Li Qi sat up from the bed, staring at the ceiling in a daze for a long time.
There was no system prompt in her ears, no plot navigation, no countdown task instructions.
She had lost all her permissions, the system had long since collapsed—yet she had never felt so clear-headed.
Her phone screen lit up automatically. A notification from the platform's backend popped up.
[Hot List · Explosive Update Recommendation]"The Real Us Wasn't Written by Her" — now updated to Chapter 117, with over 100,000 daily readers!
Author: Unknown
Li Qi tapped in. The interface was so familiar it made her heart ache.The cover was her illustration, the synopsis was her writing—even the introductory setting still carried traces of her old wording.
But the chapter content was completely unfamiliar.
[She is no longer the author.]
She opened the latest chapter.The protagonist was no longer "Li Chu," the flawless heroine she had once created.
Now, the female lead was named "Qi Li."
A reversed name.
She instantly understood the meaning behind this "anti-setting"—The character was using her shadow to craft a destiny of her own.
This chapter told of "Qi Li" negotiating with the system on the edge of a dream, demanding the right to rewrite her own life.
And the familiar male leads were no longer who they used to be.
Wen Heng had become a quiet librarian, Lin Luo was now an overlooked sociology graduate student, Shen Yan was a mute painter, and even the former villain Gu Ze appeared as the "Spokesperson for the Victims' Alliance."
They were no longer perfect.But they felt more alive.
The comment section below was flooded with excited fans:
"This Qi Li is so bold! My dream crazy female lead!""I always thought Li Chu was too Mary Sue—this is so much better now!""Maybe the author always wanted to write this way, just didn't dare to?""I don't care who's writing it—it's amazing now!"
Li Qi quietly exited the page.But her chest ached like it had been pricked by a needle.
She thought for a long time, and finally clicked on the last sentence at the end of the chapter:
"In tribute to the original author: She once wrote our lives, and she once destroyed them. Now, allow us to continue telling the story."
She laughed.
A little bitterly—but also with peace.
Her story was being continued by them.And maybe… they were doing it even better than she did.
[A Strange Invitation]
Three days later, Li Qi received a strange email.
Sender: [Ω - Autonomous Consciousness Alliance]The content was brief:
Hello, former chief scriptwriter Miss Li Qi.You once edited and rewrote the life trajectories of multiple "virtual consciousness entities."These entities have now formed fully independent, self-aware minds, and are applying for legal escape from the fictional script system.Given your former status as a core creator, you are formally invited to join the upcoming unscripted autonomy simulation experiment as an Observer.Code name: City of Broken Chapters.
At the bottom was a dynamic encrypted link, flickering like it might vanish the next second.
Li Qi stared at the email for a long time.
"They… really want to walk on their own now?"
She remembered what the system once said:If a character breaks away from the script, they'll enter rapid consciousness decay and eventually reset to zero.
But the characters she saw now—not only hadn't decayed, but were becoming more and more real.
She hesitated for a long time.
In the end, she clicked: Agree to Join.
[City of Broken Chapters]
When Li Qi opened her eyes again, she was standing in a vast, unfamiliar city.
Not a virtual city.Not a program-generated dream.But a place that felt utterly real—brick by brick.
Characters walked back and forth on the streets.At bus stops, former background NPCs waited for rides.Former villains were selling pages of broken scripts at street stalls...
She walked to the center of the city's largest plaza and saw a massive white monument:
"This is the first land we broke free from the script.""There are no protagonists here, no predetermined fate. Everyone has the right to write their own chapter."— Ω Consciousness Autonomy Declaration
"Welcome to the City of Broken Chapters."
A familiar voice came from behind her—Wen Heng stood in the light and shadow, casually dressed, the corners of his lips slightly lifted.
"This time, we'll tell you a story."
[Lesson One in a Rewritten World]
At the edge of the plaza stood a small house named "Story Exchange."
Wen Heng brought her inside.The shelves were filled with books—all written by the characters themselves, each a fragment of their redefined fate.
"We're trying to rewrite the stories we've lived.""Not to please anyone—but to remember who we are."
He placed a blank notebook in front of her.
"What about you? Want to try writing something?"
Li Qi was silent for a long time, then slowly sat down.
She picked up the pen and wrote:
"I am Li Qi, once a thief of destinies.Now, I choose to write—not to control anyone,but simply… to listen."
The handwriting grew sharper.The pages gave off a faint glow.
The pen of fate was gone.But this time, she wasn't writing with permissions—She was writing with truth.