Chapter 3: Three Songs

After taking a taxi home, Miss Luo Quan, who was already soaked in sweat, hurriedly ran into the bathroom to take a cold shower. Don't tell her about how taking a hot shower is good for the body; in the scorching midsummer, she just liked to feel this bone-chilling cold that made every inch of her skin shrink and tighten.

The only thing that made her feel a bit unaccustomed was her long hair on her back. Previously, her hairstyle had always been a buzz cut, and after washing her hair, she would just wipe it with a towel and it would be dry. Now, just washing her hair was a three-step process: conditioner—shampoo—conditioner, making it like an Oreo, and blowing it dry after washing took nearly seven or eight minutes.

In the past, Miss Luo Quan's showers, from taking off clothes to putting them on, never took more than fifteen minutes, and she could even squeeze in some bathroom karaoke in between. But now, it had already been half an hour and she had barely finished. Thinking about how she might have to spend so much time every day in the future, Miss Luo Quan couldn't help but want to give herself a buzz cut.

After the shower, Miss Luo Quan turned on the phone's recording function, sang "Lemon" in its entirety, and watched it in its entirety.

Her singing ability was still passable; the Primary Singing Proficiency improved her singing to a B grade, which was already the level of a music major graduate. Coupled with her own excellent hardware, problems like singing off-key and unstable breath did not appear.

However, the video effect was still very unsatisfactory. The sound quality was not clear enough, and occasionally there was noise. The image quality was also touching, at most 720p, or even less, which was truly miserable to the extreme.

But there was no other way. Although the iPhone 6s was the fighter among mobile phones at this time, professional equipment was still needed for recording videos and audio. If she could change to the iPhone 7 that Apple was about to release, it might be a bit better, but unfortunately, she didn't have that much money to change it.

Opening YouTube, Miss Luo Quan uploaded the recorded video to her personal space.

Izumi uploaded the video successfully!

The system's prompt appeared at the top of the screen. Seeing this nickname, Miss Luo Quan smiled slightly. It was truly a very gentle name.

After the video was uploaded, it still needed to be reviewed for a while. Taking advantage of this gap, Miss Luo Quan closed her eyes and talked to the system: "System, did I level up?"

"No, the host is currently still unknown." As it spoke, the system also moved Miss Luo Quan's level into her line of sight.

Previously, the color of "unknown" was white, but now it had turned red. It was estimated that with more Heat Value, she would level up.

"By the way, the task system has been updated. It is suggested that the host take a look at the new task requirements before browsing the mall."

"Another task so soon? Are you really not giving me a chance to breathe?" Miss Luo Quan frowned and complained, then looked at the task interface.

【Novice Task: Obtain 100 Heat Value before 12:00 tonight (Completed). Reward: One Random Star Binding Card.】

【Advanced Task: Dominate the top three of the Japanese Oricon Chart for at least four weeks. (If no song enters the top three of the Oricon Chart within a month, the task will automatically disappear). PS: There is no penalty for task failure~】

【Mandatory Restriction Task: From now on, the host is not allowed to sign with any company as an artist.】

The novice task was completed, and two new tasks were added. Fortunately, she didn't have to worry about being forced to debut in Kabukicho due to task failure anymore.

But this advanced task was truly a bit harsh, directly requiring her to dominate the top three of the Oricon Chart, and it had to be for four consecutive weeks.

As the most authoritative music chart in Japan, it was rare for a singer to dominate the top three on Oricon. Even if there were, it wasn't something a grassroots singer like her could achieve.

Although with the quality of the songs she had mastered now, if she signed with a larger agency and pushed marketing hard, it might be possible to achieve this, but now there was a restriction task, completely cutting off this path.

In other words, she could only rely entirely on herself and her fans' promotion now. To be honest, Miss Luo Quan felt very unsure.

"If I can buy better equipment in the mall and improve the user experience, the possibility of completing the task might be greatly increased."

Holding this thought, Miss Luo Quan opened the system mall. After a rough scan, she showed a disappointed expression.

The mall was filled with a dazzling array of goods, basically everything from reality to virtual items. There were also many recording and video equipment, but she couldn't afford any of them. The cheapest one required more than 100,000 Heat Value, and the Heat Value she currently possessed wasn't even enough for a fraction of it.

Helplessly, Miss Luo Quan could only shift her gaze to other areas. After watching for a while, she discovered a pattern in the mall: most of the goods that could be materialized into reality were ridiculously expensive, while goods like songs and star binding cards were much cheaper. Perhaps changing this world cost more Heat Value than just changing herself alone.

However, although the songs in the mall were said to be cheap, they weren't that cheap. High-quality songs like "Lemon" were basically priced around 1,000 Heat Value, while some other catchy, brainwashing songs that were also very popular were priced at less than one-tenth of "Lemon."

In Japan, these brainwashing songs basically had no use, so Miss Luo Quan skipped them directly. After careful consideration, she exchanged 2,000 Heat Value for two popular Japanese songs.

One was "Uchiage Hanabi." This song and "Lemon" were both works by the same singer. The story told in the song happened to take place in summer, making it perfect for the occasion.

And the other song was one she had hesitated for a long time before finally deciding on. The name of this song was "Boku ga Shinou to Omotta no wa," which translated to "I Once Thought About Ending It All."

This song should be one of the most legendary Japanese songs in the last decade. Before 2012, Japan had as many as 30,000 or even more suicide cases every year, with the suicide rate ranking first in the world!

And after this song appeared, Japan's suicide rate suddenly dropped to the lowest, triggering widespread attention and discussion from all walks of life in Japan. It could be said that this song had extraordinary significance for the entire Japanese society.

The Japan in this world was no different from her previous life: cold social relationships, serious aging, high pressure on young people, and a suicide rate that was even worse than before. Miss Luo Quan felt that such a song needed to appear to bring greater encouragement to people.

Of course, she also had selfish motives, because the meaning represented by this song would likely become a hit in the special social environment of Japan. Using it to impact the Oricon Chart was the best choice.

After consuming 2,000 Heat Value, the singing techniques, lyrics and composition, arrangement, and other information for these two songs all flooded into Miss Luo Quan's mind. Opening her eyes, Miss Luo Quan opened her personal homepage on YouTube.

The video had been uploaded successfully. In just ten minutes, the number of views had already exceeded 5,000, and the number of fans who subscribed to her had also reached 500. Most of these were viewers who had watched Shimizu Daisuke's live stream before.

There were also dozens more comments in the comment section, most of which were praising her for being beautiful and singing well, and there were also a few complaining about how trashy the video quality was. Among them, the comment with the most likes was from Shimizu Daisuke, which read: A very good song. Although the sound quality is average, I have already started playing it on loop.

As a fresh, tender newcomer who hadn't become popular yet, Miss Luo Quan replied to these comments one by one, basically all "thanks for the support," "please promote more," and the like. This was also her first time interacting with fans, and she had no experience, so the sentences she replied with seemed very monotonous.

Actually, Miss Luo Quan really liked this feeling of being pursued and liked by everyone.

Having been a poor loser for half her life, Miss Luo Quan had always looked hateful and disgusting when walking on the street. When encountering mothers holding children, people would hurriedly pick up their children and walk around her.

Come to think of it, it made sense. A group of drunkards reeking of alcohol swaying towards you—anyone would dodge them. Fortunately, starting from today, she no longer needed to dwell on the past that had abandoned her; everything was moving in a good direction.

After recording and uploading the newly exchanged two songs, Miss Luo Quan rested early, hoping that when she woke up tomorrow, all of this would not be a yellow-millet dream she had made. ===== CHAPTER 4 =====