I Became an All-round Artist

In Lin Yuan's final days at Qi Yi, he finally experienced some long-lost peace and leisure. If there was anything that bothered him, it was probably the constant calls from companies and headhunters, all trying to recruit him.

Just like before, Lin Yuan turned them all down.

The calls kept coming, though, even into mid-January. This persistence only highlighted how fierce the competition had become in various industries.

In reality, after more than a month of this corporate tug-of-war, most industries had already determined their new directions for growth. As companies solidified their plans for transformation, the news was filled with shocking headlines:

· “Shining Silver rebrands as Shining Entertainment, officially entering the film industry!”

· “Qi Province’s award-winning actress Tao Ran terminates her contract and joins Shining Entertainment!”

· “Seven Stars Entertainment pays a hefty penalty fee to sign a top-tier songwriter from Sha Hai!”

· “Xingmang and Sha Hai, following Shining Entertainment, both announce their shifts into film production!”

· “Xingmang sues Thunder Entertainment for poaching talent and inciting unfair competition!”

· “A renowned director goes independent, starting a new studio, with potential collaboration with Sha Hai!”

· “Qi Province’s major VFX companies sign contracts with Qin Province firms.”

· “Multiple large investors move into the entertainment industry, signaling the rise of a new entertainment giant!”

At first, people across Qi and Qin Provinces were astonished by these developments. Any one of these headlines would have been explosive news on its own! But after a while, with major announcements happening daily, the public became somewhat numb to it all.

For instance, news of famous actors, singers, or even legendary songwriters switching companies was met with a calm, almost indifferent attitude:

· “Just more talent poaching, huh?”

· “Today you steal my top songwriter; tomorrow I’ll snatch your lead actor.”

· “Seems like the major companies are pretty evenly matched now.”

· “The real market battles are about to start.”

· “Some big directors are already setting up new projects, probably aiming to get ahead.”

Lin Yuan didn’t pay much attention to this news, but his friend Jian Yi was all over it, spending his free time online, diving deep into every story. Occasionally, he’d share his thoughts with Lin Yuan, confidently analyzing the situation.

He was even knowledgeable about the finer points of policy:

· “Starting today, all provinces are getting renamed. Ours is now called Qin Province, and Qi Province will be Qi Province.”

· “Even though Qin and Qi Provinces are merging, Qin Province will hold a higher status because it’s closer to Central Province and has a richer history and cultural influence. Didn’t you say you bought a villa? You hit the jackpot! Property prices in Qin Province’s core cities are skyrocketing—some neighborhoods have already doubled or tripled in value. I think Central Province is going to step in soon.”

· “It won’t be long before Qi Province’s big companies move their headquarters to Qin Province.”

· “Once the other provinces join, Qin Province’s status will rise even further. The entire policy seems centered around Qin Province.”

Lin Yuan was happy to hear this. He hadn’t expected his villa’s value to shoot up so quickly. But then he realized he wasn’t planning to sell the villa, so whether the price rose or not didn’t make much difference to him.

However, what excited Lin Yuan even more was the fact that his system had finally completed its upgrade!

That night, Lin Yuan eagerly summoned the newly upgraded system, full of curiosity. "Can I make bombs now?" he asked.

The system was silent.

“How about Optimus Prime?” he continued.

“...Try something more reasonable,” the system replied.

Lin Yuan was a bit disappointed. “So what did you upgrade?”

“The film production function is now fully operational,” the system said. “You can now obtain film script treasure chests, and I’ve also added director and screenwriting tutorials, along with special tools and mission templates.”

“Tools?” Lin Yuan was intrigued.

“You can purchase various tools in the system store. Would you like to check it out?”

“Sure,” Lin Yuan agreed. With a thought, he opened the system store and browsed through a variety of flashy tools. One tool, called [Star Fragment], allowed the user to temporarily gain the acting skills of a famous comedian from Earth. Another, [Search Fragment], had a similar effect. Then there was [Far Fragment], which gave the user the ability to direct like a renowned filmmaker for a short period.

The tools were quite magical, though none of them were cheap.

After browsing for a while, the system suddenly alerted Lin Yuan: “Congratulations, you’ve received an upgrade gift—a Silver Treasure Chest. Inside is a script, but you’ll need to complete a task to obtain it.”

“What task?”

“You must, as the screenwriter, produce the script into a movie. No budget limit.”

“Got it,” Lin Yuan accepted without hesitation. He planned to talk to Xingmang about adopting his script. “What genre is the script?”

“Random,” the system replied, as unpredictable as ever.

“And where’s the chest?” Lin Yuan asked.

“The chest will be available when you return to Qin Province.”

The system kept up with the times, already calling it Qin Province now that the name change had just been made official.

Lin Yuan didn’t spend more time exploring the system. It was time for bed.

The next day, Lin Yuan went to school for the last time. After today, Qi Yi would be syncing up with Qin Yi’s schedule for winter break.

Qi Yi showed a lot of care for its students, holding farewell parties for the exchange students, including Lin Yuan’s class. Although he didn’t stand out, he attended the party, graciously accepting the farewell gifts from his classmates and expressing his gratitude to each of them.

Gu Xi also gave Lin Yuan a gift. She wasn’t an exchange student, so she would continue her studies at Qin Yi next semester. After handing him the gift, Gu Xi didn’t leave right away. Forcing a smile, she said, “You can open it, Lin.”

Lin Yuan complied and opened the box, revealing a familiar-looking planet model, though this time the material seemed different.

“It’s made of candy,” Gu Xi said, perking up a bit. “The center is filled with egg yolk.”

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