"Song Xu, quick, help us check—is the guy in the car with the hot guy one of us?"
"I’m sure he’s a tall man with long legs. I just saw his legs in the livestream."
The comments section was buzzing with excitement, but Song Xu felt like he’d been plunged into an icy wasteland.
The person Assistant Chao had pushed into the car… was actually CEO Su?!
Why was CEO Su sitting in the car?
Would he get blacklisted later for accidentally capturing CEO Su’s long legs on camera? Pretending not to see the fans’ comments, he pointed his camera at the villa’s entrance instead. "This is the villa gate everyone wanted to see."
With 30 minutes left in the livestream, Song Xu’s not-so-quick brain was working overtime—how could he divert everyone’s attention?
"Mr. Su, tonight’s artist livestream is scheduled for 60 minutes. Maybe you should head back first?" Chao Musheng glanced back at Song Xu, who was already walking toward the villa with his phone raised, clearly terrified of accidentally catching Su Chenzhu in his stream.
Everyone at Kunlun knew Su Chenzhu was a private person who avoided the spotlight.
"Alright." Su Chenzhu set down his phone. "You go ahead."
"Sure." Chao Musheng stood up. From his angle, most of Su Chenzhu’s body was shrouded in darkness, with only the faint glow of his phone screen visible.
Leaning down, Chao Musheng met Su Chenzhu’s eyes with a smile. "Mr. Su, see you tomorrow. Goodnight."
Under the light, even his eyelashes seemed dusted with gold.
"Goodnight." Su Chenzhu’s fingers brushed against the light spilling into the car.
As Chao Musheng walked away, Su Chenzhu noticed the forgotten bubble blower on the seat. Picking it up, he stepped out of the car and quickened his pace to catch up.
"Song Xu, tilt the camera back a bit—the hot guy who waved at us earlier is coming over!"
Song Xu didn’t dare move. He kept walking toward the villa entrance, his expression calm. No matter how much the livestream’s popularity surged, he wouldn’t dare entertain any wild ideas.
But he underestimated the fans’ thirst for drama. The more he avoided it, the more curious they became.
Some netizens had already dug up that the handsome stranger was the same stunning man who went viral days earlier for petting a lion’s head in a short video. Disappointed fans had failed to find his social media, but now he’d reappeared—not just as Kunlun’s representative, but also starring in a hilarious moment where an overbearing fan instantly backed down. Whether drawn to his looks or the drama, everyone was buzzing about him.
"Chao Chao."
A deep, magnetic voice echoed through the livestream, instantly grabbing the audience’s attention.
"You forgot this."
Chao Musheng took the bubble blower from Su Chenzhu and absentmindedly pressed the button—a stream of bubbles floated out.
"Didn’t see his face, but we got bubbles!"
"So even hot guys play with bubble blowers? We’re soulmates."
"What kind of relationship involves playing with bubble blowers together? So hard to guess~"
Song Xu’s hand trembled, and he abruptly ended the stream.
"CEO Su, hello." He turned and bowed deeply.
"Hello." Su Chenzhu studied him. "Your livestream viewers have… bold vocabulary."
"That’s just how netizens talk." Song Xu wasn’t the sharpest, but he knew this wasn’t a compliment. "They’re… unrestrained. My streams aren’t usually this popular. It’s all thanks to Assistant Chao’s unexpected appearance that so many curious viewers showed up."
Flattering Assistant Chao was always a safe bet.
"Curious viewers?" Su Chenzhu frowned. "What happened?"
"Yesterday, the official TimeLight account posted some photos, and Assistant Chao accidentally appeared in them. It sparked some… discussions among fans." Song Xu chose his words carefully. "But it was all a misunderstanding. I already clarified it in the stream."
Su Chenzhu pulled out his phone, searched for TimeLight’s official post, and sure enough, found Chao Musheng in the photos.
The comments were tamer now, with most top replies being fan-controlled praise. Only a few inflammatory remarks remained, all buried under apologies.
