Chapter 1

Bang! Bang! Bang! Accompanied by the chimes of the millennium, countless fireworks blossomed on both banks of the Han River, emitting tremendous sounds.

Li Zhengxi, who had been sound asleep on the desk, was startled awake. His head was a bit dizzy as he looked out the window at the splendid fireworks, but he felt no excitement, only a sense of confusion. Then he glanced around, looking at the familiar yet somewhat strange surroundings, his brows slightly furrowed.

His gaze accidentally fell on the calendar on the desk, and he was instantly stunned, staring blankly at the date for a long time without reacting.

He was clearly in the year 2014 just a moment ago, but the calendar showed December 31, 1999. The bustling scene outside the window and the almost forgotten scenes inside the room... Could it be that he had been reborn?

"Hey, you're finally awake!"

Suddenly, a voice sounded in his ear, soft and melodious, but it was like a thunderclap, startling Li Zhengxi.

However, even more bizarre was the sudden appearance of a woman in front of him, wearing a black, semi-transparent nightgown, with a charming face and a tall, extremely alluring figure. She was smiling at him.

Seeing him come to his senses, she leaned forward slightly, and the large neckline of her black nightgown revealed a full expanse of snow-white skin, starkly contrasting with the black, making it particularly eye-catching. "Welcome to becoming a player in the Devil Entertainment game!"

"Devil Entertainment, what is that?" Li Zhengxi, not attracted by the alluring sight before him, was instead frightened and leaned back. Everything in front of him was too strange.

With a look of surprise and doubt, he asked, "And who are you? Why are you here?"

Seeing his strong reaction, the woman's delicate face broke into a smile, and she giggled, her voice clear and pleasant to the ear. "Don't worry, I'm not a ghost or a bad guy. I'm just the executor and supervisor of this game. You can call me Alice..."

Then, with a casual swipe of her hand, a large screen, about 70 inches, appeared beside her. On the screen, the words "Devil Entertainment System" were prominently displayed.

"This is the game you're going to play!" Alice demonstrated to the still-shaken Li Zhengxi while explaining, "To put it simply, this is an entertainment system that combines reality and virtuality. Any achievements you gain in reality will earn you corresponding achievement points in the system. Similarly, the various rewards you earn in the game through achievement points will also appear in reality. For example, you can use the achievement points in the game to exchange for an Oscar Award, and in reality, you will receive the Oscar Award from the Academy."

Li Zhengxi's eyes lit up. This was too incredible.

However, the Alice who appeared like a ghost and the equally strange game made him, who had experienced much before his rebirth, very cautious. As the saying goes, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Moreover, this game was related to the entertainment industry, which he was already tired of.

After a moment's thought, he shook his head and refused, "Sorry, I'm not interested in this game..."

"Oh, why?" Alice clearly didn't expect Li Zhengxi to respond this way, her extremely delicate and beautiful brows slightly furrowed.

Li Zhengxi, however, was unwilling to say more, just shrugging and saying indifferently, "Nothing, I just don't like playing games!"

"I see!" Alice understood, then looked helpless, her tone even softer. "But you can't not play now. Remember what I just told you? This game is linked to your real life..."

She pointed to the timer in the upper left corner of the screen with her slender right hand and continued, "See? From the moment you woke up, it started counting down 24 hours. Now, there are 23 hours and 52 minutes left. If you don't start the game by then, your game data will be erased, and in reality, you will disappear like dust, or, as you might say, die..."

"Die...!" Li Zhengxi's mouth dropped open in shock. Not playing the game meant death. What the hell was going on? He suddenly pinched his leg hard, everything was too bizarre, he suspected he was dreaming!

Unfortunately, he pinched too hard, and his leg hurt!

Alice's lips curled slightly, with a hint of a sly smile. "Now you believe me, right?"

She pouted cutely, sounding a bit displeased, "I gave you this super-invincible cheat because I saw that you were very eager to enter the entertainment industry. You should feel lucky..."

Eager! Lucky! Li Zhengxi smiled mockingly, his mind flashing back to everything he had experienced in his previous life.

He was 18 years old, a super genius with an IQ close to 180. He graduated from university at 15 and was now pursuing a Ph.D. at Harvard Business School. If things continued this way, his future would be bright.

However, his previous life didn't follow this script.

His father was Chinese, who came to South Korea with his grandfather over 30 years ago, got married, and had children. Then, over a decade ago, the whole family immigrated to the United States.

Before Christmas this year, his beloved grandmother, who had always doted on him, fell ill. So, he and his mother returned during the holiday to visit her. However, this visit marked a turning point in his life:

Two days ago, he met a talent scout on the street who saw potential in him and invited him to an audition.

After over a decade of intense study and a monotonous life, the talent scout's invitation was like a new window suddenly opened by God, revealing a world that seemed incredibly brilliant and wonderful.

At that time, he was too young and emotionally immature. All he saw was the glamorous surface of the entertainment industry, the side where stars were revered by the masses. So, he was moved and, driven by the desire to become a star, he threw himself into it without hesitation.

Then, the nightmare began.

Although he was highly intelligent, his artistic talent was average. In about two years, his acting and singing skills didn't improve much, and the hype around his high education and high IQ gradually faded.

Moreover, he couldn't accept the various unreasonable demands and the unsavory arrangements, so for many years, he achieved nothing.

However, he remained stubborn and persistent, believing he would eventually succeed. It wasn't until 2014, over a decade later, that he finally realized his mistake after pouring all his resources into a movie he thought was great, only to suffer a huge loss.

What he didn't expect was that, after a night of heavy drinking and preparing to pick up his economics studies and live a different life, he suddenly found himself reborn.

Rebirth was undoubtedly a good thing. With the advantage of his rebirth and his continued studies in economics, he was sure to achieve great success.

However, fate had other plans. He was now forced to re-enter the entertainment industry, which he had already grown tired of. If the entertainment industry was bad enough, the strange game and the equally bizarre Alice made him even more uneasy.

Thinking about this, he smiled bitterly, his eyes fixed on the "Start Game" button on the screen, which would decide his future. It felt like he was back at the moment he chose to enter the entertainment industry in his previous life.

"Why is this game called Devil Entertainment?"

In Alice's anticipation, Li Zhengxi suddenly turned to look at her and asked.

Alice seemed prepared for this question and casually replied, "Oh, that's just to make it sound more evil and exciting. It's a gimmick for the game!"

"Oh, is that so?" Seeing she didn't want to say more, Li Zhengxi smiled mysteriously, then suddenly pointed to her collar and said sarcastically, "Then the 'Devil 008' embroidered on your collar is just for excitement and fun?"

Without the Devil Entertainment game, the "Devil 008" symbol wouldn't seem too strange, but now it was highly unusual. If combined with her bizarre appearance...

Therefore, without waiting for Alice to say anything more, Li Zhengxi decisively tapped the "Close" button in the upper right corner of the screen... PS: A tender new writer seeks support!

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