The man’s throat rolled.
He frowned in contemplation for a long while before slowly speaking, “I feel like there’s some kind of connection between us.”
“…” Bai Lixin patted the hand that had reached around his back through his clothes and asked, “Such as?”
‘Talking is one thing, but do hands have their own thoughts?’
The man’s hand paused for a moment, then continued to explore inside Bai Lixin’s clothes. “Things like soulmates, past life connections, destined fates, love at first sight, that sort of thing. It’s very romantic, isn’t it?”
Bai Lixin shivered slightly.
He couldn’t tell whether it was romantic or not, but he could definitely feel that it was intense.
Holding the man’s hand through his clothes, Bai Lixin took a deep breath to calm down. “Fate of a heater?”
The man’s expression stiffened slightly, and he smiled awkwardly. The next moment, he used a bit of force with his arm, and turned Bai Lixin to face him.
With a cold cheek pressed against Bai Lixin’s chest, the man asked provocatively, “Do you want to know when a snake likes to coil up?”
Bai Li Xin tried to push the man away by gripping his shoulders, but found that he couldn’t move him at all. “…”
No, he didn’t want to know at all. It was definitely going to be another answer that would lead him into a pit.
The man’s well-built body wrapped around the young man. Despite a mere ten-centimeter height difference, they had completely different body types.
The man’s broad body entwined with the young man’s, forcing him to tilt his head back helplessly, his slender body resembling a graceful willow.
The young man tried to break free by pushing on the man’s shoulders, but suddenly, the sensation of his palm began to change.
He subconsciously lowered his head, only to see the man’s clothes rapidly getting shriveled up, and the dry woven fabric transformed into the cold texture of scales.
The man’s well-defined, handsome face transformed into a long, triangular head. The limbs that had been entwined around him had somehow turned into winding and sinuous segments.
The entire body was covered in silver scales, shimmering with a milky-white glow under the lamplight. It gently wrapped around Bai Lixin, and the arching serpent’s body resembled an unending range of snow-capped peaks on a lofty mountain.
When Bai Lixin’s fingers touched the bump at the snake’s belly, his whole body tensed, and a hint of fear flashed in his beautiful eyes.
He looked at the silver serpent with some trepidation. His voice trembled as he spoke, “I… I can’t do this.”
The silver snake’s golden eyes had turned blood-red. In this narrow bathroom, its serpentine body spread across every corner of the floor.
The snake’s tail coiled around the young man, easily lifting him up. The snake’s head looked down at him, “I believe in you, you can do it.”
As he descended, the young man’s face turned pale again. “But you have two.”
The silver snake hissed, “Then I’ll put them one by one.”
On the porcelain floor, the young man’s fingers gripped the silver scales tightly.
The silver snake lifted its head and opened its mouth, emitting a hoarse, hissing sound. The heavy sliding door became fragile and dangerously shaky under the constant pounding of its tail.
———————————–
In the live broadcast room
[“Swinging Sliding Door”]
[“Melodic Voice”]
[“Speeding Car”]
[“Car Exhaust That Can’t Be Caught”]
[God Xin: I didn’t want to either, but there are two of them.]
——————————–
[Ding! Dear player Bai Lixin, congratulations on successfully completing your professional task yesterday. You have once again become a “Diamond Haunted House Sleep Tester.” Are you happy?]
The system waited for a while but received no response.
[Ding! Dear player Bai Lixin, it’s eight o’clock in the morning, and your working hours have ended. It’s now the sixth day in the day.]
Bai Lixin still didn’t respond.
[Ding! Dear player Bai Lixin, just a friendly reminder, you have 35 hours of remaining game time and 40% of your game progress left. It’s not time to sleep now. Please…]
“Shut up, you’re so noisy,” Bai Lixin frowned and rubbed his temples. He waved his hand in the air. “Go away.”
[…]System, [Alright, Player Bai Lixin, have a great time in the game.]
‘Why so fierce?’
Bai Lixin rubbed his eyes and opened them, only to find himself alone in bed.
Shen Mo had left at some point.
He glanced at the bedside and saw his clothes neatly stacked there, along with a piece of paper.
He went to the bedside and read the elaborately written message:
“I have work, so I’m leaving. I’ve told the driver to wait for you downstairs. Let him know where you want to go after you wake up.
And… you’re amazing; I really liked it.”
