In the rehearsal hall, Xia ng was being supported by two female classmates, her body still trembling uncontrollably.
Her eyes were hollow, her gaze vacant and lost as she stared at the floor.
From beginning to end, she did not look at Jiang Ci again.
Several girls escorted her, their steps hurried as they left the rehearsal hall. The stifled sobs were only completely cut off once the heavy door was closed.
"Alright, that's... enough for today."
Liu Guodong's voice rang out as he announced the rehearsal was ending early.
The students felt as if granted a reprieve, yet each one was as quiet as a cicada in winter, their movents while packing up so unnervingly gentle.
Liu Guodong did not leave.
He walked step by step to stand before Jiang Ci.
He simply looked at Jiang Ci, all the usual impatience and severity on his face having vanished without a trace.
He had pushed through all opposition back then, precisely to let this beast, Jiang Ci, ram into Xia ng's icy, precision instrunt.
Now, the instrunt lay scattered in pieces, and he felt a tremor of apprehension.
Had he... gone too far?
After a long while, Liu Guodong raised his hand and slapped it heavily onto Jiang Ci's shoulder.
"You kid..."
His lips moved, a thousand words ultimately condensing into just three.
"You're a lunatic."
With that, he turned and left, his retreating back carrying an indescribable desolation and... a hidden worry.
Once Liu Guodong was gone, the students in the rehearsal hall practically fled, speeding up their departure.
As they passed by Jiang Ci, as if by prior agreent, they wordlessly gave him a body's width of space.
Soon, the vast rehearsal hall held only Jiang Ci.
Jiang Ci's gaze fell upon the ethereal panel only he could see.
That line of cold system notification was crystal clear.
[Ding! Lifespan increased by 15 days!]
The anticipated ecstasy did not arrive.
Instead, his mind conjured the image of Xia ng's back, curled up on the floor during her breakdown.
He had dissected her, exposing her most painful soul before everyone.
"Tsk."
Jiang Ci clicked his tongue.
Feeling like he was PUA-ing her... wasn't that sothing only scumbags did?
But, "The power of this 'Heartbreak Value' is even greater than I imagined."
The next mont, the blood-red countdown on the system panel ruthlessly occupied his entire field of vision.
[Remaining Lifespan: 122 days, 8 hours]
The corner of Jiang Ci's mouth twisted into a self-mocking arc.
Foolish compassion?
What a laughable term.
What right did a dying man counting his life in days have to pity others?
Xia ng had her "Ming Ming."
He had his too.
His "Ming Ming" was to survive.
At any cost.
Thinking this, that bit of discomfort instantly dissipated.
The next day, morning.
Xia ng was absent from rehearsal.
The news spread like wildfire through the entire acting departnt.
"Did you hear? Xia ng had a ntal breakdown yesterday because of a few words from Jiang Ci!"
"Really?"
"She couldn't stop crying, was sent straight ho! I think the female lead for the graduation play is going to change!"
Inside the rehearsal hall, the atmosphere was unprecedentedly strange.
Everyone was whispering, their eyes glancing, as if avoiding a plague carrier, towards Jiang Ci warming up alone in the corner from ti to ti.
Jiang Ci paid no heed to any of this, calculating his Heartbreak Value balance and planning to see what new skills he could exchange for.
Just then, a teaching assistant quickly walked over to him, his voice extrely low.
"Jiang Ci, Teacher Liu wants you to go to his office."
Jiang Ci nodded and stood up.
As he walked through the crowd, all the murmuring ceased abruptly.
The Acting Departnt Head's office.
Jiang Ci pushed open the door, and a wave of heavy smoke so thick it could choke a person hit him.
He rembered the first ti he ca here, Old Liu's office was full of the fragrance of books.
Liu Guodong sat alone behind his desk, his eyes sunken and bloodshot. The ashtray on the desk was piled high with cigarette butts.
"You're here?"
Liu Guodong's voice was even hoarser than yesterday.
He pointed to the chair opposite.
Jiang Ci pulled out the chair and sat down without a word.
Liu Guodong silently finished his last drag, crushed the butt fiercely into the ashtray, and then slowly spoke.
"How much do you know about Xia ng's background?"
Jiang Ci shook his head.
"Her grandfather is Xia Zongguo, a living fossil in the theater world."
"Her parents are also top dostic theater theorists."
"And Xia ng's performance style is deeply influenced by her parents."
Liu Guodong's tone was flat, so flat it was unsettling. "They treat acting as a science that can be precisely calculated and deconstructed."
"In their eyes, an actor's emotions are impurities, uncontrollable variables. Only absolute rationality and technique can create the most perfect character."
"Xia ng," Liu Guodong paused, "is their most perfect creation."
His gaze pierced through the smoke, fixed intently on Jiang Ci. That look held excitent, approval, but more than that, a fear that was almost overflowing.
"You... personally smashed that machine yesterday."
"And that's precisely why I arranged for you two to partner up in the first place."
Liu Guodong's breathing was sowhat rapid, a flash of fanaticism in his eyes.
"I'm both happy, and afraid."
"In you,"
"I see real art! Sothing we old folks can never find in theory books! Art needs lunatics, and I've seen a real one!"
But that fanaticism lasted only a mont before being replaced by deeper fear.
He leaned forward, his voice dropping even lower, carrying a tremor.
"But I'm more afraid... you'll destroy her!"
"The Xia family's status in the industry is beyond your imagination! If they find out that the 'perfect creation' they spent twenty years ticulously crafting was driven to a ntal breakdown by just a few words from you..."
Liu Guodong stared at Jiang Ci, asking word by word.
"What do you think... they'll do to you?"
Liu Guodong's words were less of a warning and more of a naked threat.
Jiang Ci's mind raced.
He imdiately understood Liu Guodong's aning.
Old Liu wanted both things, and also wanted him to rein it in a bit.
However, Jiang Ci's train of thought once again veered off the normal track.
He wasn't thinking about retaliation from Xia ng's parents.
Instead...
This character background... sounds like it would be *really* easy to make soone cry!
If he "communicated" a bit more deeply, wouldn't the Heartbreak Value just co pouring in?
Thinking this, the lingering feeling of being a "scumbag" in Jiang Ci's mind was completely cleared away.
His eyes also uncontrollably lit up for a mont.
Liu Guodong caught that fleeting glint in his eyes.
He was stunned.
What on earth is this kid thinking about?
Liu Guodong felt his blood pressure starting to spike again.
Then he pulled a new rehearsal schedule from his drawer and slapped it on the desk.
"Not only will this afternoon's rehearsal proceed as normal, it will be doubled!"
His voice had regained its usual severity.
"I've already notified Xia ng."
Liu Guodong stood up, walked over to Jiang Ci, and said.
"Kid, I don't care what kind of unorthodox thods you're using."
"Since you opened Pandora's box, you have to see it through to the end."
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