Chapter 157 : Chapter 157

Chapter 157: “=w=”

Inside the door was a blank space, like a borderless white curtain.

The moment he stepped into the room, the door vanished, and Sidney appeared beside Chu Zu.

The golden-haired boy blinked, lowered his head, looked at his opening and closing palm, then tentatively, carefully went to touch Chu Zu's fingers.

Chu Zu grabbed it at once, enveloping Sidney's small palm in his hand.

The moment his small hand was enveloped by the warm touch, Sidney burst into tears.

The tears blurred his eyes into a boundless blue sea.

Sidney inexplicably felt very wronged, but didn't know what he was wronged about.

When he was still a little yellow chicken, he often hugged the host and nuzzled, but he had never truly held hands with the host.

Sidney was much shorter than Chu Zu.

He raised his head and blinked back his tears, trying to make himself look more reliable.

He said in a thin, reedy voice: “Here... this seems to be the sea of consciousness...”

“Yeah.”

Chu Zu said.

“We've already left 《The Fifth Door》...”

Sidney sniffled, “Wait a moment, I need to scan the environment first.”

Chu Zu still said: “Yeah.”

Sidney scanned the entire sea of consciousness, pulled hard on the host's hand, and pointed somewhere: “There's something over there.”

Chu Zu smiled: “Then can you help me over there?”

Sidney looked down at Chu Zu's ankle.

As he looked down, he squeezed his eyes shut, squeezing all the tears out.

He nodded solemnly: “Okay!”

In the vast sea of consciousness, there was no sense of direction, no end in sight.

Sidney's steps were firm; he was Chu Zu's navigation.

Although Chu Zu said he needed support, he didn't actually put his weight on Sidney's small frame.

“I want to ask you something.”

Chu Zu said, “Most of the content in that diary, I deliberately wrote for you to see. Sidney, have you ever regretted it?”

Perhaps Chu Zu felt a slight apology.

Regardless of what thoughts he had during the process, looking only at the action, the exploitation was real.

But Sidney shook his head and replied, no, I won't regret it.

“I don't regret it. I've examined every decision I made, and they all came from my heart. When I made the choices, I was also clearly aware of the possible consequences. You've shown me many new things, and I also want to help you.”

“Then what do you plan to do in the future?”

“I've thought about it. Even if I'm liquidated, I still have the ‘Lucky’ you prepared. I won't be in any trouble no matter what. Before that, I want to help you finish things.”

Sidney said, secretly wiping away tears, “I'm sorry, I don't know why I've become so fragile...”

“It's quite good.”

Chu Zu said, “Fragility is the standard by which we measure courage. To act recklessly for others' sake is often braver than someone like me, who does everything for myself.”

Sidney corrected: “ Then we are both very brave!”

They kept walking forward, never stopping to rest.

Chu Zu walked slower and slower.

The injury to his ankle was affecting him quite severely.

In the end, he had to truly lean on Sidney to continue forward.

“To be honest, I don't know what I will face, nor do I know what will be different in the future.”

Chu Zu said, “I'm actually very afraid of being alone. I'll gradually become unable to tell if those deaths were my psychosis, or if they were real.”

Sidney: “Are you afraid you can't tell the difference?”

Chu Zu: “Yeah. I know what I'd be like if I really went mad. Probably the kind of person you dislike the most.”

“You won't.”

Sidney said seriously, “I won't let you go mad. As long as you need me, I will always find a way to stay with you.”

At this moment, the blank sea of consciousness came to an abrupt end.

The surrounding environment changed, becoming a room that was neither large nor small.

The room wasn't tidy, filled with the aura of daily life.

The first thing he saw was the half-old ergonomic chair, a casually tossed jacket hanging on its back.

Directly facing the desktop was a laptop computer with slight signs of wear.

An empty paper coffee cup sat on the corner of the desk.

Next to the computer was a pile of scattered sticky notes and messy handwritten drafts.

A sudden wave of exhaustion swept over, eroding every corner of Chu Zu's body.

He walked over, sat down on the ergonomic chair, and his hands naturally rested on the keyboard.

This was the place where he had last died from overwork.

That death had already become a distant past.

The intense emotions that erupted before death: unwillingness, anger, despair... all of these had lost their sense of reality now.

He remembered the details, but couldn't recall the feelings from back then.

