"Turns out the lucky one is me." Chu Zhi grinned. Custom Collection, the album he'd just won, was Xu Song's debut release, and it was packed with great tracks: Tomb-Sweeping Rain, On the Zodiac Page, Hidden Depths, Why Not, and more. All nine songs were hits.
But what on earth was this Mosquito-Repellent Gummy? Chu Zhi glanced at it. The description was oddly tempting. After eating it, a five-meter radius around the user would be completely free of mosquitoes and flies.
"This is a godsend! If this gummy could be mass-produced, it'd sell to at least three billion people worldwide. Even with a 200 yuan markup per piece, no one would complain." Chu Zhi mused, then frowned. "Wait, no. It can't work instantly. Gotta split it into a few treatments. Milk it a bit more."
[...] The system was speechless again. It had already explained multiple times that all items in the special oddities store were essentially black-tech.
"Alright, time for round two." Satisfied with his first haul, Chu Zhi went in for another draw.
[Title: Lord of Typhoons]
[Title: Rolling Thunder]
[Riding the Silver Dragon Music Pack]
[Butter-Fly Music Pack]
[Once, I Thought of Ending It All Music Pack]
[Special Reward: Bob Marley's Songwriting Talent]
The second prize pool wasn't as exciting. The epic titles were flashy but not too useful. Lord of Typhoons gave him the power to summon strong winds. Cool, but redundant. After a few drinks and with his current charisma buff, he already owned the stage.
Rolling Thunder was even weirder. It improved eyesight and made you, well, roll faster.
No thanks.
And another special prize appeared. But Chu Zhi wasn't all that impressed now. After all, he already had two.
To be fair, Farinelli's vocal ceiling boost had improved his singing, and Cheng Dieyi's operatic technique helped with emotional ballads, not to mention back-of-head resonance—a technique even mask resonance couldn't compare to. On Earth, only a few singers like Jam Hsiao had mastered it.
"I'm totally not greedy for the special prize," Chu Zhi muttered sarcastically. "But c'mon, Bob Marley, show up already."
He skimmed the item info.
Reggae—Bob Marley was its creator. A musician who spent his life advocating for peace, he was hailed as the greatest musical figure in the developing world.
"CNN and Songlines ranked the top five global musical icons: Elvis Presley, Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, and Leslie Cheung." Chu Zhi raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected Leslie Cheung to make that list.
The list was legit, and Songlines wasn't some random tabloid.
"Mr. Cheung made it thanks to his personal charisma. Pure star power." Chu Zhi nodded, making a mental note. "Even if I skip acting, I need to leave behind at least one iconic role to boost my public image."
He adjusted his long-term goals. His plan had always been to develop both reputation and body of work.
Back to the draw. This time, he got the Once, I Thought of Ending It All Music Pack. Not his first choice, but not bad either. The Japanese songs in this prize pool were all solid. As long as he didn't pull the two useless epic titles, it was a win.
He hadn't scored another song ticket, but this was still good. It gave him a Japanese track to use for Koguchi Yoshihiro's concert.
"Actually, scratch that. This Mika Nakashima song is top-tier."
Everything seemed to be going his way today. As he started to shift focus to the concert prep, a system message popped up:
[System Title Error: Title 'Rolling Thunder' was incorrectly ranked for Earth. It has been reclassified as Miracle Tier.]
[Compensation for system error: Bonus blind draw.]
"Whoa?"
It felt like a pie had just fallen from the sky and landed square on his lap.
"Wait a sec. So, the title tiers go from Legendary to Epic to Miracle? Then Rolling Thunder just got downgraded?"
"Or maybe it's Epic on other planets, just not on Earth? What kind of place needs you to roll fast?"
Whatever. Chu Zhi wasn't about to waste a freebie.
"Hmm? The prize pool's still the same." He opened the extra draw. As expected, the bonus was simply a redo of the previous pool.
Good enough. He zeroed in on the Bob Marley prize again, spun the wheel, and drew...
[Butter-Fly Music Pack]
Huh. That was the theme from Digimon. A childhood memory for so many people.
It wasn't what he had hoped for, but Chu Zhi wasn't disappointed. This was all just an unexpected bonus anyway.
Now he just had to decide what to sing at Koguchi Yoshihiro's concert. That was a real dilemma.
"When will I have enough Personality Coins to do a ten-draw pull? I wonder if ten draws come with a guaranteed rare."
His mind wandered.
In reality, Yang Xinbo had called his name twice. No response.
Was he zoning out or deep in thought?
The difference was important. The former meant a blank mind, the latter meant focused introspection. Yang Xinbo had done a bit of research on Chu Zhi before the show. That was why he kept trying to lift his mood with spontaneous acts of kindness.
Meanwhile, the show's cameraman had captured everything.
Ramen Alley was a tiny street, less than a hundred meters long, packed with seventeen ramen shops. Every tourist in Sapporo stopped by at some point.
And Yang Xinbo was, once again, peak extrovert mode. He saw Min Jeongbae and immediately grabbed both his hands, shaking them so hard it nearly dislocated something.
"Mr. Min, I grew up watching your films. You're my idol! My mom always said I look just like you. Don't you think so too?"
Min Jeongbae had no idea how to respond.
The group quickly fell into rhythm with each other.
Here's how Journey Among the Stars was structured: permanent guests and rotating guests filmed two episodes per week. After a short break, they'd return for another round. The design was meant to accommodate everyone's outside commitments.
Even with a generous paycheck, no one could free up a whole month for continuous filming. Not Chu Zhi, not Min Jeongbae, not Zhang Ning, Cai Jia, or Luo Jianhui.
Chu Zhi especially had a packed schedule.
As night fell, the sky darkened.
The crew wrapped up the day and returned to their hotel in Jozankei, exhausted.
Chu Zhi went to find Director Che Lun.
"Director, I want to use the Party Pass," he said.
"Huh?" Che Lun looked confused.
"Tomorrow is Zhang Ning's birthday. I want to throw a surprise party for her. It should be okay to use the item for that, right?"
Che Lun stared. He'd already thought Chu Zhi was a pretty decent guy, but this? So thoughtful. Genuinely considerate of others. Once this episode aired, how many fans would he gain just from this gesture?
"Her birthday is October third?" Che Lun asked.
"August seventeenth. Zhang Ning celebrates using the lunar calendar," Chu Zhi explained.
The production team had originally worried Zhang Ning might be difficult to work with, considering her seniority and connections. But to their surprise, she was totally onboard with team decisions, and clearly respected Chu Zhi as team leader.
"No problem. The Party Pass can be used like that." Che Lun nodded. Now he understood why Chu Zhi had saved the item.
With a team leader like this, no wonder Zhang Ning was willing to listen.