Starship Management APP released a flood of stockpiled chapters all at once, so readers were still on the fence and hadn't given much feedback yet. Xi Yujin immediately switched pages to write Yongye's next case. Time was precious, and he wanted to reach the end quickly. He was leaning toward two possible endings but couldn't decide which one.

At that moment, a message from Flying Duck Novel Network's backend caught his attention.

"Dear Mr. Xun Ming, your contest entry, Chaotic Gale, has achieved the subscription score, comment score, and professional judge score required for our writing competition finals. We hereby invite you to participate in our 'Golden Feather' Reading Salon, where you can discuss literature with fellow novelists who have advanced to the finals."

Three major writing competitions? He'd been so busy juggling multiple identities that he'd almost forgotten about this.

Chaotic Gale was currently serializing to great popularity, but because Xun Ming always delayed updates, many readers were waiting for it to finish before reading. So the money earned wasn't as much as expected, and was only around 300,000 stardust. For Xi Yujin, that was already a fortune. 300,000 dust-sand could buy 60 sessions with the writing AI.

As for the "Golden Feather" writing competition's plot track, he'd placed first in the preliminary round of his division and could advance to the finals, which only have 60 available spots. The romance track was a step behind, having just started monetization and only recently entered the preliminary round. The promotional resources for those works were very scarce. Moreover, because the competition schedule had been extended, many romance novels had finished before they could even start charging, essentially gaining exposure without earning money.

If Xun Ming had stayed on the romance track, he would have been one of those who finished early. He wouldn't have been called a meteorite spirit for starting too many novels, while Yongye and Canghai would also have had plenty of time to write. Only a few creatures would have noticed the connection between these three novelists.

All of these turning points stemmed from that assassination attempt by Ginseng Spirits.

Xi Yujin checked and confirmed that Ginseng Spirit's contest entries had also reached the finals, with popularity second only to Xun Ming.

Thinking about how the Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce had recently been sending him sincere, earnest messages of greeting, he decided to personally attend the reading salon to adjust his final plan. He replied to Flying Duck Novel Network, then went to find Gano to adjust their course.

"Yujinno, have you decided to put yourself in danger for Xun Ming?" Gano asked flatly when he heard the purpose.

"I wouldn't call it putting myself in danger..." Xi Yujin said. "The gathering is on the surface. The Flash Empire will guarantee surface-level security."

Gano was silent for a moment. Several rock-solid pieces of armor flew toward him from behind. Right before Xi Yujin's eyes, Gano equipped them instantly. Dark armor traced with crimson veins, his muffled voice coming from beneath the heavy helmet: "Please allow me to accompany you."

So... so cool!

Xi Yujin's heart always raced for mecha. The gloom in his heart was swept away, and he couldn't help poking Gano's armor with his finger, as if knocking on a door. A few seconds later, Gano imperceptibly floated slightly lower.

The Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce's Court of Stars was much smaller than the other two courts. Its main feature was the golden rings orbiting the star. The Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce had once pushed over a dozen large planets into the star, letting stellar gravity tear them apart. Those planetary remnants had formed this spectacular sight.

Because it had consumed the resources of over ten planets, which is an extremely extravagant waste, the Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce firmly believed that this Court of Stars possessed a decadent beauty that perfectly matched their character. One year, the writing competition's theme had been to praise the beauty of this Court of Stars.

Thus, the Golden Star Court had only two remaining satellite planets: one served as the Consortium's headquarters, and the other was the Guest Planet for receiving visitors.

From above, the Guest Planet had an orderly beauty. To let guests appreciate the scenery even from space, the buildings on this planet were all enormous, which was another massive investment.

Tidal Peace parked in near-planet orbit. After passing verification, the two guests descended from space to the surface.

