After school, he was then offered himself to a succubus

Zhang Chen noticed traces of glue on the heel.

"What illness does your mother have?" Zhang Chen asked.

“Cancer, late stage.” Zhao Fangyi hugged herself, feeling wronged. “Don’t think I’m just pretending to be pitiful… I can show you my medical records, they’re all on my phone.”

"I'm not begging for your pity. I've never told anyone other than Yinmeng about these things. I really have no other choice. I'm not trying to make things difficult for you... I'm sorry..."

"Now that you know all this, you can tell anyone you want, even if they say the head of the etiquette club is a fake gold digger, as long as you give up this opportunity..."

"If you give up, Yinmeng will definitely stop the filming plan as well, and everything will proceed as usual."

"Yinmeng has been targeted by the Hong Group. These scoundrels call it investment, but they really just want to control it... Zhang Chen, if you insist on continuing, and the music video is actually filmed, you will be retaliated against and cyberbullied... Aren't you afraid?"

Zhang Chen hesitated for a moment, and the emotion he sensed from Zhao Fangyi through [Dog Sniff] was indeed not a lie.

Oh no, this is the second time today that a girl has confided in me about her family of origin.

He didn't expect this matter to involve so much, nor did he consider that Lin Yinmeng, a famous singer, was actually quite poor.

But upon hearing the name "Hong Shi," he recalled what Shen Nianxi had said to him during hypnosis...

"Hong Group... Has the CEO of Hong Group recently gone to Ning'an to ward off evil spirits?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Fangyi was taken aback. "How did you know?"

"I heard."

"That's right... but anyone with eyes can see that they're here to acquire Yinmeng's studio. Yinmeng hasn't released any new songs in the past two years and has been the subject of a lot of rumors and slander, all of which were done by them... The excuse of coming to Ning'an to ward off evil is obviously just that."

"I'd like to ask, how important is this song to Lin Yinmeng?" Zhang Chen asked.

"Of course it's important! Yinmeng hasn't released a new song in two years! Mainly because Yinmeng doesn't have many songs to begin with... their foundation is too weak, their time in the spotlight is too short, and a two-year hiatus is just too long..."

“I’m not referring to fame or fortune,” Zhang Chen said. “How important is it to her personally?”

Zhao Fangyi was taken aback again. "Of course that's important too. I've never seen Yinmeng make a music video before..."

"Okay." Zhang Chen nodded. "Which hospital is your mother in? What's her room number?"

"Do you want to go see it in person...? No need, everything I said is true." Zhao Fangyi said tearfully, her lips pressed tightly together.

"Where?" Zhang Chen asked again.

"Nanjing University Affiliated Hospital, Intensive Care Unit 3, Bed 1... Please don't disturb her when you go, okay?"

"..."

Zhang Chen nodded; he already had a complete action plan.

Given the numerous difficulties in filming the music video, Lin Yinmeng's persistence suggests that this may very well be one of her long-cherished wishes.

This is also an opportunity for Zhang Chenbao to receive a reward.

Once this village is gone, there may not be another temple like this. Zhang Chen certainly wouldn't give up the chance to find his lifeblood.

But he didn't want to affect ordinary people like Zhao Fangyi.

If this is a game of capital, he probably has no choice but to accept it. He doesn't understand business warfare or media warfare at all... He only knows about the fruits of labor, working eight hours a day for five days.

But since it involves monsters, there's still room for maneuver, and it's his home turf.

If you don't collect monsters, wouldn't that be a waste?

After much deliberation, Zhang Chen extended his hand to Zhao Fangyi.

The girl sobbed, thinking it was his agreement, and gladly let him help her up.

"Your mother..."

"Hmm... even 300,000 wouldn't be enough... cancer is a bottomless pit, so why not give up and give you the money?"

"..."

Zhang Chen did not mean to make fun of people's tragedies.

However, he didn't know if this act of defying fate would incur the "karma" that Tu Shan Han Su often warned him about.

Humans and demons are still very different; humans are much more complex than demons.

We need a compromise.

Logically, he should not and could not arbitrarily participate in such natural life and death.

"So, you're willing to give up?" Zhao Fangyi wiped her tears on her sleeve. "I can give you 300,000 right away."

Zhang Chen didn't reply, but instead asked:

"Even if I don't participate, you won't accept any capital investment, right? Won't you still face retaliation?"

“I want to accept it… but Yinmeng can’t accept it, so I can only be with her,” Zhao Fangyi replied.

