Chapter 7: One Dance, A Lifetime of Obsession

[Aaaaah, Miss Mermaid, don’t go—I want to keep watching—]

[Did anyone record the screen?!

I’m going to watch this clip until it’s worn through!!!]

[When will the production team release the edited version?

I can’t wait!]

[No wonder Ren Xiaoqian said her gift to Jiang Yingru was a bit special.

This isn’t “a bit special”—it’s so special it’s made me remember it for life, okay?!]

[No, no, no, this isn’t Xiaoqian’s gift to Jiang Yingru—it’s her gift to me!

I don’t care, I saw it, so it’s for me!]

[How can someone be this beautiful?

How can someone be this beautiful?

How can someone be this beautiful?!]

[Beautiful to tears… I mean that literally—I’m crying from the beauty, tears are coming out…]

Inside the reception hall of the garden villa, even Zhongli Miaomiao, who had been daydreaming, was completely captivated by this scene.

Zhongli Miaomiao’s mouth gradually opened wide enough to fit an egg.

Only when Sang Zhiyi’s figure disappeared from the camera did she suddenly slap the sofa beneath her.

“Holy shit!

Am I about to turn?!”

Song Ying had long since opened his eyes, staring straight at the screen, the undisguised awe in his eyes just the same.

Liu Bolin was even more dumbstruck.

This beautiful woman was absolutely top-tier!

Liu Bolin swallowed his saliva.

Even if she had some background, he absolutely had to sleep with her!

Lou Yanchen was completely frozen.

Lou Yanchen had never imagined that Sang Zhiyi, whom he had just declared as having “nothing good” and “unable to give any special gift,” could deliver such a stunning performance.

Even if he didn’t want to admit it ten thousand times, Lou Yanchen knew very well that he had been deeply struck by this Sang Zhiyi.

This was simply a supreme visual feast.

Lou Yanchen felt as if he was experiencing two extremes.

On one hand, he was indulging in this feast, unable to extricate himself.

On the other hand, he was being brutally slapped in the face, furious and resentful.

Lou Yanchen stared fixedly at the large screen in the reception hall, which now showed the aquarium tank, already calm again.

Ren Xiaoqian… so she had such a side to her?

This mermaid appearance was far too dazzling.

No one had expected that the most viral aspect of Love of a Limited Season, a variety show that had been generating buzz since its broadcast, would not be the selection of guests, nor the unexpected loves and hatreds among the guests in the first half.

But rather, the last few minutes—the fleeting appearance of a stunning mermaid.

Sang Zhiyi exploded in popularity overnight across the entire internet.

***

The first thing Sang Zhiyi did after becoming famous was to find a dive shop and get her mermaid diving certification.

In the real world, Sang Zhiyi certainly had this certification, but Ren Xiaoqian in this world did not.

During the filming of Love of a Limited Season, Sang Zhiyi had specifically asked the aquarium staff for special permission to borrow the equipment.

If this skill might prove useful again in the future, it was best to have the certificate in hand—it was globally recognized.

Preparedness prevents calamity.

The second thing Sang Zhiyi did was change her address.

The information she had received for this world included the original owner’s memories.

Sang Zhiyi knew that the original owner lived in an apartment in A City—about thirty to forty square meters, with somewhat dated decor, in a not-great location, though the environment was relatively quiet.

This showed that apart from frantically throwing resources at the original owner and pushing her to shoot one drama after another without a break, Lou Yanchen did not value her in any other aspect.

But the original owner hadn’t realized this.

In Ren Xiaoqian’s eyes, everything Lou Yanchen gave her was the best, infinitely precious.

This was not only because Ren Xiaoqian viewed Lou Yanchen through rose-colored glasses, but also because… Ren Xiaoqian’s own horizons were limited.

Thinking of Ren Xiaoqian’s background and her entanglement with Lou Yanchen, Sang Zhiyi couldn’t help but feel a bit wistful.

Ren Xiaoqian was a girl who had come from a remote small county town to the big city.

Back in her hometown, she was a renowned star student, the first in the entire county to be admitted to a prestigious university in A City.

But when she got to university, Ren Xiaoqian discovered that there were so many outstanding people.

