Opening her eyes in an unfamiliar place, Mu Bai was still a little dazed.
Her mind buzzed with a stinging pain and she felt uncomfortable all over her body. Her head felt like it was being bitten from inside by hundreds of crawling ants making her frown with visible anger and annoyance.
Finally after almost a minute of such pain, her mind and spirit adjusted itself to this new world and the pain also disappeared making her relaxed.
Shen Ming looked around herself and found herself in a high end apartment. She immediately noticed the calm, intentional design of the apartment. Natural light filtered through large windows, illuminating the open layout and casting soft shadows across the muted furnishings. The furniture was modern and refined—clean lines, soft textures, and a neutral palette that gave the space a quiet elegance. A few pieces of art hung thoughtfully on the walls, adding just enough personality without overwhelming the room. The kitchen, with its matte cabinetry and seamless appliances, blended effortlessly into the space. Nothing felt showy—just carefully chosen and well-executed. It left a lasting impression without needing to demand attention.
But she didn't take more than a few glances and instead began thinking about her mission.
She had signed up for a soul experiment in the real world and this is a spirit realm or can be called a small world in the boundaries of this vast universe.
These small worlds are isolated from the interstellar network because civilization hasn't yet reached the point where they would be able to communicate through space and time.
After all, to enter the interstellar network and to be recognized as a netizen world within the vast interstellar federation, a world's civilization must at least reach level 3 before they barely achieve the qualification.
And according to the data, it would take another 500 to 900 years for this world to advance to level 3 civilization.
Anyway, Mu Bai wasn't concerned about these things.
She quickly sorted out her memories. She remembered that this soul experiment was a newly invented experiment to help stabilize the souls of people who are in a coma. But she wasn't a person in a coma nor had she encountered any life threatening accidents. But for some reason, she couldn't remember why she joined this experiment. She knew that she was a person who had an emotional deficiency problem from birth and couldn't feel normal emotions as a human. And this was one of the reasons why participated in this experiment but other than that, she felt that there seemed to be another reason, a very important one, probably more important than her own life. This is what she felt in the depths of her heart.
After staying still for almost five minutes and frowning constantly, she finally decided to give up thinking for now.Anyway, she wasn't the type of person to be too concerned about something that she had no clue about.
Anyway, she felt that she would probably find out everything as the experiment progresses.
After thinking this, she finally felt a little relaxed and by now, she didn't feel any sense of discomfort nor any headache.
She looked down and found that she was holding a smartphone in her right hand, very tightly, the screen was still glowing with a series of words on them.
Mu Bai was a little curious about this smartphone, she has seen them in the museum in the interstellar capital's 'The Nexus Archive' museum.
It was a historical piece from the level one civilization period. She has even used a holographic version of this device which was made by a game company for fun.
She has a general idea as to how to use this but she still felt quite novel holding a true physical copy of such a relic.
Without hesitation, Shen Mind looked at the glowing screen of this smartphone and found a very old software named, 'Weibo'. She has also read about this social media platform in the history books.
But she wasn't very curious about this because social media platforms such as these are still in massive trend even in the interstellar network.
Just that, they didn't need a physical smartphone to connect to it and could use their mind to directly enter a realistic holographic version of it.
Anyway, Mu Bai looked curiously at what was written on the front page of weibo and as she read it, her curious eyes slowly vanished and were replaced by her usual cool and cold eyes. These eyes, which were enough to scare even the high ranking ministers in the interstellar federation, were now looking seriously at the words written on the weibo page.
Rumors about the scandal between the rising star actor, Lin Feng and the rising star actress Shen Ming were topping the trending search results.
The moment Mu Bai read the name Shen Ming, a dark light flashed across her eyes, her heart hidden beneath the flesh and bones in her chest, and started beating vigorously after a long time. She ignored this throbbing feeling within her and stared at the name Shen Ming without batting an eyelid.
After a long time, she finally clicked on the post from a tabloid marketing page and scrolled down to find a picture in the middle.
In the middle of a long paragraph, speculating or to be proper, fabricating about the man and woman's relationship.
Mu Bai stared at the photo with an absentminded look for a long while as if she had been intoxicated with a large bottle of the most alcoholic wine. She even forgot to breathe and the vigorously beating heart inside her chest, which had just moments ago stilled after relentless mental preparation, suddenly jolted back to life—pounding wildly, like a caged bird crashing against its confines, frantic and uncontrollable. It was as if every emotion she had forced into silence now surged forward, unrestrained, ignited by a single look, a single moment, shattering the calm she had fought so hard to maintain.
When she read the name, she was still a little unsure but now she was sure. Whatever the reason she participated in this experiment must have something to do with this woman in the photo.
In the photo, a proud and cold woman stands as the very embodiment of restrained emotion and commanding grace. She is dressed in a dark red brocade cheongsam—its rich, textured fabric shimmering faintly under the light, the traditional cut hugging her form with an elegance that speaks of both heritage and power. The red is deep, almost blood-like, symbolic of passion suppressed beneath layers of discipline and pride.
Her gaze is fixed on the man before her, sharp and unwavering, with a cold glint in her eyes that seems to pierce through the lens itself. There is no softness in that stare—only calculation, pain, and a quiet fury, as if a storm rages behind a mask of composure.
Tears stream silently down her cheeks, but they do not soften her expression. Instead, they enhance it—making her look like a statue that has begun to crack, not from weakness, but from the pressure of holding too much for too long. The tears aren't a plea; they're a statement.
Her beauty is striking—flawless, distant, and magnetic. It draws you in not with warmth, but with the chill of something refined and untouchable. She is icy and captivating, a paradox of emotion and control captured in a single, unforgettable frame.
Just when Mu Bai was about to drown in the beauty of this woman, her assistant system, 001 started the introduction like an annoying little rattler, breaking her away from her trance:
"This photo is from the upcoming new historical drama, "The Rise of the Phoenix Empress (凰后崛起) starring Shen Ming as the main lead and Lin Fan as one of the male lead and a pursuer of the empress in the story who dies but leaves a lasting impression in the empress's heart in the story. This photo is from the scene right before he dies."
Mu Bai was inexplicably annoyed at seeing Shen Ming in the photo staring at the man with such a gaze, even though it is just an act but she was even more annoyed at the absurdly written article.
She didn't know why she felt this way but she ignored her emotions for the moment, put down the mobile phone, sat up straight on the soft sofa, lifted her right leg and folded it on top of her left leg, raised her right hand and rested her chin on it, looking a little lazy but still charming and handsome. She was silent for a moment before she asked the system with her calm voice or she thought so, because the inexplicable nervousness in her voice was particularly evident,
"So, are they really in a relationship?"
.
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Before we dive in, I just want to say—thanks for being here. Whether you picked this up out of curiosity, boredom, or by total accident, I'm really glad you did. This story has been sitting in my head for a while, slowly coming together piece by piece, and now it's finally time to share it. It's not perfect, and it's definitely not predictable, but it's honest—and it means a lot to me. I've poured a lot into these pages: late nights, random sparks of inspiration, and probably way too much coffee. Now it's yours. So get comfortable, turn to the next chapter, and let's see where this goes together.