"But if we don't make music videos, they have far fewer opportunities to get involved. There are just too many scandals that can be fabricated about when making music videos, while simply releasing new songs may not bring us much profit, but at least the costs are low and we can survive..."

"Hmm... what if I could help you solve this?" Zhang Chen asked.

"Huh? You don't... still don't want to give up, do you?" Zhao Fangyi's eyes widened as she saw Zhang Chen's expression. The girl bit her lower lip tightly, trembling with a mixture of anger and helplessness.

"Do you think this is a joke... Do you think you can do it with just a word? I've tried so hard for so long and couldn't save anything... What makes you think you can?"

"You really think you can become famous by shooting a music video... I should have known that boys your age are just so immature!"

"Waaaaah..."

"..."

Zhang Chen had no choice but to keep his distance from the beautiful senior from the etiquette club as she broke down and cried on the grass.

He now understood Shen Nianxi's pain. Some things are simply incomprehensible to ordinary people, just like how the humans in The Three-Body Problem didn't thank Luo Ji.

Zhang Chen summoned several dying cicadas and asked them to come to Zhao Fangyi's side and chirp loudly, preferably to drown out her crying.

Otherwise, if others heard this, Zhao Fangyi, who is clearly very proud, would probably develop Yu Yu syndrome.

However, less than a minute after he sent the cicadas over, they flew back.

“You humans are so strange,” the cicada said. “You don’t even dare to cry out loud, unlike us cicadas, for death cannot stop us from shouting.”

Zhang Chen paused, then activated his cheat-like ability to peer deeper into the grove...

Zhao Fangyi was seen crying and biting her wrist hard, leaving a tooth mark deeper than her neck, with blood seeping out, all to keep herself from crying out loud.

"Hey, immortal, we're about to die, you should give us your blessing," the cicadas chirped.

"What kind of blessings do you want? Don't you want to be a citizen of the Heavenly Dynasty in your next life?" Zhang Chen asked.

"No, please bless us so that we will not be reincarnated again."

"why?"

“Living is painful,” a cicada said. “We cicadas are the same; we spend many years underground, but can only live for a few weeks on the surface.”

"Just like you humans, we endured the hardship before the reward, year after year."

Zhang Chen smiled wryly, "No, you're better off than us. At least you guys had your share of sweetness."

The cicadas looked at each other, then suddenly burst into laughter.

As they laughed, their voices faded away along with the cries from the woods.

Chapter 42 Gala Gemu (Male Protagonist)

"Hey~"

Zhang Chen had just stepped out of the school gate when he suddenly heard a melodious bird song. Like everyone else around him, he looked up at the bird circling in the sky.

The bird was brightly colored, about half the size of a basketball, and looked like a colorful cloud in the sky.

"What kind of bird is that? It's so beautiful!"

"I don't know, take a picture and ask Doubao."

"This is an auspicious omen, isn't it?"

"Good luck! Good luck! May I be blessed to make it ashore!"

Zhang Chen and the round bird locked eyes for a brief moment, then the bird spoke:

"Oh, I'm so sorry~ Fangyi didn't mean it..."

"Life and death are preordained. Don't act impulsively and risk hurting yourself while trying to save others."

Zhang Chen was slightly taken aback. He could tell that if this bird wasn't Lin Yinmeng, then it was an avatar of Lin Yinmeng, similar to the little dog demon that Li Yinuo had conjured.

“I don’t intend to do that,” he replied. “Humans and demons are different after all, and I have no responsibility for it. I just don’t want the situation to get worse, and I just want to have a clear conscience.”

"Very good... Also, sir... what is that bite mark on the young master's neck?"

"Wait... are you Lin Yinmeng?"

"I am her subordinate."

"really?"

"really."

Zhang Chen didn't believe it, so he opened the system and scanned it:

[List of Yokai Included]

[Subject Included: Lark (Lin Yinmeng)]

It really is a ghost.

"I was just scratched by a dog," Zhang Chen said vaguely, not directly.

But as soon as he finished speaking, he seemed to see the bird's cheeks puff up, and it stomped its claws angrily in the air, stirring up a gust of wind that made the people below gasp in surprise.

"Young master... if you have some free time, I know some acrobatic tricks like backflips. You can come find me by the lake at school."

"Uh, okay." Zhang Chen thought to himself, what an old-fashioned way to invite someone on a date.

With a few more cheerful chirps, the colorful bird flapped its wings and soared into the sky, disappearing from sight, leaving the crowd sighing in admiration.

"It flies so fast!"

"Is that person talking to a bird?"