Chapter Six: The Secret Mission

Zhou Miao, having avenged his humiliation, was quite pleased with himself. For a man, the dignity lost must be reclaimed by his own hand!

“Do you think this counts as mistreating the dog?” Wang Jiang, after his initial excitement, began to feel uneasy. He worried that, once the show aired, a swarm of animal lovers would come after him.

“How could this be called mistreatment? We’re simply teaching it a lesson,” Zhou Miao replied with a grave expression. “You see, it just happened to run into us, who are pretty easygoing. It chased us and tried to bite, but we didn’t take it personally. But if it ever meets someone tougher, it might not end so well—it could end up skinned and cooked.”

Zhou Miao wrapped his arm around Wang Jiang’s shoulder. “We’re rescuing a rural stray dog on the wrong path, just like in Transformation Project. We’ve just given it a harsh lesson. If it were a person, it would be kneeling to thank us, you know?”

“Really? Is that so?” Wang Jiang asked, still unsure, feeling something was off.

“Hurry up, you two! I’m starving,” Li Feifei called from ahead.

After lunch, Zhou Miao, full of soup, went off to find a place to relieve himself. No sooner had he finished than, turning around, he saw the director standing right behind him, giving him a fright—the camera was still rolling.

“You film even this?” Zhou Miao asked, bewildered.

The director, with a mysterious look, handed him a sheet of paper. “Take a look at this.”

“What’s this? A script?” Zhou Miao took it curiously, only to see four large characters written across the top.

“Secret Mission?” Zhou Miao read on.

“Secret Mission: In the coming days, you are to help Li Feifei resolve her issues, correct her aesthetic sense, and transform her from a ‘non-mainstream’ style back to a normal girl.”

Zhou Miao frowned. “Isn’t this the show’s job? Why push it onto me?”

The director coughed. “Completing this secret mission comes with a special reward.”

“What reward?”

“You’ve always thought appearing on Transformation Project was humiliating, right? If you complete the mission, I’ll allow you to end your experience early.”

Zhou Miao’s eyes lit up. “I can leave as soon as the mission’s done?”

“Immediately,” the director confirmed.

“Deal! Just watch me.” Zhou Miao accepted the task.

Meanwhile, Wang Jiang and Li Feifei received their own missions from the staff.

“Secret Mission?” Li Feifei curled her lip. What tricks are they up to now?

“Secret Mission: In the coming days, you must help Wang Jiang reform and bid farewell to school violence.”

“Reward: a new MK handbag?” Li Feifei’s eyes sparkled instantly.

Wang Jiang looked at the staff doubtfully. “Are you serious? You want me to do this? I really can’t help him.”

“Secret Mission: In the coming days, you must help Zhou Miao face reality and shift his focus from music to academics.”

“Reward: a seven-day trip for two to Sanya?”

Wang Jiang gritted his teeth. “Alright, I’ll do it!”

“If you need anything to complete your mission, you can ask the show team for help,” the staff replied with a knowing smile.

When the three gathered again, the atmosphere had changed.

Zhou Miao plopped down beside Li Feifei, fishing for conversation. “Uh, Feifei, have you ever noticed your current hairstyle actually suits you better?”

Li Feifei shot him a glare. “Mind your own business!”

She then got up and sat next to Wang Jiang, probing, “Fatty, have you thought about how the school will see us once the show airs?”

Wang Jiang was caught off guard. “Ah, we’ll deal with that when the time comes.”

His mind was entirely on Zhou Miao; he wasn’t concerned about anything else.

He squeezed in next to Zhou Miao. “Hey, Miao, I heard your dream is to become a celebrity, right?”

Zhou Miao frowned. Why was he suddenly asking this? Something felt off...

He glanced at Wang Jiang, then at Li Feifei, and suddenly understood. Of course! The show had created an ecological loop among them, letting them tackle each other’s issues.

“You two got missions as well?” Zhou Miao laid his cards on the table.

Wang Jiang and Li Feifei’s eyes widened in surprise. “So you did too?”

Even if they were slow, they now realized they’d all fallen into the show’s trap.

Yet, even knowing it was a setup, the rewards were too tempting to refuse.

Zhou Miao considered and proposed, “Since it’s like this, let’s set a rule: whoever helps whom, we all cooperate, no hiding, no avoiding—agreed?”

Wang Jiang and Li Feifei nodded in agreement.

Zhou Miao continued, “Also, things need to be handled one at a time. We can’t all solve our issues at once; we’ll need to decide the order.”

“I don’t know what rewards the show promised the two of you. They told me if I help Feifei, I can go home early. But if I leave first, the one responsible for my mission won’t finish theirs. So my mission can be last. Which of you wants to go first?”

Wang Jiang and Li Feifei exchanged a look. The missions had come so suddenly, they hadn’t really thought it through. After all, they were still confused kids themselves—how could they guide others?

“Let’s just talk it out. If you have any questions, ask. Whoever has an idea can start,” Zhou Miao suggested.

After some hesitation, Wang Jiang asked, “Miao, is your dream really to be a celebrity?”

Zhou Miao shook his head. “A singer, not a celebrity. There’s a difference.”

“What’s the difference? Isn’t it all the same?”

Zhou Miao relaxed, leaning back against the wall. “Celebrity is a broad term—famous actors, singers, or hosts, all count. But a singer is someone dedicated to music, just as an actor is dedicated to acting.”

“It’s just that the line between actors and singers has blurred. Actors release albums, singers often act. Maybe ‘idol artist’ fits better. But I’m not interested in anything else—music is all I want.”

Wang Jiang nodded, half understanding. “But the competition is fierce. For people like us, it’s really hard to make it big.”

Zhou Miao smiled. “Fame doesn’t matter. Making music is its own pleasure, as long as I don’t starve. I’ve learned piano since four, then guitar, and all kinds of instruments. If I don’t pursue this path, I wouldn’t know what else to do.”

In his previous life, plagued by illness, Zhou Miao had drifted through more than twenty years without goals or dreams, living merely for the sake of living.

He never dated, nor formed close friendships. As his last breaths faded, a question echoed in his mind: what had he accomplished in this life?

The answer: nothing.

He was like someone who had never existed, never done anything worth remembering. Aside from his parents, no one had ever remembered him.

So, rather than saying his dream was to be a singer, it was more accurate to say he wanted to be a dog marking its territory everywhere. Whether liked or hated, he wanted to leave his mark on this world.