While Xi Yujin wasn't paying attention, Gano stole another kiss, light and quick. While Xi Yujin was stunned, Gano suddenly acted on instinct and gave him a small bite.

Xi Yujin jolted and stared at Gano in shock.

Gano hurriedly raised a hand to wipe his face, somehow naturally learning how to look innocent.

Xi Yujin's attitude gradually softened, letting Gano cling to him however he wanted. A little bite didn't seem like such a big deal anyway. He was made of diamond, after all…

Gano thought about the Zerg warrior nesting diagrams he had studied. Feeling the similar structure beside him, inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind. He wasn't sure whether it was a good idea, but following what Yujinno taught him couldn't be wrong. He kissed Xi Yujin again while reviewing this new knowledge.

Leaning close to Xi Yujin's ear, he whispered, "I want to know where Yujinno's insect wings are…"

"I already told you, Blue Planet humans don't have those things."

-----

Xi Yujin's grand Blue Planet Two Infrastructure Project was in full swing.

Aside from the faint particles drifting around the starship belt and a few of Xi Yujin's props, the SYE-1832 system was completely barren.

The Starship Belt traveled through the ruins of ancient battlefields. Few people came here, and developing planets was extremely difficult. But lately, the Starship Belt had become quite famous, attracting many alien visitors. Using his identity as a Blue Planet diplomat, Xi Yujin asked them to help purchase supplies for him.

Naturally, this cost an enormous amount of stardust. Even with Xi Yujin's considerable savings, he still had to budget carefully.

"I never should've bought so many alien souvenirs back in the Deep Space Prison… The price of a single souvenir could've bought ten high-efficiency excavators, with a bonus architectural model set included."

At this point, Xi Yujin was once again regretting not managing his finances properly. Money disappeared far too quickly, and he simply couldn't stop spending. Who could've guessed that in this universe, merchandise and collectibles cost more than heavy industrial technology?

And reselling wasn't an option either. Xi Yujin found everything novel and fascinating. Along the journey, no matter the price, if he liked how something looked, he happily bought it. Many of those items didn't retain value at all. Sitting in Tidal Peace's warehouse, they were nothing more than pretty decorations.

Beside him, Gano rapidly calculated accounts, comparing purchasing quotes from different alien species and organizing the optimal plan.

Xi Yujin glanced at it and silently mourned his soon-to-be-empty wallet.

"Wenhuo, are you developing a planet lately?" Soma walked over while munching on a honey fruit. "I know a few people in construction. Want their contact info?"

Xi Yujin replied sincerely, "I'm very glad to have a friend like you."

Soma grinned. "What suddenly made you want to build a planetary base? If there's any exclusive Blue Planet news, tell me first so I can report back."

Xi Yujin had already prepared an excuse.

"This is completely my personal hobby. It has nothing to do with Blue Planet."

He didn't want the base to openly become a Blue Planet Base. As long as everyone tacitly understood it was Blue Planet's window into the universe, that was enough.

"So now my savings are almost gone…" Xi Yujin sighed heavily.

"How can a novelist be short on money?" Soma bit into another juicy fruit. "You could make plenty just selling merch."

Xi Yujin suddenly had an epiphany.

He now knew exactly what the fifth planet in SYE-1832 should become.

He hurried back to the Tidal Peace and opened up his workstation.

The most suitable type of merchandise project was, of course, a shared universe crossover.

Different stories would all exist within the same world setting, allowing beloved characters from separate works to interact and create the kind of sparks audiences loved to see. Once the framework of the shared universe was established, readers would remain enthusiastic about the entire series for a long time.

"I just so happen to have a lot of Blue Planet works," Xi Yujin thought. "But nobody actually knows what those different eras and styles looked like. Why not show them visually?"

He sketched a few rough, twisted drafts, then immediately decided that professional work should be left to professionals. He himself would focus on building the main storyline of the shared universe.