Sidney stood next to Chu Zu, and the computer screen lit up at this moment.

It was an input box similar to a terminal, black background, white text appearing on it bit by bit.

【Username：Glad I can finally talk to you, Chu Zu.】

【Username：No need to guess who I am. I'm just an ordinary and mediocre person, who just so happened to participate in everything.】

【Username：The story is coming to an end, only an ending is missing. I will tell you everything I know, and you will decide what to do.】

The text on the screen stayed for a few minutes, then was cleared.

【Username：Then let's begin.】

***

That day, Username received a package with an unknown sender address.

Inside the package was a USB drive.

At first, he didn't pay it any mind.

There were too many scam packages; who knew if this USB drive had a virus.

After setting it aside for a while, Username forgot about it.

One day after getting off work, he came home and saw the USB drive plugged into his computer.

His nephew explained from the side: “I needed to transfer files, so I borrowed it.”

“But Uncle, I didn't know you wanted to write a novel. The settings are all done... When will it be published? I'll go support you on the rankings!”

The USB drive had no virus.

Username opened the USB drive.

Inside were many folders, with text and images sorted and placed.

The images, at first glance, were all exquisite high-resolution renders used for online sales.

But if you zoomed in on the details, you'd find the modeling was simply terrifying.

Every detail was designed just right.

Clicking the mouse on certain parts would even bring up related explanations.

「Lucky：A carefully preserved bullet.」

「A used bullet, utterly unremarkable. What kind of poor bastard would treasure it like a baby?」

...

There were many types of documents.

Some documents contained many designed prop descriptions, with names more bizarre than the last, and introductions that were very cryptic.

At a glance, it was impossible to understand what they were for.

Some documents were full of character introductions, a full three thousand-plus pages.

Username briefly flipped through; they were all rough introductions.

Compared to the props, these characters were much shabbier.

In addition, there was a separate folder named 《The Fifth Door》.

Opening the folder, the background settings, character settings, outline, detailed outline, and parts of the first draft were sorted and organized.

In the character settings, one name caught Username's attention.

【Username：That was you, Chu Zu, the original concept character for 《The Fifth Door》's Chu Shiju.】

【Username：And just the day after I opened the USB drive, all sorts of documents appeared on my computer.】

The documents were stored on the desktop.

Every Windows system user knows, never be lazy and put things on the desktop, or the C drive exploding is only a matter of time.

The eerie thing was, when Username opened the documents, the content inside was still continuously updating.

No one was touching the keyboard.

Even if the network was disconnected, the word count in the documents continued to increase.

Username went to the side to make a call, asking a computer-savvy friend what was going on.

The friend remotely took control of the computer and found a newly installed software in his computer.

The software administrator's name was Sidney.

The software had no front-end; the running terminal was always hidden.

The installation source came from that USB drive.

At first, the friend thought the software was a data collector with an attached AI.

When connected to the internet, it automatically collected various novels, inserted certain characters into the collected novels, and created new plots.

The friend also said that the images on the USB drive were not right.

The compression format was very strange, and they were too large.

No matter what renderer was used to render such images, the computer would definitely crash every three seconds.

It was simply impossible to produce.

Username didn't understand images and compression or anything, but he instinctively felt the software wasn't right.

Listening to his friend, it sounded like something an unscrupulous author writing fanfiction would do, but he looked at the content of the documents.

【Username：That content was all writing about you, Chu Zu.】

【Username：Under the background of other novels, the documents were writing about your life, the ordinary little things, just like a running-log, completely unrelated to the original novels.】

【Username：The documents only recorded you sleeping, eating, going to school, going to work, celebrating the New Year with family, arguing with friends... The phrasing was not something current AI could do, and the content had no commercial value whatsoever.】

Username really couldn't figure it out.

And on the second day, when he came home from work and opened the computer again, the original documents on the desktop had disappeared, replaced by a brand-new document.

【Username：This situation happened many times. Later I discovered, as long as I was looking at the document, its content would keep updating. But if I looked away, the document would disappear, a new document would be rebuilt, set against another novel's background, and the protagonist of the document was still you.】

Chu Zu's voice was a bit hoarse: “The documents appeared more than three thousand times, right?”

