1 - Rebirth

November 2015, City B, Classroom of the Department of Broadcasting, University of C.

Xie Anran was stopped in his tracks by Han Shu.

There was a vague air of superiority in Han Shu’s expression that was incredibly familiar to Xie Anran. Only then did Xie Anran realize that he was really back again!

But what was the point of a rebirth for a problem-ridden loser like him?

The two of them were both students of the Department of Broadcasting at the University of C. Han Shu was an undergraduate and Xie Anran was vocational student, and the Department of Broadcasting at the University of C had a few classes where undergraduates and vocational students would mix together, so they were considered classmates.

Han Shu applied to “Haiyou Live Streaming Platform” and became a gaming anchor outside of class time. In his previous life, Xie Anran played as his proxy player and used his excellent mid-laner skills to help Han Shu become a super anchor, becoming worthy of the title, “#1 of Haiyou”. Annual commissions alone amounted to around 10 million.

As the name implies, a proxy player is someone who plays games on the behalf of others. In essence, a gaming anchor with a proxy player is more or less like a star who uses a ghost singer. Han Shu was a worshiped god in front of the camera, but the person who fights the bloody battles in Kings Canyon (a game similar to League of Legends) behind the scenes was Xie Anran.

For two years, from the end of 2015 to the end of 2017, Han Shu became a star, while Xie Anran remained an obscure nerd.

But even nerds can perform miracles, Xie Anran not only played as a proxy player, but also worked as a hired training partner, and by chance he became the training partner of the big boss of Haiyu Live, Sui Yuan. No one would have thought that Sui Yuan would be interested in this training partner little gege and wanted to meet up with him in person.

Xie Anran is not good at socializing. If it were anyone else, he would have refused, but Sui Yuan is different, Sui Yuan is the male god he has been crushing on since he was a teenager. Since the male god wanted to make friends with himself, even if he was a snail, he still had to come out of his shell.

Despite Xie Anran going through great lengths to have a good face-to-face meeting to leave a good impression, all he got was a scandal involving Sui Yuan and Han Shu. Han Shu went as far as to impersonate Xie Anran, falsely claiming that he was the training partner. Because Han Shu’s performance in his live stream and the skills of the training partner little gege matched perfectly, Sui Yuan did not suspect anything. One of them is the boss behind the live streaming platform, and the other is the leading pillar of the live streaming platform, and soon after the scandal spread, there were even CP fans.

Xie Anran was very bitter, but as a closed off, cowardly person, he did not have the courage to explain the situation. But Han Shu was still uneasy, he replaced Xie Anran and hired a new substitute player with hefty cash.

Xie Anran still remembers Han Shu explaining what he had done without any hesitation, “Sui Yuan arranged to meet with a training partner maybe just to have a meal. But it just so happened that I was the one who went to the meeting, and I was the one who spent time with him, so that’s how the subsequent affairs came about. Therefore, Sui Yuan and my business has nothing to do with you.”

Xie Anran did not quite understand his logic, he only knew that Han Shu was probably bullying himself.

Han Shu looked at Xie Anran condescendingly, like he was taking pity on an ant, “Anran, think about it, what do you have in you that deserves to be liked by others?”

Xie Anran forced himself to calm down, swallowed his grievances and resentment, and left it at that. But Han Shu still wouldn’t leave, and exposed the secret Xie Anran had been trying to hide.

”Anran, I know you’re ill, Sui Yuan can’t possibly like a medical patient. Now that you know my secret, and I know yours, I hope neither of us will bother each other.”

Xie Anran’s condition was simple, dissociative personality disorder, or DID for short. It was this disorder that made Xie Anran timid, self-conscious, be afraid of getting hurt by others, and worse, be afraid of hurting others himself.

Except, Han Shu thought he could get a hold of Xie Anran’s handles, but he didn’t expect to stimulate him to “flare up” on the spot, making things go out of hand–

Xie Anran switched personalities, and the nerd turned into a ladyboy, who went to curse at Sui Yuan for being blind and complained to him, but naturally, the ladyboy angered Sui Yuan and got scolded.

When the ladyboy saw that she had screwed up, she immediately handed the body back to Xie Anran who returned to timid nerd mode.

