Chapter 03

Chapter 03

The system asked, "Is this reliable?"

Xing Shi replied, "What else could it be? You said we don't even know each other."

The system scrolled through its records. "But you're both from Z University. Maybe you did something shady that he just happened to witness. He might not have recognized you at first, but on closer look..." The system paused. "I've checked. Nothing."

It was likely as the host had guessed; otherwise, there would be no explanation for the sudden increase followed by a decrease in favorability.

It got excited.

Over the past few years, Fu Xiuning's emotional fluctuations had become minimal, and changes in favorability were rare, especially such rapid shifts. Although it's now at -10, it had briefly increased by 1 point earlier.

For years, no one had managed to increase Fu Xiuning's favorability just by their looks. Not a single person!

What did this mean?

It meant that if Xing Shi could get Fu Xiuning to drop his preconceived notions, he could quickly boost his favorability just by his looks—like hitting the jackpot!

It eagerly suggested, "Go up and tell him you're a student from Z University. If he sees you as a junior, maybe he won't dislike you anymore."

Xing Shi replied, "Is that so? I don't believe it."

The system, remembering Xing Shi's stubbornness, asked, "So, what do you plan to do?"

Xing Shi said, "Cool it."

The system hurriedly asked, "What does 'cool it' mean?"

Xing Shi explained, "It means I've overthought things and need to take a break."

While they were talking, Feng Zifan and the others approached Fu Xiuning and politely asked for his name.

Xing Shi heard Fu Xiuning's voice.

His tone was calm, just as refined and dignified as he appeared.

"Fu Xiuning."

Feng Zifan introduced the three of them, mentioning that Xing Shi was an appointed trainee, and asked, "Bro, are you also an appointed trainee?"

Fu Xiuning replied, "I guess so."

Feng Zifan said, "I see you're alone. If you don't mind, why don't you join us?"

Fu Xiuning smiled slightly, changing the subject. "I heard there are three practice rooms, and the class will be divided into three groups to proceed simultaneously."

Feng Zifan's expression flickered with surprise. "Is that so?"

Fu Xiuning nodded and calmly made his way to the third floor.

This time, there were both male and female trainees, with the males on the third floor and the females on the fourth.

As Fu Xiuning mentioned, there were three practice rooms on this floor, each with a sign indicating class divisions. They entered one of them, and Feng Zifan and Da Zhuang lingered for a moment before heading to the bathroom, leaving only half of the four-person team.

Xing Shi, who had been observing, became increasingly curious.

He looked at Fu Xiuning. "I heard that the second round of auditions were split into multiple rooms, with contestants queuing up and entering whichever room opened up. For today’s class assignment, will it be as casual, letting us form our own groups, or will the company assign us to groups?"

Fu Xiuning smiled. "How would I know?"

Xing Shi then checked with the system and learned that the groups had already been randomly assigned.

He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.

In the entertainment industry, having the right connections is crucial.

Feng Zifan and the others were being friendly with him, likely because of his ‘pre-determined’ status, and they also tried to pull Fu Xiuning into their group. Clearly, they believed that he and Fu Xiuning had a good chance of debuting, so they were trying to build a rapport early on.

Fu Xiuning saw through their intentions and, in response, casually brought up the class division rules.

The class division was happening simultaneously in three practice rooms, with two key factors influencing the results: the teachers and the group members.

Since the company had divided them into three groups, the evaluation criteria for the teachers in each group should be similar, leaving the group members as the main variable. If the overall skill level of a group was average, someone who performed slightly better might stand out and earn a higher score by comparison.

Even though Feng Zifan and the others knew they probably wouldn’t make it to Class One, they still wanted to try their luck. They didn’t want to end up in the same group as these two standout ‘pre-determined’ candidates, so they quickly left. They were likely gathering information, forming alliances, and carefully choosing which practice room to wait in for the class division. Unfortunately for them, this time wasn’t as flexible as the second round of auditions; the groups had already been assigned.

Xing Shi glanced at Fu Xiuning.

Being approached with hidden agendas, seeing through their intentions, and cutting straight to the point, making them temporarily set aside their schemes and scramble to network—only for their efforts to ultimately be wasted—this person’s approach was rather ruthless.

Fu Xiuning met his gaze and initiated the conversation. "What are you good at?"

Xing Shi replied, "Eating."

Fu Xiuning kept a straight face. "I mean singing and dancing."

Xing Shi responded, "Oh," and added, "I’m not good at either."

Fu Xiuning nodded slightly and waited for the system to follow through with his plan.

The system chimed in, "How can you tell your boss you’re not good at anything? Can you even carry a conversation?"

Xing Shi said, "It’s the truth."

"But you’ve got me," the system continued. "We have a lucky draw program where newbies get one free draw. With some luck, you might draw a skill point that’s useful for your current situation. However, it’s only level one, and you’ll need to exchange points to upgrade it later."

Fu Xiuning was pleased with how things were unfolding.

He had realized that the prize pool for the ‘newbie draw’ would adapt to his life, which was why he had founded the media company.

In fields with high professional standards, a level-one skill point can only do so much. But in the entertainment industry, as long as an artist’s abilities meet or exceed the basic requirements, they can start making money. Sometimes, people praised certain artists from June Culture Media for having a certain ‘spark’ in their singing or acting. That ‘spark’ came from a level-one skill point.

The agents he personally chose had one major requirement: to push their assigned talent to the limit, working them hard to make money for him. He would only step in if someone quit or tried to scheme against him.

This host was a trainee, and the skill point would likely be related to performance abilities.

With a calm expression, Fu Xiuning waited to set the future work direction for this new trainee.

Xing Shi, eager to understand the system’s mechanics, readily agreed. "Alright, let’s draw."

