The Most Beautiful Corpse in History

Li Ling's new drama premiered, and she played a corpse. The male lead walked into the abandoned morgue, lifted the thick plastic sheet, and discovered the female corpse lying on the iron-framed bed. The dim green light cast shadows over her pale face, painting a layer of dark, mottled scales along her temples and cheekbones. She was still beautiful, but this kind of beauty was unsettling. He stared at her for a long time before continuing to peel back the plastic sheet. The light, like water from the moss-covered River Styx, slowly flowed over her smooth neck, collarbone, and slender arms, until it completely engulfed her. [Artist repost: Shh, #TheMostBeautifulCorpseInHistory# makes her appearance. Don't get scared, drama fans~] Li Ling thought the caption was very tacky and didn't match her aesthetic, so she coldly posted just four words, "Repost on Weibo." An account named 9787532754335, a middle-aged fan, immediately sent her a private message, "Wearing too little." Li Ling laughed. 9787532754335 was one of her few active fans. She guessed the person was at least born in the '70s because their style of speech was like a nagging old father. At first, she didn't pay much attention to him, but he was so persistent that Li Ling eventually felt a bit of affection for him. She replied, "Wearing even less in the next episode." 9787532754335 might have been a bit upset and didn't reply to her. The next evening, at 10:06 PM, Li Ling appeared on screen, her character's naked corpse being placed on the autopsy table. The female corpse on the autopsy table looked like a rose encased in cement, gray, decadent, and blooming with a lifeless beauty. Li Ling thought the scene was handled with a certain aesthetic, but some people might not appreciate it. At 10:19 PM, 9787532754335 coldly sent two words: "Indeed." Li Ling was amused and sent a screenshot of the conversation to her agent, adding, "Can I wear more next time?" Agent: "Sure, next time you can play the male lead's mother." Li Ling felt depressed: "I'm only twenty-eight, and I have to play a mother?" "Yes," the agent replied bluntly, "With your lack of popularity, getting a mother role is already good." Li Ling sighed. "It's okay," she said optimistically, "Maybe this time I'll get a little famous." Li Ling was twenty-eight this year, still an unremarkable small-time actress, often appearing in various low-rated dramas. The new suspense drama featured rising star Qin Yi, which was already a great opportunity for her. Normally, such a good role wouldn't come her way; it was purely because others found playing a beautiful corpse too unlucky. But the real highlight would officially start tomorrow. Tomorrow, the series would enter a flashback, and Li Ling's character would transform from a cold corpse back into a living person, Qin Yi's lost love. The next evening at ten, Li Ling opened the video website, secretly hoping that the picky 9787532754335 would be impressed by her acting and transform from a fatherly fan to a career fan. Strangely, she searched the entire internet but couldn't find the streaming link. The drama that was hot yesterday had turned into a cyber ghost today. The second-hand mouse kept making unsettling clicking sounds. Li Ling stared at the computer screen without blinking, her eyes straining so much they were about to tear up. "It's been taken off the air." On the other end of the phone, her agent informed her in a tone close to a death sentence. "Why?" "Qin Yi got into trouble."An hour ago, this popular young actor was exposed for numerous shocking private scandals, and all his works were taken offline. The manager rambled on about many things. Li Ling lived in an old neighborhood where the soundproofing was poor. While she was on the phone, her upstairs neighbor kept dragging a table for some unknown reason. The wood scraped against the floor, producing a dull and piercing noise, like a blunt knife cutting through skin but not drawing blood. This kind of dull pain that had nowhere to go made the voice on the other end of the phone grow weaker and weaker, like background noise gradually fading from the scene. Li Ling stood in place for a long time before realizing: the corpse she played would never come back to life, and the major scenes she was waiting for would never come. "…Alright," she said softly. The phone screen was still on her private messages with 9787532754335. Their conversation had ended with "Indeed," and it seemed unlikely there would be any follow-up. She would never be able to prove to the other party that she could play more than just a scantily clad corpse. Li Ling suddenly felt a bit dejected. - The next morning, Li Ling went downstairs to take out the trash and was surrounded by a group of reporters. She was bare-faced, her eyelids slightly swollen, wearing a set of Strawberry Bear pajamas, and her unkempt hair sticking up in all directions. A swarm of cameras pointed at her, shamelessly snapping away at her face, followed by a