"What!"

"What?"

"What..."

At that moment...

Mr. Hirata's cold sweat broke out.

Rabbit Beauty's eyes sharpened.

Penguin Assistant bared all his gums.

"Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo~ You've all worked hard." That lewd voice from beyond the heavens was undoubtedly from Xiongji, "Next... leave it to me."

"How is this possible..." Hirata looked up at the sky, "How could you have the power to interfere with my domain?"

"Hoo-hoo..." Xiongji replied with a smile, "What's impossible about it..." He paused, his tone changing slightly, "I am, by nature, a 'higher' existence than you. My knowledge, my abilities... far exceed your imagination."

"Nonsense!" Hirata retorted, "Apart from Magic Sansui (the magician from "The End of the World" in Lucky Star. In reality, he is a psychic, who only needed to exert a little effort to successfully prevent the end of the world), there can't possibly be anyone in this world who..."

"Someone stronger than you?" Feng Bujue interrupted Hirata and laughed, "Heh... your confidence is a bit too arbitrary, isn't it?"

"Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo~ That's right." At this moment, a huge, translucent smiling face appeared in the sky, "Earlier... when that guy was explaining 'paradoxes' to you, you should have understood..."

"As a pure tsukkomi character who isn't particularly outstanding..." Feng Bujue took over Xiongji's words and laughed, "...your abilities are incomparable to Xiongji's."

"What abilities?" Penguin Assistant wondered, "Xiongji-kun is just a pervert with questionable intelligence in the setting. I've never heard of him having any..."

"Of course, you haven't heard of them." Feng Bujue interrupted Penguin Assistant again, "The mistake you've made is not much different from mine..." He looked up at the Xiong face in the sky, "You think you understand the setting of this world very well, you think you are superior... but in fact, the truly 'high-level' guys have already seen through everything... and made choices that are the complete opposite of yours."

"What exactly are you talking about?" Rabbit Beauty said, "I don't understand."

A second later, Xiao Tan also chimed in, "Yeah... Brother Jue, I don't understand either."

Feng Bujue shrugged and replied, "Let Xiongji explain it to you."

Before he finished speaking, Xiongji let out another burst of laughter, "hoo-hoo-hoo." A few seconds later, the big face in the sky disappeared, and Xiongji's own figure suddenly appeared in front of everyone.

"The truth may be difficult for you to accept, but..." Xiongji said directly after appearing, "the highest beings in this world are actually Banana-san and Prince."

"Nani!" Not to mention Hirata and the others, even Xiao Tan couldn't accept this statement and immediately exclaimed in surprise.

"That's ridiculous..." Rabbit Beauty commented immediately.

"Don't understand? Rabbit Beauty-chan." Xiongji looked at Rabbit Beauty and continued, "What if I told you... that Banana-san and Prince already knew they were characters in a manga long before Hirata-kun was even created?"

"Those two big idiots?" Hirata obviously didn't believe this either.

Penguin Assistant seemed relatively calm. After thinking for a few seconds, he said to Xiongji, "Assuming what you said is true, then the question arises..."

Of course, he wouldn't ask Xiongji where he should go to learn to operate excavators or anything like that, so don't get your hopes up.

"Since they have already seen through everything, why do they still act so crazy, dazed, and silly?" Penguin Assistant continued to ask.

"That's the difference between them and you." Xiongji replied, "Oh... no, it should be said, 'us' and you."

"In short..." Feng Bujue interjected at this time, "Precisely because Xiongji and the others can see further and more clearly than you... that's why they choose to be content with the status quo."

"I don't understand..." Rabbit Beauty's eyes changed from sharp to confused.

"Me too..." Penguin Assistant was also in the same state.

"Hmph... I understand." Hirata sneered, "You guys... are content to be imprisoned by dimensions, you don't have the courage to resist fate, that's all..." He looked at Xiongji with disdain, "I'm going to say something next, you listen carefully, Xiongji. If possible, you can also convey it to Banana-san, Prince, and other guys like you..." He looked solemn, "If a sane person pretends to be an idiot for a lifetime, then he is an idiot. In the eyes of others, he is no different from an idiot."

