Chapter 11

When Jin Xiaopeng saw Shi Xingzhou appear, he immediately called out timidly, "Brother..."

But with Zhuo Yang holding his arm, he quickly lowered his head again.

A flicker of disdain crossed Shi Xingzhou's eyes.

If Jin Xiaopeng hadn't messed up, Qiao Huan would never have earned his aunt's appreciation.

And now he actually wanted to ask Shi Xingzhou for help. Wasn't that just dragging him down too?

The commotion had clearly grown out of hand, and some onlookers nearby had already started taking photos.

Shi Xingzhou ignored Jin Xiaopeng's gaze, immediately steadied his breathing, and put on a textbook "Oh? What happened?" smile.

Beside Shi Xingzhou, however, Qiao Huan's brows were tightly knitted.

There was no doubt that something was wrong with this bar, but who supplied the sedative pills, who helped connect the patrons with their kept lovers, and just how large a group and industry were involved behind it all... None of these questions had been fully investigated. By doing this, Zhuo Yang and Ye Yiwei had undoubtedly beaten the grass and startled the snake.

Fortunately, he had caught the unusual look on Shi Xingzhou's face just now.

If Shi Xingzhou wasn't an important player, why would his aunt have called him in to save the situation?

And why would Jin Xiaopeng have asked him for help?

No matter what anyone said, Qiao Huan couldn't believe that Jin Xiaopeng could contact patrons and get the pills all on his own.

Shi Xingzhou had to be running things behind the scenes.

Taking it a step further, after the fuss Zhuo Yang and Ye Yiwei had made today, the operation would surely have to change somehow, either by moving elsewhere or replacing someone.

As long as something changed, there was a chance they'd give themselves away.

"Buffing, whatever you're thinking, go stop them," Captain Qiao reminded him. "If this goes on, someone will call the police."

"Mm."

Qiao Huan saw that Zhuo Yang was breathing heavily, his eyes red. He was clearly furious.

His thin T-shirt did nothing to conceal the bulging muscles on Zhuo Yang's arms. The people around him had backed several meters away, and no one dared stop the enraged man.

Only Qiao Huan slowly stepped forward.

But then.

Just as Qiao Huan came within about a meter of the seats where the group stood, his earpiece suddenly crackled.

The sound pierced his eardrum, making the hairs on Qiao Huan's body stand on end.

"Buffing, are there any police officers or other public officials in front of you?" Captain Qiao asked, puzzled. "The signal's being jammed, which means someone near you is using this channel too!"

Qiao Huan's breath caught. Was there another officer here?

But everyone around him was watching, so Qiao Huan could only continue walking without betraying a thing.

"Zhuo Yang-ge, let go first," Qiao Huan said, gently patting the back of Zhuo Yang's hand. "Let's find out what happened first."

Zhuo Yang's unfocused eyes took a long moment to clear.

Amid the dim yellow light and the countless gazes crossing around them, the two looked at each other in silence.

Finally, Zhuo Yang took a deep breath and released his grip.

The onlookers hadn't expected the man who had just been raging to be so easily soothed by this slender young man, and they cast Qiao Huan admiring looks.

Jin Xiaopeng immediately collapsed to the floor.

Qiao Huan bent down, his voice low but carrying an indescribable pressure. "Did you put something in the glass?"

Jin Xiaopeng instinctively shook his head, but when he met Qiao Huan's eyes, deep as icy pools, he didn't dare lie and nodded.

"What did you put in it?" Qiao Huan asked.

"A nutritional... nutritional supplement!" Jin Xiaopeng was frantic. "It's a nutritional supplement!"

Zhuo Yang erupted. "Bullshit! You secretly slipped Qiao Huan a nutritional supplement? You call this a nutritional supplement?"

He had spent much of his special operations career fighting the various drugs that flowed into the country, and he couldn't have been more sensitive to them.

What was more, Jin Xiaopeng had drugged a roommate from his own trainee cohort!

And the roommate he thought was the nicest of them all, at that!

Qiao Huan sighed. "Zhuo-ge, can I see it?"

Zhuo Yang handed him the pill and was about to tell him to be careful, but to his surprise, Qiao Huan dropped the tablet straight into the drink.

"You drink first." Qiao Huan held the glass to Jin Xiaopeng's lips. "Go on."

Jin Xiaopeng glanced at Shi Xingzhou instinctively, but the other man was watching him with an amused look.

He seemed to be saying: If you give me up, the video will be made public.

Doomed either way, Jin Xiaopeng squeezed his eyes shut, took the glass, and gulped down its contents.

"Hey—" Zhuo Yang was dumbfounded.

Ten seconds, twenty seconds, three minutes...

The room fell silent.

Jin Xiaopeng showed no signs of anything being wrong. Even he looked surprised.

"Get up." Qiao Huan gently helped Jin Xiaopeng to his feet, taking the opportunity to hide the real pill in his trouser pocket. "If there's anything, you can tell me directly. Don't make me misunderstand you, okay?"

Though Jin Xiaopeng didn't know how Qiao Huan had done it, he knew the other man had saved him, and tears welled up in his eyes.

"Thank you... Thank you, Qiao Huan-ge."

Qiao Huan ruffled his hair and discreetly wiped away his tears.

Then he looked at Zhuo Yang. "It was all a misunderstanding, Zhuo-ge."

"A-Huan!" Zhuo Yang sighed. "Who knows what that pill might have been? How can you trust people so easily?"

This Qiao Huan! Wasn't he a little too nice?

Ye Yiwei, standing nearby, felt the same way and nodded.

"If there's anything to say, let's talk when we get back." Qiao Huan smiled gently, using his eyes to remind them that people were all around.

Ye Yiwei and Zhuo Yang looked at Qiao Huan for another moment.

