Chapter 67: An Overnight Sensation!

The next morning.

The sun had barely begun to rise.

Garen was still deep in sleep when his phone erupted in a frenzied ring, jolting him awake. Squinting, he fumbled across the bedside table, found his phone, and answered without even glancing at the caller ID. “Hello? Who’s this?”

“Hello, is this Mr. Garen?” a male voice inquired.

“Yes, that’s me. Who’s this?”

“I’m a reporter from the New Beijing Times. My name is—”

“What’s this about?” As soon as he realized it was a reporter, Garen yawned and got straight to the point.

The reporter didn’t seem to mind at all. He laughed heartily, “Sorry, Mr. Garen, I must have disturbed your rest! I’ll keep it short. Our paper would like to do an exclusive interview with you. When would you be available?”

“Talk to my manager,” Garen replied, giving Wu Chaoyang’s number. “Just call him and arrange it.”

“Uh, all right…”

He hung up. Barely a few minutes later, when he was just drifting off again, another call came through. This time, Garen glanced at the screen, saw an unfamiliar number, and declined the call without hesitation.

But the caller didn’t give up. After a few more minutes, the phone rang again.

Growing impatient, Garen simply turned off his phone, pulled the covers over his head, and went back to sleep.

Who knows how much time had passed. Only when hunger finally roused him did he throw off the blanket and get up. Rubbing his disheveled hair, he walked out of the bedroom, switched on the television for a bit of background noise, and headed for the bathroom to wash up.

Halfway through brushing his teeth, he heard the news anchor on TV:

“Last night, newcomer Garen took the stage on the live challenge round of ‘Dream Starlight Show.’ Until now, all seven previous challengers had failed, but Garen broke the streak and claimed victory with the highest vote count in the show’s history…”

“Hah! So I broke another record,” Garen said to himself with a smug grin. After freshening up, he made himself some instant noodles with a sausage, then strolled back to his room, eating as he turned on his computer.

If those reporters ever found out that today’s hottest star in the country, gracing every front page, was at home eating instant noodles, it would be a headline in itself.

He glanced at the news as the computer booted up.

Sure enough, Garen’s name was everywhere—in trending pop-ups, on the main pages of every site. Every article he clicked on was about his performance in last night’s challenge round.

Some reports delved into his background, spinning rather ordinary details into dramatic stories. Someone dug up his past as a bar singer, others revealed his friendships with several former contestants from Starlight Show, including Wen Tao and Aya, and some even claimed that Garen’s earlier spat with the show’s first champion, Sparrow Legend, was all just a setup leading to his appearance last night.

For every word of praise, there was criticism. With so much controversy right at the start of his career, and so much drama involving Starlight Show alumni, rumors were already spreading that something fishy was going on behind the scenes.

Garen just laughed it all off.

He closed the news pages and opened Qichuang Net, navigating to the page for “Ghost Blows Out the Light.”

The page looked completely different now. The book had a new cover, a redesigned blurb, and the latest chapters were being released as VIP content. The prominent “first release” and VIP tags made it clear the novel was now officially launched.

Garen logged into Weibo and posted the link to “Ghost Blows Out the Light,” writing: “I’ve been busy lately and haven’t promoted my own book. ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’ is now fattened up! Come and feast!”

As soon as he posted, the internet erupted.

“What? Garen the author of ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’ is the same Garen who’s a singer?”

“My God! That’s unbelievable!”

“He writes books too? That’s honestly kind of terrifying…”

“He’s posted his own poetry on Weibo before—why is writing a book so surprising?”

“Not surprised? This isn’t a book of poems. Go read ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’ before you comment!”

“No way! I don’t believe it!”

“This Garen is so unfocused. Why write books when he can sing?”

“As a fan of ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light,’ I can’t accept this!”

“He’s going to be huge!”

“No wonder the author stopped making appearances—so that’s why…”

…

After last night’s performance, Garen’s fame was already sky-high. This Weibo post was like pouring oil on the fire, igniting a frenzy in both the entertainment and literary circles.

The news blazed across the internet, and the media scrambled to report on the sensation. Ever since last night, every move Garen made was under a microscope, and now, with this bombshell, every outlet was clamoring to cover him.

On forums and message boards, threads titled “The True Identity of the Author of ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’” popped up like mushrooms after the rain. The novel’s fan forum was in an uproar, the news spreading rapidly amid heated debate.

Even Garen’s personal forum, previously managed by his company and officially verified, saw a massive spike in followers after the Starlight Show challenge. Now, with the Weibo post, fans flooded in like a tidal wave.

