At 4am, an alarm pierced the dormitory of the variety show God-Making Alliance.
Sleeping artists awoke in panic, rushing downstairs to escape. The girls huddled together, comforting one another. Suddenly, a sharp voice rang out: "Where's Summer? Has anyone seen Summer?"
Summer had debuted as a child star at age four. Her delicate beauty and impeccable acting quickly won her nationwide fame. Fourteen years later, she had grown from the nation's darling girl next door into the "National Sweetheart," adored by fans all over the country.
Everyone in the dorm turned toward the sixth-floor room. Flames had already engulfed the top floor, thick black smoke pouring out. Some eyes welled up with tears; others gleamed with secret satisfaction. If Summer dies, our strongest rival is gone.
Lin Shara, the program director, realized Summer was not among the crowd. Panicking, she grabbed another girl's hand and shouted, "Your room is next to hers! Didn't you see her?"
The girl stammered, "I… I saw her door locked when I left. I thought she already escaped!"
But Summer hadn't gone anywhere.
Inside the locked room, a girl in a white nightgown lay still on the bed. A poster stuck to her face was burning. She didn't move—she looked dead.
As the flames crept over the bedsheets, Summer's amber eyes snapped open. A flicker of cold light flashed across her gaze.
She stared at the blazing room, confused. Where am I? The last thing she remembered was kneeling atop a mountain.
Suddenly, memories not her own flooded her mind. She realized she was no longer on Earth, but in the Sacred Spirit Continent, a modernized cultivation world.
Summer was a mutant, adopted as a child. She had lived over two hundred years in a post-apocalyptic world, unaffected by hunger, pain, or fatigue. She was nearly immortal.
Two hundred years of watching loved ones die had hardened her. In her final moment on Earth, she had ended her own life atop a lonely mountain—until a mysterious male voice whispered from afar: "Return."
And now she was here.
Pain seared across her face. She touched her cheek and realized the burning poster had scorched her skin. Without hesitation, she threw herself out the window, landing gracefully on a kapok tree below. The crowd gasped.
The delicate girl who once couldn't even open a water bottle had just performed a death-defying escape.
Lin Shara approached, voice trembling: "Summer, are you hurt? Don't worry, I'll take you to the hospital!"
Summer was too weak to respond and collapsed into her arms. Lin Shara commanded fiercely, "No one is to speak of this incident!"
Despite their efforts, the news of Summer's burn injuries quickly leaked, trending on social media: #SummerBurned #NationalSweetheartScarred.
In the hospital, Summer overheard the adoptive mother and father plotting. Clara Yu fretted over lost contracts, debts, and the fact that Summer's beauty—their cash cow—was now ruined. Victor Yu, the adoptive father, coldly added that they needed a plan to force Summer to leave.
Summer listened silently. The girl who had been exploited for fourteen years deserved justice.