MBFAAO 2: Rebirth
by starlightxelThe scar was gone, and his appearance was completely changed.
He didn’t die—in a bizarre, unimaginable way, reliving inside another person’s body.
Moreover, this person, he remembered him. It was exactly that youth he saw in the fire that day.
On the day of the fire, he was slumped at the innermost part of the dressing room with sleeping pills scattered around him, his face carrying the aura of death.
Voice and Visual Idol is Star Two Channel’s ace variety show, mainly featuring a boy idol singing and dancing survival show. It had already been successfully held for two years, and the one hotly starting this midsummer, is exactly its third season.
—There are thousands of contestants in the preliminary auditions. After the latest episode’s bloodbath, the top fifty advanced to twenty seats, and the owner of this face is one of them, whose name pronunciation is surprisingly similar to his, called Cheng Yan.
Among the top twenty, he was relegated to the very end, ranking last.
…
Scrutinizing the face in the mirror, Chen Yan fell into a daze.
It was unfamiliar, but yet there was a bit of magical coincidence.
This face, and his own appearance from over ten years ago, unexpectedly had that little bit of similarity.
Both were astonishingly beautiful, and could barely be said to have any obvious flaws. The biggest difference might be that his appearance from over ten years ago was sunnier, carrying a bit of heroic spirit and clarity, while this face was a bit more delicate and softer.
Not knowing how long he stood in front of the mirror, Chen Yan only then rolled up the sleeves of the hospital gown.
Unlike the smooth face, there were some light blue bruises on the arms, seeming a bit old.
Lifting open the front of his chest, similarly, on that pale body in the mirror, there were also some scars, mostly long strips, imprinted with small spots on them.
In his mind, some memories not belonging to himself floated up chaotically—those were the experiences of this body’s original owner. He frowned, slowly trying to grasp some of this person’s memories.
After a long time, he sighed deeply, and returned to the hospital bed.
Deep in the night when all is quiet, the faint light in the corridor was on, shining on the sleeping Chen Yan’s face.
He frowned slightly, not sleeping peacefully. A bizarre dream was unfolding in his mind, and there were two strange voices.
“Two died? That’s not right, there is only one in this Book of Life and Death.”
“Let me take a look… It really is.”
Two men, one fat and one thin. The fat one dressed in white, the thin one pitch black all over, in full, sharp suits, with obvious Armani eagle logos on the cuffs.1This is a hilarious, modernized depiction of Black and White Impermanence (黑白无常 – Hēibái Wúcháng). In Chinese folklore, they are two deities in charge of escorting the spirits of the dead to the Underworld. Usually wearing traditional robes and tall hats, the author modernizes them here by giving them sharp Armani suits and iPads instead of ancient scrolls.
The two stood side by side in mid-air, standing in the raging flames, looking down and flipping through the… iPad in their hands?!
The fat man in the white suit had a kind and benevolent face. “This one is pessimistic and depressed, committed suicide by swallowing pills, so his lifespan has ended.”
The one in black suit drooped his eyebrows. “The other one’s lifespan hasn’t ended yet, and the Excel spreadsheet of his Book of Merits is still this long?”
The white fatty lowered his head, studying the iPad in his hand. “Helped fallen elderly people three times, was extorted by scammers twice;
Jumped into a lake in winter to save a child once, but the family didn’t thank him with a single cent, and the wallet left on the shore was even stolen;
At the neighborhood gate, he bravely fought a robber stealing a child, but ended up spraining the brother-in-law of the family, compensating several thousands in medical fees. Oh right—he is also an orphan who grew up in an orphanage, with no father and no mother.”
Then, in Chen Yan’s hazy consciousness, he heard him say a strange sentence.
“Uh oh, he was supposed to be massively popular and boundlessly glorious, but was framed by trusted people, reputation ruined and future completely destroyed. Is there also this act?”
What nonsense was he saying? What framed by others, what is all this mess. Chen Yan thought in a daze.
The one in black suit’s face became even more bitter. “This person’s whole life is basically one big, capitalized tragic. His name isn’t in the Book of Life and Death, should we push him back?”
“How to push him back? Didn’t you see the corpse has been burned to black charcoal?”
“Easy to handle!” The one in black suit, looking down from above, reached out his hand to grab mid-air. “Just change a shell and stuff him in, isn’t that body still perfectly fine?”
…
In the nurse’s station on the hospital’s third floor, the silent electronic clock on the wall pointed to twelve o’clock.
The night-shift little nurse Li Yuanyuan returned from patrolling the wards. She opened her phone and found time to glance at the latest entertainment news.
“A sudden fire broke out at the Voice and Visual Idol program group. The site was destroyed by fire, and the program is delayed for a week!”
“Latest news: A staff member lost his life in the fire! Contestant Cheng Yan injured and seeking medical treatment?”
