Chapter 1: Owes 400 Million

Chapter 1: Owes 400 Million

The city's neon lights flickered, nearing midnight. Street lamps blinked intermittently, as the evening breeze swept through deserted roads.

In an apartment, the room was shrouded in darkness, save for the faint light seeping in from the window, outlining the general shape of the interior. A soft trickling sound of water echoed continuously.

A person was slumped on the edge of the bathtub, utterly still, seemingly fast asleep. Water overflowed from the tub, soaking their clothes and trousers.

"Hisss—"

Suddenly, the person by the bathtub stirred, followed by a series of sharp inhalations.

Chen Bai opened his eyes to a completely unfamiliar sight.

An alien landscape through the window, an unfamiliar bathroom... and his hand, still submerged in a bathtub filled with steaming water, the water around it gradually turning red.

"..."

Closing and reopening his eyes, the scene remained unchanged.

It was like encountering a ghost.

Chen Bai's first instinct was that he was still in a coma, and all of this was just an illusion. However, the chill on his body and the pain served as a stark reminder that these sensations were real.

He was just an ordinary person, inheriting millions of debts from his parents in an ordinary manner. One moment, he had collapsed on his way to work, and the next, he found himself in this utterly unfamiliar place.

In the brief period after he fell, his consciousness remained intact. He could hear muffled cries of surprise around him and sense that some peculiar information was being implanted into his mind.

The information was the content of a book, a story about a substitute character. The male supporting character, modeled after him, shared the same name, appearance, and debt burden. Desperate and with no other options, he entered into a substitution agreement with a powerful figure, playing out a tragic love story.

Someone must have held an intense grudge against him to write an entire book centered on his misery.

The story was full of twists and turns, bordering on absurdity. But what was even more absurd was that, right now, on the edge of the bathtub, lay the fabled Substitute Agreement. The second party had already signed it. If this world followed the same timeline as reality, then the date on the contract would be very recent.

Recent, meaning it was signed today.

This namesake supporting character had ended his life before embarking on his substitute journey.

And now, it seemed that Chen Bai had become this character.

He had died but come back to life, in an extraordinary manner.

At least he was still alive for now.

After briefly piecing together the events, the first thing that came to Chen Bai's mind was the astronomical debt he owed.

"..."

The amount he owed had multiplied, and Chen Bai felt his breath catch. He even considered plunging his hand back into the bathtub.

Exhausted from excessive blood loss, his consciousness began to fade. He turned his head, surveying his surroundings before catching sight of his phone on the vanity, barely illuminated by the dim light. Summoning his last bit of strength, he dialed 120 from the bathtub to the sink.

Before his consciousness completely vanished, he managed, with sheer willpower, to push the phone to a spot untouched by water. His body slumped onto the floor, gradually being submerged by the overflowing water.

One could die, but the phone must survive.

The ambulance rushed down the street, its red and blue lights flashing.

"..."

When Chen Bai regained consciousness once more, the first thing he saw was an unfamiliar ceiling.

It was already bright outside, and the air reeked of disinfectant. As his vision cleared, he turned his head and caught sight of a branch diagonally extending from outside the window. The leaves on it trembled delicately, with only one remaining.

Sounds came from outside the door, and a doctor entered the ward, catching the sight of the man in the bed gazing at the frail leaf with a pale face.

The scene appeared infinitely melancholic, so the doctor tried to reassure him, "Don't worry, you were rescued in time. Even if all the leaves fall, you won't die."

Chen Bai appreciated her comfort and replied calmly, "No, I was just thinking that my debts outnumber the leaves that will grow next year."

Doctor: "…?"

This time, even the doctor found it difficult to console him. After conducting a routine check, she left the ward.

With the ward door shutting, Chen Bai, having awakened from unconsciousness again and noticing the stitches on his hand, realized that he was still in this novel world and promptly accepted this reality.

After all, even if he denied it, his debts wouldn't deny him.

He adapted well to the reality, considering it as buying his life with billions of dollars.

None more than a man who has tasted death once appreciates the value of life.

The doctor who had saved him last night was kind enough to bring his phone along, leaving it within reach on the bedside table.

After the doctor completed the examination and the nurse changed his medication and left, Chen Bai took a deep breath, then picked up his phone, determined to check his balance.