On the surface, several ducks were whispering among themselves. One of them was Big White Duck, the capable secretary of Yellow Duck Boss. Yellow Duck Boss strongly favored promoting fellow yellow ducks, so the Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce had many of them. Some ducks had even painted themselves yellow to curry favor with the Boss. The fact that Big White Duck had climbed to this high position meant it had earned deep trust from the Boss, and its words represented the Boss's stance.

"Big White, can you give us a hint about what our Boss's attitude toward Xun Ming actually is? We little ones need to know so we can properly receive him."

"Boss hasn't said explicitly." Big White knew that not giving explicit orders was meant to let subordinates take the blame during critical periods. It could only resignedly infer the Boss's intentions: "In business, we seek profit, not lives. Since Xun Ming can make us money, of course, we should treat him with courtesy."

"The guest from Blue Planet has arrived!" a high-pitched voice announced.

The many novelists present all looked over.

Then they parted to make a path.

"It's the Zerg!" one novelist exclaimed.

"And... could that be from the Flash Clan? Or a species I've never seen? He's—"

Big White saw the two guests from Blue Planet. Its back feathers rose slightly in surprise, and it automatically completed the exclamation: This novelist from Blue Planet was so good-looking!

A group of ducks' eyes lit up like they were seeing walking money.

Neither Xi Yujin nor Gano wore disguises. As the two walked through, they caused onlookers to gasp and hold their breath, even stirring up small commotions. Gano wore black and red armor, hovering slightly off the ground. Xi Yujin glowed with a cool light, walking with natural grace, even nodding slightly to creatures who made eye contact. One black, one white. They complemented each other perfectly, an absolute match.

"This is what Xun Ming looks like?"

"That's not Xun Ming, that's Yujin." Big White prepared itself. "Xun Ming's reply said that Yujin is their Blue Planet novelist representative, responsible for representing novelist authority when Xun Ming delays his manuscripts."

"Oh, I was wondering how that meteorite spirit Xun Ming would have time to attend a reading salon. He should be locked in a dark room writing!" a small yellow duck muttered resentfully, only to have another duck pluck one of its feathers.

"Hmph." Big White said quietly, "Yujin is a dangerous individual. Get your feathers in order. Don't embarrass us."

The ducks stood with heads held high, but when Xi Yujin passed before them, they couldn't control the adoring looks in their eyes.

There was nothing they could do! Diamonds were simply too attractive to merchants!

Then they were hit by a wave of cold air.

Hiss—why is there a legendary Zerg here? And a solitary one at that?

Big White was internally furious at its embarrassing underlings but maintained a calm exterior. Still, watching Xi Yujin walk closer stirred something inside it. Xi Yujin stopped before it, slightly bowed his head, and said: "Hello, I'm Yujin from Blue Planet. I'm pleased to represent Xun Ming at the reading salon."

Big White: "H-Hello."

Xi Yujin knew perfectly well that his appearance was popular.

But was being adored by thousands of ducks in the interstellar age really something to be happy about?

These ducks couldn't even be eaten. What a waste.

Xi Yujin found other creatures' reactions strange and somewhat troublesome.

Big White tidied itself slightly and said, "Please follow me, Mr. Yujin, and your companion."

They entered a private room.

After they left, the other novelists began whispering to each other.

"Did you hear? That wasn't Xun Ming, it was Yujin. Who is Yujin? He's so good-looking. Too bad we can't record audio or video at the venue."

"Yujin is a very famous creature on Blue Planet. Apparently, he's the one who judges their Blue Planet literary scene's internal conflicts."

"What works has he published? I absolutely must read them!"

"I can't seem to find any..."

The novelists at the venue couldn't take photos, but they could access the forums. Various revelations began spreading online.

In the interstellar age, everyone still loved gossip. Since they cared so much about novels, they naturally loved literary gossip even more. The Blue Planet literary scene was currently a hot topic, so attention remained high, and several new rumors about Yujin emerged. The varying accounts only added to Yujin's mysterious aura.

—

In the VIP room.