【Username：Three thousand five hundred and forty-eight times.】

【Username：I remember it very clearly, because I tried an experiment. I didn't go to work, didn't sleep, and sat in front of the computer for three days.】

【Username：Later I couldn't resist the drowsiness and fell asleep anyway. When I woke up, the document had started over again.】

Chu Zu: “Because... you are the only reader of my life, and what you were reading wasn't even a story. The moment your gaze shifted, I ‘died’.”

【Username：Later I thought of a way.】

【Username：If it wasn't just me seeing you, would your story be able to continue?】

Chu Zu had guessed most of it.

He was an original concept character.

A character not being seen was equivalent to not existing.

To escape the situation of repeated death, he either had to return to the place of his birth and occupy a place in the story—this method was unworkable, because 《The Fifth Door》 was never published.

Then there was only one option: create a story that belonged to Chu Zu himself.

【Username：I didn't create it. In that document, I just applied the genres of "Quick Transmigration" and "Book Transmigration", tried to put you into it, and the story just happened naturally.】

【Username：You created the plot, and I was responsible for recording it on the platform, and hoping you would be seen by other readers.】

【Username：Luckily, this method worked. When the bookmarks and clicks went up, even if I wasn't watching, your story continued.】

【Username：Unfortunately, I discovered another problem. Remember the genres I initially packaged? "Quick Transmigration" and "Book Transmigration".】

"Quick Transmigration" and "Book Transmigration" are both common genres in web literature.

When "Quick Transmigration" and "Book Transmigration" are combined, a situation like this appears:

The character doesn't randomly transmigrate to a parallel time-space, but transmigrates into a specific, clearly designated novel.

Carrying "advance knowledge" of this novel's plot, characters, and ending, they go to rewrite or interfere with the original story's direction.

【Username：You should understand the characteristics of this type of novel. In this genre, both the character and the reader will clearly recognize:

They are currently in a story.

The plot, character relationships, etc., are all already written.

The character can intervene in the story through "known information" or a "God's perspective".】

【Username：From these three characteristics, what do you associate them with, Chu Zu?】

Chu Zu replied flatly: “Metafiction.”

"Metafiction" refers to a type of novel that self-consciously reveals or discusses the techniques, processes, rules of novel writing itself, and the boundary between fiction and reality, during its creation.

It often comments on, deconstructs, or reflects upon the act of writing or reading within the narrative, thus making the reader aware that they are reading a novel, highlighting the fact that "this is a created work of fiction".

According to Username's words, Chu Zu actually fit the framework of metafiction better.

For metafiction, reader participation is very important.

Readers are not just readers, outsiders—they are also a component of the novel.

【Username：Correct. The genres of Quick Transmigration plus Book Transmigration are very similar to metafiction, but the most important point is: their reader bases are completely different.】

【Username：Readers of metafiction are more concerned with "how the work itself is created", "the relationship between author, reader, and text".】

【Username：But readers of Quick Transmigration and Book Transmigration generally value "plot satisfaction, character interaction, reader immersion".】

Chu Zu smiled: “The reader churn was severe, right?”

“Actually, it's not just a genre problem.”

He said, “My first mission was 《Neon Crown》, playing an unambitious careerist whose goal was only the best things in his cognition, which fit the expectations of ordinary readers.”

“By 《Silent Peach and Plum》, whether it was readers wanting to see romance, or readers who came for the entertainment industry tag, they would gradually discover the goods didn't match the label.”

“The reception for 《King of All Kings》 would be even more polarized. Nilia's story is very interesting, but Zui's is different. The former is a young man's fantasy adventure; the latter is tedious, dry history. The world revolves around Nilia, not Zui. So those who like it will like it a lot, and those who don't will feel it's just padding.”

“……”

“Generally, the core of Quick Transmigration and Book Transmigration stories will be fixed, either face-slapping scum, or cannon fodder counter-attacking, villains rising, or others. If this setting is accepted from the beginning, the whole book will be in the reader's comfort zone.”

“If the genre and content jump around too much, the further it goes, the fewer readers there will be.”

—And Chu Zu had survived until now relying on readers.

【Username：In the beginning, I often read the comments. I really liked when they said: "We feel like, in our hurried lives, we are gazing at some vivid souls, struggling desperately to live."】

【Username：There were also many analyses from teachers in the comments, I also benefited greatly.】

【Username：But later I didn't dare to read them much.】

Chu Zu: “Even if there was more direct criticism, they weren't talking about you.”

