Chapter 4

After City Escape ended, Qiao Huan finally got his phone back and was hit by a shock from the internet.

He felt he had done only three things on the variety show: first, run away; second, try to run away; third, create the conditions to run away even when there were none.

But how on earth had people read so much into it?

The twentieth most popular video on B Network was titled "The Most Beautiful Shura Field: City Escape's Star Radiance Contestants Cut."

The video opened with a silhouette of Qiao Huan singing in the bar, accompanied by the lazy, low-pitched strains of "Those Were the Days."

Then, various moments involving the three were shown in slow motion: Qiao Huan unbuttoning his shirt, Zhuo Yang panting as he worked out, the prolonged sound of water from Ye Yiwei's bathroom... Contrasted with the three tossing and turning at night, they all seemed to conceal enormous secrets.

As night fell, all three thought they had slipped away from the other two and left alone, only for fate to bring them together outside the safe house.

Their eyes met, and words no longer mattered. All they could do was race toward the nearest hunter with all their might.

Flashbacks showed them handling hunters with ease during the day, yet now they exposed one opening after another, as though each were trying desperately to shield his brothers and go bravely to his death...

Paired with the heartbreakingly beautiful lyrics, "Competing in a beautiful dream, striving every night, to whom can I return my feelings," it was a perfect embodiment of BE aesthetics: three brothers each wanting to sacrifice himself so the others could win.

A Better Tomorrow, The White Storm, Bullet in the Head... Which of those classics didn't have three male leads?

Three brothers in a shura field, yyds!

The comments were full of marmot screams:

"Let me explain what actually happened: they're all newly signed rookies, and because they wanted to become famous and land endorsements, they all wanted to try challenging a hunter!"

"Look, Qiao Huan really did go out first, and the others followed! Even when he's a salted fish, a big shot is still a big shot. That's his power to rally people! I'm already imagining a whole drama where Qiao Huan became such a salted fish only after watching a thousand sails pass him by!"

"Don't spread that around. Qiao Huan and the big shot singing in the bar might not be the same person."

"The original plot doesn't matter! Why are you just standing there? Get shipping that brotherhood!"

"Either way, they're three righteous lunatics. BE is forever god-tier, just kill me, ahhh!"

One person doing something out of the ordinary would only look awkward, but when three did it together, there was a tragic, heroic beauty to it.

Qiao Huan: Forced into tragic heroism. Thanks, my dear peers. (Gnashes teeth.)

Although he was deeply shocked by the imaginations of today's netizens, Qiao Huan figured people would watch a cut from a flop variety show and leave it at that. Surely no one would care for long.

But he never expected Starlight Entertainment to release an announcement at this exact moment—

[In five weeks, four members of OSOK will be selected from the following eighteen trainees. During this period, we will release videos of their training evaluations every week. The entire process will be transparent; please bear witness.]

The announcement struck like a thunderclap, shooting straight to the top of the trending searches.

Was Starlight Entertainment, the entertainment giant long notorious for shady dealings and casting-couch rules, finally turning over a new leaf?!

Only their manager, Pei Dahai, knew this was a last resort.

The members of OSOK had already been decided twice, but apart from the captain, all four members had their dirt dug up by paparazzi who got wind of it early. Finances, political stances, relationships with men and women, and so on... They were sent to their funerals before they could even debut.

Finding a trainee with a clean background and outstanding talent was now harder than bringing Chen Yongren back to life.

Star Radiance's cash flow was on the verge of breaking. The company had already planned to make a desperate last stand with an "internal talent show" project, and took advantage of the popularity of the four cannon fodder from City Escape to announce it.

Why did he still call them "cannon fodder"?

Pei Dahai had seen far too many artists gain a little popularity from appearing on a variety show. Most faded as quickly as they rose, and these four were more... abnormal than any he had ever seen.

In any case, trainees and the company using each other was no big deal.

"So everyone must work twice as hard!" Pei Dahai raised an arm and called out in the practice room. "You're all trainees I picked with the utmost care. For the next five weeks, please give it a hundred percent!"

"Yes!" Fourteen of the eighteen rookies answered with great spirit.

As for the four who didn't answer... naturally, they were Qiao Huan, Ye Yiwei, Zhuo Yang, and Bai Jike.

The four hadn't slept a wink the night before, all of them thinking about how to escape this debut plan.

Seeing that morale was high, Pei Dahai added, "After all, OSOK is a universally acclaimed cosmic group. We'll make sure your skills are up to standard, so—"

"Brother Pei, sorry to interrupt." Qiao Huan raised his hand first. "May I withdraw from OSOK's training program?"

"What?!" Pei Dahai's face immediately darkened. "Do you know what you're saying? Making the list of eighteen is an honor hundreds of trainees could only dream of."

"I'm serious." Qiao Huan looked sincere. "My biggest dream as a trainee is to get a living allowance of 1,500 a month and eat my way through life while waiting to die. Debuting would be so stressful. I'm afraid I couldn't take it."

Not being able to take it was a lie; delaying his graduation was the truth.

"What about everyone else?" Pei Dahai frowned. "Does anyone else feel the same way?"

Ye Yiwei, Zhuo Yang, and Bai Jike raised their hands in unison.

"You four really are... united," Pei Dahai said, banishing the thought that the other three were only withdrawing because Qiao Huan had. "Although you're fairly popular right now, if you really don't want to..."

Knock, knock.

A man knocked on the door and walked in.

"Brother Dahai, you haven't cued me yet?" The man had short blond hair and a very gentle, kind face. "I thought it was time for me to come in."

The trainees saw who it was and immediately broke into a chorus of soft "wows."

Pei Dahai's attitude also did an immediate one-eighty, and he smiled. "It's fine, your timing's perfect! I'll introduce you first, then deal with the four of them."

