Search traffic on Blue Planet skyrocketed, and a shocking title was pinned high on the forum homepage.

Title: It turns out Xun Ming and Yongye know each other!!!! They’re both from Blue Planet!!

The number of replies gained another zero every second.

Every being who knew them was utterly shocked!

One reader who loved Yongye was scrolling when they spaced out, clearly unable to process the news. This reader was the type who absolutely hated romance novels, so they especially disliked Xun Ming. In the previous Xun Ming vs. Yongye poll, they had rallied a bunch of like-minded folks to vote for Yongye. Seeing that Yongye’s votes were far ahead, they had smugly enjoyed it for quite a while.

But now they were being told that Yongye and Xun Ming came from the same place, and even knew each other?

And not just casually, either?

Just look at their chat in the comments section! It was almost as long as a chapter update! What were the two of them even talking about?!

 

[

Xun Ming: @Yongye, I have a lot of ideas about Mr. Shi's character development.

Yongye replied: ……

Xun Ming: @Yongye, you’re stuck on your new novel, right? I saw it, you know? Why ignore a walking emotional expert? Let me guide you: make the killer in Ghost Killer a yandere!

Yongye replied: ……

Xun Ming: @Yongye, stop writing already. It’s not even the deadline yet. Come out and play. Uh, I mean, come out to gather inspiration!

Yongye replied: ……

]

 

The onlookers were deeply shaken.

Yongye would occasionally reply to readers’ questions, and from those sparse words, people had inferred that he was a rigorous, enigmatic writer with tight logic. If the rumor about him being a wanted criminal were true, he might even be some kind of hidden psychopath.

Only when Yongye mentioned his friend did his tone change slightly:

“I'd like to thank my friend, because without him, I would've finished writing long ago.”

Back then, everyone guessed that this friend must be the “bad influence” type, and that their relationship was really close.

No one expected that, judging from the replies in the Reader's Digest comment section, this friend was actually Xun Ming!

That Xun Ming who wrote melodramatic dog-blood novels!

Yongye! What are you doing?!

And why did you reply with another string of ellipses?!

You were just being polite, right? You definitely didn’t read his suggestions from beginning to end, did you?!

Going out to play and delaying updates with that meteor-brain Xun Ming, absolutely do not do that!

“Wait…” A reader’s face turned ashen. “Mr. Shi, Mr. Zhong, and the Sheriff… a love triangle? Was that really inspired by Xun Ming’s advice?”

When you thought about it carefully, it was kind of exciting, and weirdly something to look forward to.

But it still felt like a bolt from the blue.

They quickly registered an account on the Reader's Digest official site, hit the subscribe button, and left a message wherever Yongye appeared:

“Yongye! The Sheriff and Mr. Zhong are the ultimate duo! Don’t split them up!”

On the other side, Xun Ming’s loyal pit-squatting readers were angrily patrolling the comment sections.

When they saw Xun Ming’s messages, they felt a little disillusioned.

Xun Ming never replied in the comments. But from his delicate writing style, they had imagined him as a gentle and kind author. Melancholic at times, and emotionally sensitive.

They believed that he must be quietly reading readers' feedback somewhere out of sight, then earnestly revising his work.

They believed he was working very hard on the Fairytale of a Life and Death Romance.

They believed that he was a good person.

So who was this person flooding the comments like crazy?!

Why are you using Xun Ming’s ID?!

It turned out that Xun Ming was reading other people’s novels, joking around with companions, chatting nonsense, and outlining plots! He was doing everything except updating!

Everything was just their wishful thinking!

Xun Ming, you old thief!

Let me see who it was that kept hooking this old thief, Xun Ming, into chatting all day? Why is it you?! Yongye?!

Who was this person that Xun Ming would rather help outline plots than update? Why is it still you?! Yongye!

Who was the one letting Xun Ming go eat, drink, and have fun everywhere while leaving readers to suffer through update droughts... How come you're everywhere?! Yongye!