A duck in server attire brought out expensive fish-grass tea leaves. Big White politely chewed some, then started a small talk: "Our Chamber of Commerce has noticed that Mr. Xun Ming's work has performed excellently. Previously, in the romance track, those rewards were indeed somewhat negligent."

Xi Yujin said, "Rewards are secondary. What I hope is that our Blue Planet receives respect."

Big White: "Our Chamber of Commerce has always respected novelists who submit work, especially talented novelists like Mr. Xun Ming."

Xi Yujin: "Then has Xun Ming demonstrated enough talent for the Chamber of Commerce to make a choice?"

Big White pretended not to understand: "Our Consortium has always been fair and impartial. We don't favor any side."

Xi Yujin adjusted his clothing while secretly discarding the fish-grass tea leaves. He found them unappetizing, but not eating them seemed too rude. Gano's gaze followed the discarded tea leaves, but his helmet hid this, so no one noticed.

Xi Yujin decided to be direct: "Then I trust the Chamber of Commerce won't intervene in the dispute between the Panqu Galaxy and Blue Planet."

"The Chamber of Commerce has always been fair and impartial," Big White repeated. "But everyone comes to the writing competition hoping for a harmonious and profitable outcome, don't they? Perhaps there were misunderstandings before, but our Chamber of Commerce believes that as long as both sides sit down and talk, any misunderstanding can be resolved. We won't take sides!"

"Sit down and talk..." Xi Yujin had lost interest in continuing the conversation. "Are the Ginseng Spirits in the next room?"

Big White glanced at Gano: "We can't disclose that at the moment. If you're willing to negotiate, we can take you there."

Gano said coldly, "Analysis complete. Target locked. The enemy is on this same planet, coordinates 123, 456, 788. Situation assessment: favorable."

Xi Yujin: "That won't be necessary, Gano."

Gano retracted his light wings, but the oppressive presence remained heavy.

Yet the greatest pressure in the room came from the most beautiful creature present. It was as if witnessing the day a star tore apart several planets. The meteorite fragments were the star's beautiful crown, the best proof of its powerful light and heat, making other creatures afraid to look directly at it.

Xi Yujin stood, gently adjusted his clothing, and said: "Blue Planet will not accept any negotiations. I sincerely advise the Chamber of Commerce to act wisely."

Negotiation was impossible. Once he made concessions, it would be easy to expose Blue Planet's true nature. Then he, a star spirit, would truly be a fish on the chopping block.

He needed a phantom image of Blue Planet to serve as his fortress.

He walked straight out, with Gano following close by, which gave him some peace of mind.

The representative from Blue Planet had left the salon venue abruptly without engaging in any socializing, making the whole affair even more mysterious. Big White, left behind in the VIP room, suddenly slapped its head, thinking: This is bad. It remembered that in the information from the universe's edge regions, Yujin's open letter to the star pirates had also used the phrase act wisely.

Tidal Peace drifted leisurely away from the star system. Xi Yujin ate from his mineral cup. The fish-grass tea leaves had a fishy smell; it was something only ducks would like.

As he ate, he suddenly felt his body heating up. That intangible mental power suddenly surged violently. Apparently, the previously returned mental power was going berserk.

Xi Yujin didn't know what was happening. He only felt a sprout in his soul breaking through the earth. The moment it stretched out, an extremely long whip of spiritual energy lashed toward the distance, its length instantly exceeding 3 astronomical units, shooting straight toward the Golden Star Court.

When Xi Yujin pulled his spiritual energy back, he discovered it had brought back... a golden rock?

This flying rock directly shattered the Tidal Peace's glass window.

Moreover, it was automatically captured by Xi Yujin's gravity, becoming his second asteroid.

In other words, his second typing machine.

"We need to repair the window again. 12,000 stardust per repair..." Xi Yujin looked at the gaping hole, somewhat speechless. Gano, beside him, seemed stunned. Xi Yujin thought for a moment and tried to explain: "This is just our Blue Planet physique. We Blue Planet people just randomly capture asteroids."

