Is It Still Too Late to Castrate Him Now?

During the individual evidence search, the guests acted alone. Gu Shiyan had no idea what Chu Tian had encountered to frighten him so badly, but knowing the production team's usual tricks, he could guess more or less what had happened.

"Don't be afraid." Gu Shiyan raised a hand and gently patted the back of Chu Tian's head, his tone softer than even he realized. "Everything you saw was fake."

Chu Tian trembled, still remembering how he had bragged to Gu Shiyan that he would protect him. Yet now he had been scared into this state... No, this was way too embarrassing!

"I-I-I'm not scared," Chu Tian stubbornly insisted. "I know it was all fake, fake, fake. I wasn't scared—I was cold!"

He was not entirely saying that just to save face. The young master favored extravagant outfits, full of flashy accessories but utterly useless for keeping warm.

He had just been badly frightened, and then the little breeze hit him. The chill went straight to his bones.

The corners of Gu Shiyan's lips lifted slightly. He saw through him but did not expose him, merely taking off his suit jacket and draping it over Chu Tian's shoulders.

The weight of the jacket, still warm from Gu Shiyan's body heat, made Chu Tian sway slightly. The effect was immediate—color quickly returned to his pale face in the form of a faint blush.

Their natural, unconcealed interaction instantly drew a chorus of wolfish howls from the viewers.

[If this is fake, then what the hell is real!]

[I hereby declare this couple the sweetest young pair of the year!]

[Someone actually said Gu Shiyan hated Tian Tian? Would you comfort someone you hated and give him your jacket? Say something, haters!]

[Those single dogs must be jealous of our Tian Tian's relationship, that's why they're deliberately smearing them. Protect our precious Tian Tian!]

[Hahahaha, who are you calling out there, 0vo?]

[It's all fake manufactured sweetness, acted out to fool idiots like you! You believe this? Be careful not to get scammed into buying health supplements when you're old!]

[Did no one teach you to hide your fan affiliation before attacking someone? Change that Qian Feihe fan avatar before you speak!]

While every kind of person in the livestream chat argued themselves into a frenzy, the guests on the show had already completed their individual votes.

Under Gu Shiyan's reassurance, Chu Tian seemed to have recovered and returned to his lively self.

The director announced the voting results. Tian Qianqian had been voted out with a high total of four votes.

Tian Qianqian stared in disbelief and stomped her feet in panic, but having been muted and sent to the murderer's seat, she could not defend herself.

Besides its live-broadcast format, the show also drew attention with the gimmick of splitting a prize pool.

Each episode was sponsored with five hundred thousand yuan in cash. If the murderer was not voted out, they were considered the winner and took the entire prize.

If the murderer was successfully identified, everyone except the murderer split the prize money equally. Risk and opportunity went hand in hand.

Everyone waited anxiously and uneasily for the director to announce the result. Only Chu Tian kept glancing at Gu Shiyan, distracted and absent-minded, his lips pressed tightly together as though he were feeling upset.

The first group vote had cast three ballots, and the individual vote after the third evidence search added another six, for a total of nine votes.

Tian Qianqian had been voted out as the murderer with four votes. Qian Feihe and Song Qiang had received two votes each, while even Wen Lan had received one.

The only two people in the room who had received no votes were Chu Tian and Gu Shiyan.

Chu Tian did not know who Gu Shiyan had voted for, but he himself had voted for Song Qiang. As he waited for the verdict, he suddenly regretted it.

He remembered some information he had previously overlooked. For example, regarding Gu Shiyan's true identity, he had claimed that he, too, had been one of the children from the orphanage funded by Master Huai. After growing up, he had applied to become the Huai family's butler in order to repay Master Huai.

But he had never explained where the younger brother in the photograph he treasured had gone. And as the butler, he had been the one most likely to know everyone's movements throughout the estate, even the hidden passage and basement in Master Huai's study. Did he truly know nothing?

Then there was the pool in the basement filled with red liquid, as well as the encrypted files on Master Huai's encrypted computer, which contained several children's birth dates and times. Could the butler's younger brother have been among them?

The more Chu Tian connected the dots, the more suspicious Gu Shiyan seemed.

Sure enough, the director announced the final truth: Gu Shiyan was the real murderer.

The adopted young master had been lucky. Because his birth date and time brought fortune to Master Huai, he had been brought back to the Huai family as a living good-luck charm.

As for the orphans whose birth dates and times had been specially calculated, with one disappearing every year, they had been used as sacrifices and bled to death.

The butler's younger brother had also suddenly disappeared one day. He had searched for him for years before finally following the clues to suspect Master Huai.

He had applied to be the butler precisely to find out what had happened to his younger brother.

After discovering the truth behind the blood pool and realizing his younger brother would never return, the butler had killed in rage.

After the director revealed the truth, the atmosphere on set fell silent. This script was truly brutal on the emotions.

Gu Shiyan received the prize money from the first episode, but he did not look particularly happy. His gaze remained fixed on Chu Tian.

As the director announced the result, he looked at the viewership numbers that had climbed to their peak and felt exhilarated. After the livestream ended, he grandly declared that he would treat everyone to dinner.

Qian Feihe had originally been furious over Gu Shiyan's victory, but when he heard the director say he would pay, his eyes shifted as he quietly looked toward Wen Lan.

"How about this? I'll pay for this meal." Qian Feihe rarely said anything remotely decent. "We got off to a bit of an unpleasant start, and we'll be working together to film several more episodes. Please give me the chance to make amends."

Everyone looked at him in surprise, as though they had never expected him to be capable of speaking like a normal person.

Chu Tian finally seemed to snap out of it and instinctively wanted to refuse, but just as the words reached his lips, he seemed to remember something. He jolted as an important matter came back to him.

According to the original story, tonight was when Qian Feihe would make his move on Wen Lan. He had not even found a chance to warn Wen Lan to be careful!

[Oh no, oh no! This beast can't hold back his animal urges anymore. Is it still too late to castrate him now?!]

Gu Shiyan: "..."

In order to find an opportunity to warn Wen Lan about the pervert, Chu Tian gritted his teeth and followed the group heading to dinner.

But Qian Feihe kept hovering around Wen Lan, leaving him no chance at all.

Qian Feihe had the self-awareness of a celebrity and chose a high-end members-only private club for the meal, a place that offered dining, drinks, entertainment, and lodging all in one. He had spared no expense.

Even the director, Li Yu, was stunned by Qian Feihe's lavish spending and kept saying, "You really shouldn't have."

Places this upscale were not somewhere one could enter with money alone. You also needed an introduction from a member whose spending had reached a certain threshold before you could even have a chance of obtaining a membership card.

Qian Feihe had chosen this place not only for privacy, but also to flaunt his wealth.

Basking in everyone's praise, he looked thoroughly pleased with himself and did not forget to shoot Gu Shiyan a provocative glance.

"It's just a club. It's not like he owns it—what's there to be proud of?" Chu Tian muttered in confusion. "He's just a customer, yet he's putting on the airs of the owner?"