The comment sections below the news were exceptionally explosive, mostly being the participating contestants’ fans going to war.
【Trashy program group, they can’t even ensure basic safety! Heartbroken for my Tongtong. Thankfully, the one who had an accident wasn’t him.】
【How is upstairs2Chinese internet slang for “the commenter above me.” speaking, is the staff member who burned to death not a human?】
【Shrug, Tongtong’s fans are just this foul.】
【Upstairs is even bearing the blatant avatar of Ya Yilun. Spraying hate everywhere like this is attracting black fans for your master, hope it is known.】
The various fans were fighting vigorously with swords and shadows. Li Yuanyuan frowned and watched for a while, and threw down her phone angrily.
Voice and Visual Idol as the most influential boy survival show in the country, after the successful operation of two seasons, could launch rapidly popularized contestants in every season.
Some advanced to become a new generation of traffic singers3Idols or singers whose fame relies on internet traffic, fan engagement, and digital numbers rather than widespread public recognition or vocal talent., some switched careers to become idol drama actors, and the program itself, due to excellent production quality, even cultivated a large batch of loyal hardcore fans.
Li Yuanyuan was also a loyal fan of this program, genuinely and emotionally stanning several of the emerging contestants in it, but seeing these, she still couldn’t help but feel a bit of injustice.
This little contestant completely ignored in the crossfire is lying in the ward area she is responsible for right now!
…
The next day.
Having many dreams throughout the night, Chen Yan woke up early. He picked up the remote control and turned on the TV.
Hastily browsing the playback for half a day, in almost every episode, the screen time regarding contestant Cheng Yan was pitifully little.
Searching again, a cut compilation titled “This idiot named Cheng Yan contracted my laughs for a year” popped out, exceptionally explosive.
Pressing play, overwhelming bullet comments4A popular feature on Chinese video platforms (like Bilibili) where user comments fly horizontally across the screen in real-time with the video. came rushing to the face, malice and sarcasm almost overflowing the entire screen.
【Hahaha, save the child! This original vocal version with the accompaniment removed is truly earth-shattering and ghost-weeping!】
【Taking breaths like he’s asthmatic, even though his speaking voice is clearly quite nice—what a waste of a pair of vocal cords with a very good timbre.】
【Watching him dance makes my eyes go blind! Is he from Xiangxi and his family’s ancestral profession is driving corpses5A famous Chinese folklore legend from the Xiangxi (Western Hunan) region, where Taoist priests supposedly cast spells to make corpses stiffly hop back to their hometowns for burial. The commenters are using this legend to mock Cheng Yan’s incredibly stiff, zombie-like dancing., right?】
【To be honest, I can tolerate him moving uncoordinatedly when dancing and singing out of tune, but I cannot tolerate the makeup on his face. Among a pile of beautiful little brothers6An affectionate slang term used by girls or fans to address a cute, handsome young man., it is simply foul-play ugly.】
Amidst the tide-like bullet comments, there were also a few weak voices.
【During the auditions, the little brother also had a few wide shots. He was clearly incredibly good-looking, so this must be the makeup ruining the person.】
【Yeah, I feel like the makeup artist has a grudge against him…】
However, such voices were extremely few after all, and were very quickly drowned out by piles of wild laughter and sarcasm.
【Hahaha, send him into the top 20! I still want to laugh for 500 years!】
【I admit, it was this cut that caught my attention, I only voted for him wanting to see jokes o(≧口≦)o~~~】
He looked at the TV screen, and quickly noticed one thing.
In the shot, that Cheng Yan was always wearing long-sleeved clothes. Not only were the cuffs buttoned tightly, even the collar buttons also showed no exposure.
Sure enough… He was covering up the scars on his body.
He watched silently. At the same time, another confusion in his heart became heavier.
This is an era where face-licking7Internet slang meaning to heavily admire, obsess over, or simp for someone’s physical beauty (literally “licking their face”). is prevalent, so even if this original owner lacked talent to the utmost, at least he had a face that could be called peerlessly beautiful. In these previous episodes, those vulgar and heavy makeup looks on his face, what exactly was going on?
Even with a hand full of bad cards, at least there is still a Joker bomb8A term from the popular Chinese card game Dou Di Zhu (Fight the Landlord). It refers to holding both the Red Joker and the Black Joker, which is the ultimate, unbeatable card combination. It is used metaphorically here to describe an absolute trump card—Cheng Yan’s incredibly gorgeous face.. How did the hand get played into this smashed-to-pieces state?
…
Nurse Li Yuanyuan pushed open the door, and saw the youth sitting and watching TV.
On the screen, a group of beautiful youths with red lips and white teeth were singing and dancing, while Cheng Yan in the shot had a stiff posture, specially circled out by someone with a red circle, looking especially glaring amidst the contestants’ neat and uniform collective movements.
