Chapter 1
It was 10 PM, and a celebratory banquet for the film Night Wanderer was being held at Skela, the most upscale club in the imperial capital. The dim dance floor pulsed with electronic music, as men and women in luxurious gowns and suits raised their glasses, immersed in the pursuit of fame and fortune.
In an area farther from the dance floor, an unusual crowd had gathered. Their gazes, both overt and covert, were fixed on a single man.
The man sat on a corner sofa, exceptionally handsome. A wine-red, high-end velvet shirt accentuated his slender figure. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing a section of excessively thin forearms. The top two buttons of his collar were undone, forming a V-neck that exposed his delicate collarbones and the graceful lines of his neck and shoulders.
He leaned back slightly, legs crossed, a half-smoked cigarette held between the fingers of his right hand, while his left hand casually toyed with a six-figure limited edition lighter.
At this moment, someone approached with a highball glass and plopped down beside him. “Damn, I’m exhausted after making the rounds with toasts! When will I be able to handle these occasions as effortlessly as you?”
Hearing this, the man chuckled softly, took a drag of his cigarette, and exhaled slowly, teasing, “Simple, just reach my position.”
“Behave yourself, Song Beiyao!” Jiang Ran said indignantly. “Not everyone is like you, having the heavens spoon-feed you success, winning Best Actor at 23 after debuting at 18.”
He then leaned closer with a mischievous glint in his eyes, “You know, as I walked over here, I saw the way those big-shot investors were looking at you, tsk tsk, like they wanted to devour you whole!”
Amidst a hazy white cloud of smoke, Song Beiyao lifted his eyelids, his gaze drifting lightly over Jiang Ran’s face, a smile in his eyes, “Can you say something nice?”
A small beam of light happened to pass over this area, illuminating the man’s cold, pale, and breathtakingly beautiful face. His slightly upturned peach blossom eyes seemed to capture one’s soul when he looked at them, and a tear mole beneath the corner of his left eye added a touch of tenderness to his visually striking features.
Jiang Ran was momentarily lost in thought, and after snapping back to reality, quickly distanced himself, took a gulp of his drink, tugged at his tie, and muttered under his breath, “Damn, he’s a real demon.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.” Jiang Ran set his glass down. “That… you weren’t feeling well a while ago, how did the checkup go?”
Song Beiyao tapped the cigarette ash twice, his tone gentle, “Terminal lung cancer.”
These words, coming from his mouth, didn’t sound like “terminal lung cancer,” but rather like “I’ve had dinner.”
“Lung—” Jiang Ran nearly jumped out of his seat in surprise. “No way, are you serious? How did you suddenly get cancer?! And terminal stage! Shouldn’t you be lying in a hospital bed right now?! And you’re still smoking? And drinking?”
“Yeah,” Song Beiyao replied lazily, “It’s incurable, so I’m not treating it.”
He stubbed out the cigarette butt in the ashtray and leaned back against the sofa, gazing at the giant LED screen displaying his solo poster for Night Wanderer. Song Beiyao’s eyes narrowed slightly, “Before I die, I’ll take one last look at the empire I’ve built.”
“Holy shit… What the hell, so, so…” Jiang Ran was momentarily speechless, more panicked than the sick man himself. “But you can’t just leave it like that! Medical technology is so advanced now!”
Song Beiyao looked back at this rare friend in the entertainment industry and curled his lips, “I’ve already booked a flight to France for tomorrow morning. It’s so boring to spend my last days lying in a hospital bed.”
He also didn’t want the media reporting on his impending death, chasing after him to capture his final moments of suffering.
He handed over the lighter in his hand, “You’ve always wanted this. Here, it’s yours.”
Seeing his indifferent expression, Jiang Ran was nearly frantic with worry, “What do I need a lighter for now? I want you alive! If you go to the hospital, you can at least hold on for a while longer, maybe there’s a chance for a turnaround!”
Song Beiyao shook his head slightly, “Let’s not talk about it. I’m a little tired, cough… I’ll be going now.”
