This Video Is Going to Go Viral!

"..."

Lin Baici stared at the message, unsure how to reply.

Aside from studying, he usually read novels, played ball, or played games. He didn't chat with girls much, so he had no idea how to handle a girl like Jin Yingzhen.

And that selfie from the Goryeo girl—she was wearing way too little.

Was I really allowed to see this for free?

Countess of Monte Cristo: I feel like I've gotten thinner from being hungry these past two days. What do you think?

"Is she asking me to rate her figure?"

Lin Baici considered it. "Usually, this is when you compliment her, right?"

Countess of Monte Cristo: These past two days, I went to the embassy and visited a few aunts and uncles. I finally got my passport and ID taken care of, but I'm completely exhausted.

Countess of Monte Cristo: That Merit Buddha is just the worst. Next time I see it, I'm going to smash its head in and steal its Alms Box.

Lin Returns Under the Moon: I'll help!

Jin Yingzhen stared at the simple message and sighed.

Oppa, you really don't know how to chat!

No wonder you're so handsome but still single!

But the Goryeo girl soon cheered up again. It meant Oppa didn't interact with women much and was still an innocent young man.

"Let Big Sis help you gain some experience!"

Jin Yingzhen raised her phone, found the right angle, and snapped a selfie.

Mm!

Not bad!

Two-thirds of the photo was taken up by her snug, rounded tank top.

Was this maybe a little too provocative?

Jin Yingzhen tapped send.

"..."

Lin Baici wanted to cry. Could she please stop testing his moral resolve?

He really was going to save it!

Countess of Monte Cristo: Oppa, what's fun and what's tasty in Guangqing City?

When a girl asked that, she was definitely hoping the guy would show her around.

Fortunately, Lin Baici wasn't completely hopeless when it came to reading people. Besides, they'd been through life and death together in the God Ruins, so he considered Jin Yingzhen a friend.

As a local, he ought to show the Goryeo girl around and make her feel welcome.

In truth, a small third-tier city held no appeal for a chaebol heiress like Jin Yingzhen, who traveled all over the world.

She'd stayed purely to get closer to Lin Baici and recruit him to her country.

For the next five days, Lin Baici accompanied her everywhere.

Jin Yingzhen treated Lin Baici, the man who'd saved her life, with great respect. She was also highly perceptive, and whenever she took the initiative to look after him, she made him feel genuinely cared for.

Inside the rotating Ferris Wheel at the amusement park.

"Oppa, what do you think? Have you started to like me?"

Jin Yingzhen sat opposite Lin Baici, holding an ice cream in both hands and taking small bites. Her eyes stayed fixed on him.

"Even if I did, you'd be going back to your country."

Lin Baici smiled faintly.

He'd had a wonderful time these past few days.

"You could come back with me!"

Jin Yingzhen made the invitation sound casual, but her heart was in her throat.

Lin Baici shook his head.

Korea?

What would I go to that country for?

Eat kimchi every day?

And I don't even speak the language.

Wait!

I have Eidetic Memory, so the language wouldn't be a problem. In half a year at most, I'd be speaking as fluently as a local.

Jin Yingzhen felt a little disappointed. As expected, Lin Baici looked down on her country.

She didn't bring up recruiting him to go back and work as a God Hunter again.

Although her brother had promised to give him the rank of lieutenant, Lin Baici might think she was trying to trick him.

After all, he had no idea how powerful her brother was.

The Ferris Wheel completed a full rotation and stopped.

Lin Baici got off and stretched.

"Oppa!"

Jin Yingzhen gazed at the sunset. "If there were a job that paid a million a year, would you take it?"

"Yingzhen, what about me do you think is worth a million?"

From the way the Goryeo girl spent money these past few days, Lin Baici could tell she was extraordinarily wealthy.

He didn't know that Jin Yingzhen's brother wanted to recruit him. He thought she was bringing up the salary as an excuse to give him money and repay him.

"Your looks, your courage, your physique, your potential..."

Jin Yingzhen counted them off on her fingers, listing them one by one.

Lin Baici had never been praised so much by a girl. He felt a little embarrassed. "All right, stop thinking about repaying me. We're friends, so don't stand on ceremony!"

Lin Baici walked Jin Yingzhen back to her hotel, then took the bus home.

The Goryeo girl had wanted to buy him dinner, but Lin Baici declined.

He couldn't accept a girl paying for him, but he was too broke to cover the bill himself.

Over the past few days, he'd bought tickets and snacks himself and treated Jin Yingzhen to meals.

He'd burned through 760 yuan of the pocket money he'd saved up.

"No wonder chasing girls costs so much!"

Lin Baici figured that if he hadn't saved Jin Yingzhen's life, the two of them would never have gotten along.

Their family circumstances were just too different.

The two face masks Jin Yingzhen used every day cost more than Lin Baici could afford with a whole month's living expenses.

"I really need to start making money."

After dinner, Lin Baici washed the dishes and returned to his bedroom.

He turned on his computer, logged into Bilibili, and checked the stats.

His first cover, "The Brightest Star in the Night Sky," had passed ten thousand views, with five hundred danmu comments and over a hundred regular comments.

The second one, "Li Auto's Thirties," was doing a little worse, with only a dozen or so comments.

Lin Baici went through them one by one.