Believe me, Gano! Look at my sincere eyes!

Gano slowly nodded.

The golden fragment, provisionally named Typing Machine No. 2, had come flying in quite fast, so it naturally pushed aside Typing Machine No. 1 to become the asteroid closest to Xi Yujin.

Gano kept staring at it.

Could it be that Gano didn't believe him? Well, a species that captures asteroids was really too strange for this universe!

Time for Xi Yujin’s second move: changing the subject!

"Gano, let's continue working. I want to try the AI writing assistant, see if it gives me any inspiration..." Xi Yujin worked hard to divert Gano's attention. This seemed to work, but Gano looked somewhat wilted.

"How's your diary coming along?" Xi Yujin changed the subject again.

"The diary." Gano suddenly looked guilty. "I'm writing it. But, there are some words I don't know how to write..."

Xi Yujin: "But Gano is already learning very fast."

He looked through the words Gano said he didn't know and found they were all comparative words, like "better" and "best." He wouldn't ask about Gano's diary contents; he just secretly guessed it was probably Gano's training records.

In reality, apart from recording the day he met Xi Yujin, every other page of Gano's diary compared himself to Yujinno's close friends.

 

[

Today I bought Yujinno a gift. Yujinno's best friends didn't. Gano gets points!

Today I submitted my work on time, while Yujinno's best friends are still delaying theirs. Gano gets more points!

Today, I escorted Yujinno to the salon and intimidated the enemy. Yujinno's best friends didn't. Gano gets a hundred points!

]

 

With such a high score, he certainly had the standing to temporarily take over the duties of a best friend.

But...

Gano glanced at the two asteroids beside Xi Yujin.

But even if he could score a thousand points, what if those close friends had already reached ten thousand points in Yujin Nuo's heart?

Gano wanted to take a couple laps in space to cool down again.

But work was still work. Gano picked up Xun Ming's manuscript, looking unhappy, then switched to Canghai's manuscript and began translating.

Xi Yujin, meanwhile, tried the AI writing assistant beside him. He'd hit a bit of a bottleneck and wanted to use the AI to broaden his thinking. Plus, he'd paid good money for this AI, so he should make good use of it.

The writing AI popped up a form asking Xi Yujin to fill in various character information.

Xi Yujin thought of Gano beside him and tried entering Zerg in the protagonist column. However, a message popped up: Zergs are prohibited from being protagonists.

Xi Yujin tried the villain column. That worked.

Was this Intelligent Machines writing AI smuggling in its own biases?

Xi Yujin randomly selected an ocean creature as the protagonist and a Zerg as the villain, then created a few supporting characters and waited for the story to be generated.

A few minutes later, a fresh power fantasy novel was ready.

 

[

SpongeBob navigated carefully through space because he had to avoid getting caught up in the hyper-dimensional war between the Intelligent Machines and the Zergs.

This war had affected hundreds of millions of galaxies, destroyed countless creatures' homes, and caused irreversible mass extinctions. Both the Intelligent Machines and the Zergs were war criminals.

SpongeBob encountered the Zergs. They spread their wings and charged toward SpongeBob like a vast army!

]

 

Xi Yujin studied this passage carefully.

So Zergs had bat-like bone wings that didn't normally appear and were basically used to power their armor's light-wings.

He hadn't seen Gano display those yet...

Xi Yujin became somewhat lost in thought.

The rest of SpongeBob's Space Adventure had nothing nutritious, so Xi Yujin restarted the writing AI. There were many options he didn't understand. He randomly selected a few, and this time the generated story was somewhat strange.

 

[

The slime navigated carefully through space because it had to watch out for attacks from the Big Strong*.

The Big Strong was an evil species with six legs and pitch-black skin that made you want to smack them with a slipper.

Currently, it was very safe. The slime and its companion made intimate contact, with tiny electric currents flowing between them.

