At 10:00 PM, inside Skela, the most upscale club in Imperial City, a celebration party for the movie Night Wanderers was currently being held.
In the dim dance hall, accompanied by catchy electronic music, men and women dressed in high-end luxury gowns and suits raised their wine glasses, completely immersed in the pursuits of the vanity fair.
In an area rather far from the dance hall, a crowd had gathered against the norm. Whether overtly or covertly, everyone’s gaze was glued to a single man.
The man sat on the sofa in the corner, his facial features exceptionally handsome. A wine-red high-end custom velvet shirt accentuated his slender figure, with the cuffs rolled up to reveal a section of his excessively thin forearms. The top two buttons of his collar were left undone, spreading open in a V-shape, clearly displaying his delicate collarbones and shoulders.
He leaned slightly against the backrest, his legs crossed, holding half a cigarette between the fingers of his right hand while casually toying with a six-figure limited-edition lighter with his left hand.
At that moment, someone walked over holding a high-stemmed wine glass and plopped down right beside him: “Damn, after toasting a whole circle of people, I’m seriously exhausted! When will I ever be able to handle this kind of occasion with such ease and poise like you?”
Upon hearing this, a light chuckle escaped the man’s throat. He lowered his head to take a drag from his cigarette, slowly exhaled, and joked: “Simple. Just reach my position.”
“Stop joking around, Song Beiyao!” Jiang Ran said indignantly. “Not everyone is like you, hand-fed by the heavens—debuting at 18 and winning Best Actor by 23.”
He then leaned closer to the man with a mischievous look on his face: “Do you know what kind of looks those capital bigwigs gave you on my way over just now? Tsk tsk, it was as if they wanted to swallow you alive on the spot!”
Amidst a hazy veil of white smoke, Song Beiyao lifted his eyelids, his gaze drifting lightly across Jiang Ran’s face with a smile in his eyes: “Can’t you say something nice?”
A small cluster of focused light happened to sweep across this area. The man’s complexion was coldly pale and stunningly beautiful, his peach-blossom eyes slightly upturned. When he stared at someone, it felt as though he could hook away their soul. A tear mole beneath his outer left eye lent a touch of gentleness to this visually striking face.
Jiang Ran was dazed for a moment. Coming back to his senses, he hurriedly put some distance between them, swallowed a gulp of wine, tugged at his necktie, and said in a low, husky voice: “Damn, he really is a freakin’ enchanting monster.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.” Jiang Ran set down his wine glass. “Um… how did your medical checkup go regarding your health issues from a while back?”
Song Beiyao tapped the butt of his cigarette twice with his fingertip, his tone soft and gentle: “Advanced lung cancer.”
Hearing these four words come out of his mouth didn’t sound like he was saying “advanced lung cancer,” but rather as if he were saying, “Have you eaten dinner yet?”
“Lung” Jiang Ran was so startled he nearly sprang up on the spot. “Wait, is this real or fake? How did you suddenly get cancer?! And advanced at that! Then why aren’t you resting properly in a hospital bed right now?! You’re still smoking? Still drinking?”
“Yeah,” Song Beiyao replied lazily. “It can’t be cured, so I’m not treating it.”
Pressing the cigarette butt into the ashtray and leaning back against the sofa rest, he looked toward his solo poster for Night Wanderers on the giant LED screen. Song Beiyao narrowed his eyes slightly: “Before I die, let me take one last look at the empire I built.”
“What the fuck… What kind of nonsense is this? Th-That…” Jiang Ran was momentarily at a loss for words, panicking much more than the person who was actually sick. “You can’t just let it be like this! Medical science is so advanced nowadays!”
Song Beiyao turned his head back, glanced at this rare close friend in the circle, and curved his lips: “I’ve already booked a flight to France for tomorrow morning. Spending this final period lying in a hospital bed would be so boring.”
He also didn’t want the media to report on his impending death and chase after him to photograph his final miserable state.
Handing the lighter in his hand over, he said, “Didn’t you always want this? I’ll give it to you.”
Seeing how nonchalant he looked, Jiang Ran was nearly worried to death: “Who cares about a lighter right now?! I want you alive! If you stay in the hospital, you can at least hold on for a while longer; who knows, there might even be a turning point!”
Song Beiyao shook his head slightly: “Let’s not talk about it anymore. I’m a bit tired, cough cough… I’ll head out first.”
