.

The heroine not only won the male lead's love, but also became passionately involved with the second and third male leads.

The ending had all three men and the woman living happily together.

Sweat covered Zhang Rongxuan's forehead as he began typing.

His hands flew across the keyboard.

Before long, the plot was written.

[No, no, no!]

[How could you change it to this? Dear author, do you want to die?!]

[Do you want to die?! Do you want to die?!]

Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzt!

The computer screen flickered incessantly. The whole monitor rocked back and forth, eventually throwing off sparks with a series of crackles.

Bzzzt-

The screen went black.

A hysterical, deranged voice echoed through the room. "Dear author, here I come. Heeheehee! Little writer, changing tales, slice your veins and arteries as well. So cute when you lie still."

"I-I-I..."

Zhang Rongxuan huddled beside Xu Ye, not daring to move at all.

Xu Ye held the [Final Sigh], two tentacles extending from his arms as he watched his surroundings warily. Li Yunyao's calm voice came through his earpiece.

"The energy fluctuations peak at 99 and bottom out at 45. The contamination seems to spread through emotional contagion. As long as you don't let his emotions influence you, you'll be fine. Ordinary people will have more trouble, but Awakened should be okay."

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Lu Mingwang was kneeling by the doorway, banging his head against the door over and over.

"I'm so useless. Aside from being handsome, I have nothing. Why did heaven strip me of my intelligence and turn me into nothing but a pretty face...?"

Xu Ye and Li Yunyao: "..."

Gurgle, gurgle.

"Does he have a physical body?" Xu Ye asked quickly.

"We don't know where his body is hidden. It's probably one of the objects in this room. Destroy it, and his true body should emerge," Li Yunyao said.

Bang!

Suddenly, Xu Ye fired a shot at the ceiling.

Something had just poked out, only to have its head blown apart.

A fishy odor instantly filled the room.

"What's going on?"

Fish heads?

He couldn't help staring up.

One carp head after another emerged from the previously undisturbed ceiling. They crowded densely across an area of less than sixty square meters, an eerie light gleaming in their eyes.

The fish heads opened their mouths, struggling to breathe. Their emotionless eyes stared numbly at Xu Ye-or, more precisely, at Zhang Rongxuan by his feet.

Every fish head opened and closed its mouth, voices issuing from them in unison.

"Unscrupulous author!"

"Unscrupulous author!"

"Die, die, die!"

"Meow, so many fish! But they're so disgusting. Why are they purple?" Alice gave them a disdainful look. Seeing no danger, she retreated into Xu Ye's mind, unwilling to watch the revolting scene.

Bang!

Xu Ye fired again, blowing apart a fish head. But a second later, a new one grew in the same spot.

If only I had these fish heads at home. I could have free fish-head soup for the rest of my life.

Xu Ye entertained the tasteless thought.

Find his true body?

He activated Heart Simulation's ability to simulate the future.

[I discovered that without finding his true body, I could never finish killing these fish heads. This Aberrant seemed capable of giving tangible form to things that didn't exist.]

[This Aberrant wasn't powerful, but his ability to spread emotions was far too terrifying. I had to deal with him as soon as possible, or all of Night Spirit City would be plunged into negative emotions.]

[I started rummaging through everything.]

[I unplugged the network cable, smashed the computer, snapped the keyboard, and cracked the mouse, but found nothing.]

[So much for being a shut-in and a keyboard warrior.]

[Just then, I noticed something wrong with the wall.]

[I started smashing the wall and found the answer inside.]

"!"

The simulation ended there.

But it had allowed Xu Ye to find the source.

Xu Ye carefully examined the wall facing the computer and found an almost imperceptible dark green spot in its lower-right corner.

"What's wrong, Ye?"

Lu Mingwang came back to his senses and walked over to Xu Ye, enduring the prickling in his scalp. Seeing him staring at the wall, he was utterly puzzled.

"Do you have a Taboo Object that can smash a wall?" Xu Ye asked.

"Smash a wall?"

"Well, yes."

Under Xu Ye's envious gaze, Lu Mingwang pulled a black iron rod out of the pendant around his neck.

Xu Ye remembered that even an F-rank storage-type Taboo Object cost at least a million.

Filthy rich bastard!

Following Xu Ye's instructions, Lu Mingwang struck the dark green spot on the wall again and again.

As the plaster and cement peeled away, thick liquid seeped out from inside, giving off a smell even more disgusting than a fishy stench.

Xu Ye fell silent.

Lu Mingwang didn't dare continue.

Zhang Rongxuan crawled over, took one look, then crawled backward to the bed.

A human face had appeared inside the wall.