Xi Yujin posted a new case under the Yongye pen name, but it didn't suppress the readers' discussion about the Original Pentagram. The reason was simple: The Ginseng Spirits were updating way too fast and too much.

Ginseng Spirits naturally had many tentacles, giving them a fast typing speed. Combined with writing AI assistance, they were explosively updating at nearly three chapters a day. Plus, they had already completed some works that readers could binge on, so their overall popularity was rising steadily.

Xi Yujin specifically went to study Ginseng Spirit's works. He was curious, without a large sample of formulaic samples he himself had, how could the writing AI produce so much?

The Ginseng Spirit's works gave him the answer: iterative imitation.

The Ginseng Spirits had some original creative ability. They first used AI to generate their specialty, classic revenge flow, then modified the details until it became a strange, mismatched academy flow.

For example, Xun Ming's Chaotic Gale featured a protagonist embroiled in a blood feud. The Ginseng Spirits then simply input those settings directly into the AI.

When Chaotic Gale’s protagonist enters a small academy, they would instead arrange a spaceship crash landing in a new galaxy, placing the character in a low-combat academy.

When Chaotic Gale features a team around the protagonist, they would take various cannon-fodder side characters who appeared only once, add more description, and polish them into teammates. If Cannon Fodder A died in the AI draft, no problem, they would revise it so A was merely gravely injured, then rename a newly introduced Cannon Fodder B as A. Voilà: a loyal friend who sticks with the protagonist from start to finish.

It's just that this friend occasionally had drastic personality changes...

Oh right, Blue Planet's best friends were special, but Xun Ming wrote them too subtly for readers' tastes, so they could add some obvious romantic plotlines. This was called taking the essence and discarding the dross.

Chaotic Gale's protagonist team used wit and courage for a desperate counterattack to seize victory. In Ginseng Spirit's version, they had the cannon fodder teammates unexpectedly die, the protagonist single-handedly defeated the enemies, and at the end, the teammates magically reappeared. Wasn't that also the protagonist's team seizing victory together?

Wasn't this the academy story everyone loved?

Mass-producing web novels was so easy!

Thus, Xi Yujin found himself reading a power fantasy where the protagonist had a lone wolf personality and still claimed to be unfamiliar with teammates after 100 chapters. The teammates' personalities constantly collapsed, occasionally acting like sycophants, and becoming stepping stones for the protagonist when necessary. Furthermore, the protagonist inexplicably built a same-sex harem. He read with question marks floating over his head, even doubting his own aesthetic sense.

The forum said Ginseng Spirit was copying Xun Ming, but looking at it now, what part of How Did the Transfer Student Become Academy Number One was similar to Chaotic Gale?

Xi Yujin then looked at the Ginseng Spirit's My Wonderful Life After Landing in a New Galaxy with Maxed Business Talent, which updated much more slowly.

Because the imitation process was far more complex.

The Ginseng Spirit first used AI to produce a revenge story, modified it into a landing story, and then modified it a third time into Xun Ming's management and farming flow. After this entire process, the originality rate was actually as high as 55%.

This story started with a landing template. The protagonist landed in a new galaxy and discovered that the Moss Tribe there didn't know how to do business, but he happened to be good at it.

Then what should happen next?

The Ginseng Spirits scratched their heads raw, trying to figure out the continuation.

Why did Xun Ming's novels go so naturally and interestingly, while whenever a Ginseng Spirit put pen to paper, its mind went blank?

In the end, the Ginseng Spirit could only cobble things together from various sources. First, they wrote that the protagonist's lover was taken away to marry into the Giant Fern Tribe, so the protagonist had to prove their worth through business. Then the protagonist beat up Giant Fern foot soldiers one after another, obtained cheap supplies, and sold them to the Moss Tribe. When the protagonist faced the dilemma of a few customers, they beat up more cannon fodder, and then customers started coming.

This... should count as a management farming novel, right?

Xi Yujin grew increasingly amazed. This kind of violent forced-trade business power fantasy was truly a first for him. The customs of cosmic beings were so hard to understand. It was completely different from the Starship Management APP he'd written.

Unable to resist, he replied in the comments using his alt account.

Xun Ming: "I heard that someone was imitating me. Let me state this clearly: don't randomly claim something is based on my work."

A wall of laughter immediately followed.

"Hahahaha, I'm dying! The Original Pentagram shamelessly followed the trend and imitated him, and Xun Ming says the imitation doesn't resemble his work at all."

