"Gano?" Xi Yu Jin noticed that Gano seemed like he wanted to say something.

Gano snapped back to his senses and covered it up. "I was thinking about… some difficulties with translation."

Among the Zerg, he was a bona fide warrior. Their hierarchy was strict, and even cultural and entertainment activities were treated differently by rank. In his mental archive, art was practically a barren wasteland. Aside from overly dramatic, easy-to-read stories, he rarely perceived emotions in text. He translated words accurately purely through a keen instinct similar to deciphering codes.

Still, it lacked... artistry. In the past, Xi Yujin didn't care about this, and Gano himself hadn't noticed it either. But today, the thought suddenly surfaced.

Yujinno's friends were all novelists. If he tried to work harder in this area, they might have more topics to talk about in the future.

He only wanted to chat more with Yujin in the way Yujin seemed to enjoy.

But Gano wasn't sure.

On the other hand, Xi Yujin immediately firmed up his resolve to open more pen names, make more money, and stabilize their cooperation no matter what.

"The artistry of words is related to rhythm," he said. "If you don't mind, I can teach you how to read Blue Planet's language later."

Gano nodded silently.

Xi Yujin then asked expectantly, "What about the language from your home world, Gano? Can I learn it? That way, we could communicate better."

Gano declined calmly. "Our insect race has very strict control over written language."

Xi Yujin noticed that Gano always avoided topics related to his race. He quietly tucked those questions away in his heart and didn't bring them up openly. As long as they spent enough time together, they would eventually understand each other.

But that brought him back to the original problem.

Only if Xi Yujin earned enough money would they have the foundation to stay together on a long-term basis.

Fully switching into work mode, Xi Yujin carefully reviewed how everything had developed.

First came the rumors about Yongye. There was no smoke without fire, so if something happened, there had to be a reason. He didn't believe that a real universe-level fugitive would get out of prison and think that Yongye was a kindred spirit, because the techniques in Mr. Zhong's Case Files all came from Earth. A real fugitive would probably think he was talking nonsense.

He reopened the forum thread and read every single reply, gradually sensing that something felt off.

Suddenly, he remembered that he had once recorded some text-related job postings at that massive job-hunting plaza. He hurriedly pulled them up to check.

His gaze stopped on a recruitment ad from Flying Duck Novel Network.

The requirements were: a solid writing foundation, familiarity with forum rating systems and booklist-sharing models, and preferably a high-level account.

From an Earthling's perspective, this was basically hiring paid trolls.

Xi Yujin had already guessed part of the truth. Yong Ye's performance had been good, which stirred jealousy among peers. Therefore, Flying Duck Novel Network had sent out troll armies to smear him on the forums.

Switching the page to Flying Duck Novel Network, he noticed that the plot track of their writing contest had already gone live and started making money. There were also special guests, who were five famous novelists from the Panqu Galaxy.

"So that's why the emotion track was delayed," he murmured. "They needed to reallocate promotional resources to the extra guests."

Xi Yujin was determined to uncover the true culprit blocking his path to profit. He clicked into the guests' page, and at the very top were their promotional photos. Five yellow ginseng spirits of varying heights were holding their works and posing together, all wearing shy smiles.

The image was too unsettling. He closed his light-brain, looked at Gano across from him to calm himself down, then reopened it. Xi Yujin quickly swiped past the photos and went straight to their works library.

A series of promotional slogans lined both sides of the page:

"Shocking New Star from the Panqu Galaxy, Leading the New Wave of Web Fiction,"

"Originality Lives On: A Masterpiece That Fights AI with the Soul."

The most eye-catching title in the center was: I Never Lose After Landing in a New Galaxy.

The story followed a scrawny ginseng spirit who was bullied and ostracized by its own kind. During an interstellar voyage, the ship crashed, and the ginseng spirit landed in a fern-based star system. In the eyes of the fern beings, the protagonist appeared tall and mighty, with round, powerful tentacles, and was warmly welcomed.

The subsequent plot followed a fairly typical revenge route. The protagonist fell in love with a fern being, and they planned to travel together. However, that fern being had a noble status and was forced into a political marriage with the Moss Galaxy.

So the protagonist started from fighting small fern soldiers, beating their way up to giant ferns. When moss beings came to help, the protagonist continued, from mini moss all the way to ocean-scale moss, ultimately succeeding in traveling together with their lover.

