Innumerable scenes collapsed. In an instant, Wan Lei arrived at a... restaurant?

It was a modern restaurant, filled with dining tables and patrons.

Wan Lei stood in the middle, lost for a moment, then began to sense the state of this new world.

There was not a trace of spiritual energy in this world.

A plane devoid of spiritual energy.

It was then he realized he had no energy at all. Not a speck of thunder force, not a trace of rules. He was like a mortal, unable to control the universe, let alone fly.

No one around paid him any attention. Only one person reminded him to move aside and not block the way.

"Yo, you're here. It's a bit busy right now, wait for me a moment."

A chubby young man in a chef's uniform, wearing glasses, said with a smile, then disappeared straight into the kitchen.

He spoke to me voluntarily, so... the problem must lie with him.

Wan Lei followed him into the kitchen.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, I told you, it's busy now. Go sit down for a while. Table fifteen outside is free, you can sit there.
Hey, waiter, bring tea to table fifteen."

The胖子 chef with glasses shouted into the kitchen,

"Hurry up, move it, the customers are getting impatient.
You there, gut a fish. My friend is here, I'll personally make one."

Wan Lei watched for a while, then turned and went out, sitting down at table fifteen. He poured himself a cup of tea and slowly savored it.

*Ptooey.*

This is terrible.

Half an hour later, the chubby man emerged with a pot of roasted fish. The fish was covered in fragrant stir-fried chili, making one's appetite soar.

"Here, try it. I made it myself. I dare say, no one in the entire Northwest region makes roasted fish as authentic as I do.
Do you like spicy food?"

The chubby man handed Wan Lei chopsticks and a bowl, then picked up a steak knife to carefully slice the roasted fish.

"Who are you?"

Wan Lei narrowed his eyes slightly, his cosmic supreme aura fully displayed.

"You don't need to show me your dominance. Everything you have, I gave you."

"What do you mean?"

"Before I explain everything to you, I must first say one thing:

Welcome to the real world."

The chubby man's tone suddenly became profound.

"The real world?"

Wan Lei's thoughts raced.

"According to you, the world I was in was fake?"

"Yes, that was a world I created."

The chubby man picked up a piece of fish, put it in his mouth, burned himself, and spat it out, quickly taking a large gulp of sour plum juice.

"You?"

Wan Lei leaned back in his chair, his contempt unconcealed.

"How could you? A chef? A fat slob? A mortal? Something worse than a stray dog? How dare you speak to me like this? How dare you claim you can create a world?"

The chubby man was not angry at all. He smiled slightly.

"I'm an author. I write novels."

"Novels?"

"Oh, I forgot your world doesn't have that. Plays, you know?"

"I know. That's something you imagine out of thin air for a quick thrill, then forget about it."

"Mm, your world is a fictional world."

"Heh, I have my own thoughts, my own life experiences. How can you say I was created by you?
And how do you explain me coming before you?"

"Then how do you know? Did I not ask you to come?
Just like this sentence you're saying now, didn't I ask you to say it?"

"Heh, what a boring argument."

Wan Lei sneered.

"Let's assume you created me. Then, by that logic, should I call you 'Dad'?"

"Good son, eat your fish."

"..." Wan Lei.

"Everything about you comes from my pen."

"I'm still investigating what kind of being you are. At least now I can see you're a liar."

"You are truly just a character from a novel.
Your experiences are my plot. Sui Xiaohang, Qi Manyao, Tian Suanzi, Ba'ernu... these characters are all supporting characters I created. You are the protagonist.
The betrayal by these people was also arranged by me.
Including your Xiao Yu, she was also created by me.
By the way, the female protagonist in every book I write is named Xiao Yu."

"Why?"

"There's a fool who likes to move himself."

"Oh, I see. You're a simp."

"..." The chubby man.

"Could you be more polite?"

"Heh."

Wan Lei let out a cold laugh.

"You must hate me very much, to have arranged such a tragic fate for you.
I have many readers, and some author friends. They often discuss plots with me. And you, you're just a puppet, manipulated by me at will.
Oh, right. The scene where you were crippled on Lei Xinghai was an idea given to me by an author named Wang Fugui. You must hate me for that.
You can go and kill him. He's about a thousand kilometers south of here.
Ah, I forgot, you don't have any cultivation right now. I can buy you a train ticket, and you can go there by car to chop him."

"Then tell me, what is your purpose in calling me here?"

"Nothing really. This book is about to end, and I'm feeling a bit reluctant. I just wanted to call you over for a chat, that's all."