He stood up, but a wave of dizziness suddenly washed over him, and his body pitched straight to the side.
“Song Beiyao! Beiyao, Beiyao!…”
The hustle and bustle of the world faded into the distance.
Song Beiyao felt as though he were carrying a heavy burden, walking forward through the darkness for a long time, until a blinding white light finally appeared ahead.
“Hey, hey! Wake up!”
A voice sounded by his ear. Song Beiyao slowly opened his eyes to find an extremely cramped space, resembling the carriage of an ancient horse-drawn carriage.
At that moment, the carriage curtain was pulled back, and a fresh, youthful face was glaring at him with hostility: “Stop sleeping, we’re arriving at the Crown Prince’s residence soon.”
“Jiang Ran?” Song Beiyao recognized that face. “Why are you dressed like this?” A second ago, his friend had been looking sharp in a black high-end custom suit; in the blink of an eye, he had changed into black traditional ancient attire.
“What Jiang Ran?” That face was clearly much younger than his friend’s, and besides, Jiang Ran would never take that attitude toward him.
Realizing something was wrong, Song Beiyao languidly massaged his temples: “Never mind, I must be groggy from sleep.”
The curtain was dropped, and the carriage resumed its journey.
Just as confusion filled Song Beiyao’s mind, a novel titled Contending for the Nine Provinces instantly rushed into his brain.
A massive wave of plot information flooded over him. Fortunately, Song Beiyao dealt with scripts daily as part of his acting work, so he quickly digested the entire story.
This was a typical large-scale male protagonist Dragon-Totem progression web novel. The background of the story was set in a fictional continent called the Nine Provinces, which consisted of nine different countries. The male protagonist, Pei Ji, was the Crown Prince of Great Zhou, one of the powerful nations.
The story primarily detailed how the male protagonist emerged victorious in the treacherous struggles for the crown, ascended the throne, and subsequently initiated an era of contending for supremacy among various states.
Just as the era of contending supremacy began, a single sentence appeared: “With a sudden clap of thunder in the sky, Pei Ji was struck to death under a large tree by lightning,” and then the story just ended.
“Oh,” Song Beiyao understood now. “Meaning I’ve transmigrated into this poorly-ended novel world.”
“That’s right!” A voice sounded inside his head. “The host is truly clever! You were specially selected by the system to rewrite the male protagonist’s fatal ending!”
“Is that so?” Song Beiyao’s voice remained languid. “Not interested.”
“…” The system dropped an enticing condition: “Host, you originally have advanced lung cancer and are beyond saving. You also transmigrated into this book while carrying your illness and will die soon! But right now, you have a chance to live!”
“Let’s hear it then.”
The system explained: “Your current fortune points are -198. As long as you collect enough fortune points, your disease can be cured! The method of collection is that you must ‘leech’ onto the fortune points of this book’s child of destiny—the male protagonist, Pei Ji. In other words, get close and cuddle up with the male protagonist often.”
“As long as the male protagonist lives long enough, you won’t have to worry about your illness not being cured! Naturally, you’ll be able to live on!” The system’s words were filled with temptation.
“Depend on someone else to stay alive?” Song Beiyao raised an eyebrow slightly. “Sorry, I have no interest in surviving in this unfamiliar world.”
Why was this person so impervious to persuasion?! Forced into a corner, the system had to play its trump card: “When you rewrite the male protagonist’s ending and your fortune points reach 500, you will be able to return to your original world in a healthy physical state!”
Return to the original world?
This condition genuinely held considerable attraction for him.
Song Beiyao did not reply immediately. He slightly lifted the carriage window curtain. Outside, the world was blanketed in pristine white snow, which had accumulated into a thick layer along the imperial road. Carriage wheels rolled past, leaving behind two deeply gouged ruts. At this moment, the world looked both illusory and real.
Inside the carriage, absolute silence reigned, save for the whistling sound of the wind and snow outside.
The system held its breath; it had never encountered such an indifferent host! When other people heard they could survive, they couldn’t wait to kowtow in gratitude and live every day on tenterhooks. But this one? It was utterly impossible to guess what he was thinking!
“So, who is the character I transmigrated into?” After a moment, Song Beiyao closed the carriage window, coughed muffledly, and asked slowly, “Is it the person with the exact same name as mine?”
