Chapter 23: Reborn Master Author, Part 15

After speaking, she walked quickly toward the elevator, went downstairs, and arrived at the entrance of the residential complex. She found a spot nearby to wait. A short while later, a car pulled up to the roadside, and several people stepped out. They were wearing uniforms—which made sense; as high-ranking officials, they had no need to be as secretive as gangsters when it came to apprehending someone.

They could enter the complex openly, so before they could reach her, Mu Yin spoke first. "Are you here for me?" The group immediately turned their gaze toward her. Seeing Mu Yin, they frowned and began to surround her.

"Miss, we require your cooperation with some matters," the leader said.

"I will go with you, but I do not want you to touch my family. Otherwise, you would not want to know the consequences," Mu Yin said, remaining cooperative but issuing a stern warning. She did not bother to hide her aura, unleashing a pressure that felt overwhelmingly heavy.

The man’s expression shifted slightly; he struggled to remain standing, barely managing not to kneel. Once Mu Yin withdrew her pressure, he gestured for her to enter the vehicle. The others followed suit, and they set off.

Mu Yin remained silent throughout the journey, and none of them questioned her. They drove for an entire day, stopping only for food and driver changes, yet they never once let her out of their sight. Naturally, Mu Yin did not attempt to flee; after all, she could run, but she could not hide.

Roughly two days later, she was brought to a location that was not one of the three well-known capital cities, but rather a place near the border. She discovered that the spiritual energy here was exceptionally dense; it appeared this was the true capital of the world.

Looking out the window, she saw that the area was quite populated. She recognized many faces—explorers seen on television news, celebrities, and, needless to say, the heirs and executives of major corporations. They all seemed to be here, and it appeared to be quite a common sight.

Mu Yin was led into a massive building. Based on the architectural style, it appeared to be a military base. She was taken to a room, and as the door opened, a guard gestured for her to enter. "Please, go in."

"Hmm." Mu Yin walked inside, and the door closed behind her.

Several people were already waiting in the room. To her surprise, one of them was someone she had met once before—the captain of the explorer team that had helped her previously. There were three others she had never met, but given their demeanor and presence, it was clear they held high positions.

"Please, sit," said one of the men, a middle-aged man with a kindly, gentle smile.

"Thank you." Mu Yin did not stand on ceremony and sat on the sofa to the side.

"Let us introduce ourselves. I am Ji Quan, one of the leaders of Huafeng City. These are also leaders of Huafeng City: this is Mr. Sun Songlin, Elder Sun; this lady is Lan Moqi; and this gentleman is Qi Rao, the captain of the First Explorer Team and Chairman of the Explorers' Guild," the man said, introducing the group to Mu Yin.

"It is an honor to meet you, leaders. I am Li Mumu," Mu Yin said, standing up to bow slightly.

"We heard that Miss Li was very cooperative with our staff. Had you guessed this would happen?" Ji Quan asked with a smile after she sat back down.

"If I hadn't cooperated, would you have let me go?" Mu Yin asked, pointedly cutting to the truth.

"If you knew that, why did you do what you did?" asked the other, a stern-faced elder—Elder Sun. His eyes lacked the cloudiness of age; instead, they were sharp and piercing.

"I had my reasons for doing what I did," Mu Yin replied, smiling without a hint of fear under his gaze.

"Oh? And what is it you want to do? Overthrow us?" Lan Moqi, the only female leader, chuckled. She possessed a beautiful face and an aura of immense charm.

"I have no interest in that. I only want to change the social ethos of this world," Mu Yin shook her head. While these people monopolized the vast majority of resources, they did not treat the ordinary, unaware public like low-class subjects to be exploited, as in the feudal societies of old. At the very least, they provided a stable living environment. Mu Yin had no need to play the savior.

"What ethos?" Elder Sun asked, clearly skeptical.

"The obsession with entertainment," Mu Yin said.

"If I recall correctly, you are a bestselling manga artist yourself," Lan Moqi said, arching an eyebrow. She had not expected Mu Yin to say that.

"It is precisely because I realized that my current efforts were not enough to reach my goal that I want to change this society," Mu Yin said with a faint smile.

"Are you the female lead?" Qi Rao suddenly interjected.

"What?" The other three were baffled by Qi Rao’s sudden question. What did he mean by "the female lead"?

"Yes," Mu Yin replied, momentarily surprised, but she nodded.

"Are there those 'Alien Races' here, too? Is the plot you are trying to change this time related to the entertainment industry?" Qi Rao asked again.

Hearing his question, those who had read her manga or watched the animations realized what he was referring to. He was talking about the female lead from her series, who was said to travel between worlds to stop the Alien Races from transforming worlds into "scripts." Yes, Mu Yin had perfected the motives of the female lead in her work.

However, she had not expected anyone to take it seriously and deduce her identity. She was not worried about being discovered, though; as long as she did not use abilities that exceeded the world's limitations, the Heavenly Dao would not notice. After all, the Heavenly Dao was not a supercomputer; it could not judge such things.

So, she nodded. "This time it is a bit different. Since you can make such guesses, you have likely seen my manga or animation. I mentioned it there: the goal of the Alien Races is to reshape the world into a 'script,' forcing everything to revolve around the plot. They then harvest the souls of the protagonists as food at their happiest moments.

"The difference here is that the transformation is already complete. The Origin Stone has been fused into the plot line, becoming the core that maintains the narrative, forcing the world to develop according to the script. The first generation of male and female leads have already had their souls harvested and are dead. Now, a second-generation female lead is rising. The plot of this world follows a 'path to divinity.'

"I have been trying to suppress this second-generation lead to see if I can disrupt the plot. But because it is a second-generation plot, it is highly volatile. Furthermore, in literature, there is no 'first place'—as long as the female lead continues to write, even if she cannot surpass me, as long as she becomes a deity, the plot will continue.

"Therefore, I had to take a different path: to change the situation of this world so that the plot has nowhere to progress. If I achieve that, my mission is complete. The method is to make the people of this world realize that this world is not what it seems." Mu Yin explained her goal.

The four of them listened in silence. "How can you prove that what you are saying is true?" Ji Quan was the first to speak.