"This is way too much fun!" Reading the countless entertaining comments from other readers, Beike couldn't help laughing out loud.

It felt like everyone was right. This pairing worked, and that pairing worked too. Reading the fanfiction written by other readers, it almost felt as if those interactions could genuinely happen between the characters, which satisfied the fantasies that were difficult to put into words.

"After all, even if Revival gets a sequel, it'll probably focus on the main story instead of spending lots of time on these everyday moments... Wait... are fan-created derivative works even allowed?"

In this universe, fan creations occupied a legal gray area and were generally disliked by novelists. Authors created original works and, in return, received mental power feedback.

Fanfiction creators, on the other hand, didn't have to struggle to invent entirely new stories. They simply built upon existing works while still benefiting from that same mental feedback. Thus, many novelists resented this imbalance and openly or quietly opposed fan creations.

But after doing some research, Beike was astonished again. The overwhelming majority of these Revival fanworks were actually created on Blue Planet's own forums, and Blue Planet's official community actually allowed it.

The authors don't care?

Many extraterrestrials unfamiliar with fan culture were equally stunned by the sheer volume of fan creations filling the forum. Readers could become creators themselves, and even enrich the original work with entirely new interpretations and settings.

Even more surprising was how friendly the atmosphere on Blue Planet's forums was. Unlike the forums of many other civilizations that Beike had visited, where researchers of every literary school and the devotees of every novelist came to blows. Never mind that there's no first place in literature*, they're still going to settle who ranked higher!

The Blue Planet forums were remarkably pure, and people were there simply to discuss books. Part of that was thanks to the Rust Clan moderators, who were extraordinarily diligent and simultaneously used their moderation work as a way to learn about alien cultures.

Another reason was Blue Planet literature itself. Its inclusiveness seemed to have rubbed off on its readers, making discussions unusually calm and respectful.

"I want to make my own post too... Maybe I should watch Revival one more time and see if I can spot some Easter eggs I missed."

Beike had completely abandoned his original plan to go to sleep. He felt wide awake now, and the only thing he wanted to do was watch Revival.

Ding-dong. A notification outside the booth reminded Beike that his account balance was running low and needed to be recharged soon.

"I almost forgot I'm at an internet café..." He scratched his head. The Starship Belt's internet cafés really did have incredible connection speeds.

"Although the connection to the external network is a little slow... Except when accessing Blue Planet's forums... ...Wait. Why is Blue Planet's forum so fast?"

Putting himself in Yunze's shoes, Beike tried to reason it out.

"Internet speed depends on distance. The reason Blue Planet's forum loads so quickly... ...must be because I'm physically close to its servers!"

He froze. "Could Blue Planet actually be nearby?"

Just then, a food delivery employee from the Starship Company arrived. Beike seized the opportunity to ask.

The employee cheerfully explained:

"Blue Planet novelist Wenhuo earned ownership of an entire star system through outstanding achievements and built a literary complex there. The Blue Planet Rust Clan has also established a settlement nearby."

"...Whaaaaat?!"

...

At that same moment, a new thread appeared on Blue Planet's forums:

"Live Photo-and-Text Tour of the Blue Planet Literary Base"

The thread immediately caused an uproar. Was the Blue Planet finally open for immigration? No matter how many wormholes they had to cross or how dangerous the journey might be, countless extraterrestrials declared that they were willing to go.

But those who clicked into the thread were quickly disappointed. It wasn't the real Blue Planet. Instead, it was a Blue Planet Literary Base built within the Starship Belt by a novelist for commercial use, with no official connection to Blue Planet itself.

Some disappointed readers immediately left the thread. Others, with faster internet connections, continued to the second post.

"The Blue Planet novelist responsible is Wenhuo."

Wenhuo... Wasn't that Yujin?

Curious readers repeatedly refreshed the page until the original poster finally uploaded a series of photographs. One commenter complained:

"The OP spent TEN WHOLE PICTURES explaining the scenery from the spacecraft and the Starship Belt's architecture. It's mildly interesting, but they're completely missing the point! Data traffic is expensive!"

Then came another comment: "It's here! Is this... the star system where Blue Planet is located?"

The spacecraft passed by Planet No. 2 of SYE-1832. It was Xi Yujin's private botanical garden. Hovering nearby was prohibited, but from a distance, they could glimpse patches of greenery.

Planet No. 3, the home of the Rust Clan, also prohibited hovering.

Then the ship reached Planet No. 4, where Primordial Myth had been filmed. Everyone reading the thread instinctively zoomed in on the image.

