The moment the words "ten rings" came out, the entire stadium fell silent. The audience was stunned for two seconds before realizing that Xi Nian had hit the jackpot with his very first arrow. Thunderous applause instantly erupted all around. Among them, the happiest were undoubtedly Xi Nian's few fans, who were jumping and bouncing, their faces red with excitement.

He won, and they shared in his glory.

It was as if they had suddenly gained confidence, even standing a little straighter.

Lu Xingzhe pressed the camera's shutter, then looked towards the spectator area. He saw that Su Ge was still smiling when the camera panned over him, and even clapped along with the crowd. 'Who said Su Ge's acting was terrible?' he thought. 'Isn't he putting on a good act right now?'

Although Chen Sihao never expected to win from the start, he didn't want to lose too badly either. Xi Nian's score put a lot of pressure on him invisibly. At the referee's signal, he nocked an arrow and drew the string, but only managed to hit the six-ring.

"Tsk—"

A wave of boos erupted from the crowd.

The referee signaled for Xi Nian to prepare.

No one knew how difficult that last shot had been for Xi Nian. This time, when it was his turn to shoot, a full five seconds had passed on the timer before he could gather the strength to raise his bow and draw the string again, squinting as he began to aim at the target.

This time, his right hand was trembling even more violently than before. He could only draw the bowstring three-quarters of the way full before he found it impossible to exert any more strength.

Finally, some audience members noticed something was wrong and began whispering among themselves with their heads down.

"Is Xi Nian not feeling well? I can see the back of his shirt is soaked with sweat."

"It's more than that. When the camera did a close-up just now, the veins on his forehead were popping out."

"I think so too. The arrowhead keeps shaking. Could he be injured?"

Su Ge's fans overheard and grumbled with disapproval: "If he can't win, he can't win. Why look for excuses? He probably saw Su Ge getting on the trending searches for his injury and wants to gain sympathy too. It's obviously just to ride the hype."

Li Xixi was also standing in the crowd. Hearing the sisters next to her chattering, she spoke up hesitantly, "What if... what if Xi Nian really is injured? I think his scores are pretty good, there's no need for him to find excuses..."

Her companion pulled her. "Aiya, even if Xi Nian is really injured, it's still a fact that he put down Su Ge to elevate himself. Just stop speaking up for him."

When the previous match ended, many marketing accounts had posted to get traffic, praising Xi Nian to the heavens and slandering Su Ge as nastily as possible. Many Gezi Fans were swayed by the narrative, mistakenly believing that Xi Nian had intentionally hired paid posters because he wanted to get famous, and thus held great animosity towards him.

Li Xixi initially thought so too, but for some reason, she felt that Xi Nian didn't seem like that kind of person. "But..."

Her companion urged, "Aiya, enough with the 'buts'. Let's just watch the match."

Xi Nian was human, not a god. No matter how much he could endure, there were times when he was helpless after exceeding his body's limits. The slight shaking of the arrowhead made it impossible for him to aim at the target. Seeing that the timer had already passed twenty seconds, many people were secretly on edge.

"Patak."

A large bead of sweat rolled down Xi Nian's face and silently disappeared into the green turf at his feet.

Xi Nian's grip on the bow tightened and loosened, loosened and tightened, but he never put it down. Seeing this, System No. 009 finally couldn't hold back and flew in front of him, flapping its little wings: [Ding~ Dear Host, there are still many matches to come. Don't mind the gains and losses of this one moment.]

Twenty-three seconds,

Twenty-four seconds.

Xi Nian's vision blurred for an instant from the sweat. He didn't answer the System, but simply endured the pain, gritted his teeth, and slowly drew the bowstring, his gaze holding a fierceness that shouldn't belong to someone his age.

"Whoosh!"

This long-awaited arrow was finally shot, accompanied by a faint whizzing sound. An arrow mark appeared on the yellow inner ring of the distant target, the margin of error from the previous arrow being only a few millimeters.

Still ten rings.

"Beautiful!" an audience member couldn't help but applaud and cheer.

The referee felt that Xi Nian was not in good shape. He walked over and asked in a low voice if he needed to see a doctor, but was refused with a shake of the head.

Lu Xingzhe's fingertips tapped rapidly on his camera. He just felt that the guy was being stubbornly proud. Coupled with the chattering of the few fangirls beside him, he simply turned and limped towards Area C, which happened to be where Xi Nian's handful of fans were standing.