Su Chenzhu’s frown deepened.
"Mr. Su, don’t mind them. Just ignore it." Chao Musheng tapped Su Chenzhu’s screen, exiting the comments. "Some comments are harsh, but most fans are sweet and reasonable."
Song Xu watched, swallowing hard.
Assistant Chao just touched CEO Su’s phone?! Absolute legend.
"Your livestream time isn’t up yet, right?" Chao Musheng turned to him. "Go find another spot to continue."
"Right away, Assistant Chao!" Relieved, Song Xu hurried off without another word.
As he and his manager sprinted into the villa, he marveled at his past self.
What kind of audacity had they possessed to try grabbing CEO Su’s attention back then?!
Su Chenzhu couldn’t shake off the comments accusing Chao Musheng of "clout-chasing." "Why is TimeLight still keeping that post up?"
"They deleted most of the toxic replies yesterday. Taking down the whole post might backfire and trigger more backlash." Chao Musheng chuckled—Su Chenzhu clearly didn’t understand fan wars. "Now that fans know I’m Kunlun’s rep, they’ll leave me alone."
Fans could be irrational, but their love for their idols was genuine. For their favorites, they’d trek through mountains for charity, watch their words, and push themselves to be better.
Chao Musheng had no interest in fan drama. He just wanted to enjoy this grand event with his mom.
"Fine." Su Chenzhu seemed convinced. He pocketed his phone. "Chao Chao, I’m heading back."
"See you." Chao Musheng watched the car drive off before turning toward the villa.
"Who’s there?" A faint rustle came from the flower bushes. Chao Musheng paused as a bodyguard yanked out a scrawny man.
"Paparazzi?" The guard found photos of Su Chenzhu and Chao Musheng on the man’s phone. After forcing him to delete all copies, they snapped a clear photo of his face.
"If any of these angles surface online, Kunlun’s legal team will personally reach out." The guard released the trembling man. "I assume you’ve heard of them?"
The paparazzo paled. Everyone knew crossing Kunlun’s legal team meant getting skinned alive.
He just wanted to sneak a few photos of Song Xu—never intending to capture someone as prominent as Mr. Chao. It was merely a momentary curiosity…
Not far away, two players hiding in a dark corner watched as the local paparazzo of this world was caught. They held their breath, not daring to move, and only cautiously peeked out after Chao Musheng and his entourage had left.
What kind of existence was this Mr. Chao in the game scenario, to scare the paparazzo like that?
They lowered their heads and scrolled through their phones. Strange—why were all the photos of Mr. Chao and the man beside him so blurry?
After searching for a long time, they only managed to find one clear shot: a side profile of Mr. Chao bending over to push someone into a car. In the photo, his features were hazy, and the man with him only revealed a long leg.
The veteran paparazzo from their studio was urgently pressing them for the photos. With no other choice, they sent this one over.
As soon as the photo was sent, the incessant messages from the veteran suddenly stopped.
After what felt like an eternity—long enough for mosquitoes to leave them covered in bites—a single message finally arrived.
[Next time you want to get yourselves killed, don’t drag us into it. You’re fired!]
What did that mean?
The two players tried to ask for an explanation, but a red exclamation mark appeared before their messages.
They’d been blocked?!
What kind of messed-up NPCs were in this scenario?
Before they could process it, the system in their minds began a countdown to mission failure.
Getting fired by the studio meant failing the scenario?
“Found them, over here!” Several security guards swarmed in, grabbing them roughly just as the countdown hit zero.
When the countdown ended, they braced for death—only to open their eyes and see the same security guards still there.
The system in their minds had gone completely silent. The guards’ faces were full of disdain, but even that scornful expression felt oddly comforting. They were alive!
Their phones were wiped clean of all photos before they were unceremoniously thrown out of the estate. Even then, they still couldn’t make sense of the situation.
