Chapter 1: Going Live

[User Huaili logged in successfully.]

[Mission World connection successful.]

[Welcome, User Huaili, to Small World No. 33131. The system has automatically updated your mission. This time, you have drawn a Capture Mission with difficulty rating S+. You will play the role of the villain in the plot and must capture the designated protagonist.]

[Please abide by the fundamental rules of the Mission World. While maintaining your persona in each world, actively pursue the designated protagonist. Upon mission completion, the system will automatically evaluate and score your performance.]

[Note: The live stream room has been automatically activated and cannot be manually closed for the duration of the mission. Current viewer count: 100,000+]

The moment his consciousness snapped back, Yu Huaili opened his eyes. He tilted his head slightly to glance at the bustling traffic outside the window, then swept a look over the man sitting beside him, feigning sleep.

The last bus of the night had only a handful of passengers, unusually quiet.

Yu Huaili lowered his gaze, taking in this world’s plot outline and character introductions while simultaneously looking at the floating live stream screen hovering in midair.

The screen was nearly transparent, glowing with a faint blue light. The Imperial Live Stream Company seemed to have revamped it again—the functions on the interface looked more streamlined than before.

It had been a long time since Yu Huaili last streamed. He studied the screen for a while before reacquainting himself with the familiar layout.

His fingers twitched, and he sent a bullet comment.

[User Huaili: hello^ ^]

[Bad Pear!! You’re finally live, my baby > <]

[Husband, it’s been almost two months since your last stream. Do you know how torturously long I’ve been waiting for you?]

[We get a face close-up of Bad Pear the second we come in? This is amazing.]

[Bad Pear, did you get your makeup and styling done? So handsome, very reassuring.]

[Bad Pear’s looks, my pride and joy.]

[Good lord, what kind of live stream is this? Gift effects already this early?]

[HAHAHA don’t worry, that’s just how our top-tier star rolls! Everyone, grab your Terminals right now and give Bad Pear a follow.]

[Might be the homepage recommendation. Anyway, I got pulled in by the streamer’s face close-up on the homepage.]

[Me too… Just came in and totally confused. So “Bad Pear” in the comments is the streamer?]

[Yup yup, Bad Pear is the audience’s pet name for the streamer. His full name is Yu Huaili—a super handsome, super cute, super fan-cherishing good baby, good brother, good husband.]

[Hey… why is the mission completion rate in the stream room 0? Is the streamer a newbie?]

[Check the system notification—is it because the streamer switched tracks, so there’s no mission completion?]

[No, have you only just started watching streams? The system’s mission completion includes ALL the missions the streamer has ever done, regardless of track.]

[Huh? Then why did the streamer switch tracks?]

[Seriously? Looking at the 0% completion rate, you can tell why they switched.]

[Yeah… this brings up a sore spot for Bad Pear and the viewers…]

[Bad Pear’s not actually a newbie; they’ve been through plenty of storms. The zero completion is probably because the streamer’s missions never succeeded…]

[Bad Pear’s old missions were probably about bringing the protagonists together, but the protagonist top and bottom would both end up falling for Bad Pear… so…]

[And now the streamer’s new mission is to capture the protagonist—if that’s not a complete role reversal.]

[Oh, now I know who this streamer is. Wasn’t the Diligence Award at the Imperial Live Stream Company’s annual meeting a while back given to this streamer? I remember they were super popular.]

[Haha, even though Bad Pear’s missions always failed, they definitely brought the company a ton of KPIs. That award really felt like “no credit, but plenty of effort.”]

[Oh my, I’ve already read the plot outline. No wonder my baby’s styling is so gorgeous—Bad Pear is an idol in this world.]

[Read it too, but Bad Pear’s character in this world seems so ill-fated…]

While the bullet comments launched into another round of heated discussion, Yu Huaili pinched the bridge of his nose and ran through the general plot and his persona in this mission world in his head.

This world’s background primarily involved the modern entertainment industry, with a bit of fantasy mixed in—the protagonist top, Duan Qiong, was reborn.