Su Ge sat quietly in his spectator seat, his manager beside him with a deep frown. He lowered his voice and said, "If Xi Nian wins this round, it will be difficult for us to explain to the public."

Hearing this, Su Ge adjusted his posture and sneered disdainfully, "He might not last until the end."

The manager asked, "What do you mean?"

An idol artist in the ascendant phase of their career must get company approval for any action. Su Ge had burned Xi Nian that day purely on impulse. He regretted it afterward and didn't dare tell his manager, so he could only shake his head vaguely. "It's nothing."

Chen Sihao was now in a state of giving up. He glanced at Xi Nian, then dejectedly drew his bow and shot. With a muffled whoosh, he unexpectedly hit the nine-ring by a fluke.

The announcer's voice rang out: "Number fifteen, Chen Sihao, second arrow of the first set, nine rings."

The commentator seized the opportunity to stir the audience's emotions: "It seems number fifteen has found his groove. I wonder if he'll be able to catch up to Xi Nian later on. It looks like there's going to be a brilliant competition between these two..."

'When it rains, it pours' probably described Xi Nian's current state. When he tried to raise his right hand to draw the bow again, his arm was no longer obeying him. Half of his shoulder was numb and stiff, so he remained motionless for a long time.

Seeing this, his few fans showed worried expressions and stomped their feet anxiously. "What do we do? He must not be feeling well somewhere."

Gossip rose from all around: "Looks like number nine is bound to lose."

The referee was experienced and guessed the probable reason as soon as he saw Xi Nian's condition. He walked up and said, "How is it? Can you still persevere? If you're not feeling well, you must say so."

Xi Nian's back was covered in cold sweat, and the wind felt chilling. He slowly calmed his breathing, but couldn't bring himself to say the two words "withdraw". He gave a slight nod to the referee. "I can continue."

The timer started. System No. 009 flapped its wings, and seeing Xi Nian's pale face as he nocked an arrow and drew the string again, it spun around in frustration. Finally, in a fit of desperation, it flew to his wrist: [Forget it. You're number nine, and I'm number nine. For the sake of us both being number nine, I'll make an exception and help you just this once.]

As it spoke, its chubby body supported Xi Nian's arm from below. The touch was cool, and after a flash of blue light, the original pain miraculously vanished.

Seeing this, Xi Nian's pupils shrank slightly. He was surprised, but with little time left, he couldn't afford to ask questions. He quickly drew the string and aimed at the target again, trying his best to calm his mind and find the ring position.

There wasn't much time left. The focus of the arrowhead passed over the outer rings one by one and locked onto the yellow ten-ring position. Xi Nian's fingertips loosened slightly, and he finally shot the arrow at the 28-second mark.

Everyone only saw the shadow of an arrow flash before their eyes. With unstoppable momentum, it hit the target with a muffled thud, the force clearly much stronger than the previous two times.

The male commentator was something of a casual fan of Xi Nian and had been following his progress. Seeing this, he stared intently and almost slammed the table in excitement. "Beautiful! The number nine contestant has hit another ten-ring! He's hit another ten-ring!"

Hearing this, the System swayed its body smugly, its little wings flapping even more cheerfully.

Xi Nian lowered his eyes and subtly rotated his wrist, only to find there wasn't the slightest bit of pain. He was silent for a moment, then looked at the chubby blue ball of light beside him. "...What did you do?"

The System got carried away, dropping its standard, polite customer-service-like phrasing. In a proud and haughty tone, it said: [Ding! Pain eliminated. Just this once, it won't happen again.]

Xi Nian guessed in his heart that the System had helped, but he was used to being at odds with it. Hearing its words, he remained silent for a long while and ultimately said nothing.

No one knew Xi Nian's injury situation better than Su Ge, so he had been waiting for the other to collapse. However, as time went on, not only did Xi Nian not miss the target as he had expected, he actually became more and more steady—

Ten rings,

Ten rings,

Nothing but ten rings!

When Xi Nian's last arrow shot towards the bullseye in the very center, Su Ge's face was completely drained of color. It was even difficult for him to pull up the corners of his mouth into a fake smile for the camera.

Sporting events were naturally inspiring. When the host announced that Xi Nian had successfully advanced, the cheers from the whole stadium nearly overturned the stands, making one's ears go numb. "Well done, Xi Nian!!! Go for it!! Go for it!!"

At this moment, he truly lived up to the saying: a dark horse that had appeared out of nowhere. His performance in the qualifying rounds had been mediocre, even terrible, yet he shone brilliantly in the subsequent matches, which was truly unexpected.