He stood up, suddenly feeling dizzy and lightheaded, his body falling straight to the side.
“Song Beiyao! Beiyao, Beiyao!…”
The clamor of the world faded away.
Song Beiyao felt as if he were carrying a heavy body, walking in darkness for a long time, before a blinding white light finally appeared ahead.
“Hey, hey! Wake up!”
A voice reached his ears. Song Beiyao slowly opened his eyes, and he was met with an extremely narrow space, resembling the carriage of an ancient horse-drawn vehicle.
At this moment, the curtain was lifted, revealing a young, unfamiliar face with furrowed brows and cold eyes staring at him. “Stop sleeping, we’ll be at the Crown Prince’s residence soon.”
“Jiang Ran?” Song Beiyao recognized the face. “Why are you dressed like this?” Just a second ago, his friend was impeccably dressed in a black tailored suit, but in the blink of an eye, he had changed into ancient black attire.
“What Jiang Ran?” The face was noticeably younger than his friend’s, and moreover, Jiang Ran wouldn’t treat him with such an attitude.
Song Beiyao realized something was amiss and rubbed his forehead languidly. “It’s nothing, I was just having a bad dream.”
The curtain was lowered, and the carriage started moving again.
Just as Song Beiyao was feeling puzzled, a novel titled Conquering the Nine Continents suddenly flooded his mind.
A massive amount of plot information overwhelmed him, but fortunately, Song Beiyao was used to dealing with scripts in his daily acting work, so he quickly digested the story.
It was a typical overpowered male protagonist, “arrogant Crown Prince” type of story. The story was set in a continent called the Nine Continents, composed of nine countries. The male protagonist, Pei Ji, was the crown prince of the Great Zhou, one of the powerful nations.
The entire story described how the male protagonist triumphed in the perilous struggle for the throne, ascended to become the emperor, and then embarked on an era of contending heroes.
Just as the era of contending heroes began, there was only one sentence: “A thunderbolt struck from the sky, and Pei Ji was struck dead under a large tree.” And then, nothing more.
“Oh,” Song Beiyao understood. “So I’ve transmigrated into this unfinished novel.”
“Exactly!” A voice appeared in his mind. “As expected of a clever host! You were specially selected by the system to rewrite the male protagonist’s death!”
“Really?” Song Beiyao’s voice was languid. “Not interested.”
“…” The system offered tempting conditions. “Host, you originally had terminal lung cancer, incurable. You transmigrated with your illness, and you’ll die soon! But now, you have a chance to survive!”
“Tell me more.”
The system said, “Your current luck value is -198. As long as you collect enough luck value, you can cure your illness! The way to collect it is to leech off the luck value of the son of luck in this book—the male protagonist, Pei Ji. In other words, stick close to the male protagonist.”
“As long as the male protagonist lives long enough, you won’t have to worry about curing your illness! You can naturally live on!” The system’s words were full of temptation.
“Live by depending on someone else?” Song Beiyao raised an eyebrow slightly. “Sorry, I’m not interested in surviving in this strange world.”
“…” How could this person be so unmoved! The system was forced to play its trump card. “When you rewrite the male protagonist’s ending and your luck value reaches 500, you can return to your original world with a healthy body!”
Return to the original world?
This condition was indeed very attractive to him.
Song Beiyao didn’t respond immediately. He slightly lifted the curtain of the carriage. Outside, the snow was thick, covering the official road, and the wheels left two deep ruts as they passed. This world, at this moment, seemed both illusory and real.
The carriage was silent, only the sound of the wind and snow whistling past could be heard.
The system didn’t dare to breathe. It had never seen such a calm host! Others, upon hearing they could live, would kowtow in gratitude and live each day with fear and trepidation. But this one, it couldn’t guess what he was thinking!
“So, who is the character I’ve transmigrated into?” After a long while, Song Beiyao closed the curtain, coughed a few times, and asked slowly. “Is it the person with the same name as me?”