Xi Yujin drew inspiration from Earth's superhero movies.

As commercially successful films, superhero franchises have earned billions and made countless IP characters iconic.

Usually, the setting involved Earth facing a massive crisis that required heroes to step in and save the world.

"Planet Four next to Planet Five is already filming Primordial Myth…" Xi Yujin glanced at the neighboring planets and instantly came up with a new idea. "Then my crisis can be the resurgence of primordial spiritual energy. Whoever gathers all the spiritual energy could gain the mythical power to create worlds and shoot down suns, reducing entire star systems to dust in an instant. Extraterrestrial lifeforms are eyeing Earth greedily, wanting to devour that power. Meanwhile, the scattered spiritual energy gives birth to extraordinary individuals…"

A superhero story also needed uniquely defined heroes.

Xi Yujin began selecting characters from Blue Planet novels.

"A bit of Feiniao and Mingxing's magical girls could work. The robotics company from Jung's Mechanical Frenzy can join too. Most of Yongye's detectives are either dead or belong to an old era. Wait, didn't Yongye write The Swamp Detective? That and Xunming's Superpower Detective Academy would both fit perfectly. Canghai's tomb-raiding setting is excellent and could spin off new characters… I might as well make Fuling a cameo character. Novelists making cameo appearances is totally normal."

And one indispensable element in superhero films was the reporter.

Reporters were an important symbol in Earth's Western superhero media. Positive reporter characters often spoke for ordinary citizens, criticized Congress and Presidents, and eventually uncovered the truth. Corrupt reporters spread lies, accused superheroes of endangering humanity, and ultimately suffered the consequences. Some protagonists were even reporters themselves.

In summary, reporters serve as the bridge between heroes and ordinary people.

Xi Yujin didn't want to write reporters, so he chose a more familiar modern equivalent instead: livestream channels.

Most roles of reporters could easily be fulfilled through livestreaming.

After finishing the main plot outline, he boldly wrote the title at the top of the document: Revival.

An alien arrived near the starship belt with a large shipment of heavy industrial equipment. Following the star map Xi Yujin had provided, it finally navigated through countless twists and turns to find the destination.

Looking out the window, it saw the model of a city rapidly rising from the ground.

Machines were paving asphalt across rough rocky terrain, then blasting it with cold air to cool and harden it instantly before extending brushes to paint zebra crossings. Another rolling machine slowly traveled over the asphalt, planting streetlights at regular intervals.

"This city's style feels kind of retro…"

the alien thought to itself, unable to resist taking a few extra looks.

It landed steadily at the airport. A person walked over while the alien manipulated a complicated control lever with its tentacles, unloading cargo and checking inventory at the same time.

"These are mining survey vehicles, customer. You can use them to develop metallic resources on new planets. This is an artificial-light greenhouse capable of withstanding extreme stellar storms. Its ground anchors are exceptionally stable and can protect delicate plants. This is a seeder. And these are the construction materials you ordered, high-quality materials that won't deform even during earthquakes. Please use them with confidence…"

Xi Yujin expressed his gratitude with great pleasure.

Receiving a generous shipping fee, the alien waved cheerfully at the customer.

"Hope you develop a beautiful planet!"

After the transport ship rose back into the sky, it looked down once more at the small city below and wondered what exactly this customer was building it for.

Then a voice message came through on its terminal.

It opened the message. A colleague from the same company asked, "Did you see Blue Planet? Your delivery was for them! What do Blue Planet people look like? Do they also have four eyes and three ears like us?"

"Blue Planet's order?"

The alien transporter was stunned. It hurriedly checked previous records and was immediately overwhelmed by the agony of realizing that it had missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity worth ten billion.

"I forgot what he looked like…" the transporter muttered blankly before slapping its thigh in frustration. "I actually missed the chance to talk with a Blue Planet novelist!"

