No matter how angry Jiang Jiamian was at the group leader’s cold and commanding tone, he still obediently changed the plot.
Shen Muzhou had originally been helpless when Jiang Jiamian refused to make changes, but when he suddenly saw Jiang Jiamian change his mind, he was surprised.
Unfortunately, it would have been better if he hadn’t looked.
The mont he did, Jiang Jiamian grew both embarrassed and irritated.
He couldn’t argue with the group leader, but could he not deal with Shen Muzhou, his so-called free all-around butler?
"What are you looking at?" Jiang Jiamian snapped. "If you keep staring, I’ll change it back!"
Hmph.
If the group leader weren’t so powerful, so mysterious, and he hadn’t actually considered the readers’ experience, ensuring the continuity and logic of the story, he would never have compromised and changed it to match reality.
At this point, this wasn’t even a novel anymore.
It was practically docuntary literature.
Just as Shen Muzhou was about to speak, his gaze suddenly wavered, his eyes losing focus.
He raised a hand to press against his forehead, as if fragnted mories were surging into his mind. Yet those fragnts were so chaotic that he couldn’t tell whether they were real mories or scenes he had subconsciously constructed from the story Jiang Jiamian had been narrating.
"Hiss..."
A wave of heaviness and dizziness crashed over him.
Shen Muzhou completely forgot what he had been about to say. He staggered to his feet, slamming one hand onto the table for support, his expression dazed as he muttered incoherently, "Jiamian... Jiamian..."
Jiang Jiamian froze, instantly forgetting their argunt.
Seeing that sothing was clearly wrong, he jumped out of bed and rushed forward, grabbing Shen Muzhou before he could collapse.
"What’s wrong with you?!"
Shen Muzhou’s face turned deathly pale. His eyes were unfocused, and he didn’t respond, whether because he couldn’t, or because he had already lost the clarity to do so.
Just from his cloudy, struggling gaze, Jiang Jiamian could tell sothing was very wrong.
"What happened?"
Panic crept into his voice.
It had co out of nowhere.
One second they were arguing, the next Shen Muzhou was like this.
Could it be a pre-existing condition?
No...
Not completely without warning.
Earlier, while typing the story, Shen Muzhou had already shown signs, his eyes had gone blank for a mont.
"Jiamian... Jiamian!"
Suddenly, Shen Muzhou grabbed Jiang Jiamian’s wrist with terrifying strength. "Don’t go! Don’t go!"
Jiang Jiamian’s pupils shrank. Pain shot through his wrist, but he didn’t dare pull away. Instead, he looked straight at him. "Shen Muzhou! Shen Muzhou, wake up! Look at properly, I’m here, right in front of you!"
But the words that ca next froze him on the spot.
A voice ca from Shen Muzhou’s mouth... almost the sa, yet unmistakably different.
"Shen Muzhou? What Shen Muzhou? Jiamian... I’m Qi Yan."
Jiang Jiamian’s eyes widened. "What did you say?! Qi Yan?! Shen Muzhou, this kind of joke isn’t funny, stop ssing around!"
Shen Muzhou’s face was pale as paper. Sweat poured down his forehead, soaking his cheeks and collar.
His gaze locked onto Jiang Jiamian, as if trying to carve him into his soul.
"Jiamian... I finally found you again."
"This ti... I’ve caught you. I won’t let you run again."
Jiang Jiamian forced a stiff smile. "What are you talking about? Are you Qi Yan, or Shen Muzhou?"
"Of course I’m Shen Mu..." He choked. "I’m Qi Yan!"
The words ca out in fragnts, as if two identities were tearing through the sa throat.
Jiang Jiamian’s heart clenched.
He imdiately called out in his mind, "System, what’s wrong with him? How do we fix this? Did he get too absorbed in the story and lose his mind?!"
The system was equally shaken. "I-I don’t know! I’ve never seen this situation before!"
Jiang Jiamian frowned.
If he couldn’t rely on the system, then there was only one option left.
He imdiately opened the quick transmigration chat group.
Not entirely out of desperation... but because there might be soone who knew what was happening.
[Lone Commander: What should we do if the mission target has gone mad? Will there be long-term consequences? @Group Leader]
The group fell silent.
No response.
The group leader didn’t appear.