Duan Qiong grew up in an orphanage. Whether it was shaped by his environment or innate, his perception of the world around him was almost zero. He was emotionally indifferent, yet utterly obsessed with music.

Before he even came of age, Duan Qiong was scouted by an entertainment company because of his extraordinary talent and that face of his.

Only after the company promised that if he debuted, they would give him better conditions to focus on his music creation, did Duan Qiong agree to stay and train alongside the other trainees.

Duan Qiong’s looks and abilities were plain for all to see. His debut was inevitable.

Joining him in the four-member group debut were two other trainees the company had placed their bets on, plus a crown prince who parachuted in right before Group Formation Night.

As the company had predicted, the boy group Solaron-X, formed by Duan Qiong and the other three, exploded in popularity the moment they debuted, becoming the undisputed phenomenon of the entertainment industry.

Solaron-X’s fanbase spanned nearly every age group. Even people who paid no attention to the entertainment world would subconsciously conjure the group’s name the moment they saw their faces on their phones or televisions.

They were not just devastatingly popular in C-Entertainment—their overseas popularity was equally unmatched.

But just as Solaron-X’s sudden emergence had set the entire internet ablaze, the group’s downfall was equally spectacular.

On the fifth anniversary of Solaron-X’s official debut, paparazzi exposed that the four members’ hearts were far from united—bullying and ostracism were rampant among the members. Then came the news that the new album’s songs were plagiarized, and the original creator, unable to win their rights through negotiation, filed a lawsuit against Solaron-X and the company.

Right after that, the paparazzi leaked that one member had been kept by a financial backer for two full years, and after nude scandal photos surfaced, was cast aside by their sponsor. Another member was reported for soliciting prostitution and had just been bailed out of the police station by their agent.

Every leak came with pictures and evidence. While the fans covered their ears and closed their eyes in blind indulgence, Solaron-X was facing disbandment. The hot search headline that “the true company favorite has already terminated their contract and is preparing to withdraw from Solaron-X” topped the charts.

The fifth anniversary of their debut was the last day of Solaron-X’s existence. After so many scandals were exposed one after another, Solaron-X was, without question, nailed to the pillar of shame. First shelved by the company, then splintering apart, and finally, completely disbanded.

Though the boy group Solaron-X ceased to exist, the fanbase Duan Qiong had accumulated over the years remained terrifyingly massive. Even with the team temporarily shelved by the company, Duan Qiong wasn’t incapable of staging a comeback.

But not long after, news of Duan Qiong’s plane crash dominated the headlines again.

Duan Qiong was reborn. He returned to the trainee period before his debut.

This was also where the plot outline began.

At that time, the company had already selected those three, including Duan Qiong, for debut, and Xi Xingheng, the crown prince, had parachuted into the company just before group formation.

In his previous life, the discord within Solaron-X wasn’t baseless rumor. Though the company often forced them to cross-queerbait, they actually all looked down on one another. Not to mention the fans who were at each other’s throats every day, driving the members’ private relationships increasingly sour.

Duan Qiong was cold by nature, distant from the other three. He held no sense of collective honor toward Solaron-X. The only thing he cared about was music. In this life, he remained a cold bystander, watching them walk the same old road as the last time around.

For Duan Qiong, the only variable was the protagonist bottom, Xi Xingheng.

Duan Qiong’s entry point into loving music came from a boy he had once saved. The boy was around his age, yet looked noble and refined. The gap between them was like clouds and mud.

But the boy sincerely treated him as a friend, even playing piano pieces for him.

When his family came to take him away, the boy gifted Duan Qiong a jade pendant, saying he would wait for Duan Qiong to come find him in the Imperial Capital.

By a twist of fate, the reborn Duan Qiong discovered that the boy was Xi Xingheng.

In the previous life, the two had been the hottest power couple CP on screen, but Xi Xingheng’s arrogance and disdain had always been written plainly on his face.

So in this life, upon realizing that Xi Xingheng was the boy he’d saved in childhood, Duan Qiong felt some hesitation.