"I heard the one on the planet is Wenhuo," its friend added with a laugh. "Rumor says Wenhuo is Yujin's new pen name."

The transporter regretted it even more, accusing its truth-revealing friend of stabbing directly into its heart.

"Now I really need to know what that city is for. I contributed to it too!"

It then clumsily connected to the starship belt's network.

"The internet speed here is incredible. The Black Box Network finally has competition," it marveled.

Then it noticed a glowing trending tag related to Blue Planet.

"Revival… a trailer?"

The transporter rarely watched high-level derivative media during trips since streaming required excellent network speed. Usually, it preferred spending half a day reading a book instead.

Still astonished by the starship belt's ultra-fast connection, it clicked play.

The trailer began with a black screen.

A deep, resonant hum of music slowly swelled closer from afar.

Then a refined narrator spoke:

"This is an age of extreme entertainment. An age without heroes…

When the first meteor fell upon the Gawain Mountains, the endless line of fire could be seen even from the Mist Isles. Humanity, hurrying through their ordinary lives, never realized that a force capable of changing the world had awakened once more."

The scene revealed just a glimpse of the city.

In a crowded plaza, a child holding a balloon stared upward, the blazing streak across the sky reflected in their pupils.

The transporter held its breath.

It had read several Blue Planet novels before. Even plain text alone had sparked endless imagination in its mind, though some obscure terms were difficult to understand. Now, for the first time, the kind of modern city described in Blue Planet stories had finally materialized before its eyes.

 

[ 

A cheerful male voice came on as a rapid montage of characters flashed across the screen.

"That's right, I'm a professional detective. There's nothing I can't investigate."

A scruffy young man handed over a business card in an alleyway, one of his feet only just recovering from a muddy, semi-liquid state.

"Ahhh, I'm gonna be late for class! Forget it, I'll just use magic in a blind spot."

A girl running along a wall pulled out her wand. Sparks exploded instantly, and her figure vanished.

"A specially radioactive mineral can revolutionize mechanized armor across generations!"

Inside a clean, spacious tech corporation, a strangely glowing stone was placed into the core of a robot.

Then the sound of a meteor impact grew steadily louder, drowning out the upbeat background music.

An explosion swallowed the entire screen.

The image went black.

A shrill scream rang out:

"No…!"

A savage primordial beast stepped out from a ring in the void, smashing through buildings like rotten branches. Dense gunfire proved completely useless against it. After emptying their ammunition, the security forces collapsed in despair, clutching their heads and wailing.

A detective with strange powers fled in haste. A newly awakened witch struggled out from the rubble. In the sky, one despair-inducing ring after another lit up.

A young man carrying an ancient saber stood frozen before the hellish scene. His fingers hesitated over the sword hilt before brushing against a stone statue of an ancient beast.

The narrator spoke:

"In the end… what can these powers of ours actually accomplish?"

The scene suddenly flashed to a conference room.

The brightness sharply increased, giving the audience a more hopeful emotional cue.

An elderly white-haired woman entered alongside a robot and said sternly:

"We must unite."

Behind her stood a holy-looking woman crowned with a floral wreath.

The camera widened to reveal a full group shot, sweeping across people with supernatural abilities. Their expressions were uneasy, and their movements were hesitant.

The scene shifted again, this time into the format of a livestream chat.

Comments flooded rapidly across the screen. Many mocked and doubted them, declaring that the apocalypse had already arrived and that giving up and waiting for death was the only sensible choice.

The witch accidentally snapped her wand in half. She glanced at the monster… and simply beat it down with her bare hands instead.

Beside her, the Swamp Detective muttered worriedly:

"An organization like this will probably disband within three seconds…"

The screen cut to black once more.

Words appeared in rhythm with the drumbeats.

"What you wish to become… will become your future."

"On the day of Revival, the planets themselves will tremble."

]

 

All of the transporter's four eyes widened into perfect circles.

It recognized so many elements from Blue Planet literature!

