January 7th, evening.
Having to work overtime on a Sunday filled Zhao Yuchen with resentment. During the subway ride back to his rented apartment, he cursed his boss dozens of times.
But once he got home and checked the time, he let out a long sigh of relief.
7:46 PM.
Good. Not late.
He quickly turned on the TV. As the owner of seven Su Yan fan groups, he immediately started stirring up excitement in the chats.
["Thirteen minutes left!"]
["My mom is even sitting next to me waiting to watch Su Yan's new drama!"]
["We waited more than half a year. The day is finally here."]
["Fate! Fate!"]
["I still don't really know what genre this is, but somehow my expectations are already maxed out!"]
["I hope the story is a little simpler this time. The old sadist's fantasy always melts my brain. 'Life is Strange' was like that—I only understood it properly after watching it a second time!"]
["If anyone has to work overtime, ask your family to turn on the TV for you! The old sadist hasn't aired a new drama in half a year. The first episode can't embarrass him! I'm not saying it must beat 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica', but it definitely shouldn't have lower ratings than 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.'!"]
["You're talking like 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' was bad. It only lost slightly to 'Tokyo Love Story' and 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' in ratings. It's still one of the highlights of Xia Nation television in recent years."]
["Hoping this drama sets a new ratings record!"]
["No need to be too harsh. The old sadist is basically the number one person in the TV industry now. His results can't keep rising forever. As long as he doesn't decide to retire after making enough money and keeps writing scripts, I'll be satisfied. We should stay calm about ratings."]
["If the ratings drop even slightly, the haters will appear."]
["Why care about them? How many times have they been slapped in the face by the old sadist? Among the hater groups in Xia Nation's entertainment industry, Su Yan's haters are the biggest joke."]
Messages in the fan group refreshed rapidly.
After months of silence, Su Yan's hardcore fans were overflowing with excitement.
As the clock drew closer to 8 PM, the frequency of messages gradually decreased.
Everyone's attention shifted toward the TV.
Zhao Yuchen took a deep breath, staring at the advertisements currently playing.
8:00 PM.
The Sakura TV broadcast paused for a moment.
Then the screen turned somber.
The opening scene showed a serious young man standing outside a room with his head lowered.
Inside the room, his beautiful silver-haired wife had just given birth to a baby girl.
The man was clearly East Asian.
His wife, however, possessed a noble aura—an astonishingly beautiful Western woman.
Foreign faces were relatively rare in Xia Nation dramas, so Zhao Yuchen needed a moment to adjust.
But once the characters began speaking the Xia Nation language in the story, the unfamiliar feeling slowly faded.
In Su Yan's previous life, viewers of 'Fate/Zero' already knew that this man was Emiya Kiritsugu, the adoptive father of Shirou from 'Fate/Stay Night', and that the newborn girl was Shirou's sister Illya.
But in the Xia Nation, 'Fate/stay night' didn't exist.
So, Zhao Yuchen could only absorb the information from scratch.
Hmm…
Since the camera opened on this man, he must be the protagonist.
And since he already had a wife and newborn daughter—
That probably meant there wouldn't be any romantic storyline for him.
Then the woman spoke, smiling happily at her daughter.
"I feel incredibly fortunate to have given birth to this child."
The background music began.
Her loving gaze made Zhao Yuchen unexpectedly immersed in the scene.
Maybe Su Yan's new drama was some kind of family-oriented fantasy story.
That could work—family bonds were interesting too.
But the next line from Kiritsugu stunned him.
"I will one day send you to your death, Iris."
The woman paused for a moment.
Then she smiled gently.
"I know. This is the long-cherished wish of the Einzbern family. I was born for that purpose. Because I understand your wish, and because I share it, the person I am now exists."
The man's hand trembled.
"To create a world where no one needs to cry… that is the ideal you long for, Emiya Kiritsugu, isn't it?"
Their conversation left Zhao Yuchen completely confused.
In the drama, the man turned around and looked at his wife and child.
The camera pulled back.
Snow filled the sky.
The castle stood silent under a blanket of white.
Soon after, the story began introducing new concepts.
'Fate/Zero' told the story of seven Masters who summoned the Heroic Spirits of legendary figures from history.
These spirits returned to the present world.
They would fight each other for the ownership of a mysterious artifact—
The Holy Grail.
And the winner could make a wish on it.
Any wish.
No matter what it was—
It would be granted.
The moment this premise was explained, Zhao Yuchen immediately felt a sense of familiarity.
A wish?
Wasn't that similar to the setting of 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica'?
Except that in that show, whether a wish could be granted depended on the magical girl's potential.
But the Holy Grail?
Was it really a rule-breaking wish machine?
Zhao Yuchen, already experienced with Su Yan's storytelling style, immediately rejected that idea.
Impossible.