“You’re lucky,” one of the guards sneered as he shoved them out. “The organizers are merciful. They didn’t press charges, or you’d be in jail by now.”
Standing outside the gates with nowhere to go, the players: “…”
Wait, players could leave the scenario’s boundaries?
And failing didn’t mean death?
They walked along the highway for a long time, cars passing by one after another, their headlights cutting through the endless night.
“This place…” One player stared at the seemingly infinite road ahead—no thick fog, no horrors, no monsters chasing them.
What a strange world.
Dazedly, he looked up at the sky, where a plane blinked its lights as it flew overhead.
“We didn’t die,” the other player murmured. “My system’s gone. All the data panels and items—vanished.”
“Same here,” the first replied, still in a daze. “Then… where are we now?”
Some kind of abandoned limbo after being expelled from the scenario?
A police car pulled up beside them, and two uniformed officers stepped out.
“Good evening, gentlemen. We’re from the Yanshui Police Station in Linhai City. We received a report about two individuals in need of assistance. Could you provide your identification so we can help you better?”
The players were baffled. A police station?
Help?
ID cards?
A scenario’s limbo without monsters—just cops helping homeless people?
Was this some dying hallucination?
[Ding! Two players failed their work assignment and were fired by the studio. Mission failed.]
More players had been eliminated.
The remaining players felt a chill. Work failure?
Getting caught as paparazzi meant elimination. Failing to meet the studio’s demands also meant elimination. Was this damn scenario even survivable?
Almost all players assumed that everyone in this scenario was a paparazzo disguised as a temp worker.
Even Xiaojuan thought so—until she stepped out of Luo Yixuan’s dressing room and ran into Old He standing by a trash bin.
The two reunited in the scenario: Xiaojuan carrying an armful of endorsement gifts from Luo Yixuan, while Old He lugged bags of garbage.
“Sis Juan.” Old He was older than her, but since she’d saved him in the last scenario, he addressed her the same way You Jiu did.
“You’re not a temp?” Xiaojuan noticed his badge was different from the temporary workers’.
“I spawned in the estate’s cleaning room,” Old He admitted without hesitation. “My main mission must be different from yours.”
“Main mission?” Xiaojuan glanced around before pretending to help him with the trash. “Yours has already been revealed?”
Three days in, her system still hadn’t updated her main mission—just a bunch of random side tasks.
Old He nodded.
Xiaojuan hesitated but decided against asking for details.
“Stars flicker. When one fades, another rises.” Old He spoke unprompted. “My mission is to find the star destined to fall and bury all its sins before it sinks into the sea.”
“So that’s why the scenario’s called ‘Starlight Flicker’ and not ‘Starlight Brilliance.’” Xiaojuan suddenly understood. “You’re saying a celebrity will have an accident before tomorrow night?”
“I don’t know.” Old He shook his head. “The scenario only gave me those hints.”
Why would the system assign Old He a different role with only these clues?
Xiaojuan opened her system panel—still just a few vague lines.
[Starlight Flicker Scenario: A successful paparazzo would never get caught, right?]
[Today’s Task: Receive a gift from a celebrity.]
Daily tasks completely unrelated to the main mission, plus those useless hints.
Was the system… starting to distrust her?
Old He’s desperation for points was well-known among high-level players. Had the system pinned its hopes on him instead?
She even suspected the player who hated her had been deliberately placed here by the system.
Was it targeting her?
If it wanted her gone but could only resort to underhanded tricks, that meant it couldn’t act directly—or couldn’t confirm she was a threat. Since she was high-profile among players, it had to move covertly.
The damn system was just as shady as the god who created it.
“Why tell me this?” Xiaojuan studied Old He. “I thought you’d want that 100x reward more.”
“I do want it,” Old He admitted. Though only in his thirties, his eyes carried the weariness of an old man. “But something about this scenario feels wrong.”
