Counterstrike: The Mark of the Phantom

When writing this paragraph, my heart is full of soft feelings. Xia Ziyan has been living under a lot of pressure. She has encountered obstacles in finding a job and her family does not understand her. She has to be careful even if she likes something, for fear that her love will be completely denied. She yearned wholeheartedly for Shen Xinyao's offline support, but her first reaction was not happiness, but fear of rejection and being thrown cold water on her again. I really want to write about the anxiety of an ordinary girl: She obviously just wants to participate in a free fan event, but she has to rehearse it in her mind and be prepared to be scolded. Fortunately, this time, her father gave her rare tolerance. This sudden promise not only allowed her to attend a support appointment, but also gave her the warmth of being seen and understood. But this happiness comes with a little caution, and you can't let your mother know about it, so you can only keep this little beauty secretly with your best friend. Many small joys in life are like this, hard-won. On one side is the depression brought by reality, on the other side is the light brought by chasing stars and close friends. Looking forward to the appointment the day after tomorrow, I hope the three girls can have their own sparkling night in Yuehui City.

This chapter continues the sweet daily life after dad made the concert promise in the previous chapter. It is a rare and relaxing and warm episode. After experiencing continuous job search failures, being wronged in the live broadcast room, and quarreling among her fans, Xia Ziyan has been living in frustration and depression. Her father's promise gave her huge spiritual sustenance, and she immediately wanted to share it with her best friend Lin Xinyi. Here is a two-way agreement between two girls: Lin Xinyi accompanies Xia Ziyan to Shen Xinyao's stage, and Xia Ziyan will accompany her to see Lu Youyou in the future, writing about the unique purity of girl friendship, mutual companionship and mutual fulfillment. They also designed a small foreshadowing. The two planned to hide it from Chen Siyao for the time being and prepare to give her a grand surprise later, which also paved the way for the plot to reveal the news later. The sunshine, the sofa, and the full of expectations filled me with happiness at this moment, as if all the suffering had temporarily receded behind me. But the story won't always stay beautiful and comfortable. At the end, the strange figure flashed past the window, without identifying who it was, continuing the hidden line of the strange visitor record on the mobile phone. The current happiness is only a temporary haven, and the crisis lurking in the dark has not disappeared. The high expectations for the concert may be interrupted by a sudden storm, and the undercurrent of joy will pave the way for subsequent conflicts.

This chapter can be regarded as a rare tender buffering scene in the whole text. Xia Ziyan has been experiencing frustration, grievance, and confusion after job hunting, Internet quarrels, and being fired from her trial job. The pressure is piling up. Here, her father's understanding and concert agreement are arranged to give the protagonist a moment to breathe and be seen. Dad is not completely opposed to star-chasing, nor does he strictly prohibit it. Instead, he respects the healing power that Xia Ziyan gains from idol singing, while clearly reminding her to face real life and differentiate between love and survival. This character treatment is written to be as close to the real parent-child status of an ordinary family as possible. It is not a harsh confrontation, but tolerance under worry. Xia Ziyan has placed all her spiritual sustenance on Shen Xinyao for a long time, and this concert has become a very important hope in her heart. This agreement ignited her fighting spirit and gave her renewed hope of working hard. But the story didn't end well. At the end, there is a foreshadowing of a strange visitor. Under the seemingly calm and warm surface, the crisis in the dark has not disappeared. The conflicts accumulated in the past will not end here. Behind this beautiful expectation, there will be new storms and tests, paving the way for subsequent conflicts.

This chapter describes the real conflicts that occur in the fan circle. Everyone who likes an idol has completely different ways of viewing love. Chen Siyao's starting point was to maintain the purity of the fan circle, but she used the wrong method, using suspicion and attack to judge other people's likes, which caused conflicts. Xia Ziyan was already burdened with the pressure of failing to apply for a job, and her heart was fragile and sensitive, so when she saw Li Wanwan being criticized in public, she couldn't control her emotions and burst out in public. She is not making trouble unreasonably, she just wants to protect the people she cares about. There are no absolute bad guys here. Chen Siyao also felt guilty afterwards, which reflects the regret that people have after their emotions get the best of them. The large group was noisy and chaotic, and everyone retreated to a small group with a small number of people, thinking that the storm had subsided and gained a brief relief. But the story did not settle there. At the end, anonymous private messages and leaked screenshots of the new group account hid a new crisis. The superficial reconciliation is only temporary, and the trouble in the dark is not over yet, paving the way for the next period of conflict.

This chapter takes over the previous frustrations in job hunting and various conflicts in the online live broadcast room, and fully reflects Xia Ziyan's long-term backlog of pressure. Having failed interviews one after another, she is full of frustration and low self-esteem, so the sudden disbandment of her fan group and the fact that Li Wanwan can no longer read back will be infinitely amplified by her and give rise to many bad conjectures. I deliberately used the night environment to heighten the mood. The dark night will amplify people's uneasiness. The small detail of the right eyelid twitching is also to express the sensitive and tense mental state of the protagonist at this moment. As a best friend, Lin Xinyi plays a rational and comforting role, pointing out that stress leads to random thoughts, which fits the relationship between the two of them very well. The story does not directly reveal the truth behind the group's disbandment, choosing to put the mystery aside for now. Xia Ziyan escaped into the live broadcast room to escape reality for a short time, but the trouble did not really disappear. At the end, a strange fan sent a screenshot and left a hook, hinting that there was something hidden about the matter, paving the way for the conflict in the next chapter.

