Blunt Conquest

Pre-release: an entertainment-industry supernatural novel, "The Metaphysics Master Doesn't Want to Be Famous." Please add it to your collections! Blurb below~

Qi Xiu, a musical genius, reached the peak of his career the moment he debuted, but just as he was riding high, he suddenly announced his retirement to recuperate. His fans wept and wailed.

Qi Xiu died and was reborn as a mute. The only way to get his voice back was to collect affection points.

In this godforsaken, deserted place, how am I supposed to earn affection points?!

Qi Xiu had already resigned himself to being mute for the rest of his life. Then, one day, someone knocked on his door.

To regain his voice, Qi Xiu started trying to win him over: smiling at him, showing him kindness, and occasionally arranging for a bit of accidental physical contact.

He felt like he hadn't done much at all. Wasn't that affection meter going up a little too fast?

Gu Shenghe, a superstar hailed as the Federation's top celebrity, was invited to join a live variety show called "Wilderness Survival on an Undeveloped Planet."

There were five celebrity guests, each paired with an amateur partner. He was the only one who chose a... mute?

The mute was good-looking, but didn't even know basic things. He was nothing but a pretty face, useless in every way.

The superstar drew a sharp breath: I'm doomed. Hell mode!

Oh well, at least he was handsome, had a great figure, and was sweet and warm. His big bro could just take him under his wing.

Later, he realized this guy wasn't useless at all. He was a walking cheat code! How could he do everything?

Gu Shenghe: This is the best!

Starnet mini-theater:

Viewer 1: His partner's mute and can't even use a beam-concentrator. We can pretty much see how this is going to end. I feel for the superstar.

Viewer 2: Wow, that face! Hubby!

Viewer 3: I'm dying. Gu Shenghe is practically being fished onto a hook.

Viewer 4: Wait, don't fade to black. I can pay.

Later, his voice returned, and one song made him a legend.

Qi Xiu: Sorry, wilderness survival is just a hobby. The stage is where I shine.

The man onstage sparkled like starlight, dazzling and brilliant. Gu Shenghe only wanted to hold him close, hide him away, and make sure no one else could see him.

A universally adored, traffic-generating celebrity takes care of a helpless younger man, the mute beauty who acts sweet and clings to him (X)

A lecherous superstar tries to show off but ends up being carried, paired with a survival expert and vocal prodigy (√)

Both are sexually inexperienced

"The Metaphysics Master Doesn't Want to Be Famous"

Blurb

Fu Qing is a spirit-summoning master, though nobody knows it. He followed his family motto, keeping a low profile in the city, and successfully stayed under the radar for twenty years.

One day, Fu Qing went to a noodle shop. There was a phone left on the table, and when he glanced at it, he saw that it was wrapped in such dense yin energy that it looked black.

Fu Qing was disgusted and didn't even touch it.

When the owner came back and repeatedly thanked him, Fu Qing still couldn't help adding, "You'd better take your girlfriend to the hospital for a checkup."

Unexpectedly, that afternoon, his dormmate excitedly told him, "Dude, you blew up online! Did you know?"

Confused, Fu Qing opened his phone and watched a high-definition video of himself eating noodles and returning the owner's phone. But the title read: "Is Best Actor Qin Yuxiu Dating Someone?"

What is this supposed to mean?

"You didn't know?" his roommate helpfully explained. "It's a live observational show. This episode tests how decent ordinary people are. The person playing the owner was that popular best actor. You said he had a girlfriend on the show, and it became a trending topic."

The comments came pouring in so densely they nearly brought the platform down.

[Hahahaha, before I finished the video, I thought Xiao Qin had disguised himself and gone to a roadside noodle stall with his boyfriend, and a reporter had snapped their picture.]

[Young men are all grown up now. Xiao Qin's dating too.]

[This passerby's looks are insanely good. Standing beside Xiao Qin, he doesn't lose out at all. Any interest in joining the entertainment industry?]

[Am I the only one wondering how this passerby knew Xiao Qin had a girlfriend?]

Curious netizens dug and dug, eventually unearthing an old, secretly filmed video. "Oh, this guy set up a fortune-telling stall outside a scenic area." "That's the master! He's really accurate."

Fu Qing became an overnight sensation in the strangest way.

Later, the best actor latched onto him, saying that strange things kept happening around him and he only felt safe when he was with Fu Qing.

Fu Qing put on an earnest face. "I didn't do anything. I'm just an ordinary college student."

A talent scout came knocking too, offering to launch him as an idol.

Fu Qing wasn't moved. "No thanks. I still have a pile of dolls to make."

The talent scout said, "You could make a lot of money."

Fu Qing said, "Really? Then let's sign a contract."

Once he actually entered the entertainment industry, Fu Qing found that supernatural incidents around him multiplied. There was an elevator shaped like a coffin, a deranged woman, and strangest of all, Qin Yuxiu looked a lot like one of the dolls Fu Qing had summoned a spirit into.

Fu Qing only wanted to quietly make money as an idol, so he pretended not to notice. But the little ghosts kept coming around him, oblivious to the danger. Fu Qing flew into a rage: This is too much!

With no other choice, Fu Qing returned to his old trade and secretly went back to working with the dead.

Entertainment industry and metaphysics. Spirit-summoning masters are one kind of occult practitioner, and can also tell fortunes, read feng shui, catch ghosts, and more.

Theme: I don't even know the basic interstellar facts, so I'm only kind of good at everything else.