No matter how hard she tried, she could never catch up.

The immense gap made this already delicate and introverted girl even more sensitive and withdrawn.

After four years of university, not only were Ren Xiaoqian’s grades merely average, her resume was practically blank, and she didn’t even have a single friend she could really talk to.

The few resumes she had mustered the courage to send out all sank without a trace.

Ren Xiaoqian was lost and nearly in despair.

This city where she had lived for four whole years still felt so foreign, with no place for her to belong.

Just then, Lou Yanchen appeared.

Ren Xiaoqian and Lou Yanchen’s meeting was purely accidental.

But after meeting her once and discovering that Ren Xiaoqian looked so much like Jiang Yingru, Lou Yanchen began pursuing her relentlessly.

Not only did Lou Yanchen readily buy her an apartment, a car, and clothes, send her flowers, cards, and jewelry, but he also personally escorted her into Starlight as an artist, signing her to a special contract with the most favorable terms.

It was no exaggeration to say that Ren Xiaoqian’s originally dim and ordinary life had been lit up by Lou Yanchen’s own hand.

The young girl quickly fell, developing feelings for Lou Yanchen.

From then on, she was doomed.

Ren Xiaoqian’s difficult situation did not begin only after Lou Yanchen grew cold toward her.

Rather, it started from the moment Lou Yanchen brought her into Starlight, sowing countless seeds.

There were only so many resources in the entertainment industry.

Even though Starlight was a major company, under Lou Yanchen’s biased manipulation, Ren Xiaoqian had unknowingly harmed the interests of countless people.

Especially the female artists within Starlight.

Except for the top few, for two whole years they could hardly get any resources, all left to sit on the bench.

Including some male artists who were also affected—they all hated Ren Xiaoqian to the bone.

Previously, constrained by Lou Yanchen’s protection, they hadn’t dared to target Ren Xiaoqian too obviously, only secretly tripping her up from the shadows.

Now that President Lou seemed to hardly care about Ren Xiaoqian anymore, many people didn’t even bother hiding their hostility toward her.

Especially in the past month or two, whenever Ren Xiaoqian was at the company, no matter what she did, there would be people nearby making snide remarks or openly giving her a hard time.

The reason Ren Xiaoqian had so many haters was largely due to them.

In the original plot development, after Ren Xiaoqian angered Lou Yanchen and was completely abandoned, the reason such a young girl could die so quickly in A City, and die so miserably, was all thanks to them.

Every single one of them was a murderer.

The apartment Sang Zhiyi newly rented was in a good location.

She stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the myriad lights of A City.

Pulling the shawl draped casually over her arms tighter, Sang Zhiyi’s eyes were filled with coldness.

She wasn’t planning to let a single one of these murderers off.

For now, she would just let them stew in anxiety and torment.

***

Sang Zhiyi’s prediction was correct.

The artists at Starlight Entertainment who deeply hated Ren Xiaoqian had not been having an easy time these days.

Discovering that Sang Zhiyi had become famous was even more painful than never becoming famous themselves their whole lives.

How could that b*tch become famous?!

They truly wanted to tear apart the face in the mermaid video that was spreading wildly across the internet.

But they waited a full half month, until the second episode of Love of a Limited Season started filming, and still hadn’t found an opportunity to settle scores with Sang Zhiyi in person.

Everyone at Starlight, from upper management to the cleaning aunties, knew that the person who came to work most eagerly was Ren Xiaoqian.

Even enduring hostility from many colleagues around her, Ren Xiaoqian had shown up on time every day to clock in, rain or shine, all for the chance to see Lou Yanchen just once.

Even if it was just a distant glance, Ren Xiaoqian seemed to be content.

And yet, Ren Xiaoqian had suddenly disappeared.

At the company, Sang Zhiyi was nowhere to be found.

As for where Ren Xiaoqian usually went, these people had no idea.

Previously, some had tried to trick her into revealing where the apartment Lou Yanchen bought her was and how much it was worth.

But Ren Xiaoqian had always been tight-lipped, speaking little, and when it came to matters related to Lou Yanchen, she was especially secretive, not saying a single word.

This meant that in their eyes, Sang Zhiyi had vanished completely, like she had disappeared from the face of the earth.