Post volume multiplied, the forums bursting with activity. The moderators, though prepared, were quickly overwhelmed by the onslaught of enthusiastic fans.

The three main admins, all employees of Yida Talent and Cultural Agency, wasted no time. As soon as things got out of hand, they contacted Wu Chaoyang for instructions.

When Wu Chaoyang got the call, he was momentarily stunned. He couldn’t help but feel frustrated—he’d forgotten to remind Garen to keep his author identity secret until the print edition launched, which was supposed to be the big reveal. Now it was out in the open, and their whole PR plan had to be redone.

Immediately, Wu Chaoyang called Garen.

The phone rang.

Since so many reporters had been calling that morning, Garen had installed a filter so that only contacts saved in his phone could get through.

When he saw Wu Chaoyang’s name, he answered right away, hoping for help. “Hey, Wu! You have to do something! My phone’s about to explode from all the reporters. What should I do?”

“We’ll deal with that later,” Wu Chaoyang replied. “But seriously, how could you just casually reveal you’re the author of ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’?”

“Uh… Why, is that a problem?” Garen asked, puzzled.

“I forgot to remind you—our company had a plan. We were going to reveal your identity when the physical book launched to build up hype. But now… Ah, forget it!”

“Heh, Wu, you can’t blame me for that!” Garen chuckled. “Next time, fill me in on the plan first. I just wanted to use the momentum from last night’s show to promote the book—no idea it’d blow up like this!”

“Never mind, it’s my oversight,” Wu Chaoyang sighed. “By the way, you’d better stay home today. I’ll have Mai Le bring you some things.”

“Okay, got it!” Garen could guess what those things were—sunglasses and face masks, most likely.

After hanging up, Garen pulled a suitcase from under his bed, entered the code, and opened it, retrieving his precious secondhand laptop. Inside the suitcase were several external hard drives—his treasures, just in case his laptop ever completely failed to load certain pages.

He booted up the laptop and tried a few websites. As expected, more of them had gone 404—only a handful of forums and small sites remained, and even Weibo from the other world was unreachable. Luckily, the major portals and important sites still worked, especially the search engines and download tools.

With Chen Yingying around lately, he hadn’t been able to do much downloading, but now he could finally resume. Garen dove right in.

Mai Le arrived just before noon.

Seeing the two large bags he brought, Garen couldn’t help but ask, “What’s all this?”

He rummaged through the bags as he spoke. Besides the expected sunglasses, face masks, and hats, there was also a huge pile of snacks, drinks, and instant foods.

“Wu said you should just stay home for a few days. If there’s work, I’ll come get you. For now, absolutely don’t go out—reporters are waiting outside!”

“What?” Garen was stunned. “Reporters are outside my place?”

“Of course!” Mai Le replied. “Honestly, you should just move. This place is blown. It’s not safe to stay here anymore.”

Garen was a bit reluctant to leave his longtime home, but he had to agree—staying was no longer safe. “Keep an eye out for a new place for me, would you? If you find a good one, I’ll move.”

“No problem, leave it to me!” Mai Le grinned. “All right, just stay put! My mission here is done.”

After he left, Garen walked out onto the balcony and surveyed the surroundings. There were indeed a lot more unfamiliar faces hanging around in the courtyard—trying to look inconspicuous, but their behavior was highly suspicious.

From now on, he’d have to be careful—even opening the door would be risky.

Just as he was sighing, his phone rang.

It was Liu Nan.

“Hey, Nan!” Garen answered.

“Hey, Garen! Where are you?” Liu Nan’s hearty laugh came through the line.

“At home,” Garen replied.

“Oh! Want to come out for a drink? I’m here with your sister Weiwei.”

“I probably can’t get out,” Garen replied with a wry smile. “My whole neighborhood’s crawling with reporters, all waiting to snap a photo of me.”

“Ha! That’s a good thing! Means you’re famous now!” Liu Nan laughed. “You’ve exploded overnight! The whole country knows who you are. I haven’t even congratulated you yet.”

“Come on, I’m nothing compared to you,” Garen said modestly.

“All right, enough with the humility,” Liu Nan said. “By the way, how’s that song coming along? Not rushing you, just checking in.”

“It’s ready. I’ll send you the demo by email in a bit.”

“Great! I’ll have my assistant get the contract ready. This afternoon, you and your manager can sign the agreement. Just let Old Wu know in advance.”

“No problem…”