"I don't believe a single word you say."

"Heh."

"Let me think about it, let me sort it out.
First, you're definitely a liar. Everything I see is fake.
I can't possibly be some damn novel character. Your appearance is just to disrupt my dao heart.
So, when did things start to go wrong?
When did my memories start to become fuzzy?
I remember becoming a cosmic supreme, but I don't remember the process.
I remember becoming a sage, but what was the process of becoming a sage? Where are my insights?
I remember becoming an immortal, but where are the insights of becoming an immortal? It's not like I'd suddenly become an immortal just because my cultivation reached that point, right?
My memories have been altered by you. You made me a sage, made me a supreme, but deliberately ignored the process, because you don't know what insights or experiences are needed to become a sage or a supreme.
I remember I had a small yellow dog. But I don't remember it in my life.
Because... you can find reasons for everyone else to betray me, but you can't find any reason for the small yellow dog to betray me, so you deliberately made it disappear.
So, when did it disappear?
Let me think...
It disappeared after I became an array master.
That's also when large portions of my memory became blurry.
But my memories before becoming an array master are crystal clear.
I also remember that in the array master test, I passed through a world full of ghosts.
That world was just your illusion. You made me believe I had passed, but in reality, the true trial had just begun.
When I was most relaxed, when I thought I had passed, you started altering my memories.
In other words, you didn't create me, you only created my memories.
My memories after becoming an array master.
I am currently... still in the array master test.
All that talk of everyone betraying me, destroying all forces in the Lei Feng world, becoming an immortal, a sage, a supreme, it's all fake. I am still just a cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage.
Am I right, Master Author?"

Wan Lei stared intently at the chubby man before him and saw that the hand holding the chopsticks trembled slightly.

"Your deduction is brilliant. I didn't expect myself to be so amazing. I remember I set your intelligence to be low."

"So, why would I do something that contradicts my settings? Because it's all fake!"

"Heh, a brilliant speech. Unfortunately, you're wrong."

"Oh?"

Wan Lei stood up, casually picked up a steak knife, and pressed it against the chubby man's chest.

"What's your name?"

"My surname is Wan."

"You dare to have the surname Wan?"

"It is precisely because my surname is Wan that the you I created also has the surname Wan."

"You must be the core of this illusion array. If I kill you, I can break this illusion array and return to the real world."

"Kill me, and your world, along with you, will all disappear, because you were created by me."

"Can't you control me? Then control me not to kill you!"

A trace of mockery flickered across Wan Lei's lips.

"Wan Lei, you don't have to be like this.
Return to your world and continue being the cosmic supreme. As for me, I won't finish this book just yet. I'll create some more plot for you.
For example, I'll let you revive Fang Xiaoyu, revive everyone, and you can all live happily ever after.
After all, as a cosmic supreme, reviving a world would fit the setting."

"You're backing down. You want me to continue to be lost in this illusory world of yours.
I suddenly remember that before I entered, the stone tablet gave me a prompt.
Prompt one: Does what you see exist?
Prompt two: Is the world you know real?
Yes, I should have realized it long ago. All of this is fake, yet you've made it so realistic, playing with me for so many years!
Only when you couldn't play anymore, when you couldn't come up with any more plot, did you reveal your true form."

"Alas, what can I say to make you believe me?"

"To make me believe you? Fine. Can't you just alter my memories and thoughts?"

"That's no fun. I hope you're a person with flesh, blood, and thoughts."

Wan Lei was silent for a moment.

"This is really meaningless. Why am I wasting so many words on you? You might as well die."

"Dare you bet on something?"

"How do we bet?"

"We bet that after you kill me, you will either vanish into thin air, or return to the array master test."

"If my world is all fake, then I don't need endless solitude."

"Not even your Xiao Yu?"

"If what you say is true, then that's not my Xiao Yu, but your Xiao Yu. If it's fake, I'll naturally wake up and still see my Xiao Yu.
I'll bet with you. If I win..."

Before Wan Lei could finish speaking, the knife in his hand plunged directly into the chubby man's chest.

"I won."

Wan Lei's tone was indifferent, but his eyes were filled with madness and bloodlust.
He had been like this for countless years.

Blood trickled from the chubby man's lips, but his eyes were filled with mockery as he looked at Wan Lei.

"No, I won. I'm dead, and this book can't continue. Everything will be reduced to three words."

"Oh?"

The world was collapsing, and Wan Lei grew more confident.

"The End."