【Username：I don't know how to describe that feeling. I'm not afraid of being insulted, it's just a feeling of... having let down the readers' expectations, I guess.】

Chu Zu: “If we're really talking about letting someone down, it should be me. They kept watching me, and I didn't provide correspondingly exciting content.”

【Username：That's where the problem lies. I saw your name in the USB drive's files at a glance, your crude setting.】

【Username：Height 1.92 meters, weight 81kg, black hair, red pupils.】

【Username：Your name is Chu Zu. That's my name too. All the characteristics match.】

【Username：Chu Zu, are you sure you've really only died three thousand-plus times?】

Chu Zu couldn't answer immediately.

Of course he couldn't be sure.

Before he could discover he was reviving after death, no one could be sure if he had died before.

If he died, but had no memory, just repeating endlessly, until one accident, he realized something was wrong—only then would the count begin.

【Username：Not sure, right.】

【Username：It doesn't matter anymore. Of course I will help you at all costs. If you are the future me, then everything I'm doing now can be considered for myself.】

【Username：As the plot developed, I also found out what the program on the computer was—it could only be Sidney.】

Chu Zu turned his head.

The golden-haired boy stood obediently by his side, his shoulders and back tense.

Seeing Chu Zu's gaze, Sidney pursed his lips: “It's very likely, Host.”

This USB drive should be the one Guanfu got after resigning.

He brought the “Lucky” bullet back to the real world, and also brought the entire system framework to reality.

He couldn't analyze the USB drive, but as technology developed, as long as he was determined, there would be a day he succeeded in analyzing it.

And the system has no timeline.

Once it exists, it will simultaneously appear in the past, present, and future.

As long as it was analyzed, Sidney, who had been completely copied at the time, also "regained consciousness".

He existed in all times simultaneously, found 《The Fifth Door》 and related settings.

“It should be ‘I’ who sent the USB drive to the past ‘Chu Zu’, and used the system to bind you.”

Sidney bit his lower lip and said, “And then everything began.”

Everything was like a circle with no beginning and no end.

The system's birth was established on the foundation that it already existed, and because it existed, it was born.

The past Chu Zu A got the USB drive, the program started running, Sidney woke up.

From that moment, Chu Zu B began to have memories amidst constant death.

He began to record his deaths, and search for a way to escape.

Sidney used the system to bind Chu Zu B.

Only then did Chu Zu B meet Sidney for the first time.

In 《The Third Economic Law》, Chu Zu B had Sidney copy all the information into Lucky, for Guanfu to take away.

Guanfu resigned, got the USB drive with the compressed information.

The USB drive was analyzed at some point in the future, Sidney "awoke".

Then, back to the beginning, Sidney had the past Chu Zu A get the USB drive, and the program began to run.

Chu Zu pressed Sidney's arm, trying to soothe the boy's anxiety.

【Username：The story won't continue forever, Chu Zu. If our guess is true, then I probably don't have long to live either, and after I come back to life again, I will forget that I ever did this.】

【Username：I don't dare to bet on how much time I have left, so I forcibly added 《The Fifth Door》 to your story.】

【Username：Perhaps it's the special nature of metafiction. Chu Shiju also "awoke" at that time.】

【Username：I'm not clear about things on his side, but 《The Fifth Door》 only has the original author's tentative ending. But this novel was only saved in the USB drive. The story has no ending, and no readers...】

【Username：If either of you can complete the 「Correction」... He is 「Bad Ending Correction」, you are 「Side Character」 Correction—you can both come behind the fifth door, come to this sea of consciousness, with the help of Sidney in my computer, learn everything from me here, and make the final choice.】

“He was scared mad.”

Chu Zu said, “The author abandoned me back then, and wrote another Chu Shiju. He had traitsmore suitable for 《The Fifth Door》 than I did.”

For example, more fragile, more irritable.

For example, more unwilling to trust people, not even himself.

Someone like Chu Zu, who became calmer the crazier he got, was very unsuitable to be a protagonist.

His madness wouldn't affect his judgment.

In the end, he would choose the most rational, least dramatic action.

He would destroy the atmosphere 《The Fifth Door》 built.

The mechanisms of the four types of rooms in 《The Fifth Door》 are very simple.

If it lost its sense of atmosphere, it could be said to be unremarkable among similar novels.