Bai Lixin: “…”
These post-event statements, its best to leave them out!
By the time Bai Lixin had taken a shower and come out, it was around 8:30 in the morning.
He sat on the sofa for a while, taking the opportunity to open the game system to check the game progress.
[Copy Name: Urban Beauty]
[Number of Players: 6 (initially 10)]
[Copy Clearance Requirements: 1. Survive for seven days and seven nights (currently in the sixth day, remaining time: 35 hours); 2. Find answers: Owner of the eyeball (completed); 3. Reason for removing the eyeball (completed); 4. Her murderer (not filled in)]
[Game Progress: 60%]
Bai Lixin didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he went to the desk and found a piece of blank paper, writing down the names of several players.
Bai Lixin, Xia Chi, the man in the suit, Sun Ning, Twin Ponytails…
He held the pen and doodled under the names for quite a while, then asked the system with little hope: [Where is Sun Ning?]
Escape System: [Are you referring to the female player who left first? She’s become a CEO now.]
Bai Lixin’s pen tip paused slightly, [What?]
Escape System: [She drew the occupation of anchor and went viral on the internet the next day. Yesterday, she became the company’s CEO.]
Bai Lixin: [… She’s really serious about her career.]
Escape System: [In addition, although she didn’t act with you, she had already contacted the man with sunglasses before you guys and filled out all the answers before you. However, I can’t tell you what the answers are, which means that as long as she survives for seven days and nights, she can clear the copy successfully.]
The Escape System paused: [She’s very strong.]
The image of that fast-walking girl flashed in Bai Lixin’s mind again, [How strong is she?]
Escape System: [She has a brother, and they co-founded the Raging Flame Guild. Later, her brother tragically died during a task. Seeing that she was a girl, the others in the guild started targeting her. They took away the guild leader’s position, demoted her to an elder, and marginalized her power.]
Bai Lixin: [Then why didn’t she leave the guild?]
Escape System: [I don’t know about that. According to your human saying, maybe it’s because of nostalgia. This guild holds too many memories of her and her brother, and she didn’t want to leave. After her brother’s tragic death and the power struggle within the guild, Sun Ning’s personality became more reclusive. She likes to be alone and completes tasks on her own.]
Bai Lixin: [After experiencing a crisis of trust, people tend to unconsciously be suspicious and guarded towards those around them. That’s understandable.]
Escape System: [Are you suspecting that she’s the player Ruman possessed?]
Bai Lixin: [No, I already know who that person is.]
Shen Mo had casually thrown the old phone on the sofa last night. Bai Lixin picked it up and glanced at its contents. At 12 o’clock, the person on the other side had sent another message.
The message had already been marked as read, indicating that Shen Mo had checked the phone’s contents before leaving.
Bai Lixin opened the latest message:
[I waited for so long, and you actually spent the whole night playing with a snake! Dare to insult me like this, and I will make you pay!]
Pay, what kind of payment?
Bai Lixin stared at the message for two seconds, then decisively threw the phone into his backpack.
As he walked out of the residential area, he immediately spotted the familiar black car parked by the roadside.
Approaching the car and looking inside, Bai Lixin noticed that the driver was absentmindedly scrolling through his phone, wearing a troubled expression.
It was unknown what he had seen on his phone as Bai Lixin knocked on the car door several times before he finally heard it and quickly unlocked it for him.
“What’s wrong with you? You look so anxious,” Bai Lixin inquired.
The driver furrowed his brow, “Teacher Shen is in trouble. Someone is targeting him. There’s a new account exposing some of his actions. They’ve caught him engaging in illegal transactions, and the pictures are clear, unmistakably showing Teacher Shen’s face. This post just came out, and it quickly trended within an hour, with over a hundred million views. In less than ten minutes, it started spreading on various video and media platforms. Some victims have even come forward, claiming they were blackmailed and raped by Teacher Shen.”
“The movie production is in jeopardy now. Those reporters are already at the filming location, waiting to interview Teacher Shen. His online presence is entirely negative news. The director has no choice but to delay the shooting schedule.”
A sense of foreboding washed over Bai Lixin, and the angry text message he had received on his phone last night suddenly flashed in his mind.
“Where is Shen Mo now?” Bai Lixin quickly unlocked his phone, and the top trending topic on a certain microblogging site was Shen Mo.
