Experimental High School was Xu Xiaoxiao's school.
All 1,482 students at the school had attended today's legal awareness lecture.
Jiang Chiyan was certain.
Xu Xiaoxiao, the top student who never skipped class, had never shown up.
Just then, a voice sounded in Jiang Chiyan's mind.
[Ding-dong!] [Host has triggered a new mission: rescue the abducted Xu Xiaoxiao.]
Jiang Chiyan asked the system, "Abducted??? Wasn't that supposed to happen five days from now?"
System: [The host's intervention will alter the course of events and may cause them to occur ahead of schedule.] System: [Mission hint: Xu Xiaoxiao's Weibo ID-I heard dogs bite you if your username is too long.]
Jiang Chiyan hurriedly opened Xu Xiaoxiao's Weibo.
Her pinned post read, "It's 2021, and he's still pulling that fortune-telling crap. Jiang Chiyan is either possessed or a dropout who slipped through the nine years of compulsory education, that dumbass!!! I don't believe it. If a talent scout really approached me, I'd be thrilled to death."
Jiang "slipped through the nine years of compulsory education" Chiyan: "..."
What was he supposed to do if he no longer wanted to save this girl?
[Friendly reminder:] [Mission success: reward-one of Xiao Cheng's secrets.] [Failure penalty: eat one wild poisonous mushroom raw.]
Jiang Chiyan spoke up to curse at the system. "Fuck off! I'm not doing it!!"
It wasn't that he had no interest in Xiao Cheng's secrets.
Quite the opposite: Jiang Chiyan was full of possessiveness and a desire to conquer when it came to Xiao Cheng.
But he respected Xiao Cheng.
He didn't want to pry into Xiao Cheng's secrets through such despicable, dirty means.
[Host's intent detected. Punishment commencing.]
Jiang Chiyan's body suddenly walked stiffly toward a lawn nearby.
There was a cluster of poisonous mushrooms in the grass.
Red caps, white stems.
Jiang Chiyan bent down, his hand plucking a poisonous mushroom against his will.
Fuck!!
You shitty system, have you fucking lost your mind!!
If I die, you won't survive either!
[Punishment continuing.]
The system's mechanical voice held not a trace of warmth.
The system even supplied maddening background music in Jiang Chiyan's mind.
-"Little red caps, little white stems, eat them and we'll all lie on boards."
-"Lie on boards, sleep in coffins, then we'll all be buried in the hills."
-"Buried in the hills, crying and wailing, the whole village comes for a meal. The meal has little mushroom caps, and the whole village lies on boards."
Jiang Chiyan stared at the "little red cap and little white stem" in his hand and roared inwardly, Fine, fine, fine! I'll save her, I'll save her!!
[Punishment stopped.]
Jiang Chiyan's stiff limbs could move again instantly.
He tossed away the poisonous mushroom in disgust and continued scrolling through Xu Xiaoxiao's Weibo, trying to find some clues.
Below Xu Xiaoxiao's pinned post was another post from ten minutes ago.
It read, "Holy shit! A talent scout actually approached me!!"
The post had location sharing enabled. It was at a bar called Never Wake Bar.
Never Wake Bar.
After Xu Xiaoxiao posted on Weibo, the glamorous woman across the table handed her a glass of juice. "Have some juice, and I'll sign you as a star."
Xu Xiaoxiao was very cautious. She took it but didn't dare drink it.
Holding the contract, she read it line by line.
Seeing that she wasn't taking the bait, the glamorous woman pulled out a bottle of eye drops. "Look, your eyes are red from staying up. Use some eye drops."
"Thank you." Xu Xiaoxiao nodded.
What she didn't know was that these eye drops were also called...
Obedience drops.
One drop could knock someone unconscious and make them forget what had happened before they passed out.
The eye drops went into her eyes. Xu Xiaoxiao groggily closed them and slumped in her chair.
The glamorous woman pressed her miniature earpiece and said, "Take her into a private room. We'll ship her out and sell her tonight."
When Jiang Chiyan arrived, he only saw Xu Xiaoxiao being carried over someone's shoulder toward a private room upstairs.
Afraid the hostage might be endangered, Jiang Chiyan didn't dare act rashly.
