Chapter 5 - Chapter 5: Pan

Here is the translation for this section in the same format:

Shang Jingyan: [This tone sounds like someone familiar with the original owner.]

The safest option would have been to pretend she wasn't home, but Shang Jingyan hesitated for a moment before opening the door—she couldn't avoid socializing with the original owner's acquaintances forever.

Over the past few days, Shang Jingyan had reviewed the part of the memories she could access many times. The original owner was still very young, only seventeen years old, and came from a single-parent family. She had been living on a desolate exile planet since birth.

However, her only mother disappeared when she was seven years old, and after that, her life went from ordinary to one of relying on welfare assistance.

Growing up in such an environment, the original owner developed a rebellious, gloomy personality, frequently skipping school, mingling with bad company, and often staying out all night. She barely completed her high school education in June, and her future plans were a mess—when asked, she would say, "I want to become a Dreamweaver."

Last year, she borrowed 30,000 credits from Sister Cui, claiming it was for Dreamweaving investment, but Shang Jingyan never saw where she spent it.

The young man walked in with a grin and immediately widened his eyes when he saw her: "Hey, little black sheep, why do you look so disheveled?"

Shang Jingyan: "..."

Little black sheep? What's that? A nickname?

"Don't call me that."

The nickname seemed to trigger some vague memory, and without thinking, Shang Jingyan frowned and instinctively replied, "Call me 'Pan'."

After saying that, she froze for a moment. What was that? A code name? Why did it sound so juvenile?

"I knew you'd say that." The young man shrugged. "Alright, alright, P-a-n, Pan—what have you been up to lately? Why have you been unresponsive for so long? The higher-ups are getting a bit dissatisfied, so they sent me to check in on you."

Shang Jingyan: "....."

"'The higher-ups,' 'sent me'... This sounds like no good!"

It seemed like some kind of organization, and the original owner was a member of it. Members called each other by code names. So, the missing part of the original owner's memories must be related to this?

Damn it, no way, she just wanted to take the director's script, now does she have to play an underground organization member as a side job too??

Shang Jingyan felt like her brain was about to crack, but she kept her composure on the surface.

"Same old, same old." She coldly gave a vague answer.

"I guessed as much. That's why I'm just here to go through the motions, I'll tell them you're sick." The young man continued curiously, "So, have you started releasing your works? What pen name are you using?"

Shang Jingyan glanced at him. He was asking about her pen name, so it seemed their relationship wasn't just limited to being members of the same organization—there was some kind of closer personal connection.

She didn't respond, but the original owner had been impatient with him in the past, so the young man was used to it and kept talking, "If you don't want to tell me, whatever. But if you keep going, you'll run into me sooner or later—by the way, try to reveal yourself later. You know, 'they' don't like this stuff."

He exaggeratedly shrugged, "Letting you do creative work on the exile planet is already a huge concession. If you make a work that gets popular in the main star system, those old folks will probably faint from shock. Haha! I actually kind of look forward to seeing that happen."

Shang Jingyan: "Take care of your own business."

She quietly thought, it probably wasn't about whether he looked forward to it, but that it was going to happen sooner or later...

The young man grinned: "Alright, alright, I won't say more. Bye~ Pan."

He came suddenly and left just as quickly. As soon as he left, Shang Jingyan immediately asked in her mind: [System, can you detect electronic devices?]

[Rest assured.] X71 knew what she was thinking, [I've already scanned it. There are no surveillance devices in this room.]

Shang Jingyan let out a small sigh of relief, rubbing her aching temples.

The original owner had so many secrets. It seemed her life wasn't going to be smooth sailing, just focusing on being a Dreamweaver…

But the original owner's code name in this unknown organization was "Pan"?

"Pan," the god Pan, the legendary deity with the head of a goat and the body of a man, spreading fear. No wonder that young man called her "little black sheep."

—It even matched. The account she used to release The Evil God had an avatar based on Pan, a black silhouette with the body of a man and the head of a goat. It was the same avatar she used in her previous life.

Shang Jingyan felt like she might need a cigarette, a bad habit from her previous life. When under pressure, she would crave a smoke.

She sat in silence for a moment, then suddenly remembered why that young man looked familiar. It wasn't from the memory but from the celebrity portrait rental website.

A few days ago, when she rented the faces for the male and female leads of The Evil God, she had spotted him. He was a somewhat obscure local actor named You Yao.

Shang Jingyan: "..."

