Chapter 96
When Lin Zhiqiao received the call, he was still immersed in the lively, festive atmosphere of the trending topics, as if it were New Year’s.
What could be happier than only taking half a bite of a piece of gossip during the day, then immediately squatting down and getting the follow-up that very same night?
As a seasoned melon-eater, Lin Zhiqiao would say that nothing was happier than this moment—especially when the follow-up was so deeply satisfying.
That scumbag flipping over was exactly what he had expected, and Lin Zhiqiao felt both gratified and a little saddened.
To the average netizen, this gossip might be nothing more than a few days of after-dinner chatter, but to the people actually involved, it was real harm that had lasted for years.
Even if the victim had finally awakened and was about to escape that sea of suffering, the psychological scars might still take years—or even longer—to heal.
Lin Zhiqiao could not help sighing. He only hoped that people who had been hurt by scum could leave those shadows behind as soon as possible and begin an entirely new life.
The phone started ringing right then.
The caller ID showed an unfamiliar number. Lin Zhiqiao answered casually, and a somewhat elderly yet still powerful voice came from the other side. “Is this Lin Zhiqiao?”
The voice sounded a little familiar, but because it was coming through the phone and slightly distorted, Lin Zhiqiao could not immediately place who it belonged to.
He answered, “Yes, this is me.”
The voice on the other end said, “Your audition result is out.”
The moment he heard that sentence, Lin Zhiqiao immediately matched the voice with Director Zhao’s stern face.
His heart gave a heavy thump, and he unconsciously swallowed.
Even though he had already guessed the result when he saw Director Zhao’s expression after the audition, and had mentally prepared himself for it, at this very moment—right before hearing the real answer—Lin Zhiqiao still could not help feeling nervous.
He asked, his voice tightening slightly, “How did it go?”
“After unanimous discussion on our side…” Director Zhao paused slightly. “We feel that the role you auditioned for is not suitable for you.”
His heart dropped heavily.
So it really was like that. Lin Zhiqiao let out a long sigh in his heart. Honestly, there was no surprise at all.
“Okay, I understand,” he said, automatically launching into the standard script he always used when he failed an audition. “Thank you, Director Zhao. Just having the opportunity to audition this time was already a very valuable learning experience for me. I’ll continue working hard…”
For Lin Zhiqiao, failing auditions was already as normal as eating and drinking.
If an audition failed, some productions would notify the actor, but others would only contact those who passed. Everyone else could wait bitterly for ages and still never hear a single word.
Lin Zhiqiao had originally assumed that since so many actors had come to audition for All Things Have Spirits, the production probably would not have the energy to notify each rejected person one by one. He had never expected to receive a call personally from Director Zhao.
He finished the entire speech in one breath, almost?????????: “…I hope I’ll still have a chance like this again next time.”
Lin Zhiqiao’s “speech” came to an end.
Director Zhao, who had been given no chance to speak after not finishing his own sentence, fell silent: “……”
His silence was deafening.
Only after Lin Zhiqiao finished did he slowly speak. “Mm. It’s a good thing that you have this kind of attitude and drive, but…”
Lin Zhiqiao: “?”
But what?
“Come by again tomorrow,” Director Zhao said. “I’ve already sent you the lead role’s script. Prepare tonight, and come audition again tomorrow.”
After saying that, he gave Lin Zhiqiao no chance to speak and hung up with a crisp click.
Urgent beeping sounds came from the receiver.
Lin Zhiqiao wore a completely stunned expression. He looked down at the phone screen, now already dark, and almost thought he had heard wrong.
Director Zhao meant… he wanted him to audition for the lead role?
Unfortunately, the ended call could give him no answer at all.
*
Meanwhile, on Director Tang’s A Panorama of Mountains and Seas set—
After finishing a full day of shooting and returning to his hotel room to rest, Lin Mubai saw the uproar all over Weibo.
Bai Su had collapsed.
Lin Mubai frowned slightly and read through the whole sequence of events with a heart full of confusion.
[System, is Bai Su’s collapse also caused by the butterfly effect?] Lin Mubai asked. [His current situation is completely different from what you told me.]
Lin Mubai had a very good relationship with Bai Su. Bai Su was also one of Lin Mubai’s targets.
But before this, what Lin Mubai had learned from the Heartthrob System about Bai Su’s future route was not this version of “Bai Su secretly married with three kids, exposed for domestic violence.”
According to the original world line, the fact that Bai Su was already married would indeed have been exposed soon—but there had been no mention whatsoever of domestic violence.
In the original line, Bai Su’s wife was supposed to die in an accidental fall into water a few days later. Bai Su, devastated by grief, would be photographed by paparazzi while handling the funeral arrangements, and that was how the internet would discover that he had actually already been married and had children.
But perhaps because “the dead deserve respect,” the public had not criticized Bai Su too harshly after he had just lost his beloved wife. Instead, they understood why he had kept his ordinary wife and children hidden from the public—for their protection.
Over all the years Bai Su had spent in the industry, his “pure” image, along with the fact that he had never had any scandals with anyone else, became proof of his deep love for his wife and also his best shield.
And after finishing his wife’s funeral arrangements, Bai Su would hold a press conference and publicly apologize to all his fans, sincerely saying that from the very beginning, the reason he entered the entertainment industry as an actor was to give his wife and children a better life.
That deep devotion, combined with the tragic halo of a be ending after losing his beloved wife, would move countless netizens to tears. Not only would Bai Su not lose fans, he would instead gain a huge wave of new ones, further solidifying his place among the new generation of actors.
Compared with Bai Su’s original future trajectory, the current Bai Su who had been exposed for domestic violence was practically the complete opposite.
Lin Mubai sank into thought.
He knew very clearly that domestic violence could not possibly have appeared overnight. The only thing that could be said was that in the original world line, Bai Su had been luckier—before his wife truly tore things apart with him, she met with misfortune, and the domestic violence sank with her to the bottom of the river.
But this time, Bai Su no longer had the same good luck as in the original world line.
Not only had his wife not fallen into the water, she had instead received all kinds of help she never had in the original line, exposing Bai Su’s affairs ahead of time with solid evidence and no possibility of turning things around.
Although the Heartthrob System had said that even tiny actions could trigger huge changes, Lin Mubai still felt that something was off.
Changes like this—and the earlier changes that happened to Ming Ye, Zhou Zili, Xu Mo, Jiang Ling, and the others—were they really just because of the “butterfly effect”?
With one incident after another happening like this, Lin Mubai felt as though there were an invisible hand quietly twisting the predetermined world line.
A faint sense of unease rose in his heart.
Sensing his emotions, the Heartthrob System asked, [Host, do you still have questions?]
Lin Mubai thought for a moment, then asked, [Among systems like yours, are there any that can change other people’s fates?]
[Host, do you mean actively participating in someone else’s fate line and altering their predetermined destiny?] The Heartthrob System denied it immediately. [Impossible. Systems only serve the hosts they are bound to. Actively changing other people’s fate lines would be a violation of regulations for both the system and the host.]
[Host, are you worried that someone is actively changing other people’s destinies?]
Lin Mubai nodded.
[Don’t worry, Host.] The Heartthrob System comforted him. [What you’re afraid of is impossible.]
Hearing the system guarantee it so firmly, Lin Mubai finally suppressed the unease in his heart.
At the very end, he checked Song Chuan’s favorability value toward him once more. It was still stable at one hundred, and he finally let out a breath of relief.
No matter how the other people he was targeting changed, as long as there were no variables with Song Chuan, that was enough.
That was what Lin Mubai told himself.
