Chapter 242

Cultivators have many ways to delete their own memories, and compared to having others do it, they can extract memories more precisely and harmlessly themselves.

It's basically like taking a trip to Mystery Island—haven't you noticed that Beihe Sanren, Kuang Dao Sanlang, and Guhe all lost their memories twice this year from going there?

"Memories are meant to be broken."

The baseball bat whistled through the air, its destructive silver radiance shattering the pile of memory orbs on the ground into powder.

Song Shuhang watched the shattered memory orbs turn to dust and trembled inwardly, saying: "Senior Su Lin, I've already had dinner—can I go back now?"

He requested the memories of others in the Jiuzhou No. 1 group, but didn't erase yours, or Senior Bai's, or King Dou Dou's.

"What's the rush? Let's see how Gao Moumou and Tunyun Master are doing." Su Lin pulled out a map and tossed it to Song Shuhang: "Take your girlfriend to this place."

Song Shuhang wanted to protest—he and Shi Shiliu were still purely platonic friends—but when he opened it, he saw the location marked for the Heavenly Dao artifact: "Seraph Blade."

【Seraph Blade: Heals ninety percent of injuries; during combat, can summon an angel to possess you. Acquisition method:】

Song Shuhang immediately understood and thanked: "Thank you, Senior Su Lin."

Su Lin threw his dust whisk to the ground and made his historical projection give his original body a short haircut, saying: "She's losing HP every minute, but I'm a respawn fountain—letting her bleed out here until she revives me would be a huge loss of face."

Senior Su Lin really is a good person.

Song Shuhang was deeply moved; his lips trembled, eyes misty: "But why is the acquisition method winning first place in the Unprotected Freefall Competition?"

Su Lin, hearing this, exclaimed in surprise: "Is that so? I didn't know—probably randomly generated. Don't worry about these details."

Song Shuhang gazed at the sky, his eyes slightly warm: "Then why is the healing effect only ninety percent?"

Su Lin changed into modern clothing and said: "Go to Mystery Island and get some Dragonbone Withered Vines for Su Shi's Shiliu—this can awaken her bloodline. Isn't she a Dragon descendant?"

Song Shuhang suddenly understood—it was obvious, he'd overlooked it.

The White Dragon Sister is still on Mystery Island; getting some Dragonbone Withered Vines there would greatly benefit Shiliu.

"The most crucial point." Su Lin stepped closer to Song Shuhang and lowered his voice: "Dragon descendants! With dragon horns on their heads—aren't they super cute?"

Su Lin pulled out his phone; its wallpaper showed a purple-haired anime girl with dragon horns: "Look—doesn't this trait deserve keeping?"

At that moment, Song Shuhang felt Su Lin might have a lot in common with his roommate Tu Bo.

Since the administrator's scandal this morning, Senior Su Lin's image in his mind had shifted from an endlessly interesting senior with hidden cards to… hmm… hard to describe…

But one thing Song Shuhang agreed with: Su Lin's suggestion to preserve the Dragon descendant trait.

Song Shuhang imagined little, adorable Shiliu after her bloodline awakening—with two tiny horns sprouting on her head…

"Definitely worth keeping this trait." Song Shuhang gave a thumbs-up.

Su Lin and Song Shuhang descended a long staircase to the outside of a solitary ancient-style villa, walked through a wooden corridor and past a garden pond, and saw Gao Moumou radiating faint holy light and Tunyun Master glowing with gentle Buddhist aura.

"Who says capturing an author means locking him in a black room? I specially prepared a white room for him." Su Lin gave himself a thumbs-up for his vision.

He even gave Gao Moumou a buff that prevents death from a year of sleeplessness and boosts intelligence—if Gao Moumou returns, he'll surely sneer at his readers: "Ten chapters a day? What's that? Ten thousand!"

"I can't write it!!!" Gao Moumou crumpled the paper in his hand and threw it on the ground: "Five days! Who can write this in five days?!"

Gao Moumou was suffering—he'd fainted in a bubble tea shop, woke up here, and in less than a day had experienced a dramatic fall, rise, and fall again.

His head throbbed, as if struck by something hard—he suspected he'd been knocked out.

At first he was panicked, but after the patient instruction from the formidable Tunyun Master across from him, Gao Moumou accepted reality: fine, his best friend had betrayed him.

This was betrayal, a desecration of friendship—friendship's little boat had…

Just as Gao Moumou was furiously condemning Song Shuhang, Tunyun Master handed him a bank card and said it contained ten million.

'This experience will make my friendship with Song Shuhang even stronger.'

But when Gao Moumou learned the deadline was five days, his mindset collapsed again—the kind of collapse no billion could fix.

