Chapter 1 On Set

June 8th, a Sunday afternoon, in a television station's variety show recording studio.

Feng Bujue sat in a dressing room, waiting for the recording of *I Am a Writer: Resurrection Match* to begin.

A few minutes ago, the show's makeup artist came in, tidied up his appearance, and slightly adjusted his hairstyle before leaving. Now, only a cameraman remained in the room. For recording purposes, the guy basically had to follow Jue-ge everywhere unless he went to the restroom.

This was a relatively popular filming technique nowadays, combining variety shows and reality TV, creating a sense of authenticity by recording the contrast between "onstage and offstage."

But in reality... don't take it too seriously. Things that should be cut will still be cut during editing...

Dong, dong—

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Feng Bujue casually responded.

It wasn't like he could stop anyone from entering anyway, since the door wasn't even locked...

"Hey, Bujue, are you ready?" A middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap walked in. He was wearing an extremely ugly uniform, holding a tablet in his hand, and a tool belt around his waist. Most people who didn't know him would mistake him for a stagehand, but in fact... this unremarkable uncle was the show's head director, Fei Ran.

"Actually... there's not really anything to prepare, is there..." Feng Bujue slumped on the sofa, looking listlessly at the director. "The sooner we get this over with, the better."

"Haha..." Fei Ran laughed, patted the cameraman on the shoulder, and gestured for him to turn off the camera.

The latter nodded and stopped recording.

"I'm talking about you..." Fei Ran took a few steps forward and sat next to Jue-ge. "This is for you to record a show, not to be tortured..." As he spoke, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "Do you mind if I have a smoke?"

"No problem," Feng Bujue replied.

Fei Ran lit a cigarette and took a puff. "By the way, did you see the results of the online voting?"

"No," Feng Bujue immediately replied.

"Heh heh heh..." Fei Ran laughed, exhaling a puff of smoke. "Alright... then I'll tell you, your popularity is ranked second."

"Sounds like bad news..." Feng Bujue muttered.

"There's even more 'bad news'," Fei Ran jokingly said. "Actually, the person ranked first in this vote had fake votes..."

"Huh?" Feng Bujue squinted at the director. "I'm a contestant, shouldn't you telling me this be... not so good?"

"Hey... it's an open secret, you're the only one who doesn't know," Fei Ran took another puff of his cigarette and turned to the cameraman who was playing with his phone. "Hey, Xiao Wu, you know about this too, right?"

Xiao Wu shrugged. "I know~ that person's fans have been arguing with the other fans for half a month now, there are hundreds of posts about it online."

"You see?" Fei Ran immediately looked at Jue-ge again. "I'm telling you, Bujue... you really don't care enough about our show. If I didn't call you, you probably wouldn't even know you made it to the resurrection match, right?"

"Yeah... I was just silently praying that I wouldn't appear in the voting results," Feng Bujue replied.

"Heh heh... alright," Fei Ran said again. "Anyway, I've already told you the situation, you better prepare a bit."

"Hmm?" Feng Bujue looked suspicious. "Prepare what?"

"Think about it..." Fei Ran said, "You're so popular, but you don't want to win, so don't you have to do something?"

"Oh... you mean, find a way to perform badly, right?" Feng Bujue replied.

"Yes, but not as outrageous as when you came last time," Fei Ran said. "I told you last time, the best way to get eliminated... is to be mediocre enough."

"Oh..." Feng Bujue responded, thought for a few seconds, and then said, "Let me confirm this first..." He turned to look at Fei Ran. "Actually, the winner of this resurrection match... has already been decided, right..."

Fei Ran was slightly taken aback when he heard this. He took another puff of his cigarette and replied after a few seconds, "Whew—why do you ask?"

"The reasoning process isn't that complicated..." Feng Bujue raised his hands and rested them behind his head, replying casually, "Since you know that the contestant ranked first in the online vote has a problem, but you still let it happen... then you must also be willing to see this kind of result occur. Also... this episode is supposed to be broadcasted at the end of June and recorded in mid-June, but now it's suddenly been moved up a week... this is probably a countermeasure to prevent the 'manipulated voting' incident from further escalating, right?" He looked at Fei Ran calmly. "So I guess... the winner of this resurrection match is essentially already set. And you, director... are giving me a heads up because you think... I might ruin things."

As soon as these words came out, Fei Ran's expression changed drastically. For the next thirty seconds, silence fell in the dressing room...

Half a minute later, Fei Ran took a deep breath, then put out his cigarette, and looked up. "Xiao Wu, go out for a bit."

The cameraman didn't say a word, and left very tactfully, not forgetting to close the door behind him before leaving.

"Bujue," Fei Ran looked at Jue-ge and said in a deep voice, "You're a smart person, some things I'm telling you here, I hope they won't spread beyond this room."

"Hmm, feel free to speak," Feng Bujue crossed his legs and replied in a relaxed tone.

Fei Ran looked at Jue-ge again, then lowered his voice and said, "You guessed right, the person chosen to advance this time has already been decided, it's 'Night's Fire', who was ranked first in the online vote." He raised his hand and made a gesture pointing upwards. "Business is business... some things, even I can't control, it has to be decided by people higher up... do you understand?"

"Hmph... of course," Feng Bujue curled his lips into a smile. At this moment, his eyes seemed quite disdainful, but he still said politely, "I completely understand, it's not easy for you either, Director."

Fei Ran gave a bitter smile. "Heh... I'm alright." He shook his head. "To be honest... my original intention for making this show was definitely not to make it like this today, it's a pity..." He hesitated, his expression slightly helpless. "If everyone was like you, many things in this world might become purer."

"If everyone was like me, this world would have ended long ago," Feng Bujue laughed, he quickly changed the subject. "Alright... I understand everything, Director Fei, don't worry." He patted his chest. "Trust me, I will definitely be eliminated very 'naturally', without leaving a trace of acting..."

Fei Ran stared at Jue-ge for two seconds. "Hmm... I highly doubt that..."