Only then did Sheng Nian look up at them, recalling the future the system had just shown him.
Jiang Shu was a top celebrity in this world, while He Gu was a young star with a huge following who had shot to fame playing the tragic fourth male lead in a historical fantasy drama about immortals.
He himself had entered the entertainment industry to chase after Jiang Shu and had never properly managed his career. The entire internet mocked him as an empty-headed pretty face with nothing but good looks.
A few days earlier, after learning that Jiang Shu and He Gu were joining the same dating reality show, he had immediately pulled his family's strings to get himself onto it too.
Today was supposed to be the first day of filming. He had stopped He Gu backstage and asked him, "Didn't you say before that you didn't like Jiang Shu?"
He Gu had said nothing, and he had grown agitated. "You know perfectly well that Jiang Shu and I grew up together, that I've always liked him, and that we're engaged. How can you like him? Are you trying to be a homewrecker, He Gu?"
He Gu had finally spoken. "Sheng Nian, no one can control their feelings."
"What do you mean, you can't control them? Aren't you just stealing my fiancé? Are you really that cheap?"
He Gu had remained soft-spoken. "Sheng Nian, I've never thought of taking anything from you. You shouldn't come to me about matters of the heart. You should go to Jiang Shu. If he doesn't like you, nothing I do will make a difference."
After a pause, he had added, "Besides, Jiang Shu told me you two aren't engaged. He isn't your fiancé."
"How could you not know whether we're engaged? Didn't you come to our house to see your mother that day and see our engagement banquet?"
Thinking back now, all he remembered was his final remark: "Even if I threw away what's mine, I wouldn't give it to you. He Gu, if you keep pestering Jiang Shu, don't blame me for making sure you can't survive in this industry!"
After saying that, he had felt his chest suddenly tighten. Once he had fainted, the unreliable 01100 System had spoiled what would happen next.
As for what had happened after he fainted, judging by Jiang Shu's current behavior, it could only have been He Gu spouting more of his fake-innocent lines, such as "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have joined the show with you," "Maybe I should withdraw. This is all my fault," or "Don't fight again because of me."
Even Sheng Nian thought it was absurdly melodramatic as he recalled it. Had this really been the sort of guy he used to like? Had such clumsy fake-innocent tricks really turned the whole internet against him?
He felt his vision darken and wished he could travel back to before he came of age and give his past self two hard slaps for insisting on the engagement, just to knock some sense into him.
"Sheng Nian, I used to think everything you did was just because you'd been spoiled and were a little headstrong. But you really went too far this time. How could you frame someone? How have you turned into this?"
Jiang Shu was still lecturing him.
The last thing Sheng Nian wanted now was to act out some melodramatic plot with these two lunatics, much less become someone else's stepping stone.
Before he could say, "Both of you, get the hell out," an electronic alarm blared in his head, accompanied by the words [Warning! Warning!].
01100: [Please don't act out of character, host~ This is your first warning. Another offense will activate the punishment protocol. You wouldn't want to find out what the punishment entails~]
Sheng Nian: "...=_="
"So I just have to keep putting up with this?"
[A friendly reminder from Xiao Ling: the Male Supporting Character Self-Salvation Progress is currently 0%. You need to maintain your persona of being hopelessly in love with the top male lead~ The higher your rescue progress, the more freedom you'll have~ Keep working hard, host~]
Listening to the bizarre singsong lilt at the end of every sentence from 01100, Sheng Nian took a deep breath and suppressed the urge to swear.
It was just acting. Who couldn't do that?
Sheng Nian's eyes darted around, and he spotted a nurse nearby. Immediately, he raised a hand to his temple and called out, "Nurse..."
Hearing him, the nurse quickly set down what she was holding and came over. "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
He held his head weakly and said to her, "My head hurts so much, and my gland hurts too. Nurse, could there really be something wrong with me...?"
After speaking, he cast a timid glance at Jiang Shu and He Gu, who stood by his hospital bed with unpleasant expressions.
The nurse looked at Jiang Shu's grim, ferocious face, then at the frail Omega, and her sympathies immediately tipped to one side.
"You've only just woken up. You need proper rest. Lie down."
"As for you two, are you actually the patient's relatives? He's just regained consciousness, and you're making a scene by his bed. How is he supposed to rest? Besides, he's an Omega, and his pheromones are currently unstable. If you aren't relatives, don't stand so close. Your unfamiliar pheromones could affect him."
He Gu put on an aggrieved expression. "Didn't the doctor say there was nothing wrong with Sheng Nian?"
The nurse was sharp-eyed too. She saw straight through He Gu's saintly facade to the malice beneath and retorted, "'Nothing wrong' means the examination didn't reveal any major physical problems. But he lost consciousness, so he must be feeling unwell. Are you actually the patient's relatives? If not, please leave."
Jiang Shu frowned. "He really fainted?"
The nurse rolled her eyes at him. "What else? Would we admit him for pretending to faint? Beds at the Federated Capital First Hospital are in very short supply."
"All right, if there's nothing else, leave. Visiting hours are over. The patient needs to rest."
And just like that, Jiang Shu and He Gu were driven out by the upright, uncompromising nurse.
Outside the ward, Jiang Shu leaned against the wall, looking thoughtful. "So Sheng Nian really did faint this time?"
Seeing things veer away from what he had expected, He Gu grew a little anxious and once again made a show of offering reassurance. "Jiang Shu, the doctor said there was nothing wrong with Sheng Nian. Don't worry. This time, it was my-"
Before he could finish saying "fault," Jiang Shu suddenly interrupted. "I misunderstood him this time. I'll apologize once he's discharged."
With his unfinished display of false innocence cut short, He Gu's fingers tightened, curling into his palms.
At the same time, system 01100's electronic voice suddenly sounded in Sheng Nian's head: [Ding~ Congratulations, host! The Male Supporting Character Self-Salvation Progress is currently 0.1%. You've earned 10 system coins. Keep up the good work! One small step today is one giant leap toward a beautiful tomorrow~]
Sheng Nian was both speechless at system 01100's pyramid-scheme-style pitch and puzzled.
"Huh? How did it become 0.1%?"
For once, system 01100 proved reliable and explained: [Your actions just now made the top male lead realize you weren't pretending to faint and that he had misunderstood you, shattering the bottom male lead's perfect facade. After precise calculations, the system determined that this met the conditions for increasing self-rescue progress.]
Sheng Nian said, "It's that simple? Playing coy increases my progress?"
01100: [No, dear~ What matters is breaking down the public's fixed perceptions of the top male lead and the bottom male lead~]
"Give me an example?"
[Of course, dearie~ Xiao Ling is delighted to serve you~]
"Where did you pick up that tone now?" Sheng Nian was speechless. Sheng Nian endured...
[Don't you like it, host? Xiao Ling just synced with this little world's background information and found that lots of people speak this way.]
"Stop copying customer service scripts. You sound even more like someone running a pyramid scheme..."
01100 was a little unhappy, but it was a magnanimous system. Naturally, it chose to forgive its host.
[Specifically, if you publicly expose the top male lead's fickle, scummy nature and the bottom male lead's fake-innocent behavior, you can earn lots of rescue progress~ Of course, changing your public image as the vicious supporting male character works too~]
Now Sheng Nian understood.
He had originally planned to quit filming this dating reality show once he left the hospital. Now, it seemed the show was an excellent opportunity to earn rescue progress.
"Got it! Isn't He Gu always playing innocent? Then I'll play coy. It's just acting. Who can't do that?"
Before you continue