CH 13

The room fell silent. Ji Ning didn’t know anything about what had happened last night after he fell drunk, so he felt a little puzzled at the strange atmosphere.

However, Herinos’ expression soon returned to normal and he said to Gu Chen, “I don’t want anything to happen to Xiao Ning either. I’ll take good care of him, what else do you have to say?” 

Although he was smiling, his tone was rather cold. Taking the hint, Gu Chen didn’t press further, he nodded to Ji Ning again and said, “Then I’ll go first Senior, take care of your health. I’ll keep in contact and invite you to dinner later.”

“En.”

Ji Ning nodded, paused for a moment, then added, “When you go back, work hard, I’ll see you on set later.”

Gu Chen’s heart warmed when he heard those words because as Ji Ning spoke, the expression on his face looked a little awkward. He rarely showed such a gentle side in front of others. 

Did that mean the distance between himself and Ji Ning had shortened, even by a little?

It was just a simple sentence, but the hurt that had lingered in Gu Chen’s heart since last night disappeared. He nodded and said with a soft smile, “Thank you Senior, I will definitely keep working hard.”

“You better.”

Ji Ning recovered from his awkwardness and raised his jaw slightly at Gu Chen, “If actor Gu’s reputation is damaged because of you, I won’t forgive you.”

Gu Chen was startled, “Actor Gu? Senior, are you…”

“I’m a fan of Gu Chen,” Ji Ning replied without hesitation. He continued mercilessly, “Of course, not you, but the actor Gu Chen from a hundred years ago.”

“…I understand,” replied Gu Chen thoughtfully, then he smiled and looked at Ji Ning, “Looks like Senior and I have common interests. In fact, I’m also a fan of actor Gu and have seen all his works.”

His way of speaking was so natural that Ji Ning couldn’t help glancing at him – he was indeed an extremely talented actor, even when declaring he was his own fan, his expression appeared genuine and without a hint of embarrassment. 

It was Ji Ning himself who was lying. He was not a fan of Gu Chen, but it was necessary as part of his attack to say this to Gu Chen.

As the protagonist of ‘Rebirth of the Interstellar Actor,’ Gu Chen had been reborn on the same planet, in an era one hundred years after his death. In this period, everyone had heard of the famous actor Gu Chen and seen his works.

A hundred years ago, Gu Chen had been the most celebrated actor of his time, known as the peerless genius of the entertainment industry. Before the car accident which caused his death, he had won countless honours and awards. Even though his life was short, his accomplishments had surpassed many of his predecessors and he had become an insurmountable figure for future generations.

In fact, Gu Chen’s premature death had added legendary colour to his brilliant life. Even one hundred years later in the interstellar era, his works were still extremely popular. The highest privilege of the film industry, the ‘Violet Award’ was created in Gu Chen’s honour, named after his favourite flower. The entire film industry had undergone huge changes due to Gu Chen’s existence. 

Of course, the author’s intentions when writing the novel were to allow Gu Chen to surpass his previous life’s achievements after rebirth. The beginning of the book was deliberately written to emphasise the trouble Gu Chen went through, feeling like he was trapped in the shadow of his past life.

After his rebirth, Gu Chen was an 18th tier, rookie star. The original owner happened to have the same name as Gu Chen and even had a similar appearance.

His name and features caused the original owner to cause quite a stir when he first debuted and a lot of attention was focused on him. Unfortunately, many newcomers are unable to handle such pressure and the same was true for the original owner. His performance was simply incomparable to the original Gu Chen and he soon disappointed everyone.

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Using his understanding of the background of the original novel, the experienced Ji Ning had formulated a strategy for attacking Gu Chen. His plan was to pretend to be a fanboy of the previous Gu Chen, so that while acting cold toward the current Gu Chen, he simultaneously showed enthusiasm towards the talented actor, using the contrast of a hot and cold approach to intrigue Gu Chen and win his favour.

Ji Ning intended to gradually build up an image of a hardcore Gu Chen fanboy, so from now on he would gradually reveal hints to Gu Chen.

Therefore, when Gu Chen said that he also liked actor Gu, Ji Ning immediately showed an expression of interest and asked, “Which one of his films is your favourite-” 

But, as if thinking of something else, his expression turned stiff. After a while, he said indifferently, “You like him? If you like him, don’t act as badly as you did before.”

He was referring to the original owner’s poor acting ability.

“Okay, I’ll promise Senior.”

Gu Chen nodded with a smile, recalling how Ji Ning had taken the initiative to talk to him when he had been standing alone a few days ago. Something no one else had tried to do since he was reborn. 

Ji Ning must have approached him because of the similarity of his current body to his appearance in his previous life.

Everyone else avoided him, and even Ji Ning had no reason to approach him, but he was willing to support a newcomer because he looked somewhat similar to his idol.

It turned out Ji Ning was actually a fan of his…

Gu Chen’s heart softened and he felt so full of joy that even the corners of his eyes curved up from his smile. 

This was probably the happiest he’d felt since his rebirth.

Gu Chen left, leaving only Ji Ning and a sulky Herinos in the room. Soon, Ji Ning’s driver came to pick them up from the hotel and take them back to his villa, where he lived alone.

