The System had said such things if not ten times, then at least eight, but Xi Nian clearly didn't take it to heart, turning a deaf ear. He avoided the swarming reporters, returned backstage to change his clothes, and prepared to leave.

Sun Ming, who had been following him the whole way, saw this and quickly blocked his path. “Hey, hey, hey, where are you going? So many reporters are waiting for you outside. You should at least go out and show your face.”

Xi Nian was in a black tracksuit, a travel bag slung over his left shoulder. He reached up and pulled the zipper to his chin, covering most of his face, showing no intention whatsoever of being interviewed. “Not going.”

With both hands in his trouser pockets, where no one could see, his fingertips began to twitch slightly, uncontrollably, but he suppressed it by clenching his fists.

Hearing this, Sun Ming adjusted his glasses, his brow deeply furrowed and his voice tinged with annoyance. “You stole Su Ge's thunder this time, and this matter won't be easy to resolve. His contract with the company is up, and the executives are all trying to get him to renew. If he comes to resent you and uses this as leverage, just think about the consequences for yourself!”

The relationship between a manager and an artist is one of mutual benefit; they prosper together and suffer together. It was a good thing for Sun Ming that Xi Nian could stand out, but this kind of “spotlight” was clearly not what the company's executives wanted to see.

An already popular idol versus a newcomer with an uncertain future—even a fool would know which to choose.

Xi Nian, however, simply said, “Let them.”

Shanxing Entertainment was clearly not a good choice. Its contract terms were too harsh, and it was in lawsuits with many of its own artists. Its reputation was getting worse, and its influence was declining. He had no intention of staying with them long-term.

Sun Ming, still unaware of his thoughts, said, “Did you get your head caught in a door?! It's just a small competition; losing to Su Ge is no big deal. There will be plenty of opportunities later. Now that you've outshone him, his fans will tear you to shreds on Weibo tomorrow. You're simply absurd!”

He couldn't stand Xi Nian's nonchalant and impervious demeanor. His chest heaved, and after a cold sneer, he turned and left in a huff.

It wasn't as if Xi Nian would chase after him. He simply glanced down at his right hand; the area around his wrist was visibly swollen. He nonchalantly pulled down his sleeve, intending to go to the hospital, but then he suddenly remembered that he had left his phone in a locker in the lounge and turned back.

The lounge was empty.

Xi Nian took his phone from the locker. The screen clearly displayed the time, glowing faintly for a moment before turning dark again.

The 26th.

He vaguely remembered that at this time in his past life, the next morning's Weibo headlines were completely dominated by a famous male star's cheating scandal, which caused a huge stir. And the mastermind behind it all was Lu Xingzhe.

So, by a rough calculation, that stinking paparazzo's leg was probably injured tonight?

Xi Nian propped one hand against the locker door, lost in thought. A moment later, he pursed his lips. System 009, observing in secret, felt like he was gloating, but a closer look suggested otherwise.

“Congratulations on first place.”

Just as Xi Nian was lost in thought, a sarcastic voice suddenly sounded from behind him. He turned to see it was Su Ge and raised an eyebrow slightly, knowing the other man was looking for trouble.

Su Ge had just been surrounded and interrogated by those reporters for what felt like an eternity, and his expression was as foul as could be. He walked to the water cooler for a cup of water, anger flaring up inside him. Seeing Xi Nian’s dismissive look, he asked coldly, “Feeling pleased with yourself?”

In his past life, Xi Nian had spent many years muddling through the entertainment circle. Su Ge's petty verbal provocations were like a children's game to him, and he wasn't even in the mood to feign a response. Hearing him, Xi Nian sidestepped him and headed straight for the door.

No vicious words could be more insulting than this kind of disregard.

Su Ge was already furious from the loss of face. He could have made it to the finals but was eliminated in the preliminary round, losing out on a lot of exposure. Seeing Xi Nian leave, he stepped forward to block his path. “Leaving so early? Aren’t you going to stay and watch the rest of the competition?”

He was holding a cup filled with boiling hot water. As he spoke, whether intentionally or not, he suddenly seemed to trip. His body tilted and he stumbled straight toward Xi Nian, simultaneously letting out a deliberate cry of alarm—

“Watch out!”

