"Trainee over there, what are you doing!!!"
"Get down! Don't do anything rash!!"
Five seconds earlier, the System had been staring uncertainly at its Host, who was wearing a bizarre smile and beginning to climb over the window railing. "Host, what are you trying to do?"
"I'm planning to solve everything once and for all. One leap to end a hundred sorrows." Chu Yu smiled with serene compassion, like a Goddess of Mercy statue whose sharp edges had been worn smooth by life. "Save myself fifty years of detours."
"Stop right now!! This is the first floor! You can't die from falling here!!"
As the staff lady shouted the last sentence, several security guards who had rushed over at the commotion quickly hauled him down from the window. A cameraman who happened to be passing by on his way to shoot a vlog lit up with interest and immediately raised his camera to record the strange scene.
By the time Jing Yan, Xie Man, and the other trainees reached the spot, this was the miraculous picture before their eyes:
The cameraman enthusiastically shouldered his massive camera and practically shoved the lens into Chu Yu's face. Chu Yu, who had just been carried down from a windowsill less than two meters off the ground, was still wearing the kindly smile he had put on before attempting to jump. Then he seemed to notice all the curious gazes surrounding him, and terminal embarrassment instantly struck. He looked as though he wanted to find a crack in the floor and crawl inside it in the very next second.
The cameraman even had enough leisure to conduct an improvised interview while filming. "What were you doing just now?"
Chu Yu closed his eyes in despair and muttered, "Looking at the scenery."
"Interesting posture for sightseeing."
Chu Yu did not open his eyes. He smiled and nodded. His entire body radiated the exhausted air of someone about to ram himself to death. Even his insanity was delayed several minutes before it started.
He really must have been tired. He had tried to jump off a building without even noticing he was on the first floor.
Even someone curling their toes hard enough to excavate a Barbie Dreamhouse could not rival the embarrassment of the Leap of Faith pose he had just struck.
What he did not know was that the video of him climbing out the window to jump had been posted online. Top Trainee was already a highly popular and controversial show, and within a few hours, his video was even pushed onto the trending topics.
#TopTrainee2 Jumping Trainee#
#TopTrainee Contestant Attempts to Jump, Then Discovers He's on the First Floor#
Chu Yu could never have imagined that one stupid act would actually give the show its first trending topic.
If he knew, he might genuinely smile, crawl into a crack in the ground, squat there forever, and enter semi-permanent shutdown.
After most of the crowd dispersed, Xie Man, Jing Yan, and the others were left exchanging looks. Their gazes were filled with confusion that said, What exactly was that? and bewilderment that answered, I have no idea either. Some even carried a faint trace of regret: Why didn't I hear his thoughts that time?
Before that regret could spread, a familiar piercing explosion sounded beside everyone's eardrums in the next second.
[What's this, a building? Jump! What's this, a crack in the floor? Crawl in! What's this, a building? Jump! What's this, a crack in the floor? Crawl in! What's this, a building? Jump! What's this, a crack in the floor? Crawl in! What's this, a building? Jump! What's this, a crack in the floor? Crawl in!]
If the loop continued much longer, they were going to be brainwashed by demonic sound.
"Chu Yu!" As always, the first to speak in a hurry was Jing Yan, the most outgoing and cheerful of them.
Chu Yu slowly turned his head and saw his face.
[What's this, a human? Dodge.]
Quick-eyed and quick-handed, Xie Man grabbed the arm of Chu Yu, who was attempting to flee. "Come back to the dorm with us first. We still have a vlog to film later."
One sensitive, observant trainee traveling with them immediately glared at Xie Man, meaning: Don't tell him there's a vlog! He'll go insane!
Several people instinctively closed their eyes and waited for the kettle-like scream to erupt beside their ears.
Nothing came. The air was silent. At last, someone could not resist peeking one eye open and saw Chu Yu nod. "Okay."
Without his inner thoughts leaking outward, Chu Yu's expression was indifferent and his movements concise. He looked cool, beautiful, and arrogant. Even if you beat someone to death, no one would guess what sort of things were engraved into this aloof handsome man's brain and DNA.
Everyone froze for a moment. Jing Yan recovered first and walked in front to lead the way. The others behind him intentionally or unintentionally clustered around Chu Yu. They could not tell whether they wanted to hear the person in the middle's thoughts or were afraid to hear them. Yet when the familiar loudspeaker broadcast failed to sound for a long while, they strangely found themselves unaccustomed to the silence.
Chu Yu remained completely unaware of their thoughts. He simply felt extremely peaceful. This kind of peace usually appeared after he had gone sufficiently crazy or fully adapted to the environment, like an intermission. Constantly shrieking, roaring, babbling, and losing his mind inside his brain consumed plenty of brain cells too.