"What do you mean?" Xiaojuan raised her eyebrows in surprise. Even Old He, a player who was eager to return home, sensed something was off—the influence of the damned System over the players seemed to be weakening.
"Earlier, I saw security personnel escort two players out of the villa," Old He said, gazing up at the bright moon in the sky. "The system notified that they were eliminated, but I saw them walk away along the road outside the gate instead of disappearing."
There was a three-day discrepancy between the time given by the dungeon and the end of the fashion event. He suspected it was related to the death of the celebrity.
"Xiaojuan, I remember you took You Jiu and the others out of the hospital back then," Old He slowly turned his gaze back to her, staring blankly. "Can we players… actually leave the dungeon's boundaries?"
Xiaojuan fell silent for a moment before deciding to be honest. "I’m not sure about other dungeons, but in this one… I can indeed take you beyond the villa’s limits."
Seeing Old He standing there dumbfounded, she sighed. "Come with me."
Old He set down the large trash bag and followed Xiaojuan step by step out of the villa gates.
Outside, there was no thick fog, no monsters devouring players—only a broad road stretching into the unknown.
Old He collapsed to his knees by the roadside, plucking a few wild grasses. "It's real… I really got out…"
Earlier, when the other players were expelled, he had secretly tried to leave but was blocked by an invisible barrier at the villa’s entrance.
"Why can you…?" Old He activated his dungeon skill and looked above Xiaojuan’s head, his expression abruptly changing. "Did you use an item to disguise yourself as an NPC?"
"No," Xiaojuan noticed Old He’s almost terrified expression. "Why do you ask?"
If she hadn’t used an NPC-disguising item, why was there an NPC-exclusive identifier floating above Xiaojuan’s head?
Was Xiaojuan… even human anymore?
"Old He?" Xiaojuan sighed as his face grew paler. "Let’s go. You should head back quickly and avoid drawing suspicion from the other natives."
Old He followed her silently, his mind racing with countless theories. When he spotted a familiar young man standing under a streetlamp, his already pale face turned almost translucent.
Mr. Chao from Ward 4—did he still remember them, the players, after switching dungeons?
"Xiaojuan." Chao Musheng was still playing with a bubble blower. He waved at her when he saw her. "Has Luo Yixuan’s livestream ended?"
"Brother Chao." Xiaojuan held the endorsement gift bag Luo Yixuan had given her and jogged over. "That bubble blower looks fun."
"I think so too." Chao Musheng smiled, then glanced at the cleaner behind her. "No wonder I thought you looked familiar when you stood next to… Editor-in-Chief Chao. So we’ve met at the hospital before."
He actually remembered.
After switching dungeons, an NPC still remembered players from the previous one.
Old He set down the trash bag, struggling to control his trembling. "Hello, Mr. Chao."
"Hello."
"Xiaojuan, do you always bring a familiar face when job-hunting?" Chao Musheng blew a large cluster of bubbles into the air. "At Chen Garden, you had Little Hu. At the hospital, you had You Jiu. Now you’ve brought…"
"Old He," Xiaojuan said. "His name is Old He."
The bubble blower shimmered in the night, casting flickering light over Chao Musheng’s face, making his expression unreadable. "Old He’s family is struggling. His daughter is only three. Cleaning trash is dirty and exhausting, but the pay is decent. We just happened to run into each other—we’re not together."
Three years old?
Chao Musheng recalled the night at the hospital, hearing a child’s cries in his dream—a little girl sobbing for her father.
Noticing the massive trash bag Old He was carrying, Chao Musheng set down the bubble blower and stepped forward, his face fully illuminated by the streetlight. "Finish up early and get some rest. Your health matters more."
"Thank you, Mr. Chao." Old He had never forgotten Chao Musheng’s life-saving kindness, even if the man was just an NPC in the dungeon.
"He doesn’t look well," Chao Musheng said as he walked toward the white building, bubble blower in hand. "Is he sick?"