"Usually, novelists are proud when others copy them. But Xun Ming won't even acknowledge it as an imitation."

"Xun Ming is truly Xun Ming. Everything he says is so mocking. The only time he's not so righteous is when he abandons his novels. As a reader stuck at the bottom of his pit, I'm actually kind of touched."

"Don't lower your standards for the meteorite spirit!"

"Now that you mention it, I'm actually curious about the Ginseng Spirit's new work. That old thief Xun Ming updates way too slowly."

Xun Ming replied a second time in the comments:

"I don't mind at all if others imitate my tropes. Literary exchange should be encouraged. But only 100% originality earns you a ticket to the exchange.

Every time I see myself compared to a bunch of secondhand garbage, I find it laughable. Anyway, I'm going to my little black room to work on my manuscripts."

Some readers cheered enthusiastically after learning that Xun Ming was working on manuscripts.

Others, however, were annoyed with Xun Ming.

Before Blue Planet appeared, these readers of plot-driven web novels had survived on AI-written derivative works, and they had some attachment to those novelists. Xun Ming was being so disrespectful. Why couldn't AI-assisted novelists meet his standards? Novelists should maintain a humble learning attitude, and Xun Ming's constant mockery of others was really unbearable.

Seeing the forum start arguing about Xun Ming, Xi Yujin actually felt relieved. This persona was really useful. To complete his final plan, he needed to accumulate as much attention as possible. Only when all creatures' eyes were watching could the final drama unfold as scheduled.

He and Typing Machines No. 1 and No. 2 began grinding out novels furiously.

The acknowledged benefit of AI writing was that it was both fast and competent.

Now that Xun Ming had suddenly turned over a new leaf, updating both Chaotic Gale and Starship Management APP together. Though each only had one chapter per day, each update was quite long and was barely enough to satisfy. His readers were so happy they were almost scared.

Now, everyone was more focused on the quality of both sides' novels.

To be fair, everyone was quite tolerant of Ginseng Spirit's patchwork novels. In this universe, this kind of behavior was called trend-following imitation and was completely legal and even ethical. Readers were quite indulgent of this behavior. Literary works were simply too important to let any novelist monopolize a genre. In other words, if no one bothered to manage space assassinations, how could anyone manage interstellar plagiarism?

This universe even had rampant piracy, though not of web novels, but of physical books, which were luxury items. The black market's bestsellers were physical books that were not authorized in that galaxy. Without proper authorization, authors received no mental feedback, no money, and could do nothing about it due to the vast distances.

Looking at the Ginseng Spirit's AI-assisted works, readers found the core was familiar violent revenge, with no comprehension barrier. Skimming through, it felt somewhat satisfying and different from other novels, so it counted as a good work.

Thus, the imitated works also gained a batch of loyal readers who, hearing how arrogant Xun Ming was, even swore never to read his works.

But the forum discussions were so heated. From time to time, someone would post how shockingly good Xun Ming’s work was, making others unbearably curious.

One day, an alien reader couldn't suppress their curiosity and climbed over the wall to read Xun Ming's power fantasies.

"I’ll never be conquered by such an arrogant author."

This alien reader secretly vowed, furrowing their brow as they opened Chaotic Gale.

The protagonist's early academy journey already captured their attention. They kept shaking their head to tell themselves it wasn't good, while simultaneously widening their eyes to read every word.

"There's some innovation, but it's still essentially revenge-driven. Just added some team friendship." The alien reader said stubbornly, "I've read so many revenge stories. Can this really be that different?"

The alien reader watched Gale fall into the Sealing Wall and secretly felt anxious for him. Here, the protagonist finally learned the truth about his second ability: Gale's second power came from a shadow beast called "Chaos" sealed within him. The village massacre from years ago was actually caused by the protagonist's ability going berserk. The murderer he’d been searching for many years… was himself.

What a twist! The protagonist wasn't a completely righteous creature?

The alien reader was completely stunned.

Then, a tingling excitement washed over it.

This youth academy story was suddenly infused with dark and tragic undertones, and it instantly became more profound. Extreme situations and opposing stances silently interrogated the nature of humanity. The alien felt like it wasn't reading a simple web novel anymore, but some serious literary work. They usually loved reading web novels, and suddenly encountering one that had both web novel flavor and philosophical exploration made them want to recommend it everywhere to show off their taste.

