Chapter 12

Ke Xingzhou was in a very good mood.

It wasn’t out of schadenfreude, but rather because, just now, when An He Guang was dragged away by the doctors, Lu Li reminded him that An He Guang was well-liked, being the only legal heir of a listed company and also having a significant fan base online. The karma points returned were far beyond expectations, surpassing even the combined total of the Xie family.

In other words, starting from today, his fortune-telling fee could be raised to 1,000 yuan per reading!

What a joyful event!

Ke Xingzhou was so pleased that even when Ke Yuanbai came over with a stern face to warn him not to meddle with his mysterious business and harm other contestants, he wasn’t angry. Instead, he enthusiastically tried to promote his fortune-telling business.

"Need a protective charm? I'll give you a special price, 1,000 yuan each."

Ke Yuanbai: "......"

His expression turned blank for a moment, then he quickly frowned in disgust. "How did you end up like this? How could the Ke family raise someone like you?"

"True, I feel honored for them. But on the other hand, it’s actually quite reasonable that they ended up with someone like you," Ke Xingzhou sighed sincerely, "You and your parents are like copies of each other."

Ke Yuanbai: "......"

Though the other party was acknowledging their inseparable family bond, for some reason, Ke Yuanbai still felt a strong sense of humiliation from it.

Not wanting to continue wasting time with this muddled person, Ke Yuanbai turned his gaze away and signaled to the other team members. "Let’s go back and practice."

Ke Xingzhou, after his failed promotion, remained cheerful, showing no sign of being discouraged.

He genuinely didn’t take it to heart. After all, the fee he was charging for a single reading now was equivalent to what he used to make from a hundred readings before—half the effort, double the reward. What could make a salted fish happier than that?

However, the others who overheard and came over to join the excitement didn’t think the same way.

When Xie An arrived, he happened to hear Ke Xingzhou promoting the protective charm to Ke Yuanbai at a "much more reasonable market price." For a moment, he was deeply moved.

He had indeed misunderstood Ke Xingzhou earlier. Ke Xingzhou had really only charged him 10 yuan per reading because of their good connection.

Even Ke Yuanbai had to pay 1,000 yuan!

Xie An hadn’t expected that, despite initially being rude to Ke Xingzhou, he would get such a big discount. For a moment, his gaze toward Ke Xingzhou changed. He now felt that Ke Xingzhou’s way of repaying kindness with virtue made him seem even more valuable as a person.

However, such a wonderful Ke Xingzhou was being ostracized so severely by the other teams.

This couldn’t be allowed!

The Xie family only had a small company, not exactly wealthy or noble. Xie An had initially not planned to get involved in the disputes between the young heirs of these prestigious families, but now, seeing Ke Xingzhou being bullied, he couldn’t stand by anymore.He gritted his teeth. "Bro, how about you join my team? The two people who caused trouble earlier have dropped out, and we just happen to be short of people."

His high popularity made him the team leader, so his words carried some weight.

Ke Xingzhou thought for a moment. "Can I slack off?"

Xie An: "......"

He forced a nod, as if making a major decision. "You can. Don't worry, once I learn the moves, I'll teach you, and I'll handle the rest."

Only then did Ke Xingzhou agree.

Although he didn’t mind being ostracized, he wasn’t a natural masochist. He was naturally willing to choose an easier environment to stay in.

The unluckiest one among the group was An He Guang. His misfortune had already been resolved, and he was unconscious and sent away. The remaining ones were merely somewhat unlucky, but not in danger of their lives.

As long as An He Guang wasn’t around, there shouldn’t be any issue.

Fortunately, the groups had been formed randomly at the beginning, and the practice song was still the program’s theme song. It didn’t matter which group he was in, and the program team hadn’t made things difficult for him.

In front of Ke Yuanbai and the others, Ke Xingzhou was happily dragged away by Xie An.

Ke Yuanbai and his teammates: "......"

Now, it was their group that was short of people.

Seeing that Ke Xingzhou had switched groups so smoothly, the teammates who had ostracized him earlier felt a bit uncomfortable.

Someone couldn’t help but mutter, "What kind of person is he? He just left like that, no team spirit at all..."

"Exactly. If he didn’t want to stay, he should have said it earlier. But now he just runs off when something happens, that’s too much!"

"I even feel like An He Guang was unlucky because of him. How come he didn’t get into trouble before, but every time he runs into Ke Xingzhou, something bad happens? Isn’t he just fleeing from guilt?"

A few people whispered.

Ke Yuanbai didn’t think much of Ke Xingzhou either, but he didn’t really agree with their comments.

It was precisely because they didn’t welcome him that Ke Xingzhou left so decisively. On one side, there were strangers who isolated him, and on the other side, there were friendly invitations from friends. If it were him, he would have made the same choice as Ke Xingzhou.

But now that the person was gone, Ke Yuanbai didn’t think much of Ke Xingzhou and didn’t speak up to defend him.

Instead, he casually changed the subject. "Alright, we’ve wasted too much time earlier. We need to catch up now."