"Folk songs can be sung with this kind of vibe? It feels weird."

"Distinctive voice. Keep it up!"

"My love is dead. Listening to the uploader sing this, I'm not moved, and I don't even want to chase that girl anymore. I just want to become a monk. Amitabha!"

Most of the comments said that the uploader had a distinctive voice, but that his song choices were average.

Flower Blooms in the Fields: Folk music is niche and has a certain cachet. It's easy to attract fans, but you need to make it your own. Keep it up!

Flower Blooms in the Fields: I think you have great lung capacity. How about trying whistle notes?

Flower Blooms in the Fields: Why haven't you posted another cover? You have to stick with it to see results. You may not have had a great start, but I believe things will turn out well.

There weren't many comments in total, but Flower Blooms in the Fields had posted quite a few. Lin Baici spotted them immediately.

She was the first fan to follow him.

Lin Baici clicked into her profile. She was a girl, but there wasn't much information there.

Flower Blooms in the Fields: Have you given up?

Disappointing!

She'd posted that comment that afternoon.

Lin Baici had been busy spending time with Jin Yingzhen these past few days, and the lukewarm response to his covers had dampened his enthusiasm too.

"Thank you!"

"I won't give up!"

Lin Baici lay on his bed and reconsidered this path.

Singing like this clearly wasn't working. Should he make comedy videos instead?

He didn't have the talent for that!

Lin Baici watched the danmu comments and messages over and over.

There were some users who said he couldn't sing, but not many. Most comments focused on his distinctive voice, the strange atmosphere, and the mismatch between his voice and the songs.

"Folk music doesn't work, and I don't really like rock. So what should I sing?"

Lin Baici grabbed his hair with both hands.

This was so frustrating!

Maybe he should just chant scriptures!

Huh?

Lin Baici suddenly sat up.

Sanskrit Chants and Buddhist Sounds was related to Buddhism in the first place. Maybe chanting scriptures would actually complement it?

Worth a try!

Even if it failed, all he'd lose was a little time!

Lin Baici turned on his computer and searched for scripture-chanting songs, but found very few.

He searched for some sutras too, and finally chose the Heart Sutra.

It expounded on the five aggregates, the three divisions, the Four Noble Truths, and the twelve links of dependent origination. It taught the Buddhist principle that all things were empty by nature, and held that prajna—the great wisdom—could deliver one from all suffering, lead to ultimate nirvana, and attain enlightenment.

Master Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty had translated the sutra, but Lin Baici planned to sing the Sanskrit version. He had Eidetic Memory anyway, so he could learn it after hearing it once.

Easy!

More importantly, Sanskrit had a certain cachet!

Lin Baici found a Sanskrit version of the Heart Sutra, listened to it twice, and learned it. Then he found a relatively ethereal, light instrumental track with a rich natural feel to use as the accompaniment. Finally, he activated Sanskrit Chants and Buddhist Sounds and began recording.

It was after nine at night, so Lin Baici didn't dare sing too loudly. Besides, he didn't think a scripture-chanting video was likely to go viral, so he didn't take it too seriously.

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva,

while practicing the profound Prajnaparamita,

perceived that the five aggregates were empty,

and crossed beyond all suffering and hardship,

Lin Baici finished recording and listened to it once. It sounded pretty good.

He imported the audio onto his computer, added two pictures of Buddha Statues, edited it, and—

uploaded it.

Just as he was about to hit publish, Lin Baici suddenly had a mischievous idea. Maybe using a picture of Muscle Buddha as the background would make it more eye-catching.

Knock, knock!

Mom Lin tapped on the door and came in. "Baici, get to bed early. I have the day off tomorrow, so I'll take you to buy a few things to wear. Think about what else you need and make a list."

There were less than ten days left before he had to report to university.

"There's no need to buy clothes. The ones I have are still wearable!"

Lin Baici knew his family wasn't well-off and didn't want to waste money.

"You're going to university and meeting a whole new group of people. You ought to have a few nice outfits!"

Mom Lin didn't let him argue. She didn't want her son to feel inferior at university.

Lin Baici was very busy over the next few days.

Besides shopping for clothes and packing, classmates he was close with invited him out every day for one last get-together.

Playing games, hiking, reading comics...

And walking along the streets while eating popsicles.

In those final days, Lin Baici even received WeChat messages from several girls in his class, asking him to go to the movies.

This surprised Lin Baici. He wasn't invisible in class, but he wasn't at the center of any social circle either, and he didn't talk much with the girls.

"Looks like I'm actually pretty popular."

Lin Baici didn't know that if he'd been a little bolder and confessed to one of them, he could have started several relationships over the summer after graduation and even had his first kiss.

After all, Lin Baici was tall, with fair skin and very good looks.

Hua Yueyu and Jin Yingzhen also messaged him often to keep in touch. The Goryeo girl especially always opened with a selfie and the line, "Was I allowed to see this for free?"

Lin Baici was busy. Aside from occasionally checking the video of him chanting the Heart Sutra, he didn't have time to pay it much attention.

The view count was growing very slowly, after all. In the days just before university registration, he stopped logging into his account altogether.

So he had no idea that, after a week of gaining traction, the video's reputation was steadily improving, and its replay and save rates were astonishingly high.