A mortal who accidentally ate a longevity fruit gained eternal life, but was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment as a result.
He thought his life would be like this forever: long and lonely, with no end in sight.
Then society progressed and policies changed, and a new-era amnesty fell on Gu Xueqiao like a pie from the sky, flattening him.
He's leaving Huaping Peak to compete in a talent show!
Filled with boundless curiosity about the world, Gu Xueqiao arrives at a training camp and enters the human and demon world as the only odd one out.
Everyone in this year's talent competition is an amateur, and every one of them is beautiful. There's also a new rule.
Of the hundred trainees, fifty are "black hands," hidden demons who serve as walking vote banks and lifelines for those near elimination. Find them, and you can claim their votes for yourself.
Gu Xueqiao is here on a mission. As a human, he has to disguise himself as a demon and provoke others into reporting him.
But who says only humans can report people?
He'll transform into the most annoying pest imaginable, picking a fight with anyone he can't stand and hunting in the guise of prey.
Better them than me. Sorry, you're innocent, but all you stand to lose is your dream, while I really will go to prison!
*
Fresh out of prison, Gu Xueqiao has nothing to his name except health insurance.
As a wild man, he feels unsure of himself about everything. Singing, dancing, anything at all is worth throwing himself into completely and working at with all his might.
Everyone says he's easygoing, and that he doesn't even fight back when people bully him.
But when humans and demons break out into a brawl at the training camp,
Gu Xueqiao charges in before everyone's eyes and collapses, sickly and frail, between the two people fighting the hardest.
The sickly figure sprawled on the ground looks like a gender-swapped Xi Shi.
Before passing out, he clutches his chest and says:
"Remember... use your health insurance."
Prison-era version:
When Gu Xueqiao was first locked up at Huaping Peak, he desperately tried to escape.
He jumped off cliffs, climbed trees, crossed rivers, and even dug tunnels.
But anyone who jumped off a cliff would get stuck between the cliff face and the barrier, suffocating with a tight chest and gasping for breath until they climbed back the way they came, limbs covered in blood.
Climbing a tree, he would swing out from the treetop and then smack flat against the barrier, nearly shattering his insides.
When he tried to cross the river, the once-calm water would turn scalding hot as Gu Xueqiao neared the barrier, bubbling until he swam away with his skin in tatters.
The shovel he used to dig a tunnel was a tree trunk, which Gu Xueqiao ground flat. One shovel stroke through the snow revealed soil, and below the soil seeped toxic black water that burned a hole in his arm.
He made himself sick and frail, yet got nothing in return.
Later, Gu Xueqiao gave up. During that unlucky period, when even a fall in the snow meant hitting a rock, he stopped doing anything at all.
Until the spring breeze of vindication arrived.
He asked for health insurance.
*An atypical talent show
*Lots of creative liberties
*Beyond Huaping Peak, the road is clear
Theme: You go on ahead. We'll hold back the wind for you.
