Jiao Bai walked out of Diye on his own. He stood on the steps, looking up at the night sky. It was after midnight and there were hardly any stars.

“Young Master Xiao Qiu,” the driver hastened him.

Jiao Bai sneered. The driver looked at him like he was a lowly oqnrshstsd, but he addressed him as Young Master.

“What’s the rush? I’m still dizzy. I need to rest for a moment.” Jiao Bai had an extra needle hole on his arm. He had been given an IV, his fever had gone down and he was feeling more energetic.

Diye actually had a medical team. They were probably afraid that the wealthy young masters would go overboard when playing and need emergency treatment for their playthings. Medical team... This was yet another thing that wasn’t not mentioned in the comics.

Jiao Bai walked down the steps slowly. When he reached the car, he didn’t get in immediately. Instead, he stood with the Qi family’s driver and patted him on the shoulder. “Hey bro, do you have a cigarette?”

The driver’s face was the colour of pig's liver. He advised stiffly, “Young Master Xiao Qiu, you look quite unwell so you had best not smoke. Go back and drink some water. Your health is important.”

“Thanks for your concern.” Jiao Bai, with a friendly demeanour, adjusted the driver's flipped-up collar. His lips curved into a smile that revealed a pair of sharp little tiger teeth. “Let's go, bro. Sorry for the trouble.”

Jiao Bai opened the car door and sat down slowly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black car coming around the corner towards them. Then it made a comical sudden halt, producing a screeching sound that made people's scalps numb.

Without even needing to run over to look, Jiao Bai could imagine that the driver was so shocked that his eyes were bulging out. He wanted to jhkk him by running him over, but didn't dare to offend the owner of the car Jiao Bai was sitting in, so he could only hold back, his face twisted into the expression of someone who had eaten rghs but had no choice but to swallow it.

The frustration and gloominess that Jiao Bai had felt since he entered this comic finally eased quite a bit.

The azrszqc in the car had tried to bnllhs ltqcdq on an impulse. He had lost his head and driven over, staking out there like a wife catching her cheating spouse. In fact, he was just another dog. He missed his opportunity and wouldn’t dare to do it again.

Jiao Bai relaxed and leaned back on the back seat. When reading comics, he found the dog blood plots extremely enjoyable and satisfying. However, now that he had become one of the characters of one, his feelings about it were too complicated to put in words.

Jiao Bai's wish was to extricate himself as quickly as possible and distance himself from everyone involved in the main storyline, especially the protagonist shou. However, reality was exactly the opposite. He was going to jump right into the vortex.

He had to work on the activity levels of the eight friends in the list. Eight of them. Screw this. This is a total scam.

Just as Jiao Bai was drifting off to sleep, the car turned around without warning and headed in the direction of Diye.

Jiao Bai glanced at the rearview mirror and noticed that the driver, who had just finished a phone call, was looking at him with a smug, gleeful expression as if he was anticipating a show. He swallowed the question on his lips and dug his fingernails into the palm of his hand which was in his pocket.

He had been exposed!

Jiao Bai turned his head to look out the window. The city’s nightscape rushed past his pupils. How was he exposed?

Several hours had passed since he fainted from his fever. How did Qi Yilao notice that something was abnormal about him?

Jiao Bai's back suddenly left the leather seat. It was the surveillance cameras!

Qi Yilao’s room had surveillance cameras installed, and it was most likely comprehensive coverage. He probably grew suspicious, reviewed the footage and found more suspicious points.

That was the only possibility.

Jiao Bai leaned back. His entire back was drenched with sweat. He lowered the car window, and the night wind surged in wildly, ruffling his fringe and causing his wound to throb faintly.

Forget it, I’ll just deal with each issue as they come. Anyway, he didn’t have a system monitoring him so he didn’t need to stay in character[1]. He could just say that his previous behaviour was all just an act.

In life, who didn’t wear a few masks? They were all adults and should understand.

Jiao Bai thought to himself that as long as he didn’t say that he crossed over into this comic, no one would even consider that possibility.

Besides, even if he mentioned it intentionally or unintentionally, no one would believe him.

If he let those Heaven’s favoured children[2] know that they were just characters in a comic drawn by an author, they would send Jiao Bai to a mental hospital and let him die there.

Sometimes, the truth should just be buried.

Jiao Bai’s heart, which had pounded so wildly it felt like it was going to leapt out of his throat, gradually returned to its normal rhythm. He used the time on the road to rest and regain his strength. He didn't know how long this battle would last.

.

Diye

In front of the computer, Qi Yilao reached out to the ashtray with his hand holding the cigarette, and lightly shook off the long trail of ash into it. His gaze remained fixed on the screen that showed multiple angles of the surveillance footage.

One of Qi Yilao's pleasures was to install the surveillance cameras in his own room and watch the surveillance footage of himself. Whether he was awake, reading, working, or sleeping, he observed himself as if he were a stranger.

He monitored himself.

This was how the current scene came to be.

Tonight, Qi Yilao couldn't find anything else to pass the time and then realised that after he had merely taken a shower, the young man suddenly dared to talk to him, and talked quite a bit. Hence, he checked the surveillance footage and indeed discovered something noteworthy.

Zhang Zhen was baffled. “What could cause an empty shell to suddenly acquire a soul?”

Qi Yilao clicked the mouse and the footage started playing from the beginning.

The young man in the footage was initially lying mzjdc on the bed, eyes closed, his emaciated limbs enveloped by a decayed, grim aura. After a while, he suddenly opened his eyes, first looking around blankly, then breathing rapidly, clutching the sheets beneath him as if he was struggling for air, pupils dilated.

Then the young man's behaviour became even more bewildering. He actually put on his clothes with trembling hands, clambered down the bed on all four limbs, and hid under the table...

He seemed to be avoiding something. He was very anxious, but had no choice but to force himself to face reality.

Both the intensity of his emotions and the frequency of their changes were extremely strange.

“It’s a bit like he’s been possessed.” Zhang Zhen hesitantly voiced his thoughts. Aside from that possibility, another explanation could be that Wang Chuqiu grew up under oppression and learnt to be obedient, and knew nothing but obedience. Slowly, his true nature became dormant and decayed. Tonight he ‘woke up’ and ‘came to life.’ To sum it up, this was the so-called split personality.

“Possessed? Not necessarily.” Qi Yilao scanned the locations of the mini surveillance cameras in the room.

“Then it’s a multiple personality disorder.” Zhang Zhen answered a call and said quietly, “San-ge, the person has been brought back.”

Qi Yilao stubbed out the cigarette butt in the ashtray. “Send him to the room next door.”


[1] A system like in those transmigration system novels that assists the main character or gives them missions/tasks and watches over them. Some systems don’t allow the main character to go out of character.

[2] Heaven’s favoured child describes someone who is exceptionally privileged, talented, or fortunate, often implying that they are highly esteemed or favoured by fate or destiny.