Not only was it the top trending topic, but out of the top ten, six were related to Shen Mo.
—Exposing Shen Mo’s beastly behavior
—Shen Mo’s criminal activities
—Shen Mo should be banned from the entertainment industry
—Shen Mo turning himself in
—Shen Mo case: Victims speak out
—Fame is not a shield for crime
Was this what that person meant by revenge?
Overnight, they had managed to manipulate public opinion to tarnish the once highly regarded Movie King. It was truly impressive.
A surge of anger welled up inside Bai Lixin, his fingers trembling slightly. He opened the first microblog post, which contained a lengthy exposé.
It detailed how Shen Mo had been involved in underground black market transactions and had purchased several women. The post included multiple order records and chat logs with Shen Mo. At the end of the photos, there was even an image of Shen Mo disguised during a transaction.
What made this post shocking wasn’t just the revelation of Shen Mo’s crimes but also the exposure of the vast underground black market.
In the comments section below, the phrase “Shen Mo should be banned from the entertainment industry” dominated, and the words stacked together in an unbearable heap, filled with malice that could drown anyone.
And this malice was aimed squarely at Shen Mo.
Bai Lixin suddenly fell into deep self-blame.
He had been too confident, to the point of arrogance.
If he hadn’t asked Shen Mo to go in his place for the transaction, Shen Mo wouldn’t have been caught, and he wouldn’t have fallen into the whirlpool of public opinion.
The air around him suddenly became heavy, and invisible hands seemed to press on him from all directions, making it hard for Bai Lixin to breathe.
“We don’t know where Mr. Shen is at the moment. He left on his own, and the paparazzi lost track of him halfway. None of us can contact him,” the driver’s voice was like a lifeline, pulling Bai Lixin back from the abyss of self-blame.
Carefully watching Bai Lixin’s expression through the rearview mirror, the driver asked, “Sir, can you get in touch with Mr. Shen?”
Bai Lixin tried to maintain his composure and stiffly took out his phone from his backpack. He didn’t need to search through his contacts; he quickly entered a series of numbers on his phone and dialed.
After two “beeps,” a familiar voice came from the other side, “Hello, are you awake?”
Hearing the calm voice on the other end, Bai Lixin took a deep breath, and gradually, his chaotic mind started to clear. He placed the phone to his ear and whispered, “I’m sorry, it’s my fault you’re in this situation.”
“It’s not your fault,” Shen Mo’s voice remained calm. “I haven’t been caught on camera; you can relax. Those pictures aren’t real. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Bai Lixin finally let go of the pent-up anxiety. “Where are you right now? I’ll come find you.”
The man’s hoarse laughter became particularly magnetic after being transformed by the phone’s speaker. “See you in a bit.”
Before Bai Lixin could ask what “See you in a bit” meant, the driver suddenly hit the brakes hard.
In the next moment, under the surprised eyes of both the driver and Bai Lixin, a figure in a thick overcoat squeezed into the back seat.
The man in the overcoat removed his mask, revealing a handsome face. “You were in such a hurry to see me. Did you miss me the moment you woke up?”
Bai Lixin: “…”
It seemed like he was fine.
The driver’s mouth was wide open as if it could fit an egg, “T-Teacher Shen, where do you intend to go?”
Shen Mo leaned lazily against the young man’s shoulder, “This car belongs to Bai Lixin, today. He can go wherever he wants. You don’t need to worry about me. Just treat me as if I don’t exist.”
The driver: “…”
‘You’re currently the most popular man on the internet, and you want me to pretend you don’t exist?’
Bai Lixin said, “I woke up this morning and saw the message from that person. Is all of this their doing? To ferment the information like this overnight, with major media outlets following suit, it’s not something an ordinary person can achieve. At the very least, you’re a Movie King. As soon as the news broke out, shouldn’t your talent agency have handled crisis management?”
Shen Mo replied, “Yes, we did try crisis management, but it didn’t work. Those platforms refused to remove the trending topics.”
At that moment, Bai Lixin’s old, worn-out phone began to ring with “Unknown Caller” displayed. In an instant, Bai Lixin and Shen Mo exchanged glances.
“Hello,” Bai Lixin picked up the phone under Shen Mo’s gaze. “Who are you?”
