Chapter 1: Le Xiaotian

That night, the stars hung dim in the sky, their light extinguished, over a lonely, remote place.

“This star has committed every vile act imaginable, severely disrupting the balance of the Music Sphere's star community. As the public enemy of all stars, it must be eliminated.”

Hearing this voice echo in his mind, a twenty-year-old youth narrowed his eyes, gripped the dagger tightly in his hand, and charged at the scarred man whom the system had labeled as an evil star.

Swish!

In the blink of an eye, the dagger clattered to the ground, and the youth clutched his bleeding throat, collapsing instantly.

“Number 172 public enemy star has died. System ability requires further upgrade. Beep, ninety-ninth upgrade successful, ten thousand loopholes repaired. Now commencing scan of the entire universe. Scan complete. New candidate for public enemy star identified: Le Xiaotian, a music enthusiast from Earth. Initiating space-time distortion...”

Music Sphere, Blue Sky Internet Café.

At the bar counter, an eighteen-year-old youth asked the young man behind the bar, “Xiaotian, what song are you playing?”

Seeing the young man behind the bar remain unresponsive, the youth leaned forward and poked his left shoulder. “Xiaotian, Le Xiaotian.”

Feeling someone poking his shoulder, Le Xiaotian felt deeply annoyed. He took off his headphones, stood up, and shouted at the youth, “What are you poking me for? How many times have I told you? Never disturb me when I’m listening to music with my headphones on. It’s my taboo. Can’t you understand plain words? Damn it!”

The youth stood stunned by the outburst. Le Xiaotian, still irritated, asked, “So, what do you want?”

The youth snapped back and asked, “What is this song, anyway? It sounds like an opera.”

Le Xiaotian listened with a frown. The broadcast played, “Longing to return, hard to return, falling back, reincarnation, moonlight fills the river, do not chase the past life~”

Confirming the song, Le Xiaotian’s brows furrowed. “You requested this song, ‘Ninety-Nine and Eighty-One,’ just yesterday, and now you’re saying you don’t know it? Are you messing with me?”

Le Xiaotian’s piercing gaze made the youth shiver. The youth waved his hands, “Misunderstanding, misunderstanding. But, Brother Tian, I honestly haven’t heard it before!”

Le Xiaotian paused, then glanced around the familiar environment. The same youth watched others surf the net every day, the internet café unchanged, the regular customers still in place. Yet, how could he have forgotten his favorite song?

Could it be that the flash in his mind during his nap—the so-called ‘Public Enemy Star System’—was real? Has the world truly changed?

To confirm, Le Xiaotian pulled a twenty-dollar bill from his wallet and slapped it onto the marble counter. “Want to surf the net? Answer a question for me, and this money is yours.”

Eyes wide with excitement, the youth placed his hand on the bill. “Ask away.”

Swift as lightning, Le Xiaotian slapped the youth’s left cheek. “Do you know Sun Wukong?”

Clutching his cheek in terror and confusion, the youth gripped the bill tightly. “No, I don’t.”

Another twenty-dollar bill was placed, and Le Xiaotian slapped the youth’s right cheek. “Sing me a line of ‘Happy Birthday.’”

Face bitter, the youth pleaded, “Brother Tian, that’s a tough one. Can I sing something I know?”

“Have you heard of the ‘Tao Te Ching’?”

“I’ve heard of the ‘Water Virtue Sutra.’”

“Have you seen ‘Titanic’?”

“No, I’ve seen ‘Tank of Titanic.’”

“Name a blockbuster you think is good.”

“‘This Brake Isn’t Very Reliable,’ ‘Transforming Rebar 3,’ ‘Battle of the Kawaii Killers,’ ‘Midnight Alarm,’ ‘Rebar Man’...”

“Stop. Name some popular songs you like.”

“‘Three Times Seven is Twenty-Eight,’ ‘Most Dazzling Cowboy Pants,’ ‘Above the Sun,’ ‘Big Lychee,’ ‘Tangy Sour’...”

After a series of questions, Le Xiaotian gave the youth who had violated his taboo a small lesson. At the same time, he formed an initial judgment about the system in his mind.

Then, gripping the youth’s right wrist, he smiled, “Brother, want to surf the net? The more you top up, the better the deal. I’ll get you a membership card—golden, no less.”

The youth hesitated, then set down the money, his face brimming with bravado. “Xiaotian, give me a deluxe suite!”

After reclaiming his three hundred dollars and setting up the youth’s room, Le Xiaotian sank into deep thought as he sat in his chair.

Soon, he began browsing for information to further assess his situation.

After searching, he discovered: indeed, he was no longer on Earth, but on Music Sphere.

