The Aloof Best Actor is Cold on the Outside but Warm on the Inside (1)
[Welcome, Host! Welcome to the first world!]
[Character memories and novel content are transmitting. Host, please check and absorb them.]
Xia Yan lay peacefully on the bed, staring at the white ceiling, filled with deep regret.
He was a little corporate slave from the 21st century, earning a monthly salary of 5,000 yuan with five types of social insurance and a housing fund. He liked to slack off at work and clock out right on time, considering himself a reasonably happy corporate slave.
He did not smoke, drink, hire prostitutes, or gamble. His sole hobby was reading Boys’ Love (BL) novels—slacking off to read them at work and staying up late to read them after hours.
Experts advised young people to stay up late less, warning that it could lead to sudden death. But he tried to exploit a gaming bug: when they told him not to stay up late, he decided to pull an all-nighter instead, and that all-nighter sent him straight to the Western Paradise (the afterlife).
He regretted it. He should not have read novels without restraint, chapter after chapter. Now look at him—he was dead before he could even read the ending.
Perhaps because he was a kind person at heart, the heavens could not bear to see such a fine young man perish just like that, so they gave him a second chance at life.
When he ascended to heaven due to sudden death, he was bound by a system called [Firmly Uphold 1v1]. As long as he completed the system’s missions and earned enough points, he could redeem himself for resurrection.
The system operated under the motto, “The only dish on the romance menu is you,” dedicating itself entirely to crafting 1v1 pure-love novel worlds. His mission was to shuttle through various 1v2 BL novel worlds, snatch away one of the male leads, and achieve a true 1v1 world.
Xia Yan asked the system how he was supposed to snatch them. The system replied, [Simple. Seduce him, sleep with him.]
With a shocked expression, Xia Yan asked, “Do I look like the kind of person who would abandon his morals for the sake of survival?”
[Then should I swap you for a host who has no morals?]
With a solemn expression, Xia Yan said, “No need. Morals? Ha, mere morals are something I never keep in mind.”
Xia Yan sighed deeply while looking at the ceiling.
Though he had already made his choice, he was still lamenting the morals he was about to lose.
“If I had a chance to choose again, that night, I definitely would have gone to bed early.”
The system replied: [Alright, abandoning your morals for the sake of survival is nothing to be ashamed of. Hurry up and receive the character memories and novel plot.]
Xia Yan sat up, opened his mouth, and shouted toward the ceiling, “Bring it on!”
Before he could feel anything at all, the memories and plot drilled straight into his brain.
As Xia Yan reviewed everything, he felt an urge to grab some melon seeds to snack on.
This novel happened to be the type Xia Yan liked—very explosive.
The shou protagonist was called Su Nuonuo, who was intersex and had a deeply unfortunate family.
His father was hyper-aggressive, his mother was an alcoholic, his younger brother was a gambler, and he himself had a severe savior complex.
The story began on an ordinary weekend when the hyper-aggressive father beat the alcoholic mother until she was paralyzed, and then suffered a stroke himself. On that very same day, the younger brother fled after accumulating a huge debt from loan sharks at a casino.
Even though his family treated him poorly, they were his only remaining blood relatives. Unable to let go of familial affection, Su Nuonuo voluntarily took on his parents’ medical bills and his brother’s loan shark debts.
For the money, Su Nuonuo went to work at a gay bar, where he unsurprisingly got harassed by hooligans, and then unsurprisingly got rescued by a domineering CEO.
The CEO was called Qin Yufeng, Male Lead #1, and the head of an entertainment company.
Qin Yufeng fell in love with Su Nuonuo at first sight, but did not realize his own feelings. He kept Su Nuonuo by his side using the arrangement of a kept lover (sugar daddy).
Su Nuonuo also fell in love at first sight with Qin Yufeng, who had saved him. However, because Qin Yufeng proposed keeping him as a kept lover, Su Nuonuo assumed Qin Yufeng only liked his face and was just keeping him around to play with, not truly loving him.
The person he loved did not love him back and treated him merely as a plaything to be kept. Su Nuoanuo felt miserable, but given his humble background, if he refused, he might never be able to stay by Qin Yufeng’s side. Plus, he genuinely needed the money, so he agreed.
Qin Yufeng did not understand love; he only knew how to do the deed over and over again.
Su Nuonuo endured it time and time again, and as he did, he noticed Qin Yufeng only ever did those kinds of things with him. A sliver of fantasy blossomed in his heart—would Qin Yufeng perhaps come to love him too?