Tunyun was also troubled—he admitted he'd underestimated the requirements of that Immortal Preceptor; the workload was too massive.

If it were just an entertainment movie, fine—but the requirement was to produce a documentary-quality factual work.

Logically consistent, must have twists, the protagonist must be a demonic cultivator, and every supporting character's background and the revised lore must be fully fleshed out.

This… is difficult.

"Where is he! Where's the guy who locked me up!" Gao Moumou screamed: "Give him a pen! Let him write it all in five days!"

This was a furious author who hadn't written a single valid character all afternoon.

Tunyun sighed: "Master Gao, don't be so agitated."

Outside the room.

Seeing this, Su Lin shook his head—apparently, he'd pushed too hard.

Knock knock!

He knocked on the door from where he stood.

Tunyun immediately stood up and greeted: "Senior Su Lin, Little Friend Shuhang."

"SONG! SHU! HANG!" Gao Moumou, seeing Song Shuhang at the door, launched a flying kick: "Eat my leg!"

Since waking up, Gao Moumou had felt boundless energy, as if every drink and meal had given him the effect of Jin Ke La.

Like a stimulant, yet beneficial to his body—he noticed minor injuries he'd carried for years had healed.

His right shoulder, which always ached, now felt completely relaxed, as if his Ren and Du meridians had been fully unblocked.

Whether or not there was a stimulant, he now felt he could do anything! At least let Song Shuhang smell his feet!

Song Shuhang didn't dodge or evade—only raised his hand to block.

*Slap! * Gao Moumou lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Song Shuhang: "..."

How to put it—though he'd expected this… that little toe hitting steel must've hurt like hell…

"Are you okay?" Song Shuhang crouched beside Gao Moumou, concerned.

"Friendship's over!" Gao Moumou clutched his toe, tears welling: "Friendship's little boat has sunk…"

Looked up at the sky

Song Shuhang reached out and pulled Gao Moumou up from the ground.

"You've had gene modifications, right? So damn strong," Gao Moumou winced. "Be honest—are you some kind of superhuman? That guy, Master Tunyun, literally ripped my clothes off when I was running away! I've never seen someone burst their clothes in real life before!"

Su Lin felt a flicker of admiration—this was what a web novel author was like? Their imagination and adaptability were extraordinary.

"Ahem, Mr. Gao, hello."

Su Lin interrupted:

"I'm the client for this job. I'm sorry for bringing you here in such a way."

"Let me introduce myself—I'm Zhou Mingrui. Go ahead, go ahead—say whatever you want to say."

Su Lin spoke with sincere earnestness, his eyes filled with guilt.

"Your name is exactly like the protagonist of a colleague of mine—no, not similar, identical," Gao Moumou narrowed his eyes, his expression strange. "Mr. Zhou, we've never crossed paths. You're not teasing me, are you?!"

"I'm serious—I strongly recommend my colleague. He writes better than I do. Can you just let me go back?"

"Mr. Gao, you're joking," Su Lin quietly cast a Holy Light spell on Gao Moumou to calm his emotions. "I never tease people."

Gao Moumou felt this man wasn't as unreasonable as he first seemed. Looking closer, he realized the man wasn't much older than him, yet exuded a calm, trustworthy aura. With Su Lin's words, his mood improved considerably—he was no longer as anxious as at the start.

Gao Moumou gathered his thoughts and said sincerely:

"But five days is impossible for this task. I'm sorry—I simply can't earn this money. Please find someone more capable. I'm sure with your strength, assembling a team won't be a problem."

He'd rather spend that time discussing with his girlfriend where to go for their honeymoon.

"That's true," Su Lin nodded slightly. He didn't absolutely need to hold onto Gao Moumou—but there were two reasons.

One was that Gao Moumou was the one who wrote the script for "The War of the End Dharma" in the original novel; Su Lin wanted to see what he could produce under these circumstances.

The other, naturally, was Song Shuhang's strong recommendation.

Moreover, he would soon grant Gao Moumou some buffs to boost his mental capacity to the peak level.

"Then, may I take my leave?" Gao Moumou ventured. "If all else fails, I can give you the writers' group—you can contact them one by one."

Let the other writers have this chance to make big money—they'd surely be grateful to him.

"Not so fast," Su Lin smiled gently. "Five days isn't enough. What about six months?"

"Huh?!"

Song Shuhang, Tunyun, and Gao Moumou all froze—had he really given in so easily?!

Especially Song Shuhang—he remembered Su Lin's script demand seemed urgent. And wasn't Su Lin's administrator status supposed to expire in three months?

"Six months?" Gao Moumou thought it over, then sighed in relief. "Fine. As long as it's not rushed, I'm good."

"Good," Su Lin chuckled. "After all, I'm no demon. How could I possibly expect you to complete such a massive project in five days?"

