Who Touched My Tail!

14.2 – Was that what he was supposed to do?

translator: xiin

editor: alamerysl

On the other side, Spring Rolly sent Xue Ling a private message along with the script.

[ Spring Rolly: This script was originally intended for that fool Forgotten, and the announcement has already been recorded, but something happened with that fool and he’s been taken off the team. QWQ I can’t find anyone with that kind of evildoer voice. I thought that since Little Fox looks like an evildoer too, I can give it a try. ]

[ Snow Fox: Evildoer voice? ] His original voice was not directly proportional to his looks. If he wanted to do a falsely seductive voice, it would not be difficult, but the question was whether or not they could make use of it.

[ Spring Rolly: Nevermind. Little Fox, just give it a try. If it weren’t for the author’s deadline and that fool Forgotten being busy and having no time to do the recording, I wouldn’t be in such a tight spot. After all, the announcement has already been made, and it’s not a good to have to switch people so suddenly. ]

[ Snow Fox: Okay. I’ll read the script and novel tonight, and then give it a try tomorrow. I’ll help you if I can. If I can’t, then that’s that - you’ll have to find someone else. ]

[ Spring Rolly: Good! ╭(╯3╰)╮ Little Fox you’re the cutest~ Thanks for the hard work~ ]

Xue Ling put the script down before asking his system, “Why do we have to accept this? You should know that the drama has already been announced. It’s very stressful for the voice actor who picks up the role after that. And Forgotten’s evildoer voice..." Although he felt confused about many things, he still remembered what kind of person Forgotten was.

Forgotten Shore had once been a well-known gong voice in the circle, but after taking on a project for a book written by an author under the pseudonym Laughing Forgetting, his talent in changing voices, and especially his evildoer voice that was coined as being seductive enough to make straight men turn crooked was gradually revealed!

Xue Ling first went through the script in order to get a general idea of the plot, and discovered it was a martial arts story. His character was the protagonist shou, and he was an evildoer who followed the devil’s path...

Xue Ling looked at the author and discovered that it was Laughing Forgetting...

No wonder the system wanted him to accept it. If it was Laughing Forgetting’s book, then it could indeed help him become even more popular.

“Although you have Forgotten Shore as a comparison, host can also be very much an evildoer~ I believe that host will have no problem with it~"

Xue Ling didn’t know where the system’s inexplicable belief in him came from. He opened up his nano-computer to take a look at the original novel, and found that it was an abuse novel covered up as dogblood. The two protagonists ultimately split up for good. The gong died, and the shou turned into someone he would never have become in the past.

Basically, this was a growth-oriented text. At the beginning, the protagonist shou was really a seductive beauty. But as the plot unfolded and he interacted more and more with the protagonist gong, slowly, he began to change. At the end of the novel, the gong died in battle, and the shou slowly reshaped himself in the gong’s image.

According to the script he had been given, the manager should have split the novella into three stages for the audio drama. Disregarding the announcement that had already been made, the three stages would require half a year even if it was done as quickly as possible. The crew didn’t have much time left, and were anxious to find staff. The announcement had already gone out, and the deadline when the author needed to give authorization for the project was getting closer and closer, but they had been unable to find a replacement for Forgotten Shore. There were too few people with evildoer voices in the circle; especially those who could stand on the same level as Forgotten Shore.

Thinking about it, Spring Rolly must be clutching at straws by now, telling him to give it a try because he looked like an evildoer and therefore should be able to sound like one... Xue Ling rubbed his nose, then went to the bathroom to stare at himself in the mirror for a long time.

He had to admit that he really had a seductive face - particularly those fox eyes with the slightly uplifted corners. He had a natural charm that shone through even without eye-liner, not to mention when he had make-up on for various programs. When eye-liner or intense make-up was added to his eyes, his entire aura and temperament became incredibly attractive.

His appearance was rather androgynous, but that pair of eyes was very useful in helping distinguish his gender. He remembered he had trained up his gaze for a long time in order to make himself look a bit masculine, but now that he was looking at his naturally broad eyebrows in the mirror, Xue Ling sighed.

Ai, was it really his fault that he looked like an evildoer? No, right...

It was rather late, and Xue Ling was tired. He tidied up a bit and lay down in bed, opening up the software for audiobooks as he began to listen to the entire novel.

