Chapter 13

Walking along the path in the filming base, Ke Yuanbai looked up at the sparse starry sky, slowly exhaling a breath, feeling that the fatigue accumulated throughout the night had been somewhat blown away.

Speaking of which, ever since he began walking the path of an internet celebrity, it seemed like he hadn’t had the chance to enjoy the scenery like this in a long time.

Every day was spent thinking about scripts and learning new dances. Later, he was inexplicably bashed, and the Ke family came to him, claiming that he was their biological child... During this time, he had been swept forward by various events, and it wasn’t until now that he finally had a bit of space to himself.

Ke Yuanbai rested his hands behind his head and comfortably looked up at the stars as he walked toward the dormitory building, feeling that the starry sky now was much worse compared to when he was a child. Many stars that used to seem so bright were now dim and small.

His mood lightened even more, and his mind kept replaying the theme song they had practiced that day. After a moment, he suddenly felt that something was off.

Why were the streetlights around here all off?

He hesitated and stopped, looking back. The last streetlight that was on was already far behind him, with at least three broken ones in between.

Further ahead, it was all pitch black.

Wasn’t the show’s production team supposed to be well-funded? How could they not even check the streetlights?

Thinking about all the accidents that had happened today, Ke Yuanbai’s pleasant mood was immediately ruined.

He didn’t dwell on it, though, and turned on the flashlight on his phone to continue walking forward.

The night fog began to rise, and the light from his phone quickly illuminated only about a meter in front of him, with the rest of the area shrouded in mist.

Even though he was a firm materialist, the environment made him feel uneasy, and he subconsciously quickened his pace.

Fortunately, he didn’t walk far before a figure appeared vaguely in the fog ahead, accompanied by the melody of the theme song from All Idol.

He had been listening to this song on repeat all night, to the point where his ears almost hurt, so as soon as he heard a few lines of the melody, he immediately recognized it.

Ke Yuanbai paused for a moment, then quickly approached, excitedly greeting the person: “Hello, I’m Ke Yuanbai from Team A. Are you a contestant from All Idol too? Would you like to walk together for a bit?”

However, after taking a few steps forward, he realized something was off.

The figure didn’t seem to hear his voice and continued walking slowly, with the All Idol theme song still playing.

A sense of subtle unease rose in Ke Yuanbai’s heart, and for some reason, the image of Ke Xingzhou appeared in his mind, along with that meaningful glance he had given him before leaving the group.

“...” Ke Yuanbai shook his head, dismissing those unrealistic thoughts from his mind.

This was a scientific world. How could there be such things as strange powers and supernatural events?

He really had been made dizzy by that Ke Xingzhou guy.He quickened his pace and finally caught up to the figure in front of him after a few minutes. Sure enough, the person was wearing headphones and had simply not heard his greeting earlier.

Ke Yuanbai subconsciously let out a sigh of relief, stepped forward, and lightly tapped the person’s shoulder. “Hello, which team are you from? Can we get to know each other...?”

His words abruptly stopped when he circled to the front of the person and found himself facing only the back of their head.

This person... had no face!

In that instant, all notions of materialism and scientific worldviews went out the window. Ke Yuanbai’s mind went blank, and a cold sweat immediately broke out all over his body.

Realizing what was happening, he quickly turned and ran, gritting his teeth as he sprinted forward. Trembling, he opened his phone’s contacts, dialing without looking.

The contacts at the top were mostly people he was especially close to. Those who had become his friends naturally had some capabilities. He thought that as long as he could reach one of them, he’d be safe. The call connected quickly, and the other side picked up, but the voice on the other end wasn’t anyone he recognized.

“What are you running for?” The voice sounded very young but eerie. At times, it sounded far away, and other times, it was very close. “You’re running in the wrong direction. I’m behind you.”

Ke Yuanbai: “...”

The theme song from All Idol began playing, extremely close.

He realized something and stiffly turned his head, slowly glancing to the side.

It was the same terrifying back of the head from before, but judging by the person’s clothes and movements, they were clearly facing him.

They were holding a phone with a cracked shell and cocking their head to “stare” at him.

In that moment, Ke Yuanbai’s spine went cold. No matter how firm he was in his materialist beliefs, he couldn’t help but be terrified by this horrifying scene, nearly losing his grip on reality.

He finally couldn’t bear such a terrifying sight anymore and screamed in panic, “A ghost!! Aaaaahhh!!”

Ke Yuanbai only returned the next morning with An He Guang.

The two appeared safely, and everyone in the team let out a sigh of relief. They quickly gathered around to check on them, asking An He Guang what he had seen the day before, while also asking Ke Yuanbai why he hadn’t returned to the dorm all night. Some even asked if they had eaten breakfast, showing concern in every way.

Strangely, neither of them would talk about what happened yesterday. When asked too much, they became agitated, questioning whether the team had learned the theme song and dance, suggesting that if they hadn’t, they should stop being so idle.

The teammates couldn’t help but exchange confused glances.

An He Guang was one thing—this young master had been pampered since childhood and had a straightforward temperament. It was normal for him to be unwilling to speak after such a humiliating incident yesterday.