The subtle tension between the three was like kite strings tangled beneath a clear sky; only they knew how taut or slack those strings were.

Seeing that there was no more entertainment to be had, the people around them gradually dispersed.

The scene was entirely harmonious.

But then.

A red-haired young man who had barely made his presence known suddenly sprang to his feet.

"Mm..." Bai Jike patted his chest. "I'm telling you, I'm actually super capable! I'm fucking awesome!"

The three of them: ...

Ye Yiwei suddenly remembered. "Actually, Xiao Bai drank quite a bit just now..."

Could it be that a socially anxious person turned into a social butterfly when drunk?

Bai Jike looked at the three of them through half-closed eyes. "Boo-hoo, why did you let me have the endorsement? You're so mean! Do you know how much—hic—computer time you cost me?!"

With that, he frantically grabbed drinks from the table and poured them down his throat.

Ye Yiwei was the first to react and immediately tried to snatch his glass, but Bai Jike was so strong that Ye Yiwei couldn't control him at all.

In an instant, chaos erupted. As if pumped full of chicken blood, Bai Jike put his physical abilities on full display, darting all over Between Life and Death.

"Just going to stand there and watch?" Ye Yiwei shouted. "What if he gets hurt?!"

Qiao Huan and Zhuo Yang woke as if from a dream and immediately joined in the pursuit...

Bai Jike ran ahead, candy wrappers that had somehow filled his pockets spilling out behind him, red, green, pink, and orange, fluttering through the air.

The three young men chased after him, trying their hardest to pick them up, afraid of causing trouble for anyone else.

The room instantly erupted in laughter, and the tense atmosphere dissolved in a flash.

Few people came here to drink, and even fewer ever really got drunk.

They were always envying entertainers with better resources, yet they had never expected that, at this moment, they would envy four people who could drink in earnest and get drunk without a care.

It was as though they saw in them a reflection of what they themselves should have been.

But Shi Xingzhou's smile froze on his face.

He wished he could feel jealous.

But he didn't.

He simply didn't understand.

Beside him, his aunt Shi Lianyi wore a "This is wonderful" expression for the first time in ages, her heart stirred.

What were youth, vitality, and friendship?

This was it!

These were the people she was looking for!

That night, it took Qiao Huan and the other two the strength of nine oxen and two tigers to drag Jiang Renbao and Bai Jike back to the dorm.

What they didn't know, however, was what a storm of blood and gore had swept across Weibo during the hours they slept like the dead.

@Gossip Detective: Shocking! At a bar in City A, rising young star Bai Jike, who recently landed a Blue Sesame endorsement, was apparently drugged and driven out of his mind, escaping only thanks to his roommates' help! According to reports, his roommates Qiao Huan, Zhuo Yang, and Ye Yiwei are trainees from his cohort at Star Radiance. The four previously gained a little fame through "City Escape" and were dubbed the Shura Field Brothers.

At first, hardly anyone cared about the gossip. After all, none of the young men were particularly famous, and the tip looked completely unreliable.

Something about being drugged at a bar and going crazy...

But soon, someone sharp-eyed spotted something in the attached video and photos.

Shi Xingzhou was there!

In the foreground of the photo, Qiao Huan and the other two were scrambling to subdue Bai Jike together. In the background, however, was Shi Xingzhou's blurry figure...

His blond hair was simply too recognizable.

This was like kicking a hornet's nest. Marketing accounts began reposting the story, drawing countless Shi Xingzhou fans and passersby.

"Oh my god, that's terrifying. People still get drugged at bars! Little Brother Jike even went crazy!"

"Thank goodness the Three Brothers of the Shura Field were there! I hope Little Brother is okay!"

"Report! My neighbor's older sister is a coordinator at Star Radiance. She says they've all returned to the company now and they're fine!"

"That's good!"

"Actually, what I find scarier is that all three Shura brothers were helping Little Brother Jike, but Shi Xingzhou was smiling in the background."

"Exactly. They're from the same company, and they even interacted on a livestream before. How could Shi Xingzhou smile?!"

"Can you stop making up hate about my gege? It's obviously the lighting and angle that make it look like he's smiling!"

"Exactly..."

"Are all the Zhou fans blind? Look at the other videos. Shi Xingzhou was sneering the whole time, okay?!"

"Who drugs people at bars these days? I'm gonna puke... Wasn't Bai Jike just drunk?"

"Even if he was drunk, look at how the three Shura brothers reacted, then look at your Zhou. The difference is obvious!"

"That instantly reminded me of that washed-up idol who laughed when he saw a little kid fall. Seriously, instinctive reactions show a person's true face best!"

Shi Xingzhou was already run off his feet taking stock of the business at Between Life and Death. After seeing the netizens' comments, he didn't sleep a wink all night.

His gentle and generous persona was like a piece of exquisite porcelain: it couldn't be allowed to crack, or it would shatter at the slightest touch.

The following morning.

The official announcement of a new variety show completely shattered his last hope of maintaining his persona—

@Starlight Entertainment: @Fanhua Entertainment–Shi Lianyi, thank you for the invitation! The S-level "reverse survival show" variety program "Deserted Island" will soon begin filming, and our company's champions are ready! @Shi Xingzhou @Qiao Huan @Ye Yiwei @Zhuo Yang @Bai Jike

In an instant, Shi Xingzhou felt as if he had seen four bolts of heavenly lightning racing toward him.

The author had something to say:

Bai Jike: A Shura field without me? I'll fight my way in if I have to.

Principal: That's our Xiao Bai. Even this drunk, your confidentiality awareness is first-rate. (Currently tearing up his diploma by hand.)

The Three Brothers of the Shura Field, or Xiu San for short.

A little spoiler: later, they'll become Xiu Si. (As if anyone didn't already know.)