The system perked up: “That’s right, it’s him! So smart, my host! Not only do you share the same name, but your appearance is identical as well!”
Why was it getting so excited over something so obvious?
Song Beiyao pulled out and scanned the key plot points concerning his namesake character.
Zhaoguo, a neighboring country of Great Zhou, was anxious to consolidate relations between the two nations through a political marriage. Lacking a princess of suitable age, they instead married off the eighteen-year-old Fourth Prince, Song Beiyao, to the Crown Prince of Great Zhou as a secondary consort.
The Fourth Prince had practiced martial arts since childhood. Although this appeared to be a marriage alliance on the surface, he had actually entered the Crown Prince’s residence as a spy, with the intention of bringing down Crown Prince Pei Ji.
However, the spy failed during an assassination attempt and was ultimately tortured to death by Pei Ji, who had his tendons pulled out and bones scraped, leaving his body exposed under the city gates for ninety-nine days.
“This Pei Ji is a ruthless character,” Song Beiyao remarked nonchalantly. “His personality is cold, tough, and merciless, and he’s self-restrained with zero interest in romance. Leeching fortune points from him won’t be an easy task.”
The system: “.” Why did it suddenly smell a hint of a conspiracy?
“How about this: lower the required fortune points to return to the original world to 200, and I’ll agree,” Song Beiyao said, his tongue lightly grazing his canine tooth. “You probably have KPIs to fulfill too. You and I make a concession each, which is good for everyone.”
His speaking tone was extremely gentle yet laced with a smile, making him appear entirely mild and non-threatening. Yet, the system felt as though this fox was gradually baring its claws.
The system deliberated, then gritted its teeth: “300. Not a single point lower.”
“Deal,” Song Beiyao answered briskly and decisively.
“…” Realizing it had taken a huge loss, the system whimpered: “It’s a deal then, the contract is officially signed right here! If you renege on this, you’ll die instantly, you know!”
Song Beiyao curved the corners of his lips slightly: “Can do.”
The system finally let out a sigh of relief.
Judging by this, he was certainly not someone easy to manipulate!
Meanwhile, inside the study of the Crown Prince’s residence.
Pei Ji sat semi-reclined on a couch taking a nap. His handsome brow was tightly furrowed, and an aura of murderous intent surged naturally across his sharp, knife-carved face—he was clearly trapped in a nightmare.
In his dream, he saw the past twenty-three years of his life. Then, in the blink of an eye, time jumped forward by a year. After enduring intensely fierce struggles for the crown and stepping across a sea of blood and mountains of corpses, just as the imperial throne was within arm’s reach, a youth suddenly burst out of nowhere.
The youth possessed peerless looks and exceptional martial arts skills. Wielding a long sword with consummate mastery, every single strike was fatal. For some reason, unable to muster his full strength, he was pierced right through the heart by the youth’s long sword.
The surrounding scene instantly blurred into a haze. Flames were burning, and the youth’s exquisitely enchanting face was illuminated by the firelight, smiling with a ferocious and frantic madness: “Pei Ji, you think you deserve to sit on the imperial throne? In your dreams!! Go to hell and die, you bastard!!!”
No… he could not die yet…
Pei Ji snapped his eyes wide open, a crimson flash in his gaze. Breathing heavily and with a stifled chest, he looked around.
This was his familiar study.
The scenes from the dream instantly receded like a receding tide, leaving behind only the final scene: the youth’s breathtakingly stunning face and poisonous words, etched into his mind as if carved by a blade.
That was no dream.
He knew with absolute certainty that it was far more than just a dream.
So was it… a premonition? Pity that the contents of the earlier dream had slipped his mind.
Pei Ji raised his hand, his long knuckles pressing against his brow to soothe his emotions.
For a long time, the various states of the Nine Provinces had been locked in endless conflict. Although Great Zhou was a powerful nation, it was also coveted by its surrounding countries.
Ever since he was made Crown Prince at the age of twelve, over the past eleven years, he had governed diligently with the ambition to unify the Nine Provinces and quell the warfare once he ascended the throne.
Yet just moments ago, in that premonition dream, the searing pain of a sword piercing his chest, the fading away of his life, and the destruction of his grand ambitions felt as though he had plunged straight into an abyss.
Pei Ji’s eyes turned momentarily fierce as his hands clenched into fists.
That person he would definitely hunt down and kill to completely eliminate any future trouble!