stack of unsightly photos being thrust in front of her. Qin Yi was holding a heavily made-up stripper, pouting like a catfish to kiss her face. The garish lights of the nightclub splashed over him like cheap paint, covering his entire head and body. He was almost naked, stripped down to just a pair of leopard-print underwear. His bare upper body shone with a greasy sheen, and the folds of fat on his lower abdomen formed rings. His pupils, staring directly at the camera, reflected a strange red light, like insects glowing in the dark. Li Ling remembered a scene during filming where the male lead had to take off his shirt, but Qin Yi had been so reluctant that the director had to angrily agree to let him use a body double. Meanwhile, she had been soaking in bone-chilling ice water, looking up at the people on the shore arguing endlessly, every second feeling like a knife cutting into her. No one had said a word to her, like "You can come up now." It turned out she couldn't come ashore simply because Qin Yi was too embarrassed to show his belly on camera. The reporters, seeing her staring blankly at the photos, became even more excited, shoving their cameras in her face and eagerly asking her what she thought of Qin Yi's scandal. Li Ling said, "I suggest he pay attention to his body management." The reporters burst into laughter. Although she didn't understand what was so funny about her comment, Li Ling seized the opportunity to slip through the crowd and run into the dimly lit apartment building without looking back. The iron door slammed shut with a loud bang beside her. It wasn't until she had rushed up to the third floor that she realized her hands were still heavy, the large plastic bags swinging and making rustling noises. She had forgotten to throw out the trash. Half an hour later, Li Ling received a call from her manager, who immediately asked, "Did you throw out the trash?" Li Ling: ? The manager sighed, "You haven't checked the trending topics, have you?" Li Ling saw herself on the trending list, depicted in a dramatic scene of fleeing with several trash bags. Netizens were laughing heartily, happier than if they were setting off fireworks for the New Year. Some even praised her for speaking boldly and for how cool and handsome she looked while scolding Qin Yi. Li Ling was even more puzzled, "When did I scold him?" "Yeah, you didn't even use a single curse word," the manager sounded in a better mood than the previous night and even had the energy to gossip, "By the way, do you know how Qin Yi got into trouble?" "How?" "Haha, that idiot brought it on himself."It turned out that Qin Yi had recently been vying for a role in renowned director Jin Jingyao's new film. After just one round of auditions, he was already boasting about his success, claiming he had secured the third male lead. However, before any official announcement could be made, he was exposed overnight, with all his secrets laid bare, leading to this social downfall. "Qin Yi really knows how to dream," his agent scoffed. "He's only had a few minor hits and already thinks he can land a role in Jin Jingyao's film. He should know his place." Li Ling also took pleasure in his misfortune, remarking that with his physique, he wasn't even fit to play a garbage bag. The two of them mocked Qin Yi for a full thirty minutes. They both wanted to use this to forget another matter: no matter how much Qin Yi brought this upon himself, Li Ling had no choice but to bear the consequences of his mistakes. Feeling a bit down, she opened her Weibo private messages and found numerous concerned netizens asking if she had managed to throw out the trash, with some even suggesting she dump it directly on Qin Yi's face. Scrolling all the way to the bottom, Li Ling finally read a very unique private message. 9787532754335 said: "Your button is undone." What button? Li Ling distinctly remembered wearing the most conservative and secure long-sleeved pajamas when she went downstairs, buttoned up from head to toe, with even the first button below her neck fastened tightly. She suspected the sender had forgotten their reading glasses. She had no choice but to review her trash-disposal video three times, only to discover that the button 9787532754335 mentioned was the small button below the pocket of her Strawberry Bear pajamas, which had come undone. "..." Li Ling, feeling complicated, sent a screenshot to her agent and received a call from them moments later. Li Ling said, "You think this is a bit silly too, right?" But her agent, with a trembling voice, asked, "Look at the message above it." Li Ling read each word aloud: "Hello, Ms. Li Ling. I am the assistant to Director Jin Jingyao. We are currently preparing for an untitled new film and would like to invite you to audition. Are you interested?" Both of them fell silent for five seconds. "Is it the same Jin Jingyao you just mentioned?" Li Ling's voice began to tremble as well. Her agent's voice shook even more: "There is no other Jin Jingyao in this industry.""