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

Liu Tianyong, who was still asleep, was awakened by a strange chanting sound.

The voice seemed to seep from the very marrow of the bones, carrying a poignant sense of compassion: "All beings suffer, sacrifice is of utmost importance, the light of the Holy Mother shines upon the end times."

"What the hell is this?" Yong Ge did another somersault and grabbed the red pen.

In the center of the stronghold, next to the anchor of narrative stability, two people kneel.

One was a woman in a white dress, her back to Yong Ge, with long hair reaching her waist, holding a book that radiated golden light, "The 999 Sacrifices of the Healing Mother." She knelt there, muttering incantations, surrounded by a faint golden mist, just like Lin Ruyan back then.

The other one is...

There was indeed a person kneeling there, but he couldn't make out their face, or even their outline. It was like a photograph that had been soaked in water and then dried; the image was still there, but the details were blurred.

The only discernible feature was a line of almost transparent small characters floating above the person's head:

[Xu Feng, Narrative Weight: 12 (Endangered)]

"Chen Yuanyuan! Xu Feng!" Yong Ge gripped his pen tightly. "What are you doing so early in the morning?"

The woman in white, Chen Yuanyuan, slowly turned around.

It startled Yong Ge. Damn, that expression was just like Lin Ruyan reincarnated! It was as if the whole world owed her a tear, with that kind of fanatical "I want to save you all" attitude.

"Liu Tianyong," Chen Yuanyuan said, her voice as soft as a feather brushing against the heart, "you killed Sister Ruyan."

"Sister Ruyan?" Yong almost choked on his own saliva. "You two know each other?"

"I don't know her." Chen Yuanyuan shook her head, golden mist dissipating with her movement. "But I've read her book, 'The Light in the Apocalypse.' She's my idol."

Yong Ge felt a chill. Is this some kind of fan revenge story?

"Wait," she raised her hand, "I've already been acquitted. If you want to get revenge for her, you'll have to get past the Narrative Ethics Committee first."

"Revenge?" Chen Yuanyuan smiled, a smile so gentle it sent chills down one's spine. "No, I'm not here for revenge, I'm here to thank you."

"grateful?"

"Thank you for making Sister Ruyan eternal." Chen Yuanyuan held up the book in her hands, and the golden light shone brightly. "She died, but her aesthetics of sacrifice did not die. Her readers, her ideals, and her light have all been passed down to me."

She stood up, her white dress fluttering in the anchor's glow like a summoning banner.

"I am Chen Yuanyuan, author of 'The 999 Sacrifices of the Healing Mother,' and successor to Sister Ruyan. From today onward, I will establish the 'Temple of the Mother' in this base, so that everyone can bathe in the glory of sacrifice and feel the supreme emotion of 'dedication for others'!"

"I object!" Zhang Gou Dan charged over from the training field, his floral shorts billowing in the wind. "What Holy Mother Temple? I only believe in fists!"

"I object too!" Greenie floated over, her face ashen. "Chen Yuanyuan, your narrative weight is only 30 points, and now it's dropped to 18 points. What are you going to use to build your temple?"

Chen Yuanyuan looked at the lush green with pity. "Weight? That's not important. What's important is belief. Sister Ruyan taught me that true power isn't about how many words you can write, but about how many people's resources you can sacrifice for!"

She turned to the others in the stronghold, her voice suddenly rising: "Gentlemen! Haven't you all noticed? Someone is exploiting you in this stronghold!"

She pointed at Liu Tianyong: "He consumes your narrative weight every day, treating you like batteries! You painstakingly fill in the details every day, only to receive a bowl of rice and a chicken leg in return! And what does he do? He possesses over 500 narrative weights, yet he leaves you struggling on the brink of life and death!"

The crowd in the stronghold began to stir.

Fang Xiaoyuan's rice bowl fell to the ground with a "clatter." Hu Qiaozhen hugged her rag doll tightly. Huang Renlong peeked out from the corner, his eyes gleaming.

"This is moral blackmail 2.0..." Yong Ge gritted his teeth. "Ye Tian, ​​sense the range of her territory!"

"I've already sensed it," Ye Tian's voice came. "Author, be careful, she hasn't activated her domain, but the aura of a Holy Mother is spreading around her, like a... passive skill?"

"Passive skill?"

"That's right! You don't need to actively release it; just getting close to her will influence you. Her current influence is too low to be forcibly controlled, but it can be subtly affected."

Yongge understood. Chen Yuanyuan was smarter than Lin Ruyan. Lin Ruyan used force and moral blackmail to control Lin Ruyan. Chen Yuanyuan, on the other hand, was like a frog being slowly boiled in warm water, gradually eroding her through "passive contamination."

"Xu Feng!" Brother Yong turned to the blurry figure. "And you? Are you here to cause trouble too?"

Xu Feng raised his head.

His face was still unclear, but Yong Ge felt that he was being watched. It was a strange feeling, as if he were being watched by a wisp of air.

"I..." Xu Feng's voice seemed to come from afar, with an echo, "I just want to live."

His body became even more transparent, and the numbers above his head jumped from 12 to 11.

"Your ranking is dropping! What did you do?" Brother Yong frowned.

"I didn't do anything..." Xu Feng's voice was choked with sobs. "This is my ability...to become invisible. The less attention I get, the safer I am, but the price is that my presence will continue to diminish until I disappear completely."

He lowered his head, his voice growing softer and softer: "In court, I voted you guilty because I was jealous of you, because you had so much power and so much attention, while I, no matter what I write, nobody reads it..."

Yong Ge fell silent. This Xu Feng was also a complete flop, even worse than him. His ability to become invisible seemed like a lifesaver, but it was actually a form of slow suicide. No one paying attention meant no readers, no influence, and ultimately, he was forced to end the story.

"So you two," Yong Ge took a deep breath, "one wants to spread the glory of the Virgin Mary, and the other wants to be transparent and wait to die? You came to the anchor so early in the morning just to annoy me?"

"I'm not trying to upset you," Chen Yuanyuan smiled. "I'm giving you a choice. Liu Tianyong, you have two choices. First, accept my Sanctuary Project and transform the base into a healing sanctuary where everyone loves each other, sacrifices together, and is moved by each other. Second..."

She looked at Xu Feng: "Let Xu Feng join your core team, but his transparency will continuously dilute the weight of your narrative, because the more people are tied to him, the lower his presence becomes, and the greater the cost."

"Oh? Are you forcing me?" Yong Ge narrowed his eyes.

"No, I'm saving you." Chen Yuanyuan's golden mist suddenly receded, and her expression became very sincere, or at least it seemed so.

"Sister Ruyan is dead, but her death made me realize one thing: in this world, you can't go it alone. We need organization, we need faith, we need..."

"We need chives!" Yong interrupted her. "To put it bluntly, you want to be the second Lin Ruyan, but more discreet and more [gentle]."