As he spoke, he glanced at the barrage machine.

When An He Guang had his incident, the program team immediately cut the live broadcast. It was only just resumed. Although the fans pouring in were even more enthusiastic than before, frequent disconnections, combined with An He Guang’s temporary absence, had significantly reduced the online viewers in their group’s live stream, leaving less than half of the previous number.

At this rate, their group might lose in the online voting in the first episode.

Ke Yuanbai couldn’t help but feel a bit of a headache, especially when he thought about who was responsible for all of this—

He was a firm atheist, and the education he had received over the years made it impossible for him to associate An He Guang’s experience with supernatural forces. He was more inclined to believe that it was all just some small tricks played by Ke Xingzhou.

Whether it was making An He Guang feel that his past was truly unlucky, or later suddenly going crazy and trying to jump into the lift shaft, it was all within the capabilities of human manipulation.Thinking about this, Ke Yuanbai couldn't help but complain about the Ke family. Why did they have to force Ke Xingzhou into the program as well?

He had clearly emphasized before that he didn’t care about Ke Xingzhou’s existence and didn’t want to have any interactions with him. But the Ke family seemed to completely misunderstand him and took it upon themselves to send him in.

Now, he had to divide his attention to deal with the trouble Ke Xingzhou had caused.

Ke Yuanbai rubbed his forehead, feeling like he was about to be overwhelmed with worry.

But now that things had come to this, he could only suppress his irritation and continue practicing with the remaining team members.

In order to speed up the process, each member quickly familiarized themselves with the moves. Ke Yuanbai sacrificed his own practice time to correct everyone’s movements, then they began practicing the group dance.

There were no mirrors on the stage, and the conditions were certainly not as good as a proper practice room. They recorded the movements on their phones and reviewed the footage repeatedly to gradually correct every detail.

Compared to other teams that could practice directly in front of mirrors, they had to put in several times the effort, but the results might not even be better.

Fortunately, they worked hard enough that the audience who entered the live broadcast room was somewhat moved. Fans were even more sympathetic:

[Wuwuwu, why do other people have spacious and bright practice rooms, but our Zihan has to practice in a place like this?]

[Since the groups were randomized anyway, Ke Xingzhou could go to another group, so why can't this group squeeze into a practice room with others? Such obvious favoritism, don't the program team have a conscience?]

[I'm heartbroken. Is there anyone nearby? I’m willing to pay to have them rush-order a mirror for them!]

Ke Yuanbai saw the live chat heat steadily rising and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He comforted the fans’ emotions while continuing to practice diligently, perfectly displaying the balance a team leader should have.

However, to his surprise, as time passed, the direction of the comments suddenly started to turn.

[The program "All Idol" is backed by such a huge group, and they can't even get a mirror? Who believes that! This must be some tragic beauty story again, right?]

[By the way, I remember this filming base is huge. There was a selection event earlier, and some contestants live-streamed while touring the park, it took over an hour! With such a big park, how could they not find an extra practice room?]

[This kind of pity act is so annoying. Are we here for a selection or to watch a sob story?]

The audience was easily swayed, and after reading these comments, they began to feel something was off.

Such tactics were too common in reality shows—underdog triumphs, a comeback from the brink—and the audience got tired of falling for it every time, which led to growing frustration.

However, this kind of emotional shift was usually only on a small scale. This time, even though Ke Yuanbai and the others had sincerely shown their efforts, it resulted in a widespread backlash.

The program staff quickly intervened, trying to steer the narrative back in the right direction, but the earlier events had already left an impact. The number of viewers in the live chat still visibly decreased.

Even when the program team brought in real-time recording and projection equipment to allow Ke Yuanbai’s team to practice normally, the lost viewers did not return.

The entire team was now shrouded in a low-pressure atmosphere.

Ke Yuanbai frowned deeply, feeling that the situation had developed beyond what he had anticipated, but he couldn’t figure out where things had gone wrong.

And he wasn’t sure if it was the previous events that had influenced everything or if everyone was just too tired, as there were continuous minor injuries and bumps.

They were all young, passionate people, and when friction occurred, it was easy for arguments to break out.

By the end, everyone’s mood was increasingly irritable. After the members nearly argued for the umpteenth time, Ke Yuanbai had to call off the practice."It's getting late, let's go rest."

Everyone had long been unable to stay any longer, and upon hearing this, they quickly scattered.

Ke Yuanbai looked at his lonely figure in the projection, tiredly rubbing his forehead with a sigh.

After a long while, he finally gathered himself, opened the instructional video, and practiced again and again.

He didn’t stop until the early morning hours, feeling that he had practiced enough, his body covered in sweat.

When he turned off the lights, Ke Yuanbai suddenly felt a chill, as if someone were blowing air onto the back of his neck.

But when he turned around, there was nothing behind him.

He stared at the dark corridor for a moment, a puzzled expression on his face. However, he quickly dismissed the strange feeling and calmly walked into the darkness.