No wonder You Yao had said, "If you keep going, you'll run into me sooner or later." No wonder this guy was working with her... no, fighting on the same side.

The organization didn't like Dreamweavers, and it probably didn't look kindly on actors either. So why was You Yao allowed to show his face? Was he using a fake face?

As things go, Shang Jingyan didn't dwell on it. Her priority was still to make her first bucket of gold.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and when she set the release for her mid-length work at midnight with a sore back, the system said: [Host, you can check your fanworks section now.]

With the development of the entertainment industry, every website now has a "fanworks" section. Good fan creations could help support the original work, and this was an understood consensus. The Evil God naturally had one, but it was still blank.

Following the system's suggestion, Shang Jingyan refreshed the page, and the tag "#Married to the Evil God#" had grown from 0 to 1.

"Huh?" She raised an eyebrow in surprise. Had her work already inspired fan creations after such a short time?

Almost no original creator disliked fan creations born out of admiration, and Shang Jingyan was stunned when she opened the fanwork.

It was a work of mental power, called "painting," though it was more like a 3D model, which could be experienced in the StarNet.

[Qingse Xue] had drawn the rose garden outside the castle, under the red moon. The roses were enchanting, surrounding the central statue of the Virgin Mary. One of the Virgin's hands and her child in her arms were shattered, replaced by rose vines that coiled like tentacles.

Her face, once pure, now bore an eerie expression, twisted into a smile under the cracks.

Shang Jingyan had only made a rough version of the rose garden in The Evil God, but this scene designer not only captured her concept but also elevated it. She liked and recommended it.

[Wow, this is amazing, worshiping the artist!]

[Did this get created in a day?? So incredible!]

[It's beautiful, but a bit eerie. What's the original about?]

[You'll have to watch the original! No spoilers for The Evil God, to get the best viewing experience, hehe…]

[The streamer drew again after so many years!! You can check this ID, the streamer was the winner of the Youth Scene Dreamweaving Award in the main star domain!]

[I'm going to watch the original now.]

[More people are going to watch now, hehe…]

[? Why are your fans so weird, it's a little scary.]

[Hehe (doge)]

This fanwork was of such high quality that it could attract new viewers to the original. Soon, it topped the daily rankings in the fan section.

Images were more intuitive than videos, and with this boost, The Evil God finally entered the top 100 in voting after three days.

Main Star System.

In a dark room with thick curtains, only a lamp was lit beside the bed.

Ao Qingxue sighed in relief after sending her work, stretched, and smiled brightly, "Finally done!"

She had worked all day to sketch this scene. Although she was exhausted, her spirits were extremely high.

As her spiritual power drained, her creative desire seemed to flow away with it.

But when watching The Evil God repeatedly, she had a strong urge to "paint something."

This was her first time trying this style, so she carefully selected the original scenes to elaborate on.

Her excitement hadn't worn off, and after making a bowl of noodles, she returned to see the notification: [The original creator has liked and recommended your work.]

Ao Qingxue: "!!"

She slapped her thigh excitedly and then saw that [Shang Jingyan Everyone] had released a mid-length work. Forgetting about her noodles, she quickly started a stream.

[The artist drew so well! Praise them!]

[Qingse is so fast, the new episode just went live and you're streaming, perfect, I'm scared to watch alone, so let's watch together.]

[Why are you still eating noodles? Streamer, I'm telling you from experience, be careful not to spit it out!]

Just like last time, as soon as The Evil God aired, the bullet comments flooded in.

In the past, Ao Qingxue would have posted an update to celebrate the spike in data, but today she was too busy to care.

It wasn't until her stream was warned for data abnormalities that she noticed: "?"

[?? Hilarious, did we spam too much?]

[Go away, go away, who's spamming data? We're all real people!]

[Ahhh, the show's starting, don't block me, I need to watch The Evil God!]

The online admin was stunned for a moment, then curiously entered the stream...

And then—

"Ah!!"

She jumped up with a shriek, startling her colleagues.

On the screen, a man sat in a bathtub, drowsily lowering his head. Suddenly, the clear water turned blood-red, and the rose petals floating on the surface turned into dozens of bloody eyeballs!

The bullet comments exploded with frantic "ahhhs," and the admin's hand shook, causing a gold-marked official comment to appear among the white ones.

Admin03: [Ahhhhhhh!!]

Admin: "..."

[??]

[LOL, was that the online admin's account?]

[Admin03, stop slacking! Don't disturb us watching the horror movie!]