Xun Ming, look back! His fans are the ones who cursed you the hardest besides us! Why is your brain still not clear?! You’ve written so many dog-blood stories and still don’t understand: only we, who hate you the most, are the ones who love you the deepest!

Some readers split off to read Xun Ming’s earlier work, Real and Fake Aristocrats, to drink down a whole basin of dog blood, thus temporarily ignoring Xun Ming.

Others bounced around everywhere Xun Ming appeared, determined to persuade him to return to the right path.

The two groups of readers met in the Reader's Digest Comment section.

 

[

Yongye: The long night stretches on. Gazing into space, I deeply feel how small humanity is.

Xun Ming replied: Dark, so dark! The spaceship is huge!

]

 

You guys… don’t tell me… You live on the same spaceship?

Could it be that “Blue Planet's best friends” had some deeper meaning?

By comparison, the Canghai readers who had only come to watch out of mild curiosity felt that the more they looked at Canghai, the more pleasing he became. He was practically an angel.

Look, even though Canghai went out to play too, he was doing physical publishing. He must be gathering inspiration, right?

Canghai was even livelier in the comments, writing reviews and occasionally watching arguments.

Completely different from the rigid big-shot they had imagined!

Canghai turned out to be the sunny type.

They quietly advertised in the comments:

Ancient Tomb Code is really good!

The stats for all three authors’ works rose sharply, with Canghai growing the fastest. Everyone was curious about this new writer who was so close to Yongye and Xun Ming. From the comments, Canghai seemed to have a good personality, and cosmic beings had a great first impression of him.

—

Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce.

When the five ginseng spirits heard that their popularity had been surpassed, they appeared calm on the surface, but secretly curled their tentacles.

They were used to being praised in the Panqu Galaxy, so they found it hard to accept that some novelist had surpassed them.

“No need to worry,” one ginseng spirit said. “We have saved drafts. Let’s do an explosive update!”

Flying Duck Novel Network immediately rolled out a ten-chapter burst update of their new work.

However, it only caused a few ripples on the forum. Cosmic beings liked more interesting things, and the most interesting activity right now was:

“Guess the author’s real personality! Use your intuition to match author types with personalities.

Authors: melodramatic romance novelist, detective novelist, tomb-raiding novelist

Personalities: impeccably polite with a lyrical tone, chaotic fun-lover who watches drama everywhere, lively and sunny with endless gratitude.”

As expected, everyone who didn’t know them matched everything wrong.

More and more beings joined the spectacle. Gossip was a universal instinct. Some cosmic beings who got the answers wrong also went to learn about recent events on Blue Planet and happily watched readers clash in the comments.

Blue Planet’s popularity not only didn’t drop, but it even increased.

Seeing this, the ginseng spirits felt displeased, but still maintained a surface-level peace:

“No need to worry. We’ve got promotional events sponsored by Flying Duck. We’re the undisputed number one in the Panqu Galaxy.”

So the forum suddenly gained several filler posts saying that the Panqu Galaxy’s Original Pentagram were signing autographs. Novelists’ autographs were rare, so people should definitely buy the physical books then!

The posts even included candid photos of the ginseng spirits signing autographs.

Unfortunately, plans never beat fate, and the forum’s hot topic changed again!

“Now is the era of Blue Planet’s Grand Literary Triangle! Romance novelist Xun Ming, detective novelist Yongye, tomb-raiding novelist Canghai! Three heads stand together to create a golden age!”

“I misread it! I thought it was the era of Blue Planet’s literary love triangle.”

“That’s not impossible either. Who knows?”

Below was total chaos.

In the Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce’s VIP reception room, no one broke the silence for a long time.

Five ginseng spirits of varying heights were signing with pens wrapped in long tentacles. Their mouths were tiny, and their voices sharp.

“Our popularity’s been surpassed again.”

“Don’t worry. Don’t underestimate the unbreakable friendship of the five of us.”