And they were all appearing in the same work.

For book fans, this was pure ecstasy.

It hurriedly shared the trailer with its friend.

"Did you see Blue Planet's new project? I think your favorite magical girl is in it! Haven't you always wondered what magical girls' outfits actually looked like? They appeared in the trailer! There's also the company from Jung's Mechanical Frenzy, Yongye's The Swamp Detective, and some other references I didn't recognize. Go watch it!"

"The tone feels… very lively, but not completely comedic either. Anyway, it's really captivating."

After watching the trailer, its friend sent feedback back almost immediately.

"I heard high-grade starship derivatives are made with special materials. The visuals are incredibly detailed, seriously impressive."

The transporter suddenly remembered the cargo it had delivered and jolted in shock.

"Wait, that might not be special material at all. Blue Planet may have literally recreated a city on an actual planet! I was just delivering construction materials there!"

"What?!"

Employees throughout the transport company's online channels were stunned, and then a wave of excitement spread through them.

"Doesn't that mean I can go visit that planet and see a Blue Planet city?"

"Send me the flight route too! I want to go!"

"No one still knows Blue Planet's real coordinates, but it's probably hidden somewhere remote. But seeing a recreated city would still be amazing. I'm making this my next travel destination."

The moment the Revival trailer was released, it caused a sensation among alien audiences.

Some readers disliked it, "Adapting it into visuals completely destroys the imaginative space of the text."

But far more readers were ecstatic, "We can finally see what Blue Planet cities actually look like with our own eyes!"

Others immediately began deeply analyzing Blue Planet literature. Even from only a trailer, they could write endless essays.

"From this trailer, we can see that Revival features vividly distinct characters, fast-paced storytelling, and an accessible setting. The city's style is completely different from Personality Stealth or Primordial Myth. It aligns more closely with how ordinary beings imagine cities, lowering the barrier for understanding the worldbuilding.

The main storyline is also very straightforward. Although both are stories about growth, Personality Stealth is complex and bizarre, while Revival matches audience expectations more directly. Likewise, though both involve ancient powers, Primordial Myth focuses on ensemble storytelling, whereas Revival emphasizes character portrayal.

I believe this is yet another display of technical mastery from Blue Planet's Wenhuo. Everyone can watch with confidence!"

Another comment replied:

"I have to hand it to these self-proclaimed Blue Planet experts. Wenhuo probably didn't even think this deeply."

"So many easter eggs! Blue Planet experts, tell us more, which novels are the characters in the trailer from?"

"Wow… I never imagined characters from Blue Planet novels could all exist in the same story. Did the Blue Planet writers agree to this? Wenhuo must be pretty close with them."

"Another strong piece of evidence connecting Wenhuo and Yujin."

Watching audience reactions across the starship network, Xi Yujin felt more motivated than ever to grind out scripts. He even proposed new ideas for character costume designs.

Recently, more and more aliens from different star systems have begun landing in SYE-1832. They enthusiastically participated in rebuilding the planets while recommending the place to friends and family:

"You absolutely have to visit. There are tons of Blue Planet literary easter eggs here."

Even the Starship authorities only assumed Blue Planet artists simply preferred practical filming locations. They privately thought it was somewhat extravagant, but since the planetary usage rights had already been gifted away, nobody said much.

The physical-book designer Xi Yujin had contacted finally arrived.

A massive spacecraft landed in the airport zone Xi Yujin had specifically planned out.

Several aliens descended from the ship. One of them radiated shimmering light all over its body, clearly indicating that it was actually a member of the Flash Clan.

"I specialize in sculpture. Mr. Wenhuo, just call me Sulfurstone," the towering alien said as it bent down politely. "Though I stand at the end of my life, it is still my honor to meet an artist such as yourself."

"Don't listen to it," a small capsule-shaped alien walked over from the side. "It's been claiming it was about to die for eight cosmic years now. It even passed by a black hole and somehow stayed alive."

