Chapter 1: Butterfly

【The wind belongs to the sky,

I borrow it to blow for a while,

Yet it stirs up the smoke and fire of the human world.】

——"One Hundred Years of Solitude"

………

………

"Such a hard bed." Luo Mo lay on the wooden board bed and said in his heart.

At this very moment, his four limbs could not move, and he could not even open his eyes, yet his brain was extremely clear.

It was a bit like sleep paralysis.

He did not know how long this feeling had lasted, so at this moment, he had almost no concept of time.

Many people have perhaps had such an experience: you have a very, very long dream, and then you wake up to look, and only ten minutes have passed.

And sometimes, you feel like you only squinted for a moment, "I'll just sleep for a while," but after opening your eyes, an hour has quietly slipped away.

Luo Mo's experience this time was even more bizarre.

He dreamed of the life of a 24-year-old young man.

A young man who was also named Luo Mo.

So much so that he was not even sure at this moment—did I dream of him, or did he dream of me?

"Zhuang Zhou dreams of the Butterfly, or the Butterfly dreams of Zhuang Zhou?"

He only felt that the memories of two lives had overlapped in this inexplicable way, and everything was so clear.

The only thing he could be sure of now was that this place was at least not the Earth he was familiar with.

Because he himself on Earth was already dead.

"Did I transmigrate?" Luo Mo thought.

"And I might have become a vegetable," he thought again.

After all, if he could never move and could not even open his eyes, wouldn't that be no different from a vegetable?

After accepting the reality of this transmigration, his first thought was: "What about my Cat?"

He kept a white cat, a munchkin cat, the kind with very short legs.

Because this little female cat was snow-white all over, and he was too lazy to name her, he just called her 【Baibaibai】.

After this thought occurred, he quickly realized: "Oh, my cat is gone too."

He on Earth died from an electric shock.

Yes, he was electrocuted along with the cat.

The last memory of the man and the cat was probably the two of them twitching away happily.

Other than that, Luo Mo had no other attachments.

Since he could not move for the time being anyway, he sorted through the memories of the two lives.

This feeling was exceptionally strange.

The Luo Mo on Earth died at thirty, and his profession was—a star.

To be precise, an Idol.

During his youth, because he was too poor, he debuted as an Idol in a fit of pique.

However, his star path was somewhat bumpy.

At first, he just wanted to make a living.

A company was recruiting trainees; although the conditions were strict, the training was bitter, and the treatment was average, at least his food, clothing, housing, and transportation could be guaranteed.

Luo Mo successfully passed the company's selection with the lowest score, and then, among a crowd of trainees and under the company's internal competition system, he successfully won a debut spot with the lowest score and debuted smoothly.

In fact, after becoming a trainee, he discovered that he also had excellent talent in Singing and Dancing.

Coupled with the fact that he came from a poor background and was willing to work hard, he made rapid progress during those years of trainee life. Starting from almost zero foundation, he eventually ranked first in professional ability among the entire batch of trainees.

However, within the group as a whole, his appearance was indeed a major shortcoming.

This was also why the company's senior management did not give him a high total score when evaluating his future.

In the Idol industry, appearance is indeed very important.

Some people might do nothing at all, take a god-tier GIF in front of the camera, and gain hundreds of thousands of fans.

And what about Luo Mo?

To use the words of his later fans—"If Luo Mo weren't ugly, he would actually be quite handsome."

Facts proved that as the 【Singing and Dancing Specialist】 in the group, although his professional ability was very impressive, from the moment he debuted, he had always been in a lukewarm state within the group.

Of course, this also had to do with his company.

The company was unwilling to tilt resources toward him because the return on investment was not as good as others.

Plus, the boy band itself did not have much popularity and could only be considered a third-rate boy band, so resources were even more scarce.

It is ridiculous to say that a few years after Luo Mo debuted, the biggest improvement in his career was when his manager fought tooth and nail to win him an opportunity to participate in "Masked Dance King".

A height of 1.83 meters, long legs with amazing proportions, and eight-pack abs that were faintly visible under his clothes when he raised his arms—without a face, it indeed made the women in front of the screen drool.

His star path also reached a turning point at this moment.

In fact, a person's charm does not entirely depend on a face.

It is just that without resources, without screen time, and with an appearance that does not pass muster, many people have no interest in understanding your stage charm at all.

Luo Mo was also aware of this.

So he grabbed this opportunity for all he was worth.

In the entertainment industry, there was thus one more typical "ugly-handsome talent."

It's quite strange; some people are just able to be both ugly and handsome.

Although he never became a massive hit, and because of the cutthroat deception within the entertainment industry, Luo Mo later experienced several ups and downs, and the group eventually disbanded, but looking back carefully, he could give himself a high score for the effort he put into this career.

Yet, recalling it carefully now, there are still far too many regrets and compromises.

In the entertainment industry, those who are completely washed up are very free—having debuted for half a lifetime, he returned to being a nobody.

Those who are incredibly popular also have a certain degree of freedom—they can have extremely high bargaining power and won't be easily manipulated by companies and capital.

Luo Mo is neither; he lived very unfree.

"In this new life, why not try a different way of living?" he thought.

Might as well be a bit more unrestrained; at worst, if things fall apart, he'll just quit the industry and retire directly!

Either be famous enough to be free, or retire to be free!

Come to think of it, Heaven really seems to have come to make up for his regrets.

The body he possesses now has an excellent appearance.

He is 1.82 meters tall, one centimeter shorter than he was on Earth, but what he got in exchange is an almost impeccable face.

Although men are all very sensitive about the unit of centimeters, Luo Mo had to say: "This one centimeter less is worth it!"

"With this look, what wouldn't be a success?"

And according to the memories he obtained, this Luo Mo, who grew up in a world extremely similar to Earth, studied Opera when he was young, and later studied Classical Dance during his university years.

In fact, there is a great deal of commonality between the two.

Like on Earth, Huaxia's Classical Dance was founded in the 1950s and was once called "Opera Dance" by some people.

It's just that with later developments, it underwent more transformations.

And his Opera teacher and Classical Dance teacher were both well-known big shots.

"To a certain extent, he can be considered a lucky person," Luo Mo evaluated.

It's just that for some unknown reason, his memories of the last three years are a bit blurry, causing him to be unable to tell for a moment where he is right now or what he is doing.

And just at this moment, he discovered that he could gradually control his body.

The feeling of sleep paralysis disappeared completely, and he opened his eyes wide.

What came into view was a dim space, with only faint light that allowed one to barely see things.

After his hearing recovered, he also heard the sound of breathing and snoring one after another.

"Just how many people are living here?" Luo Mo sat up from the very hard bed.

Is this military training?

He discovered that his bunk was located in the very Corner, and after he looked around at his surroundings by the faint light and counted the number of people, he fell into a brief state of stupor.

"Good grief, one hundred grown men sleeping in one hall."

His memory gradually cleared, and Luo Mo began to understand where he was.

"Hilarious, it really is the irony of fate," he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

"No wonder there are so many machines filming in this room that clearly looks like it was converted from a factory building."

At this very moment, the place he is in is—the dormitory recording site for the large-scale talent show, Creating Idols!

(End of chapter)