He narrowed his eyes, undid two buttons at his collar, ordered two drinks, and walked toward the glamorous woman.
The glamorous woman's eyes lit up at the sight of the handsome, debonair Jiang Chiyan.
Her gaze instantly clung to him.
Jiang Chiyan leaned very close and spoke against her ear. "Hey, gorgeous. Want a drink?"
"Sure."
Being called gorgeous made the woman blossom with delight.
But there was still wariness in her eyes.
Jiang Chiyan narrowed his eyes as though half-drunk and flirted, "Baby, your waist is so slim. You're a real beauty."
"Then, handsome... why don't you come to a private room upstairs with me and feel it?" The glamorous woman was practically plastered against Jiang Chiyan as she invited him.
"Sure." A smile of success curled Jiang Chiyan's lips.
The glamorous woman looped her arm around Jiang Chiyan's and went upstairs with him.
Twenty minutes later.
Jiang Chiyan walked down the stairs.
Beside him followed Xu Xiaoxiao, her face full of guilt and lingering fear.
A few minutes earlier, when Xu Xiaoxiao had woken up.
Her wrists and ankles had been bound, her mouth taped shut, and a black hood pulled over her head. She couldn't see anything.
She heard several men talking.
"This chick's pretty hot."
"Pretty face. Old Man Li's idiot son is getting a bargain."
"Thirty thousand yuan. That's a decent price."
"How about we inspect the goods first?"
The men began tugging at her clothes.
If Jiang Chiyan had arrived a moment later...
Xu Xiaoxiao simply didn't dare imagine it.
Her legs were shaking as she walked beside Jiang Chiyan.
Xu Xiaoxiao swallowed, not daring to look Jiang Chiyan in the eye. "Thank..."
Jiang Chiyan hailed her a cab. "I've already called the police. They'll contact you."
Xu Xiaoxiao asked, "Then... what about those traffickers?"
Jiang Chiyan said, "I knocked out the woman who drugged you, put a hood on her, and swapped her in for you. I put a miniature tracker on her to help the police bait them. You don't need to worry about that."
After Xu Xiaoxiao left.
[Ding!] [Mission completed: rescue Xu Xiaoxiao.] [Congratulations! The host has obtained Xiao Cheng's secret ×1.] [Xiao Cheng's secret is...]
On Jiang Chiyan's end, the system was processing his reward.
Meanwhile, on Xiao Cheng's end...
He received a video during a break from filming.
The video was about one minute and thirty seconds long.
One of his fan leaders had sent it, asking whether the person in it was Jiang Chiyan.
Xiao Cheng opened it, and his gaze abruptly darkened.
The video had been filmed in a bar.
It was noisy, a scene of decadent revelry under dazzling lights.
In front of the bar counter, Jiang Chiyan had an arm around a woman's waist.
"Hey, gorgeous. Want a drink?"
"Baby, your waist is so slim. You're a real beauty."
Then Jiang Chiyan went upstairs with his arm around the woman's waist.
Xiao Cheng narrowed his eyes.
He called his assistant. "Xiao Wu, tell Director Liao and the screenwriter they can add shirtless scenes showing my abs. I agree."
Xiao Wu: "...?" You were still saying this afternoon that your husband kept you on a tight leash.
The boss's thoughts really were hard to guess.
After hanging up, Xiao Cheng logged into the studio's Weibo account and posted a promotional update.
Xiao Cheng Studio V: "Our single boss. @Xiao Cheng V"
The post included eighteen unedited photos.
Xiao Cheng was handsome enough to look good from every angle. The photos, taken in five minutes with no filters or retouching, looked handsome no matter how they were shot.
The moment the photos went up, the Oranges in the comments exploded.
___: "Xiao Cheng is the man so hot I can't keep my legs together."
___: "Wait, why is he single?"
___: "Did you two have a fight??? @Jiang Chiyan V @Xiao Cheng V"
___: "Hurry up and soothe your wife. @Jiang Chiyan V"
As Xiao Cheng scrolled through the Weibo comments, his face was utterly indifferent.
He still didn't know...
Jiang Chiyan had already boarded a plane to Hengdian.