When writing this episode, I always thought that the growth of many ordinary people is never a script of cheating along the way. It's not that Xia Ziyan didn't work hard, she prepared for the interview seriously, polished her answers repeatedly, and rushed to the opportunity with full expectations, but the reality gave her one failure after another. Efforts may not always respond immediately, and seriousness may not be seen. This is the cruelest and most true lesson after leaving campus. She will feel aggrieved, have self-doubt, and be so tired that she wants to give up. She even regards going to her idol's concert as something she insists on gritting her teeth. That distant beam of light was the only hope left in the gloomy days, but even earning a ticket for an appointment on your own had become extremely difficult. The comfort from people around you is well-intentioned, but when it falls on someone who is full of frustration, it often seems light. There is nothing wrong with dad's advice and friends' guidance, but when people are at a low point, it is difficult to be easily cured by a few words of "it will get better." Collapse is not pretentious, it is the emotional catharsis after accumulating too much disappointment. At the end of the story, the sudden stranger's friend request was a glimmer of light in the darkness. It does not necessarily mean that it will be smooth sailing, nor does it mean that all problems will disappear instantly, but it tells us: fate will not trap people at the bottom forever. Even if the road ahead is still bumpy, there will always be new possibilities quietly emerging. Frustration in life is never the end. Those falls and tears shed will not be in vain. Even if you can't walk for a while, it doesn't matter if you allow yourself to stop and take a rest.

This chapter is about a rare period of time when Xia Ziyan relaxed. After experiencing the torment of applying for a job and waiting for news again and again, she has always been burdened with heavy worries. Chen Siyao and Lin Xinyi came to her door early in the morning and took her to practice acting, which was a breather in the tight life. When practicing the crying scene, I wanted to write a very real feeling. It's not about deliberately squeezing away tears, but about mobilizing the sadness and helplessness that I have personally experienced and substituting my past emotions into it. Those days when I was depressed, resisted, and closed myself off became the material for acting, and the painful past was seen in a different way. When we talked about the jumping scene, I also gave a special reminder. In reality, filming has a full set of safety protections, but ordinary people must not imitate dangerous behaviors. Safety always comes first. Xia Ziyan's fear of heights and instinctive fear are also very consistent with her real character. Dad's appearance is also very warm. Instead of blaming them for the noise in the room, he understood that they were practicing acting to train themselves, and he also cared about whether the two girls had breakfast. In a life full of pressure, this tolerance is precious warmth. The moments of laughter and close friends are wonderful, but this happiness is short-lived after all. Even if she puts aside her worries for the moment, Xia Ziyan still can't let go of the notice of McDonald's re-examination. The joy was temporary, and the unresolved outcome was still waiting for her. After a short period of healing, the real problem still lies ahead. The following story will also continue to describe her state of mind facing this unknown outcome.

As I write this chapter, I have a lot of feelings in my heart. Xia Ziyan's journey has been really difficult. I was looking forward to having a stable job and tried my best to stay in this city, but the road to job hunting was full of ups and downs. I encountered an error during my job trial, so I went for the re-examination with high hopes, but in the end I only got the sentence "go home and wait for notification". She will feel uneasy, anxious, and can't help but doubt herself. It's not that she doesn't work hard enough, it's just that reality often doesn't give people the answers they want right away. The private message interaction with Yao Bobo is a very heartwarming moment in this chapter. In stressful days, a word of advice from her idol can slightly soothe her inner uneasiness. But there are also regrets that have been hidden in her heart for a long time. She cannot keep up with the progress on campus and is lonely. These worries are rarely told to outsiders and can only be told quietly to people she trusts. Her father's enlightenment and her best friend Lin Xinyi's comfort were all glimmers of light in her gloomy life, but these warmth could not completely eliminate her confusion about the future. The three words "waiting for notification" are the most annoying. Not knowing whether it is good news or bad news, holding on to expectations but fearing failure, this feeling of hanging in the air, I believe many people who are looking for a job can relate to it. Hard work may not be rewarded immediately, but Xia Ziyan still did not stop. The road ahead is still foggy, and she doesn't know whether what awaits her is an opportunity or another disappointment. The next story will continue to follow her footsteps to see what kind of ending this delayed notice will bring.

This chapter is about the delicate and gentle daily life late at night. There is the anxiety about the upcoming re-examination, the minor disturbances in dealing with trivial matters within the group, and the simple and gentle advice from my father. Zi Yan seems to be solving other people's problems, but she is actually healing herself. By improving group rules and protecting the peace of her friends, she gradually becomes mature, gentle and responsible. Life always has twists and turns and unknowns, big and small. The pressure of job hunting and confusion about the future are always there. But fortunately, her favorite anchor healed her late at night and supported her with gentle warmth. I hope she can let go of all her anxieties and go to the retest tomorrow with a calm mind, and that all her efforts will be responded to with tenderness.

This chapter is about a rare moment of relaxation. Being overwhelmed by reality and family one after another, Xia Ziyan rarely has a leisure time that belongs only to her best friends. Mock interviews, play with acting props, have friends by your side to cheer you up, and temporarily put aside all your worries. Even if the blood vomiting scene was performed in a hurry and caused a small episode, this simple laughter and slapstick is particularly precious. Tomorrow's re-examination is still hanging in her mind, and the road ahead is still full of unknowns, but having her friends by her side at the moment also gives her some confidence to face the difficulties. The short-lived happiness was only for a moment, and the problems of life were still to come, but at least for this moment, she could unload the heavy burden in her heart.