In a hotel room showing all the signs of a wild night.
Chen Jincheng woke up. He subconsciously pushed away the soft body in his arms and scrambled out of bed.
The woman on the bed was startled awake and let out a soft murmur.
He immediately looked at the girl. Her thick, dark hair was splayed out, revealing a fair, pretty face with a hint of youthfulness. Hickey marks from their wild night dotted her neck.
The memories came flooding back!
Jiang Xiaobai!
The new DJ hired for his uncle's bar. She was gorgeous, and her figure was incredible—a college girl with amazing long legs.
On his original Earth, she had apparently become one of the hottest, most sought-after nightclub DJ goddesses—the type that even seasoned players liked.
"What happened between us yesterday?" Chen Jincheng asked, feigning amnesia.
Jiang Xiaobai said with a hint of resentment, "Worthy of the Ancestral Master. 'Always have a few drinks before hooking up with any girl. When you wake up, just pretend you have alcohol-induced amnesia. It's the perfect offense and defense,' right? No wonder they all say you're a massive scumbag!"
"You recognized me?"
"'Don't let a good girl down, and don't let a bad girl go to waste.' So, I'm just a bad girl, right?"
Seeing her quote another one of his online sayings, Chen Jincheng avoided a direct answer. "That's all a misunderstanding people have about me!"
This world wasn't Earth, but a similar one. The writing system, cultural heritage, and ancient history were all alike. However, its modern era had developed a different culture and Trajectory. Famous people and well-known cultural works from his past life might not exist in this world; some celebrities he remembered could be ordinary people here.
Moreover, he discovered that this world was on the cusp of an MCN boom. He felt he had to seize this opportunity to make some easy money. In his past life, many internet celebrities were ordinary people who had seized their chance during the MCN explosion and shot to fame.
The thing was, in his past life, aside from the pressures of work, his life consisted of haunting nightclubs after sealing his heart. He didn't have any special abilities himself, so he could only stick to what he knew.
Before he transmigrated, after a few failed relationships, the truthful maxims of that "Ancestral Master" from his past world had caused him to completely seal his heart. He truly felt the Ancestral Master's words made sense.
Plus, his name in this life also contained the characters for "Jincheng," so he decided to try bringing over the "Ancestral Master's" maxims from his original world. He paired them with videos he shot and designed himself and posted them online. With his good looks and 1.8-meter-tall frame, he unexpectedly went viral.
In the time since he'd transmigrated, even though he hadn't picked up a single girl, he had earned the title of "Ancestral Master" (and "massive scumbag") and gained some fame online thanks to those maxims.
All he could say was that philosophical quotes and famous sayings would never be buried, no matter the world.
After successfully branding himself as the Ancestral Master, he started an MCN agency and named it Second Generation Star Media. It was just still under renovation!
His original intention last night had been to trick Jiang Xiaobai into joining his company at his uncle's bar. She was a potential artist who had fallen right into his lap.
After all, she had become a famous DJ goddess in his original world; there was no reason she couldn't do it in this one.
He just hadn't expected to lose his own body before his mission even began.
"So what if I'm a bad girl?" Jiang Xiaobai seemed to say magnanimously. "Working in a place like a bar, you need a backer. I'm not willing to settle for an old guy, and I'm picky about looks. You happen to be handsome and the bar's owner. Besides, you said you'd make me an internet celebrity and make me famous."
"Wait, I said I'd make you an internet celebrity, but what the hell is this about being the bar owner?" Chen Jincheng was fucking baffled.
The bar belonged to his uncle; he had nothing to do with it.
Jiang Xiaobai pointed to the contract on the table. "Before we went into the private room, your uncle said he sold the bar to you. Didn't you sign the contract yesterday?"
Chen Jincheng immediately realized something was wrong.
He had clearly only lent his uncle the 2 million in startup capital he had raised for the Er Shi Xingchen Company for cash flow. His uncle had promised to return 2.2 million a week later. They had signed a loan agreement, with the bar as collateral!
