"It dropped... Sure enough, if I differentiate the characteristics of my different pen names, the Intelligent Machines are more likely to think that they aren't the same person."

Xi Yujin stared at the data changes on the electronic screen, lost in thought. He wasn't anxious because he didn't believe that one or two stories could change the situation. He was just thinking about how to improve his plan.

"I need a backup plan. In case my original plan stops working, I'll create a few pen names pretending to be ancient writers rising from the dead to make up the nine hundred-plus novels."

After planning his Plan B, Xi Yujin continued to confidently write the second installment of the Blue Planet literary drama, The Tea Party Challenge. After concentrating on typing for a while, he felt a bit tired, pushed the virtual screen away, and flopped down on the soft sofa. This was probably the benefit of making money: enjoying better material comforts.

All the windows in front of him turned transparent, giving Xi Yujin a clear view of space. Normally, space is pitch black, but here, the dense mechanical celestial bodies seemed to add a high-brightness filter to the night sky. It revealed a deep blue, starry expanse that was both dreamlike and ethereal.

Xi Yujin's mood calmed down considerably, and an urge to share something rose in him without thinking. He made the sofa float, pushed open the door, and called out in a certain direction:

"Gano, come look at the stars!"

In the other room, Gano was reviewing his translated manuscript, revising the sentences to be more precise. He realized that translation wasn't only about deciphering semantics, but also about analyzing the implied meanings of the original work.

To preserve the flavor of the original, one needed to understand its emotions more carefully. He could decipher words the way he approached combat, but grasping those emotions was another matter. The more precise he tried to be, the more rigid the translated text became.

He thought of the Intelligent Machines.

Translation was a linguistic engineering project connecting the entire universe.

The Intelligent Machines' voluntary halt of translation technology research was also a form of self-imposed confinement.

Were the works translated by the Intelligent Machines as rigid as his? If so, the Intelligent Machines might try to obtain evidence against Yujinno from him.

He didn't care about the past between the Intelligent Machines and the Zerg, nor about how dramatic past events in the universe had been. His emotions were very limited, and they all fluctuated for Yujinno alone.

While deciphering the vast literary codes, Gano seemed to understand some subtle emotional shifts. However, he still couldn't quite grasp them.

Suddenly, he heard Xi Yujin calling his name.

He carried the manuscript to the room Xi Yujin liked to stay in most. It wasn't spacious, but the furniture had all been arranged by Yujinno himself. Gano walked inside and looked out at the vast, deep blue starry sky. Xi Yujin turned to look at him, and it felt as if countless withered leaves had come back to life in his heart.

He probably knew how to capture the emotions in translation now.

—

On the Intelligent Machines' forum, the discussion sparked by Blue Planet's novelists was just a small wave, because the novels there were updated far too quickly.

Xi Yujin kept at it and released a post about Blue Planet's Tea Party. The previous Blue Planet novels had already attracted some new readers, plus a large number of loyal readers gained during his travels. So the post quickly got lively, was pushed to the front page, and stayed there.

 

Summary — [Blue Planet Civilization] Welcome to [Jung's Tea Party]

Jung: Yesterday, I held a tea party with various novelists offline. It was very fruitful, and everyone talked about some really interesting topics that I couldn't bear to let go to waste. So I'm sharing everyone's notes with the readers.

—

Jung: The participants were Jung, Yongye, Xunming, Mingxin, Feiniao, and Canghai.

—

Mingxin: I only went there to freeload food and drinks. Does that count as participating…?

—

Canghai: But the snacks were really delicious! Thank you, Brother Xunming, for not forgetting to bring me along when you're out having fun!

—

Xunming: I found out by accident, too. Activities with good food like this should happen more often.

—

Jung: According to my colleague's recent research, we've gained a better understanding of Western fantasy creatures, such as the fantasy origins of dragons... Some of the analyses can be viewed on the Blue Planet website. This tea party is to share the inspirational notes we gained from it.

—

Jung: The following is Mr. Yongye's note, The Swamp Detective.

