Chapter 3

Just then, someone spoke up in a tone of uncertainty: “…Are you Ke Xingzhou?”

Looking in the direction of the voice, Ke Xingzhou saw a boy about the same age as himself standing there, holding a staff ID and repeatedly glancing between him and the photo on his phone.

Ke Xingzhou figured it was a picture of him that the Ke family had provided.

Sure enough, the boy quickly confirmed his identity and came over enthusiastically. “It really is you! My artist knew you didn’t bring an assistant, so he specially sent me out to pick you up.”

“Your artist?”

“Ke Yuanbai!” He paused for a moment, seeming to realize their relationship might be a bit awkward, and scratched his head. “You probably know who he is, right?”

Ke Xingzhou nodded, his expression unchanged.

After all, he had known the truth about his identity since he opened his third eye at the age of five. All these years, he had been preparing to leave the Ke family. He just hadn’t expected that they wouldn’t believe he wasn’t their biological child, dragging things out until now.

Ke Yuanbai’s assistant secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Ke Xingzhou had no reaction.

“Oh right, Mr. Security Guard, this is a friend of my artist. He’s also here to participate in the show, not an outsider. Can I take him inside?”

The guard who had just been throwing his weight around in front of Ke Xingzhou suddenly had none of that bravado in front of someone else.

Having been caught making things difficult for a contestant, his expression twisted awkwardly, but since the other person was Ke Yuanbai’s assistant, he could only force out an ugly smile. “Of course. I was just looking out for everyone’s safety, which is why I stopped him. Didn’t realize he was Second Young Master Ke’s friend. Just a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding.”

The assistant gave Ke Xingzhou a look, signaling him to come along. After all, it was easier to deal with the devil than with his minions—no point getting into it with a security guard.

But Ke Xingzhou looked at the black aura gathering tightly at the guard’s brow and shook his head. “Unrighteous deeds bring retribution. Calamity is about to befall you.”

The guard’s face darkened, his beady eyes nearly flaring with rage.

If the assistant hadn’t been there, the baton in his hand would’ve come down on Ke Xingzhou’s face on the spot.

The assistant was also startled by Ke Xingzhou’s stubbornness. As they walked away, he practically grew an extra pair of legs, dragging Ke Xingzhou out of the guard’s sight as quickly as possible.

Once he confirmed they were out of view, the assistant slowed his pace.

“You’re seriously bold. Didn’t you see the security cameras back there? If this ends up online, even more people are going to curse you.”

Ke Xingzhou blinked. “Even more?”

The assistant paused and gave him a strange look. “You don’t know?”

Ke Xingzhou shook his head.The assistant looked at him with a mix of shock and sympathy, then proceeded to explain the events that had unfolded recently: "Here's the thing..."

Through his explanation, Ke Xingzhou learned that the Ke family didn’t send him to this talent show just to serve as a contrast to Ke Yuanbai. When the Ke family discovered Ke Yuanbai's true identity, he had already become a small internet celebrity with hundreds of thousands of fans.

Ke Yuanbai had joined the show to debut, but he must have gotten in someone’s way because, as soon as the contestant list was officially announced, rumors spread that he was seen coming in and out with a rich heir, implying that he was using his body to climb the ranks.

As an internet celebrity with hundreds of thousands of fans, this scandal was devastating for Ke Yuanbai. That very day, dozens of his fan groups exploded, and the internet was abuzz with rumors, including AI face-swapping videos circulating wildly in the comment sections.

But because the incident became so widely known, it caught the attention of the Ke family, who usually didn’t care much about the entertainment industry.

Ke Yuanbai’s striking resemblance to the Ke family made the Ke family members, who had already been warned by Ke Xingzhou, realize that this might be their lost biological child.

The next events unfolded naturally. The Ke family’s drama about the true and false heirs only fueled the fire. The rumors about Ke Yuanbai using rich men were soon disproven, and the Ke family took advantage of the situation. They didn’t just want to clean up the stigma on their real son, but also to show their stance in front of his rapidly growing fanbase of millions.

This led to conspiracy theories later, claiming that Ke Xingzhou had discovered his true identity early on and deliberately smeared the real heir so that he couldn’t return home, with the Ke family saying nothing about it.

This silence was seen as tacit approval by the fans, who immediately turned all their ire onto Ke Xingzhou.

Ke Xingzhou had been vilified online in recent days, and before the assistant came to pick him up, he was worried that extreme fans might have tried to kidnap him.

"...I’ll tell you, it’s a good thing you don’t have a social media account right now, or it would have been blasted all over the internet already," the assistant said, patting his shoulder with some resignation.

Ke Xingzhou nodded thoughtfully.

It seemed that the security guard's hostility earlier had something to do with all these events.

But he couldn’t help wondering how much of this had been orchestrated by the Ke family, and what Ke Yuanbai really knew.

As they reached their destination, the assistant looked at the tattered robe Ke Xingzhou was wearing. He couldn’t bring himself to ignore it, and reluctantly handed over the down jacket he had draped over his arm.

