A song called "The You of the Past" has prompted the entire internet to beg me not to leav

The main thoroughfare of Xinghai City's busiest CBD downstairs had been transformed into an endless sea of ​​flowers. Red, white, yellow, purple—all sorts of flower baskets were piled up like mountains, covered with bizarre blessings such as "Congratulations on the grand opening of the 'Don't Want to Work' Group," "May Lin Yan and Shen Qingqiu have a long and happy marriage," and "Brother Yan, I don't want to work today either."

Countless reporters and online influencers who rushed to the scene are now broadcasting live from every angle of this epic traffic jam, armed with cameras and microphones.

"Holy crap..." Chen Yu muttered to himself, "This spectacle is a hundred times more extravagant than when I won the talent show..."

Looking at the spectacular scene downstairs, Lin Yan felt no pride, but instead rubbed his temples in exasperation.

"Oh no, now the whole of Xinghai City knows I don't want to go to work."

Shen Qingqiu was amused and laughed out loud. She stepped forward, naturally took Lin Yan's arm, and whispered in his ear, "It's okay, anyway, your money tree is growing more lush than anyone else's."

She shook her phone, and the screen displayed a newly received email.

"Look, we just opened and we've already got a big order. The hottest national-level fantasy game in China, 'Sword of Immortality,' wants you to write a theme song for their new version. The budget... is unlimited."

Lin Yan's gaze shifted from the sea of ​​flowers downstairs to Shen Qingqiu's phone screen.

"Sword Questions Immortality"?

Suddenly, the miserable scene of being repeatedly killed more than ten times last night by a whale in the game named "One Sword Frosts Fourteen Provinces" flashed into his mind.

A dangerous smile crept onto Lin Yan's lips.

"I accepted it."

three days later.

Shanghai, Sky Dome Games headquarters.

The atmosphere in the meeting room of the "Sword Asks for Immortality" project team was so oppressive that it felt as if the cold air from Siberia had been blowing in.

Wang Hao, the project's chief producer, is a young man in his early thirties whose hairline is receding rapidly. He is staring nervously at the projection screen in front of him. The screen displays the theme song demo sent by Qingqiu Studio, or rather, "Don't Want to Go to Work Entertainment Group".

The song is beautiful, with a grand and majestic arrangement, full of ancient Chinese charm, and brimming with the ethereal and freehand style of the fantasy world.

But the problem is, it's too "ethereal".

"Mr. Wang... Mr. Wang," a young man in charge of operations stammered, "this song... isn't it a bit too refined? Our new version focuses on 'The Great War Between Immortals and Demons,' it's PVP, it's action-packed, it's a massive multiplayer online battle. This song... sounds like the protagonist is tired from fighting and wants to sit down and enjoy the scenery while meditating."

"I know!" Wang Hao irritably ran a hand through his already thinning hair. "The problem is, who dares to talk to that guy?"

The conference room fell silent instantly.

That gentleman was naturally referring to Lin Yan.

Since the release of "Wanjiang," Lin Yan's status in the Chinese music scene has transcended being described as merely "top-tier" or "genius"; he's practically deified. Then came the incident where he tapped out "Destiny" with chopsticks at a hotpot party, captivating Grammy giants, and winning awards at the Golden Melody Awards while wearing a military overcoat...

All these events cast a filter over Lin Yan, making him appear as an unparalleled master who was "aloof, cold, eccentric, and unyielding."

To these ordinary people in the game company, Lin Yan was like a legendary, unassuming monk. How dare you criticize his work? You'd probably be banned from the industry with a single sentence from him.

"How about... we add a little more money?" a girl from the marketing department suggested quietly.

Wang Hao gave a wry smile: "The boss's wife used a 1.5 billion yuan building as a dowry, do you think he would care about our pittance? He didn't care about Old Li's face or Director Zhang Ji's sworn brotherhood. This kind of person can't be won over with money."

"What should we do then? We can't just use this, can we? The players will curse us to death!"

"How about... we modify it ourselves?"

"Are you crazy!" Wang Hao jumped up from his chair in shock. "Change his music? Would William Davis dare? Would you dare? If he finds out, you believe me, he could write a song and bankrupt our company!"

Everyone fell silent again, their faces full of worry, feeling as if they were facing not a theme song, but a life-or-death question.

Just then, a tech-savvy guy who was in charge of monitoring game data suddenly exclaimed "Huh?" and pointed to his laptop screen.

"Mr. Wang, please take a look at this."

The crowd gathered around curiously.

On the screen is a player's game data backend, with an extremely glaring ID—[Don't Want to Go to Work].

"This ID... no way?" The operations guy's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"Look at his login IP address, it's the same one as the 'Don't Want to Work Entertainment Group' we've been in contact with." The tech geek pushed up his glasses, his tone carrying a hint of excitement from discovering something new. "And look at his stats."

On the screen, the word "defeat" was displayed in blood red, a truly gruesome sight.

The KDA (Kills/Deaths/Assists) is a shocking 0.7.

My last ten matches have all ended in defeat.

The most outrageous thing is that in one national war, he was killed fifteen times in a row by a player with the ID "一剑霜寒十四州" in the same place, using the same method.

"I remember this 'One Sword Frost' is our top spender on the leaderboard," the operations guy murmured.

The tech geek pulled up another in-game voice recording and pressed play.

After a hissing sound, a roar of extreme anger mixed with a hint of grievance exploded from the speaker:

"—Damn it! Here we go again! When will this end? I only stole one of your kills, and you've been chasing me around all night!"

"—I'm warning you, don't think you're so great just because you're well-equipped! Give me your address, and I'll get someone to beat you up!"

"Aaaaaah! My keyboard!!"

"Bang!"

A loud crash, as if something had been smashed to pieces.

Then came a string of indignant mutterings: "Just you wait...you just wait...don't let me run into you in my field of expertise...or I'll write a song and smash your game company's servers to pieces!!"

The meeting room was deathly silent.

Everyone gaped, exchanging bewildered glances, their faces a mixture of absurdity, shock, and a twisted expression of wanting to laugh but refusing to.

The music legend who wrote "Blue and White Porcelain," "Ten Thousand Frontiers," and "A Laughter in the Vast Sea"?

The peerless master who made a Grammy winner kneel down and acknowledge him as his master?

That aloof and arrogant artist who dared not let anyone get close?

...Is this the same internet-addicted teenager who got so badly beaten in the game that he smashed his keyboard, yelled in anger, and even threatened to get revenge by writing songs?

The stark contrast nearly caused Wang Hao and the others to break their backs.

Wang Hao was stunned for a full half minute, then he slapped his thigh and a bright smile appeared on his face like never before.

"What's there to be afraid of!"

He picked up his phone and dialed Shen Qingqiu's number directly, saying in a strong voice, "President Shen! Hello! Regarding the theme song, we have a small, very small suggestion... Yes, yes, we want a more energetic one, one that's good for fighting! What? Teacher Lin Yan said he already has an idea? He's writing it? And he said he has a surprise for us?"

After hanging up the phone, Wang Hao looked at his colleagues in the conference room and laughed like a 200-pound child.

"Brothers, we've got this!" He pumped his fist excitedly. "This time, we might be witnessing an epic battle!"