“If we can get first place in the Panqu Galaxy, then we can openly and honorably win best in the Pangshi Galaxy too.”

“Let’s use that... that method.”

The thinnest ginseng spirit pressed a button with its tentacle. In space, a certain spaceship released more than a dozen green, bamboo-copter-like small craft, which automatically sped toward a certain destination.

—

Xi Yujin’s light brain had been buzzing nonstop. When he opened it, he was horrified. Was his official site hacked? Why were there so many replies?

Looking closely, he couldn’t understand some of the languages, but it seemed that every message had two words hidden between the lines: update faster.

They were definitely here for Xun Ming.

Xi Yujin knew that updates on the Xun Ming alt had been a bit slow lately, so he had been working overtime to sort out the outline, determined to give readers the most dog-blooded, most thrilling, most lingering love story ever!

But since readers were already yelling right in front of him, maybe he should listen to their opinions.

“Xun Ming’s writing is way too dog-blooded. Have you seen his latest update? Xiaoming went abroad for treatment and lost his memory, then studied at university while working part-time. Then Lihua went abroad on an exchange program. You’d think they’d reunite, right? But no! Through sheer bad luck, they brushed past each other four times without recognizing one another! Is this even a thought process a normal being could have?”

“If Xun Ming doesn’t make Lihua and the senior a couple, I’m not reading. White moonlight never loses.”

“Every time I go read Xun Ming’s work because of the dog-blood reputation, and every time I get chased out because it’s too dog-blooded. Xun Ming, write something good! My life is yours.”

How could it be like this…

It was Xi Yujin’s first time seeing readers’ evaluations of Fairytale of a Life and Death Romance. The backend data looked pretty good, but the readers’ real thoughts seemed… extremely dissatisfied?

Was it because Fairytale of a Life and Death Romance was free, so everyone was willing to give it traffic out of courtesy?

Xi Yujin began to doubt himself. Was the flavor of dog-blood he liked just not compatible with this universe?

He scrolled through other lively spots in the comments and saw readers hyping the “Blue Planet Grand Literary Triangle.”

One reply stood out, getting tons of likes:

“Isn’t there a bit of clout-chasing in the Blue Planet Grand Triangle? I’ve read Canghai’s physical publications. His level is genuinely good. But Xun Ming? That meteor-brain? Seriously?”

Xi Yujin couldn’t describe what he felt.

He treated all his alt accounts equally, but seeing so many attacks on Xun Ming still made him subconsciously side with his alt. After all, Xun Ming was the first alt he ever created who carried his beautiful wish to survive in this universe.

Whether in this universe or on Earth, some readers subconsciously believed that writers who wrote lofty, plot-heavy stories were more impressive than those who focused on delicate emotions.

But in Xi Yujin’s view, subtle emotional writing was harder to do well. Making readers walk in smiling and leave while crying. How many authors dreamed of that?

Even those novels that marketed themselves as “high-end plot” were most memorable for the emotions that characters revealed under extreme circumstances.

Just because Xun Ming focused on emotional scenes, did that mean he wasn’t worthy of being compared to plot-driven alts?

Xi Yujin switched to Xun Ming’s alt and started typing on the light brain, but those evaluations kept echoing in his ears. A faint sense of unwillingness made his fingers heavier and heavier, until he couldn’t write a single word for Fairytale of a Life and Death Romance.

“I clearly have an outline, but I’m still stuck…”

Xi Yujin simply shut off the light brain and looked out into space. Tidal Peace was currently parked in near-star orbit of an energy trade planet in the Flash Empire. Gano had gone to buy energy, and the ship was quiet.

“When will Gano be back?”

Suddenly, more than a dozen bamboo-copter-like small ships appeared outside, seemingly locked onto the Tidal Peace and charged straight toward it.

Xi Yujin immediately went on full alert and rushed toward the cockpit to move the ship.

But they came faster. One slammed into the viewport, instantly spiderwebbing it with cracks. The bamboo-copter backed off a few meters, then rammed again, causing the window to shatter with a crash!

