In the office, the lights were bright, and the atmosphere was quiet. The only sound was Yue Taizhou turning the pages.
He was reviewing the two reports Xiao Lin had submitted regarding the Wisdom Demon and the promotion mechanism, while Xiao Lin waited quietly for him to finish.
"Hmm." Yue Taizhou spoke after reading the last page. "Our direction is correct. Acting is indeed your best method of enhancement."
He raised his eyes, his gaze focused and deep: "But there are two places you need to be wary of. Do not establish too many connections; that will cause your essence to become weak. Also, do not establish connections with things that are too powerful, to avoid having your essence drained.
"As for the Gate of Cognition, let's wait until you've enhanced yourself to the limit before we start challenging it."
Xiao Lin nodded seriously and replied: "Okay, I've noted it down."
After finishing the business talk, Yue Taizhou's expression softened a bit. He said softly: "You've really worked hard during this period. It's a pity I can't provide you with more help."
"What's so hard about it? It's just for my own survival," Xiao Lin said with a smile to comfort him. He then remembered another matter that wasn't written in the report.
"Oh, there's one more thing. It's not about me, but I'd like to hear your opinion."
"Go ahead," Yue Taizhou raised his eyebrows slightly, clasped his hands on the desk, and became serious again.
"It's about the Satellite Town. They encountered an attack from a powerful Transcendent."
Xiao Lin told Yue Taizhou everything about the Writer in detail.
After he finished, Yue Taizhou stroked his chin in thought: "Killing people with stories? That ability is quite novel."
"Right? And it's ridiculously powerful. Killing from thousands of miles away, and it's nearly unsolvable," Xiao Lin sighed.
Yue Taizhou, however, shook his head slightly: "Actually, this ability is far not as strong as you think."
Xiao Lin was stunned: "Professor, do you have a way to counter it?"
Yue Taizhou shook his head: "I haven't thought of one yet, but we can do a simple analysis. Bai Xiaoyun said 'narrative is fate,' right?"
"That's right. That's also the reason the Writer is powerful. He can manipulate the narrative and guide fate."
"Wrong."
Yue Taizhou said,
"A story is just a means of narrative, and moreover, it's just a Limited Narrative."
Here it comes again, those strange terms he completely didn't understand!
Seeing Xiao Lin's blank expression, Yue Taizhou smiled and shook his head: "Alright, let's start from the beginning."
He held up a finger: "First is Infinite Narrative. Let me give you an example. 'The town was destroyed.' That is an Infinite Narrative. It doesn't need a process, it's not constrained, it's only used to state a result. The narration itself becomes reality.
"If Simon were strong, why didn't he write it like that?" Xiao Lin fell into thought and quickly realized: "I get it. Because that's just a sentence, not a story!"
"Exactly." Yue Taizhou nodded approvingly. "If you want to tell the story of 'the town being destroyed,' you need characters, time, location, plot, and logic. If any are missing, the story doesn't hold. These are the limitations of a story.
"Furthermore, the story itself is fragile. It is also constrained by the author's talent and imagination. Looking at all the stories created by humans, there isn't one that is flawless."
Xiao Lin was once again shocked by Yue Taizhou's way of thinking. He admired him while silently digesting these obscure concepts.
Suddenly, he felt that this terrifying Transcendent who made the entire Red Zone tremble with fear might not be that invincible under rational deconstruction.
Yue Taizhou looked at Xiao Lin thinking and chuckled lightly: "Don't worry, don't be afraid of him. He's not as good as you. Far inferior."
...
Early the next morning, Xiao Lin started acting as the Wisdom Demon, wandering in Block 13 of Madman's Howl, which scared Du Ju quite a bit.
Yue Taizhou said that frequent acting would allow him to excavate other abilities of the Wisdom Demon faster and reduce the consumption of acting.
Currently, with his essence strength, he could act for a maximum of thirty minutes.
Thirty minutes later, Xiao Lin was near his limit. He returned to his body and went to the restaurant for breakfast. Halfway through the meal, a crooked, drunken-looking paper crane flew in from outside.
It circled around Xiao Lin a few times, then plop, crashed into his bowl.
Xiao Lin looked at this suicidal paper crane in speechless silence. This thing was definitely sent by Lin Niannian. It really had the temperament of its owner.
He carefully fished out the soup-soaked paper crane and unfolded it. It was indeed Lin Niannian's handwriting.
"Negotiation in the virtual space at 4 PM this afternoon. Mr. Bai said he won't wait for you, so remember to come early~"
It seemed Bai Xiaoyun was still conflicted. On one hand, he hoped for Xiao Lin's help; on the other, he was afraid of dragging him into trouble.
After pondering for a moment, Xiao Lin shoveled a few mouthfuls of rice, put on his jacket, and headed out.
Even if it wasn't for the Satellite Town, just to understand this world, he wanted to meet that so-called "killer writer," Mr. Simon.
The Government Building in the Satellite Town looked somewhat deserted today. When Xiao Lin found Lin Niannian, she was eating osmanthus cake while writing furiously in her large book.
She was using a fountain pen. Her fingers were stained with ink, and her lips were also smudged with ink. She looked messy.
Truly a girl who wasn't tempting at all.
Turning around and seeing Xiao Lin, Lin Niannian also froze for a few seconds. She discreetly covered the osmanthus cake box and hid it behind her back before asking: "Eh? Why is Mr. Xiao Lin here so early?"
"I planned to prepare in advance, so I came over," Xiao Lin said, skillfully sidestepping her. He opened the box and, under Lin Niannian's utterly shocked gaze, took a piece and stuffed it into his mouth.
Then he said: "Oh, by the way, I have something I need your help with."
Lin Niannian shook her head lightly, looking mournful: "It's too late. The moment you ate one of my osmanthus cakes, our friendship was severed."
"Serious business," Xiao Lin rolled his eyes at her. "That writer Simon you mentioned, does he have any works?"
"Of course he does. There are public resources online. Is Mr. Xiao wanting to read his books?"
"After all, he is a writer. You can learn a bit about his character from his works." Xiao Lin glanced at the osmanthus cakes again. Lin Niannian hurriedly hugged the whole box in her arms.
"But I don't have time to take you online right now. I have a lot of accounts to calculate today, and it's very urgent."
"Then that's troublesome."
"Actually, it's not that troublesome." Lin Niannian blinked her eyes. "I can teach you how to go online. Since we've confirmed you're a Transcendent, you should be able to master it quickly."