Chapter 45: The Second Candidate

Tang Xuan was lying on his bed, playing a battle royale game with sharp eyes and deft hands. This was one of his daily hobbies. However, as a eunuch novel writer, every time he played in the QQ server, he was often the target of “loving attention” from readers and fans linked through QQ.

“Damn eunuch, instead of updating your novel, you’re playing games again!”

“Damn eunuch, may you never have a son!” (Too real, I won’t say to whom this applies, but feel free to take it personally.)

“The world is growing worse, morals are decaying—these authors, at the slightest provocation, just abandon their books.”

Tang Xuan had made it to the final circle when suddenly, a voice echoed in his ear, nearly making him jump out of bed.

“Who’s speaking?” he quickly scanned his room, but found no one.

Was he hearing things from being scolded so much?

“Don’t be afraid,” the voice sounded again. Tang Xuan looked around his empty room, starting to panic a little.

In the next instant, his surroundings shifted. He was no longer in his room, but had arrived in a boundless, shimmering sea of stars.

As a seasoned author notorious for abandoning his works, Tang Xuan quickly realized what he had encountered.

He forced himself to calm down and asked the starry sky, “Great one, what do you want of me?”

The voice sounded again, tinged with irritation: “I enjoy reading novels on Qidian. Not long ago, on a whim, I manifested into reality all the worlds from the novels on Qidian.”

“You understand what I mean by ‘manifested,’ right?”

“I do,” Tang Xuan nodded sincerely, thinking to himself that among Qidian’s readers, there was actually someone with such extraordinary power?

To turn every novel world on Qidian into a real world? Incredible!

The great one’s voice grew more annoyed, “The worlds I’ve manifested—if their authors can finish their stories, those worlds can continue to thrive and develop just like any other real world.”

“But! If the author abandons the novel midway, those worlds lose their governing rules and, after a period of time, face destruction. The living beings in those worlds will face an apocalypse.”

“Such a pity!” The great one let out a sigh.

Tang Xuan looked awkward. As a seasoned “eunuch” author, what could he say? He could only quickly agree, “Truly a pity, truly a pity! I’ll never abandon a novel again!”

The great one replied calmly, “Don’t worry. I didn’t bring you here to punish you, but to entrust you with something.”

Tang Xuan immediately said, “Please, give me your instructions!”

The great one paused before continuing, “I want you to enter the worlds of those unfinished novels, take on the role of the protagonist in each world, and complete specific tasks.”

“As long as you complete the tasks, those worlds on the brink of destruction can be saved and allowed to continue, becoming normal worlds.”

“Are you willing?”

“I’m willing!” Tang Xuan nodded without hesitation.

Was he joking? Like he had a choice?

For someone with such unfathomable power, there were probably countless ways to save those doomed worlds—or even to simply erase the offending authors with a single thought.

But since the great one had made this decision, whether after careful consideration or on a whim, Tang Xuan had no say in the matter.

Still, why him? Was it because he was a notorious “eunuch,” or was it just a coincidence?

The great one spoke again, “I won’t have you work for nothing. Every time you complete a task, you’ll permanently acquire the protagonist’s cheat ability from that novel world, one that works across all worlds.”

Tang Xuan’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Thank you, great one!”

“That’s enough. Go now. The worlds of those abandoned novels will be assigned to you one by one.”

In the next moment, the dazzling galaxy faded.

Tang Xuan found himself in another world.

A rush of information flooded his mind.

The first world he needed to save—or rather, the first abandoned novel—was called:

“Online Game: Grand Wuxia”

From the name alone, one could guess a few things.

It was an online game novel, with a martial arts twist.

According to the author’s setting, “Grand Wuxia” was an upcoming sensation in China, a game boasting 100% virtual reality.

At first, ordinary people thought it was simply a breakthrough and innovation in virtual reality technology.

Other countries would also launch similar games.

But only a small handful knew that this was a chance for all humanity to evolve!

Abilities from the game could be brought into reality.

Chinese martial arts masters, Japanese onmyoji and ninjas, Western superpowered individuals—all would emerge!

And the protagonist’s cheat was a system that guaranteed mastery of any skill simply by practicing it.

In other words, no matter what technique he learned, he would instantly achieve perfection—true mastery, not just basic understanding.

The novel’s concept was, all things considered, decent.

Unfortunately, the author was clearly a novice. After dozens of chapters, the story still hadn’t reached the main plot.

So many chapters had passed, and the “Grand Wuxia” game hadn’t even launched yet. The pacing was too slow, the book performed poorly, and the author abandoned it.

“The protagonist of this novel is also called Tang Xuan.”

Having arrived in this new world, Tang Xuan muttered to himself.

He had originally thought the first world he’d be sent to save would be one of his own abandoned novels.

But it seemed the great one didn’t have such a sense of irony.

Perhaps it was simply because the protagonist shared his name that this was chosen as his first world.

“Who would have thought there’d be such a powerful reader among Qidian’s audience?” Tang Xuan rubbed his face, his expression complicated.

Was this not a stroke of fortune?

All he had to do was complete task after task, and he would acquire the protagonist’s cheat abilities from countless novel worlds—usable in every universe.

This “instant mastery system” was just the beginning.

Eventually, he could possess thousands, even billions, of cheat abilities all at once.

Wouldn’t that make him the ultimate show-off? He could even declare:

“Bring on the hacks!”

—

(The Eunuch Rabbit is back! Always getting roasted for playing games instead of writing, but don’t worry—this time I absolutely won’t abandon the story! I swear on my keyboard!)