Chen Miao arrived quickly.
He was a chubby little man.
He looked about thirty, was not very tall, and already had somewhat thinning hair.
He stood in the doorway, panting nonstop.
He had rushed over as fast as he could.
By the time he knocked, Bai Luochuan had finished looking into how this world worked.
It was just like the setting of the game.
Secondary genders existed.
So did beast transformations.
Not only that, he had also found his own name among the trending searches and seen his own photos.
[Bai Luochuan tries to ride Yan Cheng's coattails, gets beaten instead]
[Bai Luochuan, a Beta pretending to be an Omega]
[Bai Luochuan, get out of showbiz]
The comment counts were all 999+.
The insults were pretty filthy, too.
Bai Luochuan spent over ten minutes enthusiastically learning from them.
Then he summed things up. The general situation was just as "Chen" had said: as a Beta, he had forced a romantic rumor with an Alpha, turning up outside a high-quality Alpha's home in the middle of the night.
When the scandal broke and Yan Cheng firmly distanced himself from him, Yan Cheng's toxic solo fans could not take it.
They had waited near Bai Luochuan's home and, when he went out, hit him with a brick.
The attacker still had not been found.
The victim, on the other hand, was being vilified across the internet.
Reading it all, Bai Luochuan found it so ironic that he almost wanted to laugh.
Sure enough, across both his lives, showbiz was still what he hated most.
As for the game, he had searched the home screen for ages without finding any setting to change the facial recognition.
And that was not all.
There used to be a screen where he could choose the male lead who would accompany him. Though he had never selected anything there, he now discovered that the button had disappeared entirely, leaving him unable to switch ever again.
He could find no information about the game online.
It was as if the game had transmigrated along with him.
It had become his exclusive game.
And Qi Yu had gone from his in-game boyfriend to his digital boyfriend, his and his alone.
There were upsides and downsides.
Bai Luochuan held his phone, utterly troubled.
Across from him, Chen Miao, who had remained silent ever since coming in, finally sighed.
He said, "Luochuan, this is because of the scandal, right? I know you like Yan Cheng, but..."
"I like Yan Cheng?" Bai Luochuan interrupted Chen Miao. "Isn't he just a high-quality Alpha? I looked up his pictures. He's nothing special. What's there for me to like?"
After all, according to the game's setting, his husband was of exceptional quality.
His husband's character model was flawless, too.
A man among men!
A male among males!
After dating someone like that for five years.
How could he possibly be interested in some ordinary guy named Yan Cheng?
Completely immersed, Bai Luochuan thought this without feeling there was anything wrong with it.
But his answer shocked Chen Miao.
He stared at him wide-eyed for quite a while.
Chen Miao murmured, "You really lost your memory?"
Bai Luochuan: ...
Chen Miao shook his head, visibly growing nervous.
He kept muttering, "That's impossible. The doctor said everything was fine. But if you haven't lost your memory, why don't you even care about your crush anymore?"
Bai Luochuan: ???
Did the original owner have such terrible taste?
He looked at Chen Miao with even greater confusion.
Instead, Chen Miao became even more convinced of his suspicions.
He kept tugging at his own hair.
Only after watching him pull out a dozen or so strands did Bai Luochuan raise a hand to stop him. "You haven't got many left. Keep pulling and you'll be ready to become a monk without even needing a shave."
Chen Miao: ...
He stopped what he was doing.
After some thought, Chen Miao tried a different question. "Do you still remember who you are?"
Bai Luochuan said, "Bai Luochuan?"
Chen Miao pointed at himself.
Bai Luochuan simply shook his head.
Over the next half hour, under the pressure of Chen Miao's deeply reproachful gaze, Bai Luochuan listened as he gave him a thorough account of Bai Luochuan's circumstances and the situation they currently faced.
It was not much different from what he had found online.
Bai Luochuan was a rare Beta in showbiz.
That alone could have been his biggest selling point. Yet he had been almost possessed by his longing to be an Omega.
He had barely worked on his acting.
He relied entirely on his looks.