The system perked up. “That’s right, it’s him! You’re so smart, my host! Not only the same name, but also the same appearance!”
“…” Why was it so excited about something so obvious?
Song Beiyao quickly scanned the key plot points of the character with the same name.
The neighboring country of Zhao was eager to solidify its relationship with the Great Zhou through a marriage alliance, but had no princesses of suitable age. Therefore, they offered their eighteen-year-old fourth prince, Song Beiyao, to marry the crown prince of Great Zhou as a secondary consort.
The fourth prince had practiced martial arts since childhood, and this seemingly peaceful marriage was actually a ploy to infiltrate the Crown Prince’s residence as a spy, aiming to overthrow Crown Prince Pei Ji.
However, the spy failed in his assassination attempt and was eventually tortured to death by Pei Ji, his body flayed, bones stripped, and exposed on the city gates for eighty-one days.
“This Pei Ji is a ruthless character,” Song Beiyao said casually. “Cold, ruthless, and abstinent, not interested in romance. Leeching off his luck won’t be easy.”
The system: “.” Why did it smell a hint of conspiracy?
“How about this, lower the luck value needed to return to my original world to 200, and I’ll agree.” Song Beiyao’s tongue lightly grazed his canine tooth. “You probably have KPIs to meet too. We each compromise a bit, it’s good for both of us.”
His tone was gentle, with a hint of laughter, making him seem harmless and approachable. Yet the system felt that this fox was slowly revealing its claws and teeth.
The system thought for a moment, gritting its teeth, “300, that’s the lowest I can go.”
“Deal.” Song Beiyao agreed readily.
“…” Realizing it had been outmaneuvered, the system whimpered, “Alright then, it’s settled. We’ll sign the contract now. If you go back on your word, you’ll die immediately!”
Song Beiyao’s lips curled slightly. “Okay.”
The system finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It seems he won’t be easy to manipulate!
Meanwhile, in the Crown Prince’s study…
Pei Ji was reclining on a couch, taking a short nap. His handsome brows were furrowed, and a murderous aura emanated from his sharp, chiseled face, as if he were trapped in a nightmare.
In his dream, he saw his past twenty-three years. Then, in a blink of an eye, time jumped forward a year. He had gone through a fiercely contested struggle for the throne, wading through a sea of blood and corpses. Just as the throne was within his grasp, a young man suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
The young man possessed unparalleled beauty and exceptionally strong martial arts skills, wielding a long sword with deadly precision. For some reason, Pei Ji couldn’t exert his full strength and was stabbed directly through the heart by the young man’s sword.
The surrounding scene instantly blurred, flames blazing. The young man’s breathtakingly beautiful face was illuminated by the firelight, his smile grim and crazed. “Pei Ji, you think you can ascend the throne? You’re dreaming!! Die!!!”
No… he couldn’t die yet…
Pei Ji abruptly opened his eyes, a scarlet glint flashing within them. He gasped heavily, looking around.
This was his familiar study.
The dream scene instantly receded like a tide, leaving only the final image: the young man’s stunning face and venomous words, etched into his mind like a knife.
That wasn’t a dream.
He knew it was definitely more than just a dream.
So, was it a premonition? Unfortunately, he couldn’t remember the earlier parts of the dream.
Pei Ji raised his hand, his long fingers pressing against his temples to calm himself.
For a long time, the Nine Continents had been in constant turmoil. Although the Great Zhou was a powerful nation, it was also coveted by surrounding countries.
Since he was appointed Crown Prince at the age of twelve, for eleven years, he had worked diligently, aiming to unify the Nine Continents and quell the wars after his ascension to the throne.
But just now, in that prophetic dream, the pain of the sword piercing his chest, the ebbing of life, and the shattering of his ambitions had plunged him into an abyss.
A fierce glint flashed in Pei Ji’s eyes, his hand clenching into a fist.
This person, he must find and kill him, to eliminate any future threat!
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