Chinese Entertainment: Becoming a Superstar After a Breakup

WLMQ, a commercial street.

"Is this the wedding photography studio?" A young man wearing a denim jacket and carrying a large backpack stood in front of a wedding photography studio's sign, muttered to himself, and then pushed open the door and entered.

"Excuse me, excuse me, are you alright?" He felt like he bumped into someone as soon as he entered the room. It was a cute girl, and it was hard to say who was right or wrong, but she was knocked down by him, so he instinctively said sorry.

"It's nothing." Naza rubbed her shoulder, looking at the man in front of her. This man's attire wasn't local; he must be a tourist. Why was he at a photo studio?

"That's good. My name is Shen Ze. Would you like to add me in the contact information? If you have any questions, just contact me directly." The young man looked at the woman in front of him and felt that she was becoming more and more familiar. Then he thought of her and remembered her. Gu Lina, that poor beauty who has no representative works and relies on her looks to get by in the entertainment industry, right? He should add her in the contact information.

"Thank you, but I don't think I need to. I'm fine." Nazar glanced at Shen Ze, pushed open the door, and went into a shop.

Shen Ze was a little disappointed, but judging from the other person's expression, they probably didn't think he was the kind of person who would try to pick someone up in this way.

No, how can women be so sensitive? But she guessed right. This is a future big star. It's always good for Shen Ze to think about it more. She's really good-looking in real life. I want to get to know her.

[Check-in successful, Superstar System officially linked]

Suddenly hearing a mechanical voice in his mind, Shen Ze quickly sat down on the bench next to him, feeling extremely excited. The binding was successful, and all the money he had worked hard for over a month to save up for the fare had been worthwhile.

Only after returning to this era did he realize how low wages were. He could only earn twenty or thirty yuan a day by handing out flyers and putting up posters. He wouldn't have worked so hard if it weren't for activating the system.

He is not from this era. He is himself, eighteen years old, who woke up one day in 2026 after taking a nap and found himself in the body of himself right after the Chinese New Year in 2010.

He was very excited about his rebirth. He loved reading novels and knew what rebirth meant: a better life and the ability to make up for regrets. It was wonderful.

But after the initial excitement, he encountered his first hurdle: preparing for the college entrance examination. In his previous life, he was not a good student and failed to even get into a third-tier university. The retakes were not very effective, so he went directly to a junior college. In his father Shen Chun's words, learning a skill and having a trade is better than playing around for several years.

Vocational school? Those who know, know. Leaving their hometown, they let themselves go even more, spending every day in internet cafes, and the ending is naturally a mess.

After entering the workforce, I experienced hardship, but it was too late. I ended up just drifting along, neither good enough for high-level jobs nor low-level ones.

Now that he has the opportunity to make up for his regrets, he naturally wants to seize it. However, Shen Ze discovers that he has long forgotten the little knowledge he has acquired and is now useless.

Fortunately, he was reborn with a cheat code. The novel was right; a superstar system came with him. It was a mini-game he had just opened before his rebirth. He felt that this thing was what brought him back. He opened the mini-game and went to sleep. When he woke up, he was reborn.

Having a system is a good thing. Although he was reborn, he knows his own abilities. He knows about Bitcoin, but if you ask him to go online and buy it now, he doesn't know how. Can you read English? Do you know how to buy? Do you know how to trade?

He was fully aware of his own abilities. If he were truly capable, he would have already made a good living on his own. He had self-awareness.

Having a system makes all the difference. In novels, people with systems live a life of luxury and excitement. He really looks forward to that kind of vulgar life with luxury cars and beautiful women.

However, to be bound to this system, you need to complete a random check-in task. There is a spinning wheel with many domestic places listed on it, such as the Beijing Film Academy and the Shanghai Theatre Academy, places where stars gather, which fits the name of the Superstar System very well.

However, he wasn't very lucky; the roulette wheel stopped at the furthest WLMQ. Oh well, he had to go. The only problem was that he didn't have any money.

He doesn't have much pocket money, and he saves it all to go to internet cafes. The round-trip train ticket to WLMQ alone costs more than a thousand yuan, and that's just the ticket price. It would cost at least a thousand five hundred yuan.

This was a sum he could afford in his previous life, but for him in this day and age, as a student, it was a huge amount of money.

As for asking his family for it, how could he possibly get it without a suitable reason? In this era, in their area, this amount of money was equivalent to the monthly income of many people. His father worked in the coal mines, earning a little more, but even without going down into the mines, he only earned a little over three thousand to four thousand, which was quite difficult to come by.

Then he could only rely on himself, handing out flyers and working as a waiter in his spare time. People who have been in society are not so thin-skinned. If he were his original age, he would really be embarrassed to do this.

In addition to working for more than a month after the college entrance examination, earning twenty or thirty yuan a day, plus the pocket money for the New Year, and all the pocket money given by my parents, I finally managed to raise the money. It was so hard to get my first pot of gold. I successfully checked in within the specified time.

[Superstar System]

[Destiny: None]

[Superstar Points: 0]

[The Superstar System can be activated once the host officially enters the entertainment industry.]

Looking at the two simple data points from the Superstar System, Shen Ze felt a mix of surprise and disappointment, as it didn't match his expectations.

He already knows the functions of the Superstar System, which are incredibly powerful, but he still needs to activate it. How does that count as entering the entertainment industry?

The system's functions are relatively simple, unlike what he had envisioned before he was unlinked, where he could earn rewards by completing various tasks and become a big star by relying on the system's abilities.

There are no missions, only destiny and superstar points. Destiny is terrifying. In fantasy terms, it's called "one certificate for eternity," which is also what Shen Ze finds abnormal. As long as you have destiny, your career in the entertainment industry will only rise, never fall.

The destiny you receive is determined by your achievements in the entertainment industry that year, but there is a limitation: it must be a leading role in your work. For example, if one of your leading films grosses over 100 million, then your destiny is to have a film gross over 100 million.

With this destiny, all your future lead roles in movies will have a minimum box office of 100 million. Of course, these must be officially produced movies, not just some amateurish short films made to make money. If you're not the lead actor, the destiny won't apply.

The same applies to TV dramas. If you have one top-rated TV drama that breaks 2%, then your destiny is to break 2% in ratings, and all your properly filmed TV dramas will break 2%.

As for how the system will achieve this, since it's all about destiny, it's definitely possible. However, this might lead to situations where some bad movies or TV series have high viewership, but that seems to be quite normal in the entertainment industry.

Destiny is a title, a foundation, while Star Points are the steps that build upon Destiny. Based on your Destiny, one Star Point can be exchanged for one person's visit.

He contributes a ticket to your movie, and ratings to your TV series, depending on what you do.

Gaining Superstar Points is straightforward: participating in entertainment filming and acting earns you Superstar Points at a ratio of ten to one. For example, if someone acts in a TV series or makes a movie and earns ten dollars, they automatically gain one Superstar Point.

Of course, if you make a lot of money investing in film and television dramas, that doesn't count as income in the entertainment industry, and it doesn't count as superstar income. Only your normal remuneration for acting and singing counts.

(Please add my new book to your favorites. I promised to post it, but since it's a weekend, I'm posting it without any prior approval. I hope I can get a contract.)