"You speak," said Little Nuo.

"That Qin Ze just now looked about twelve or thirteen, at a 'child's' age, so he was quickly taken away and protected by the mechanical men after just a few steps," Little An looked at Little Nuo, "And you..."

Although the words were left unsaid, the meaning was clear.

"Cough," Little Nuo coughed, "Maybe they have a way to detect age, and it's not based on appearance and height. Look, this gentleman and I both look fifteen or sixteen and we weren't taken away."

He pointed at Su Ming'an.

Su Ming'an heard the words "fifteen or sixteen," and curiously picked up his hair for a look, discovering he actually had white hair.

...Why does his appearance keep changing? In the afternoon, he turned from Su Liujin to Sique, and after entering the Disciple Game, changed again from Sique to Su Liujin. What is this? A Sichuan Opera face-changing act?

"There might be clues on the streets, let's walk and look around," said Little Su.

They walked along the alleyway, only seeing reinforced concrete wherever they looked.

On the road, Su Ming'an encountered Yamada Machiichi. This person was acting suspiciously, using a mechanical arm to rummage through trash, indeed quite down-and-out.

"Yamada," Su Ming'an called out.

Yamada Machiichi turned around, eyes lighting up, "Su Ming'an!"

"You know me?" Little Su was startled.

"Ah... uh..." Yamada Machiichi quickly understood the current situation, and with a dry cough, said to Su Ming'an, "You... what's your name again?"

"Lin Yin," Su Ming'an said kindly.

"Ah, Lin Yin." Yamada Machiichi spread his arms wide, "Finally I meet you, Lin Yin!"

His expression was like a child meeting his father, almost about to cry.

"Luowasha is really too dangerous! People are really hungry, even someone big and bulky like me, people want to take a bite! Luckily, I bumped into you; you certainly won't eat me," Yamada Machiichi patted his chest. These past few days, he has fully experienced what the food chain is like; he's like a fish in the sea, seeing only big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp. People he conversed with yesterday are likely eaten by today; it's truly terrifying.

"Hmm..." Su Ming'an thought silently. Of course, I won't eat you; just don't eat me.

"Friend, so your name is Lin Yin." Little An looked at Su Ming'an, "But I remember on the first World chessboard, your code name was Noel?"

Little Nuo beside him showed a puzzled look.

Su Ming'an showed an awkward smile similar to Yamada Machiichi, "Alias, alias... I heard that the second player is quite extraordinary, so I took the alias Noel. Lin Yin is my real name."

"Oh!" Little Su suddenly understood, "Sounds nice."

At this time, Su Ming'an's Clue Insight skill lit up; he raised his head and saw an advertisement on a utility pole: "There's a clue there..."

Before he could finish, Little Su leapt up, landed on the pole, then slid down, handing the advertisement to him, "Friend, you have a good eye; this thing seems quite valuable."

...Being marked by the Clue Insight skill, of course it's valuable.

To the current Little Su, the Purple Grade Skill was still too advanced. Using such a top-level skill to find clues, Su Ming'an felt like a War God Dragon King returning to the Newbie Village.

He looked at the ad; it was very new, with a strong ink smell.

Opening it, there were several lines of red lettering:

[Are you still troubled by not being able to write your own child? Are you still troubled by the disobedience of the child you write? Are you still troubled by your child not willing to take up your pen?]

[Come to Building 169 on Hongshan Street, and create a 'perfect persona' for your child, allowing them to rise above!]

[Below is basic pricing:]

[A fifty-word impression poem for your child: 30 White City Currency.]

[A thousand-word impression essay for your child: 35 White City Currency.]

[Design three persona elements for your child: 80 White City Currency.]

[Help perfect your child's persona with a long essay: 40 White City Currency/1000 words. Add 10 White City Currency/1000 words for complex personas.]

[On-site guidance to enhance your Genesis ability, increase inspiration: 200 White City Currency/hour.]

...

"Wow," Yamada Machiichi whistled:

"This city and Luowasha are practically the same in worldview, very cool."

"All about creating life with a pen. But in this city, the life people create is viewed as their own children."

