A starship packed with “official characterizations” accidentally upgrades to “Simulated Universe Pro Max.” The entire carriage is seized by the mysterious Path of Elation, the “Jokester,” and veers off the main story onto an endless chain of bonus stages called “Hahaha.” The passengers discover to their horror that if the readers’ votes in the comments are high enough, anyone can be dumbed down on the spot and forced to star in a marathon of public humiliation: Dan Heng turns into a dragon and gets stuck in the elevator every day, Jing Yuan never wakes up and is dragged off to work overtime, Fu Xuan only has to read the signs to calculate herself into an abyss of doomed flags, and Herta’s puppets line up to file workers’ compensation claims. The protagonist, Stelle/Caelus, is forced to play along, script of snark in hand, frantically harvesting “hahaha” points during a 24-hour “harassment countdown,” all just to reach seven million words and finally clock out. But the bonus stages grow longer, the characters get more and more into their torment, and the readers’ laughter grows ever more deranged. When Aha personally steps in as the editor demanding updates, and the author themselves gets thrown into an elevator and squeezed between the doors as material for the next chapter, this intergalactic carnival of comedy, stretching from the Xianzhou to Penacony and from Belobog to Herta Space Station, finally reveals its ultimate conspiracy: the energy powering the entire Path comes from your merciless “hahahaha” on the other side of the screen. Open this book, and every vote you cast to torment a character will become laughter in the ears of an Aeon, echoing forever at the edge of the universe. Don’t blink: you’re next to get caught in the elevator doors!