The scalding water instantly poured down. Xi Nian reacted and quickly moved back, but a dark glint flashed in Su Ge’s eyes. He deliberately grabbed Xi Nian’s arm, holding him in place. Then, just as he'd hoped, he saw a large patch of Xi Nian's sleeve become instantly soaked as hot water dripped from his wrist and trickled across the tiled floor—

The exposed back of Xi Nian's hand visibly reddened and even began to blister.

Seeing this, Su Ge secretly curled his lips. He stood up straight, finally releasing him. Glancing at the empty paper cup in his hand, he gave an insincere shrug and said, “Sorry, I lost my footing just now.”

With that, he crumpled the empty paper cup and casually tossed it into the trash, saying sarcastically, “Don't forget the competition the day after tomorrow. Be sure to come back with first place.”

Faced with something like this, the victim could either choose to forgive or make it public. Unfortunately, Xi Nian couldn't do the former, and as for the latter, no one would believe him if the story got out.

The lounge door was ajar. Just as Su Ge was about to leave, a great force suddenly struck him from behind. He was kicked to the ground and couldn't get up for a long moment. The force of him falling forward slammed the door shut with a click.

Xi Nian stood behind him. Expressionlessly, he zipped down his jacket, took off the garment soaked with hot water, and tossed it onto a long bench. Then, he bent down, grabbed Su Ge by the collar, and hauled him up from the floor, saying in a low voice, “You know, competing or not doesn't really matter. Friendship first, competition second.”

As he spoke, the smile on his lips grew, but it only made one's blood run cold. Xi Nian completely ignored his injured right hand, forcefully gripping Su Ge's neck and dragging him like a dead dog toward the water cooler. Seeing the green light on the machine, he said, “Tsk, so there’s still hot water.”

Su Ge wasn't as strong as him. He struggled until his face was red and his neck was strained. Hearing Xi Nian's words, he seemed to realize what was about to happen. His pupils dilated in an instant as he thrashed his legs wildly. “You're crazy! Let me go right now!!”

The sun of June or July was blazing, its light spilling freely through the glass, yet it could not dispel the gloom surrounding Xi Nian. The System appeared at that moment, materializing with a “ding.”

【Warning! Warning! Dangerous behavior detected from the Host. You have violated the reformation regulations. Please cease immediately!】

Xi Nian turned a deaf ear. He freed one hand to grab a cup and began filling it with hot water, as if he intended to scald Su Ge's head. Seeing this, Su Ge was scared out of his wits. His calls for help turned to begging, and he wailed tearfully, “Xi Nian! I was wrong, I was wrong! I’m begging you, please spare me!!”

When the System saw that Xi Nian’s movements hadn’t paused in the slightest, it had no choice but to intensify its warning. Its blue light turned to a flashing red: 【Host, please cease your current actions. Otherwise, this footage will be uploaded to Interstellar headquarters. If you are judged to be in violation, you will lose your chance at rebirth.】

After the System spoke, everything suddenly froze as if someone had hit a pause button, abruptly fixed in place. Then, time rapidly rewound. The jacket on the bench was suddenly back on Xi Nian, and the paper cup in the trash can was drawn by some unknown force back into Su Ge’s hand.

They had returned to a minute ago, just as the fight was beginning.

On the floor was a trickling puddle of water, still faintly steaming.

Xi Nian felt as if his entire body was fixed in place, unable to move. Scalding hot water dripped from his right sleeve.

He watched as Su Ge stood before him, crumpled the paper cup, and tossed it into the trash. His actions were identical to a minute ago, even his tone of voice was unchanged as he said with a derisive sneer, “Don't forget the competition the day after tomorrow. Be sure to come back with first place.”

After speaking, he brushed the dust from his cuffs and turned to leave.

Xi Nian's eyes were cold. He still wanted to smash the guy's damn head in, but his limbs were stiff, and his strength had vanished without a trace, making it impossible to even take a step.

Knowing this was the System's doing, Xi Nian gave up struggling. He squinted at the blue sphere of light floating in mid-air and said, in a tone that could be either praise or sarcasm, “Your timing is truly impeccable.”

The System’s jelly-like blue body quivered, looking incredibly soft. Its voice, laced with the crackle of static, came out intermittently: 【Host, let this be the last time. Don't go down the wrong path…】

In this life, one cannot afford to walk down the wrong path.

There's no such thing as a perfect secret; paper can't contain a fire. The wrong turns you take and the mistakes you make now will one day be exposed for all to see.

