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

Upon returning to the base, Liu Tianyong's first action was to collapse onto the "editor-in-chief's throne," like a dried-out salted fish.

185 points. He stared at the number on his pen, his voice hoarse. He'd gone out, picked up six relics, paid seven points in tax, been chased by a monster for three blocks, and earned 55 points. But if you factored in Dog Egg's and Wang Gangtie's expenses, damn it! Only 47 points! Not even enough to live on for a day!

"It's good enough that Yong-ge came back alive." Wu Qu took off his glasses, which were wrapped with tape, and the lenses were fogged up.

"Yes, but the cost of living is getting higher and higher." Yong buried his face in his hands.

The people in the stronghold gathered around. Fang Xiaoyuan was carrying two bowls of rice, the green rice floating in the water, checking if anyone was missing any limbs. Sister Hu was holding the "little green" bowl and looking at it. Zhang Gou Dan sat down on the ground, his flowery shorts revealing the corner of his "invincible" underwear.

"How was the harvest?" Green asked.

Yongge threw his backpack on the ground, and "The Old Man's Documentary" rolled out.

"This pen increases writing weight by 20%." Yong Ge picked it up and tested it in the air. "From now on, you can get 1.2 weight for every 100 words you write."

"Even a mosquito's leg is meat!" Zhang Gou Dan chimed in.

Yong Ge looked at Wang Gangtie at the edge of the crowd. This female author of the cultivation novel was looking down at her hands.

"Iron Brother" Yong Ge called out to her, "That sword strike of yours was pretty cool."

Wang Gangtie raised his head. "Brother Yong, I only used one sword strike, and it cost me 3 weight points. Before, when I wrote 'A Sword's Cold Light Shines Across Nineteen Provinces,' it was just a matter of one sentence. Now..."

"Every word costs money now! But that sword saved our lives, it was totally worth it!"

Brother Yong stood up, walked to the center of the stronghold, and wrote in the air with a red pen:

Liu Tianyong returned to the stronghold with his belongings and wounds, realizing that simply scavenging might not be enough to sustain the 38 people.

He needs a more compelling narrative approach, one that empowers everyone to become a "producer" rather than a "consumable."

For example, Wu Qu's ability to fill in the blanks and Wang Gangtie's spirit sword could be key.

"Meeting!" Yong Ge put down his pen. "Core members, five minutes from now, to the planting area!"

……

In the planting area, tomatoes glistened with a greenish sheen on wooden racks. Hu Qiaozhen gave each pot a name: Little Green, Little Blue, Little Red.

Those present: Yong Ge, Ye Tian, ​​Wu Qu, Zhang Gou Dan, Lü Youyou, Li Yumeng, Fang Xiaoyuan, Wang Gangtie, and Huang Chaobin, who had just recovered.

"Two things!" Brother Yong got straight to the point. "First, we need to change our strategy. Going out to collect garbage is too inefficient, too risky, and we also have to pay taxes. Second, we need to develop everyone's abilities."

He looked at Wu Qu and Wang Gangtie.

"Wu Qu, your assumptions, combined with my written confirmation, come at a very low cost. Besides, yesterday at the convenience store, you and Li Yumeng cooperated in treating Chaobin without using any influence, right?"

Wu Qu nodded: "Yes, but that was emergency treatment; I almost fainted."

"Because we are just relying on our instincts now, without any systematic training."

"And you, Steel, your Spirit Sword is a true woman in three seconds. The problem is in maintaining it, not in unleashing it. What is the core of cultivation novels? It's the circulation of spiritual energy, the cycle of the heavens! You used to just gloss over the 360 ​​cycles of circulation, but now you need to actually get it running."

Wang Gangtie bit his lip: "I...I'll give it a try."

"It's not a trial, it's a necessity. There are 38 of us, and we consume 58 weight points every day. I currently have 190 points, and we must find a new way out within three days."

"So, starting today, the outpost enters its capacity development phase. Wu Qu, you'll follow me; Steel, you'll follow Green; everyone else, just do what you're supposed to do, but you must submit a detailed description every day. This is the foundation of the crowdfunding narrative."

……

Wu Qu followed Yong Ge to the edge of the stronghold. "Wu Qu, what do you think is the essence of your ability?"

"Imagine? Imagine?" Wu Qu asked uncertainly.

"No." Yong shook his head. "These are just general terms for the reader's abilities. I think your ability is to fill in the gaps. This world is always in need of filling in the gaps. Your imagination can turn possibilities into frameworks, and my words can turn frameworks into reality. We are two sides of the same coin."

He pointed to the gray area beyond the edge: "Now, imagine a bridge."

"What bridge?"

"Anything is fine, even a log bridge will do."

Wu Qu closed her eyes. She remembered the stream behind her grandmother's house when she was a child. There was a small wooden bridge over it that would creak when you walked on it.

"A wooden plank bridge," she murmured softly, "very old, with cracks in the planks through which you can see the stream below, and morning glories, purple ones, still unopened, twining around some of the planks."

Yong Ge's pen wrote in the air: "[A wooden plank bridge spans the blank space at the edge of the stronghold. The bridge is old, the planks are cracked, and unopened purple morning glories are entwined on it.]"

As the words fell, a gray area rose, and a rickety wooden bridge actually appeared, but only half of it.

"Continue, what's on the other side of the bridge?"

Sweat beaded on Wu Qu's forehead. "It's...it's a bamboo forest?"

"What kind of bamboo forest?"

"It's very dense, the sunlight can't penetrate, there are many fallen leaves on the ground, and some bamboo fungus in full bloom."

The bridge was complete, stretching deep into the mist, but Wu Qu's face was pale and his body was swaying.

"That's enough. This is your first time. Have you noticed that the more specific you are, the more energy you consume? But if you can use existing settings, it might be simpler." Yong Ge helped her up.

"Use existing settings?"

Pointing to the interior of the base, he said, "Sister Hu's planting area, Zhang Gou Dan's training ground, and Fang Xiao Yuan's canteen. These are all confirmed details. You don't need to fill in the gaps from scratch; you just need to expand on them."

He led Wu Qu to the planting area and pointed to the several pots of tomatoes: "Now, imagine a greenhouse, and use these tomatoes as a starting point."

Wu Qu understood this time; she didn't just imagine it out of thin air, but borrowed Sister Hu's setup:

"Next to the planting area, there is a greenhouse with a frame made of old bookshelves, just like the wooden frame in the planting area. Inside, Sister Hu's tomatoes are growing, but they are ripe and red."

As Yongge helped with the writing, a simple greenhouse appeared next to the planting area, with bright red tomatoes hanging inside.

Sister Hu's eyes widened: "My little green one is completely red?"

"Crowdfunding narrative." Yong Ge laughed. "Wu Qu provides the 'change,' I provide the 'confirmation,' and Sister Hu provides the 'original setting.' Costs are shared, and results are shared."

[Current narrative weight: 185→183]

"You only spent 2 points," Wu Qu said with surprise.

"Because you didn't stubbornly resist, you cooperated, we cooperated, this is your path. You're not fighting alone, you're the engine of the entire base's imagination!"

Looking at the greenhouse and the ripe tomatoes inside, Wu Qu suddenly understood. She took off her glasses, wiped them clean, and put them back on; her eyes had changed.

"You were never a newbie," Yong said. "The first time we met, you saw through my attempts to fool readers who weren't really interested in academics, and you followed me out. The rest of the people in the bank lobby are probably doomed by now. That's when I knew you were smarter than I thought!"