Good news: He still had a modest savings of around twenty thousand.

Bad news: He was in debt to the tune of four hundred million.

Good news: Due to the loose plot in his book, no interest would accrue as long as the debts weren't overdue.

Bad news: The most recent one, a three million repayment, was due next year.

"..."

Before the doctor could return, Chen Bai had already learned how to revive himself by pressing his own chin up.

A precious life nearly slipped away, but thankfully, he managed to stimulate his pressure point in time.

After a few days of observation at the hospital, Chen Bai hastened to complete his discharge procedures.

His already financially strained family was now on even shakier ground after the hospital expenses.

Relying on the address on his phone, he found the apartment building, which, objectively speaking, was quite a distance away. Thus, he splurged on a bus ride.

During the journey back, he scanned through most of the messages on his phone, including those from Supporting Role Brother and others, to grasp the current situation.

Supporting Role Brother had signed with a major talent agency a few years ago. He had good looks by any standard, but due to his wealthy background, he took a laid-back attitude towards work. As a result, the company ignored him, and he remained a minor actor in the industry.

Suddenly, his family's fortune took a turn for the worse. Both his parents passed away, and he had to downsize from a villa to a small apartment. Recently, Supporting Role Brother finally succumbed to the pressure.

Flipping through his notes, Chen Bai spotted the name "Huochuan" penciled down for the beginning of next month.

Huochuan, the big shot in the book, had an unrequited love, a luminous moon in his heart. Overwhelmed by longing, he sought out a substitute resembling his beloved, which was none other than the former Supporting Role Brother, now himself.

"..."

Putting aside the fact that he still considered himself straight, as an ordinary person, Chen Bai found it challenging to form an opinion about this twist in the plot.

The bus arrived, and he decisively put the matter aside. He stowed away his phone and, relying on memory, walked to the apartment building. After reaching the floor, he fished out his solitary key and cautiously unlocked the door.

Finding that the drain was plugged with a towel, his first task upon returning to the room was to deal with the water in the bathroom, preventing any damage to his belongings and sparing this impoverished home from further financial strain.

After clearing the bathroom, Chen Bai immediately surveyed the entire apartment, taking inventory of his possessions.

Upon completing the inventory, he could empathize with the protagonist's desire to just give up.

There wasn't much of value in the house; all the furniture belonged to the landlord. The most valuable items owned by the protagonist were the computer and a dusty set of live streaming equipment.

These must have been acquired when the protagonist was still pursuing a career in showbiz, top-of-the-line gear that had cost a fortune. He casually checked their resale value, only to wince at the embarrassingly low prices.

There was indeed a reason why the protagonist hadn't sold these items.

His hand injury hadn't fully healed, so he couldn't venture out to find work yet. After assessing his current situation, Chen Bai temporarily returned to his former occupation.

He had once been a gaming companion and streamer, specializing in first-person shooter games. However, as he aged, his focus and reflexes diminished, compounded by other special circumstances, prompting him to change careers.

When he signed the lease earlier, he noticed that his age on the document was slightly younger than his actual age, still within the window where he could make a living from gaming.

Adhering to the philosophy of making the most out of his opportunities, Chen Bai set up his unsold livestreaming equipment on the very night he settled in.

He had ready-to-use livestreaming and gaming software on his computer, allowing him to start immediately.

Before shouldering his debt, Brother Supporting Actor loved gaming, often taking it easy for two days after working for three, typically spending those days engrossed in games.

He enjoyed playing but wasn't good at it; most of his rankings and accolades were achieved by hiring others, which didn’t come cheap.

Chen Bai couldn’t help but smack his lips as he scrolled through.

These industry peers are still too unprofessional. If this job were handed to him, he guarantees lower prices and a string of titles to boot. It's just a pity that Supporting Actor Bro never encountered a conscientious contractor like him.

Enough time has passed that the rank he had purchased has since dropped, virtually resetting him to square one.

Starting from zero is fine too.

Cross-legged on his chair, Chen Bai briefly ran through a couple of maneuvers to jog his memory on the controls. He then picked up a nearby cup for a sip of water, adjusted his equipment, and clicked open his livestream.