In this world, musicians, performers, dancers, singers, painters, writers, artists, instrumentalists, writers, directors, screenwriters, actors—all the stars of the arts industry—were not the famous names he knew from Earth.

Not only that, world-famous songs, literary works, paintings, films, anime, nations—none were familiar to him.

Just then, a voice sounded from behind, breaking his contemplation, “Hehe, what are you thinking about?”

He turned to see a woman with flowing hair, delicate features, luminous eyes, clad in a V-neck knit top and a pleated embroidered skirt.

She was Su Yun, twenty-five, unmarried, pure as ice, single. Owner of the Blue Sky Internet Café.

Seeing her, Le Xiaotian called out gently, “Sister Yun.”

Placing her satchel on the bar table, Su Yun laughed and scolded, “Women fear age most. Didn’t I tell you not to call me ‘sister’? I’ll dock your pay in a bit.”

Le Xiaotian corrected himself, “Yun.”

Sitting down, Su Yun got to business. “You’ve been on night shift these past days. It’s nearly five o’clock now—go get some sleep.”

Le Xiaotian startled everyone with his reply, “I want you to sleep with me.”

Su Yun, thinking he was joking, said, “Have you gone silly from staying up late? Looks like I need to hire someone.”

But Le Xiaotian was utterly serious. “Yun, I want to marry you. Will you be my wife?”

Was this a proposal or a jest?

Su Yun was flustered. “W-what are you saying? Marry me? Sure. Buy me that thirty-two billion Dance Yuan violin from Qin Nation, gift me half the islands of Nierdaifu so I can dance, hold the wedding at Paris Music Temple, have the world’s top orchestra play ‘Holy Wedding Fantasy,’ invite the Lanhuang Flying Performance Team...”

Boldly grabbing her hands, Le Xiaotian wore a look of invincible confidence. “None of that is a problem. But if I tell you I’ll become the greatest star in Music Sphere, would you be willing to be my wife?”

He seemed a changed man today; Su Yun sensed something was off.

She withdrew her hands with difficulty, blushing deeply. “Stop boasting. You’ll still get your pay docked.”

Le Xiaotian’s tone softened, “Of course, if you think being a star isn’t good, I’ll just stay your little net admin.”

Su Yun smiled and countered, “A famous person retiring pretends to be aloof, but at least they were famous. What about you?”

Le Xiaotian’s expression froze.

Just now, after confirming the ‘Public Enemy Star’ system was real, his heart had been both excited and resistant.

Excited—because it would be easy to become famous in Music Sphere; the system made all Earth’s art original here.

Resistant—because he believed there was no such thing as a free lunch; perhaps there was a trap behind this boon.

More importantly, he disliked being controlled by a system.

But, as Yun said, he’d never been famous; claiming he’d keep being a net admin would sound like empty bravado.

Only after fame, could retirement carry weight.

The system wanted him to deal with evil stars, after all. And he wasn’t exactly a saint himself—who’s afraid of who? Earth was full of trash songs and movies. Or rather, classics everywhere.

Most crucially, marrying Su Yun would be a blessing. What else should he care about?

Stars of Music Sphere, tremble, for Le Xiaotian has arrived!

With that, Le Xiaotian’s consciousness projected a thought, “Hey, system, are you there? I accept the task.”

The world alteration experience lasted one hour; if the candidate refused, they would be forcibly erased. Le Xiaotian unknowingly dodged a bullet.

Receiving his answer, the waiting system spoke in his mind, “Congratulations on becoming the latest Public Enemy Star. You are now the sole executor, tasked with saving the Music Sphere’s star community. As you have explicitly accepted the mission, the endless variables of Music Sphere will now be reshaped. Beep, transformation complete. The star community is divided into nine domains. Your first mission—reshape the music domain. Mission description...”

Ignoring the information in his mind, Le Xiaotian’s gaze grew profound, his demeanor that of a lonely master. “Yun, I’m going to audition as a singer-host. You’d better hire two young girls soon.”

Su Yun sized him up and laughed, “Singer-host? Stop pretending to be deep. Even top students from world-renowned schools like Harben, Blue Bridge, and Elk can’t do that job. You haven’t even stood on the street—what are you thinking?”

Chewing on some gum, Le Xiaotian said with a smile, “Let’s bet: tomorrow I’ll go apply. If I succeed, you agree to a condition of mine. Deal?”

Su Yun replied, unimpressed, “So confident? What if you lose?”

Le Xiaotian chuckled, “You won’t win, and I won’t lose.”

PS: New book launching, rolling on the floor begging for favorites and recommendations.