Puchi Puchi, Puchi Puchi.

]

 

He had no idea what this puchi literature was supposed to be.

Xi Yujin flipped through later chapters and found these strange onomatopoeia appearing regularly. Had the Intelligent Machines AI learned to pad word counts too?

He searched for the cause and determined that it must be a certain button. He asked Gano beside him what the button meant.

Gano said without any change in expression: "It's the mature-stage reproduction behavior prompt."

What?!

Xi Yujin suddenly understood. So slimes made intimate contact through electric currents, and "puchi puchi" was the onomatopoeia for a certain behavior.

So he had just been reading slime smut!

How weird...

Then he took another look.

Because it was so strange and his worldview had taken a hit, Xi Yujin could only close his eyes in a thinking pose. After a while, he felt his mental power fluctuating. Apparently, something was wrong with Typing Machines No. 1 and No. 2. He half-opened his eyes, and the wall opposite reflected his and Gano's silhouettes.

Gano was carefully swapping the positions of Typing Machine No. 1 and No. 2.

A planet's orbital path has nothing to do with its mass or size. Gano first tested to confirm he could change the orbit, then slowly pushed the armor core forward.

If Yujinno asked, he'd just say the armor core moved on its own. It had nothing to do with him.

Anyway, there was no second human present who would know.

Gano concentrated fully on his task. He thought Xi Yujin didn't know, but actually, Xi Yujin had been secretly watching him the whole time.

With the help of the two typing machine asteroids, Xi Yujin's update speed increased dramatically. Starship Management APP built up a substantial stockpile, and even Chaotic Gale wasn't falling behind.

On the forums, opinions were divided.

Chaotic Gale readers declared: "I absolutely refuse to read Xun Ming's new novel! Little Gale is still stuck in the Sealing Wall! When is he going to return and fight in the team battles!"

Fairytale of a Life and Death Romance readers: "This seems familiar... Xiaoming and Lihua haven't reunited in a hundred years..."

Readers who read everything: "Xun Ming's new book is really great! I wish I had a similar app! I'd decorate my spaceship so nicely! Actually, I think Xun Ming's new book should spread widely in the Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce. It suits their merchant identity."

"Forget it. At least the protagonist in Xun Ming's new book isn't a crooked merchant."

At the Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce, Yellow Duck Boss was reading Xun Ming's new book with a pained expression, somewhat regretting that it had given its orders too early. But merchants were fundamentally profit-driven. Once they gained some profit, they wanted more. Just like this time, it had harbored hope that the Blue Planet literary scene's infighting hype was only temporary, and that Blue Planet novelists had contracts with their rivals, making them too unstable. In the long run, the Ginseng Spirits would offer more stable cooperation and greater profits, so it had hoped Blue Planet would just accept a compromise.

"Now... we've really offended Xun Ming, haven't we..."

Big White said from the side: "Boss, the Ginseng Spirits' new works have been released, and we've opened a special promotional channel to accelerate their data growth. When do we proceed to the next step?"

Yellow Duck Boss: "Hmph, what's done is done. The Flying Duck Chamber of Commerce has never feared anyone. Continue with the promotional budget as planned."

"I just wonder what tricks this Yujin will pull..."

On the forums, new posts quickly appeared. Flying Duck Novel Network had also created a homepage featured section showcasing the Ginseng Spirits' new works.

"The Original Pentagram has new works again, but this time they don't seem very original. They also used AI writing..."

"Using AI writing is normal. What power fantasy novel doesn't use AI? It writes fast and well without fear of abandonment. Their originality rate this time is only 45%, a bit lower than before, but still better than similar power fantasies. I'm still looking forward to their new works."

"Xun Ming's originality rate is 100%."

"Also, the Ginseng Spirits' new works feel very familiar. They're called How Did the Transfer Student Become Academy Number One and My Wonderful Life After Landing in a New Galaxy with Maxed Business Talent. Aren't they imitating Xun Ming?"