The voice on the other end was processed, and it laughed, “Xiao Xin, you’ve seen the news about Shen Mo online, right? The Movie King has become a street rat overnight. Tsk, tsk, what a pitiful creature. Blame him for choosing the wrong opponent, insisting on competing with me. Throughout history, anyone who dared to covet something I set my eyes on has never had a good ending.”
“Tonight, Saint Kai Hotel, Room 2394. I’ll be waiting for you.”
Before Bai Lixin could say anything, the person on the other end finished speaking and hung up.
S419m: [Lord Host, I feel like I’ve heard this tone somewhere.]
Bai Lixin’s phone was on speaker, and everything the person on the other end said went into Shen Mo’s ears.
After Bai Lixin hung up, Shen Mo’s golden vertical pupils shimmered for a moment. “Do you want to go tonight?”
Bai Lixin sighed softly, “Yes, as you’ve seen, even someone of your level can be easily manipulated by that person. Not to mention me. We’re not a match for them. We can’t twist their arm.”
Shen Mo frowned as he looked at Bai Lixin, then turned his head with difficulty, focusing his gaze on the trees whizzing by outside.
——————————
At eight o’clock in the evening, the young man took a day off and arrived at Saint Kai Hotel, knocking on the door of Room 2394.
The moment he knocked, the door creaked open with a “squeak.” However, there was no one behind the door.
The young man gulped nervously and cautiously entered the room.
Just as he stepped into the room, the door slammed shut with a loud “bang.”
The loud sound fell into the young man’s ears, and he shivered involuntarily. He looked at the door behind him with horror. It was as if an invisible hand was controlling it.
In the bathroom, there was the sound of running water.
A pair of men’s slippers was already prepared at the entrance. The young man changed into them cautiously, following the sound to the bathroom door.
It was a semi-open bathroom, and in the luxurious oval-shaped bathtub, there was a seductive figure sitting inside, with their back facing the young man, making it impossible to see their face.
The young man only glanced briefly before blushing and lowering his head. His voice trembled as he nervously asked, “Who are you?”
There was another sound of rushing water, followed by the rustling of clothing.
In the next moment, light footsteps approached slowly from the direction of the bathtub. After about a dozen seconds, a pair of immaculate feet adorned with water droplets appeared before the young man’s lowered gaze.
The man’s throat rolled.
He frowned in contemplation for a long while before slowly speaking, “I feel like there’s some kind of connection between us.”
“…” Bai Lixin patted the hand that had reached around his back through his clothes and asked, “Such as?”
‘Talking is one thing, but do hands have their own thoughts?’
The man’s hand paused for a moment, then continued to explore inside Bai Lixin’s clothes. “Things like soulmates, past life connections, destined fates, love at first sight, that sort of thing. It’s very romantic, isn’t it?”
Bai Lixin shivered slightly.
He couldn’t tell whether it was romantic or not, but he could definitely feel that it was intense.
Holding the man’s hand through his clothes, Bai Lixin took a deep breath to calm down. “Fate of a heater?”
The man’s expression stiffened slightly, and he smiled awkwardly. The next moment, he used a bit of force with his arm, and turned Bai Lixin to face him.
With a cold cheek pressed against Bai Lixin’s chest, the man asked provocatively, “Do you want to know when a snake likes to coil up?”
Bai Li Xin tried to push the man away by gripping his shoulders, but found that he couldn’t move him at all. “…”
No, he didn’t want to know at all. It was definitely going to be another answer that would lead him into a pit.
The man’s well-built body wrapped around the young man. Despite a mere ten-centimeter height difference, they had completely different body types.
The man’s broad body entwined with the young man’s, forcing him to tilt his head back helplessly, his slender body resembling a graceful willow.
The young man tried to break free by pushing on the man’s shoulders, but suddenly, the sensation of his palm began to change.
He subconsciously lowered his head, only to see the man’s clothes rapidly getting shriveled up, and the dry woven fabric transformed into the cold texture of scales.
The man’s well-defined, handsome face transformed into a long, triangular head. The limbs that had been entwined around him had somehow turned into winding and sinuous segments.
The entire body was covered in silver scales, shimmering with a milky-white glow under the lamplight. It gently wrapped around Bai Lixin, and the arching serpent’s body resembled an unending range of snow-capped peaks on a lofty mountain.
When Bai Lixin’s fingers touched the bump at the snake’s belly, his whole body tensed, and a hint of fear flashed in his beautiful eyes.