The system replied, "Okay."

"Newbie Draw, good luck!"

"Ding!"

"Congratulations, host! Your prize is: Better luck next time."

Xing Shi: "..."

System: "?"

Fu Xiuning: "?"

Both Xing Shi and Fu Xiuning fell silent simultaneously.

The system, realizing its mistake too late, panicked: "This program must be malfunctioning! No wonder the level one punishment didn’t work!"

Fu Xiuning, who had just lost a potential talent, was taken aback. "There’s actually a 'Better luck next time' in the newbie prize pool? I thought it would only show up once the host earned enough favorability points to enter a draw."

Xing Shi, who had braced himself for a big reward, ended up with just a participation prize.

He asked, genuinely surprised, "So, this isn’t guaranteed to give a prize?"

The system ran a thorough scan but found no issues. After reporting the error, it was told that no prize in the pool had a probability of zero—only near-zero chances—so 'Better luck next time' could still be drawn. As for why the level one punishment didn’t work, it was attributed to individual differences. The program was functioning smoothly, with no bugs detected.

In short, it was just bad luck.

The system stayed quiet for a while, until someone came over to chat. Xing Shi casually redirected them to Fu Xiuning, who brushed them off with a few quick words. Only then did the system recover and encourage, "Don’t just stand there. Talk to Fu Xiuning more. Add him as a friend."

Xing Shi watched as the people who had come to talk left. "This batch of trainees isn’t very good. They didn’t even react when they heard Fu Xiuning’s name. Don’t they know he’s the CEO?"

The system explained, "You can’t really blame them. June Culture Media is a publicly traded company. Fu Xiuning holds the largest share, followed by rising star actor Qi Changyi."

It gave a brief introduction to Qi Changyi.

Qi Changyi, who started as an idol, became a top-tier star and later made a successful transition to the film industry, racking up several awards. When he and his friends founded June Culture Media after his contract with his previous agency expired, it became a major buzz. Fans flooded social media with the news, leading many to mistakenly believe Qi Changyi was the CEO.

Even if some of these trainees had looked up the company’s info out of curiosity, they probably wouldn’t remember an unfamiliar name. And even if they did, seeing someone like Fu Xiuning, who looks like a future top star, they wouldn’t think to associate him with being the CEO.

After hearing the explanation, Xing Shi simply responded with an "Oh" and went to the restroom.

When he returned, all three practice rooms were surrounded by people because the staff had posted the group lists.

Maybe it was fate, but he was assigned to the same room as before, and, coincidentally, Feng Zifan was also in this group.

Xing Shi spotted him, and they walked into the room together.

Fu Xiuning remained where he was, and as they approached, he smiled and asked, "Did you two run into each other in the restroom?"

Xing Shi thought, "That’s pretty harsh. He’s one of our own trainees, and you’re messing with him like this?"

Feng Zifan felt like he was being seen through and forced a laugh. "We were just chatting outside." He then started shooing people away. "I saw the list, and your name isn’t on this door. You should be in a different practice room."

Fu Xiuning said, "No rush."

Feng Zifan didn’t say anything else and started fiddling with his phone.

A moment later, the staff and two instructors entered, and the room instantly fell silent.

The two instructors were in charge of vocals and dance, respectively. One of them began, "Alright, everyone, we’re about to—"

She paused, her eyes landing on Fu Xiuning, unsure whether she should acknowledge him.

Fu Xiuning met her gaze and nodded. "Don't worry about me, I'll just take a look around."

The staff member also spotted him and, seeing that he wasn’t hiding, started to bring over a chair. Fu Xiuning stopped her just in time, found a spot to sit down himself, and said, "Carry on."

The trainees watched in confusion, and when they heard the staff call him "President Fu," some of them discreetly pulled out their phones to search for the executives of June Culture Media, only to discover the truth.

Feng Zifan was one of those trainees. As he stared at a particular name in the company info, he felt both shocked and regretful. He whispered to Xing Shi, "Did you know…?"

Xing Shi cut him off. "He never mentioned it."

Feng Zifan noticed the teacher’s gaze sweeping over and quickly shut his mouth, calming himself down.

"...This time, we’re just dividing everyone into classes," the teacher explained. "In a month, there will be a unified assessment where all the teachers will score you, and we’ll reassign classes based on those results. So, if you don’t do well this time, don’t get discouraged. As long as you work hard, you’ll still have a chance."

There were 16 people in Xing Shi’s group, and he was number 5.

When his name was called, everyone’s eyes immediately shifted to him.

One reason was his striking appearance, and the other was that he had just been standing with Fu Xiuning. Once Fu Xiuning’s identity was revealed, Xing Shi became even more noticeable, and people started making all kinds of assumptions.

The two teachers had already noticed this handsome trainee, and when they realized it was number 5, their eyes lit up.

Xing Shi stepped into the center of the room. "I’ll sing."

The teacher smiled warmly. "Sure."

Xing Shi, calm and collected, began singing a song from the magic world.

Over the years, he had been too focused on survival to learn any special skills, but after hearing so many songs, he had picked up a few. Whenever he sang, it always caused quite a stir, with great results.

As the song ended, the teachers and staff were almost moved to tears, the system glitched multiple times, trying to make him stop, Feng Zifan was left speechless, and the other trainees were completely stunned.

Fu Xiuning remained composed, quietly observing the scene. With his elegant and refined demeanor, he looked like a priceless work of art, earning the quiet admiration of those watching.

No wonder he’s the boss, they thought. He’s seen it all and stays so composed!

Only Xing Shi and the system knew that, despite his outward calm, his inner state was anything but.

*Beep*

"Current favorability: -15"