My name is Lu Mian, and I'm a nobody in Haicheng's entertainment industry. The Vitamin C meter on my System panel has been flashing blood red for years.
If my Vitamin C hits zero, I'll get scurvy and drop dead on the spot.
[Ding! Vitamin C remaining: 1,252. Countdown: 2 days. Daily consumption: 600.]
There's only one way to stay alive: the System gives me missions that make me "sour" people.
The harsher my insults, the more Vitamin C I gain.
Top-tier star Lin Zhi lip-syncs at a concert, so I release three audio tracks: the rehearsal version, a fan-recorded version, and the livestream version. Put them side by side, and his reputation comes crashing down three times over.
When Mr. Wang of Xingyao Capital tries to shut me up, I send his shady dual contracts straight to the securities regulator. The day investigators show up, every light on the whole floor goes out.
Producer Zhao Mingyuan sues me for defamation and demands twenty million in damages. In court, I present three layers of hash verification, and he is humiliated on the spot.
As for me?
A dark gray hoodie, a baseball cap, and me crouching behind the curtains in my rental apartment, eating instant noodles with lemon. If I can lie down, I won't stand up.
But the whole internet has gone crazy. The nickname "Lemon Jerk" is trending every day.
A female reporter moves in across the hall and points her camera at me. "You're that Lemon Jerk from the internet, aren't you?"
I nod, biting into a lemon. "I'm just socially anxious."
What they don't know is this:
That lazy slob who can't even be bothered to go downstairs has just made half the entertainment and finance industries sour, one after another.
In my drawer is a crumpled hospital admission notice. It is signed by "Nurse Zhou" and marked "Voluntary participation in experiment."
Late at night, a voice message arrives from a gray profile picture: "You weren't the first one chosen."
[Ding! Today's Vitamin C deposit: 5,000. Host, keep up the good work!]
Me: I don't want to work.
System: You have to. You're about to die.