A piercing alarm echoed through the ship, then quickly weakened as the air inside grew thin. The furniture was locked down and didn’t float, while shards of broken glass slowly drifted past.

Xi Yujin gradually couldn’t hear anything else. He watched as the hostile bamboo-copters scanned the cabin with red light, finally locking onto him. A strong sense of danger made his mineral hair tremble slightly.

Once again, he realized that this universe was dangerous.

Beep.

The bamboo-copter extended a red-text message board.

“Blue Planet? Blame yourselves for stealing our spotlight!”

So it was… the Panqu Galaxy? The Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce?

The next second, the bamboo-copter’s blades spun, flashing with chilling light as it charged!

But a hand casually caught it, crushing the sharp blades. Red and blue wires fell to the floor as sparks crackled and lit up Gano’s murderous face.

Only his hands were fitted with black armor, seams flashing dark red light. The rest of the armor had transformed into a rhombus-shaped meteor, floating behind him in standby. Behind him was the shattered window with the endless space forming the backdrop.

Gano pinched a monitor out of the bamboo-copter. Expressionless, he looked even more like a war machine than the attackers.

“You… want… to threaten… who?”

He mouthed silently.

Crack.

He crushed all the bamboo-copters to pieces.

Broken mechanical fragments floated in midair.

Gano slowly turned to Xi Yujin, still brimming with killing intent, as if searching for his next target. But when he looked directly at Xi Yujin, his mind went blank. He didn’t know what to say or what emotion he should have. The Zerg had never taught him anything beyond combat.

He relied on faint instinct to judge that right now, he should… comfort… Yujinno?

But what should he say?

Why did he not know what to say at all?

If Yujinno’s best friends were here, they’d probably do better. But since none of them had appeared, Gano judged that maybe he wasn’t worse than those friends.

Instead, Xi Yujin slowly floated over, took Gano’s unarmored hand, and led him to a room with air.

“That was really dangerous just now.” Once inside an empty room, Xi Yujin finally relaxed. “Thank you, Gano. I’m really glad you’re okay.”

So you could say things like this.

Gano quietly memorized these points.

Yujinno kept holding his hand. It was cold, but his soul felt warm... how strange.

Xi Yujin chatted about this and that until Gano’s expression returned to normal, and only then did he truly relax.

He let go and finally had the space to think about the assassination attempt. After the danger passed, he became even calmer.

Cosmic beings were more unethical than he had imagined. As long as you lived, nothing was off-limits.

Assassinating novelists for power, fame, or wealth was a common occurrence. The bamboo-copters were assassination AIs developed by the Intelligent Machine race during the Hyperspace War.

It illegally collected private information from the black box to carry out precise assassinations. Though they had been destroyed and discontinued, many remnants still circulated on the black market.

Gano said quietly:

“These assassination AIs have low intelligence. I alone am enough to counter them.”

As long as he didn’t leave Xi Yujin’s side…

“Assassination AIs…” Xi Yujin pondered.

“The ones behind it are either the Panqu Galaxy or the Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce.

If I don’t display enough strength to earn respect, this kind of assassination will keep happening…

Using aliases can’t avoid everything. Blue Planet is still too weak.”

Xi Yujin slowly floated upward. Under the overhead light, his shadow split into three, and the figures of Xun Ming, Yongye, and Canghai flashed one by one.

Then, a bold plan took shape in his mind.

He murmured softly, “If I do this, my energy won’t be enough. Running three is already exhausting. So—”

One ongoing series have to be paused.

Obviously, among all his alts, only one was suitable for this.

He had just been feeling sorry for this alt, but it was all part of the plan.

It’s decided! It's you!

Please continue surviving under the hands of angry readers! Just survive! Survive!

Haha! Fairytale of a Life and Death Romance… was officially dropped!

 

 

Author's Note:

Minor spoiler:
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The pit will be filled in later.