Readers generally believed the book had many innovative highlights. For example, the protagonist didn't seek revenge because a travel companion was killed, but to be able to travel with their companion. And while typical web novels only destroyed one star system, this protagonist destroyed two. The originality index was extremely high, reaching 50%.

The author also adopted a novel writing style: segmenting the text into poetry-like fragments. Each paragraph often had only one sentence, with many text emoticons added (like orz), making it straightforward and easy to understand, with emotions clearly conveyed.

Once I Never Lose After Landing in a New Star System went live, it exploded across the entire platform.

The other authors quickly followed suit. Four of them also gained popularity, with representative works such as:

'I, a Ginseng Spirit, Landed in a Galaxy where Tentacle Count is Paramount'

'Can Someone as Withered as Me Really Be Loved?'

'What's Wrong with Trying to Settle in an Unknown Star System After a Shipwreck?'

'What?! I'm Actually the Strongest in This Star System?'

This gave rise to a new subgenre of power fantasy called "Landing Flow," and the readers happily dubbed them the "Original Pentagram (Five Pointed Star)."

Xi Yujin: "…Ah."

He closed the light-brain again, trying to think about these novels without bias.

Honestly speaking, he was actually quite interested. He really wanted to see how a ginseng spirit fought a massive alliance of giant ferns and mosses. It had to be earth-shaking, plants flying everywhere, sun and moon blackened. Which chapter was that scene in? Could he jump straight to it?

Even he was this curious, so it's no wonder this type of book was popular.

The Landing Flow was a huge hit in the Panqu Galaxy. But the original works were only licensed for serialization there, so readers in other star systems knew the name but not the content. Now that these works had parachuted into the Flying Duck Novel Network's contest semifinals, serialized in polished versions, they naturally attracted massive traffic.

"No wonder the prizes for the romance track were cut in half. Turns out the plot track champion had already been internally decided…" Xi Yujin cross-checked all the details and, step by step, uncovered the opponent hidden in the dark. "If I were Flying Duck Novel Network, improving the plot track prizes would not only pay for the guest appearance fees, but also serve as a great promotional hook: a win-win."

"Xun Ming… it's just bad timing for you."

Then what about Canghai?

Xi Yu Jin gathered information on recent publications.

It turned out the Landing Flow was so popular that, after its web serialization, it was successfully published as physical books as well. Flying Duck Novel Network also secured the web novel distribution rights for the Pangshi Galaxy.

"'Landing Flow' Originators Arrive in the Pangshi Galaxy! Physical Book Pre-Sale Event 1: Purchase within the previous cosmic cycle to receive the author's handwritten signature!"

"Physical Book Pre-Sale Event 2: Recommend a friend to purchase: buy together and both get 20% off!"

"Physical Book Pre-Sale Event 3: Post a related book review for a chance to join merchandise raffles…"

In this universe, physical book print runs were massive, so author signatures were almost unheard of. However, ginseng spirits had many tentacles and could sign ten copies at once, making this promotion extremely attractive to new readers.

Canghai's Ancient Tomb Code, of course, was completely ignored…

After grasping all the information, Xi Yujin immediately started writing. He still hadn't finished today's writing quota. To Gano, it looked like he had gone off to comfort those so-called close friends again.

His pen accidentally poked through the manuscript paper, which he expressionlessly replaced.

He rarely lost control of his strength. It seemed that besides literary cultivation, he also needed to find time to stretch his limbs.

The hot threads on the forum updated rapidly.

In the interstellar era, information exploded with trending keywords changing every second. The previously heated Yongye–Xun Ming topic had already vanished from the forum homepage, a typical happening among cosmic beings. What everyone was discussing now was the Panqu Galaxy! The Original Pentagram! Physical book pre-sale events!

 

[

Title: Is it worth paying for physical books after already paying to read the web novel? Web novels are much cheaper.

—

Of course it's worth it! Everyone knows physical books are luxury items, and published web novels are cheaper than physical editions. Traveling life is so boring, so adding a bit of light luxury is nice.

]

 

[

Title: Has the battle among the Three Courts already been decided?

