CHAPTER 39: CHAPTER 35: THE EMPTIED BODY AND THE FULL HARVEST

Actually, he was looking at the system page.

He couldn’t avoid it. He’d known his Reputation Points would skyrocket today.

To avoid wasting a single Reputation Point, he had planned to battle it out until dawn, fearing the system would absorb any amount over a million.

But he had underestimated how quickly the Reputation Points were increasing.

As soon as it hit five hundred thousand, he couldn’t wait to shout,

"Lottery draw!"

[DING...]

The five consecutive draws had just ended, and when he returned to the home page, he saw the Reputation Points had already stopped at one million, unmoving. Panicked, he quickly shouted,

"Lottery draw! Lottery draw!"

[DING...]

"Stop the damn DINGING, just keep drawing!"

He was frantic. The draws here weren’t even finished, and the one million Reputation Points over there were already maxed out.

But being frantic was useless. The darn system continued at its own leisurely pace, unhurried and doing as it pleased.

Seeing that this damn system played dirty, he barely had time to see what he’d won. Each time he returned to the home page, he would immediately start a lottery draw.

After the draw, he’d return to see the Reputation Points full again and immediately draw once more, repeating the cycle.

Eventually, in this tug-of-war with the system, it wasn’t until after midnight that the rate of increase for Reputation Points finally began to slow.

Throughout the night, he had no idea how many times he’d drawn or what he’d won. Now, his mind was filled with the system’s "DING" sound, more brainwashing than any damn catchy tune.

He glanced at his phone; it was already past five in the morning, and the Reputation Points were still slowly climbing. He had no idea where they were coming from.

Where are all these night owls coming from in the middle of the night?

He couldn’t take it anymore.

With dark circles under his eyes, he looked at the system, feeling completely drained.

Finally, he reluctantly closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He had to sleep. After a night like this, the points would surely increase more by morning. What if I oversleep? he thought. Wouldn’t that be an even bigger waste than now?

To protect what was rightfully his and not waste a single Reputation Point, Chu Tian firmly set his phone alarm for eight in the morning, planning to continue his tough battle with the system after waking up.

Unfortunately, he had severely overestimated his energy and perseverance.

「The next morning, Xu Qingqiu arrived at the office in a cheerful mood.」

Yesterday’s show had been a huge success, and she could clearly feel her popularity rising rapidly.

Not only did she have more fans online, but when she arrived at the office today, people even approached her for autographs.

Most people in this building worked in the new media industry and were used to seeing celebrities.

She had been here for more than a year or two. The last time someone asked for her autograph was over three years ago, back when she was at the peak of her popularity.

People tend to follow those on the rise, which showed she was genuinely becoming a hot topic. How could she not be pleased?

Besides her, everyone else in the company was beaming. After all, their jobs revolved around the boss.

The better the boss did, the better their own lives would be.

Their salaries were only guaranteed if the boss had money, so who wouldn’t be happy?

"Morning, President Xu!"

"Good morning, Boss!"

"Boss, you were on fire! Yesterday’s song was amazing!"

Employees continually greeted Xu Qingqiu. She smiled and nodded in response, sometimes even stopping to chat for a few moments, in exceptionally high spirits.

Ultimately, she was still just a young woman, lacking the typical self-awareness of a boss, which was precisely why many employees adored her.

She put on no airs, was kind-hearted, and treated everyone well.

"Qingqiu, stop chatting and come in. I need to discuss some work with you."

"Coming, Sister Hua."

Hearing Sister Hua call her, Xu Qingqiu secretly stuck out her tongue and hurried inside.

Her playful expression charmed many of the staff present.

They had never seen their boss act like this. Many regretted not recording that moment, kicking themselves for missing it.

"Qingqiu, this is the plan for the upcoming period," Sister Hua said. "You know our studio’s situation. Although the show’s production team paid a portion of the appearance fee, it’s merely a drop in the bucket."

"The revenue from the songs won’t come in until next month. So, to keep the studio running, we still need to accept some commercial appearances."

Due to past incidents, Xu Qingqiu was particularly resistant to commercial appearances, a fact Sister Hua was aware of.

But now they had no choice but to accept them. So, she spoke very tactfully, wanting to get Xu Qingqiu on board and hoping she would understand.

Looking at the densely packed schedule Sister Hua handed her, Xu Qingqiu sighed helplessly.

She truly just wanted to sing, but reality wasn’t that simple.

If it were just her, it would have been fine. But now, with a studio and so many people depending on her, some things were unavoidable.

More importantly, if she wanted to sing, she needed her team’s support. Going without a team was possible, but it would be incredibly troublesome.

She had considered dissolving the studio before. While that might be convenient for her, she would likely fade into obscurity.

After all, a Singer without new works, without any songs to sing, no matter how popular, would eventually fade into obscurity, even while holding the title of Queen.

Is the title of Queen valuable? Very. But is achieving that title enough?

Not really. She wasn’t the only one to earn this title over the years; there had been many.

But looking across the entertainment industry, how many of them were still around now?

Most had disappeared without a trace.

Besides, if the studio dissolved, what would *he* do?

Thinking of Chu Tian, she subconsciously glanced outside but didn’t see that familiar figure.

What’s going on? Why isn’t he here?

As this thought crossed her mind, she couldn’t help but frown, her attention drifting.

"What’s wrong, Qingqiu? Is something amiss?"

"Ah? Oh, no, Sister Hua. Everything’s fine. Let’s go with this."

Seeing she had no objections, Li Chunhua finally smiled.

"Then you might have to work a bit harder for a while. Keep it up; things are already looking up."

Xu Qingqiu forced a smile, but her gaze kept drifting outside.

Meanwhile, the person she was looking for was currently sitting up in bed, utterly bewildered.

"Damn it! The alarm! Where the hell is my alarm? Why didn’t I hear it?!"

Chu Tian opened his eyes and only then realized that the eight o’clock alarm had indeed gone off, but he hadn’t heard it. It was already past one in the afternoon.

Not only had he missed the lottery draws, but he was also terribly late for work!

"I’m so screwed..."

He quickly opened the system. Sure enough, the Reputation Points were maxed out again.

He couldn’t wait and immediately did a ten-pull draw.

When he checked again, he found that the increase in Reputation Points had slowed considerably.

It couldn’t be helped. Most people were busy working during the day. Not many were watching shows or listening to music—very few, in fact.

The peak times for increases were during the morning rush hour commute, when people watched variety shows or listened to music on the subway, during lunch breaks, and after work in the evening.

Some people slacked off at work, sure, but not many. Most of that activity was focused on short-form content apps; long variety shows didn’t draw as much attention during these times.

Alright, what’s done is done. The peak period is over, I’m late for work anyway, and rushing won’t help. Might as well check my haul first, he thought.

With that, he didn’t even get out of bed, simply opening his inventory to check.

The sight nearly blinded him.

[Calmness Potion]*8

[Wisdom Fruit]*2

[Immunity Potion]*6

[Song "The Farthest Place You Can See"]

[Song...]

The inventory was stuffed full; it was a significant haul indeed.

He didn’t know exactly how many times he’d drawn the previous night, but it had definitely been a lot. The rewards were far greater than he had expected.