Gu Xingyi had left the house. Ever since he woke up from the hospital, he couldn't even understand what was happening to himself.

He had always lived alone like this, so why did everything feel so empty now? It felt like he had forgotten something—yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember what.

All he knew was that this feeling hurt. It was as if, the moment he opened his eyes, a piece of his heart had gone missing.

His subconscious pushed him to search—follow this feeling in his chest and search for… something, some emotion whose source he didn't even know.

The late October night wind was bitterly cold.

Gu Xingyi sat outside a convenience store. He had bought a bottle of liquor, hoping it might warm him up.

But the moment he twisted off the cap, the sharp smell of alcohol hit his nose and made him nauseous.

Frowning, Gu Xingyi instinctively rubbed his nose. For some reason, just looking at the bottle filled him with disgust.

In the end, he couldn't bring himself to drink it. He capped the bottle in distaste and set it aside.

"Meow~ Meow~"

A stray cat appeared from who knows where and caught Gu Xingyi's attention. It was pawing at the convenience store's glass door, meowing nonstop.

The cashier little jiejie behind the counter seemed used to this. She stood up naturally, grabbed some food, walked to the door, and crouched down to feed the cat. The stray licked her hand, picked up the food in its mouth, and left.

The cashier little jiejie stood up, watching the cat disappear into the distance, her eyes full of pity.

"If you like it, why not take it home and raise it?"

Seeing this scene, Gu Xingyi couldn't help but speak up.

The little jiejie blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected the strange uncle who bought a bottle of liquor and didn't drink it to suddenly talk. She looked toward the direction the cat had vanished, sighed, and explained to Gu Xingyi:

"I don't have the means to raise it right now. And before I have the ability to care for it, I won't take it home."

"Uncle, haven't you heard this saying before? If you can't stay by her side forever, then don't treat her too well. Because compared to before, someone who has been loved and then abandoned will fall into despair."

Gu Xingyi, who had just been called uncle, fell silent. Her words made something in his chest ache once more.

This was the tenth day since he had left home—and now, it felt like he finally knew where he needed to go.

...

You can't keep the truth hidden for long. On the third day after Gu Xingyi's coma and hospitalization, news of his car accident spread everywhere.

The internet exploded. Media outlets rushed in like sharks smelling blood, and shocking, clickbait headlines plastered every major platform.

Netizens couldn't believe it. They had waited so long for news—and what they got was this nightmare.

No one could wrap their heads around it. This man who had just started to rise, who single-handedly shook the entire music industry—had collapsed just like that?

They didn't want to believe it, but the truth left them speechless.

Official reports came out confirming the incident. They detailed the cause of the accident: a woman driven by personal grudges had orchestrated it. Gu Xingyi was currently in a coma and hadn't woken up.

Hearts clenched across the internet. People flooded Xia Xiyao's Weibo account, leaving messages of comfort and support.

   "Xia Xiyao! Stay strong! We're all rooting for you! We believe Gu Xingyi will wake up!"

   "This is straight-up attempted murder! Damn that vicious woman! She needs to be charged with homicide!"

   "When I first saw the news, I didn't want to believe it. But once I confirmed it was true, I went silent. There's nothing I can do—except pray. This man… what he's given us in this short time, the joy and the emotion—no one else in the entertainment industry could ever replace that."

   "I thought I was witnessing a new era for entertainment… but now… sigh."

The more heartbroken the netizens were, the more delighted Tianmei Entertainment and all the other entertainment companies—big and small—became!

They wished Gu Xingyi would just stay in a coma and never wake up again.

Even Liu Gao let out a sigh of relief. To be honest, the pressure Gu Xingyi had brought him was immense—far greater than anything he'd experienced from any person or company before.

Other people or companies might still discuss profit and compromise, but not Gu Xingyi. He never played by the rules—he was an anomaly! And the worst part? This anomaly was insanely talented!

At the end of October, the Hua Country New Song Awards Ceremony was held as scheduled, but no one was really in the mood to pay attention.

Because the recipient of the Best New Song Award and Best Songwriter Award—never showed up.

Time is the most heartless thing. The entertainment industry quickly returned to its usual calm. The man who had once dazzled everyone like a shooting star… vanished without a trace.

After October, the winds began to shift once again.

The entertainment industry was now preparing for the biggest annual show—Hua Country's Strongest Voice!

Hua Country's Strongest Voice was a showdown-style music competition. Supervised entirely by Huayin, it invited entertainment companies from across Hua country to compete. It was also used as a benchmark to evaluate a company's overall strength.

The reason the "Three Giants" remained at the top every year was because they always dominated the top three spots in Hua Country's Strongest Voice.

The rules of the show were simple: the competition venue had three stages running simultaneously. The Three Giants each sent a singer to defend a stage. Any other company could send a challenger. If the challenger won, they'd take over the stage and earn 1 point. If they lost, they got 0. The current holder stayed on and continued defending.

As for the judging—also straightforward. The entire process was determined solely by audience votes. No coaches involved.

Huayin would monitor real-time data. Viewers had to register with real names, accumulate watch time, and manually complete in-app check-ins to be eligible to vote—this completely blocked any vote manipulation.

This time of year was usually the highlight of the entertainment calendar. But this year… the mere thought of the competition made people sigh.

Everyone kept wondering—if that man were still here, how grand would Hua Country's Strongest Voice be this year? None of them even knew if Xingyao Entertainment would participate at all.

Jiangcheng.

In the hospital, Chen Feng sat alone at Gu Xingyi's bedside, holding his hand tightly, speaking to him in a low voice.

"Lao Gu… if you're a man, then hurry up and wake up already! I sent saozi back home. She's been guarding you day and night, and she's gotten so thin from all of this."

"Xiao Nainai still doesn't know what happened—we're hiding it from her. But that kid's way too smart. Just the other day, I saw her hugging the doll you gave her, wiping her tears again and again."

Chen Feng kept talking to the unconscious Gu Xingyi, his voice gradually becoming choked with emotion.

Lately, other than Xingyao Animation still operating normally, Xingyao Entertainment had completely shut down. Gu Xingyi had been like the soul of the company. Now that the soul was gone, it was as if everything had hit pause.

Xia Xiyao picked up Xiao Nainai from kindergarten and returned home. The house hadn't changed—it was still small—but in her eyes now, it felt unbearably empty.

She didn't even dare to look into Xiao Nainai's eyes. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to stop herself from crying.

Xiao Nainai clung to her mama's leg, looking up at Xia Xiyao's averted face. Her little head drooped, and her lips pouted—because she knew, mama was sad.

But she didn't know where papa had gone. She really wanted to ask mama… had papa abandoned them?

But she didn't dare to ask. All she could do was behave even more obediently, hoping that when papa came back one day, he would see that his daughter had been a very good girl.