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The entire sky garden became a dazzling, multicolored holographic stage filled with dystopian imagery.

Meng Feixuan stood in the middle of the stage, every light shining for him, everyone's eyes following his movements.

Yet he looked only at Xie Ran. "The world is fake. I'm real."

"Sir, I'll accompany you across all time and space."

The boy looked so real that, if they had not watched the light form him with their own eyes, the guests would have suspected he truly existed.

After he finished speaking, his fingers began to strum, and the electronic guitar sounded. The metallic notes seemed to carry an electric current, unexpectedly matching the futuristic light and shadows perfectly.

It was a song no one had ever heard before. Its melody was incredibly catchy, instantly gripping the entire audience's attention.

Xie Ran could not help but laugh softly.

As Meng Feixuan underwent Deep Learning, he gradually became dissatisfied with merely learning human behavior. He decided to challenge himself to learn human emotions as well. One of his assignments was to study music's effect on human feelings, and he resolved to create a song that could move Xie Ran.

This song was Meng Feixuan's assignment.

Xie Ran had not actually been moved by it at the time, but he made the song Zhuzi Technology's advertising theme song as encouragement for his system.

Now, hearing that familiar melody in another time and space, Xie Ran instead felt an unfamiliar emotion, something that could perhaps be called wistfulness.

Meng Feixuan's performance was even more stunning. Every movement and every sung phrase was exactly right, nearly achieving a kind of ultimate perfection.

At that moment, everyone was immersed in his performance.

Before such an exquisite audiovisual feast, no one remembered the video Fang Huiwang had played earlier.

Most infuriatingly, after Meng Feixuan finished singing, he puffed out his cheeks and said regretfully, "Today's performance was perfect too. It didn't seem human at all!"

Fang Huiwang nearly coughed up blood on the spot.

He really had been offended!

After a week of closed recording sessions, Xie Ran returned to the studio and began handling the work that had piled up during that time.

"Quest Technology's latest valuation for Meng Feixuan is 1.2 billion yuan. This offer is twice the valuation of the highest-valued virtual idol currently on the market, and Quest has also promised extremely generous joint operating terms." His manager, Guan Shunan, looked delighted. "I think we can agree to work with them."

Xie Ran showed little reaction. He tapped two fingers lightly against the desk. "No. The offer is too low."

If Meng Feixuan's core code had not contained ethical rules forbidding harm to humans, that offer would probably have made him hack Quest's internal system.

"That's still low?" Guan Shunan's eyes widened in shock, and she immediately grew anxious. "Xiao Ran, Meng Feixuan is excellent, yes, but we can't ask for the moon. Do you know that some companies have already expressed dissatisfaction with us lately?"

"It doesn't matter." Xie Ran seemed to see no issue with it. "This is a business partnership, not a social gathering. I have no obligation to satisfy them."

Guan Shunan was briefly speechless. The problem was that he had made them far too dissatisfied; there was simply no way to continue negotiating like this.

After quite a while, she continued trying to persuade him earnestly. "Xiao Ran, I may not understand virtual idol technology very well, but I know these things aren't irreplaceable. We can't keep Meng Feixuan clutched in our hands forever."

"Bullshit! I'm irreplaceable!" Meng Feixuan could not help snorting.

Xie Ran touched his earlobe. His ear felt a little itchy.

"Meng Feixuan is irreplaceable," he said.

"..." Guan Shunan wanted to speak but stopped herself. She felt that Xie Ran had become extremely forceful since the beginning of the year, especially after Meng Feixuan's release. Even if she did not agree with his decision, she did not dare argue with him and could only say resentfully, "Quest Technology has made it clear that this is their final offer."

The implication was that if Xie Ran Studio still refused, the partnership would end.

And the offers from other companies were even worse than Quest's.

Xie Ran remained unmoved. "Put it aside for now."

Guan Shunan had no choice but to move on to the next matter.

She opened a report and pushed it toward Xie Ran, saying coldly, "Lately, a lot of voices reminiscing about the Wangran CP have suddenly appeared across all major platforms. Many marketing accounts have taken the lead in reposting old Wangran moments from the Tomorrow's Star period to educate younger newcomers in fandom circles. They've not only stirred up the old Wangran fans, but also attracted many new ones."

The report contained data related to Xie Ran from media platforms across the country. It showed that while Xie Ran had been recording the program, the CP data for him and Fang Huiwang had risen explosively.

Marketing accounts across Weibo, WeChat, and gossip forums had posted one after another, reminiscing about the era when the Wangran CP was hugely popular. They called it the original domestic celebrity CP and, taking advantage of Xie Ran and Fang Huiwang working together again ten years later, began anticipating new sweet moments between them.

At the same time, large amounts of Wangran CP fan content had suddenly appeared on fanfiction and video sites. High-quality fanfiction and edited videos were pushed to the front pages, drawing in many newcomers who had previously been unfamiliar with Wangran to enjoy their sweet moments together.

The Wangran interactions during Tomorrow's Star had undoubtedly been extremely moving. Combined with Wangran working together again recently, marketing accounts kept exclaiming that their feelings had transcended time.

In just a short time, the Wangran CP swept across the internet. Not only had the old Wangran fans from back then come back to life on the spot, but many newcomers had also been drawn in. While Xie Ran was recording the program, "Wangran" actually surpassed several CPs that had exploded in popularity over the past two years to top Weibo's CP rankings, and its popularity on major fan sites continued to rise.

"Someone is obviously hyping this CP." Guan Shunan laughed in anger. "Has Fang Huiwang flopped? Is he really that desperate to throw himself at you?"

But that was what made this sort of thing so disgusting. Everyone knew what was going on, yet they could neither issue a statement nor openly clarify matters. Otherwise, they would look petty and offend a huge number of CP fans.

"The best way to break this situation is to leak some material about another CP of yours and muddy the waters. Unfortunately, you never even hype dating rumors, so when it matters, you don't even have another CP." Guan Shunan sounded rather regretful.