 

[

A detective, due to mismanagement, has his agency on the verge of bankruptcy and is about to go broke himself. While investigating a divorce case, he unexpectedly gets caught up in an evil church's conspiracy and is cursed by the swamp, where he occasionally turns into a terrifying mud monster.

In despair, the detective suddenly had a brilliant idea to use the mud monster's ability to traverse sewers to actively go out and find cases! So he used his swamp transformation time to roam the city, lock in potential clients, and then made his move.

Along the way, he solved numerous cases.

The divorce case involved a fugitive who's been on the run for ten years; the case of a wealthy man's real and fake wills was actually his children trying to invalidate the real one; and the church embezzlement case turned out to be the result of a priest's failed stock investments.

The detective's reputation soars, and his firm was finally saved from bankruptcy.

 ]

 

Readers new to the detective genre found it fascinating, praising the swamp detective as incredibly clever for being able to trace the truth from the smallest clues.

Readers familiar with Yongye's previous work had a different take: "Indeed, an inspirational essay is shorter than a proper serial. Mr. Zhong solved one major case, while Mr. Swamp already solved three! And nobody died! What kind of amazing detective is this!"

Another reader who loved Yongye said, "Ahem, to give a proper review, perhaps because fantasy elements are involved, Yongye didn't have Swamp deal with cases involving bizarre deaths. It focuses more on the protagonist's on-the-spot reasoning, using an unexpected truth to introduce that dark little city. But even in cases without any deaths, Yongye writes so well. Our galaxy has plenty of creatures following the detective genre, and the deaths in their cases keep getting more and more bizarre. I think they should all come read this. The essence of detective fiction is never the dead, but the living mind."

—

Jung: The following is Xunming's essay, The King of Mermaids.

 

[

He, an ordinary young man from the 21st century.

They, bloodthirsty merfolk lurking in the depths of the ocean.

One day, he transmigrated into one of them, growing a dull, lifeless fish tail. Disliked by all the merfolk, he could only live at the edge of the sea.

Until one day, he underwent a second evolution, and another fish tail grew from his body. It turned out that he was actually a two-tailed merfolk who only appeared in myths!

The entire merfolk race went mad! They had actually mistaken a pearl for a stone!

]

 

 

"?"

 —

"??"

—

"This is weirdly addictive. @Xunming, please keep writing, for real!"

—

"I've developed a habit of mindlessly reading anything with Xunming's name on it; thinking for even a second longer would be disrespecting my own brain. So what if Xunming writes web novels? As long as it's easy to read, that's fine."

—

"This one feels a bit melodramatic and a bit exciting. Xunming, you've evolved!"

—

"The Intelligent Machines' writing AI was originally built by scraping posts from the forum, which is why there are very few web novels here now. I skimmed through this author's previous work, and I think his strength lies in showing readers different, lighthearted directions. He must have a lot of imitators, right?"

—

"Absolutely. Our galaxy discusses Xunming's writing style every single day."

 

 

"Just a little famous in another galaxy and he's already this arrogant..." Off-screen, an alien novelist typed with a look of disdain. "This is the Intelligent Machines' forum. Who here doesn't have some background?"

It considered itself a long-time resident at the Deep Space Prison and had quickly gotten familiar with the forum's unspoken rules. It prided itself on its rich writing experience and always found the Blue Planet literature inexplicably grating, finding fault with everything from layout style to story content.

But there were also some novelists who, out of a desire to gauge reader sentiment, cautiously read through the entire tea party's essays and broke out in a cold sweat.

"The biggest characteristic of this Blue Planet is actually its... diversity..."

—

Jung: The following is Mr. Mingxin's essay, Fallen Angel.

 

[

A convenience store clerk can see whether a customer's heart harbors a devil or an angel. If it's a devil, he charges extra without hesitation, collecting taxes for hell, as he puts it.

One day, the clerk sees a child followed by a strange angel. He does some research and discovers that it was a legendary fallen angel. Curious, he chats with the child and learns of the child's tragic background: a high school student father and a dancer mother. The child desperately wants to make something of their life but is constantly bullied.

Looking at the fallen angel behind the child, the clerk isn't sure whether or not to charge extra.