—

Agreed. The "Original Pentagram" is just too strong. They're not just writing books, they're saving billions of starving feel-good novel readers! True god-tier authors fighting AI with sheer human power! Sure, some authors write excellent physical books, and other web novel authors from different genres, but in terms of contribution, none compare to the "Original Pentagram."

—

Didn't Yingye basically pioneer the detective web novel genre?

—

Who's Yongye?

—

Can Yongye fight AI?

—

Yongye's writing is too brain-burning. I read two short stories and didn't want to continue. Before bed, I just want a plot-driven feel-good novel. I just caught up with the Original Pentagram's serialization and am painfully waiting for the next chapter.

]

 

[

Title: Anyone want to split Flying Duck Publishing's pre-sale event with me? I usually only read physical books, not web novels, and wasn't interested. But this pre-sale is too tempting. Flying Duck really lives up to its reputation as a professional merchant. I willingly got ripped off again.

]

 

Flying Duck picked the right novelists this time, and they've successfully entered the publishing industry. Maybe in the future, only they'll be left in the Pangshi Galaxy…

Discussions like these flooded the forum. Still, a small group of readers couldn't let go of Yongye and the others. After all, even arguing builds attachment. They searched keywords and occasionally bumped related threads.

Xun Ming had been constantly delaying updates. His readers gradually united into a single front, with all kinds of arguments converging into one line: "Xun Ming, you scammer! Don't let me catch you offline!"

Yongye's readers still had many unresolved questions. Why was the post claiming to be from a former universe fugitive deleted? Only screenshots of unknown origin remained, along with photoshopped "internal staff chats" that looked real, casting a shadow over Yongye's true identity.

Contrary to Xi Yujin's expectations, cosmic beings didn't have that much of a moral compass. They wouldn't stop reading just because an author was a fugitive. The universe was vast, and readers were more likely to encounter a newly born black hole than a fugitive. They just performed surface-level condemnation.

Deep down, they actually felt… that it was more exciting.

Members of the Materialist Reading Society were far more uneasy.

They carefully chose their words and sent emails asking Yongye for clarification, praying to the god of materialism with their eyes closed.

After an unknown amount of time, Yongye finally replied:

"Hello. I've applied for a certificate on Blue Planet's official website. The address is EARTH:001. I hope your platform can issue an announcement to inform readers. Many thanks."

The Materialist Reading Society let out a long sigh of relief.

One member clicked into the Blue Planet website and saw a notice from the "Blue Planet Citizen Affairs Public Office":

 

[

"Citizen Yongye has good credit, no negative records, and has made numerous contributions to the Blue Planet forum. This hereby serves as proof."

Signed: Yujin, in calligraphic script.

]

 

With certification from a galaxy, it seemed that Yongye was really a good person.

The Materialist Reading Society was completely reassured and hurried to write a clarification announcement. One member, deeply respectful of Yongye, carefully browsed the Blue Planet website and muttered, "So Mr. Yongye comes from this star system."

The member clicked into Blue Planet's Writers Ranking and found that Yongye's name wasn't there. Among many unfamiliar, untranslated names, the only one it recognized was "Yujin," which was the only name with a translation. It was surprised. Was there someone even more impressive than Mr. Yongye?

It browsed around and found a link to Reader magazine's official website, clicking through.

"Wow, this is a completely unfamiliar style."

Members of the Materialist Reading Society crowded around the light-brain, marveling at the ink-wash aesthetic.

"But this magazine only has two issues. Is this really Blue Planet's best magazine?" Some members felt something was off.

"Let's read and see."

The first issue of the Reader had already been translated by about 80%. They half-guessed their way through a short story, still unsatisfied, and all sighed in admiration. Blue Planet truly seemed like a star system with deep cultural foundations, perhaps even a literary holy land. The name Yujin that was printed on the cover page gained an extra layer of mystery in their eyes.

"Thanks to Mr. Yongye for letting me discover a new place to read. I'm subscribing right now."

The member happily returned to the homepage and clicked subscribe. Scrolling down, it was delighted to find a comment section. It quickly clicked in, hoping to find kindred spirits, but it still had many terms it didn't understand.

"Come look!" the member suddenly screamed. "Mr. Yongye commented here too! He's a reader of Reader! Haha, I need to comment quickly so everyone can see my ID right next to Mr. Yongye's!"