Speaking of this, he spat with disdain, "It's your freedom to be clowns for people to amuse themselves with, but we..." He waved his hand towards Rabbit Beauty and Penguin Assistant, "...after learning about our situation, we can't live as peacefully and nonchalantly as you do."

After saying that, he turned around and faced the players again, as if he didn't want to say anything more to Xiongji, because he had already said everything he wanted to say.

However...

"Idiot!" A roar, followed by a powerful figure.

In the blink of an eye, Xiongji moved forward, like a fierce dragon emerging from the abyss, slapping Mr. Hirata's face with a bear paw.

"Pu-er..." Mr. Hirata was struck, saliva flying from his mouth, and he flew out diagonally. He never expected... that in this "Hirata's World," there would actually be someone (bear) who could hurt him.

"You bastard..." After falling to the ground, Hirata quickly sat up and glared at Xiongji.

Xiongji met the other party's gaze without fear, approaching step by step, "I also have something to say to you, Hirata Hirao, you listen carefully too..."

Although his image and voice remained the same, Xiongji's aura at this moment... made him seem like a completely different bear than before.

"That's right, you are a character in a gag manga, the moment you were created, you were destined to be a clown..." Xiongji looked down at Hirata on the ground with a condescending posture, "In your ridiculous, short life... the nemesis, lover, master, and demon king that appear before you are all full of tsukkomi material. In your life story... there are no inseparable bonds, no unforgettable love, no inheritance of favors, and no passionate battles... all there is is the plot of making tsukkomi at everything that appears before you." What he was repeating at this moment was Hirata's previous monologue, but the meaning was completely different, "But... you don't think that's enough, do you?" At this point, Xiongji's eyes sharpened, "As a character in a manga, where do you think your value in life lies? What exactly do you exist for?"

"Isn't it just to amuse people!" Hirata roared.

"Good to know..." Xiongji replied softly. The next second, he suddenly shouted, "Then give me some good tsukkomi!" As he shouted, Xiongji struck out again, sending Hirata flying several zhang away.

"Damn it... so strong..." After landing, Hirata wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and stood up again.

"You don't have a painful past, you don't have a prominent background, you don't have a distinct personality, and you don't have grand dreams..." Xiongji's words continued, "Those rich settings don't belong to you... because you were not born to be that kind of character." He paused for half a second, then said, "All you have is a few short pages, a few minutes... you must use that limited space to realize the value of your life."

"Hoo..." Xiongji took a long breath and continued, "Perhaps... we gag manga characters will never be remembered, and no one will care about our feelings..." He cast a fiery gaze at Hirata, "But! That doesn't matter... even if we can't make people's blood boil or move them to tears, we still have one thing we can do... and that is to bring laughter to people."

At this time, Feng Bujue spoke again, continuing Xiongji's words, "Being a clown is not shameful. In this dimension... clowns, heroes, devils, saints... are all the same. Playing your role well is the most powerful response to the 'higher dimension.' Banana-san and Prince... understood this, so they made the corresponding choices."

"I..." The color on Hirata's body faded again, "I don't accept it!" He looked pained and screamed for the second time.

"I... can't accept it either." Penguin Assistant said.

Only Rabbit Beauty didn't speak...

"I don't need you to accept it." Xiongji said, "I said it when I first came... Next, just leave it to me."

Before he finished speaking, the space they were in began to distort...

"Brother Jue..." Wang Tanzhi turned to Feng Bujue, "This is..."

"Don't panic." Feng Bujue replied calmly, "Anyway, panicking is useless, and we can't do anything about it."

About ten seconds later, the figures of Hirata, Rabbit Beauty, and Penguin Assistant disappeared in turn... and the distorted scenery around them immediately returned to normal.

"Isn't this the first time?" Brother Jue looked at Xiongji and said.

"Ah..." Xiongji replied, "I don't know how many times it is either."

"Eh?" Xiao Tan looked at the two of them with wide eyes, "What does that mean?"

"Hoo-hoo-hoo... Don't you understand?" Xiongji replied with a smile, "Just now, I 'reset' the three of them."