But Ke Yuanbai was known as one of the most gentle and polite contestants on the show. How could he not return all night, looking pale, with dark circles under his eyes, as though he had been drained of all energy? His mood had changed too!

Unfortunately, whether from the An family or the Ke family, neither were people they could provoke. Seeing that both refused to speak, the teammates had no choice but to set aside their fake concern and obediently returned to practice.

An He Guang couldn’t help but glance at Ke Yuanbai in surprise.

He had encountered Ke Yuanbai in the medical room this morning. When he opened his eyes, he saw Ke Yuanbai lying pale-faced on the bed next to him. Given the supernatural event they had experienced the night before, he thought they had both been affected by the ghost under the platform.

However, when he asked the doctor, he found out that Ke Yuanbai had actually been fine when he fainted.

It was just that around 6 AM, someone had found Ke Yuanbai asleep on the jogging path and, worried something had happened, had sent him to the medical room.

Despite the pale face Ke Yuanbai was now wearing, there was no actual injury. The doctor said he had just fallen asleep.But for some reason, after he woke up, he had that expression as if the whole world owed him eight million, and he didn’t even try to hide it in front of other contestants.

An He Guang didn’t understand him.

It was the middle of winter, and he was sleeping on the side of the road covered in sweat. If he didn’t freeze to death, that would be considered a miracle.

Moreover, even if he had fainted from exhaustion, could the little bit of cold Ke Yuanbai experienced really compare?

An He Guang rubbed the back of his neck, and a sharp pain surged, making him inhale sharply.

He hadn’t fully woken up from the hallucinations yesterday when Ke Xingzhou knocked him out again. He had no idea what had happened to him, no idea what horrible and inhumane things had occurred. Just as he was struggling to wake up, the intense pain all over his body forcibly snapped him back to reality.

The ghost in his dream hadn’t done anything to him, though!

An He Guang was utterly confused.

His teammates, seeing that his expression had softened, nervously approached and began talking about Ke Xingzhou’s switch to another team.

Ke Xingzhou?

An He Guang suddenly remembered that he hadn’t seen him after entering.

This guy actually sneaked off while he wasn’t around?

Although he didn’t remember everything clearly, he vaguely recalled that before he fainted, he had smelled a unique sandalwood scent, which had driven away the terrifying ghost with only half a body from his dream.

That scent seemed to belong to Ke Xingzhou.

His eyes shifted slightly. “Ke Xingzhou... he…”

Before he could say more, his teammates, as if they had found a target, began venting in front of him. “You don’t know, when Ke Xingzhou saw you in trouble, probably scared of taking responsibility, he immediately ran off with someone else!”

“Yeah, it was that Xie An.” Another person sneered, “He looks so honest, but turns out he’s a traitor!”

“I told you, when his two teammates suddenly had problems, there had to be something suspicious. Otherwise, why would only the two people from his company have issues while everyone else is fine?”

“Maybe they’ve been together all along. They were probably acting from the start yesterday!”

The group of them chattered, their voices growing louder, and even the exhausted Ke Yuanbai couldn’t help but glance over.

His worldview had completely collapsed last night, but after waking up and hearing that he had just fallen asleep by the roadside, he became even more disoriented. He couldn’t distinguish whether what happened yesterday was real or not.

Hearing them talk about Ke Xingzhou, he suddenly recalled what Ke Xingzhou had said before, that both he and An He Guang were going to be unlucky. Now, it seemed that everything he said had come true.

He wasn’t sure if it was a coincidence or if Ke Xingzhou really had some sort of foresight.

Ke Yuanbai had mixed feelings about Ke Xingzhou and didn’t speak immediately.

Unexpectedly, An He Guang spoke up, defending Ke Xingzhou. “What do you mean by ‘colluding’? Why do you guys have to talk like that? He might have just heard some inside information! Just talk about the facts, stop making up all these things!”

The teammates, who had been very animated before, suddenly fell silent.

Ke Yuanbai also looked over in surprise.He had been in the entertainment industry for a long time, so he had heard about An He Guang’s story.

It was said that when he was young, he was forced to leave home for a period of time. During that time, a relative’s child was fostered in his home, and over the years, that child had almost completely taken his place. If it weren’t for that relative later being ungrateful and stealing resources from An He Guang’s family business to support their own parents, An He Guang might still be the pitiful one, living under someone else's roof even after returning home.

An He Guang hated people who took others' places like that. Yet now, he was willing to speak up for Ke Xingzhou and scold his friends.

Ke Yuanbai was so surprised that he forgot the issue he had been struggling with earlier, not even noticing the pleading looks his teammates were sending him.

The teammates looked at the two of them in confusion, wondering what was going on with them today.

It was one thing for An He Guang to speak up for Ke Xingzhou, but why wasn’t Ke Yuanbai stepping up to “set things right” and apologize on Ke Xingzhou’s behalf?

Had these two been possessed?

What they didn’t know was that both An He Guang and Ke Yuanbai had their own thoughts and had both come to the same conclusion in the end—

They needed to have a talk with Ke Xingzhou.