Gathering his courage, Su Nuonuo confessed his love to Qin Yufeng. But that jerk Qin Yufeng replied, “You are just my lover, do not harbor unrealistic fantasies.”
During the period he was being kept, Su Nuonuo entered Qin Yufeng’s entertainment company.
Utterly heartbroken by Qin Yufeng this time, he blocked all of Qin Yufeng’s contact information and headed deep into the mountains to shoot a film.
There, he met Male Lead #2 at the production crew—the Best Actor, Lu Chengyan.
Lu Chengyan was a high-and-mighty flower on a snowy peak, remaining cold and aloof toward everyone. At the time, Su Nuonuo was just a minor supporting actor in the show, and the two had zero interaction.
Their very first interaction happened on a dark, windy night.
Su Nuonuo was intersex, and his setting naturally gave him a high libido—which became even more intense after Qin Yufeng deflowered him.
He sneaked into a hot spring he had discovered by chance to relieve his urges, only to be seen by Lu Chengyan, who had gone out for a walk.
Lu Chengyan was a man of upright character; upon seeing Su Nuonuo sitting there with his legs open, he turned around and walked away without a word, keeping mum about the incident afterward.
Time advanced to the second night after this incident.
The fifth male lead of the crew wanted to use Lu Chengyan to climb the social ladder, so he spiked Lu Chengyan’s drink with aphrodisiacs. Lu Chengyan used his last ounce of willpower to beat off the fifth male lead and lay in his tent, trying to tough it out until dawn.
Just as he was being tormented into a delirious state by the drugs, Su Nuonuo suffered from night blindness and accidentally stumbled into Lu Chengyan’s tent—and then thunder struck fire!
Afterward, Lu Chengyan took the initiative to take responsibility for Su Nuonuo, but Su Nuonuo believed Lu Chengyan was also a victim and there was no need for responsibility.
Besides, he felt that someone like himself—who had served as a kept lover and sold his body—was not worthy of Lu Chengyan taking responsibility.
Yet Lu Chengyan insisted, showing meticulous care and attention to Su Nuonuo throughout the production.
Su Nuonuo was touched by his sincerity, but still suffered from low self-esteem and did not dare accept this love.
When Lu Chengyan expressed his love to him once again, Su Nuonuo confessed the truth about having been kept by Qin Yufeng, hoping Lu Chengyan would retreat in the face of difficulties.
Instead, Lu Chengyan said he did not mind, promising to pay back all the money Su Nuonuo had received from Qin Yufeng, help him resolve his debts, and establish a healthy romantic relationship.
Thus, Su Nuonuo fell in love with Lu Chengyan.
Meanwhile, Qin Yufeng—who had lost contact with Su Nuonuo for two months—finally realized his true feelings for him and rushed over to Su Nuonuo’s production set to confess.
As luck would have it, he walked right in on Su Nuonuo and Lu Chengyan in the middle of making passionate love!
The two male leads started a fierce brawl, while Su Nuonuo cried and screamed for them to stop fighting.
Su Nuonuo cried so hard his face was covered in pear blossoms washed by rain, filling both male leads with heartache. They stopped fighting to comfort Su Nuonuo.
Following that was a magnificent cycle of you love me, I do not love you, I will not allow you not to love me, I still love you in my heart but my mouth is stubborn, I know you still love him but I selfishly want to monopolize you, I cannot bear to see you sad so I will tell him you still love him, he and he reached a reconciliation, and he loves all of you…
In the end, Su Nuonuo had two husbands and many children.
Xia Yan read with relish. Unlike everyone else who only saw the abridged version, he could see all the details.
Even though the plot parts were transmitted into his brain in the form of text, they were written with exceptional vividness, detail, and a strong sense of imagery.
All kinds of play scenarios were super exciting—way more thrilling than any adult novel he had read while alive.
“Thrilling, way too thrilling,” he could not help exclaiming aloud.
At this point, the system interrupted him.
[Stop getting thrilled and get to work on the mission!]
[There is a natural attraction between the male leads and the shou, making them very prone to developing favorable impressions of each other. The plot has not started yet, so I suggest you pick a male lead to pursue as soon as possible.]
[The higher the male lead’s favorability toward you, the weaker the law of attraction becomes. Once favorability exceeds 70, the law of attraction completely disappears.]
[Additionally, you need to grind the favorability up to 100 to consider the mission complete.]
Xia Yan’s wide grin instantly vanished. Saying he would abandon his morals is one thing; actually doing it is entirely another.
