The Truman Show

In the video circulating widely online, only Lightseeker, Bai Yang, and the others could be seen.

But Xavier had never appeared in it from beginning to end.

And the fact that Xavier was Lightseeker was the special police organization's most closely guarded secret. Even the commander of his own brigade didn't know.

For Xiao Yan to ask that, did she actually know he was Lightseeker?

No, that was impossible.

Xavier quickly dismissed that possibility.

He tried replying, [I wasn't involved in the fighting. How could I have gotten hurt?]

He waited a long time, but Xiao Yan said nothing more.

Yet Xavier felt as though the wound on his left arm, hidden beneath his sleeve, hurt more than before.

When the transport vehicle returned to the brigade.

Through the window, Bai Yang's sharp eyes spotted a luxury car parked beside the road outside the brigade.

Two men in black suits stood beside it. The wary looks on their faces made it obvious they were bodyguards.

On closer inspection, there was a young woman between the two bodyguards.

Why did she look so familiar?

Bai Yang recognized her the next moment and patted Xavier. "Your wife is here to see you!"

The brigade commander came over too and nudged Xavier. "What are you standing around for? Go report to your wife~"

A group of spectators hooted and pushed Xavier out of the vehicle.

They hadn't been in contact for five days. Xavier didn't want to admit how miserable he had actually been.

He had promised to say good night every day, yet hadn't said it even once.

An indescribable sense of guilt welled up inside him.

He walked silently over to Xiao Yan. With his gossip-hungry colleagues still behind him, he could only put on a smile. "What brings you here?"

He also noticed that Xiao Yan was still wearing thin loungewear, with only a light blanket carelessly draped around her.

It looked as though she had rushed out without even having time to change out of her cute, fluffy bunny slippers.

Uncle Sang had probably hurriedly draped the blanket around her in his haste, too.

"I..." Xiao Yan paid no attention to the affability Xavier had put on, staring only at his left arm.

"Would you like to go inside?" Xavier pointed at the brigade's office building. "Or shall we talk in the car?"

They could turn on the heating either at the brigade or in the car.

The bodyguards remained outside on guard.

Xiao Yan pulled Xavier into the car and sat down with him.

The heating was turned up to its highest setting, but Xiao Yan still felt a little cold.

She could no longer stare so openly at Xavier's injury, yet she couldn't pretend nothing was wrong and chat when she knew he harbored misgivings.

She lowered her head and bit her lip in silence.

"There's a novel I happened to leaf through while I was away for work this week," Xavier spoke first. "It's called The Truman Show."

In Xiao Yan's original world, it was a film.

In this female-dominated world, that work had become an old book that had once been a bestseller.

It told the same story.

"Before, I might not have understood the fear Truman felt."

Only then did he look at Xiao Yan. "But after reading it this week, I think I understand a little."

Xavier was using the novel to refer to himself.

He feared that what he thought was fate and rapport was actually a meticulously designed, perfect strategy to win him over personally, a script written in advance and acted out.

Xiao Yan nodded in understanding. "You don't want to be the subject of observation."

"Then you're admitting that everything you've done to me was a strategy to win me over?" Xavier asked.

Xiao Yan couldn't deny it, so she simply nodded. "You could understand it that way."

"What's the goal of this strategy? What outcome do you want?" Xavier's tone was detached, as though he were discussing someone else. "You've already managed to catch my attention. What next? Make me fall in love with you?"

"...Can't I?" Xiao Yan mustered her courage and met Xavier's scrutinizing gaze. "Am I not allowed to hope for your love? Am I unworthy?"

A little resentment inevitably crept into her tone, along with a little aggression.

She was so worried about Xavier's injury, yet couldn't ask him directly.

As for the conflict that had erupted before, she had a bellyful of grievances with nowhere to voice them.

Now that they had met, Xavier was confronting her with such indifference.

She understood his worries and, to put it more strongly, his fear.

Had she meticulously planned things? Yes.