In the original owner's memories, this uncle had always been a man of his word. He had helped out a lot when the original owner's parents passed away and had even funded his college education. Chen Jincheng had only lent him the money to repay this debt of gratitude. 'Surely he wouldn't backstab me, would he?'
He hurried over, picked up the contract, and looked it over. Sure enough, the loan agreement had been swapped for a purchase agreement.
Buying such a large bar for 2.2 million? Even an idiot would know that was unrealistic. The bar had cost his uncle 20 million.
And just as he expected, there were supplementary documents, including the assumption of the bar's 5 million loan.
'When did he pull this stunt?'
'As expected, alcohol + beautiful women = bad decisions!'
'It seems you really can't fully trust anyone in this world. You have to be wary of everyone.'
To top it off, the guy had even left him a note: "Xiaocheng, I've done you wrong. Don't look for me. You won't find me. I'm not coming back!"
"Fuck!"
'This can't be the end of it.'
He hurriedly got dressed, grabbed the contract, and left the hotel, leaving behind an even more resentful Jiang Xiaobai.
'That scumbag really left without a moment's hesitation.'
'He really is the kind of scumbag who would say things online like, 'Until we check out, nobody loves you more than I do.''
Not long after, Chen Jincheng arrived at his uncle's house, where he saw a distant relative cursing up a storm.
Upon seeing him, the relative quickly said, "Xiaocheng, be careful of your uncle! Don't let him trick you! That guy owes tens of millions from gambling. He said he'd sell me his house for a cheap 1.3 million, but when I took possession, I found out he'd used it as collateral for a 2.5 million high-interest loan! That bastard Zhu Guangqing! Son of a bitch!"
"..." The last glimmer of hope in Chen Jincheng's heart died completely.
On his way over, he had called his uncle several times, but the fucking phone was always off.
...
「A day passed.」
As night fell, Chen Jincheng could only stand helplessly outside the Extreme Bar, holding the bar's acquisition contract.
His bastard of an uncle had skipped town, probably to live under a new identity and ditch his tens of millions in debt.
'Gambling really ruins people. If I had known he was a gambler, I never would have lent him the money. Trying to reason with a gambling degenerate is just idiotic.'
Shit!
The 2 million he had worked so hard to raise was gone, down the drain. For that money, he had even sold the original owner's house, which still had 20 years left on its mortgage.
Now, not only was the startup capital for Second-Life Star gone, but he was also saddled with several million in loans.
So, no matter what, he had no choice but to take over this bar. Maybe if he ran it well, he could still break even.
And the only good news was that if he could get the bar running properly, he could create an MCN vertical focused on bars.
He thought about the operations of some MCN companies from his past life. They would open their own nightclubs to attract high-quality girls, have them mass-produce videos, and then pick the most successful ones to become streamers. This was especially true for a few companies in Shanghai; they mastered this formula so well that it created a trend. A flood of girls from bars poured into the streaming industry, having a huge impact on the real economy.
Girls from that kind of environment were more uninhibited when they streamed. They had no mental blocks, learned quickly, and better understood what men wanted to see.
The ones who became popular could then be sent back to the bar from time to time to do influencer performances, creating buzz and attracting more girls, forming a virtuous cycle.
Gradually, it wouldn't just be nightclub girls being attracted. The bar would no longer be just a bar, and ordinary people wouldn't be able to get in anymore.
It was just that online promotion for bars and nightclubs was restricted, so people only saw the hordes of beautiful, long-legged women from MCNs without knowing where they came from.
That's why it wasn't surprising in his past life when a famous female influencer with tens of millions of fans had scandalous nightclub videos leaked.
There were even short clips of them from before they were famous circulating on certain websites!
The most classic example was the "parking lot girl" who gained 12 million followers in 7 days. She was a regular in the nightclub scene and left behind too many scandalous videos. After the dirt was exposed, her account was banned outright.