Herinos came with him, as he had previously said he would accompany Ji Ning for a while, and naturally followed him to his residence.

During the journey, Ji Ning contacted his manager to say she could take some time off as he wouldn’t be taking any jobs for a period of time. 

After all, he had entered this world to attack Gu Chen and didn’t need a career, so he didn’t want to accept films or activities that weren’t connected to Gu Chen. As for the manager, she was originally Ji Ning’s father’s subordinate and would be unlikely to go against the wishes of the company’s crown prince.

Back at the villa, there was little to do, and as there would be some time before he and Gu Chen would have a chance to collaborate on a movie, Ji Ning spent a few days peacefully. With nothing he had to do, he started watching the original actor Gu’s films.

The majority of the current movies were holographic films, which allowed the audience to feel fully immersed within the scenes, but Gu Chen’s previous life was a hundred years previous. It was a time before holographic technology, where films could only be viewed on a flat screen.

Inside the villa, Ji Ning sat on the floor with a notebook in one hand, carefully watching the screen on the wall, recording details. When an important scene occurred, he would watch it over and over again, with a contemplative expression. 

“You like that actor so much.”

Herinos sat next to Ji Ning and asked with great interest.

He sat facing the opposite direction to Ji Ning, in order to avoid looking at the face on the screen. Having Gu Chen lingering around Ji Ning was annoying enough, but to have a second Gu Chen that Ji Ning was so enamoured with was too much for him. The most infuriating thing was that the two Gu Chens’ looked so similar that Herinos found himself wondering if they were the same person.

“Why not? He’s the most talented actor I’ve ever seen.” 

Ji Ning answered Herinos and he wasn’t even lying. Gu Chen was indeed both talented and captivating, by watching his films, even Ji Ning had learned a few things.

This in itself was quite an impressive feat. After all, he had an acting career far longer than any other performer. In every world, he had to play a different role without rest, with some worlds lasting for a very long time span. The cultivation world alone took hundreds of years.

The blood prince pursed his lips, about to speak, when the housekeeping robot in the villa entered the room to ask, “Someone has visited from outside the household, are they allowed to enter?”

Someone came…who? No one had arranged to come over. 

Ji Ning ordered the robot to display the scene in front of the villa’s gate in order to see who the visitor was, but unexpectedly the area was completely empty, not a person in sight.

“Someone has visited from outside the household, are they allowed to enter?”

“Are they allowed to enter?”

The robot repeated, the mechanised voice echoing across the villa, slowly becoming more unnerving. 

Obviously there was no one there, so why did it continue announcing a presence? Was the robot malfunctioning, or was it…

Ji Ning suddenly had an ominous premonition. Herinos also stood up, sensing something, and dropped his human glamour. His dark red pupils flashed with a dangerous light.

The bottom of the robot’s face cracked into a jagged smile and spoke with a pleasant male voice.

“I’ve come to see you Ningning, aren’t I allowed to enter?” 

With a squeak the door opened. Cold air rushed in from the outside, as a pair of black leather shoes appeared on the threshold.

The figure of Huo Wuling had materialised outside the door. His face was still ethereally beautiful, with dark, affectionate eyes and a pale complexion, but he appeared closer to human than before.

However the shadow he cast on the ground revealed his true colours. Instead of a human silhouette, his shadow squirmed and writhed as if it were alive and filled with otherworldly monsters.

This was not a projection, Huo Wuling himself was here. 

As soon as he felt his aura, Ji Ning hid behind Herinos to determine whether it really was Huo Wuling’s true form.

Herinos looked at Huo Wuling with a sneer, “Uninvited guests are of course, not welcome to enter.”

“Is that so…”

Huo Wuling asked with a smile, “But I was asking Ningning, not you.” 

The next moment, the roof cracked, a river of blood pouring through it, sweeping towards Herinos.

Herinos raised his hand and manipulated the river of blood to attack Huo Wuling. When the first drop of blood touched Huo Wuling’s shoulder, his body burst into smoke, vanishing into the house.

“That was dangerous, won’t you say hello to me?”

Huo Wuling stood on the other side of the coffee table. He looked at Ji Ning, who Herinos had pushed behind himself, “Ningning, come to me, I don’t want to hurt you.” 

Ji Ning stood still, he didn’t believe a word Huo Wuling said. If Huo Wuling said he wasn’t going to hurt him, that just meant he was going to kill him so quickly he wouldn’t feel pain!

“I’m very sad Ningning, you don’t listen to me anymore.”

Huo Wuling’s smile slowly disappeared from his face, leaving a blank expression and dark eyes.

“I wanted to keep your body, but you’ve been so bad. I think I’ll break you as a punishment.” 

The creatures inside his shadow began to crawl out, forming a circle that surrounded both Herinos and Ji Ning.

“As long as you die full of resentment and become a ghost, you will come back to me. Aren’t I right?”

The author has something to say:

Ji Ning: You’re right. 

Every time I start rooting for Huo Wuling he does this – that man is a walking red flag and I’m apparently colourblind