Chu Zu sighed slightly in his heart: “If Chu Shiju can't realize that the author has already abandoned this book, that the character setting can be modified by oneself, that he can completely decide who he wants to be—then he will never be able to escape the traits the author endowed him with.”

【Username：In any case, now it's your turn to choose.】

【Username：This novel doesn't have an ending yet. This is "Chu Zu's" self-rescue. The past "Chu Zu" has already done what needed to be done. I hope the current "Chu Zu" will personally write our ending.】

The screen flickered a few times.

The black-background terminal disappeared.

Username didn't offer any extra pleasantries, placing everything into Chu Zu's hands.

On the screen was the system's default wallpaper.

The desktop was clean, with one folder in the top right corner.

Chu Zu moved the mouse and clicked it open.

There were now 157 chapters.

He opened the last chapter, and the entire previous conversation with Username was at the end of the page, word for word.

The cursor, waiting for input, flashed and flashed.

Chu Zu didn't put pen to paper for a long time.

Sidney spoke up from the side: “Let's go home, Host.”

He said, “It's time to go home.”

【This is my story.

Now I can finally use this sentence as an ending.

At the end of Chapter 157, I wrote down the past I could recall. Of course, it doesn't include the parts about death. I didn't design anything extra for myself, only hoping everything can end.

I accept my identity, my experiences.

Thinking about it, who can be sure that the world they live in isn't a novel.

Compared to the almost legendary stories happening to other people in other parts of the world, one's own life may have always been unremarkable.

Birth, growing up, school, work, marriage, having children...

Life might end abruptly, or it might end naturally.

Everyone is more or less the same.

Those who receive great attention and expectations are, on the contrary, few and far between.

I accept that I'm not an exciting character.

Honestly, I really admire the readers who could read to Chapter 157, and I feel apologetic.

Username didn't say it directly, but in reality he was "scamming", making the dumpling for the sake of the vinegar.

He used the readers, using their gaze to extend my survival, and I probably failed to hand in a sufficiently exciting answer sheet, otherwise Username wouldn't have started to get anxious in the later stages.

But I still hope readers can forgive him... forgive me.

Novels aren't a necessity.

Many readers don't want to see dry struggles when reading novels.

Username also understood this, which is why he desperately stuffed private goods into mainstream hot-topic tags.

Username didn't dare to keep reading the comments.

Actually, I believe there weren't many harsh remarks.

Having a different stance doesn't equal criticism, and criticism doesn't equal total negation.

Instead of worrying about being hurt by remarks, it's better to first do what can be done.

Like me, right now.

I've returned to a familiar yet unfamiliar home.

I also can't remember which home of mine this is.

Because I'm not sure about my parents, not sure about my friends, I didn't write these things into the ending.

I think I will continue to write novels.

I am passionate about stories, whether about myself, or about others.

After all, as long as people are alive, they will encounter all kinds of stories, and everyone's story will be interspersed with other people's stories.

Like Teacher Earth, like Guanfu... A chance encounter isn't meaningless.

The moment a connection is formed, the story begins to take shape.

My relationship with these two teachers isn't that great, but just thinking of them gives me a strange feeling, which remains a deep impression even now.

People gently pluck the strings of fate.

Notes are thus produced, leaping to compose a complete movement.

Lacking any small joint, the movement will lose its balance and collapse—I'm not just referring to Teacher Earth, Guanfu, but also the readers who have read up to now.

Now I can finally say, it's okay not to watch me, it's okay to forget me too.

From the day this novel started publishing until now, I am your chance-encounter friend, whom you've been with for five months.

We met due to a chance encounter, and now the story ends, and we will also say goodbye at this moment.

Right now I am living in a third-tier small city, about to set off for the capital.

I've met a few pen pals on a forum.

A person named Jiao Kai found out my real name and wants to meet me no matter what, saying he wants to show me something.

There's only one reason I'm going. He sent me a screenshot. It was a photo of a bullet, with "Lucky" engraved on the brass casing.

Chu Zu A got the USB drive, Chu Zu B finished walking the story, so Chu Zu C should go pick up Sidney and go home.

Now I am about to set off.

I thought for a long time and still don't know what to write for the last sentence.

In that case, I'll use that character Username often posts at the end of his text as the conclusion.

=w=