He looked at the silver serpent with some trepidation. His voice trembled as he spoke, “I… I can’t do this.”
The silver snake’s golden eyes had turned blood-red. In this narrow bathroom, its serpentine body spread across every corner of the floor.
The snake’s tail coiled around the young man, easily lifting him up. The snake’s head looked down at him, “I believe in you, you can do it.”
As he descended, the young man’s face turned pale again. “But you have two.”
The silver snake hissed, “Then I’ll put them one by one.”
On the porcelain floor, the young man’s fingers gripped the silver scales tightly.
The silver snake lifted its head and opened its mouth, emitting a hoarse, hissing sound. The heavy sliding door became fragile and dangerously shaky under the constant pounding of its tail.
———————————–
In the live broadcast room
[“Swinging Sliding Door”]
[“Melodic Voice”]
[“Speeding Car”]
[“Car Exhaust That Can’t Be Caught”]
[God Xin: I didn’t want to either, but there are two of them.]
——————————–
[Ding! Dear player Bai Lixin, congratulations on successfully completing your professional task yesterday. You have once again become a “Diamond Haunted House Sleep Tester.” Are you happy?]
The system waited for a while but received no response.
[Ding! Dear player Bai Lixin, it’s eight o’clock in the morning, and your working hours have ended. It’s now the sixth day in the day.]
Bai Lixin still didn’t respond.
[Ding! Dear player Bai Lixin, just a friendly reminder, you have 35 hours of remaining game time and 40% of your game progress left. It’s not time to sleep now. Please…]
“Shut up, you’re so noisy,” Bai Lixin frowned and rubbed his temples. He waved his hand in the air. “Go away.”
[…]System, [Alright, Player Bai Lixin, have a great time in the game.]
‘Why so fierce?’
Bai Lixin rubbed his eyes and opened them, only to find himself alone in bed.
Shen Mo had left at some point.
He glanced at the bedside and saw his clothes neatly stacked there, along with a piece of paper.
He went to the bedside and read the elaborately written message:
“I have work, so I’m leaving. I’ve told the driver to wait for you downstairs. Let him know where you want to go after you wake up.
And… you’re amazing; I really liked it.”
Bai Lixin: “…”
These post-event statements, its best to leave them out!
By the time Bai Lixin had taken a shower and come out, it was around 8:30 in the morning.
He sat on the sofa for a while, taking the opportunity to open the game system to check the game progress.
[Copy Name: Urban Beauty]
[Number of Players: 6 (initially 10)]
[Copy Clearance Requirements: 1. Survive for seven days and seven nights (currently in the sixth day, remaining time: 35 hours); 2. Find answers: Owner of the eyeball (completed); 3. Reason for removing the eyeball (completed); 4. Her murderer (not filled in)]
[Game Progress: 60%]
Bai Lixin didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he went to the desk and found a piece of blank paper, writing down the names of several players.
Bai Lixin, Xia Chi, the man in the suit, Sun Ning, Twin Ponytails…
He held the pen and doodled under the names for quite a while, then asked the system with little hope: [Where is Sun Ning?]
Escape System: [Are you referring to the female player who left first? She’s become a CEO now.]
Bai Lixin’s pen tip paused slightly, [What?]
Escape System: [She drew the occupation of anchor and went viral on the internet the next day. Yesterday, she became the company’s CEO.]
Bai Lixin: [… She’s really serious about her career.]
Escape System: [In addition, although she didn’t act with you, she had already contacted the man with sunglasses before you guys and filled out all the answers before you. However, I can’t tell you what the answers are, which means that as long as she survives for seven days and nights, she can clear the copy successfully.]
The Escape System paused: [She’s very strong.]
The image of that fast-walking girl flashed in Bai Lixin’s mind again, [How strong is she?]
Escape System: [She has a brother, and they co-founded the Raging Flame Guild. Later, her brother tragically died during a task. Seeing that she was a girl, the others in the guild started targeting her. They took away the guild leader’s position, demoted her to an elder, and marginalized her power.]
Bai Lixin: [Then why didn’t she leave the guild?]
Escape System: [I don’t know about that. According to your human saying, maybe it’s because of nostalgia. This guild holds too many memories of her and her brother, and she didn’t want to leave. After her brother’s tragic death and the power struggle within the guild, Sun Ning’s personality became more reclusive. She likes to be alone and completes tasks on her own.]
