Finishing the book means death; I abandoned the whole world.

The emotional build-up had worn off, and Yong stood up, looking at the endlessly extending bookshelves. These shelves held not only his own unfinished works, but also countless other authors' abandoned books.

With Wang Qiang's death, these secretaries began to stir.

At the far end of the bookshelf, a book with a black cover opened automatically, and a note floated out, bearing Editor Wang's flamboyant handwriting:

[Little Yongzi, if you see this note, it means I'm already dead. The secret of narrative weight is: it's not just yours, it's the readers' too. Go find those who are still reading; every "urging for updates," every "comment," every "imagination" they make gives you narrative weight. But be careful, if they abandon the book...]

The note ended here.

"Damn it! Even in death you still want to cut things out!" Yong Ge angrily threw the note on the ground, but quickly picked it up again, carefully folded it, and put it in his pocket.

Yong Ge turned to Ye Tian: "Listen, Xiao Tian, ​​since Wang Laodeng said that readers are also observers, and since my weight is only 10 points, but I inexplicably inherited Wang Laodeng's 500 points just now, then we need to conduct an experiment now!"

Yongge flexed his wrist, the red pen drawing faint trajectories in the air.

"What experiment?"

"I need to update live!" Yong Ge quickly walked to the center of the dark room, where a stage-like layout was set up, with the words "[Author's Workstation (Incomplete)]" engraved on it.

"I'm going to write the next chapter here, and I'm going to use my ongoing serialization to test the boundaries of this narrative weight!"

"Are you crazy? Writing this here? What if some random monsters spawn?!"

"That's the best test!"

Yong jumped onto the podium, a red pen hovering in front of him. "Editor-in-Chief Wang once said that this world is to be read, so I want to see how reality is modified in real time while the author is writing!"

Chapter 10: The Weight and Boundaries of Narrative

Boom! Boom!

The entire building shook, and the books on the shelves opened simultaneously, with countless words flying out from the pages, forming a storm of words around Yong Ge.

Ye Tian was horrified to discover that Liu Tianyong's body was beginning to become translucent; he was becoming a part of his own story.

"Author! Stop! Your narrative weight isn't enough to support this level of meta-narrative!"

"I! Won't stop!" A crazed glint flashed in Yong Ge's eyes, the last defiant act of every struggling author before giving up. "Since Wang Qiang taught me with his life 'Don't let them know the ending,' then I'll write the most uncertain plot!"

He continued writing:

Standing in the center of the dark room, Liu Tianyong discovers that the secret left behind by Wang Qiang is not merely a narrative element, but also a shocking truth!

This apocalypse isn't actually the end of the world! It's just a...

With a "click," the red fountain pen stopped writing, as if it had hit a wall.

Yong looked up and saw at the end of the basement, at the deepest part of those endless bookshelves, an eye slowly opened.

A compound eye composed of countless "to be continued" statements.

A more terrifying presence than those who urge for more updates or those who plagiarize others was drawn to his writing.

Ye Tian's face turned deathly pale: "Author, you...you triggered the reviewers, who are the true high-level members of the narrative graveyard!"

Yong Ge looked at that eye, then suddenly laughed. He raised a red pen and did something that made Ye Tian collapse in despair:

He pointed his middle finger at that eye.

"Come on! Read me! As long as I'm still writing, you can't be sure what my ending will be, right? As long as I'm still effectively narrating the story, you can't do anything to me, can you!"

The eye blinked, looking at Liu Tianyong with great curiosity, showing no emotion whatsoever at what he had just said. Then it slowly closed, leaving a sentence burning in the air:

[Interesting example, young author! Keep writing! Let us all see just how good your bluffing skills really are. As long as you can keep us entertained, we'll give you plenty of patience.]

Current narrative weight: 510 (continuously increasing)

[New skill unlocked: Setting Collection, which allows you to use unused storylines as a shield]

Yong slumped on the podium, panting heavily, but a smile played on his lips.

"See? Little Ye Tian, ​​this is the truth about narrative weight. It's not about us adapting to the story, but about making the story adapt to us."

Ye Tian looked at the semi-transparent, disheveled author, whose eyes were shining, and suddenly realized: perhaps this struggling author really could write a different ending?

"So," Ye Tian extended his hand, "where should we go next?"

"Go find the readers! Wang Laodeng said that readers are observers, so I want to see if they can fool this damned world when they collude with the author to deceive it."

With the reviewers gone, everything in the office and darkroom returned to normal, and the endlessly extending bookshelves disappeared as well.

When Yong returned to the office from the darkroom, he found the blue fountain pen that Editor-in-Chief Wang had used on the floor.

Just as he reached out to pick it up, the pen flew towards the corner of the ceiling with a "whoosh," as if it were being sucked up by a vacuum cleaner, leaving a blue afterimage.

Yongge leaped up, reaching out to grab it, but only grasped a wisp of air. The blue fountain pen disappeared into a crack in the ceiling, which slowly closed, from which flew a burning piece of paper. On it was Editor-in-Chief Wang's flamboyant handwriting:

【Little Yongzi! You can't master the Blue Pen yet. Combining the two pens is beyond your current capabilities. Giving it to you would only harm you. I've temporarily placed it in the Graveyard of Discontinued Updates. If you want the corrective power of the Blue Pen, you'll have to find a way to "dig up" those graves. Don't rush, take your time. That place is much more troublesome than those who urge you to update.】

"Fuck your damn old man! He's dead, and he's still playing this treasure map game with me! What the hell!" Liu Tianyong roared helplessly at the ceiling.

Ye Tian pulled Yong Ge back from behind, who was overcome with emotion. "Author, please accept my condolences! At least you still have the red pen, right? This is a pretty lucky start. Let's go!"

When I ran out of the company, although it should have been midnight, the sky was a pale yellow, like the color of draft paper, with many small words floating on it.

"Author, your face is paler than the sky!" Ye Tian floated behind him, his translucent fingers passing through Yong Ge's shoulder, making him shiver from the cold.

Sometimes Ye Tian's body can be physically touched, and sometimes it can be penetrated like a soul.

"Nonsense, try hearing 'Ding~ You have a new reader subscription' constantly in your head and see how that feels." Yong rubbed his temples. "This damn world even has backend data."

[You received a reader's comment: "This chapter is too short! Is the author padding the word count again? Or is the author simply lacking in ability?!"]

"Damn it! Shut up!"

Yong Ge raised his middle finger at the air, but the voice just chuckled and disappeared.