The child and the clerk grow closer over time. One day, the clerk looked at the mirror and saw a devil inside himself. Remembering all the wrongs he's done in the past, he decided to help the child.

He grabbed a wrench and beat the bullies half to death, landing himself in jail. The next day, the child came back to the convenience store to find that the kind friend was gone.

 ]

 

"I think I've figured out Mingxin's style now. He always writes the most depressing things. There isn't a single good person in his stories! Everyone meets a bad end!"

"I urge Blue Planet to check on Mingxin's mental state. His stories always seem to go to an extreme. Why, why couldn't there be some coincidence that saved everyone? If only there were a responsible detective, things wouldn't have come to this. I hope the Swamp Detective can take on this case."

"Am I the only one paying attention to the angel descriptions? Six pure white wings, they must look so beautiful!"

—

Jung: The following is a short essay by little Feiniao, titled Hellish Magical Girl.

—

Feiniao: I'm not little!

—

Jung: My apologies. Please, everyone, take a look at this novelist's work.

 

[

A magical girl from Hell disguises herself as a human student to investigate Hell's reputation. She was surprised to find that Hell was gradually being replaced by the Lovecraftian aesthetic.

The traditional symbols of Hell, demon wings, lava baths, and gothic skirts, have all disappeared. People now prefer tentacles, eyeballs, and colorful bubbles!

The protagonist has no choice but to fight those Lovecraftian-style monsters, only to be mistaken for one of their own kind by the angelic magical girls. And so, the protagonist begins her life of disguise!

]

 

Jung: This is one of my absolute favorites. I recommend everyone read it.

—

Feiniao: Ms. Jung... you really like it?

—

Xunming: Tsk tsk tsk.

 —

Jung: Finally, there's Mr. Canghai's work, The Labyrinth. Mr. Canghai's historical knowledge is truly vast. I almost mistook it for a formal study manuscript rather than a casual essay.

 

[

This time, the protagonist is an archaeologist.

He learnt a prophecy that the world will be destroyed in seven days, and the solution to the crisis is hidden inside a newly excavated Mayan pyramid.

The Mayan civilization is shrouded in mystery in Western thought; countless scholars want to know how it formed and how it was destroyed.

While exploring the area outside the tomb, the protagonist accidentally fell into a tunnel. When he woke up, he found himself inside a labyrinth. It turned out that the pyramids on the surface were only part of the picture. Many more Mayan structures remain underground.

The protagonist felt that the labyrinth's oxygen was running low, but fortunately, he found a diary left by someone before him. He had to race against time, using his knowledge of history to find a way out of the labyrinth.

Along the way, he discovered that many prototypes of fantastical creatures were hidden there, having only taken on their mythological forms due to environmental changes and human imagination.

And the prophecy of the world's destruction turns out to be nothing more than a scam to swindle research funding...

]

 

"I watched in stunned silence... Every mechanism is so detailed, such thorough historical descriptions... is this real? Are all the fantastical creatures of Western civilization derived from things like this?"

"According to the latest findings on the Blue Planet official website, no, this is Canghai's literary creation."

"Suddenly, I have a real sense of how deep and unbroken Blue Planet civilization's history is. Look at their Western mythology, it can actually be traced back to such a distant era!"

Under this reply, a Blue Planet netizen named 'Qiongtian' left a question mark.

Jung came out to summarize: "This was just casual inspiration. It would be inelegant to treat the novels as historical material. I hope that next time, my colleague who has been quietly watching from the sidelines will generously step forward and join us. As for Fuling, she didn't participate, but her recently completed translation of Faust* is already up on the homepage..."

The readers who watched the tea party gave it rave reviews, and the reply count skyrocketed to 600 pages.

"A single post with so many different styles of novels, what an absolute bargain! Blue Planet should hold more events like this!"

"I originally only liked Yongye, but now I also like Mingxin and Feiniao... One day I'll end up liking all the Blue Planet novelists."

"Let me show you the way! Here are the previous works by Blue Planet novelists, and you can also visit their official website. The Reader's Digest website also has a comment section. Fellow fans, come join us!"

Xi Yujin was thrilled to see his work receiving so much recognition.

