Chapter 1

Buzz——!

The ringing in his ears made Lin Fan uncomfortably press his hands against them.

Damn, not really, right? It's just 36 hours of continuous gaming, and I'm already this weak?

To avoid staying up all night, I even pulled an all-nighter!

My grand plan of being a lifelong otaku hasn't even started, and my body is already holding me back?

Sigh, I never thought that at my young age, I'd have to start using the ultimate health care package of a thermos cup with wolfberries.

The ringing in his ears gradually weakened, and Lin Fan rubbed his ears, opening his eyes.

—Hmm, where am I?

What caught his eye was a huge poster on the snow-white wall, with a star as the background, and the words "Morning Star" in large letters. Below the large letters were nine silhouettes in various poses—

Lin Fan wondered, who designed such a low-quality poster?

A glance revealed a soundproof door, from which faint music and cheers could be heard.

Turning his head, he saw two boys with stage makeup on their faces, wearing performance costumes, and holding microphones, taking deep breaths and clenching their fists to encourage themselves, looking quite nervous.

Seeing Lin Fan looking at them, they gave him a sympathetic, yet somewhat schadenfreude-filled look?

Wait, microphones?

Is this the microphone in my hand?

Lin Fan looked at the microphones in the hands of the two boys and then at his own, which seemed to be the same brand and model?

Sigh——!

He had seen this scene before!

It was from some show, some camp, some idol program, where the waiting room scenes were exactly like this!

Back when these talent shows were all the rage, Lin Fan had even supported his favorite idols, like the lucky fish girl and the drama queen girl, voting for them, boosting their rankings, and campaigning for them every day....

Ah, those good old days٩(๑>◡<๑)۶

"Hey, get ready, it's your turn soon!"

Who?

Lin Fan looked up and saw a head poking out from behind the soundproof door, wearing a baseball cap with two embroidered words on it: Stagehand!

Seeing Lin Fan still dazed, the stagehand impatiently pointed at him: "You, come over and do the entrance shot."

No way!

Lin Fan was a bit panicked.

What's going on? I was just gaming at home, why do I have to do an entrance shot?

And, where's my computer?

My big, expensive, top-of-the-line computer?!

My hundreds of gigabytes of favorite girls on my CDEFG drives?

My 200 new manga sets?

Am I hallucinating?

Buzz——!

There it is again!

Along with the ringing, memories flashed through Lin Fan's mind, belonging to the body he was in, a person also named Lin Fan.

This planet is called Blue Star, a world completely different from Earth. The original Lin Fan, 20 years old, was an orphan who left the orphanage at 18 and worked at a milk tea shop to make a living.

The original Lin Fan worked diligently every day, with the biggest dream of earning a lot of money. Later, because of his incredibly handsome face, he was discovered by an agency and signed a ten-year contract.

Thus, the original Lin Fan's dream evolved into: becoming a big star and earning even more money!

To boost the original Lin Fan's popularity, the agency hurriedly trained him for a month and then sent him to the "Morning Star" stage, known as a "star-making factory."

Before Lin Fan's soul transmigrated, the original Lin Fan was in the waiting room for the "Morning Star" initial stage. His group had four trainees, and the third was currently performing on stage, with the original Lin Fan being the last one up.

Just before his turn, the production team suddenly brought his phone to him, saying it was a call from his agent, Lian Xiaoyu.

The original Lin Fan was puzzled! The show was live-streamed throughout, and each participant had their own live-streaming room, which remained open during the competition. Phones were confiscated upon entry, and everyone usually tried hard to get their phones back from the production team. Why were they giving him his phone now?

Something unusual must be happening.

Sure enough, as soon as the original Lin Fan took the phone and said "Hello," he heard his agent, Lian Xiaoyu, talking rapidly.

"Little Fan, I'm sorry."

"I wanted to help you, but the company had an issue first..."

"I didn't want it to be this way, but the funding chain suddenly broke..."

"But for you, this isn't all bad. Your contract, the one with the 10% split, is now void. You're a free agent now, and you won't have to blame me for making you sign such a harsh contract, even though it did have some misleading aspects..."

"But there's one thing you need to understand: you still have to stay on the 'Morning Star' stage. After all, you signed a performance contract with 'Morning Star.' The appearance fee isn't much, but the penalty for breach of contract, you know!..."

"At the very least, you need to make it to the first ranking announcement..."

"Um, that's it. You're in the waiting room, right? I wish you... well, that's it..."

"..."

The original Lin Fan was completely devastated after the call!

Then Lin Fan arrived.

It turned out the original Lin Fan was scared to death by the news!

The sympathetic and schadenfreude-filled looks from the other two in the waiting room made sense now!

This is ridiculous, Lin Fan couldn't even complain about it.

So, he had transmigrated? How trendy!

But it seemed he and the original Lin Fan had a connection; they were both orphans, though this orphan clearly didn't have it as good as him.

Lin Fan was silent for a moment, ultimately having to accept this reality. After all, transmigration seemed to be a trendy career these days, and as a seasoned otaku, being able to transmigrate wasn't bad either.

But, transmigrating was one thing, but having to perform on stage right after transmigrating? He was just an otaku, what was he supposed to perform? "Two Tigers?"

Lin Fan was a bit panicked.

Going on stage was one thing, but the company went bankrupt just before he was about to go on!

Lin Fan suddenly felt a strong sense of malice from this different world. Others transmigrated and became lords, but he transmigrated and his support collapsed. Was this the hell difficulty mode? Where was his 40-meter sword? Where was his Italian cannon? I want to kill that woman named Lian Xiaoyu!

Forget it!

Can't do it!

Whoever wants to do it, go ahead!

I'm not doing it!

I want to go home.

Isn't staying at home more comfortable?

Is the game not fun anymore?

Or are the smiles of the girls on my CDEFG drives not beautiful enough?

Or are the short videos of the girls on Douyin not good enough?

What stage? What performance? What talent show? What debut?!

If I debut, can I even have a relationship? In my previous life, I didn't touch a girl's hand for thirty years. Is this life going to make me a lifelong bachelor?

Lin Fan was still wallowing in self-pity when the stagehand at the door became impatient: "Hurry up, it's live-streaming on the entire web! No one's watching your personal live-stream, so it doesn't matter if you dawdle. The entrance shot is in the official live-stream room! So many people are watching! If you mess it up..."

The stagehand's face clearly read: Compensation!

It's just compensation, right? He couldn't afford it... really couldn't afford it!

The original Lin Fan had spent all his money from the contract and the appearance fees to grease the wheels for this stage.

Truly penniless!

Lin Fan was a bit embarrassed. The company could go bankrupt, but the show must go on! If he didn't, he'd have to pay a huge penalty!

As Lin Fan stood up and walked towards the stage, he sincerely said that it wasn't because of the penalty.

It was from the heart.