The Vicious Female Supporting Character Must Die [Transmigration] GL - Chapter 6: Shipping Us?

Having climbed from the bottom as an extra in the entertainment industry, Lu Zhiyu had encountered more than her share of insincere gestures and pretense within the circle. She had also mastered a certain smoothness.

She suspected that the three vicious female supporting character in the game might be possessed by evil spirits, and Bai Xirou was one of the important targets. Even if she didn’t like being friends with an all-rounder like Bai Xirou, she should try to get close to her.

Lu Zhiyu also had her own little calculations. Since the plot hadn’t truly begun yet, establishing a friendly relationship with Bai Xirou might mean that this character wouldn’t pose a threat to her later on.

When Lu Yuan pushed open the dressing room door, Bai Xirou keenly noted Lu Zhiyu’s expression. This was her long-standing habit of observing people to make friends in a crowd. A person’s first reaction was always the hardest to conceal, and from that, she could analyze who to win over and who to be wary of.

The long-haired beauty’s brown eyebrows subtly furrowed as she stood up, and a flicker of disgust crossed her brown-purple eyes. It must have been an instinctive dislike for her.

Bai Xirou smiled nonchalantly, withdrawing her gaze. She stood quietly, her long legs together and her face well-behaved. She hadn’t intended to be friendly with Lu Zhiyu anyway, and she didn’t care what impression the other person had of her.

Leaving the waiting corridor, the two stood side-by-side on the backstage lift.

Lu Zhiyu turned her head to look at Bai Xirou beside her, her eyes subtly sparkling with a nuanced expression. The curve of her lips was slight, a polite, toothless smile. “Hello, I’m Lu Zhiyu. This time, we’re representing Prosperous Media together in the competition. I’m still new, so please take care of me in our future collaborations.”

Bai Xirou was surprised by the other’s friendliness. Her bright eyes blinked, and she gently smiled back. “Bai Xirou. Just call me Xiao Rou,. I saw you in a commercial a long time ago. It’s true that seeing is believing; you’re even prettier than on screen.”

Lu Zhiyu knew well that the female lead had only filmed one commercial, and it was a highly explicit, semi-nude shower scene. She couldn’t tell if Bai Xirou was complimenting or mocking her. Seeing that the lift was about to reach the stage, she maintained the curve of her lips and simply echoed, “Thank you for the compliment.”

Under the spotlight, Bai Xirou and Lu Zhiyu successively introduced themselves and engaged in Q&A with the host. Following that was a thirty-second performance to showcase their individual abilities.

Both answered calmly, clearly well-prepared. Many people were already seated in the contestant area. Lu Zhiyu’s gaze fell on the guest seats below. She vaguely remembered that Ruan Suhuai, one of the vicious female supporting character, was also invited and should be on the mentor’s panel.

“It’s your turn.”

An arm gently pinched her.

Lu Zhiyu snapped back to reality, seeing the host’s awkward smile and Bai Xirou, who had her arm half-raised and was pulling at her sleeve, posing like a good sister. She immediately understood, took a few steps forward, and began her thirty-second individual performance.

While Lu Zhiyu was improvising her performance, Bai Xirou critically observed her future opponent.

••••

During the brief talent showcase, Lu Zhiyu performed a sensual chair dance. Her eyes were cold and seductive, her waist subtly revealing a sliver of white skin as she twisted her hips. The upward curve and embracing lines of her short skirt showed off her full, perky buttocks. Her legs, resting on the chair, were straight and fair. Her shoulder and neck lines were graceful. As she smoothly swayed and rotated her chest, her posture was erect, her demeanor extraordinary, exuding a sharp, highly aggressive beauty.

This woman’s stage presence was very strong. Every angle of her stage movements captured by the camera was flawless. She likely had professional dance training and performance experience before.

Bai Xirou thought to herself. She then shifted her observation from the other’s figure to her appearance. Beads of sweat dotted her nose, which was delicate and elegantly shaped. Her profile was perfectly contoured, close to an oval face, with a subtle but not prominent widow’s peak on her chin. Her skin was excellent, a cool white that appeared soft under the warm lights. Her lips had a certain fullness, unlike the thin lips of internet celebrities, making them quite sensual. Her gaze then slid down her long neck, landing on her curving bust…

Bai Xirou inwardly clicked her tongue. She had always thought Mr. Du preferred big-chested beauties with prominent curves. Now, seeing Lu Zhiyu, who was comparatively flatter-chested, she revised her aesthetic assessment of Du Yueze.