"He's too amazing. I've never seen such a high ten-ring rate."

"And to think people online called him just a pretty face. It seems the rumors can't be trusted."

"But I heard Xi Nian is supposedly very arrogant."

"What's wrong with that? It's about skill. If I had his level of skill, I'd be arrogant too."

The sun today wasn't blinding, but the air carried a slight restlessness, mixed with the smell of turf and soil. Xi Nian turned his head, his gaze immediately falling upon the audience stands.

His fans were gathered in one spot, clapping and hugging in joyous celebration. But among the group of girls, the presence of a man stood out abruptly—black t-shirt, black baseball cap, a camera in hand, and a single-strap messenger bag slung over his shoulder.

These few simple descriptors could easily be pieced together into three words.

Lu Xingzhe.

Xi Nian retracted his gaze. He took the water bottle a staff member handed him, twisted it open and took a sip, then turned and walked backstage.

To increase their exposure, contestants usually chose to wait in the spectator area. Very few would go straight back to the dressing room. Because of the long competition, the arm guard on Xi Nian's hand was soaked with sweat and stuck to his wound. He took a first-aid box and cotton swabs from his locker, found a place to sit, and frowned as he peeled the arm guard off bit by bit.

The burned area was already bright red. Because he had pulled it off forcefully, the scabbed area began to ooze tissue fluid and blood again. But, perhaps due to the System, there was strangely no pain at all.

Xi Nian's way of treating the wound was quite simple and rough. He tore open the medicine packet with his teeth, poured the powder on in a few quick motions, and was just about to find gauze to wrap the wound when the door to the dressing room suddenly clicked open.

Xi Nian looked up and saw that the person who had come was Su Ge.

"Why so pitiful, hiding here all alone to secretly apply medicine?" Su Ge stood at the door, glanced at the back of Xi Nian's hand, and then frowned in disgust. With a sneer that was hard to tell if it was mocking or sarcastic, he said, "To be able to hit ten rings consecutively with your hand injured like this, should I praise you for your skill, or for your endurance?"

Su Ge only thought that since Xi Nian didn't dare to say a word after being burned by him last time, he was a timid and useless coward. But if he knew that before time was reversed, Xi Nian had almost scalded his head with boiling water, he wouldn't have dared to come and provoke him even if he had ten times the courage.

Xi Nian didn't speak. He wrapped the gauze in a few quick movements, then stood up from the chair and looked around, searching for a handy weapon to beat someone with. He absolutely had to beat the living daylights out of this bastard.

The System sensed his thoughts and popped out like a cannonball with a ding: [Dear Host, we must remain calm. Violence cannot solve problems.]

Xi Nian didn't want to solve the problem; he just wanted to solve Su Ge. But as soon as the System spoke, he remembered being frozen in place last time. It was as if a basin of cold water had been poured over him, and his mind suddenly calmed down.

Seeing him silent, Su Ge kicked a chair with a bang. The bottom scraped against the floor, making a harsh noise. He lowered his voice and threatened, "Don't think you're so great just because you won. Last time it was your hand. Next time, who knows what it'll be. I'd like to see just how long you can last."

Hearing this, the System couldn't hold back either. It whizzed over to the back of Su Ge's head and kicked at his head twice with its transparent body: [So annoying! So annoying!]

How could there be such an annoying human!

I wanted to kick him last time too!

For once, Xi Nian didn't act contrary to the System. He couldn't stay in the dressing room any longer. He tossed the first-aid box into the locker and prepared to leave. As he passed by Su Ge, he put one hand in his pocket and said with a half-smile, "When you had your face done, you really should have had the doctor fix your brain too."

Su Ge froze for a second upon hearing this, only then realizing that Xi Nian was insulting him. He instantly flew into a rage. "You—!"

Xi Nian ignored him and left directly. In a place he couldn't see, a figure flashed past the corner of the hallway.

Lu Xingzhe hadn't expected that his momentary curiosity in following someone backstage would lead to him overhearing such explosive news. He watched Xi Nian's back disappear before his eyes, then glanced at the dressing room door with a peculiar expression, stuffed his camera into his backpack, and limped away from the backstage area.

There were basically no empty seats in the first few rows of the spectator area. Xi Nian didn't like sitting with people he didn't know well, so he took long strides, bypassed the front rows, and sat at the very back. The weather was now gloomy and looked like it was about to rain. Just in case, other artists' assistants were distributing raincoats to them, but Sun Ming had run off and was nowhere to be seen.