Xie Anran regained his wits and looked at the male god showing a disgusted look at himself, and instantly thought of what Han Shu said, “What do you have in you that deserves to be liked by others?”

Xie Anran was horrified and died in a traffic accident beneath the Haiyou building.

Time traveled back to the end of 2015, in the empty and silent classroom of C University, where Xie Anran and Han Shu stood face to face.

In his previous life, Xie Anran had promised Han Shu here to be his proxy player.

This time, Xie Anran suddenly thought of another possibility, was possessed by something and replied in a way that Han Shu couldn’t have anticipated –

”I don’t want to be a proxy, I want to be an anchor.”

Han Shu was very surprised, he didn’t expect Xie Anran to reject him.

C University is a well-known art school in China, and the broadcasting program particularly values pedigree. Every time undergraduates bring up vocational students, they will inadvertently let out an “oh~”, followed by a light-hearted “vocational huh~”.

Therefore, Han Shu, who studied in the undergraduate program, looked down on Xie Anran, who studied in the vocational program. In particular, there is a bit of past enmity between the two of them.

Back then, when the art examination was held, the two were interviewed in the same examination room. Han Shu is very confident in his own professional ability, but he did not expect that Xie Anran who was studying in the same field was actually better than himself in all aspects. Xie Anran is not only handsome, but also has a unique voice, whether it is the mandatory recital or a solo in the talent segment which makes the examiners’ hearts flutter.

Later, Xie Anran got the top score in the country in his major, and Han Shu knew that, by convention, this person would be the “No. 1 Student in Broadcasting” in C University.

However, the following year, Xie Anran, who was very bright in the art exam, unexpectedly failed the culture class in the college entrance exam, and only managed to enter as a vocational student…… Han Shu unexpectedly got the title of “No.1 Student in Broadcasting”, became a star on campus and was sometimes greeted as “school grass”.

But whenever someone refers to him with this title, Han Shu can’t help but think of Xie Anran, the candidate who shone in the examination hall. It’s just that…… his performance after enrollment was really bad.

Xie Anran did not study, rented a house outside campus to not only play games day and night, but also worked as a proxy player and training partner to earn extra money, and spent the entire day unkempt and utterly banal. With his present professionalism and physical condition, he is simply not comparable to himself.

For some reason, Han Shu felt relieved.

Later, Han Shu heeded his professor’s advice and tested the waters as an online anchor. One, to practice being on camera in front of people, and two, to build up some popularity, in preparation for future entry into the acting world.

With a handsome appearance and a deep voice, Han Shu took the clean route and accumulated some female fans. But Han Shu knew that he didn’t really like playing games, and it would be a bit difficult to rise further up the ladder. So he thought of Xie Anran, whose gaming skills are not bad.

At this moment, when he heard that Xie Anran also wanted to be an anchor, Han Shu froze for a moment.

Perhaps, he was inspired when he saw him take the path of an anchor? Han Shu thought.

He smiled and persuaded, “Live streaming is not as simple as you think. I have been streaming for almost three months now, and I only have about 10,000 subscribers. But in the anchor circle, this is considered fast progress. Besides, being an anchor is not just about playing games, you also need to be able to talk in front of people, you don’t normally like to talk and have difficulty communicating with people properly, so you wouldn’t be able to manage this kind of work.”

Han Shu’s way of speaking was very particular, he would always speak as if he was thinking of the other party when he wanted to achieve his own objectives.

The uncharismatic Xie Anran listened in silence.

Han Shu continued to insist, “I have the conversation skills and you have the technical skills, isn’t it good for us to collaborate and form a team?”

In his previous life, Xie Anran believed that he could finally make a friend, so he agreed to be a proxy player for him. But this time, Xie Anran had realized.

If he was truly sincere about forming a team, two people should’ve been sitting together in front of the camera, not one person standing in front of the stage and one person staying behind the scenes, experiencing injustice.

It is clear that Han Shu’s gesture of goodwill at this moment was not friendship, but just exploitation.

Xie Anran wanted to retort, but his lips opened and closed and he couldn’t utter a word even after a long time, so he simply gave up, showed an apologetic expression and left with his books.