"I've been waiting forever for Primordial Myth! When is it going to update?!"

"Exactly! Revival talks about mythology from all over the world, but what about Huaxia mythology? Stop teasing us and just show us already!"

"This gave me so many ideas. I'm waiting to write a crossover fanfic between Revival and Primordial Myth. Author, update already!"

As comments flooded in, the original poster finally uploaded a panoramic photograph labeled: "Planet No. 5."

The spacecraft had already landed, and the poster posed beside a large sign that read: "Welcome to Blue Planet Literature City."

Behind them stood an exact one-to-one recreation of the city that appeared in Revival.

Night had already fallen, and colorful neon lights illuminated the streets, filling the city with a lively atmosphere. Yet very few people walked the roads, making it seem oddly lonely.

Meanwhile, readers on the other side of the screen collectively exploded.

"It's a real physical set! Not Glimmer particle special effects! No wonder I couldn't find any CGI artifacts no matter how much I zoomed in!"

"A one-to-one recreation?! Am I dreaming?!"

"I see it! That's the statue from the movie!"

"That palace is gorgeous! I'm absolutely visiting it! I've already chosen my next vacation destination!"

The original poster then left another comment: "Everyone's right! You absolutely have to visit. Seeing architecture that feels like a priceless treasure with your own eyes and touching its unique textures is a completely different experience from immersive neural interfaces. Art should be experienced physically. Blue Planet's Wenhuo has given us such a wonderful opportunity. Why waste it? And besides..."

The post suddenly froze due to network lag. The waiting readers nearly howled in frustration. After a while, the next image finally loaded. It read:

"There are SO! MANY! EVENTS!"

The poster proudly displayed their souvenirs. "There's a Famous Landmark Check-In Event. At the entrance, you choose a stone and carry it to each famous landmark, where the staff stamps it. The staff are Blue Planet Rustlings, and they corrode the stone into different shapes. Look! When you've completed every checkpoint, the rust patterns on the finished stone look like this! It's amazing!"

The readers were equally astonished.

"So Blue Planet isn't inhabited only by humans; there's also the Rust Clan."

"The forum moderators are Rustlings. Blue Planet literature is so inclusive that having multiple intelligent species fits perfectly."

And one final commenter joked: "In that case... Could there be room for me?"

The next batch of photos showed all kinds of Revival merchandise: figurines, acrylic stands, plush dolls, and more. The original poster had bought one of each.

To be honest, this kind of merchandise wasn't particularly practical. It took up space and served little purpose. But seeing all those characters neatly lined up inside the display case, the surge of excitement, the overflowing affection, and the overwhelming urge to collect every single one made readers all over the galaxy howl at their screens.

"I want one too!"

"What am I looking at? Not only does Revival have merchandise, but other Blue Planet works have merchandise too!"

"Can I dare to dream that characters from other Blue Planet novels have figures as well? Please! I really want to put all the detectives together."

"As a charm to ward off evil?"

"Anything you want will probably exist eventually. But there's something even better." The original poster mysteriously uploaded another image. "Behold, the Blue Planet Library!"

Everyone froze. Not because they were excited, but because they were horrified.

What kind of library displayed rows upon rows of Intelligent Machine figurines right at the entrance? Blue Planet, you definitely have some unspeakable deal with the Intelligent Machines, don't you?!

"Forget about the Intelligent Machines!" The poster hurriedly insisted. "Look at the books!"

Only then did everyone's attention shift. Towering bookshelves stretched all the way to the ceiling. Even through the screen, the atmosphere of literature seemed almost tangible.

In this universe, physical books were extraordinarily expensive. Libraries were effectively the equivalent of elite private clubs on Earth: accessible only to approved individuals, requiring advance reservations, with no late arrivals accepted.

Yet Blue Planet boldly displayed all its books openly. Readers couldn't help imagining themselves standing inside, surrounded by what amounted to an unimaginable luxury.

But reality was much crueler. Only the original poster was actually there, happily introducing every detail.

"Every book that Blue Planet has released is here! The translated editions are extremely comprehensive too! There are also lots of books meant for cultural exchange and diplomacy. Everything can be borrowed for free! Though you can only read them within this city.

The library occasionally even displays signed editions by Blue Planet novelists! Look at this exhibition area! I heard Wenhuo worked really hard to obtain these resources.

And over here are ancient classics that can only be viewed in this district: The Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West!"

What were those? Nobody cared. They just wanted to read them!