There were surveillance cameras in the lounge. Xi Nian clearly had countless, more prudent ways to respond, yet he chose the most radical one. In punishing the perpetrator, he would have also dragged himself into the mire.

Xi Nian was unappreciative. He wasn't a good person to begin with. He said slowly, word by word, “Mind your own business.”

After saying that, he went to the sink to rinse the back of his reddened hand with cold water. Only then did he sling his bag over his shoulder, leave the sports arena, and drive to the hospital.

The profession of a paparazzo was always a vile and despised one. Combined with the fleeting nature of scandals, the moment a target appeared, they would swarm like hyenas that had smelled blood. And Lu Xingzhe was undoubtedly a “standout” among them.

At twelve midnight, the city had fallen silent. Linglong Bay was a high-end, quiet residential area. At this hour, not even a pedestrian could be seen, only the occasional car speeding by with a roar before vanishing back into the darkness.

Lu Xingzhe had been staking out the place from the shade of the trees for eight hours. His camera was aimed at the residential complex's gate, patiently waiting for the target to appear, not letting a single clue slip by. But his client on the other end of the line seemed anxious, calling one time after another, constantly rushing him.

The voice on the other end of the phone belonged to a woman. After a burst of noise, it abruptly went quiet. “When can you get me what I want? He’s flying to America tomorrow for a shoot. It won’t be so easy to catch him meeting secretly with that vixen again.”

Lu Xingzhe chewed on a piece of gum. The swaying tree shadows cast a dark pattern on his shoulder. He reached up and pressed down the brim of his cap. His voice was like ice cubes clinking against the rim of a glass, tinged with a cool indifference. “Mrs. Jian, what’s the rush?”

The woman, addressed as Mrs. Jian, was furious. “He’s divorcing me next week! How can I not be anxious?!”

The smile in Lu Xingzhe’s eyes remained. “You can either wait, or you can find someone else.”

“You—”

The woman choked on her words, the full force of her complaints immediately stifled by his sentence.

Although Lu Xingzhe had a foul reputation, nine out of ten of his exposés were true, and his information network was the most extensive. He just never showed his face, so very few people knew what he looked like. It had taken her a great deal of effort to contact him this time.

Mrs. Jian unconsciously tightened her grip on her phone, but she managed to suppress her anger. She did her best to soften her tone, speaking through clenched teeth, “I want evidence of his affair by eight tomorrow morning at the latest.”

Lu Xingzhe only replied with three words: “Wait for news.”

Then he ended the call.

Time passed drop by drop. In the hazy night, a man and a woman behaving intimately appeared at the gate of the residential complex, looking like a couple. The man was tall and slender, bundled up so tightly that not even his face was visible. He had his arm around a graceful, long-haired woman as they walked toward a black sports car parked by the road.

The angle from the shade of the trees couldn't capture the man's face; Lu Xingzhe adjusted his position but could only get a blurry shot of his back. He shifted his numb legs, thinking to himself that Jian Yihong, who always looked so proper on television, was actually an old fox behind the scenes, wrapping himself up so thoroughly for a late-night outing.

Lu Xingzhe glanced around, then hid his camera in the shoulder bag he carried. He pulled his cap down low and walked out, pretending to be looking at his phone, appearing at a glance like an ordinary passerby.

As he got closer, he could faintly hear the man and woman talking.

“When are you going to divorce that old hag?”

“Soon. Be good. I’m flying to America to film tomorrow, so I might not be back for a few months. Take care of yourself.”

“I can come visit you…”

“No, we’ll be photographed by reporters…”

Seeing them get into the car, Lu Xingzhe took a few steps back, concealing himself in the shadows. He then raised his camera and aimed it at the couple, who were now kissing passionately inside the car, and snapped a photo. Under the streetlight, the lens flashed with an imperceptible glint of white light.

Artists are often sensitive to cameras, especially when they're doing something they shouldn't. The fact that Jian Yihong had survived in the entertainment circle for so long, setting aside his “veteran cadre” persona, was inseparable from his shrewdness. The corner of his eye sharply caught the flash of the lens. He subconsciously looked out the car window, his face completely exposed—

Seeing his chance, Lu Xingzhe no longer bothered to hide, directly raising his camera and firing off a series of shots. Jian Yihong immediately realized something was wrong. As a reflex, he pushed the woman in his arms away and said in a low, angry voice, “There are reporters!”