"Reset?" Xiao Tan repeated, "So the people in this world can be reset?"

"Of course, they can." Feng Bujue said, "And this kind of thing happens every day..." He immediately gave an example, "Do you think... why are people released so quickly after being arrested for crimes here?"

"Eh? Is that the reason?" Xiao Tan suddenly realized.

"As beings in a higher position in this world, I, Banana-san, Prince, and others... all have the ability to reset the memories of other characters." Xiongji continued, "Otherwise... this world would have collapsed long ago."

"Oh..." Xiao Tan nodded, "In other words... you have dealt with situations like Hirata, Rabbit Beauty, and Penguin Assistant many times?"

"Yes." Xiongji replied, saying that, he looked at Feng Bujue again, "Speaking of which... how did you know... that I wasn't resetting them for the first time?"

"After Penguin Assistant and the others revealed their identities and plans, I rethought everything I had experienced since coming to this world..." Feng Bujue said, "And then I figured out some doubts that had been bothering me." He smiled bitterly, and said to Xiongji, "Heh... of course, it was too late to figure out the problem at that time. As a 'player,' I have actually failed this game... If you hadn't appeared in time, I might have lost more than just the game..."

"Ha?" Xiao Tan looked at Brother Jue, "What did you figure out? I also listened to them explain the whole plan, how come I didn't hear anything?"

"The moment Mr. Hirata appeared, I immediately thought..." Feng Bujue explained, "that all creatures in this universe should have the triggering conditions for 'ultra-dimensional consciousness.' By analogy... it is entirely possible for other characters to realize that they are characters in a manga." He paused, "So, I filtered through all the characters I had encountered in the script in my mind, and I felt... that many characters were suspicious." He pointed to Xiongji, "Among them, Xiongji is the most suspicious."

"Hoo-hoo-hoo~ Very sharp~" Xiongji replied with a smile.

"No... on this matter, I think I've been very slow." Feng Bujue said, "The hint was already there, but I couldn't think of it..."

"Hint?" Xiao Tan was still full of doubts, "Is there such a thing?"

"It's Xiongji's 'hatred' towards us." Feng Bujue replied.

"That's a hint?" Xiao Tan continued to ask.

"Yes, that is the most crucial hint, and it was given directly by the system..." Feng Bujue replied, "Before coming here, I never understood... why did our hatred towards Xiongji-kun increase after we helped him get acquitted?" He asked and answered himself, "I had considered... that he had a being-arrested fetish, or a split bear personality, or wanted to satisfy Rabbit Beauty's desire to call the police, and other hypotheses..." He laughed dryly, "Hmph... I only understood in the end that he just didn't want us to disrupt the plot of the manga..." He looked at Xiongji, "Thinking of this, I understood... Xiongji is the character who truly looks at this manga world and his own existence from a higher-dimensional perspective. He is far more 'high-level' than Penguin Assistant, Rabbit Beauty, or even Hirata."

"Not bad, Mr. Player." Xiongji said, "It's a pity that we are not in the same dimension, otherwise... I would really like to compete with you formally."

"Likewise..." Feng Bujue said, "Your dimension's detective has also really opened my eyes."

"Wait..." At this time, Xiao Tan seemed to have thought of something again, "There's still something wrong..." He looked at Xiongji, "Since your hatred towards us is so high, why did you come to help us?"

"Simple." Xiongji smiled, "Didn't you complete your mission?"

[Main Quest Completed] The system voice followed Xiongji-kun's words.

"You even know our mission?" Xiao Tan exclaimed in surprise.

"I know." Xiongji said, "It's because you're about to leave that I came to help you out. What if it developed into thirty-four chapters or something? That would be too difficult."

"Heh..." Feng Bujue, "In any case, thanks."

"Yeah... it seems I've been misunderstanding you all along..." Xiao Tan also echoed, "I thought you were just a pervert..."

"Hoo-hoo-hoo~" Xiongji laughed lewdly again, "I've said it before, I'm not a pervert... even if I am... I'm a gentleman with the name of a pervert!"