Su Ming'an was surprised, "You know a lot about this?"

"Yeah, I got interested, so I've been cramming on Luowasha's worldview these days," Yamada Machiichi spread his hands, excitedly saying:

"Luowasha is just like... an airborne Kingdom made of words! A fantastical world! I can hardly describe my love for it in words."

"I've gone through history. Since Luowasha's Second Epoch, when science disappeared, creators emerged, freely painting everything their hearts desired, writing one fantastic setting after another in Luowasha. Like apples not affected by gravity, cakes changing color, two iron balls not falling at the same time..."

"Many creators are keen on writing life."

"But only C-grade creators unlock the [Creating Character Setups] function. And only when the written persona is outstanding enough, logically consistent enough, and complete enough, can a persona possibly open its eyes and live off the paper. But 95% of personas can only remain on paper forever, constrained by various factors, unable to be replicated into reality."

"So, an industry chain emerged... For example, purchasing impression poems, impression essays, and long essays to perfect the characters they wrote, to increase their fullness and completeness. Maybe one day... their characters might come to life."

"This ad must be providing such services. However, this city has been invaded by a virus, and people have lost creativity and inspiration. Even if they buy such services, they probably cannot bring their written personas to life."

"I see," Su Ming'an roughly understood.

Yamada Machiichi's information was timely; once Su Ming'an advanced to C-grade creator, Su Ming'an would start attempting to create life. After all, merely using other players as supporting roles is insufficient; there's a need to increase original characters written by himself.

"However, this city goes a little overboard," Yamada Machiichi shrugged, "In Luowasha, life created by creators becomes free the moment they open their eyes, becoming a complete person, detached from the creator's pen, no longer constrained and modified by the creators, walking out their own stories. But in this city, people firmly control their written life, viewing them as 'children' to be controlled and educated, commanding them to carry on the family line... It's a bit of imposed responsibility."

"After all, it seems that people in this city don't rely on marriage and childbirth to propagate offspring. They rely on writing children to propagate descendants; maybe their physical functions have issues, making this necessary," Su Ming'an said, "Now writing children has also been blocked by the virus, so this city becomes lifeless, unable to have new life born."

"Yes," Yamada Machiichi sighed, "If they didn't forcibly order their written children to do certain things, to carry on the family line... then they would still be worthy of respect. This kind of thing should depend on the child's willingness."

Their conversation didn't avoid Little Su and Little Nuo.

Moments later, Little Su cautiously asked, "Friend. Is Luowasha the name of your hometown?"

Little Su knew his npc friend had a mysterious background, so he hadn't delved deeply. But since Su Ming'an mentioned it, Little Su still wanted to ask.

"No," Su Ming'an smiled, "Luowasha is just my temporary residence, my homeland..."

He looked into Little Su's clear eyes.

... My homeland is just like yours.

"My homeland is very, very far away." After pondering for a moment, Su Ming'an spoke.

"Ah." Little Su seemed to sense Su Ming'an's homesickness and sincerely blessed him:

"Friend, may you return to your homeland soon after all your travels end."

Even though Su Ming'an knew it was almost impossible, he still smiled and nodded.

"Right, there's definitely no problem." Yamada Machiichi, unaware of Su Ming'an's deal with the organizers, naturally thought there was no problem and confidently patted Su Ming'an on the shoulder: "It's a sure thing! I've already planned the tour route for Second Dimension Street. When we go back, I guarantee you'll be satisfied..."

He seemed to realize he slipped up, his shoulder shook, and he quickly said: "I'm not into the second dimension, really, I'm just preparing it because I see you like it. Really, I'm not, really not..."

"Alright, got it." Su Ming'an smiled.

... He was thinking, if he really couldn't go back, this tour route should be played by Yamada Machiichi himself.

After all, Yamada Machiichi's enthusiasm for the second dimension is much stronger than his, he's sure to have fun, right?

At this moment, the chat channel in the lower left corner started to become lively:

...

[I will show you the most beautiful death: Everyone, I'm a player with a blank paper identity, here are my coordinates (219, 192), come find me. Waiting for you all~ Kisses.]