"As I was saying, your skills can't be too poor either. At the very least, use him as your benchmark." Pei Dahai smiled and stepped aside. "Let me tell you a secret: this is Shi Xingzhou, OSOK's already confirmed captain."

Applause immediately rang out.

"Wow, it really is him!"

"I heard this guy's been training since he was six! He's got over a million followers on Weibo now!"

"Who cares about followers? Most importantly, his dad is..."

Shi Xingzhou's father was the president of Starlight Entertainment.

Seeing him, no one questioned whether OSOK had the makings of a cosmic group anymore. After all, no father would screw over his own son like that.

Qiao Huan quietly lowered his hand.

"What?" Pei Dahai caught Qiao Huan's movement. "You're not withdrawing anymore?"

"I think I can still make an effort." Qiao Huan readily went along with it.

He had eaten with Jiang Renbao the day before, but that young master was a complete blockhead who knew nothing, no matter what he was asked.

But Qiao Huan hadn't expected a seemingly unreachable mission target to surface so quickly, as though he couldn't wait.

It seemed that becoming famous from being edited into a Shura Field cut wasn't entirely without benefits. At least it could make certain people feel a little threatened.

Thanks, my dear peers. (From the bottom of my heart.)

Shi Xingzhou noticed Qiao Huan too and suddenly smiled gently. "You're Qiao Huan?"

Qiao Huan pretended to be taken aback.

"We were classmates in middle school. Do you remember?" Shi Xingzhou smiled.

Qiao Huan's expression didn't ripple in the slightest, as though he were looking at a lifeless statue. "I don't remember."

"Oh." Shi Xingzhou maintained his graceful smile. "That's all right."

Shi Xingzhou had entered the practice room to make an appearance at the time Pei Dahai requested, and his first reaction was that it was a nuisance.

Faced with a room full of trainees itching to debut, he had little to say beyond the usual words of encouragement. If a couple of them got the wrong ideas and tried to attach themselves to him, he couldn't openly reject them either.

Only then did he notice Qiao Huan.

It was hard not to notice him. His height and looks were striking enough, yet his bearing and expression were so... detached.

The other trainees had been delighted to see him, but there wasn't a trace of admiration or envy in Qiao Huan's eyes.

It was as though he were looking at an ornament that shouldn't have been there.

That expression made Shi Xingzhou suddenly remember that he had seen it in middle school too.

Back then, he had been like a hunter, seeking out people from the bottom of society for his amusement.

The more they suffered, the happier he was.

But Qiao Huan had always acted as if he didn't care, as though nothing could strike a nerve.

No jealousy, envy, attempts to curry favor, or hatred directed at him.

Nothing at all.

Who did someone from Qiao Huan's background think he was?

And so, Shi Xingzhou had spent three whole years trying to make the other boy live in purgatory.

Of course, to the outside world, he was still the exalted young master of an entertainment family. No one knew how much effort he had put in or how many obstacles he had laid.

He had gone abroad for high school and naturally put his former prey out of his mind.

But now Qiao Huan had appeared before him just like that, wearing that familiar expression.

On his own family's turf, how could he possibly let him off again?

Shi Xingzhou smiled again, this time from the heart.

"Whether we know each other or not, you have to do your best. Let's aim to debut together and be teammates."

Such lovely encouragement.

Even the angle of his smile had been carefully designed, flawless in every respect.

But it was enough to make the other trainees jealous.

Everyone turned to look at Qiao Huan.

However.

Qiao Huan had his head down, looking intently at his phone.

"Ahem." Pei Dahai cleared his throat to remind him.

Only then did Qiao Huan look up. After two seconds of confusion, he answered, "Okay... thank you for the encouragement, Senior."

The muscles in Shi Xingzhou's smile had already begun to twitch slightly, but he maintained his exquisite, perfect bearing and asked softly, "What are you looking at? You were so absorbed."

Qiao Huan really had been absorbed just now, thinking about how to get this target to quickly set his sights on him.

Besides, how could he possibly have forgotten what happened in middle school? If he really had forgotten, he wouldn't have chosen Star Radiance's case as his graduation assignment.

Since the other man had brought it up, this was perfect.

And so, under everyone's gaze, Qiao Huan slowly took out his phone and showed them a group photo.

"I happen to have a group photo from my middle school graduation. I just took a look and found someone who really looks a lot like Mr. Shi."

"But his eyes aren't as big as yours, and his nose isn't as high... They couldn't be the same person, could they?"

Author's note:

Chapter one of the Undercover Handbook: an undercover agent must endure.

Qiao Huan: But my revenge can't wait until tomorrow.

Bai Jike (off on a tangent): There are clearly four people in the dorm, so why is my name missing from the shura field? (Forced to put on lipstick.)

I'll try to include little skits in the author's note for every chapter, but after this one there's some explanation and content warnings about the story. Anyone who doesn't want to read them can skip ahead~

--

To answer questions like "Why are these people going undercover at an entertainment company?" and "How can an undercover agent become famous?" I'll give a brief reply. All four have personal reasons, to one extent or another, for going undercover, and those will gradually be revealed later. Of course, the reasons are all pretty far-fetched and very different from reality, because I made up both the departments and the positions, after all. If that bothers you, there's no need to keep reading. Heart hands.

They also have various reasons why they can't continue in their original professions. For example, Zhuo Yang was injured and can no longer serve as a special operations officer, and so on... This story absolutely does not mean or imply that "becoming hugely popular in the entertainment industry" is better than "being an undercover agent."

Also, all their earnings while undercover will be handed over to the state or donated to welfare organizations.

Lastly, this is mainly an entertainment-industry feel-good story, supplemented by the back-and-forth of four undercover agents protecting their secret identities. Criminal investigations won't take up much space or be very complicated. Heart hands.

--