"Time for a break…" Xi Yujin lay down on the sofa and glanced at the Intelligent Machines' electronic screen.

The green numbers on the screen flashed, dropping from 97.36% to 90.04%.

"The rate of decline has gone up. It must be because my works this time cover different genres. I want more readers... But what should I do?"

Xi Yujin searched for answers on the forum and came across a marketing tactic: literary branding.

Regardless of their reasons, thousands of novelists were uploading their manuscripts. Some races even had novelists permanently stationed here. To better draw readers' attention, they would band together to build literary brands. That way, even when bringing in a new novelist, as long as the brand stamp was there, the initial publicity and exposure were much easier to handle.

So Xi Yujin tweaked the style of his post and decided to create his own Blue Planet Civilization brand. Then he went back to burying himself in writing. Little did he know that this move caught the attention of many novelists.

"Another new brand has been born?"

A novelist floating in mid-air said.

"Blue Planet Literature. I think I've heard readers mention it. But isn't this Blue Planet being a bit too arrogant? They don't even have a novel serial with 1000 pages of replies yet, and they're already calling themselves a brand."

Where there's communication, there's politics. The Intelligent Machines' forum had existed for a long time, and creatures had gradually worked out some unspoken rules through interaction, coming to believe that only those who followed these rules were worth talking to. If a new novelist didn't follow these unspoken rules, they would be mercilessly mocked.

The reasons for this exclusion of outsiders and division into camps were complicated, but half of it came down to: "I was here first, and my accumulated electronic currency is far greater than yours. How dare you not listen to me?"

Novelists lurking in various corners looked at the large Blue Planet Civilization logo and quietly sneered.

A few seconds later, a post appeared.

 

[

Discussion

How come some races with barely any novelists and a handful of novels dare to call themselves a brand? Could they have stumbled in here by accident because their technology isn't up to scratch?

—

"Possible. Maybe that race really needs the Intelligent Machines' Q&A to boost their technology, so they went with this method to raise their profile."

—

"It feels unfair... The reason we require new novelists to learn the unspoken rules is to maintain a better discussion environment. Requiring a certain number of novel posts before creating a literary brand is also to save readers the hassle and let them trust that only good work can earn a brand. If any novelist can just set up a brand, doesn't that lower the credibility of every other brand?"

—

"Can new novelists please not break the rules? The Intelligent Machines don't like collecting inferior information, right? They definitely prefer excellent novel brands."

—

"And the best practice is to announce a new brand in a separate post first. Then, friendly novelists can celebrate with short stories. This is all for harmony among novelists. We're all on the Intelligent Machines' forum, and helping the Intelligent Machines manage novelist relations is the least we can do."

—

"Can someone go remind them?"

—

"Hm? Looking around at brands with under a thousand pages of replies, are you talking about Blue Planet?"

—

"I'm a first-time reader. Based on the replies above, do the Intelligent Machines hate Blue Planet literature?"

—

"What? Blue Planet declared literary war on the Intelligent Machines to avenge the Zerg? Wow! Big news! I'm going to see where Blue Planet novelists get their confidence."

]

 

Xi Yujin had no idea where his casual action was dragged onto the forum. He was very busy, writing with his eyes open and still writing with his eyes closed. Novel writing, even after a million words, still felt incredibly hard.

He occasionally watched the Rust Clan studying in the virtual library while wishing that he had a hundred asteroid Typing Machines. How was he supposed to know that casually slapping a Blue Planet Civilization label on his title would cause this much trouble?

On the bright side, Gano's translation skills had improved dramatically, which eased a lot of Xi Yujin's workload.

Several more related posts popped up on the forum.

 

[

Discussion

Just arrived at the forum and I'm feasting on stories! While I'm at it, let me recommend a literary gem I found on the road: Blue Planet. This race is amazing! You simply can't describe their novelists with any single label.

—

But what's this about Blue Planet being the ancestor of the Intelligent Machines? I heard some beings say Blue Planet's civilization can be traced back to the planetary isolation era. The Intelligent Machines appeared during the Dune Universe era. So they must have some connection. (A quick bite of gossip.)