Xiaojuan shook her head—she figured Old He was just terrified of Brother Chao.
"Earning money isn’t easy. He’s a good father." Chao Musheng glanced back again. Old He’s figure, obscured by the oversized trash bag, resembled a hunched old man in his sixties.
Xiaojuan also looked back. "Yeah. His biggest wish is to earn enough to reunite with his wife and daughter."
If not for that damned System, how many players would have been forcibly separated from their loved ones?
"For a three-year-old, even if Dad doesn’t earn much, just being together is happiness." Chao Musheng turned away. "What about you? Do you still have time to reunite with your family while working nonstop?"
"Brother Chao, my relationship with my family is… not good." Xiaojuan shook her head. She could barely remember her parents’ faces anymore. "If I had a choice, I’d rather settle down in Jing City."
"Of course you can." Chao Musheng smiled. "I’ll put in a good word for you."
"Brother Chao, thank you."
Xiaojuan smiled, though she knew she was destined to oppose the System.
If she won, the System would vanish—but she might die or return to her original world.
If she lost, the System would keep tormenting the innocent, and she’d die without a trace.
"No need for thanks." Chao Musheng pressed the bubble blower, releasing a flurry of bubbles. "If I promised you a referral, I won’t go back on my word."
"That bubble blower is beautiful." Xiaojuan’s attention returned to it. "Did you just buy it?"
"Oh." Chao Musheng shook it lightly, grinning. "Mr. Su bought it for me at the Bund earlier. Others might think it’s childish, but I’m a college student—it’s just right for me. Want to try?"
Xiaojuan was tempted, but since it was a gift from Boss Su to Brother Chao, she didn’t dare. "No, Brother Chao."
"Alright." He didn’t insist. "Tomorrow at noon, I’ll be attending the anniversary celebration at Linhai’s branch. If anyone gives you trouble, go find my mom."
Whenever he mentioned his mother, pride always lit up his eyes. "With her around, no one would dare bully you."
"Got it."
Xiaojuan understood his pride perfectly—Auntie Chao was practically a goddess.
The night passed peacefully. Chao Musheng slept soundly, unaware that gossip-loving netizens had been hopping around the rumor mill all night.
"Hahaha, thinking about those celebrities praising Kunlun’s representative in last night’s livestream while their fans were frantically deleting comments under Time Magazine’s official account—it’s hilarious."
"The funniest part is Kunlun Enterprise’s official account replying under Time’s post, seriously explaining to some fans mocking the ‘ordinary person’ for overstepping that he wasn’t a celebrity but a company executive."
"A major corporation like Kunlun earnestly clarifying a ‘civilian’s’ identity in a fashion magazine’s comment section? Comedy gold."
【What a pity for such a handsome man—just because he’s better-looking than the celebrity, he ends up suffering for no reason. I wonder if the idol these fans worship is even scared right now?】
【Am I the only one who thinks the way the official Kunlun account personally stepped in to defend an ordinary guy feels super shippable?】
【Shipping everything will be your downfall! No romantics allowed online!】
【According to industry insiders, the CEO of Kunlun’s parent company flew into Linhai City on a private jet yesterday. Could those long legs seen being pushed into the car by the ordinary guy belong to the big boss?】
【Wait, so the ordinary guy and the CEO are a thing?】
【Damn, you’ve got some nerve spreading rumors like that. Aren’t you afraid of Kunlun’s legal team coming after you?】
【I was watching Song Xu’s livestream the whole time last night, and I swear I heard the long-legged guy call the ordinary guy by a doubled pet name. If you don’t believe me, go check the livestream clips online. Their relationship is definitely not innocent.】
【Song Xu loves stirring up drama, but he didn’t dare even mention the long-legged guy. That says a lot.】
Chao Musheng opened his phone, and the first notification that popped up was: "Kunlun CEO’s Love Life Exposed? Boss’s Legs Are Longer Than This Editor’s Lifespan."
What the hell?!
