“There’s no meaningful commentary at all…”
Yun Ruoxi was no longer on that Earth of her previous life; she didn’t care about the geopolitical relations or politics there in the slightest.
Right now, she was desperate to gather more intelligence about this anime world.
“System, didn’t you say the first episode has already aired? Can I watch it now?”
【Anime viewing permission requires 2,000 Popularity Points. Detected that your current Popularity Points are insufficient. Would you like to apply for a Popularity Points Loan?】
“Loan! Give me the full amount! Exchange my viewing rights and the First Season’s story outline!”
Ten thousand Popularity Points were too good to refuse. Yun Ruoxi knew how dangerous her current situation was.
Just from the name alone, “Battle Camp” was definitely not a place to mess around.
Although 100,000 Popularity Points seemed like a lot, surviving was her top priority.
When you die, debts vanish; only by living could she repay the loan!
【Exchange complete. Permissions granted.】
As the system notification sounded in her mind, a large block of text instantly appeared in Yun Ruoxi’s consciousness.
She closed her eyes and digested it for a while, quickly sorting out the main plot of the first season of the interdimensional anime Star.
The story of Star Season One was actually quite simple, mainly revolving around the Battle Camp selection in the Asha Star System.
The so-called Battle Camp selection was a brutal mechanism used by the Saints’ Hand Society—the gigantic cross-universe crime syndicate controlling the Asha Star System—to recruit new members.
Every three years,
they would purchase from, or directly kidnap, boys and girls under the age of twelve from star bandits in both the positive and negative universes.
Tens of thousands of children were randomly assigned to Battle Camps across the planets in the Asha Star System, undergoing hellish training for three years.
After three years, a series of ruthless selections would be conducted to pick several hundred suitable candidates to join the organization.
This bloody selection process had been going on for centuries.
The protagonist of Star Season One was Lin Zhen, a scavenger from a long-abandoned junk planet, so desolate it didn’t even have a name—he survived by scavenging to support his grandparents.
During one scavenging trip,
he and his companions accidentally stumbled upon a human trafficking scene run by the local aristocrats.
Raised with a sense of justice by his grandparents, Lin Zhen couldn’t bear to see children being sold.
Not only did he secretly free the kidnapped children,
he also recorded evidence and covertly handed it over to a relatively reputable sheriff in the area.
Honestly, this operation was already cautious enough.
But the planet had been abandoned for years, cut off from the empire.
The local sheriff and corrupt aristocrats, free from oversight, were deeply entangled like a nest of wolves and rats.
When the aristocrats learned of the incident, they were furious.
They sent people to capture Lin Zhen and beat him half to death before selling him to allied star bandits, who then sent him on a Smuggling Ship to the Battle Camp.
That’s where Star Season One, Episode One’s entire plot ended.
Yun Ruoxi watched the unlocked anime video to compare.
In the thirty minutes of the episode,
the story started with a skirmish during Lin Zhen’s daily scavenging life.
The smooth and stunning parkour animation, the sharp contrast between the decayed, rotten junk mountains and the exquisite royal city visuals, and a battle showcasing Lin Zhen’s tactical wisdom—defeating stronger foes with weaker strength.
The first ten minutes of the anime were practically art.
The live comments kept flooding from the start,all saying things like, “Congrats on discovering the hidden gem,” “Mom asked why I’m watching kneeling,” “Sixth level of cash power,” “Come learn, XX.”
Yun Ruoxi enjoyed it immensely, temporarily forgetting her hatred under the forced calm and immersing herself in the plot.
Midway through the episode, the pace eased.
The camera focused on Lin Zhen’s warm family life.
Though sprinkled with comedic moments, the production remained meticulous and heartfelt.
For example, Lin Zhen worked hard for a whole month saving scrap money to buy his grandfather a pair of Self-adapting Dentures for his birthday.
But he got scammed and bought a set of Intelligent Dog Teeth instead.
Grandpa laughed it off, but once he put them on, the AI inside the dog teeth activated and chased Lin Zhen all the way.
Fortunately, Lin Zhen was very handy and had self-studied Basic Artificial Intelligence Studies.
He spent several days hacking the Dog Teeth AI to get it back under control.
With exaggerated animation and fitting background music, Yun Ruoxi couldn’t help but chuckle quietly.
If the first episode ended here,
Yun Ruoxi would probably, like other viewers, think this anime was headed down a classic hot-blooded comedy path.
But in the last ten minutes, the story took a sharp turn.
A heavy corrosive acid rain poured down on the junk planet, everything gray and gloomy.
While scavenging outside, Lin Zhen accidentally uncovered the human trafficking scene.
He acted just like a puppet following the script, every step exactly as written.
Rescue, evidence collection, report… then capture and finally being sold onto the ship.
The Smuggling Ship carrying Lin Zhen engaged its faster-than-light jump and slowly departed the rusty, lonely planet.
The first episode ended with this scene frozen on screen.
The live comments erupted in wails, showing severe withdrawal symptoms.
“This flight lasts a week, come back soon, I’m already having withdrawal!”
“I bet a spicy stick that Lin Zhen will grow stronger in other star systems, then the Dragon King will return and wipe out the aristocrats.”
“Right above, no kidding. But I’m really curious how the story will develop. This anime is ridiculous, the PV trailer shows no plot scenes, even the OP is just a static starry sky. Are they really afraid we’ll guess the plot?”
Despite some minor complaints, overall, Star’s first episode was undoubtedly a huge success.
After purchasing the viewing rights, Yun Ruoxi could access all information from another spacetime related to this anime.
She opened several websites ranking views.
As expected, no matter which site she checked, Star was the day’s streaming champion by a wide margin.
In less than a day, it had accumulated three billion views worldwide.
The data was terrifying, but considering the massive promotional campaigns in each country, it made sense.
“As long as I can showcase certain selling points, there’s no doubt I can gain enough popularity,” Yun Ruoxi thought quietly.
“But if I want to obtain the kind of Popularity Points that can revive my parents and change the future, just playing out the script and slightly altering the plot won’t be nearly enough!”
Season Two.
From the story outline she just read, Yun Ruoxi already understood why she was the villain.
To be precise, she wasn’t the antagonist in the first season.
In fact, in the early part, she was a positive figure somewhat outside the main cast.
The real dark turn happened in the latter half of the first season.
Lin Zhen, unable to accept the cruel and bloody Battle Camp selection, unwilling to kill innocent people,
decided to escape during the practical combat test.
But Yun Ruoxi was deeply afraid of the Overlord and terrified the other party would kill her if she left the Battle Camp as promised.
So she didn’t dare leave the Battle Camp.
When Lin Zhen and others escaped, she chose to give up and remained alone inside the camp, walking a completely different path from the main cast.
By the end of the first season, although she emerged as an Organizational Member thanks to her S-Rank Talent,
she was subjected to illegal human modifications involving the Mind Seal and Emotional Partition, turning her into a cold killing machine.
It was clear that if the plot continued as written, in the second season she would inevitably clash with the main cast.
And her chances of survival… were now virtually nonexistent.
Moreover, even if she survived, with a Mind Seal implanted and her emotions partitioned off, what was she but a robot?
Living would be worse than dying.