"So uncultured…" the other members said with disdain. But out of shallow workplace camaraderie, they still came over to see what it was about to write.

Then all of them watched as the page refreshed.

But Yongye's comment already had a reply.

From someone completely unexpected.

All the seafood-based beings, in that instant, hadn't yet processed what it meant intellectually, but their bodies reacted first. Their faces and limbs seemed to move in slow motion: suction cups flared open, and shell-backed ones lifted their shells. Everything slowed down until the shocking information was finally processed and shot into their brains like lightning.

"No way!"

The member in front of the light-brain quickly zoomed in with two fingers, letting that most unbelievable name fill the entire screen.

All beings leaned back in unison, as if knocked over by the brilliance of that name:

"Mr. Yongye actually knows… him?"

—

An alien named Bobo was returning to their ship with a newly purchased book.

Bobo had made a lot of money during its star-hopping travels and enjoyed the pleasure of reading physical books. It had heard a bit about the Flash Empire's reputation and didn't care much about their writing contest. It liked randomly buying books in bookstores, and finding a good one was even happier than discovering a newborn star.

It had just randomly bought a copy of Ancient Tomb Code, which came with a small booklet. It flipped open the booklet first and skimmed it. As a seasoned reader, it could roughly judge a book's quality from the preface alone.

When it saw the name "Yujin," its heart skipped a beat. Star-hoppers returning from the fringes had mentioned this name not long ago, though it could have been a coincidence.

The preface was all thank-yous, nothing particularly valuable. The illustrated explanations afterward were interesting, though. It read a few pages with growing interest, its anticipation for the main text rising.

After enjoying the appetizers, it was time for the main course.

Bobo finally started reading the Ancient Tomb Code itself. In the blink of an eye, three cosmic hours passed.

Stopping at a chapter break, it suddenly snapped out of the reading flow and sucked in a sharp breath. It quickly picked up the bonus booklet again, flipping to the detailed explanation indicated in the text.

It stopped at the page titled "The Hundred Hanging Coffins," and read the explanation carefully. The so-called hundred hanging coffins were actually a piranha breeding ground. Intruding tomb raiders who triggered the mechanism would slide into restraint locks and be unable to move, becoming food for the piranhas. However, there was a hollow beneath the river, so the mechanism could be broken by using tidal forces.

"There are so many fascinating things in the underground world!"

"So profound…" Bobo clicked its tongue in amazement. "How did the author come up with this?"

"And what are talisman culture, Bagua culture, and Zhouyi culture?"

Bobo hurriedly flipped through the booklet, finding it just as interesting as the main text. Unfortunately, the booklet's content was limited and couldn't explain everything in detail. It searched online for related terms but found nothing. That feeling of intense curiosity with no answers was truly torturous.

All it could do was return to the main text with regret, only to be hooked by the bizarre plot again. The first-person perspective gave it an incredible sense of immersion. It felt fear alongside the protagonist during terrifying moments and laughed along when the protagonist joked around. The plot rose and fell dramatically, and the interactions between the protagonist and his brothers were especially engaging.

However, the entire book ended abruptly just as the protagonist encountered new trouble.

"What? That's it?!"

Bobo howled toward the sky. Looking closely, it saw the title on the cover: Ancient Tomb Code I: River and Sea.

"Thank goodness there's a sequel, but when will the author release it? No, I need to ask the bookseller." Bobo loved both the book and the bonus material and was reluctant to put them down. Even the packaging felt exquisitely cute. It couldn't help flipping through it again from the beginning.

Before contacting the bookseller, Bobo remembered a reader forum and quickly switched over to share its thoughts.

The screen was filled with Original Pentagram. Before that, it had been Yongye, and before that was Xun Ming. Clearly, all were web-novel-related topics, and only readers spoiled by web novels could change topics daily like this.

Bobo didn't like web novels much, feeling that they lacked depth. Canghai's novels were the opposite. It was meant to be read carefully, reread repeatedly, with rich historical weight beneath its entertaining stories. By comparison, these forum readers just didn't know quality.

Bobo specifically searched for Ancient Tomb Code and found the discussion thread with the most replies.

"Ancient Tomb Code is really amazing! I couldn't stop thinking about it after the preview event. And now the physical book only has one volume, and it's not finished! I clearly bought a physical book, so why am I still suffering through serialization?!"