Even after debuting as a child actor and spending all these years in showbiz, he had remained in the lower-middle ranks. Aside from having some fans of his looks, his reputation was quite poor across the board.
After his last film shoot ended, someone like him had somehow gotten involved with the popular film star and high-quality Alpha, Yan Cheng.
He had even followed the man all the way to his doorstep.
And the paparazzi had caught it on camera.
That was why everyone online was condemning him.
After all, to those fans, Yan Cheng was the only victim, while Bai Luochuan was nothing but a damned stalker.
As for what had really happened, Bai Luochuan was not too sure, and Chen Miao did not know either.
Still, Bai Luochuan was not angry at all about having ended up like this in the industry.
His ultimate goal was to get away from showbiz anyway.
That place had a rotten culture.
He had a bad temper.
He could not learn to say one thing and do another, nor could he put on a fake, insincere act.
This was certainly an opportunity.
It was just that...
"I understand the general situation. There's one other thing I don't quite get."
Bai Luochuan frowned.
He placed his phone on the table in front of him.
He said, "There's only 500 yuan left in my bank account. Does acting pay that badly?"
Chen Miao's face instantly darkened.
The next second, he stood up in displeasure and snatched Bai Luochuan's phone. After quickly unlocking it, he shouted, "I knew you were pretending to have amnesia! It was just to hide this from me, wasn't it? How many times have I told you those Omega conversion programs are all scams? You're already twenty-three. You can't turn into an Omega anymore!"
He moved too fast.
Bai Luochuan did not even have time to stop him.
After a few taps, Chen Miao set the phone back in front of him.
Sure enough, there was a long list of large transfers on it.
The fact that there was even 500 left suggested the original owner had also known perfectly well that, until his next job came through, he needed to keep a little money to cover his most basic survival.
Bai Luochuan stared at that string of zeros, dumbfounded.
With numbers that big.
He could have bought his husband months' worth of coat-shine cream!
Seemingly convinced that he was pretending to have amnesia.
Chen Miao continued sternly, "Since you're out of money, let's talk about work.
"Don't be so resistant, either. Before, that face of yours could still get us some jobs, but after the trouble you've caused this time, practically the entire internet hates you.
"The partnerships we'd agreed on have all terminated our contracts, and they're demanding that we pay breach-of-contract penalties, too.
"But it's not all bad. There's one variety show willing to have you on. Though they probably just want you there to generate buzz, because..."
At this point, Chen Miao paused.
He seemed somewhat resistant to it himself.
But with things as they were, he could only continue. "It's a dating show, and Yan Cheng's taking part too. If you find that too disgusting, you can turn it down. But they said that as long as you participate, no matter how you behave, they'll pay you this much per day."
Chen Miao indicated an amount with his fingers.
He also reminded him, "Room and board included. Much better than eating instant noodles every day like you are now."
Having said that, Chen Miao was already prepared for a rejection.
Based on what he knew of Bai Luochuan.
Bai Luochuan ought to start crying and shouting that he was degrading his dignity.
What he did not expect was for Bai Luochuan to stare intently at his outstretched fingers.
Like a hungry wolf spotting a live chicken.
Even Chen Miao grew a little uncomfortable under his stare.
He cleared his throat and awkwardly withdrew his hand. "You..."
"You're sure that's the daily rate, and it won't change?" Bai Luochuan blinked. "And it really doesn't matter how I behave?"
Chen Miao nodded. "That's what they said, but we're entertainers, after all. You'll definitely have to maintain your public persona a little. I think..."
"Say no more. I'm in." Bai Luochuan decisively reached out and clasped Chen Miao's hand.
His eyes shone as he said, "As for how I behave, leave that to me. As long as I get paid, I'm not afraid of anything else!"
Chen Miao immediately frowned. "You're going for conversion again?"
Bai Luochuan shook his head. "Never again."
Chen Miao did not believe him.
Bai Luochuan merely smiled.
He said lightly, "I told you I don't like Yan Cheng. The person I really like doesn't mind that I'm a Beta. He said he likes me best when I'm being myself. I remember every word, so why would I change?"
Before you continue