To infiltrate Xinghuang Film Entertainment, Bai Xirou had connected with influential figures close to Mr. Du, but this was her first close encounter with his long-term mistress.

She had to admit, it was somewhat different from what she had imagined.

Half a minute quickly passed. Physical exertion had made Lu Zhiyu’s lips slightly pale. She bowed confidently to the audience below, then returned to her original position. She glanced at Bai Xirou, whose pure and kind smile hadn’t faded in the slightest. Instead, it carried a hint of humility and respect towards an industry senior from the same company.

Lu Zhiyu didn’t believe this expression was an affirmation of her. She was too lazy to guess the thoughts of this seemingly innocent beauty with such deep cunning. In any case, it probably wouldn’t be anything good.

The two exchanged glances for a few seconds. Bai Xirou then withdrew her gaze, a disdainful smile playing on her lips. She tossed a few strands of light brown curly hair draped over her collarbone and walked forward a few steps to stand in the spotlight.

She performed a relatively simple “otaku dance” (a type of casual, cute dance). Her eyes were tender, and her cheeks were slightly flushed with nervousness, making her appear delicate and adorable. Her body movements were very rhythmic, and the action of slightly lifting the corner of her shirt exuded both purity and seductiveness.

Lu Zhiyu watched silently from the side, inwardly commenting that this pure yet alluring demeanor she was seeing seemed to greatly attract heterosexual men. She remembered her first love, who used to follow girls who posted subtly suggestive photos like this.

Clack clack clack, the sound of heels scraping against the floor was strange, hollow and fragmented.

Lu Zhiyu had initially studied vocal music, so she was highly sensitive to sound, rhythm, and the flow of breath. Her attention was focused on Bai Xirou. A dancer’s breathing was usually even and strong, without sudden disruptions. She suddenly had a bad feeling. She looked up slightly. Within two steps of Bai Xirou, the stage lift was empty, posing a safety hazard.

Bai Xirou’s forehead was beaded with sweat, and her dark eyes instantly turned terrifyingly deep. The moment she took her first step in the dance, she realized someone had tampered with her high heels. She was just a small internet celebrity with only half a million followers. During the first live recording, she wouldn’t be given much attention or many camera angles. The production team wouldn’t stop recording due to her mistake. For exposure, she could only shift her weight, barely allowing the uncooperative shoes to last a few more seconds.

Crack, crack, crack. A few more cracking sounds. Bai Xirou’s high heel broke, her foot twisted, and her body involuntarily fell towards the stage lift, which was five meters above the ground.

The audience below had not yet reacted, maintaining a quiet silence. A few staff members backstage nervously shouted.

Thud…

A dull thud of heavy objects hitting the ground. Two slender figures lay on top of each other.

Lu Zhiyu lunged forward, desperately grabbing Bai Xirou’s arm as she was about to fall. Her own balance was lost, and she was hit in the waist by the woman coming towards her. Losing her footing, the side of her face scraped against the stage floor, a burning pain flaring up.

She had just touched her face when Bai Xirou’s head hit her chest, and the girl completely crashed onto her. The sudden heavy pressure made Lu Zhiyu grunt.

Staff members immediately rushed over. A few young people helped Bai Xirou up from the ground, while others asked Lu Zhiyu, who was covering her face on the ground, about her condition and helped her up.

••••

Due to the unforeseen incident, the show paused recording for five minutes. After testing the lift and confirming it was working correctly, the live recording resumed.

Lu Zhiyu had twisted her waist. She was helped by Lu Yuan to the lounge, still feeling a bit dazed.

Just now, when Bai Xirou had crashed into her, the Soul Judgment Bell seemed to have been triggered. A small line of text had also appeared before her eyes: Your Soul Judgment Bell’s custom trigger condition has been met. According to your settings, you need to have a close embrace with the target to perform the detection.

Lu Zhiyu’s mouth twitched. She recalled that when she first met Gu Yinshu in front of the Yin-Yang Station, she seemed to have unluckily bumped into her arms. At that time, this mission system had probably set up this mischievous condition.

[Soul Judgment Bell Detection: Target Bai Xirou is one of the evil soul fragments, but her evil soul has not yet awakened and formed, so it cannot be collected for now.]

Lu Zhiyu’s face showed a hint of doubt. Just as she suspected, Bai Xirou was indeed possessed by an evil soul. The Soul Judgment Bell system’s statement about it “not yet awakened and formed” likely meant that the game’s plot hadn’t begun yet, and the vicious female supporting character she was currently facing wasn’t truly evil; was she genuinely a cute “white lotus”?