But evidently, this peace did not reassure the System much. The System now watched him like it was staring at an active volcano that might erupt without warning, terrified that the electronic eardrums it had just repaired with code would rupture again in the next second.
"Host." The System felt that it needed to provide some psychological counseling for its mentally unstable Host.
What?
"You don't need to be so pessimistic. Although the mission to become the protagonist looks difficult, the corresponding reward is also the highest tier and extremely tempting. If we work together toward this goal, we'll definitely achieve it."
Oh, you reminded me.
After the interruption of that whole absurd incident, Chu Yu had nearly forgotten about the mission card. He began planning his future route inside his mind.
First, find a quilt. If conditions allow, get a blanket too.
System: ?
Use the phone map to navigate to the nearest overpass, then crawl under the bridge, cover myself with the little quilt, lie down beautifully, and sleep.
System: …
If it's cold, add the blanket. If it's hot, enjoy the shade. Close my eyes, open them again, and this lifetime will pass quickly. When I wake up next time, I can happily open the life-or-death blind box.
The System cried out in anguish, "Host! Host!"
I hear you, I hear you. Both ears heard you. Why are you shouting so loudly? Should I choose a silk quilt or a cotton-flannel one? This is a question worth considering.
"Host, I refuse to let you give up on yourself like this! You are the Host I selected with great care and chose at first sight! In my eyes, you have limitless potential!"
The cozy scene of wrapping himself in a blanket under an overpass was only half formed in Chu Yu's mind when the System's words interrupted it. He remembered the System saying, before they entered the book, I believe you have great potential. He still had not gotten the chance to ask: What potential could I possibly have?
The System patiently guided him. "Host, do you remember what you were doing before the van hit and killed you?"
Walking.
"No. Before you were walking?"
Lifting my foot.
"…" The System was baffled.
Chu Yu was utterly unaware of anything wrong. Isn't that right?
"No." The System decided to stop keeping him in suspense. "I saw you passionately singing at the garbage bin for more than half an hour while you were taking out the trash. That's what convinced me you deeply love the stage."
Chu Yu's half-dead, half-closed eyes flew open several sizes wider after someone exposed his scene of social death.
Pupil earthquake.
"And I observed you for a long time. Basically every time you took out the trash, you'd sing at least one full song to that abandoned garbage station. I thought to myself, if you can sing to a garbage bin with that much passion, excitement, enjoyment, and immersion, then if you stood on a glittering stage in front of tens of millions of audience members and fans listening to you sing, who knows how happy you'd be?"
…Guess why I specifically chose an abandoned garbage station where no one was around to sing.
Completely unaware, the System continued rambling and praising its own excellent eye for talent. "Look at you, Host. You're so pretty, your vocal conditions are excellent, and you love singing this much. If you don't become popular, who will?"
…Now it was Chu Yu's turn to question his life.
"The only small problem is… uh…" Remembering the few storm-like inner screams his Host had released while facing the other trainees, loud enough to blow the tops off people's skulls, the System hesitated. "But I don't think it's a big problem. Based on my uniquely discerning eye after observing you for so long, my instincts tell me you'll definitely make it. Mm."
Nineteen-year-old young man spotted by a hundred-year-old System and dragged into a book-transmigration world full of Surprise Boxes; the reason behind it leaves everyone with tenth-degree burns.
Wait.
As though remembering something, Chu Yu suddenly asked the System inside his head:
Wasn't there someone standing opposite me then, rapping at the garbage pile? Why didn't you grab him instead?
The System thought back. "Oh, you mean that one."
Chu Yu waited eagerly for its answer.
"He was indeed pretty handsome, but I listened to a bit of his rap lyrics. They were way too filthy. They didn't fit the moral values of our survival show."
Chu Yu: …
So he had lost because he was too civilized.
How could two people go insane together and only one of them get kidnapped by the monster in the end?!
"What's your relationship with that person?" the System asked curiously.
Father and son, Chu Yu answered without hesitation, not even lifting his eyelids. I'm the father. He's the son.
Thinking of that person made Chu Yu a little dazed. Two days before the van killed him, that guy had only just returned to the United States. He probably had not heard the news of Chu Yu's death immediately, but by now he should have heard from Chu Yu's family. So he was probably… on the distant West Coast, offering cyber incense for him? He might even be burning the models and game cartridges Chu Yu had entrusted to him.
Ugh. He wouldn't set up a little shrine for me on the bookshelf in his rented apartment, would he? The kind with a circle of my ridiculous ugly photos from childhood to adulthood arranged in front.
The thought alone sent a chill down his spine. Thinking about it more carefully, that really did sound like something the other man would do.
Far away in a western coastal state of the United States, in another world, a certain handsome man sneezed. Rubbing his nose in bafflement, he thought, I haven't insulted anyone in the last two days. Which blind admirer is thinking about me now?