But he fell asleep halfway through. The system poked its way into the nano-computer in order to connect with this world’s network, and began to crazily collect all kinds of information.

Only by collecting a lot of information would it be able to help its host rise up as quickly as possible and help the two of them meet up again...

But when it thought about that man’s identity, the system once again felt that meeting again would have to depend on host and that man’s fate. Their identities were a little far apart right now; perhaps it would be better to start by approaching the people around that man?

Since Xue Ling did not retain any of his memories, the system did not dare to give him too many tips. It could only lie and call itself an entertainment counterattack system in order to approach the matter from another angle. It had come into this world behind the Ten Directions World’s back, and if its methods were too excessive, the Ten Directions World would definitely come and force it to go back. It would be screwed over and killed, then screwed over and killed again...

That scene was too terrible to even think about...

When Xue Ling woke up the next day, he found that his assistant had left a message for him to call after he was awake. Xue Ling could roughly guess what was going on - the reason he had been on leave this time was because the trial period with the agency was over, and it was now time for him to look into whether or not they should continue the contract.

Xue Ling washed up first; he didn’t have a lot of feelings for this company. The agency wasn’t a large one, and in this world where entertainment reigned supreme, the company’s resources were basically all things that had leaked out from between the larger agency’s hands. This was also the reason why the amount of work Xue Ling had gotten over the past few years had been limited, and why he was only in the lowest rungs of popularity without becoming a hit. It was a complete waste of his good looks.

He clearly had had no intention of dominating the entertainment industry and wanted to spend his life coasting before he woke up yesterday, but today he suddenly wanted to work hard. He was a little curious about the changes in himself, and Xue Ling found it a little hard to believe. He pulled the system out to ask it if it had done something, but the system sincerely expressed that it hadn’t done anything.

The urge to strive hard was so strong; it felt as though he would lose something if he didn’t push as hard as he could. Xue Ling searched the system’s gaze for a very long time, and finally decided it was time to change agencies.

The system listed out all the companies in the industry for him, finally pointing out an agency that it hoped he would carefully consider.

Xue Ling originally intended to look for a leader in the industry like Huaxia Entertainment, but the system recommended another entertainment company to him instead. He had no impression of the company’s name, but when the system showed Xue Ling the company’s artists’ resumes and some of the company’s resources, Xue Ling found himself slightly shaken.

This company was called Tianxuan Entertainment. Compared with big companies like Huaxia Entertainment, Tianxuan Entertainment seemed to be rather ordinary, but the artists that came out from this company were totally different from others, and they were all well known, powerful people in the industry.

At present, the core of the company should be Su Liunian, who was known as the Movie Emperor. The company’s owner was listed as Su Xuanqing, and Xue Ling knew that this company would not be lacking in resources. But the question was... "They already have Su Liunian, and he is still on the rise. He won’t be gone for another ten years. How could there be a place there for me?" He couldn’t quite understand.

The system said, “But if you choose Huaxia, you will have more competition. Huaxia has many top line stars and superstars, but in terms of acting, Tianxuan only has Su Liunian. It has been a long time since Su Xuanqing involved himself with filming, and other than giving them to Su Liunian, the rest of the resources will come to you. And Su Liunian is not simply an actor. He’s taken on fewer and fewer films each year. Most of the ones he accepts are award-winning works, and it’s obvious that he spends more of his time writing...”

Tianxuan’s Su Liunian was of a similar age to Xue Ling, and he was only a little older than Xue Ling. But the other party had already won the Film Emperor trophy from the Oscars Film Festival during college. He had also been locked in as a god in the World Literature Network during the same year. When his achievements were compared to Xue Ling’s, Xue Ling felt like he had no idea what he had been doing during the first half of his life.

The system provided Xue Ling with another fact while he was still torn between Tianxuan and Huaxia, "Most of Huaxia’s best resources are now focused on the Film Empress Zi En, while roles for male characters are split evenly. No matter how good your ability is, you will still have to start from the bottom in Huaxia. Rapid growth there is nothing but a dream."

