But Xi Yujin suddenly thought of a terrifying fact: what if he dug a pit and ended up being hunted down by readers?

This universe wasn't nearly as civilized as Earth. Here, a meteor spirit could really get smashed to pieces.

He looked at Gano, who had been silently thinking with a cold expression beside him, and asked, "Gano, if a hundred unknown creatures suddenly came to assassinate me…"

The armor on Gano's back instantly transformed into a flattened form, and his light wings slowly spread out, like a medieval knight bowing in salute.

"I can handle a hundred alone. It would be no trouble."

Gano said in a low voice, finally making a decision. He didn't quite understand what the complicated emotions in his heart were, but saying those words made him feel much lighter.

"From now on… please allow me to protect Yujinno."

Since Yujinno's closest friend wasn't around, he could temporarily take over that role… that should be feasible. It could also count as repayment for staying on the ship.

Gano felt a faint sense of guilt.

But since he'd already started, he might as well go all the way. He pried off a stone engraved with complex symbols from deep within his armor and handed it to Xi Yujin.

"This contains a bioelectric resonance link synced to my armor. If necessary, call me, and I will definitely come to your side."

The stone in his hand rapidly reshaped itself like a Rubik's Cube, emitting a dark red glow like molten lava.

A small, transformable piece of armor!

Xi Yujin's eyes sparkled with tiny points of light.

And what Gano had just said, did that mean they're friends?

In this universe, he finally gained a friend…

Xi Yujin took the armor core, and his soul felt a soft, light buoyancy, as if his whole body had relaxed. Only then did he realize that ever since the assassination attempt, he had been constantly tense.

Now with Gano by his side, there was an incomparable sense of security. The cosmic beings were right: a good traveling companion was worth a whole stardust mine.

Great! Now he could dig pits without worry!

Holding back a surge of energy inside, Xi Yujin began typing at high speed on the light-brain. He had previously received a lot of spiritual energy feedback, but all of it had sunk without a trace. He only knew that spiritual energy existed deep within the soul, wrapping around a star, but he had no idea how to use it.

At the moment of danger earlier, he felt that the spiritual energy loosened slightly. Now that he calmed down to sense it, the energy was as slippery as a fish. It was impossible to grasp, just circling around him.

Suddenly, the armor core on the table was caught by the spiritual energy. The next second, the armor core began orbiting around him, rolling and spinning on its own.

It was just like… a planet orbiting a star.

So was it his own gravity that had captured the armor core?

Xi Yujin tried dodging left and right, and discovered that only when he actively pushed the armor core away with spiritual energy to a certain distance would it fall down with a thud. The rest of the time, the armor core just kept orbiting and rotating on its own.

"Pretty cute." Xi Yujin poked the core, and its orbital path shifted a little farther out. He pulled it closer again and played with it happily.

"I'll just treat this as a Blue Planet human trait," Xi Yujin automatically filled in the Blue Planet lore. "Isn't it normal for everyone on Blue Planet to capture planets?"

He wanted to continue typing, but the spiritual energy started dancing around again. He thought for a moment, and the armor core started bouncing up and down too. As he pondered further, the armor core drifted toward the light-brain screen and began typing using its rolling edges.

The text it typed was something Xi Yujin thought of casually: hello, world.

"Let me try again…"

The core slowly rolled under the guidance of his spiritual energy, while Xi Yujin multitasked and typed other content on the light-brain.

Gradually, his writing became smoother and smoother. He had unlocked a new skill: asteroid typing!

"I'll give you a name." Xi Yujin grabbed the armor core. "Typing Machine No. 1, how about that?" The core bounced lightly in his palm. He released it, and Typing Machine No. 1 returned to its own planetary orbit.

Outside the window, Gano equipped his armor and practiced his greatsword in space like a shooting star.

Doing something familiar should help calm him down…

Xi Yujin considered himself a novelist. Gano had asked if he wanted to just kill his way back, but Xi Yujin said the time wasn't right yet. Matters of a novelist should, of course, be resolved with novels. Killing three or five people could only solve a temporary crisis, and the only way to ensure lasting peace is killing thousands upon thousands.

His biggest anxiety had always been writing speed, and Typing Machine No. 1 had just solved that problem perfectly.