Sulfurstone smiled kindly.

"My final years are simply rather long."

Seeing familiar alien species again stirred something inside Xi Yujin, and a gentle smile unconsciously appeared on his face.

"These are the original manuscripts from me and my friends," Xi Yujin said, handing over materials. "These are the translated editions, and these are our production drafts…"

He brought out every complete work he had accumulated throughout his travels, including quite a few Earth classics.

"I'm going to build a gigantic library here…"

Xi Yujin walked toward an empty plot of land.

"It'll contain carefully selected physical books from Blue Planet. Any visitor who comes here will be free to read them…"

"Free to read?!" Sulfurstone gasped in shock. "You're allowing outsiders to casually touch your luxury collectibles?"

Xi Yujin suddenly remembered his empty wallet and Gano's endless accounting sheets. He silently admitted to himself that he really couldn't keep spending recklessly anymore.

At the very least, he needed to make his money back.

So he quickly changed tactics.

"There won't just be borrowable physical books. There will also be collectible editions for sale. And the special thing about them is… uh… they come with signatures!"

Xi Yujin looked at Sulfurstone with complete sincerity.

Physical books belonged to the luxury market already. If they carried authors' handwritten signatures, they'd surely become even more valuable.

Sulfurstone looked even more horrified.

"You're actually planning to auction off treasures this rare? These should obviously be preserved forever!"

"Books are meant to be read. What's the point of letting them gather dust?" Xi Yujin replied smoothly. "Besides, I know people. I'm not worried about my friends refusing to sign things."

That explanation finally managed to satisfy Sulfurstone.

Another architectural designer approached him while holding blueprints.

Xi Yujin compared the plans against the real structures around them.

His Blue Planet Two Reconstruction Project would begin with Planet Five.

After the filming for Revival finished, this planet would function as a tourist destination. Featuring one-to-one recreations of Blue Planet architecture, an open Blue Planet library, and a district dedicated entirely to Blue Planet literary merchandise.

Its main purpose was to make him money.

Xi Yujin was already imagining a beautiful future.

He busied himself on Planet Four overseeing the filming of Primordial Myth, then flew to Planet Three.

The Rust Clan hopped around happily, painting with their rust stains. He built them a warm communal nest, taught them how to use glow particles, and asked them to help guard the red dwarf star system in the future.

Planet One was practically uninhabitable.

After tidying things up there, he descended to Planet Two.

The place was vast and quiet. Gano was piloting his armor while creating artificial rainfall for the plants.

Xi Yujin didn't plan to construct too many artificial structures here. He wanted this planet to remain lush and vibrant with life.

Gano landed beside him with a troubled expression.

"Yujinno, our accounts won't recover from the deficit for another twenty planetary days. Only if the future merchandise plans succeed will we have enough funding to purchase planetary warming services… We also have to cover shipping ourselves."

From inside his armor, Gano pulled out another accounting ledger and continued writing calculations.

He had developed many non-combat skills by now, including, but not limited to, translation, bookkeeping, tailoring, cooking, watering plants, and intimidating alien lifeforms.

"We'll deal with the future when it comes," Xi Yujin said, stuffing the ledger back into Gano's armor.

Then he added seriously, "If we only compare ourselves to the future, we'll never feel satisfied. But compared to the past, we've already come incredibly far."

Gano's clear green eyes fixed on him, and memories of their first meeting surfaced instantly.

"In the past… all we had was a single black box," Xi Yujin said softly. "Now, we have an entire star system."

Beneath them stretched endless land.

Above them spread the boundless universe.

Stars glittered across the night sky as meteor showers streaked past like whales leaping from the ocean surface.

An ordinary sight in the cosmos, yet on Earth, it would have been considered the perfect moment to make a wish.

Time and space seemed to overlap within Xi Yujin as his voice softened.

"I hope… we can keep living like this forever."