But would anyone else write a script and throw herself wholeheartedly into acting it out, only to fall so deeply she couldn't extricate herself before the male lead had even gotten into character?

Wouldn't that mean she had schemed against herself too?

A faint smile curled Xavier's lips. "The Xiao Family's young lady naturally deserves the best of everything in the world. By comparison, how could someone as ordinary as me deserve all the painstaking effort you've put into approaching me?"

There he went again.

Was stabbing someone in the heart so much fun?

Fine. Xiao Yan decided to exercise her privileges as his wife.

She smiled too. "Then, according to my Xiao Family's rules, since you've just completed such a dangerous mission, you should have our family doctor give you a thorough examination, in case something is wrong and affects my life as the Xiao Family's young lady."

"..." Xavier's expression darkened.

Xiao Yan made to lower the window and call the bodyguards over to drive them home for an examination.

Xavier caught Xiao Yan's hand. "You're not joking?"

Of course he couldn't agree to an examination. Otherwise, he would no longer be able to hide the fact that he was Lightseeker.

Lightseeker's identity couldn't be exposed.

It was a mysterious disguise Xavier had been specially selected to adopt while still at the police academy, thanks to his outstanding performance and clean background, to combat the most complex criminal gangs of the time and bolster public confidence.

Establishing a heroic idol and trotting Lightseeker out whenever a major case occurred had already become a favored means of maintaining stability among the big shots at the very top of the special police organization.

And Lightseeker had made too many enemies. Once exposed, Xavier would inevitably lose his normal life and be forced to face the danger of revenge killings every day.

He wasn't afraid of danger.

But he was afraid that once surrounded by danger, he would no longer be able to live like an ordinary person.

When that happened, the chaos of his own life would be a secondary concern.

His marriage to Xiao Yan would probably also face the Xiao Family's forcible intervention, ending in divorce to dispose of the nuisance.

"Scared?" Xiao Yan stared provocatively at Xavier. "Then can we talk calmly?"

Xavier gritted his teeth. "Of course we can."

Good. Very good.

Xiao Yan clasped Xavier's hand in return and squeezed closer to him. "You can't stand there being a secret between Zayne and me? But you clearly have secrets you can't conveniently share either. So what really bothers you isn't that, but... you're jealous of Zayne?"

Xavier shifted away, but Xiao Yan followed, crowding him again.

He could only shake his head. "I'm not."

"Fine, then let me try another angle." Xiao Yan continued with another possibility she had come up with over the past five days. "Simple jealousy really wouldn't be enough to make you lose your composure like this. On a deeper level, do you think my feelings for Zayne are more genuine, while with you I'm just using every trick in the book?"

Xavier pressed his lips together and fell silent.

"Even if what I feel for you is deliberate, planned, and comes with something I want," Xiao Yan stared at Xavier, "do feelings stop being feelings just because there's a strategy behind them? Can't you see that I really like you?"

"..." Hearing Xiao Yan suddenly say she liked him sent towering waves surging through Xavier's heart.

His wandering gaze, which had been avoiding hers, finally met Xiao Yan's.

Xiao Yan had no time for shyness. Anxious, she simply kept speaking in a rush. "I like you, and I want you to like me too, so I play my cards according to your preferences. Is there something wrong with that?"

Then if she really did like him, rather than merely being "interested," "playing around," carrying out "a plan to tame her husband," or "seeking a wife's sense of control and accomplishment"...

What Xavier feared was falling without realizing it while Xiao Yan merely watched from the sidelines.

Listening to Xiao Yan and seeing how even her eyes had reddened with anxiety.

He began to feel guilty.

Didn't that mean she was admitting she had fallen for him at first sight?

Could he have misunderstood her sincerity all along?

"Say something. Aren't you so good with words?" Xiao Yan grew forceful. "Would those actors in The Truman Show be like me, already on the losing side because I fell in love first, approaching Truman so cautiously and with all that so-called scheming?"

Love?