"It's settled then," Gao Moumou slapped his chest confidently. "Six months is no problem at all."

"Alright, I'll send you supplies. For the next half-year, you'll stay here and focus on your creation," Su Lin subtly implanted a suggestion into Gao Moumou's mind, just as Jiao Jiao had done—making him overlook certain unimportant details.

Like whether he could go home during these six months. Or whether he could see his girlfriend. These details were simply ignored.

"No problem," Gao Moumou said.

After a few more pleasantries, Su Lin and Song Shuhang left the "Big Black Room" and stepped into the courtyard.

Song Shuhang had wanted to ask why Su Lin had extended the deadline, but saw Su Lin pulling out a storage belt and pouring some yellow sand onto the ground.

"Master Su Lin, what are you doing?" Song Shuhang asked.

Su Lin scattered the Sand of Time and said:

"Of course, to create a time differential. Inside, six months will pass, but outside, less than five days will have gone by."

"Don't worry—I've enhanced his physical constitution. He can write nonstop for half a year without sleep."

"Then I'll just drop in a local network computer loaded with all the reference materials, and that's it."

Sweat broke out on Song Shuhang's forehead—could you even do this?!

Here, Su Lin handed Song Shuhang a jade box and asked: "By the way, what flavor of instant noodles does Gao Moumou like?"

Song Shuhang: "."

He looked at the small jade box Su Lin offered—inside lay a single leaf of the Awakening Tree tea—and answered: "Braised Beef flavor."

My friend, you always say Ya Yi won't let you eat instant noodles. This time, I'll help you all the way.

Two days later, at dawn, the sky was barely light, and the spiritual plants on Water Mirror Peak still absorbed the lingering moonlight.

The cultivators of Jiuzhou Group One had been deployed to Earth the previous day. Since then, every TV and phone screen was filled with news reports of cultivators appearing across the globe.

"You didn't plan this all along, did you?" Kleine asked, watching Su Lin arrange a pile of mannequins that resembled him but differed in clothing and posture. "When you first went with Emelin to the mannequin shop, weren't you already planning this?"

Kleine hadn't noticed at first, but after researching Su Lin's plagiarism of the Simulation Universe's lore these past two days, he suddenly recalled how Su Lin had once commissioned a batch of life-sized mannequins of himself—and another batch of 2D anime-style mannequins.

He'd assumed it was just the product of Su Lin's extreme narcissism and otaku tendencies.

"It's purely a coincidence, my friend," Su Lin said, carving intricate talismans and array patterns onto the mannequins, casting various magical effects, and using the power of the Light Godhead to link their energies.

"Hello, this is Light Master No. 1," said a mannequin dressed in a tailcoat, modeled after Su Lin. "Hmm, acceptable."

"I have a feeling you'll eventually be chased down by a flood of copyright lawsuits," Kleine said flatly. "Your lawyer's letters will fill an entire room."

Su Lin pouted. "How scary~."

"Can you spin around, Light Master?" Kleine walked over to a mannequin dressed in a classical mage's robe with a monocle. "My advice: respect the original."

"I can make the Earth spin a few times. Want to watch?" Su Lin began moving in sync with No. 1, adjusting the details of the other mannequins.

"Tsk, you're so high-and-mighty," Kleine studied a mannequin clad in male gothic attire for a few seconds. "I think you should at least respect the original's gender."

"What do you mean?" Su Lin asked without looking up, but already drawing the newly acquired 'Heavenly Azure Jade Void Sword.'

Kleine said nothing. Instead, he pulled a photograph from a rift in history and immediately made a wish.

"I wish this Light Master mannequin would become Light Mistress."

Ziiiirrr!

A torrent of deep blue spiritual light flooded the sky, an energy more violent than lightning erupted from Water Mirror Peak and shot into the cosmos—without sound, without warning.

In an instant, Kleine's historical projection and the doll were swallowed, turning into specks of starlight.

On the training ground of Shuijing Peak, Zhongli stepped through the portal from the other side, looked up at the deep blue swordlight in the southwest, and smiled.

"It's quite lively this early morning."

Behind him, several immortals dressed in Liyue attire and immortal beasts in their animal forms emerged in orderly fashion.

"I've made arrangements with the host of this place," Zhongli said to the immortals behind him. "Soon, you will enter this world as mortals."

The immortals behind him replied in unison: "Yes, Master."

Zhongli shook his head: "I am no longer the Rock King, Emperor Jun. You need not address me thus."

"Yes."

"Hmm," Zhongli said, seeing this, and said no more; he turned his gaze toward the direction from which the swordlight had erupted. "Then let us first pay our respects to the host of this place—do not be rude."

(End of Chapter)