Bai Lixin: [After experiencing a crisis of trust, people tend to unconsciously be suspicious and guarded towards those around them. That’s understandable.]
Escape System: [Are you suspecting that she’s the player Ruman possessed?]
Bai Lixin: [No, I already know who that person is.]
Shen Mo had casually thrown the old phone on the sofa last night. Bai Lixin picked it up and glanced at its contents. At 12 o’clock, the person on the other side had sent another message.
The message had already been marked as read, indicating that Shen Mo had checked the phone’s contents before leaving.
Bai Lixin opened the latest message:
[I waited for so long, and you actually spent the whole night playing with a snake! Dare to insult me like this, and I will make you pay!]
Pay, what kind of payment?
Bai Lixin stared at the message for two seconds, then decisively threw the phone into his backpack.
As he walked out of the residential area, he immediately spotted the familiar black car parked by the roadside.
Approaching the car and looking inside, Bai Lixin noticed that the driver was absentmindedly scrolling through his phone, wearing a troubled expression.
It was unknown what he had seen on his phone as Bai Lixin knocked on the car door several times before he finally heard it and quickly unlocked it for him.
“What’s wrong with you? You look so anxious,” Bai Lixin inquired.
The driver furrowed his brow, “Teacher Shen is in trouble. Someone is targeting him. There’s a new account exposing some of his actions. They’ve caught him engaging in illegal transactions, and the pictures are clear, unmistakably showing Teacher Shen’s face. This post just came out, and it quickly trended within an hour, with over a hundred million views. In less than ten minutes, it started spreading on various video and media platforms. Some victims have even come forward, claiming they were blackmailed and raped by Teacher Shen.”
“The movie production is in jeopardy now. Those reporters are already at the filming location, waiting to interview Teacher Shen. His online presence is entirely negative news. The director has no choice but to delay the shooting schedule.”
A sense of foreboding washed over Bai Lixin, and the angry text message he had received on his phone last night suddenly flashed in his mind.
“Where is Shen Mo now?” Bai Lixin quickly unlocked his phone, and the top trending topic on a certain microblogging site was Shen Mo.
Not only was it the top trending topic, but out of the top ten, six were related to Shen Mo.
—Exposing Shen Mo’s beastly behavior
—Shen Mo’s criminal activities
—Shen Mo should be banned from the entertainment industry
—Shen Mo turning himself in
—Shen Mo case: Victims speak out
—Fame is not a shield for crime
Was this what that person meant by revenge?
Overnight, they had managed to manipulate public opinion to tarnish the once highly regarded Movie King. It was truly impressive.
A surge of anger welled up inside Bai Lixin, his fingers trembling slightly. He opened the first microblog post, which contained a lengthy exposé.
It detailed how Shen Mo had been involved in underground black market transactions and had purchased several women. The post included multiple order records and chat logs with Shen Mo. At the end of the photos, there was even an image of Shen Mo disguised during a transaction.
What made this post shocking wasn’t just the revelation of Shen Mo’s crimes but also the exposure of the vast underground black market.
In the comments section below, the phrase “Shen Mo should be banned from the entertainment industry” dominated, and the words stacked together in an unbearable heap, filled with malice that could drown anyone.
And this malice was aimed squarely at Shen Mo.
Bai Lixin suddenly fell into deep self-blame.
He had been too confident, to the point of arrogance.
If he hadn’t asked Shen Mo to go in his place for the transaction, Shen Mo wouldn’t have been caught, and he wouldn’t have fallen into the whirlpool of public opinion.
The air around him suddenly became heavy, and invisible hands seemed to press on him from all directions, making it hard for Bai Lixin to breathe.
“We don’t know where Mr. Shen is at the moment. He left on his own, and the paparazzi lost track of him halfway. None of us can contact him,” the driver’s voice was like a lifeline, pulling Bai Lixin back from the abyss of self-blame.
Carefully watching Bai Lixin’s expression through the rearview mirror, the driver asked, “Sir, can you get in touch with Mr. Shen?”
Bai Lixin tried to maintain his composure and stiffly took out his phone from his backpack. He didn’t need to search through his contacts; he quickly entered a series of numbers on his phone and dialed.
After two “beeps,” a familiar voice came from the other side, “Hello, are you awake?”