A thought flashed in her mind. She connected this to Bai Xirou’s high heel suddenly breaking and the stage lift malfunctioning at that precise moment.

This was clearly a setup, and a rather ruthless one.

Lu Zhiyu’s mind took a turn. In the original “Super Star Era” talent show plot, she wasn’t present. So, this time, Bai Xirou must have been seriously injured. In the storyline where Lu Zhiyu didn’t exist, Bai Xirou might have even gone through a melodramatic arc of being a “white lotus” bullied into blackening, then successfully counterattacking.

The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Suddenly, a hand rested on her shoulder, and a touchscreen phone appeared before her eyes. The screen was replaying the thrilling scene on stage—the video of her reaching out to pull Bai Xirou up and the two of them tumbling together.

There were also some strange edited clips, such as Bai Xirou’s humble and admiring gaze towards her, her own unintentional subtle expressions of observation towards Bai Xirou, and their normal, innocent glances at each other while observing during their timed performances.

The video’s title was: #Love Discovered in a Sudden Incident! I’m shipping this sister duo from Prosperous Media!#

Scrolling further down, there was a heap of edited videos posted by individuals or media accounts.

Lu Zhiyu awkwardly watched the video, complaining about the strange thought processes of these video creators, who interpreted her and Bai Xirou’s perfectly normal glances and interactions as an unspeakable sisterly bond.

She instantly understood something. Her mind cleared, and she looked up at the woman holding the phone before her. She cut straight to the chase: “The video you showed me is too detailed; it couldn’t have been edited and hyped by the production team. You had your PR team release it, didn’t you? You want to bind our marketing and create a CP?”

Bai Xirou sat down beside Lu Zhiyu, her pure and pretty face exuding a naturally convincing aura. She spoke softly, “We can consider collaborating. Someone is targeting Prosperous Media this time. Because of my accidental mishap, our performance footage was deleted, leaving only our self-introduction and Q&A segments. An accident doesn’t necessarily ruin our popularity. Opportunity also needs to be prepared for in advance. If we create a reliable and sweet lily CP persona, it might even bring us double the exposure.”

Lu Zhiyu pondered for a moment, then, with a forced smile, gently pushed away Bai Xirou’s hand from her shoulder. She said, “You’re right. You and I truly have no way out now; we can only charge forward blindly. But you need to remember, CP fans are very fragile and can turn against you at any time. Don’t let your persona collapse and drag me down with you.”

Bai Xirou’s sweet smile vanished. She suddenly leaned closer, her face challenging as she raised her pretty light brown eyebrows provocatively towards Lu Zhiyu. “You’re not that stupid, and you don’t seem to harbor any heinous thoughts. You also don’t look like someone who would rely on ‘hidden rules’ to climb. So why would you become Du Yueze’s lover?”

Lu Zhiyu’s gaze lingered on the live broadcast in the lounge’s studio for a moment. She then turned to Bai Xirou and gave a disdainful smile, deliberately saying the opposite: “I just have the capital of being young and beautiful, and I have ability. Du Yueze is just testing me now. He promised to give me quality resources. I have looks, connections, and opportunities to appear on screen. I’ll only become more popular. Why not?”

Why should a pitiful female lead, rumored to be backed by an entertainment industry big shot, not only gain no help for her career but also ruin her reputation and be tormented so badly by a psychopath? At the very least, she should gain some verbal advantage, otherwise she’d lose everything, even her panties.

Bai Xirou had received specialized training and was prepared to land on her buttocks, using knee pads to absorb the impact, sustaining at most superficial injuries. However, Lu Zhiyu’s sudden intervention surprised her.

Unintentional actions sometimes lead to unexpected success. Both of them suffered from this accident, but the videos appearing online actually benefited them by increasing their traffic. With proper hype, the production team would also give them more screen time.

Bai Xirou thought to herself, listening to Lu Zhiyu’s confident words, feeling a slight envy. Comparisons were indeed infuriating; their starting points were inherently different. She wanted to enter the upper echelons of Xinghuang Film Entertainment, and this “Super Star Era” talent show was exceptionally important. She had to break into the top five and gain Du Yueze’s attention.

Du Yueze.

At the mention of that name, Bai Xirou’s fingers dug tightly into her palms, her smile involuntarily becoming somewhat chilling.

Infiltrating Xinghuang Film Entertainment Group—that was her goal for entering the entertainment industry.