In the end, Xue Ling chose Tianxuan, but the problem was that the agencies did not start recruiting simply because he wanted to go there. Tianxuan’s requirements were very high. Although they recruited people every year, only a few of them were able to enter every time. They only accepted those with an absolute, unquestionable level of ability; those whose level was similar to Su Liunian who could enter and get a prize right away. Xue Ling also knew that Su Xuanqing did not intend to expand and grow stronger, but based on his current choices, this company was most in line with where he wanted to be now and where he wanted to go in the future.

What he wanted was absolute freedom, and Tianxuan could provide him with exactly that.

“I sent in your resume in yesterday.” After obtaining its host’s agreement, the system gingerly exposed the things that it had already done in advance. Xue Ling sneered, and inexplicably felt that this was typical of the way the system normally did things.

“Let’s go and cancel the original contract first." Xue Ling didn’t do anything to the system, and prepared to first go out and deal with the matters at hand, restoring his own freedom. After opening the wardrobe, he stared at the clothes within for a good while as he criticized his former self’s tastes. He moved to pull some of the edgier articles of clothing out of the wardrobe, then simplest pieces that matched him. The overall effect was simple and comfortable, but nobody could say that he had bad taste.

Even though nobody cared what he wore.

After selecting a pair of sunglasses that would cover most of his face, Xue Ling went out and drove his hovercraft to the company.

The procedure for terminating the contract was simple. The other party seemed to believe that Xue Ling no longer wanted to continue on in the entertainment circle. In any case, since the contract had expired, it wasn’t a breach of contract, and the company wouldn’t miss a little internet star like him, so they simply let him go.

When Xue Ling came back out, he went to the supermarket that was on the way and purchased a lot of snacks and groceries for himself before bringing everything home.

He made himself a meal based on some vague memories that he had. Xue Ling did not want to nit-pick with himself over whether or not he had been able to cook before, and whether or not it tasted the same. Since there had already been so many changes, some of these things no longer mattered.

After lunch, Xue Ling opened up yesterday’s script, entered the recording studio in the virtual network, and prepared to start recording the emotional script he had been given. He basically understood the gist of the plot after yesterday, and listened to a bit of the novel, so he could basically grasp some of the emotions involved. He opened up the script and prepared to give it a try.

Fortunately, his sense of drama from yesterday was still there when he made the recording. Xue Ling went through the entire thing once, and then began to properly record it. Because he only had the descriptions from the text, and had no images or visual aids to rely on, everything in the recording depended on Xue Ling’s own imagination. It used to take many tries for Xue Ling to even barely create a sense of the world in his mind, but he now seemed to effortlessly be able to get into character. He managed to complete everything perfectly on the first try, his tone perfect for each line as he even managed to recreate the protagonist’s actions in his mind’s eye.

Since it was going so smoothly, he didn’t stop with the recording. Xue Ling kept his sense of drama the whole way through, and finished recording all of his lines on the script in a single afternoon. He felt that it was really unexpected, but by the time he recovered his wits, he had already gone through the recording several times and fixed some slightly problematic areas.

This was awkward. After all, they hadn’t confirmed that they wanted him...

Xue Ling thought for a moment and then cut out a portion of the recording to send to Spring Rolly.

Spring Rolly was always online. He sent Xue Ling a big virtual kiss as soon as he received the recording, and then went off to listen to the snippet.

So Xue Ling went to pick up a glass of water while waiting, and came back to a torrent of messages from Spring Rolly.

[ Spring Rolly: !!!! Little Fox!!! You’ve changed!!! ]

[ Spring Rolly: You are an old fox now!!! A fox demon!! A foxy seductress!!! ]

[ Spring Rolly: You’re no longer the Little Fox that I know!! ]

[ Spring Rolly: But I’m so happy! Little Fox, you’re the best!!! I’ll pull you into the group!!! The director and everyone else on the team wants to give you a warm welcome ceremony!!!! ]

[ Spring Rolly: Ooooohhhhh, I have to download one of your posters and lick it!!! ]

[ Snow Fox: ... ]

Well, it seemed that there were no problems. He hadn’t recorded it all for nothing. Judging from how he had felt today during the recording, perhaps his sense of drama had also improved along with his audio recording skills?

Perhaps it was really like how the system said, and he now had the strength to attack the entertainment world, emerge as the film emperor, and then marry someone tall, rich, and handsome?

Hold on... Why was he marrying someone tall, rich, and handsome? Was that what he was supposed to do? How come he always felt like there was something wrong with this picture?