[Little Lv Daddy: This name... Bairan? I advise everyone not to look for them, or you'll be risking your lives.]

[I will show you the most beautiful death: Lv Bote, you old geezer, why are you undermining me? Why don't you mind your son instead.]

[Ferris Wheel: Sique, stay where you are, I'll come to find you soon.]

[Olivius, where are you exactly: What!? Olivius is in this parallel instance? Definitely don't move, I'm going to turn this city upside down.]

[Olivius stop hiding: Why are so many people looking for Olivius, it's so annoying.]

[You can only trust me: It seems we actually have two protagonist candidates in this parallel instance, I just perceived Miss Tian Yu's presence, she's also a candidate... Liujin, if you see this message, reply to me, I'll protect you.]

[This code has been registered: ? Tea seller, why are you using my first-level code, don't you have your own code?]

[Lv Shu: Su Ming'an, where are you?]

[Lv Shu1: ? Who are you?]

...

The chat channel was a chaotic jumble, truly a "gathering of masters".

Su Ming'an felt a drop of cold sweat slide down his forehead.

Their journey continued deeper, and along the way, Su Ming'an used his super high perception to avoid various traps and dangers, wildly deploying spatial vibrations against bandits and reckless players, moving as if in no man's land.

"No wonder you're the Lighthouse." Little Su admired: "I didn't expect you to also be proficient in space abilities, that's amazing."

"I know a bit." Su Ming'an was modest.

Passing by No. 169 Hongshan Street, they stopped.

Little Su pushed Su Ming'an's wheelchair inside. It was a large building similar to a training institution, with classrooms, a whiteboard room, a projection room, as well as a large reception hall.

Some players were already standing in the hall, seemingly there to look for clues.

"Hello, would you like to know about my child?" At this moment, a local White City resident was holding a stack of flyers, her brown hair hanging loose, distributing them to others.

Su Ming'an took a flyer and glanced down, seeing it read [Name: Tuck. Age: 18. Personality: Lively and cheerful. Occupation: Poet. Common saying: "I want the voice of poetry to spread to every corner of the city." Background story: He is a painter from the outer city, and one day...]

Is this... the "child" written by this Creator?

Su Ming'an looked at the back, where there were some illustrations of this character setup.

"Take a look at his setting, there are texts and pictures, and his background story, personality, and hobbies, all written by me little by little... He's really a good person, if only I didn't have the virus in my body..." The flaxen-haired girl kept distributing flyers, her face full of persistence and determination: "I believe that if enough people like him, he will surely come to life from the white paper! Please understand my child... take a look, I want him to come to life, take a look!"

Su Ming'an carefully read through the flyer before putting it in his backpack.

Watching this scene, Yamada Machiichi sighed:

"Creator Sique is well known, anyone would read just a few words they write. But in reality, most creators face such lonely circumstances."

"Just like the people of White City, no matter how well they write, if they have a virus in their bodies, they just can't write life."

"In the history of Luowasha, there were even several waves of wars killing creators, some due to misunderstandings, others due to people's generational gaps with creators. Some believe that the works of creators are beyond reason, malicious, and disruptive to society, so it's better to kill them all."

"To this day, most creators face a malicious environment, where people always speculate on their ideas with malice, a little turbulence can destroy them."

Upon hearing this, Su Ming'an thought of the second story written by Sique, feeling complicated.

In the hall, few took the flyer from the girl's hand. Even if they did, they just glanced at it before putting it down.

"——!!"

Suddenly, a commotion was heard outside.

"Stop her! Don't let her run!"

"Hand her over, there's thousands in White City Currency! That's enough for us to live exuberantly for years!"

The sound of running was heard behind.

Soon, a dusty figure lunged beside Su Ming'an's wheelchair. She clung to the wheelchair's armrest, with a face full of dust.

When she saw Su Ming'an, she pleaded: "Can you save me... I don't want to be taken for modification, they want to turn me into some machine..."

"What is your name?" Su Ming'an asked.

The girl blinked:

"Siyi."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.