Hearing the calm voice on the other end, Bai Lixin took a deep breath, and gradually, his chaotic mind started to clear. He placed the phone to his ear and whispered, “I’m sorry, it’s my fault you’re in this situation.”
“It’s not your fault,” Shen Mo’s voice remained calm. “I haven’t been caught on camera; you can relax. Those pictures aren’t real. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Bai Lixin finally let go of the pent-up anxiety. “Where are you right now? I’ll come find you.”
The man’s hoarse laughter became particularly magnetic after being transformed by the phone’s speaker. “See you in a bit.”
Before Bai Lixin could ask what “See you in a bit” meant, the driver suddenly hit the brakes hard.
In the next moment, under the surprised eyes of both the driver and Bai Lixin, a figure in a thick overcoat squeezed into the back seat.
The man in the overcoat removed his mask, revealing a handsome face. “You were in such a hurry to see me. Did you miss me the moment you woke up?”
Bai Lixin: “…”
It seemed like he was fine.
The driver’s mouth was wide open as if it could fit an egg, “T-Teacher Shen, where do you intend to go?”
Shen Mo leaned lazily against the young man’s shoulder, “This car belongs to Bai Lixin, today. He can go wherever he wants. You don’t need to worry about me. Just treat me as if I don’t exist.”
The driver: “…”
‘You’re currently the most popular man on the internet, and you want me to pretend you don’t exist?’
Bai Lixin said, “I woke up this morning and saw the message from that person. Is all of this their doing? To ferment the information like this overnight, with major media outlets following suit, it’s not something an ordinary person can achieve. At the very least, you’re a Movie King. As soon as the news broke out, shouldn’t your talent agency have handled crisis management?”
Shen Mo replied, “Yes, we did try crisis management, but it didn’t work. Those platforms refused to remove the trending topics.”
At that moment, Bai Lixin’s old, worn-out phone began to ring with “Unknown Caller” displayed. In an instant, Bai Lixin and Shen Mo exchanged glances.
“Hello,” Bai Lixin picked up the phone under Shen Mo’s gaze. “Who are you?”
The voice on the other end was processed, and it laughed, “Xiao Xin, you’ve seen the news about Shen Mo online, right? The Movie King has become a street rat overnight. Tsk, tsk, what a pitiful creature. Blame him for choosing the wrong opponent, insisting on competing with me. Throughout history, anyone who dared to covet something I set my eyes on has never had a good ending.”
“Tonight, Saint Kai Hotel, Room 2394. I’ll be waiting for you.”
Before Bai Lixin could say anything, the person on the other end finished speaking and hung up.
S419m: [Lord Host, I feel like I’ve heard this tone somewhere.]
Bai Lixin’s phone was on speaker, and everything the person on the other end said went into Shen Mo’s ears.
After Bai Lixin hung up, Shen Mo’s golden vertical pupils shimmered for a moment. “Do you want to go tonight?”
Bai Lixin sighed softly, “Yes, as you’ve seen, even someone of your level can be easily manipulated by that person. Not to mention me. We’re not a match for them. We can’t twist their arm.”
Shen Mo frowned as he looked at Bai Lixin, then turned his head with difficulty, focusing his gaze on the trees whizzing by outside.
——————————
At eight o’clock in the evening, the young man took a day off and arrived at Saint Kai Hotel, knocking on the door of Room 2394.
The moment he knocked, the door creaked open with a “squeak.” However, there was no one behind the door.
The young man gulped nervously and cautiously entered the room.
Just as he stepped into the room, the door slammed shut with a loud “bang.”
The loud sound fell into the young man’s ears, and he shivered involuntarily. He looked at the door behind him with horror. It was as if an invisible hand was controlling it.
In the bathroom, there was the sound of running water.
A pair of men’s slippers was already prepared at the entrance. The young man changed into them cautiously, following the sound to the bathroom door.
It was a semi-open bathroom, and in the luxurious oval-shaped bathtub, there was a seductive figure sitting inside, with their back facing the young man, making it impossible to see their face.
The young man only glanced briefly before blushing and lowering his head. His voice trembled as he nervously asked, “Who are you?”
There was another sound of rushing water, followed by the rustling of clothing.
In the next moment, light footsteps approached slowly from the direction of the bathtub. After about a dozen seconds, a pair of immaculate feet adorned with water droplets appeared before the young man’s lowered gaze.
