Even Bad Publicity Is Publicity

Cao Ying was no good person, but he had managed to establish himself in the industry because he had a sharp eye.

The moment he saw Gu Shiyan's looks, he decided Gu Shiyan was bound to become famous. He pulled strings everywhere to bring Gu Shiyan under his wing, then signed an agency contract with him in the name of repaying his debts.

The contract was harsh. It stated that before Gu Shiyan repaid the agreed debt in full, principal and interest included, he could not terminate the contract unilaterally. If he breached it, he would have to pay double the debt.

Gu Shiyan had only just debuted and had only recently landed the variety show Soul Shocker. His first payment had gone straight into the company account, a mere drop in the bucket compared to his debt.

He knew Cao Ying was no good person, but the contract had him bound hand and foot. For now, he could only grit his teeth and endure it.

Chu Tian knew that contract had been made purely to trap Gu Shiyan. Not only were its terms outrageously harsh, but the debt had even been set at a nine-figure sum.

Its interest rate was enough to make even loan sharks ashamed of themselves.

In the original novel, Gu Shiyan had been ground down under Cao Ying for three years before he barely managed to pay it off. He got up before dawn and worked until late at night, joining production crews, appearing on variety shows, and rushing between commercial events. He slept less than four hours a day, never took a day off all year, and was once named the hardest worker in domestic entertainment.

Those three years of nonstop work had also ruined Gu Shiyan's health, leaving him with countless old injuries and ailments.

Worst of all, the result of everything he had struggled through over those three years was merely paying off one creditor.

There were many more creditors like that.

The original novel had been tagged as a feel-good story, but Chu Tian had only found the male lead's fate full of twists and turns—tragic and agonizing, with nothing satisfying about it at all.

Watching him struggle through the entertainment industry, from an ordinary person burdened with enormous debts and a ruined family to standing at the pinnacle of the industry as an internationally renowned superstar, seemed to make it somewhat worthy of that tag.

But in reality, he had struggled for ten years and only barely paid off all his debts after reaching the very top.

Rather than a story of hard work, it was more like a history written in blood and tears.

When Chu Tian had read the novel, his feelings toward the fictional character had not been that strong.

But now, Gu Shiyan was sitting alive and well right in front of him. Whenever Chu Tian thought of all the suffering he had endured, he could not stop himself from feeling sad.

"I..."

Chu Tian hesitated, wanting to say that he could ask his brother for help and lend the money to Gu Shiyan, at least to get him out from under Cao Ying's control first.

But before the words could leave his mouth, he rejected the idea himself. Gu Shiyan did not need anyone's sympathy or pity.

More importantly, this was a small world that existed because of a book. Chu Tian was not sure whether interfering at the very beginning and drastically changing the protagonist's established main storyline would cause the world to collapse.

"I'll be careful." Gu Shiyan seemed to understand Chu Tian's conflict and, unusually, took the initiative to reassure him. "I know exactly what kind of person he is. I'll find a way to get out as soon as possible."

Rather than feeling reassured, Chu Tian looked at Gu Shiyan with even more pity.

No wonder Gu Shiyan worked tirelessly every day and went three years without a proper night's sleep. It seemed it was not entirely due to Cao Ying's oppression—he had also been desperately draining himself because he wanted to escape him sooner.

Still, this beginning was much better than in the original novel. Gu Shiyan had successfully joined Soul Shocker without encountering any further setbacks. Did that mean his path ahead would become smoother and smoother too?

"That's good." Mindful of Gu Shiyan's pride, Chu Tian did not say much else. He only made his stance clear with conviction. "I believe you'll definitely achieve what you want."

*

Because neither Gu Shiyan nor Chu Tian had responded to the public discourse, and because paid commenters had tirelessly steered the narrative, more and more people began questioning whether they were fake lovers putting on an act to fool the audience.

The uproar online did not trouble Chu Tian at all. After getting a full night's sleep and enjoying a good meal, he went to work that evening in a rather good mood.

Today was the final day of filming for the first episode. After two days of getting used to each other, the guests—aside from Qian Feihe—were getting along harmoniously and gradually immersing themselves in their scripted roles. The show finally became a little more interesting.

Thanks to the attention that had fermented overnight, Chu Tian received many concerned looks when he arrived at the filming location.

The director had no principles whatsoever. What he loved most was riding the wave of attention; even bad publicity was publicity.

While netizens focused on the negative trending topic, Li Yu energetically promoted the show through the production team's official account, successfully drawing in plenty of attention.

Before today's livestream had even begun, many passersby had already gathered in the stream to watch the spectacle, and its popularity soared.

Li Yu was grinning from ear to ear. The heated way he looked at the two of them gave Chu Tian goosebumps.

Qian Feihe, meanwhile, could barely contain his excitement. The occasional looks he cast at Chu Tian and Gu Shiyan were as cold and sinister as a venomous snake's, making people deeply uncomfortable.

Once the livestream began, Qian Feihe completely changed his slacking, defeatist attitude from the previous two days. He actively joined the evidence search and interacted with the other guests, clearly hoping to use this chance to turn things around and improve his reputation.

Unfortunately, he had offended every guest over the first two episodes. Even when he took the initiative to interact with them, he received little useful response. Everyone remained distant toward him, maintaining superficial friendliness while actually treating him like a stranger and refusing to engage.

Qian Feihe's expression changed several times. Remembering his agent's repeated instructions—that whether he could use Gu Shiyan to gain more traffic depended on today's livestream performance—he ultimately held back the urge to lose his temper.

As the script progressed, the secrets of the manor gradually revealed themselves before everyone.

The master, who appeared to be a great philanthropist, was actually a madman fanatically devoted to an evil god.

Chu Tian found a hidden door in the study. He followed a ladder down into the dim basement, where a thick stench of blood hit him head-on and nearly knocked him off his feet.

The basement walls were lined with grotesquely shaped lamps that cast a red glow. Faintly visible on the floor was a complex, bizarre pattern drawn in red liquid.

At the center stood a pool of roughly five square meters, filled to the brim with an unknown dark-red liquid. Above it was a shrine altar, upon which sat a blood-red niche containing an unknown black statue.

According to the clues found in Master Huai's safe, he called the statue the "Red Lotus Spirit God"—something that did not exist within any known pantheon.

Master Huai funded three orphanages and was a well-known domestic philanthropist, but hidden behind that was the disappearance of one child every year.

When the director announced the end of the evidence-searching period, Chu Tian seemed to have been left stunned by the basement scene and had yet to recover.

The third day's evidence search was individual, and the guests had the right to choose whether to share their evidence with anyone else.

After the search ended, the guests would vote for the suspect they considered most suspicious. Each person had only one chance.

Even though he knew every setting had been arranged by the production team, Chu Tian was still so frightened by the deliberately crafted horror atmosphere that his hands and feet turned icy cold, his little face deathly pale.

Gu Shiyan noticed something was wrong with him immediately. Frowning, he walked over to Chu Tian and was just about to ask what was wrong when he heard a string of gibberish.

[%!%#...%&...@%￥#%*&((￥%...%@...]

Gu Shiyan: "..."