Back here, Chu Yu's thoughts were still flying in every direction when approaching footsteps suddenly interrupted them. He slowly lifted his head and discovered that the trainees around him were all looking at him.
And directly in front of him stood a handsome man in sunglasses who had approached at some unknown point and stopped squarely in his path.
The man had broad shoulders, long legs, and wore layered black from head to toe. Under the sunlight, even his black leather jacket seemed to shine with a riot of colors. Looking at the young man before him, he lifted his fingertips and casually tilted his sunglasses, revealing a pair of flamboyant fox eyes carefully lined with eyeliner and mascara. His lips parted and released a dismissive click. "Still the same dead look."
Fair insult.
No, wait. Why is he insulting me?
Sunglasses Guy radiated a brash, domineering arrogance from every inch of his body. That feeling reached its peak when he fully removed his sunglasses and showed Chu Yu a mocking smile. Chu Yu raised an eyebrow, producing an expression that, to everyone else, looked aloof, contemptuous, and proud.
[How dare he come here and make me the first person he offends?]
Xie Man, Jing Yan, and the others all sucked in a breath.
Here it comes, here it comes.
The classic line of a villainous big shot! Sure enough, a wolf's tail could not stay hidden beneath sheepskin forever. The vicious schemes of this bad man named Chu Yu were finally about to reveal themselves!
[How did he know I'm the easiest person to offend? If you provoke me, congratulations, you've picked the softest persimmon out of thousands. You will receive exactly zero lessons for your actions.]
That aloof, contemptuous, untouchable-beauty voice continued broadcasting beside their ears, but the content changed so abruptly that the mocking curve at Fu Hansong's mouth froze, confusion appearing for the first time.
Who was impersonating Chu Yu's voice and yapping into his ear in a completely different tone?
Meanwhile, the System was frantically flipping through the original novel inside Chu Yu's mind. When it reached a certain page, its eyes lit up and it shouted, "Found it, found it! This is a hidden plot line the novel never mentioned. His name is Fu Hansong. He's your ex-boyfriend."
The name Fu Hansong sounded vaguely familiar. Chu Yu thought for a moment, and then inspiration flashed through his mind. Wasn't that the name of the devoted spare-tire second male lead in the novel?
"Yes. In the original novel, Fu Hansong is the tragic second male lead who falls in love with the protagonist bottom at first sight but can never have him. His family background is second only to the protagonist top's. Before entering camp, you and he had a secret relationship. You were always devoted to him and couldn't let go even after he broke up with you, but he hated your vicious, scheming personality. Not long after joining the camp, he fell in love with the pure and strong protagonist bottom. You got jealous and deliberately framed the protagonist bottom. Every time, Fu Hansong and the protagonist top arrived to help resolve the situation. During all this, their love-triangle relationship became increasingly solid. Because of you, he felt very guilty toward the protagonist bottom. Later, when the protagonist bottom exposes all your scandals, Fu Hansong is also the one who voluntarily hands over evidence he'd secretly collected against you."
Chu Yu blinked, then scrunched his brows together.
This guy with two thick gold chains, giant black sunglasses, and leather pants? With his endless sneering and sarcastic digs at me? What's tragic or devoted about that?
"Uh, the author's character setup is that he's a wickedly charming, arrogant, unruly rich young master who later hides all his sharp edges for love and turns into a pure-hearted, single-minded little puppy obsessed with romance. Plenty of people like that kind of setup these days."
I understand. His sharp tongue and viciousness are exclusively for me. His lovesick devotion is only visible to the protagonist, right?
"Exactly! That's the logic. You're so smart!" The System felt it necessary to praise its Host for being willing to seriously analyze the relationships in the book, lest he later slack off so hard he stopped caring about the plot entirely.
Seeing no trace of warmth in Chu Yu's gaze toward him, Fu Hansong clicked his tongue in displeasure and threw down another harsh line. "It doesn't matter how well you pretend. Sooner or later, everyone will see your true face."
As for the bizarre broadcast he had just heard in the air, he decided it was an auditory hallucination. Pure imagination.
Fu Hansong turned and strode away. As he passed their group, that hallucination barged into his ears again like an uninvited guest:
[I was too busy flipping through the plot just now to look carefully. Sunglasses Guy's shoes don't seem padded right. The little heel plus three layers of insoles are bulging out. Altogether, are those thirteen centimeters?]
The other trainees all lowered their heads in unison to inspect Fu Hansong's heels.
The certain king of showing off who had just completed the plot point "give the ex a warning" slipped violently. No longer caring about his walking posture, he took huge strides and practically fled the scene at top speed.
Chu Yu remained behind, staring at his back in confusion.
[Why did he suddenly run so fast?]