Xi Nian hadn't slept well the previous night. He pulled on his cap and sat in his seat, wanting to take a nap. However, before he could fall asleep, someone behind him called his name: "Xi Nian, Xi Nian!"

"Over here, over here!"

Xi Nian lifted the brim of his cap, sat up straight, and turned around. He saw a few fans waving at him from behind a guardrail, holding pens and photos. They nervously requested in a low voice, "Xi Nian, we're all your fans. Could you sign an autograph?"

In his past life, Xi Nian had put all his energy into acting and office politics. His accounts were always managed by his agent, so he had never really interacted much with fans. He paused upon hearing their request, then got up from his seat and walked to the dividing guardrail.

Seeing that he was willing to come over, those few fans became even more excited, their faces flushing red. They all passed their marker pens forward. Xi Nian took the photos and signed his name on each one.

One female fan hadn't brought a photo and was sweating with anxiety. Finally, she noticed the white clothes she was wearing, her eyes lit up, and she pointed to her shirt, "Xi Nian, can you sign on my clothes?"

She was wearing a short crop top and had a sexy figure, which made it somewhat awkward. Xi Nian had nowhere to write. In the end, he gestured for her to turn sideways, then signed his name on the edge of her left sleeve cuff.

This time, he used a stylized script. It didn't look like a signature, but more like a decoration, which complemented the white clothes perfectly.

The female fan noticed his gentlemanly gesture and finally realized what was happening. She secretly stuck out her tongue, took a bag out of the backpack at her feet, and handed it to him somewhat sheepishly. "We just heard Yu Fan's manager say that the artists have to film a promotional video this afternoon and might have to wait a long time. These are some small snacks and drinks. You can have them if you get bored while sitting."

For the safety of the artists, these things were usually received by their managers. Xi Nian paused, then reached out and took the snack bag, speaking to fans at close range in this situation for the first time. "Thank you..."

The fan was so happy she was about to bubble over. "It's nothing, it's nothing! You must take good care of yourself! We will always support you!"

Xi Nian nodded, then turned and returned to his seat. In addition to the snacks, he now also had a cup of bubble tea that had been 'fed' to him. He didn't let it go to waste and directly inserted the straw to start drinking.

Lu Xingzhe's leg was injured, and he returned to the audience stands belatedly. However, before he could speak, the few fans beside him beat their chests and stamped their feet, asking him, "Where did you go just now?"

Lu Xingzhe raised an eyebrow. "To the restroom. What's wrong?"

The fan had a "you-missed-out-big-time" expression. "Xi Nian came over just now and even signed autographs for every one of us! It's such a pity you weren't here, sob sob sob!"

Hearing this, Lu Xingzhe subconsciously looked towards the spectator area and only then discovered that Xi Nian had sat down over there at some point, just a few meters away from them. He touched his chin with an unreadable expression. "Hmm, that is indeed a pity."

There were still several matches in the afternoon. However, halfway through, cold raindrops suddenly started to fall from the sky. Someone touched their head and exclaimed, "Aiya! It's raining!"

"It really is raining!"

"What's going on? It was supposed to be sunny today. I didn't even bring an umbrella."

"The staff said it's a light rain. It'll probably stop after ten or so minutes."

The stadium was a semi-open-air type. The drizzle fell at an angle, drifting directly into the audience stands. The artists had already been given raincoats by their assistants in advance, and plus, the spectator area had a roof, so it wasn't a big problem. Xi Nian was sitting on the edge, and the drizzle drifted in and landed right on him, but he remained indifferent, continuing to rest with his eyes closed.

Lu Xingzhe had been standing all morning, and his leg was stiff. He leaned half of his body against the guardrail to relieve the pressure on his leg. He then noticed that Xi Nian didn't have an assistant to give him a raincoat. After watching for a while from behind, he pulled a disposable raincoat out of his backpack, leaned forward, and tossed it to him.

With a light rustle, something landed in the man's arms.

Xi Nian frowned and opened his eyes. He looked down and saw a plastic raincoat. He subconsciously turned his head and saw a certain person leaning over the guardrail, looking at him. His eyes were raised triumphantly, and he was smiling like a fox.

Lu Xingzhe?

Xi Nian's eyelid twitched. Anyway, in his mind, Lu Xingzhe shouldn't know him right now. His brain spun rapidly for a few cycles, but he couldn't figure out the other's intentions and simply gave up.

Xi Nian avoided the cameras, got up, and walked to the area below the guardrail. He reached out to hand the raincoat back to him. Not wanting to be recognized, he deliberately lowered his voice, "You dropped something."