So there was no need to worry about delayed updates anymore…

Wait, no. He just survived an assassination attempt. How could he not make use of such a perfect excuse to take a leave?

So he switched to Yongye's account and posted a leave notice: "Encountered an accident, taking a temporary break."

He switched to the Canghai account and told Flash Empire, "Unexpected incident, can't submit the manuscript on time."

Now he finally had time to focus on writing new pits!

He switched to the Xun Ming account and changed the book status to "Paused Updates."

He thought about what Xun Ming should say, but resentment surged in his heart.

In the end, he only replied in the comment section of Fairy Tale of a Life and Death Romance with a single line: "I will fight for myself." Then he pinned it so all readers could see.

He didn't tell readers about the assassination attempt. Using cosmic readers' sympathy would be far too boring. He didn't need other beings to charge into battle for a virtual version of himself. He, himself, was his own line of defense.

He switched to the Yujin account and deliberately @mentioned Xun Ming in the Reading Book message board.

[

Yujin: @Xun Ming, keep moving forward. Someone will always be by your side.

—Rare to see the Reader's Digest chief editor comment. First!

—What does this mean? What did that old thief Xun Ming do again?

—Huh, Yongye took a leave for the first time. What happened?

—I just heard from an insider at Flash Empire that Canghai suddenly couldn't submit either? I've reread Ancient Tomb Code I several times already. Why is there still no sequel? (By the way, I highly recommend Ancient Tomb Code; it's really good, a rare gem from Flash Empire's writing contest. Totally worth buying.)

—They're from the same place. Could there be some Blue Planet custom where updates aren't allowed on this day? Like some program called "No Update Day."

—AAAAAH something terrifying happened! Fairy Tale of a Life and Death Romance is paused!

—Huh?

—Damn, I'm going to check right now.

—Seems like it's real…

—What???

—Staring blankly at the light-brain, looking around in confusion.

—No way…

—No? Me???

—AAAAHHH!! I don't believe it!!

]

Wenwen was a loyal reader of the Fairy Tale of a Life and Death Romance. Every time Xun Ming updated, it would click in immediately, read it twice from start to finish, then eagerly wait for the next chapter. By that time, the comment section was usually already on fire, so it didn't like leaving comments there.

But today, as usual, it clicked into the Fairy Tale of a Life and Death Romance and saw that the latest chapter number was still the same as yesterday's. Its heart skipped as it sensed something bad.

It opened the table of contents and scrolled down hard, only to find that even at the very bottom, there was no new chapter. Flipping back to the book details page, it saw the status had changed to "Paused Updates." Its mood instantly plunged to rock bottom as all of its scales exploded outward.

Xun Ming actually abandoned the novel!

Even though Fairy Tale of a Life and Death Romance didn't reach the paid stage yet, and the tipping function wasn't open… the story was still really good! Wenwen had been faithfully squatting in the pit every single day! How could it just be abandoned like that?! Even if it had to be abandoned, at least let Xiaoming recover his memories and officially start dating Lihua! Such a poor little couple!

It clicked into the comment section, wanting to see if there were more detailed updates, and saw Xun Ming's pinned reply.

"I will fight for myself," Wenwen murmured the line, not understanding Xun Ming's intent. Was he about to fight a one-man battle?

And this tone didn't sound like Xun Ming either.

The fans' impression of Xun Ming had already been refreshed before. But the current Xun Ming didn't feel like the gentle, literary figure they had imagined, nor like the troublemaking meteor spirit from the forums, but rather… an unsheathed blade, sharp and unrestrained.

What exactly happened to Xun Ming?

Readers who usually met in the comment section only to start arguing now collided and speculated like chaotic meteors. Some said Xun Ming had been hurt by bad reviews, some said the Blue Planet Grand Literary Triangle had gone out on a group field trip, and some said there had been an accident with a spaceship.

Wenwen thought of the arguments it had seen before and felt that if it were the author, it would probably be too upset to write as well. It felt a little sad for Xun Ming.

Until someone started spamming the comments:

"Stop guessing! Latest accurate news! Xun Ming opened a new pit! And he declared a challenge to all power fantasy novel authors!"