Gale questioned himself within the Sealing Wall, even considering death as atonement. But thinking about how he could use his unique traits to protect more people, he chose to live, return to the human world, and seek a way to mediate the war.

He spent a long time inside the Sealing Wall, meeting a group of peace-faction beasts and becoming close friends with their leader. Three years later, he finally found the way home and decided to return with his new friend.

The alien reader felt a surge of excitement. Because now, the protagonist had not only grown up but also far surpassed his peers in strength. Moreover, his appearance became stunningly handsome. Just imagining the protagonist shocking everyone made them feel incredible satisfaction.

Sure enough, the protagonist reunited with his friends one by one. Some friends were in danger, and he rescued them. The two silently recognize each other and seamlessly fight together. Some friends didn't recognize him until he spoke up, shocking them with how tall and handsome he'd become. Other friends spoke harshly, openly, and subtly questioning why the protagonist had made new friends: didn't he know how worried they'd been these three years?

Because Xun Ming had officially stated in the text that they really weren't in romantic relationships, some readers were dissatisfied. But this ambiguity actually made it more exciting.

Xun Ming, you truly deserve your reputation as the best at writing melodrama in plot novels and the best at writing plot in melodrama.

When the reader saw the friend group reunite, all three of its eyes widened.

AAAAAAH more more more! I love this scene so much! AAAAAAH, why do I want to scream more the more I read!

The alien reader didn't know which friend would have the last laugh, only that Xun Ming had already won.

The subsequent plot had the protagonist bring his friend group to compete in the academy league again. Because the protagonist wanted to win first place, then publicly announce the truth about the beasts, and deliver a peace speech at the interstellar level. Now the story's tone returned to a light-hearted, action-packed style with a touch of humor.

Readers witnessed the protagonist team's clever cooperation and their counterattack victories. With youthful camaraderie, they crushed the corrupt and filthy elders and overcame every challenge. All their words carried a unique innocence, making the alien reader read on with tears streaming down its face.

"So moving... sob sob sob Having a team you can trust 100% is really wonderful. Even the opponents are so cute. This is youth!"

Catching up to the latest update, the reader closed the page:

"So revenge stories can have this kind of twist and be written like this."

It finally understood the forum's sentiments. Xun Ming really had written something fresh and completely different from AI.

The alien reader wanted to fully concede, but thinking of Xun Ming's arrogance, it felt reluctant and opened Starship Management APP to continue reading.

This one barely had traces of revenge elements.

The protagonist was framed at the beginning and was exiled to space. That's when he collided with a strange ancient starship that actually had self-awareness. Its dream was to become a commercial yacht, and if the protagonist fulfilled its dream, it would give him a large amount of stardust.

The protagonist agreed, and the starship said he could use the Management APP on his optical computer to operate the ship's equipment, then went to sleep.

Looking at the APP, the protagonist thought about how he was now penniless with only one starship. What should he do?

Suddenly, inspiration struck, and he decided to start a tourism business. There was a beautiful meteor red storm nearby, but only a starship, which was usually used for higher-end industries, could withstand it.

So the protagonist started a unique starship tourism business in a remote neighboring galaxy and earned his first pot of gold. The Starship APP also rewarded him with lots of stardust, making the protagonist completely hooked and decide to expand.

If he wanted the starship to become a commercial yacht, tourism alone wasn't enough. So, the protagonist began renovating the starship by setting up a barbecue stall to solve tourists' food needs. Later, he opened a milk tea shop and a bun shop.

The protagonist's starship became increasingly famous, so he kept renovating and upgrading the equipment and eventually opened a small restaurant featuring diverse cuisines.

Simultaneously, the protagonist expanded the tourism business by developing observation decks to view different stellar landscapes from various distances. He also converted empty rooms into hotels of different grades for families to stay overnight.

The Starship APP kept upgrading, granting the protagonist access to the second basement level. He then entered the entertainment industry: first installing family-friendly leisure facilities, then flashy arcades...

In recent updates, the protagonist had even developed cultural entertainment. He established a museum exhibition hall with collected artifacts from different galaxies. Some tourists were amazed and even voluntarily offered their own treasures.

The protagonist's starship became more and more valuable!

The alien reader was completely dumbfounded.

It resisted the urge to scream "so good" on the forums and carefully considered what made it feel this way.

Cosmic beings loved traveling and didn't have Earth's attachment to homeland. But correspondingly, cosmic beings really loved their spaceships, which they considered their eternal homes.