Lu Xingzhe didn't take it. Thanks to the high ground of the stands, he could look down on Xi Nian. A smile was hidden in the corner of his eyes as he corrected, "It wasn't dropped. It's for you."

Slanting threads of rain fell from the sky, blown over by the wind. Half of Lu Xingzhe's shoulder was soaked. Against the chaotic and noisy background, his voice was somewhat unclear.

Xi Nian didn't think Lu Xingzhe would be so kind. "I don't think we know each other."

He still had no intention of revealing his identity. After all, being stuck with a clingy pest was very troublesome.

Lu Xingzhe calmly sized up Xi Nian's handsome features, becoming even more certain that he was the person who had saved him that day. His fingertips tapped rhythmically on the guardrail as he said, half-jokingly, "I'm your fan. That should be a good enough reason, right?"

Xi Nian didn't believe him. He only felt that Lu Xingzhe had bad intentions. Perhaps this paparazzi who scribbled nonsense was treating him as the subject for his next piece. He glanced at the raincoat in his hand and ultimately accepted it. "Thanks."

Upon hearing that, the smile in Lu Xingzhe's eyes grew wider. His lips were naturally a deep red, and when they curved up slightly, they were even more bewitching than a girl's. "You're welcome. Just give me an autograph next time."

Xi Nian pretended not to hear and sat back down.

Before long, the rain grew heavier, and the temperature dropped along with it. The staff kept reassuring the audience, saying the rain would stop soon. The fans, who had a rare chance to watch their idols compete, were also unwilling to leave. They all tried to find ways to buy rain gear from scalpers. The mobile street vendors outside had raised the price of disposable raincoats to sixty yuan apiece.

"So heartless! I'd feel like I was overpaying for this crappy plastic raincoat at five yuan!"

"Let's buy one quickly, they'll be sold out soon. I came all the way from out of town to watch the match. It would be such a waste to leave now, and catching a cold isn't worth it either."

To avoid the rain, some people were huddling under the roof. Lu Xingzhe's leg hurt, and he was too lazy to go buy an umbrella. Plus, he had a cap, so he remained leaning against the guardrail without moving.

Xi Nian glanced back and saw that the few girls who had given him snacks earlier didn't have umbrellas. A pretty girl with a round face didn't even care about her image and put a plastic bag over her head, making one want to chuckle.

Xi Nian looked away. For some reason, he got up and left the spectator area. When he returned, he was carrying a bag. The fans saw him leap up onto the stands in a few long strides and then hand something over.

The fans were both excited and happy to see him again. "Xi Nian, why did you come over? The rain is heavy here, you should hurry back to your seat... What's this?"

Xi Nian opened the plastic bag. Inside were a few raincoats and an umbrella that he had asked the staff for. "Share these among yourselves. Don't get wet."

The fans were stunned for a few seconds before they realized what he was saying. Overwhelmed, they asked, "Are these for us?"

Xi Nian was not a selfless Good Samaritan. Doing this kind of thing for the first time felt a bit strange to him. Facing the fans' joyful gazes, he gave an almost imperceptible nod.

"Really? That's great!"

"Xi Nian, you're so nice, sob sob sob!"

The girls were so happy they could have died on the spot. Facing the envious gazes of other fans, their hearts were bubbling with joy. Where could you find such a good idol these days? The Gezi Fans had been standing there getting drenched for ages, but they hadn't seen Su Ge come over to ask about them.

Lu Xingzhe had just been taking photos of the competition grounds. Hearing the commotion, he turned his head for a look and saw Xi Nian giving raincoats to his fans. He habitually pinched his earlobe.

'Tsk, who would have thought? This big iceberg is actually quite humane.'

Lu Xingzhe was wearing a short-sleeved shirt today, and his exposed arms were freezing cold. He saw his camera lens was blurred by the rain, so he casually breathed on it and lowered his head to wipe the lens with the hem of his shirt. However, before he could straighten up, a blue and white jacket, still warm with body heat, was draped over his shoulders.

Lu Xingzhe's figure froze. At the same time, a familiar male voice sounded from above his head, "There weren't enough raincoats. Use my jacket to block the rain for now."

Xi Nian had taken off his jacket, leaving him in just a short-sleeved shirt. After speaking, he turned and left, returning to the spectator area.

And Lu Xingzhe, draped in the jacket that still held a residual warmth, blinked a half-beat too late, a brief look of bewilderment appearing on his face.