Besides, those three are living so happily together; if he wedged himself in the middle, he would be considered a third wheel—oh wait, a fourth wheel.
“Little System, isn’t this behavior of ours considered ruining their family? Being a third or fourth wheel will get you scorned by everyone.”
[Novel settings are merely world trajectories, a kind of vague fatalism. None of it has actually happened yet.]
[Furthermore, the 1v2 setting does not conform to the primary world’s values. If you fail to complete the mission, this world will be purged.]
[We are not here to be a third wheel; we are here to save the world.]
Not a third wheel, but a savior of the world.
Put that way by the system, Xia Yan felt energized.
“Fine then, I guess I will just save this world.”
[Has the host decided which male lead to target?]
If he were just reading a novel, Xia Yan liked types like Qin Yufeng—lots of tricks in bed, a sharp tongue, tragic romance, and chasing his wife through a crematorium. But if he had to choose someone as a partner, Xia Yan preferred a normal person.
“Lu Chengyan.”
Right now, there was still a month before the plot began—meaning Su Nuonuo and Qin Yufeng would meet in a month, while he would meet Lu Chengyan four months later.
According to the rules of the law of attraction, targeting Lu Chengyan gave him more abundant time.
Xia Yan flipped through his memories. In half a month, he had a romance reality show appearance, and Lu Chengyan would be participating in it as well. It was a golden opportunity for him to target Lu Chengyan.
Before that, he needed to spruce himself up.
The “Xia Yan” in the novel was just a throwaway mob character. The novel’s description of him consisted of a single sentence:
— “Aside from a trending search about the black-red artist Xia Yan, everything else was dominated by Su Nuonuo’s name.”
Other than that, there was no other inkling of him.
In the plot, “Xia Yan” was just a background board, but after Xia Yan entered this world, he became a living, breathing person with his own trajectory of growth.
Xia Yan, 23 years old, an orphan who dropped out before finishing high school. He had laid bricks, tightened screws, and delivered takeout. At 18, he was scouted by a talent agent because of his exceptional looks.
Right at the start of his debut, he became a minor hit because of his tiny face. Later, because he had nothing else going for him besides his face, he struggled at the very bottom as an 18th-tier celebrity.
Having tasted a brief moment of fame, Xia Yan refused to settle for mediocrity and started taking the “black-red” (notorious) route. Bizarre styling was standard practice, and riding on other people’s coattails for clout was the norm; he belonged to the category of public nuisance pests in the entertainment industry.
Yet he genuinely had some hustle. After struggling for several years, he clawed his way up from the 18th tier into the 3rd tier, and his army of haters rivaled the fanbase of a 2nd-tier celebrity.
Xia Yan logged onto the social media app Weibo, took a glance, and silently logged back off.
After reading two private messages, his parents could practically roll over in their graves eighteen times.
Unless necessary, he really should not open this app again…
For now, he had better tidy up his appearance first.
Looking at the person in the mirror sporting a rainbow visual-kei spiky hairstyle and extra-heavy smokey eye makeup, Xia Yan silently washed his face, picked a low-key outfit from the wardrobe, and headed to the barbershop and shopping mall.
Two hours later, when he returned home, the vibrant delinquent had been glowed up into an ethereal fairy.
In the bathroom mirror:
The rainbow spiky hair had been replaced by textured fringe bangs, with a few soft wisps hanging gracefully over his forehead. His small face looked fair, clean, and refreshing, giving off a gentle and harmless vibe.
He wore only a simple white shirt, with the top two buttons left unbuttoned, revealing a silver-white chest chain faintly glinting underneath, the absolute pinnacle of pure desire aesthetic.
Xia Yan was a homebody who hid at home reading novels right after work and rarely went out unless necessary, but he certainly knew how to style himself. Just like his older sister used to say, having a face like that should not be wasted.
Looking at himself in the mirror, his acting itch flared up. He slightly pursed his light-colored lips and asked softly, “Chengyan-ge, my chest hurts. Can you help me check if I got hurt?”
The system’s non-existent body shivered, and it could not help speaking up:
[I never expected someone with such big, bright eyes to turn out to be this kind of person.]
Xia Yan retorted: “Mind your own business. I am doing the mission for you, yet you are still gossiping behind my back.”
[This system refuses to be gaslit. You are doing the mission for your own precious life, just so you know.]
Xia Yan spread his hands: “If that is how you want to think about it, there is nothing I can do.”