Though hesitant, Duan Qiong was also curious about Xi Xingheng. In the previous life, unless it was promotional work, Duan Qiong never accepted variety shows or film roles—but Xi Xingheng did.

When the company saw their relationship improving and Duan Qiong no longer rejecting his usual schedule, they arranged for the two to appear on the same variety shows and films.

Their relationship grew tighter, their popularity soared, and fans of the pair flooded the internet.

During their gradual time together, Duan Qiong came to understand that the reason Xi Xingheng had become this way was because of his complicated family—even the “accident” from childhood hadn’t been an accident.

Xi Xingheng also learned that Duan Qiong was the boy who had saved him as a child.

After clearing away all obstacles in career and love, the two naturally fell into a sea of romance.

Just like the previous life, on the fifth anniversary of Solaron-X’s debut, the other two teammates were still exposed with scandals.

Xi Xingheng officially terminated his contract, withdrew from Solaron-X, and his career climbed even higher.

Though neither of them ever publicly acknowledged their relationship, their feelings remained constant to the very end.

Mm… So it’s just a love story, huh.

Yu Huaili lowered his eyes and briefly flipped through his character settings.

He was playing the minor villain who, in the previous life, was kept by a financial backer for two years. After nude scandal photos leaked, he tried to frame the protagonist bottom. And in this life, out of jealousy over the protagonist top and bottom’s achievements, he hired paparazzi to expose the fact that the two were dating.

Strictly speaking, Yu Huaili felt his character in the plot couldn’t really be counted as a villain.

Because this character only had a face worth looking at—but if you opened up his head: Huh? It’s empty inside?

In Solaron-X, his position was the Visual. But because the protagonist top and bottom’s popularity crushed his by a mile, even the battle for the Visual title didn’t bother including him.

He couldn’t sing or dance as well as Xi Xingheng, couldn’t compose or arrange as well as Duan Qiong, couldn’t act as well as the other teammate, couldn’t outsell anyone at queerbaiting, and his popularity sat at the very bottom.

Every day, he racked his brains trying to figure out how to climb the ranks. After being mocked for queerbaiting with his teammates, he cut a different path and “bumped into” the company’s big boss.

Once he successfully latched onto a financial backer, he wasted no time strutting around and pointing fingers at others. But everyone knew those people were only treating him as a joke.

Driven by jealousy, he went to the paparazzi with his real name, hoping to expose the fact that the protagonist top and bottom were dating. But not only did the paparazzi refuse to publish it, they turned around and “threatened” the protagonists and the company with this very information.

At that point, there was no need to wait for the nude scandal photos. He got chewed out and immediately lost a good number of resources.

Later, Solaron-X disbanded. His private behavior—badmouthing teammates, latching onto a financial backer, and dating—was exposed. He could no longer stir up a single ripple, becoming a cautionary tale that everyone denounced.

Yu Huaili: …

He pinched the bridge of his nose, a headache creeping in.

[So I have to be this stupid to go after the protagonist top?] Yu Huaili raised an eyebrow, musing. [The protagonist top seems like a power worshipper. Could he possibly fall for a brainless fool?]

Besides, the protagonist top and bottom in this world were clearly soul mates. Wouldn’t he be struck by lightning for breaking up such a perfect couple…

The system reached out and patted Yu Huaili, comforting him: [This is an S+ mission, so it’s bound to be difficult… Bad Pear, if it really comes down to it, we can still fall back on the minimum guarantee. As long as we don’t get a red card.]

[No way.] Yu Huaili read through the plot outline once more, then lifted his gaze. [This time, I’m absolutely not settling for the minimum guarantee.]

Otherwise, what was the point of switching tracks?

The bus slowly came to a stop. Yu Huaili glanced outside, then gently nudged the man beside him. “Brother Duan Qiong, we’re almost at our stop.”

Duan Qiong’s eyes snapped open. His gaze was somewhat unfocused at first, only gradually sharpening into clarity.

Looking at Yu Huaili’s youthful, slightly green features, he slowly furrowed his brow.

…What in the world is going on?