After school, he was then offered himself to a succubus.

Once outside, Zhao Fangyi would rub her eyes from time to time, as if wiping away tears.

Zhang Chen followed along, but realized that Zhao Fangyi hadn't led him to the filming location at all.

Instead, they took them to the grove.

A dead end.

"You should know what I'm going to say, I'm begging you, Zhang Chen..."

Zhao Fangyi turned around, her eyes red-rimmed, and said:

"Making a music video was completely unnecessary. You're a fan of Yinmeng too, you know how foolish it was to do this, right?"

"I really don't want this to be Yinmeng's last time singing... Doing this will ruin her. She only has so little money left, and it might not even be enough for her future. She can't do anything else besides singing..."

"You can't create a CP (couple pairing) with ordinary people... Sigh... The composition and lyrics are all a mess, why did they even include your name? What did you do?!"

"I can't persuade Yinmeng and Li Yinuo. I'm begging you, please withdraw voluntarily, okay? If you want that 300,000 yuan salary, consider it something I owe you. You can write an IOU now, and I'll pay it back slowly later..."

When Zhao Fangyi mentioned money, she suddenly lost control of her emotions, squatted down, and buried her face in her hands, sobbing.

"My mother can't be saved. The 300,000 yuan that Yinmeng offered me isn't enough to save her life. Medical treatment is a bottomless pit. I don't want this money anymore, you can have it all. Half of my life's meaning is for my mother, and the other half is for Yinmeng. You can't let me lose both of them at once..."

"It was Yinmeng who helped me when I was at my most desperate. It was her songs that kept me going. Zhang Chen, I..."

"I'm not glamorous at all. Even my clothes are knock-offs, and my shoes... look, my shoes..."

Zhao Fangyi simply sat there like a duck, took off her high heels, and, like a wronged little girl, let Zhang Chen scrutinize her with his piercing gaze.

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 whatever 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 control... Zhang Chen, if you insist on continuing, and the music video is actually released, you'll face retaliation and cyberbullying... 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 many people, 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...

"The Hong Group... Has the CEO of the 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 a pretext."

"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 are they 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.

Since filming the music video was fraught with difficulties, Lin Yinmeng's insistence on doing so suggests that... this is likely one of Lin Yinmeng's "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 can't do anything about it. He doesn't know anything about business warfare or media warfare... 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 the money to you?"

"..."

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 far 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? You'll still face retaliation, won't you?"

"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 just by shooting a music video... Honestly, I should have known that guys your age are just that 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 even 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 cried out.

"What kind of blessing do 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."

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 endure 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.