Dad, Please Let Me Stan You Alone!

Kiriwake Yayoi hurriedly nodded at that. Letting out a sigh of relief, she followed behind the other girl through the downpour, step by step. Only when they were about to reach Xu Ling did she remember the culprit behind this "tragedy."

Though things had taken a few twists and turns, meeting a fan willing to wait for her in the rain was, no matter what, something moving and worthy of gratitude.

Separated by a rain curtain as dense as fog, the Little Idol from the Island Nation bowed seriously to Xu Ling and replied:

"Thank you so much for your support. I'll definitely work hard at the Competition Venue, but please hurry and find shelter from the rain!"

Xu Ling was so excited she felt as if she were walking on cotton. Nothing moved a fangirl more than mutual devotion. She replied in a flustered jumble, her eyes shining as she watched them leave. Then, with fervent seriousness, she raised her camera and captured their hazy silhouettes.

The image frozen in the camera was beautiful.

Amid the drizzling rain, they shared a single umbrella, standing close together. Water splashed from the edges of their heels and ripples spread outward. Their reflections shimmered in a clear puddle, while the filter drew out a few strands of soft daylight, making the refracted images seem to blend into one. The atmosphere was perfect.

Best of all, both of them were dragging heavy suitcases. When the wheels rolled over the puddle, the two tracks they left behind would eventually ruin the original reflection.

But in the frozen frame, the reflections remained entwined.

Paired with the Talent Show and the fact that they were both contestants, even a little imagination made it feel full of story potential. Before the CP had even been established, it had already gained a layer of illusory, dreamlike buff. It practically added a few points of BE Aesthetics.

Damn, wouldn't people ship themselves to death if she posted this?

Please, don't let these two get eliminated in the first round!

At the entrance.

Chu Yuanqing wrinkled her delicate nose and sneezed. She had a bad feeling.

Could this show be a trap?

The girl immediately cheered up. As she followed the staff member, she cautiously looked around.

Apart from the scattered contestants along the way, she could also see makeup artists and photography teams from Entertainment Companies, as well as several grave-faced managers. Most of them anxiously paced back and forth or made urgent phone calls, seemingly discussing something. The atmosphere was rather strange.

After thinking it over, Chu Yuanqing put it out of her mind.

She had carefully studied the employment contract before. As long as there were no criminals among the show's upper management, the first month's salary would definitely arrive before the middle of the following month.

As for everything else, she had no plans to debut anyway, and she did not have much longer to live. What was there to care about?

With that thought, she continued forward.

The Competition Venue was different from what she had imagined. It was not directly located in the current area. They first had to pass through a spacious hall, cross a dense cluster of recording studios, then enter a reinforced-glass shaft elevator. After a long three-minute ride, they reached some distant underground area.

After that came a far stricter inspection system than expected. All electronic devices had to be handed over to the Program Group for safekeeping, while advanced medical examination equipment precisely extracted the contestants' physical data and entered it into the show's database.

This differed enormously from the Talent Show rules she had researched online.

Chu Yuanqing successfully used magic to sneak her backup phone through, so she was not worried about keeping in touch with her daughter later.

But the luxurious underground facilities and vast space, the exceptionally realistic virtual weather system, all kinds of flashy yet exquisite technological creations, and the nanocameras distributed through the air that she had sensed through experience and intuition...

Every detail felt subtly off.

Rather than the Competition Venue for a Talent Show, it was more like a National Level special training camp—or an advanced underground research institute.

Had she become disconnected from this era because she had always been busy working and spent even her fragmented free time spacing out? Or had some minor error occurred when she corrected the Worldline in the past?

Otherwise, by Common Sense, even if this was an idol Talent Show on the scale of the Global Project, there was no reason for just one regional Competition Venue to be built to such high specifications.

Chu Yuanqing stepped down from the open-top clean-energy vehicle. Confusion filled her exquisite, adorable face as she blankly hugged the newly issued clothes and looked up at the towering building before her, thoughts churning in her mind.

—Room 403, Building F.

That was the dormitory location the staff had told her.

Kiriwake Yayoi's dormitory area was elsewhere. It was hard to imagine just how vast the surrounding space truly was.

This intricately constructed giant project reminded her of the era crushed beneath the apocalypse.

Back then, the Seed Base that had taken on the task of researching Calamity Beasts had been a similar building, only far more magnificent.

Chu Yuanqing stopped thinking about it. She swiped her card to take the elevator inside the building to the fourth floor. After knocking on the dorm room door a few times and receiving no response, she went inside and put down her suitcase.

Afterward, she changed into the contestant uniform, which resembled yoga wear, then returned to the energy vehicle downstairs. Taking the shaft elevator she had used on the way in, she returned to the giant recording studio on the floor above.

This was the Waiting Room where contestants gathered to await official instructions.

Outside the doors was grand decoration and cold, hard color tones.

Inside was a lively crowd and a vibrant scene.

These trainees were all in the prime of their youth. Every one of them was fresh-faced and beautiful, with striking features, covering nearly ninety percent of the styles and elements found in the Chinese Entertainment Industry.

Many of them remembered the essence of variety shows. Even without knowing whether cameras were nearby, they had already begun using every possible method to make themselves stand out. It was a case of each displaying their own talents.

Chu Yuanqing only wanted to blend into the crowd. She had no interest in fighting a bunch of young girls for camera time, so she had deliberately timed her entrance for the middle of the pack. Now, she headed straight for a seat in the corner, her resolve firm.

But in the next instant, a familiar voice fell upon her ears, stopping her in her tracks.

