Chapter Fifteen: Steer Clear of the Hero and Heroine at All Costs, or Misfortune Awaits!

“How can we keep such good news to ourselves and only celebrate within our own circle?”
“That’s right. Starlight Entertainment has been pretty quiet while promoting their album, but that’s letting them off too easy.”
“Let’s go for another round and show them our fighting spirit!”
“Well said! Let’s all do it together, like a celebration!”
“Everyone, remember to be rational—don’t go overboard, don’t blindly throw hate. We’re sensible fans; we can’t give them anything to use against us.”
“Exactly. We’re in the right, so we can’t let ourselves get the short end of the stick!”

These days, most fans in the entertainment industry are notoriously ‘brainless.’ That’s precisely why the so-called fan circles are so often boycotted and ridiculed.

But Bai Ling understood this perfectly. In fact, she had alternate accounts in almost every major fan group now. It was her own alternate account that kept urging everyone to stay calm and collected, not to give anyone a reason to accuse them.

She had no intention of flaming out just as she was getting popular.

At the very least, her efforts were bearing fruit. All her loyal fans swarmed the comment sections of posts about Starlight Entertainment’s artists, once more launching a wave of righteous condemnation against Starlight.

Starlight Entertainment never saw it coming. After two or three days of peace, these netizens suddenly attacked again.

Looking back, Glory Spring and Autumn had signed Bai Ling, stealing the spotlight, and gotten a massive advantage.

Meanwhile, Starlight had lost both the prize and the troops—a complete disaster.

Tonight, for some people, it would be a sleepless one. Some were working late into the night to manage the PR crisis, others were stewing in their own rooms, fuming and doubting their life choices.

Bai Ling, however, was perfectly at ease. After guiding her fans to conduct a civilized ‘crusade’ using her alternate account, she cozied up in bed, happily binging dramas.

Every so often, she’d check back on the ‘battlefield’ to gauge her fans’ combat prowess.

“Speaking of which, I still have a blind box to open. Let’s see what’s inside!”

Tired from watching dramas, Bai Ling remembered her main task.

“Congratulations, Host, you’ve opened a blind box and received an Acting Training Card!”

An Acting Training Card? That sounded straightforward enough—just something to train and improve her acting skills.

But...

“My current profession has nothing to do with acting. I don’t need this at all.”

“Besides, does this Acting Training Card require me to put in effort and time myself?”

The system responded to Bai Ling’s question.

“Using the Acting Training Card will provide you with the top acting coach, offering the most systematic and efficient guidance.”

“One card lasts one hour. Results may vary, but for you, it’s equivalent to experiencing a full cycle of on-set acting.”

An hour for the equivalent of an entire production’s worth of experience—that would be a huge gain for anyone.

Yet Bai Ling frowned.

“One hour, and I’ll experience the pain of an entire production cycle?”

“So all those months of hardship are compressed into a single hour?”

She shuddered at the thought.

“That sounds way too miserable. No need for that.”

With that, she tossed the Acting Training Card into her system space. Unless the situation was critical, it could just sit there collecting dust.

The system: …

It was at a loss for words.

After wrapping things up, Bai Ling suddenly remembered something and pulled out her phone to search.

“Lin Yubai, Wen Yan...”

“No news about Wen Yan. Looks like she hasn’t officially debuted yet.”

“As for Lin Yubai, the youngest Best Actor, not yet thirty but the winner of multiple film awards, currently the most acclaimed idol actor in the industry, also known as the most promising actor...”

“This guy is really making it big.”

Though she’d crossed over for some time and was already embroiled in the chaos, Bai Ling hadn’t forgotten the nature of this parallel world.

She was in a novel titled “Splendor.”

Simply put, it was about the glorious future of the heroine, Wen Yan.

Wen Yan was a bona fide lucky girl—born into privilege, the eldest daughter of the Wen family. From debut, she was everyone’s darling, cherished by her agency and cared for by her seniors. Even without much talent, her ‘innocence,’ ‘kindness,’ and ‘naturalness’—so different from other women in the industry—made her the center of attention.

Even someone as nearly perfect as Bai Ling was overshadowed by Wen Yan’s radiance, eventually cast as the vicious villainess who highlighted the heroine’s virtue and perfection.

Bai Ling bore no ill will toward her.

After all, to her now, Wen Yan was just a rich young lady with no ties to her at all. Even if, in the original story, Bai Ling’s tragic end was inseparable from Wen Yan, so what?

In the novel, Wen Yan was the quintessential white lotus. Could she possibly be at fault?

Now, Bai Ling’s only reason for checking her movements was simple—avoid the original heroine at all costs or suffer misfortune!

Even with the system by her side and her fate turned upside down, who could guarantee the heroine’s halo wouldn’t shine brighter, turning Bai Ling into nothing more than a stepping stone for Wen Yan?

As for Lin Yubai, he was the official male lead.

There! Just by reading his profile, Bai Ling could see what it meant to have a protagonist’s aura.

She had no fondness for him, either. For the same reason, she wanted nothing to do with the male lead, who would become a love-struck fool after meeting the heroine.

Very dangerous!

“As long as I stay away from the two of them in this lifetime, I shouldn’t have any major troubles.”

“Then I can live a peaceful life, happily ever after!”

Bai Ling was already dreaming.

That night, she slept soundly.

The next day, Ge Fenfen arrived with a whole crew to help Bai Ling move. For Glory Spring and Autumn, buying some furniture and daily necessities was no big deal.

But she still wanted to show respect—just in case there was something Bai Ling couldn’t bear to leave behind.

Bai Ling was a bit exasperated by her thoughtfulness.

“Honestly, just paying me would’ve been fine...”

It took only a few hours to reach City A.

Ge Fenfen arranged accommodations for Bai Ling—a hotel suite not far from the company. It was luxurious, at a price the old Bai Ling could never have imagined.

But now that she had tens of millions in assets, Bai Ling adapted to this new life with ease.