Su Mian walked down the basement stairs.
A long tunnel stretched before her eyes.
The tunnel's sanitary conditions were terrible.
Syringes, liquor bottles, burned candles, and broken whips littered the floor...
[Holy crap, where have we ended up? This is getting kind of terrifying!]
[Production team, hurry up and tell me this is staged! This is horrifying!]
Su Mian continued deeper inside.
She actually discovered a whole lot of locked rooms!
But before she could look inside, she suddenly heard a gunshot!
Footsteps came from the other end of the passage.
There were definitely quite a few people coming!
Sure enough!
The next second, more than ten men dressed in black appeared in the passage!
Every one of them held a gun, and they actually opened fire straight at them!
Bullets struck the walls, sending up showers of sparks!
The bullet comments were already flooded with screams of "Aaaah!"
Though the dedicated cameraman's shot was shaking, he still hadn't lowered his camera.
He even seemed faintly excited...
Who could understand getting the chance to experience the thrills of a war correspondent while filming a dating show?!
This basement had so many entrances and exits, and footsteps seemed to be coming from every one.
There was no way to escape.
Duan Xuanyu's mind had cleared considerably, and he silently pulled Su Mian behind him.
Su Mian looked up, searching around for an exit.
No matter how fiercely he could fight, he couldn't take on gunmen bare-handed!
Suddenly, Su Mian's gaze stopped.
There was a steel rebar lying on the ground not far away!
It had probably been left behind when this underground passage was built.
Su Mian darted over, picked up the rebar, and hurled it toward Duan Xuanyu with all her strength!
"Duan Xuanyu!"
The rebar traced a cold, gleaming arc through the air.
As though he had eyes in the back of his head, Duan Xuanyu caught it steadily with a backhand, the muscles of his exposed forearm taut.
His well-defined fingers clenched around the rebar, and he brought it crashing down at the assassin closest to him!
As that assassin was knocked back, another gunshot rang out!
The livestream moderators finally realized something was wrong and shut down the stream for "graphic violence."
But before the livestream cut out...
Every viewer saw Duan Xuanyu tilt his head and dodge that bullet!
[A backhand catch of the rebar! A head tilt to dodge a bullet! And his perfect coordination with Mianmian! How can one person stun me with his hotness three times in just three seconds?!]
[For the first time in my life, I understand what sword qi means! You really can see it when a powerful force cleaves the air!]
[Are those special effects?! Production team, hurry up and tell me they're special effects, or I'm seriously going to believe he transmigrated here from ancient times!]
[What if he's never lied? What if he really is Duan Xuanyu, the emperor of Northern Liang? And we've just been treating it as a running joke all along...]
The director had called the police long ago.
He had been in the villa watching the footage the whole time.
The moment he saw the trash in that corridor, he sensed something was wrong and immediately called the police.
The police also arrived at top speed.
By the time they arrived, half of those assassins had already been crippled by Duan Xuanyu and Su Mian, and the cameraman had recorded the entire thing.
After arresting the assassins, the police hurried to open the locked secret rooms.
They rescued many young men and women from inside!
Everyone was taken to the police station to give statements.
The victims recounted their experiences in fits and starts.
"A year ago, I entered a talent competition, and Niu Didi was my mentor. He said he had a new song for me, tricked me into coming here, and then imprisoned me..."
"I'm from Country H. There are too many celebrities over there to make much money. When Niu Didi held a concert in my country, he said celebrities made a lot of money here. I thought an international superstar like him wouldn't lie. Sob, sob, sob..."
"My dad sent me here. He wanted to curry favor with a powerful tycoon, and that tycoon liked little boys..."
Yin Xiaohong also explained to the police and production team, "My younger sister went through something similar to them. She disappeared three years ago, and the last person she contacted before disappearing was Niu Didi."
"That's why I suggested several times that the production team film here. I wanted to get to the bottom of this. And it really was what happened!"
Even more horrifyingly, this basement was actually connected to the villas of several nearby wealthy socialites!