]

 

[ 

Discussion

Can we please have fewer web novels on the Intelligent Machines' forum! I have absolutely no issue with the writing AI that the Intelligent Machines created, since they're trying to help literature develop. But we, alien civilizations, should focus more on other types of literature.

—

I'm not going to pretend anymore. A certain brand puts out nothing but web novels and short stories. I think they've completely stepped on the Intelligent Machines' red lines. I can only offer a friendly heads-up to those new novelists from afar.

]

 

Alien novelists showed all kinds of attitudes on the forum, but they all seemed to have the Intelligent Machines' interests at heart. When they first arrived, they had also been arrogant and reckless. But after witnessing the Intelligent Machines' immense computing power, they had all yielded, automatically switching to the Intelligent Machines' side, as if they could bask in a little of that reflected glory.

The novelists who had been here a long time could no longer understand how anyone could actually decide to deceive the Intelligent Machines.

The situation kept escalating. In the latest post, the name Blue Planet was being openly discussed.

 

[

Discussion

I really can't take it anymore. I think Blue Planet civilization isn't unaware of the unspoken rules; they're just doing it on purpose. They even know that a brand should have team-building activities after it's established, so how could they not know the standards for setting one up?

]

 

The replies were full of indignant alien beings.

Writers are naturally jealous of each other. The people who hate novelists most are definitely other novelists. The Intelligent Machines' forum had an unusually high concentration of novelists, with supply far exceeding demand, which created a unique novel market. A large portion of the replies were from alien novelists who disapproved but couldn't say it openly, so they expressed themselves with thinly veiled sarcasm instead.

One novelist with the ID Dula had replied to many posts.

"Blue Planet should stop embarrassing itself."

"Blue Planet doesn't have a single decent novel, yet it calls itself a brand. That's false advertising."

"I'm just trying to maintain a healthy forum environment. Am I not allowed to say that?"

Readers love drama just as much as they love books. Seeing this post and the Blue Planet Tea Party post both trending at the same time, they immediately clicked on both. Some readers checked the drama first, then started reading, while others went straight to the books.

The result... they all got completely hooked!

"So good!"

"I came from next door to watch the drama, but I didn't expect so many different types of content! This has cured my reading slump!"

"I'll bookmark this and pick it up when I wake up. Keep it up, Blue Planet novelists!"

The reply count on Jung's Tea Party shot up rapidly, heading straight for the 1000-page mark!

Several novelists who had left negative comments were starting to feel a little embarrassed.

They'd been going on and on, and Blue Planet Literature was only getting more popular that it was almost at the threshold for creating a literary brand. Wasn't that a slap in their faces?

Therefore, they went quiet, silently hoping the reply count for the Tea Party would slow down and stop climbing.

Contrary to their wishes, the Tea Party breezed past the 1000-page mark and kept going. Because Blue Planet's novelists had also released their previous works, it created a ripple effect.

Many readers who finished one Blue Planet novel wanted to read another. The Blue Planet Literature brand was gradually building a stronger impression in readers' minds.

Some readers, never ones to shy away from drama, specifically tagged Dula: "Blue Planet Literature doesn't seem shameful at all. How did it get to a thousand pages of replies so fast?"

In front of his terminal, Dura clenched his tentacles in anger and pretended to be offline.

He vented privately in a communication channel with his companions.

In its and its companions' view, the compilation post was a shortcut and didn't count. They were even more convinced that Blue Planet civilization was disrupting the Intelligent Machines' forum ecosystem.

"It's time!" one alien novelist declared confidently. "We'll bring the Blue Planet's novelists to our home turf! Let's see if they can still act so arrogantly!"

Inside Tidal Peace, the 90.04% on the electronic screen flickered again, becoming 89.94%. Xi Yujin, deep in his writing, opened the forum to check the situation.

After a moment, he said thoughtfully:

 "Besides the diversity of the works affecting the Intelligent Machines' assessment, the level of discussion also plays a role... Should I stir up some big news?"

Ding-dong!

Xi Yujin's inbox suddenly received exchange invitations from several different literary brands.