[No way, filming just started and there's already an accident? A guest suddenly went missing?]
[You can't really call it missing. Teacher Xia just suddenly vanished.]
[So where is he?]
[Wow, looks like Xue Ranran lucked out. Both cameras are on her. Free traffic.]
[Just checked Xue Ranran's livestream. I remember she used to be pretty popular. Her stream actually has fewer viewers than Teacher Xia's now?]
[So is this Teacher Xia's new routine? Vanish off the face of the earth, then drop out of the sky or something?]
Xia Zhiyi had disappeared from view, and the livestream viewers weren't idiots. How could they fail to notice?
Some thought Xia Zhiyi was deliberately scaring people to complete his task, while others noticed Xue Ranran, who had gotten out of the car and looked rather bewildered, still unclear on what was happening. Some didn't even recognize her and only learned from the bullet comments that she, too, had been a member of the once wildly popular Night Girl Group.
After Xia Zhiyi's cameraman briefly froze, he instinctively moved the camera up, down, left, and right in search of Xia Zhiyi, and somehow the situation became a little funny.
That was also when a voice cursing viciously reached the livestream.
[What the hell? Is this something the production team staged?]
[No way. Even if the production team staged something for entertainment, the lines wouldn't be this vulgar. If it failed the content review later, the director would have nowhere to go cry.]
[What happened? Sounds like someone caught a cheater?]
[Production team! Go take a look, hurry!]
Xiao Yang froze on the spot.
To go or not to go, that was the question.
But Xue Ranran reacted faster than he did. Upon hearing the commotion, she turned and ran straight toward its source without a second thought.
The rest of the production crew hurried after her in alarm.
Then, when they all arrived, they found that things were somewhat different from what they had expected.
To Xiao Yang and the others who knew the show's guests, the scene before them was this: their guest, Xia Zhiyi, had pinned a man who looked like little more than skin and bones to the ground, leaving him unable to struggle free. Beside them, a car door stood open, and someone sat in the passenger seat, yawning while holding a phone, seemingly on a call.
Two women were crouching nearby with their backs to the crew. From behind, one seemed to be comforting the other, who was trembling slightly, occasional sobs escaping her.
Even now, the man being restrained continued spewing obscenities. Xia Zhiyi looked up, saw Xiao Yang and the others, and called, "Xiao Yang."
Xiao Yang hurried past the stunned Xue Ranran at a jog, asking as he approached Xia Zhiyi, "Teacher Xia, what's going on? This man... are you all right?"
The smile was gone from Xia Zhiyi's face. Although his face, still rounded with baby fat, remained adorable even with his expression cold, no one there was thinking about anything so inappropriate at that moment.
Even without knowing exactly what had happened, they could see the man constantly spewing venom at the other woman and Xia Zhiyi, using language that made them want to wash out their ears.
No one would have thought this man had been beaten for no reason.
Xia Zhiyi also found the man unbearably noisy, but it was hot out, and most people were wearing short sleeves and shorts. Even if he wanted a piece of clothing to stuff into the man's mouth, his options were limited.
Just then, someone tossed something over. Xia Zhiyi caught it with one hand and found it was a dry towel. He glanced back, met the eyes of the person on the phone, then stuffed it into the man's mouth without hesitation.
The noise finally stopped. After watching from the side for a while, Xue Ranran hesitantly stepped forward. "What's going on?"
Xia Zhiyi said, "This man tried to attack that lady from behind just now. I stopped him."
As he spoke, he paused and pointed at a rod lying out of sight in a corner nearby. "That's the weapon."
Then he pointed at the woman who was sobbing over there. "Witness and victim."
Finally, he pointed behind him at the person currently giving their location. "Calling the police."
Xiao Yang: "..."
Everyone: "..."
Xue Ranran was quite bold. She walked over to the weapon, picked it up to examine it, and drew in a quiet breath. "An iron rod this thick... if it hit someone in the neck from behind, the consequences would be serious."
Xia Zhiyi said, "Mm."
He had heard the faint sound of iron dragging across the ground, which had struck him as strange, so he had darted over to investigate.
It was fortunate he had come over. Otherwise, with how little restraint this man had shown, the woman who was still crying would have been knocked unconscious at best, or killed outright at worst.
Was the neck somewhere you could just casually hit?
Police were already stationed at the airport and arrived soon after receiving the call. Airport security, who had seen the incident on the parking lot surveillance feed, also hurried over. Since everything had happened under a surveillance camera, there was no need to gather additional evidence.
The only issue was that the police needed Xia Zhiyi to come in and give a statement.
After some discussion, the production team decided to prioritize the police's request. Chief director Gong Cheng came over in person to meet Xia Zhiyi, then left the crew assigned to Xia Zhiyi's group behind while everyone else continued filming according to the original plan.
Director Gong said, "Don't worry, Xia Zhiyi. You were stepping up to help someone. For the next few games we've prepared, we'll give you the first-place score until you rejoin the group."
Then Director Gong smiled and said, "If the other guests knew why you were delayed, I'm sure they wouldn't object. There are some slight differences between the rooms we've prepared for the guests, but don't worry. The differences aren't big, and none of them are particularly bad."
Xia Zhiyi didn't particularly care about any of that. He smiled and nodded. "As long as you don't blame me for holding up filming, Director Gong."
Director Gong quickly said, "What's there to blame you for? You've even generated buzz for the show."
Gong Cheng really did have a good impression of Xia Zhiyi. Since they hadn't made arrangements with the police station beforehand, they wouldn't be able to film once Xia Zhiyi went inside. Gong Cheng also told the crew to take extra care of him. After all, Xia Zhiyi had only recently come of age, and to adults like Gong Cheng, he was still a child.
Fu Yunyi still hadn't seen Xia Zhiyi by the time they were about to board, and finally couldn't help asking the others, "Where's that Teacher Xia from earlier?"
Director Gong said with a beaming smile, "Teacher Xia has something else to do."
Fu Yunyi assumed the production team had made other arrangements. With the cameras on him, he couldn't very well act too concerned about Xia Zhiyi, so he could only let it go.
Meanwhile, at the police station, Xia Zhiyi met another person with the surname Fu.