In other words, all these wealthy socialites had presumably been involved!
Following the vine to the melons, the police drew up a list and arrested them one by one!
-
After everyone on the production team cooperated with the investigation, they were released.
By the time they left the police station, it was already evening.
To them, this entire day had passed like a dream.
Even setting their feet on the ground felt somewhat unreal.
Who would have thought filming a dating show could lead to cracking such a major case?
As the director walked, he spoke with the crew and guests.
"The show will continue, but we're moving somewhere else tomorrow."
"This place carries too much sorrow. We mustn't exploit the victims' suffering or turn it into entertainment."
"The police also don't want us recklessly stirring up publicity and causing social unrest before they issue an official statement."
Everyone agreed.
Once he finished speaking, the director began discussing tomorrow's filming location with the crew.
Suddenly, he scratched his head.
"Aren't we forgetting something?"
-
In the villa's attic.
Lin Xi was still hiding there.
Whenever he thought of how Su Mian must be practically going crazy looking for him now, he couldn't contain his excitement.
Today, he absolutely wouldn't let Su Mian win!
All the guests went back to their own homes that night.
Su Mian returned to her rented apartment, took a shower, and prepared to go to bed.
Before sleeping, she checked her phone.
She discovered that none of the crimes from today had made the trending searches.
After all, too many people were implicated.
Most likely, an official announcement would only be released after the verdict.
The one trending was Duan Xuanyu.
At first, everyone was discussing how cool Duan Xuanyu looked tilting his head to dodge a bullet.
Later, things gradually went off track:
#Even Duan Xuanyu's sword is 1.8 meters long#
#Duan Xuanyu kicks over a cruiser#
#Duan Xuanyu sinks Japan Island with one punch#
A well-known history video creator even used him as material to edit together a video.
It explained the great achievements of the emperor of Northern Liang.
[Now approaching us is the strongest man on earth, the combat ceiling of monarchs throughout the ages, history's youngest leader of a nation-Duan Xuanyu! At just nineteen, he shouldered all of Northern Liang, quelling internal strife, sweeping away foreign enemies, and securing the realm with his swift, iron-fisted methods and an overbearing style that oozed dominance! He perfectly fits the beautiful, strong, and tragic male lead archetype. Sent to another country as a hostage in childhood, he suffered endless bullying (ten thousand words omitted)... (BGM: Spring Courtyard Snow, DJ version, 0.8x speed)]
The tyrant had suddenly gained fans just like that?
People weren't cursing him for killing his brothers and eating children anymore?
While Su Mian was enjoying the gossip, a call came in from an unfamiliar number.
Su Mian hesitated, then answered.
Duan Xuanyu's excited voice came from the other end. "Su Mian, I have my own phone number now!"
Su Mian said, "Wow, you're amazing."
Duan Xuanyu said, "Su Mian, before we left the police station today, someone from the production team said that godfather of rap would very likely receive a death sentence with immediate execution. How does law enforcement work here?"
Su Mian hadn't expected that he was calling so late because he wanted to learn about their modern legal system.
He really was an emperor eager to improve!
Although modern laws weren't suited to ancient times, they could still open up new avenues for his thinking on legislation.
She explained to him, "Here, after offenders are arrested, they're sent to court for public prosecution, and the court holds a first-instance trial based on the evidence."
"The defendant can hire a lawyer, and the judge ultimately delivers the verdict. If the defendant disagrees, they can appeal for a second-instance trial."
"With so many victims in this case, and both witness testimony and physical evidence in place, there probably won't be any surprises."
Duan Xuanyu asked, "After sentencing him to death with immediate execution, does the judge immediately pull out a gun and shoot him dead on the spot?"
"..." What kind of dark joke was that?
Su Mian said, "Citizens can sit in on the hearings for many cases. I'll make a reservation and take you to watch one in person next time."
Just as Su Mian finished speaking, a knock suddenly came from outside.
She looked toward the door. "Who is it?"