Even ’I can’t think of a na’ and ’Sword Master’ hesitated.
Recently, the group leader had been actively reading Jiang Jiamian’s novel, which made everyone instinctively cautious, afraid to speak carelessly.
Even now, after Jiang Jiamian spoke, they observed for a while before finally replying.
[Sword Master: The group leader isn’t here? What happened, Jiang Jiamian? What do you an by ’has gone mad’?]
[I can’t think of a na: Yeah, what’s going on? You sound urgent.]
[Lone Commander: Hard to explain. I’m confused too. I’ve never experienced a situation like this before. I was hoping the group leader would answer... but it looks like he’s not here. If that’s the case... I might have to knock him out first.]
After replying briefly, Jiang Jiamian still refused to give up. He began spamming.
[Lone Commander: @Group Leader @Group Leader @Group Leader...]
Unfortunately, the group leader, who hadn’t been offline long and had personally told him to revise the text, was now completely unresponsive, like a ghost. Even Jiang Jiamian’s relentless barrage couldn’t drag him out.
Jiang Jiamian, sowhat dejected, withdrew his consciousness from the quick transmigration group chat.
He turned his gaze toward Shen Muzhou... Only to et eyes filled with frenzied rage, as if Shen Muzhou wanted to tear him apart.
Jiang Jiamian gritted his teeth.
Shen Muzhou’s consciousness truly seed to have split in two, constantly struggling and shifting.
The next instant, Jiang Jiamian closed his eyes, clenched his jaw, and struck decisively, his hand chopping down hard at the back of Shen Muzhou’s neck.
Already unsteady, Shen Muzhou’s eyes rolled shut, and his body fell backward.
Jiang Jiamian caught him smoothly, guiding him down so he landed properly on the bed.
"Whew."
He let out a quiet breath.
What the hell is going on?
How could this guy suddenly beco so confused, calling himself Qi Yan?
Was he getting too imrsed in the story?
Sure, Qi Yan and Shen Muzhou might share the sa soul origin, but that didn’t an their consciousness should collapse into chaos just because of a novel.
In their respective worlds, Qi Yan was Qi Yan, and Shen Muzhou was Shen Muzhou.
Without shared mories, they were completely separate individuals.
And more importantly... Qi Yan was already dead.
He had lived his entire life right under Jiang Jiamian’s watch. There was no way he still existed, no way his independent consciousness could survive.
So how could a simple act of reminiscing trigger sothing like this?
"No."
Jiang Jiamian suddenly slapped his forehead.
"This isn’t a disorder of consciousness at all, this is a disorder of mory."
Qi Yan’s independent soul might be gone, but he and all the others shared the sa origin as Shen Muzhou.
Under certain stimulation, those mories could very well awaken.
Which ant Shen Muzhou likely possessed fragnts of Qi Yan’s mories.
Those mories had surfaced all at once.
Whether he could successfully process them... that was another matter entirely.
If he managed to absorb them, he might beco a fusion of both Qi Yan and Shen Muzhou.
If he failed, then this guy would truly go insane.
And that would be the end of him.
Jiang Jiamian turned his head. His gaze fell on the still-lit computer screen, where the unfinished text remained.
After a long mont, he sighed and made a decision.
He wouldn’t write this novel anymore.
If he continued, it might really drive Shen Muzhou insane.
Just one fragnt of Qi Yan’s mory had already nearly broken him. If mories from other worlds were triggered as well...
Wouldn’t it completely overwhelm his mind?
"Sigh."
Docuntary literature is too risky.
Better to switch genres and start fresh.
With his experience across so many worlds, he wouldn’t lack material anyway.
As for the miserable bigshot part...
Jiang Jiamian glanced down at Shen Muzhou, now finally calm in unconsciousness, and shook his head with a faint, amused smile.
He might as well let this guy off the hook.
After all, if he really lost his mind, who would make the bed, do the laundry, and cook?
Who would throw money at him and help him climb the rankings?
"Jiamian..."
Just as Jiang Jiamian settled his decision, Shen Muzhou, still unconscious, murmured his na.
The next second, his eyes snapped open.
He shot upright from the bed. "Jiamian!"
Jiang Jiamian flinched slightly, then cautiously reached out.
"Shen Muzhou?" A pause. "Or Qi Yan?"
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