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He was ordinary as dust.

Professor Lu would never forget his shameful choice back then—to be a deserter. He had thought that as long as he closed his eyes, he could pretend not to see; as long as he covered his ears, he could pretend not to hear. He told himself that if he had no feelings, he could pretend that he...

No. In the end, he still loved Doctor Zhen.

Watching the person he secretly loved suffer Brother Hao's humiliation and bullying, Professor Lu had not been unangered. It was just that back then, he could do nothing, and he did not dare do anything. Even after growing up, Professor Lu could still feel the resentment he had redirected onto himself over his own helplessness.

Then Professor Lu realized he could not go on like this. He had to do something.

What brought about such a huge change in Professor Lu was the affection and guilt he had accumulated for Doctor Zhen over time, as well as... a diagnosis stating that he did not have long to live.

Yes, what truly troubled Professor Lu was neither the report everyone assumed it was, nor the serial killer identity Basketball Qiao and Second-generation Zhao had mentioned. What had made Professor Lu's complexion so awful lately was a conversation with his attending physician. He had been told he had cancer—cell carcinoma—and at most, half a year left to live.

Once his life entered its countdown, Professor Lu, who had nothing left to lose, became twisted in that silence.

He did not ask for the world to remember him. He only wanted Doctor Zhen to know that there had once been someone as timid and weak as him who loved him. Though his love was worthless, it was still his love. Professor Lu had never expected a response from Doctor Zhen, nor did he think Doctor Zhen ought to respond to him. He himself was not worth loving at all. He merely wanted to be willful once before he died and let the other man know how he felt.

But if he rashly showed up and confessed his love, never mind whether Doctor Zhen would believe him—Professor Lu himself would despise his own shamelessness. He shut himself away for a long time, agonizing over what he could do for Doctor Zhen before his death.

Then...

Through his long-term observation of Doctor Zhen, Professor Lu discovered Doctor Zhen's secret.

At that point, the character card stopped writing and skipped over a portion of the plot.

Zhen Liu was equally astonished, because Doctor Zhen's character biography that he had seen contained no secret whatsoever. His memories were coherent and complete—at least, that was how Doctor Zhen himself felt. He did not have any secrets. What exactly had Professor Lu learned? His plan to kill Ying De?

That explanation did make sense, but Zhen Liu still keenly sensed that something was wrong. Something had definitely been omitted here, and it was very important.

But before Zhen Liu could think further, Professor Lu spoke up and interrupted his train of thought. "After I discovered you wanted to kill someone, I followed you here, because I had to kill that person before you did." Having said that, Professor Lu looked at Zhen Liu expectantly, as though he could not wait for him to ask a question.

What could Zhen Liu ask? Naturally: "Can I know what secret of mine you discovered?"

Professor Lu did not answer. Zhen Liu did not know whether he was doing it deliberately or whether his love-struck brain had simply kicked in, but he said, "I thought you would ask me what my name is. So you could distinguish me from the character Professor Lu."

Zhen Liu: "..." Why would I need to know your name? I can distinguish you from Professor Lu. The two of you are really quite different.

Yet the cold, stern young man across from him began speaking on his own. "My name is Lucien. Lucien represents light and truth."

Zhen Liu had only one thought: so he was an international friend.

Then the international friend asked again, "How did you know I was the one who misled Second-generation Zhao?"

"Because Second-generation Zhao was inexplicably confident that you would side with him and vote Lawyer Jin out." Both Zhen Liu and Second-generation Zhao had visited Lucien in the little dark room, one after the other. Their purpose at the time must have been to persuade Lucien to vote. Zhen Liu had made quite a few preparations to convince Lucien, though they had gone unused in the end.

By that logic, Second-generation Zhao naturally had leverage too. Leverage important enough that he was certain Lucien would listen to him.

So the question was, given the circumstances at the time, what could Lucien possibly have that was important enough for Second-generation Zhao to be sure he would compromise—and that Second-generation Zhao could know about beforehand?

The answer was practically obvious. Most likely, Second-generation Zhao and Basketball Qiao had privately compared their methods and timelines, causing Second-generation Zhao, who believed he had cleaned up Basketball Qiao's mess, to realize that someone had carefully misled him.

Zhen Liu knew Doctor Zhen had not done it.

That left only Professor Lu and Lawyer Jin as candidates for whoever had misled Second-generation Zhao. But if Lawyer Jin had done it, given Second-generation Zhao's hatred for Lawyer Jin, he would definitely have said so the moment he found out. But he had not. That left Professor Lu as the only answer.

And that was indeed the truth.

Zhen Liu had already seen it in Professor Lu's character biography: Professor Lu was the one who stabbed someone. It was not merely that Second-generation Zhao mistook Basketball Qiao for the culprit—both of them had mistaken each other for the stabber, repeatedly covering for each other and cleaning up afterward. They had really been busy that night.

That was also why Zhen Liu had not found the stabbing weapon in the secret room. Second-generation Zhao had not disposed of the weapon. Basketball Qiao, who mistakenly believed Second-generation Zhao had killed Ying De, had hidden it.

Basketball Qiao had smothered someone with a pillow so obviously only because he had intended to leave evidence behind, so the police would arrest him. He wanted to take the blame for Second-generation Zhao.

Their brotherly bond was quite solid, and the players portraying them had also become inexplicably invested and sincere.

Speaking of sincere feelings, Zhen Liu could not help looking at another player who was equally invested. Lucien and the Professor Lu who was like a creature from the corner were worlds apart in personality. Yet Lucien seemed extremely determined to faithfully recreate the character. Even with his terrible acting, he still insisted on being love-struck at this point, unwilling to step out of the role he had set for himself.

Zhen Liu had no choice but to advise him, "There's really no need to go this far." By now, everyone had more or less broken character.

But Lucien refused. "How could that be? If I say I love you, then I love you. Just wait—I will definitely make you feel my love!"