In his past life, he had followed countless long-legged influencers, many of whom didn't exist or hadn't become famous in this world.
So, as long as he had the girls, he could replicate that success.
The terrible part now was that his startup capital was gone.
Chen Jincheng entered the bar and saw girls in skimpy outfits rehearsing inside, but their condition made him frown. The quality was too poor.
This made him worry about the bar's situation.
You could tell how well a bar was doing just by looking at the attractiveness of the girls in skimpy outfits.
On the other hand, he saw Jiang Xiaobai at the DJ booth. Compared to his memory of the influencer DJ goddess from his past life who unabashedly showed off her figure in hip-hugging pants and a tube top, her current simple, one-shoulder top and long skirt made her seem inexperienced.
Moreover, she had a conspicuous concealer patch on her neck, covering up last night's hickeys.
Jiang Xiaobai also saw the massive scumbag. She couldn't help but purse her lips before looking down and continuing to fiddle with the DJ equipment.
...
After Chen Jincheng met with the bar's manager, Wang Yuan, he slapped the contract down and had him report on the bar's situation.
"Why has the attendance rate been so low lately?" Even though Chen Jincheng had already guessed the reason after seeing the quality of the girls outside, his heart still sank.
The Extreme Bar had 15 private rooms and 59 booths.
But for the last half a month, the bar had only been getting about 10 tables a day. The entire main hall was practically empty. No matter how loud the DJ was, it still felt desolate and lacked any atmosphere.
Wang Yuan had been informed by the former owner last night that the bar had been sold to his nephew, so he didn't dare hide anything. "The bar wasn't exactly booming before, but the attendance was decent. Then President Chu suddenly changed the girls' pay schedule from every 5 days to monthly. A new bar also happened to open nearby, so all the good-looking girls ran over there."
Chen Jincheng understood. Nightclub girls who drank themselves half to death just wanted to make quick cash. Their pay and commissions were usually settled every 5 or 10 days. To prove they had deep pockets and attract more resident girls, popular bars would generally pay out every 5 days, or even more frequently.
'Changing it to a fucking monthly payment... the girls aren't stupid. They knew something was up and definitely bailed. The ones who stayed are naturally the lower-quality ones.'
Wang Yuan continued his report. "Boss, there are two other situations I need to tell you about. First, President Chu withdrew most of the bar's liquid capital, so we can't last more than a few days. Second, Jingyuan Building sent a notice. If the bar can't restore the minimum 30% attendance requirement within a week, they will terminate our contract."
Hearing this, Chen Jincheng immediately cursed his uncle, Zhu Guangqing, to high heaven in his mind. The man was a goddamn death trap.
Commercial buildings with decent foot traffic usually lease space to entertainment venues like this to round out their own entertainment offerings. Because of this, they always include restrictive clauses. If business is bad, even if you don't want to leave, they'll use those clauses to kick you out and find a better partner.
Otherwise, people might think their building has no foot traffic!
'So, whether I go bankrupt from a completely broken capital chain or get kicked out by the building for low attendance, my 2 million is still going down the drain either way?'
For a moment, he was utterly exhausted.
Just as he was cursing his uncle again in his mind, a crisp, mechanical voice suddenly sounded in his head:
[Congratulations, the Life Simulation Game has successfully started... World anomaly detected. The game is undergoing related adjustments... Adjustments complete. Current world is a parallel world. Scanning your businesses... Your businesses are: Second Generation Star Media Company (under renovation), affiliated entertainment business: Extreme Bar on Feifuxing Road, Coastal City. The Life Simulation Game has selected and bound to this industry!]
[Congratulations, you have received a Newbie Gift Pack for the first launch!]
"???" Chen Jincheng stared blankly at the holographic screen that had appeared in his mind, and at the familiar game interface.
'A golden finger?'