When Wu Xiaoming awoke on his bed. He checked his Inventory panel again - the first time he found out he could do it in real life, he almost suspected if he was in any kind of dream within dreams. But everything in this world just felt so real, he really did not want to try and die here.
Current currencies: 1780 Spirit Fragments, 42 Vision Slivers. The Enchanted Short Staff was broken so it disappeared in his equipment slot.
After some quick math, it appeared that the penalty of death was 20% of his current Spirit Fragment amount, plus an additional 50 times his current level. And if he exited the dream without dying, the cost would simply be 50 times his current level.
He checked the phone placed beside him - he tried recording himself before going asleep to see what would happen to him when he went into the ethereal realm. As it turned out, aside from his facial expression changing and his body squirming, not that different from a regular person's sleep movements, nothing else stood out. There was, however, a strange fog-like effect around him, the cause of which he was not sure about.
He took a few deep breaths before sitting straight and letting his feet touch the floor - he had to be careful because when he was still in the hospital, his physical state led to him experiencing intense dizziness and muscle weakness after waking up from sleep. But it seemed this particular ailment on him had dissipated for the most part. He felt the most refreshed ever since the day he came to this world.
The sky outside the window still seemed bright, and there seemed to be a few people having a heated discussion in the house. He got dressed, put on a pair of slippers under his bed, then walked out.
"... no no no, this is unacceptable. " His father, Wu Wentao's anger and frustration-filled voice was the first to register with him: "I don't think being in a hospital for OD has to do with any of these clauses. In fact it is repugnant that you and your company even consider it so."
"This is coming from our higher ups, Mr. Wu. There is no talking them out of it." A strange male voice responded: "We are genuinely sorry for what happened, and our hearts be with you. But this is not a decision we made lightly. We believe it is the for the best for both parties that our arrangements be voided before - "
"Before what, the return on your investment continuing to go below industry average?" Wu Xiangyu snickered.
Wu Xiaoming peeked into the living room to see what happened, just in time to be caught by a strange blonde woman in a navy blue suit.
"Xiaoming! Glad to see you're okay!" The woman smiled and waved at Wu Xiaoming. The heated discussion between the well-groomed young man by her side and his father and older brother stopped.
"What are you doing up so soon? You should get more sleep!" Wu Wentao stood up, concerned and with a soft tone.
"I'm okay - I'm okay. " Wu Xiaoming shook his head and walked over to sit down by his father: "What's going on?"
"They want to cancel your contract with Jennifer." Wu Xiangyu said to Wu Xiaoming before anyone else could.
"Who - what?" Wu Xiaoming was confused at first, then some distant, blurred memory popped up making his heart skip a few beats: Jennifer Richardson, a beautiful brunette with just the right amount of sex appeal to dance on the line between lewd and sexy, rising star singer, and rumored to be in an upcoming movie. "Huh?"
The strange young man and woman in suits tried to suppress their glee. The man cleared his throat before speaking directly to Wu Xiaoming: "We are here on behalf of Wordly Entertainment. It has come to our attention that your behavior lately has violated the morality clause of our agreement regarding your relationship with Ms. Jennifer Richardson. And we are here to make sure that our agreement be dissolved without conflict or further damage to the interests of either of us."
Wu Xiaoming took a moment to process the convoluted words of the message, as well as the related memories that surfaced. It would seem that some time ago, an arrangement was made so that he and this Jennifer Richardson would enter into a public relationship to boost each other's media coverage, and in turn bring in opportunities to do PR for their upcoming creative projects.
"What kind of cultivation web novel opening is this!?" Wu Xiaoming cursed in his mind. For a moment, he thought for sure he was in another dream - all of this seemed to be just some cliche' web novel plot in a modern Western setting. He'd be fully convinced of it if he didn't know full well that his English skills in his previous life would not enable him to construct such a long and complex sentence.
"... which is ridiculous." Wu Wentao interjected before Wu Xiaoming could respond: "Suffering from OD is not a moral failing, he almost died!"
"OD indicates taking drugs." The man shook his head: "And you know, with how Worldly Entertainment is trying to expand the market, this incident, however unfortunate, presents significant PR risk for Ms. Richardson and Worldly … "
"You have a fucking singer posting coke line selfies the other day!" Wu Xiangyu barked.
The blonde woman smirked: "I'm sorry, but there's no way Mr. Wu is on the same level as Samuel Jensen, who was widely regarded as a free spirit and transgressive artist - "
"Does my agent know?" Wu Xiaoming raised his voice slightly: "Seems kinda - inappropriate without my agent present, no?"
The two people in suits in front of him froze for a brief moment. Then just as the young man was about to say something, someone practically banged on the door: "Mr. Wu! Open up! I came as soon as you texted me!"
It was Douglass Kirkland, Wu Xiaoming's agent.
"Douglas, McKinsey, always a pleasure to see you." Douglass Kirkland greeted the young man and blonde woman in suits with a smile before sitting down: "What are you doing here? If I didn't know any better I'd have thought you were trying to talk to my client about his business without me."
"We're just here to deliver a message from Worldly Entertainment Corp, and to express our concerns for Mr. Wu." The blonde woman shook her head at Douglass Kirkland: "It's nothing serious or nefarious."
"Well, terminating a date-for-press arrangement is pretty serious business to me. " Douglass Kirkland sat down with a fake frown: "Do you wanna negotiate here? Bad timing, because I was just chatting with a big shot producer about an upcoming series, where Xiaoming would play a pretty big role - "
"Oh? Who's that?" The young man asked.
"Only dicks kiss and tell." Douglass Kirkland laid back and put his legs on the coffee table: "Now, about what you're trying to achieve here, I think it's pretty reasonable that my client gets compensated fairly for his loss of time and opportunities in investing in this arrangement."
"What opportunities, you - " The young man tried to speak again, but was stopped by the blonde woman.
"What do you want?" The blonde woman asked.