He immediately covered his face with his collar and slammed his foot on the gas pedal to get away. In his panic, he accelerated to top speed, but unable to see clearly in the dark, he drove straight toward Lu Xingzhe.

Bang—

Seeing the car hurtling toward him, Lu Xingzhe’s pupils constricted. He quickly dodged to the side, but he was a step too slow. The front of the car slammed violently into his left leg, and the force sent him tumbling to the side of the road. Jian Yihong, seeing this, didn't hesitate for a second, flooring the gas pedal and speeding away.

As the sound of the engine faded, the surrounding road fell back into silence.

Lu Xingzhe was dazed from the impact and only came to his senses after a long moment. He struggled to get up from the ground, ignoring the sharp pain in his left leg to first check the camera in his hand. He was relieved to find that the photos he had just taken were safe.

Being a paparazzo wasn't an easy job; scrapes and bruises were common. Lu Xingzhe glanced in the direction Jian Yihong had fled, then stuffed the camera into his backpack. He used a tree trunk by the road to stagger to his feet, breathing heavily to ease the pain coursing through his body. After a moment, he actually chuckled.

Well now, he most disliked settling scores with people on death's door…

He hoped the other party would continue to be so reckless tomorrow.

He used the last of his phone's battery to send a message to his client, then picked up the baseball cap from the ground, dusted it off, and tried to limp away. But just as he took a step, a sudden, sharp pain shot through his knee, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

“Ugh…”

Lu Xingzhe had always been good at enduring pain, but this time a muffled groan escaped his lips, his face pale. It was clear the pain was extreme. He clutched his leg, unable to get up from the ground for a long time as his back gradually became soaked with cold sweat.

Damn it.

Lu Xingzhe closed his eyes and cursed under his breath, taking a ragged gasp of air. He fumbled to touch his knee, and his palm came away with something wet and sticky, like blood. Unfortunately, the night was too dark to make out the color of the liquid.

Not far away, a white car was parked quietly by the roadside. Xi Nian sat in the driver's seat, arms crossed, leaning against the backrest with his eyes faintly closed. Through the windshield, which was dimly illuminated by the streetlights, he could vaguely see Lu Xingzhe get up from the ground and then limp forward.

He would take two steps, then pause with difficulty.

A few more steps, and he would lose his balance and fall heavily to the ground again.

It took him a full five minutes to cover a short distance of a dozen meters, and he fell a countless number of times.

Xi Nian sat in the car, motionless the entire time. Perhaps he wanted to see how Lu Xingzhe would get back, or perhaps he wanted to watch him make a fool of himself. Several times, the System thought he would get out of the car to help, but Xi Nian just adjusted his posture and continued to observe the situation.

He was like an audience member, using the windshield as a screen, watching the drama unfold with calm detachment, while Lu Xingzhe was the actor on television.

Stars were rarely seen in the big city at night, only a pale moon. Lu Xingzhe was drenched in a cold sweat, and when the wind blew, his exposed skin felt chilled. He walked intermittently for a while before he finally couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed onto the ground, his face pale.

This time, he couldn't get back up.

He was covered in dust, his pant leg stained with blood, a wretched sight.

Lu Xingzhe had once told Xi Nian that when he was hit by the car, it didn't hurt much, so he first went to his client to sell the photos for a high price and only then went to the hospital, but by then, he had already missed the optimal treatment window.

“Just bad luck, so I ended up with a limp,” Lu Xingzhe had said, brushing over the incident.

But clearly, he had been lying.

It wasn't that it didn't hurt.

It was just that there was no one to save him.

Lu Xingzhe grew up in an orphanage, a wild child with no parents. He didn't seem to have many friends either. But perhaps because the paparazzo profession was so loathsome, it was hard to feel sorry for him even after he was hit by a car. The only words that came to mind were that he deserved it.

At least, that's what Xi Nian thought.

His gaze passed through the car window and finally settled on Lu Xingzhe's left leg. There was a dark, dried patch over his knee—the mark of coagulated blood.

It was already nearing dawn; no more cars would pass by here.

Xi Nian shifted slightly. Just as the System thought he was adjusting his position again because he'd gone numb from sitting, the man pulled a black mask from the compartment, put it on, opened the car door, and walked straight toward Lu Xingzhe.