A wish-granting machine without a price?
That was nonsense.
Given Su Yan's personality, this Holy Grail definitely wouldn't be that simple.
His mind was filled with thoughts.
But the first episode didn't unfold the way he expected.
Instead, the narrative began shifting into an ensemble structure.
There was Tohsaka Tokiomi, head of the Tohsaka mage family, and his newly accepted disciple Kotomine Kirei.
They hid their teacher-student relationship, preparing to participate in the Holy Grail War as two separate Masters—planning to deceive the other five.
Then there was Matou Kariya, a man from the Matou family who secretly loved Tokiomi's wife.
To save Matou Sakura, the daughter of the woman he loved who had been adopted by the Matou family, he chose to join the Holy Grail War in exchange for the girl's freedom.
Then the scene cut to the Matou basement—
Where countless writhing worms filled the room.
The visual effects made Zhao Yuchen shudder.
What kind of mage was this?
Raising things like that felt like some sort of cult.
Then there was Waver, a student studying at a mage academy in the West.
And his arrogant teacher, Kayeth, who looked down on him.
The story kept switching perspectives.
Even someone quick-thinking like Zhao Yuchen felt slightly overwhelmed by the flood of character information.
["Su Yan stuffed so much into the first episode… can this really work?"] Zhao Yuchen muttered.
Honestly, if this weren't a Su Yan production, he probably would've switched channels to watch a variety show already.
And it still wasn't finished.
The seven classes of the Holy Grail War.
The magical ritual is required to participate.
The holy relics needed for summoning.
All these explanations appeared one after another.
Eventually, the story followed Waver as he stole a relic mailed to his teacher, Kayeth, and traveled to Sakura Island.
At that point—
Half the episode had passed.
And most of the time had simply been spent introducing the participants and explaining the rules of the Holy Grail War.
Zhao Yuchen yawned.
["When are they going to start fighting already?"]
["If it's a war, stop with all the talking and give us more action!"]
After introducing most of the key characters, the focus returned to Kiritsugu.
Now, the various factions participating in the Holy Grail War were roughly understood.
Next came scenes of Kotomine Kirei and Kiritsugu studying each other's information.
They praised each other outwardly while simultaneously recognizing each other as their greatest enemy.
A man like Kirei—
Who had no wish.
And Kiritsugu—
Known as the Mage Killer, a man who fought using ruthless and underhanded tactics.
Why was he participating in the Holy Grail War?
There was Kariya, sacrificing his own life by implanting crest worms into his body to save Sakura.
The optimistic Waver, chosen by the Grail.
And Kayeth.
At the end of the episode, the story kept switching between these characters.
Each of them had their own reason to fight.
A reason why they could not lose.
Then, on that same night—
One by one—
They stood before the magic circles they had drawn.
Holding relics connected to the heroes they wished to summon.
The background music began.
At first gentle—
Then gradually magnificent.
The TV visuals were breathtaking.
The actors' gazes were intense.
And the summoning chants—slightly chuunibyou, yet strangely thrilling.
Then the chant continued.
"Your body shall obey my command…"
"My fate shall be entrusted to your sword!"
"I swear here—"
"I shall become all the good in the world."
"I shall strike down all the evil in the world."
"You who are trapped within the prison of madness!"
"Come forth from the wheel of restraint!"
Seven pillars of light erupted across Fuyuki City.
Zhao Yuchen, who had been sleepy moments ago, suddenly jumped to his feet.
He didn't even fully understand what was happening—
But it looked incredibly epic.
The majestic music.
The expensive, cinematic visual effects.
The intricate magic circles are filled with symmetrical beauty.
The atmosphere of supernatural beings secretly battling within the shadows of an ordinary world—
It had finally formed.
A huge moon hung in the sky.
A woman's voice in the soundtrack rose in chant, building toward a climax.
Then—
The music exploded.
A towering man in a red cloak appeared before Waver.
A black-armored knight surrounded by dark mist descended into the Matou basement.
Then—
Su Yan's face.
No—
The character played by Su Yan.
A handsome, noble man clad in golden armor, his eyes cold and arrogant, standing before Tokiomi and Kirei.
"We have already won!"
Tohsaka Tokiomi declared confidently, celebrating too early.
Meanwhile, in the castle where Kiritsugu waited—
A girl appeared before him.
She wore a blue knight's uniform.
Golden hair.
Armor covering her body.
She was slightly short—
But her face carried a noble, righteous aura.
When her face was finally revealed on the screen—
Zhao Yuchen almost stopped breathing.
She was too beautiful.
And that otherworldly, almost sacred presence made people feel unworthy of standing beside her.
At that moment, Zhao Yuchen finally understood why Su Yan had spent so much effort choosing the female lead last year.
Su Yan had chosen Zhuang Yuxin precisely for this aura, hadn't he?