Chapter 10: Hearing the Pain in Your Breath, Hearing the Wildness in Your Heart

At this moment, Su Mu quietly studied the blind box categories that had appeared before his eyes.

They were divided into six main types: missions, works, talents, skills, items, and attributes.

Just from the names, it was easy to deduce what kind of rewards each type of blind box might contain.

However, he currently only had 1.0 skill point.

That meant he could only choose one blind box, and he needed to be cautious with his choice.

It would be best to pick something that could help him with the work or life problems he currently faced.

The sharpest steel should be used at the blade’s edge.

Right now, his most important goal was nothing more than landing a significant role in Director Zhang’s new drama and performing well in it.

Ultimately, he hoped this drama would reverse the downward trajectory of his soon-to-be-dimming career.

At present, what he needed most was probably acting ability.

But the category of acting was vast, and he knew a single blind box would never be enough to grant him mastery.

Although his acting skills were lacking, he still understood the basics.

Emotional expression, observation, mimicry, physicality, facial control—these were all just parts of the broader tapestry of acting that required separate mastery.

So the talent blind box would probably grant some specialized improvement in one particular aspect.

If luck was on his side, perhaps he’d obtain “proficiency in emotional expression.”

That way, he wouldn’t be a wooden performer anymore, always able to express joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness on cue, and even cry without needing eye drops.

But for professionally trained actors, these were the most basic skills.

Just being able to cry wouldn’t be enough to secure a role from a director like Zhang.

As for the other categories—works, skills, items, attributes—they were even less relevant.

Blind boxes were random; even if he drew a complete manuscript of “Battle Through the Heavens,” at most he’d embark on a web novelist’s path, which had nothing to do with his current goal.

A distant spring won’t quench the fire at your doorstep.

The attribute blind box wouldn’t be much help either.

Currently, he had four main attributes: strength, speed, endurance, and cognitive power.

But even if he gained another basic attribute, it wouldn’t really improve his acting or make any meaningful difference.

So, after going over everything in his mind...

He could only take an unconventional approach, circumvent the problem, and play a little dirty.

Su Mu finally set his sights on the mission-type blind box.

As the old saying goes: where there is a mission, there is a reward.

And most missions are designed around the protagonist’s current circumstances.

That was just how things worked.

So, if he picked a mission blind box, perhaps the task would revolve around his upcoming audition for Director Zhang.

At this point, he might as well give it a try; maybe there was some loophole he could exploit.

[Prompt: Do you wish to use 1.0 skill point to purchase a blind box?]

Su Mu: “Yes!”

[Prompt: Please select a blind box category.]

Su Mu: “Mission.”

[Prompt: The mission blind box will generate a mission based on your current circumstances.]

[Mission Blind Box: *1]

[Open the box?]

“Open!”

[Unpacking mission blind box…]

[Mission: Within twenty-four hours, release the song “Listen,” the short video BGM from the previous life’s “Frenzy,” and get three well-known artists to successfully repost it.

Completion rewards:

[Talent Blind Box *1]
[Item Blind Box *1]
[Skill Points +2.0]
End.]

Su Mu: “?!”

Staring at the task displayed before him, Su Mu was utterly baffled.

Firstly, just as he had expected, the mission drawn from the blind box was indeed closely tied to his real-life goals.

But the difficulty level was unexpectedly high.

He had to release a single within twenty-four hours.

Even though he didn’t have to write the song himself—it already existed in his previous world—the process of releasing a single was far from simple.

After all, he would be singing it himself. While he wasn’t tone-deaf, recording something up to release standards would take a lot of time and attention to detail.

It wasn’t as though Su Mu had never released a single before.

Qian Jida had crafted his public persona as a multi-talented, top-tier idol.

He recalled that last year, under the company’s arrangements, he had sung a few songs.

They even brought in top industry producers to coach him, and with effort, he managed to pass muster on a few tracks.

But now, he had to get it done in twenty-four hours—less time than it took to record even a throwaway pop song back then.

He checked the time.

It was noon.

Which meant that by this time tomorrow, the song had to be released and three top-tier celebrities had to help repost it for the mission to count as complete.

With such a tight deadline, never mind finding people to help repost it—just booking a recording studio would be tough enough.

Su Mu was filled with helplessness.

But when he looked at the rewards for the mission, he couldn’t help but feel tempted.

Two blind boxes plus 2.0 skill points—that was a fortune.

After all, just to earn a single skill point previously, he’d nearly worked himself to death.

And if he completed this mission, it might yield even more benefits.

He couldn’t just discard such a hard-earned mission blind box without even trying.

He had to do his best to complete it.

Having made up his mind, Su Mu straightened his posture, preparing to challenge himself by trying to release this single within twenty-four hours.

As he mulled it over, Su Mu quickly grabbed a pen and began jotting down the mission’s challenges and the steps he would need to take.

First, he needed Qian Jida to pull some strings and find a music producer, and then, if need be, rent a recording studio, even if it cost money.

Second, he didn’t have the sheet music for the short video BGM from the previous life’s “Frenzy.”

So after finding a music producer, he’d have to get the song transcribed.

He remembered the song was hugely popular back then; every day, short videos featured that BGM.

Fortunately, Su Mu not only remembered the song but could even sing it.

So even if his musical training was lacking, as long as he got a brilliant producer, a few renditions should be enough for them to reconstruct the piece.

Thinking this, Su Mu began humming “Listen” softly.

Relying on his memory, he quickly wrote down the lyrics:

May the noisy world forget us,
Let me hear the pain in your breath,
Let me hear the wildness in your heartbeat,
Let me feel the warmth of your embrace spreading over the hills.
Who grinds red beans into delicate fragrance,
So longing overflows through the cracks, becoming a river,
A fleeting beauty softens the years at first sound,
Let me see the light in your eyes,
Let me feel love burning at my ear,
Let me hear us, standing on opposite sides of the heart’s wall,
Till the end of time…

At this moment,

Qian Jida and Fan Xiaojv stared blankly at Su Mu, who was scribbling away with intense focus, worry clouding their faces.

Xiaojv: “Boss Qian, is something wrong with Su Mu? What’s he doing?”

Qian Jida: “Rewriting the script?”

Xiaojv: “Doesn’t look like it. He hasn’t even opened the script.”

Qian Jida: “That’s odd. Aside from signing autographs, I can’t recall ever seeing him write anything. Maybe he’s keeping a diary?”

Xiaojv: “But who keeps a diary these days?”

Qian Jida: “Is Su Mu… a normal person?”

Xiaojv fell silent.

That, she really wasn’t so sure about…