Chen Yan smiled embarrassedly at the little nurse, and paused the screen.
Li Yuanyuan softly said, “The discharge procedures are done. The medical expenses pre-deposited by your company were enough, so the medications are here.”
Chen Yan quickly jumped out of bed, neatly dressed, his voice hoarse. “Thank you!”
This body’s throat lost its voice from the smoke in the fire, and there were physical burns. Several days had passed before he could finally make a sound to speak.
“These throat-protecting granules are three times a day, taken continuously for a month.” The little nurse instructed attentively, “Oh right, for the recent period of time, you cannot sing loudly anymore. Otherwise, it might really be very hard for your throat to recover.”
Saying these, she felt again that she was being a bit too meddlesome.
Black-red9In the entertainment industry, being “red” means being famous. Being “black-red” means achieving massive fame and trending constantly, but strictly due to infamy, scandals, or being universally mocked. is also a type of red. The audience just wanted some fun and to watch a joke, which was what let him mingle into the top twenty.
However, the twenty-advancing-to-ten going to take place immediately will PK down exactly half of the contestants. The fans of various popular contestants are already waiting in a full battle array, so how could there still be this kind of chance to pick up leaks10Slang for scoring an unexpected bargain, getting lucky, or slipping through the cracks to gain an advantage simply because others missed it or made a mistake.?
At most, in one more episode, this beautiful youth will have to return dejectedly with broken wings and be directly eliminated out of the game in one go, right?
Watching that youth nimbly pack up his personal belongings, Li Yuanyuan still couldn’t hold back, blushing as she asked, “Can I take a photo with you?… I-I have been watching your program.”
Li Yuanyuan swore that in the previous few episodes, this contestant named Cheng Yan always had very heavy and exaggerated makeup, plus some very vulgarly matched clothing. However, upon seeing the real person, Li Yuanyuan was about to go crazy: the little brother before her eyes looked a hundred times better with his makeup removed than with it on. Among all the contestants she had seen, his appearance was absolutely top-tier good!
Chen Yan froze for a moment. He quickly took Li Yuanyuan’s phone, considerately holding it with his long, slender arm, taking several photos of the two of them in a row, a bit embarrassed. “Is this okay?”
Li Yuanyuan nodded repeatedly in excitement. “Mm-hm, it’s okay! I will always support you!”
She had a strong premonition that even if the little brother before her eyes was quickly eliminated by the program, he would also shine brilliantly in other places!
Chen Yan opened his mouth with a hoarse throat. “Nurse jiejie11Literally Nurse Sister. Jiejie means Older Sister/Sister. In this case, it doesn’t mean they’re related, but it’s a respectful address to someone older., uhm, the person who had an accident in the fire together with me…”
He paused with difficulty, his sparkling eyes looking at Li Yuanyuan. “Did he die?”
Li Yuanyuan’s heart softened, comforting. “Yes, that person’s corpse has already been cremated.”
When the fire brigade extinguished the massive fire, they found this little brother who suffocated from the smoke at the scene, and also a staff member.
He was considered lucky, but that staff member had already been burned beyond recognition, into a scorched mass.
“Was there no… police investigation?”
Li Yuanyuan froze for a moment. “Investigate the cause of the fire? The news said it was caused by someone tossing a cigarette butt carelessly. That staff member seemed to be trapped inside and was hit by a heavily burned object, so he unfortunately fell into a coma, and was burned to death.”
“Then what about me? How was my condition when I was brought in?”
The little nurse felt even a bit more strange. “You just inhaled too much smoke and dust, leading to temporary suffocation. You’re very lucky it didn’t burn your face and body.”
Chen Yan stayed silent in a daze, nodding after a long while. “Thank you.”
Sure enough, rebirth is inherently a fantasy-like matter—everything cannot be clearly explained.
It turned out the owner of this body clearly committed suicide by taking medicine, but when sent to the hospital, only the traces of being smoked remained. He suddenly thought of that inexplicable dream, so being able to be reborn once, even simultaneously erased the traces of suicide from the previous life?
However, the real him was clearly pushed into the sea of fire, yet in the end, it became an accident. Was the fire truly too huge, covering up all the sins?
However, who on earth was it? Who was coming to hunt down that woman and coincidentally wanted to kill him to silence him?
He had originally grown up in an orphanage, coming out to work independently after eighteen. Suddenly encountering misfortune like this, no family members could be found and there was no one to investigate and mourn for him.
That is to say, from now on, there is no longer that disfigured, down-and-out singer Chen Yan in this world—only this blank-paper-like youth Cheng Yan.
He is about to, and can only, use this appearance, this name, this identity, and relive inside this bodily shell.
After over ten years of hope and disappointment, he will return to the stage of his dreams that he has never forgotten!
0 Comments