These two works had been unearthed by Xi Yujin under the pen name Qiongtian. Since Primordial Myth would soon reach the Journey to the West storyline, he released the original texts in advance so readers could familiarize themselves.

Restricting access to the Literature City itself was also a strategy for maintaining visitor traffic. If the city proved to be commercially successful in the future, he planned to remove those restrictions.

"There's also an ongoing writing submission program..." The poster continued introducing the library's various attractions one by one.

Across countless worlds, readers could only leave simple replies.

"I'm jealous."

"I want to go."

"I wish I could see it with my own eyes."

Some more rational extraterrestrials looked at the enormous distance separating them from the Starship Belt and tried to calm themselves.

Then the original poster uploaded another picture. Holding Blue Planet souvenirs and a stack of physical books, they posed in front of the city and added a single caption:

"I've immigrated to Blue Planet."

The readers' rationality instantly disappeared. AAAAAHHHH! Now they wanted to go too!

...

Xi Yujin watched the soaring popularity with great satisfaction. Thanks to Revival, the popularity of Blue Planet's other derivative works had risen as well.

At the Planetary Art Exhibition, works were ranked by individual creator, based on the average popularity of everything under that creator's name. So even though Wenhuo had produced many works, they collectively occupied only a single ranking position.

Now, Blue Planet's Wenhuo was climbing the rankings at astonishing speed, showing no signs of slowing. Reaching first place seemed to be a matter of time.

"Looks like I'll finally get to fill in some of these old pits..." Xi Yujin finally had time to organize the works of his various pen names and see which ones were still unfinished.

His attention settled on Qiongtian. Among all his aliases, Qiongtian had published the most academic papers and specialized in scholarly writing. Whenever some kind of historical or literary material needed to be released, that identity was particularly useful.

Compared to his other personas, Qiongtian had written relatively few novels: only Born Again with the Spring Wind and the continuation A Hundred Years Together.

Born Again with the Spring Wind stopped at the late Tang Dynasty, leaving countless readers desperately waiting for more.

"I'll start by outlining the next section to get back into writing..." Xi Yujin calmly organized his various writing plans.

"The Reader's Digest should be updated again. I could commission something from Qinghai Lipeng. They're one of the Rust Clan's great poets. I could also introduce a few one-time pen names..."

He shared his plans with Gano. Meanwhile, Gano was fitting armor onto himself while watering the plants, silently offering a second of sympathy to future readers.

Looking over the lush greenery before them, Xi Yujin felt an overwhelming sense of peace. For a brief moment, he even thought that spending the rest of his life here wouldn't be so bad. But once anyone stepped into the universe... they were destined to journey onward.

The two enjoyed the quiet until an incoming communication interrupted them. It was their old friend, Soma. The moment the connection opened, Soma greeted them enthusiastically.

"I absolutely loved Revival!! You're a genius!!"

After lavishing praise on Xi Yujin, Soma finally got to the real reason for calling. "I heard that a Planetary Colossus wants to add this place to its route. It'll visit the Deep Space Prison first, then skirt the edge of the battlefield before arriving at the Starship Belt... Your planet may soon have an endless stream of visitors!"

Xi Yujin smiled softly. "It's a pity that I won't get to see it at its busiest. My partner and I are planning to continue our voyage."

Soma looked somewhat disappointed.

Xi Yujin chuckled lightly. "This isn't the first time we've parted. Besides, the Blue Planet Rust Clan will take care of everything. They'll send me all the recordings and images. Thinking of it that way, it doesn't seem so sad."

Soma sighed. "Travel always brings farewells." The atmosphere grew slightly subdued.

Then Soma quickly pulled up his optical computer. "By the way... Would you mind if I interview you and record this conversation? We're both diplomats, yet we've somehow never had a single official meeting on record."

Xi Yujin shrugged. "Sure. We can just chat casually."

Soma glanced through his recent notes. "Let's see... What do you think of your newest rising Blue Planet novelist, Shanhui? I heared that his work has generated quite a bit of discussion." He prepared to record Xi Yujin's answer.

Xi Yujin blinked. "...Shan what?"

Soma replied: "Shanhui. The news probably hasn't reached the Starship Belt yet, but it's already spreading across StarNet. Congratulations! It looks like Blue Planet has produced another famous novelist."

Xi Yujin slowly turned his head as if frozen in an animation, and he carefully confirmed whether those words truly came from Soma's mouth. The two gazed into each other's eyes and then exchanged polite smiles.

Xi Yujin laughed brightly and said: "Haha... The younger generation is really formidable. Who would've thought Blue Planet produced a novelist that even I don't know about?"