"Um, you're contestant number 370 from the auditions, right?"

That voice sounded a little like Xiao Shu?

Just as some ominous thoughts sprang into Chu Yuanqing's mind, she secretly shook her head and smiled with confidence.

It was only a coincidence.

She had raised her daughter with her own hands. Naturally, she knew that her obedient and sensible daughter would never join this sort of Talent Show.

As for being approached, it was not anything worth caring about.

Ever since becoming a Magical Girl, strangers would strike up conversations with her whenever she walked down the street. Even when riding the subway, people would ask for her contact information nearly a hundred times. She had long since mastered the art of dealing with flirtatious approaches.

Chu Yuanqing curved her lips into a standard, distant smile, ready to brush the person off.

But the instant she turned around, her thoughts melted away.

The girl wore a neat, spirited ponytail. She had the superior looks of an aloof beauty, and with her slender waist, long legs, and graceful curves, she was undoubtedly beautiful enough to become a trainee idol.

She looked exactly like the daughter Chu Yuanqing had just been certain would never join a Talent Show.

—Chu Wangshu.

Volume One: Sea of Truth, Just as Expected of You.

Inside the Waiting Room.

Father and daughter stared at each other in silence.

Chu Yuanqing's overloaded brain had already regained its calm.

From a broadly rational perspective, the probability of Xiao Shu joining this Talent Show and actively approaching me is infinitely close to zero.

So there is only one answer!

Chu Yuanqing stared at that familiar face with a grave expression and fell into deep thought.

It seemed that even after changing Life Form, the curse of the Sea of Truth was still increasing day by day. Hallucinations that had previously appeared only once every three days had arrived a day early this time.

But it was fine. Based on past experience, she would disappear soon.

Thinking this, Chu Yuanqing ignored the girl behind her who had approached her and continued walking forward.

At this moment.

Chu Wangshu's mind was full of question marks.

Eh, why is she ignoring me? Did she not hear me? But she clearly looked at me!

To figure it out, she moved her long legs, stepped closer, and tentatively greeted her again:

"Hi? Um, can you hear me?"

Chu Yuanqing remained unmoved and continued walking forward.

Compared to the Calamity Beast onslaughts, earthquakes and tsunamis, comrades dying tragic deaths, lovers taking their own lives, and cities falling apart that she had experienced in the past, this embarrassing hallucination of meeting her daughter on a Talent Show stage after changing sex was naturally not worth mentioning.

Right, not worth mentioning!

Mm, so someone was ignored completely and thoroughly.

She really didn't see me? I don't believe it. I'll try again!

As if her stubborn streak had been provoked, Chu Wangshu quickly overtook her. On the path the other girl had to take, she crouched down like a puppy and served as a roadblock.

Chu Yuanqing frowned, feeling that something was wrong.

This illusion could perfectly recreate her daughter's cuteness?

Sea of Truth, just as expected of you.

Chu Yuanqing neither dodged nor stopped, continuing forward.

And then...

With a thud, her thigh bumped into something hard.

Chu Yuanqing silently lowered her eyes and looked at someone's foolish appearance as she clutched her head. For a moment, her mind went blank, as though she heard a series of crackling shatters.

Her pupils trembled uncontrollably. Her face looked calm, but the little person in her mind had already been struck by lightning and was slowly cracking apart.

Though the Sea of Truth's curse was highly realistic, with the resilience of her soul, she would never be deceived into losing her sense of touch until the very end of her life.

Therefore, this roadblocking puppy.

No, this roadblocking child was truly her daughter, not some false illusion.

Chu Yuanqing wore no expression. Her eyes were hollow and unfocused as she tried to escape this cruel reality.

Sometimes, an adult's collapse and despair came without a sound.

Chu Wangshu did not notice the drastic shift in the other girl's emotions at all. Confused, she muttered softly:

"You're so weird. You still can't see me even like this?"

Chu Yuanqing returned to reality at those words, a little annoyed.

Even if my actions were indeed suspicious and strange, isn't it too rude to say it outright? Is that how I taught you?

But she did not linger on that detail for long. Instead, she realized a serious problem.

—Why was Xiao Shu here?!

This child was only seventeen. Theoretically, entering a show like this definitely required parental consent.

Even she herself had only been able to sign up independently because her transformation, an Unknown-Class superpower, came with causal correction and completion. It had automatically added a history for someone named Chu Yuanqing into the world and given her identification proving she was an orphan.

Otherwise, entering the auditions while wearing the body of a minor would have been troublesome.

But Xiao Shu was different. This child had definitely lied to the Program Group!

Chu Yuanqing's little face immediately became incomparably stern.

Chu Wangshu looked at the scene strangely and muttered in her heart:

"This person's face changes so fast. Did she study Sichuan opera?"

And...

For some reason, even though that childish, adorable face had no intimidation factor no matter how stern it looked, the moment Chu Wangshu saw that expression, she inexplicably shivered and felt extraordinarily guilty.

Chu Yuanqing came back to herself. Looking down at her, she asked faintly:

"Are you a student?"

She spoke!

Her voice was cold yet soft and sweet. It sounded so good! I love hearing it!

Chu Wangshu did not notice anything wrong at all. She stood up, nodded repeatedly, and said:

"Mm-hmm."

Chu Yuanqing asked in return:

"Don't you need to attend class?"

Chu Wangshu blinked and said proudly:

"I've already been admitted through recommendation. To Haidu Art University."

Chu Yuanqing felt proud as well. She first praised her gently, then changed the subject.

"That's amazing. Then do your family members know that you came here?"