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Han Shu was left in the classroom, subjected to the attention of a few female students, and he coldly looked at Xie Anran’s back, maintaining his demeanor.

It doesn’t matter, Han Shu thought, thinking of the rumor he heard not long ago, apparently Xie Anran’s family wasn’t well off, he could offer him a generous sum, so he wasn’t worried about his refusal.

Currently, Xie Anran, whose “family is not well off”, is in a mansion, inspecting his home while feeling anxious about the brave words he just said.

He’s unsure about becoming an anchor because he can’t control his body.

It’s as if the person who came out on top in the art exam was not him, and the person who dangled at the bottom of the college entrance exam was not him.

The person who went to the art exam was Xie An. Xie An, male, personality noble, cold and domineering, can speak well and sing well, gets good grades, but also fights more fiercely than others, it’s not an exaggeration to call him an all-rounder. When Xie An’s aura is fully unleashed, he is domineering, and can get the top national score of a major by casually taking an art exam.

The person who went to take the college entrance exam was Xie Ran. Xie Ran, female, personality is capricious and mischievous, likes to eat and be lazy, loves beauty, what she desires the most is to have a somewhat handsome sugar daddy to spoil her. Anywhere Xie Ran goes, she overwhelms the entire place with her beauty, but unfortunately, this time it was the academic examination room that she was pressuring, so Xie Anran inexplicably tested in as a vocational student.

So in his body, there were three souls trapped inside. One is a weak and wimpy nerd, one is a handsome and all-around talented male god, and one is a beautiful and unscrupulous ladyboy.

Before, Xie Anran only knew that there was something wrong with his body, most of the time he was muddled and could not understand the exact situation. He couldn’t explain why he had a skirt, wig and lipstick in his school bag, why he enrolled in a broadcasting program, why one moment someone scolded him for being a pervert and to get the hell away and why the next moment someone handed him a love letter and called him “male god”……

Xie Anran felt confused on the inside, but in order to escape from ‘that house’, he went along with it and entered the University of C. From then on, he attended courses he was not good at, supported himself by playing games, and carefully concealed his secret.

Of course, he couldn’t make much money playing games, yet Xie Anran lived in a high-class apartment in the downtown area of B. In his previous life, when Xie Anran woke up in a two hundred square foot mansion, he thought he was experiencing a paranormal event. But no matter how many times he went back to the school dormitory to spend the night, the next morning was still lying in the big fluffy bed of the apartment ……

This time, Xie Anran used his brain and analyzed that this apartment should be the handiwork of Xie An.

Xie Anran opened his computer, searched for “split personality”, and a large number of terms popped up on the screen, such as “main personality” and “sub-personality”, making him feel overwhelmed. He then took out his phone and used the app to check his bank account. The incoming funds were frightening and the outgoing bills were dizzying.

Of three people in his body, Xie An provided for the household, Xie Ran spent the money, and Xie Anran bore the consequences.

After being reborn once, Xie Anran finally understood the relationship between the personalities of “Me, me and me”, with the division of labor being crystal clear.

Xie Anran had to accept this arrangement and re-plan what to do with his life.

His home is located on the top floor of an international condominium in the fourth district in the East. The large flat was 200 square meters, complete with an audio-visual room, study, gymnasium, closet and everything, with an estimated monthly rent of about thirty to forty thousand, not to mention all the amenities and decorations in the house.

This did not look like a student’s “rental house”.

Xie Anran saw the daunting rows of women’s clothes and designer bags in the giant closet. It seems like Xie Ran still loves to wear women’s clothing and loves being vain like she did in her previous life.

Once again, Xie Anran saw a full set of live streaming equipment in the audio-visual room. The set of sound cards, microphones and cameras were pricey just by looking at their appearance, and the wear and tear on the mic stand indicated that the equipment had also been put into use for a long time.

From the looks of it, Xie An took up the profession of live streaming on the internet ages ago, and relied on this job to make money every day. In his previous life, Xie An was a mysterious anchor who normally didn’t stream, but once he did, each song was worth thousands of dollars, many men and women were willing to pay a lot of money to listen to Xie An sing.

Perhaps, Xie An sustained the livelihood of a household of 3 with his charming face and magnetic voice……?