Even those few who knew Ren Xiaoqian’s contact information had already been blocked by Sang Zhiyi.

These people had nowhere to vent their jealousy and hatred.

Even when they bought bots to smear Sang Zhiyi as usual, it had little effect.

After all, Ren Xiaoqian’s only real flaw was her poor acting, and that had been repeated far too many times over the past two years, leaving everyone increasingly tired of hearing it.

Instead, it attracted more passersby who, after watching compilations of Ren Xiaoqian’s terrible acting, clicked into the recently viral mermaid video clip, were drawn in by the contrast of Sang Zhiyi’s beauty, and became her fans.

This made those who bought the bots ache with anger.

Apart from that, Sang Zhiyi herself had certainly taken action.

She had specifically asked the system whether any measures could be taken against the bots smearing her.

The system’s response was that it could block some of the repetitive bot comments.

Hearing this result, Sang Zhiyi wasn’t particularly surprised.

She was still on her first world mission, which was like being a new employee just starting her job.

Naturally, the salary she could earn and the authority she could obtain wouldn’t be very high.

Having this level of help was already an unexpected bonus.

Sang Zhiyi’s main purpose in asking the system was more… simply wanting to chat with the system.

Sang Zhiyi actually really wanted to ask the system, “Do you really remember nothing at all?”

But she didn’t ask.

During the eleven minutes between Sang Zhiyi confirming her death and signing the contract with the system, someone who called himself the Main God had come to her.

The Main God told Sang Zhiyi that among the countless dead souls in myriad worlds, only a very few lucky ones could receive an olive branch from one of His many systems, sign a contract, travel through different worlds to complete missions, and thus gain the chance to be resurrected and reborn, or even more incredible opportunities.

The reason Sang Zhiyi could have such a spot was that someone had offered all of their life and soul to Him in exchange.

That person had consequently become one of the many systems, brought hundreds of hosts through thousands of time and space,历经 tens of thousands of years, non-stop doing the tasks of a system, accumulating enough leverage and authority to create the opportunity for Sang Zhiyi to become a host.

This had also caused that person to gradually lose their human emotions and humanity, bit by bit.

This person had even forgotten who Sang Zhiyi was, yet still held onto the belief of having to achieve their goal, and held on until the end.

Now that Sang Zhiyi could finally become a host, the Main God had sent the system that this person had become to Sang Zhiyi’s side.

The shock Sang Zhiyi felt at that time was even greater than when she learned of her own death.

The Main God had explicitly stated that the system had previously been a young man.

For a young man to risk his life like this for her—if he didn’t have feelings for her, who would believe it?

From childhood to adulthood, Sang Zhiyi had never lacked suitors.

Whether because of her family background, her appearance, her intelligence, her personality, or her charm, Sang Zhiyi could attract countless admirers.

But as for someone who would go this far for her… Sang Zhiyi truly couldn’t believe such a person existed.

Even her parents, who in this world should have loved her most, couldn’t do this.

If it weren’t for the fact that the feeling of her soul drifting after her death was too real, and that the sense of mystery and oppression brought by this being who called himself the Main God was too strong, Sang Zhiyi would never have believed the truth of this matter.

She didn’t even know who this person was.

Sang Zhiyi wanted to ask the Main God, but the answer she got was that the Main God didn’t know either.

“His identity is trivial to me,” the Main God said.

“I only care about the benefits he can bring me.”

“You signing a contract with him to complete missions can create an opportunity to reawaken his humanity and emotions.”

“As for who he really is—he can tell you himself.”

Sang Zhiyi thought for a moment and asked her last question.

“If I can’t reawaken his humanity, what will happen to him?”

The Main God answered, “He will become Me.”

“His abilities are extremely outstanding.

He is My most qualified successor.”

“At that time, he will completely lose these useless things and will never remember why he became a system.”

Sang Zhiyi: “…”

Sang Zhiyi silently watched the Main God leave, and silently waited for the system to arrive.

She agreed to the system’s request to sign the contract without hesitation.

Now, after a few exchanges with the system, Sang Zhiyi’s last bit of wishful thinking had been worn away.

This savior of hers, of whom she knew nothing, truly remembered nothing at all.

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