Wenwen's heart leaped. It clicked into Xun Ming's work library, and sure enough, besides Fairy Tale of Life and Death, there were new pits.

And not just one...

But four of them!

Only one was currently serializing, and the others were in draft mode.

Xun Ming had also left a message in the works library, his tone as arrogant as ever, as if no bad reviews or accidents could dim his brilliance. Wenwen, who had just been feeling sorry for him, realized that its worry might have been misplaced. But instead of feeling embarrassed, it felt a bit happy.

Xun Ming directly called people out by name:

"A mere ginseng spirit? An Original Pentagram? Ridiculous."

"Let me teach you how to write."

He was actually directly picking a fight with the Ginseng Spirits!

They were colleagues, but calling them out like this was really not putting the other side in his eyes at all.

Wenwen first marveled, then felt a surge of excitement. Cosmic readers loved drama, especially literary drama. Even though it didn't know why Xun Ming was targeting the Ginseng Spirits, it was good that they were tearing each other apart. The louder the better, and hopefully, it tears out a classic novel!

It clicked into Xun Ming's new work and immediately typed a flurry of words:

"Old thief Xun Ming! Are you really not updating Fairy Tale of a Life and Death Romance anymore?"

Ah… it was so used to calling him old thief.

Let's see what the new novel is about first.

The tags were "Plot Track," "Youth Academy," and "Superpowers."

It didn't really understand the latter two. But it knew that to face the Ginseng Spirits head-on, Xun Ming had directly switched tracks. He abandoned the romance genre that he'd been writing so well to challenge a plot-driven power fantasy he had never touched before.

Then it checked the originality index… 100%?!

Wenwen read the first chapter of the new novel with bated breath, and once it started, it completely lost track of time.

On the other side, Xi Yujin was still racing against time to write.

He never said that one account could only write one type of novel. Xun Ming could write melodrama, so of course, he could also write power fantasies.

He wasn't going to withdraw from the writing contest because the prizes hadn't been taken yet. As for those pre-selected champions, they couldn't blame him for being ruthless.

—

The Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce.

Big yellow ducks gathered together to discuss serious matters with a solemn atmosphere.

"This novelist called Xun Ming encountered an assassination attempt by the Ginseng Spirit?" The Yellow Duck Boss looked at the name seriously for the first time. Assassinations weren't unusual in the universe, and almost no ducks considered them immoral. But when it involved the profits of the writing contest, they had no choice but to be nervous.

"He didn't say anything? He didn't even reply to our emails?" The Yellow Duck Boss paced back and forth. "That's strange. He didn't protest to our Flying Duck Novel Network, and didn't withdraw either… he just applied to switch tracks and confront the Ginseng Spirits head-on?"

"His new novel is already getting a lot of traffic. Should we approve his track-switch application?" a small yellow duck asked.

"If it has traffic… approve it." The Yellow Duck Boss finally decided. "I'm just worried that Blue Planet has some extraordinary individual…"

"I just received complete information from the edge of the universe. That Yujin from Blue Planet is the one who stirred that place into chaos…" The Yellow Duck Boss flapped its wings, feathers drifting down onto the conference table. "I have a constant sense of unease. I don't know how closely this Xun Ming is connected to Yujin, or whether there's any instruction from Yujin behind this… Let Xun Ming compete with those five Ginseng Spirits first to test his true strength."

On the big screen in the meeting room, the second issue of Reader's Digest Literary Leisure column was projected.

[

Yujin: Sincerely invite writers and literati to gather here for half a day of leisure.

—Xun Ming: Opened new pits. The thrill of power fantasies has four different ways to write.

—Xun Ming: Let me state this clearly: I don't dislike the Ginseng Spirits. I mean that all the novelists present are trash.

—Yongye: …

—Canghai: :- (

—Xun Ming: Oh? Did I insult you too? Sorry about that. :-)

]

"This Xun Ming is really arrogant…" The Yellow Duck Boss tried to reconstruct Xun Ming's personality. While pacing, it accidentally bumped into a small yellow duck, staggering and flapping its wings several times before regaining balance. It bristled its feathers and scolded, "What are you squatting here for?!"

"I—I'm studying the opponent…" the small yellow duck trembled. "Xun Ming's new book is… actually pretty good."