Bobo quickly replied with praise.

The original poster added, "But there's one downside. There are so many technical terms I don't understand."

Bobo replied, "Didn't you get the bonus? The booklet explains things in a really fun way and made me even more curious."

"What?!" the poster was shocked. "The Flash Empire's novels come with bonuses? Looks like my habitual thinking got the better of me. I left too fast and didn't pick it up. I hope the bookstore owner kept it for me. I bought five copies!"

"Are there still any bookstores selling Ancient Tomb Code? I've been to so many. They're all pushing the Original Pentagram and didn't stock Canghai's novel."

"I've got the coordinates. XX Star, Commercial Zone X, Location XXX. That shop has plenty, which occupy an entire shelf. I'm off to get my bonus."

The poster added a bit more:

"I think the charm of physical books is something web novels can't compare to. Ignoring outliers like the Original Pentagram, even Yongye, who was popular before, had fresh detective cases. But they were all too short. The last arc finally got longer, but the new one still hasn't updated. And that Xun Ming, just chasing daily updates was fine, but now he's turned into a scammer too. That's obviously the path to being forgotten…

Canghai is the best! Physical books give a better reading experience, look good on display, and you don't have to worry about abandoned plots!"

After saying all that, the poster hurried off to the bookstore to retrieve their bonus.

The bookstore was still quiet today, with few customers buying Ancient Tomb Code. The skinny merchant gazed into the distance gloomily. Then it saw the poster rushing over. It remembered them as yesterday's big customer who bought five copies. It immediately greeted them with a smile and took out the packaged bonus.

The poster took the bonus and saw another unfamiliar customer rushing in as well, scooping up Ancient Tomb Code from the shelf to check out. The skinny merchant showed a hint of joy. Getting business right after opening, maybe it wouldn't lose quite as much money after all.

"The Flash Empire's promotion is weak. All we can rely on is the Ancient Tomb Code's solid quality."

The poster felt a bit worried, then quickly turned excited again at getting the booklet.

On the way, it impatiently tore open the packaging and flipped to the first page of the bonus. The large words "Preface" jumped into view.

Huh?

Not sure if it was seeing things, it looked again.

Ah?!

It practically pressed the page against its eyes, its huge pupils reflecting the names of two well-known novelists.

"I'm so mad! Xun Ming, you damn meteor spirit!"

In this universe, pigeons were a species known for constant delays. Once, because of their procrastination, they missed a war with the hawks and thus earned the nickname "peace doves." In connection with this, readers affectionately called frequently delaying authors "pigeon spirits."

On the other hand, authors who dug pits and never filled them were called "meteor spirits." Meaning their work was full of craters.

The angriest curse readers had for meteor spirits was none other than: "Meteor spirits should be smashed to pieces!"

Recently, Xun Ming updated less and less, often posting right at the deadline. In readers' mouths, he had evolved from "Master Xun Ming" to "pigeon spirit," and then to "meteor spirit." If Fairy Tale of a Life and Death Romance had been paid content, they would have been even angrier.

Some readers were extremely dissatisfied, squatting painfully in unfinished plot holes.

Until today, when they happened to discover that Xun Ming's personal column was clickable!

By sheer coincidence, they found Reader's official website and, with uncanny intuition, spotted Xun Ming in the ink-washed comment section.

Emotions exploded instantly. They didn't even care who Xun Ming was chatting with and flooded the comments with replies:

"XUN MING!! UPDATE!!"

—

"Quack quack quack! Letting the Materialist Archive act high and mighty for so long was already us being merciful!" The big yellow ducks popped champagne in the conference room, with foam washing over their feathers until they gleamed.

"And with one move, even the Flash Empire couldn't resist us! Quack!" The Yellow Duck Boss flapped its wings and shouted as it laid out its grand blueprint. "After taking over the publishing platform, we'll monopolize the energy platforms next, and use that as a springboard to control prices across the entire Pangshi Galaxy! The Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce will rise to greatness!"

"RISE—TO—GREATNESS!"

"Boss! Bad news!"

A small yellow duck rushed in, shattering the celebratory atmosphere.

"Boss! Traffic monitoring data shows that search volume for our five external reinforcements is dropping… and discussion around 'Blue Planet' is rising sharply!"