So, when they saw the protagonist receive a giant starship, all readers felt somewhat envious. The starship was even given for free, comparable to an Earth creature receiving a beachfront villa with no strings attached.

Moreover, this giant starship started broken and worn, and it was only through the protagonist's hard work that a passage and room were cleaned out. At that moment, readers felt a strange satisfaction, as if they also possessed this clean space.

The protagonist was going to do business on it, and it was the tourism industry that they hadn't expected.

There was suddenly a face-slapping satisfaction as they read the tourist's initial disdain, who later expressed amazement at the starship's service.

The next industry was the food business, which they also hadn't thought of. What was barbecue? Though they couldn't imagine it, the tourists in the story fell in love with one bite, so it must be delicious.

Cosmic readers watched in amazement as the protagonist's head seemed full of endless ideas, going from tourism to food to cultural entertainment. Every step landed on an unbelievable point, making them also want to experience the joy of doing business. Watching the main character build his starship business step by step and seeing the stardust amount grow with more zeros felt really satisfying. It was as if they were experiencing that happiness too.

Though the text didn't directly state the protagonist's brilliance, the cosmic beings all thought that the protagonist must be knowledgeable. He could even renovate the starship in different styles!

They also wanted to redecorate their own ships!

But in reality, they didn't have a starship that could fund their dreams. They could only watch the novel to indulge their fantasies, while commenting below: Respected Xun Ming, have you heard of the Pipixia* style? I think the electronic dashboard would look great remodeled that way...

Every creature had fantasized about their spaceship, and now, a novel was finally fulfilling their fantasies!

So this was the management genre! They just couldn't get enough of it!

"This is definitely a different genre!"

"So that's what management farming means. What was the Ginseng Spirit even writing?"

The alien reader couldn't believe it had only just discovered Xun Ming's novels. It was unlucky late, but also lucky because there was still so much it hadn't read.

The alien thought it only enjoyed fighting and killing, but how could Xun Ming discover new satisfaction points in them? It felt like a puppet in Xun Ming's hands. Wherever Xun Ming's pen pointed, it discovered that it liked that too.

Xun Ming, you're terrifying!

No, it had to read Starship Management APP slowly. It already finished Chaotic Gale, and if it runs out of good web novels, its mental chaos would worsen.

It had to admit, Xun Ming's ability to write two different genres was truly impressive.

The alien reader immersed itself in the world of Xun Ming's novels.

Then the forum discussion volume suddenly exploded.

Xun Ming started a new novel!

"You can still... write more?" The alien reader quickly clicked the link.

This new novel was called House of Lies.

Its originality rate was still 100%, and once again, it followed a structure that no one had ever seen before.

The story was relatively short, with only the beginning posted. But in just a few strokes, readers could see no trace of revenge genre and were deeply captivated.

A weak human came to a technologically advanced, chaotic galaxy where they could be crushed by outsiders at any moment.

But the protagonist excelled at deception and chose the most dangerous method: using lies to create illusion after illusion. Every step was walked on a knife's edge, and the slightest misstep meant death. Yet at every crisis, he resolves the danger in his own way, climbing steadily to the pinnacle of power, becoming a legend the entire world dares not name.

He appears in every major event of the world, yet when people strain their eyes to look, all they can see is the shadow he casts.

Readers were anxiously worried about the protagonist's choices, yet, like geese being chased from behind, they couldn't help watching how the protagonist would handle the next crisis.

Very tense, yet very satisfying.

"A completely subversive novel that still makes readers feel satisfied..."

"So AI tropes aren't necessarily the best."

"Originality is the only way to have a future."

Readers lingered before their optical computer, thinking silently.

That night, many novelists were also pondering. Forum activity dropped instead of rising. New posts were scarce, as if everyone had entered a shared moment of silence.

With three works, each at 100% originality, Xun Ming had proven his strength.

Some readers who'd just been watching the drama suddenly realized that in the much-discussed Blue Planet literary infighting, all participants had 100% originality rates. No one used AI, and every person's output was genres their galaxy had never heard of.

As Xun Ming said, 100% originality was the entry ticket to the exchange.

And only those capable of creating new genres were worthy of standing on equal footing with him.

"I can't write anymore..."

In the Flying Duck VIP room, the Ginseng Spirits finally threw down their keyboard as they covered their face in anguish.

"I can't come up with even a single original story anymore. We've decided to withdraw from this writing competition..."