"Your clothes are useless; you should wear mine," he said, then paused and, after a moment, added, "You’re a grown person, you should learn how to take care of yourself... Hey, wait, what are you doing?"

Ke Xingzhou froze, his hand just having pulled out two hundred yuan from the pocket of the jacket.

The assistant turned pale, then red, exclaiming, "What are you doing, digging in your pocket in front of me?"

He had barely managed to stuff that two hundred yuan into his pocket!

Ke Xingzhou blinked innocently. "I’m used to it."

The assistant, unsure what he was imagining, looked at him with even more pity.

Seeing that Ke Xingzhou was reaching out with the money, the assistant thought he didn’t want to accept it and quickly waved his hand. "Ah, don’t worry about it, this two hundred is a loan. When you hit it big, don’t forget to pay me back!"

He turned to leave, but after taking several large steps, he realized he hadn’t moved at all.

Turning around, he saw Ke Xingzhou’s thin arm gripping the back of his collar with no sign of letting go.

The immense strength behind that gesture left the assistant stunned.

Ke Xingzhou, however, was focused on the faint red glow on his forehead. After thinking for a moment, he dug around in his pocket and pulled out a neatly folded stack of talismans. "Thank you, here, take this."

The assistant was immediately distracted.

He took the talisman package, flipping it over and over. "…What is this?""Safety talisman. If you ever find yourself in a situation you can’t solve, it can help buy you some time."

The assistant: "......"

He looked at the plain paper packet in his hand, then glanced at Ke Xingzhou's clearly lackluster face and his tattered robe. The assistant opened his mouth but ultimately swallowed his doubts.

Forget it, it’s a gesture of goodwill.

But now he understood why the Ke family had decisively given up on this fake young master.

After seeing Ke Xingzhou into the waiting room, the assistant shook his head. "He’s a pretty good person, just full of untapped strength, and a bit too superstitious."

Just as he thought this, preparing to return to his artist to deliver his task, he turned around and saw a few staff members excitedly heading toward the door, talking about "retribution" and "security guards."

He froze for a moment, and his gossip instinct kicked in. He grabbed one of the staff members to ask what was going on. The staff member handed him a pack of sunflower seeds and said, "Go watch the show! The security guard at the door just got into a fight with his girlfriend’s boyfriend!"

Assistant: "??"

Following the crowd to the door, they just happened to encounter an ambulance rushing by.

Two men with swollen faces were lying on stretchers. One of them was still persistently attacking the other: "Damn it, I treated you like a brother, and you go and play games behind my back? Do you think I’m dead?!"

The one getting beaten was the security guard who had stopped Ke Xingzhou earlier.

However, he had completely lost the aggressive stance from before. He was now beaten to the point that he couldn’t even straighten up, yet he still gazed at the young woman with unwavering devotion, "He knows now, there’s nothing left to stop us. I’ve given so much for you, please be with me!"

The girl immediately recoiled, disgusted, "Who wants to be with you?! I’ve rejected you countless times, can’t you understand?!"

The assistant, confused, asked some bystanders and learned that the man doing the beating had originally been the head of the security team. He had a good relationship with the beaten guard, and they were often seen coming and going together.

The girl was the head of the security’s girlfriend. They were a young couple from the same small town and had a very good relationship. The security team leader even paid for the girl’s tuition fees.

Later, the security team leader found a better opportunity and quit his job as a security guard. He even treated the beaten security guard to a meal when he left.

But it was during this farewell that the beaten guard, seeing how young and beautiful the security team leader’s girlfriend was, developed inappropriate feelings.

He knew the security team leader well and was aware of where he went when he took leave, so when the team leader wasn’t around, he found the girl’s school and repeatedly harassed her, even confessing his feelings publicly, causing the school to almost believe that they were a couple.

The beaten guard didn’t bother to explain when people misunderstood, believing that the public could see who was more suited for her.

Originally, the head of the security team hadn’t noticed anything, but the guard, still upset about losing face to Ke Xingzhou and continuing to harass the girl, failed to check if the team leader was nearby this time and was caught red-handed.

The team leader, who had taken the job at the base to be close to his girlfriend, quickly arrived, seeking vengeance as soon as Ke Xingzhou was taken away by the assistant.

He was a man of passion and, after hearing the explanation from his girlfriend on the way, didn’t even give the other man a chance to defend himself before throwing a punch.

The guard, in a panic, quickly activated the alarm, which attracted the crowd.

As for the sequence of events, the girl explained to the staff who were filming during the scuffle.

After hearing all this, the assistant clicked his tongue in amazement, "Seriously, how did he ever think that girl liked him?""It’s always the same thing. He looked at her a little longer in the crowd, and smiled at her when they greeted each other." The staff member eating sunflower seeds shook his head, "Didn’t even see her once look at him the whole time, she was busy explaining everything to her boyfriend."

Assistant: "......"

Just when he thought the commotion was over, the ambulance hadn’t even left when a group of tattooed men showed up. They immediately grabbed the security guard’s stretcher, refusing to let him get in the ambulance unless he paid back the money.

“Damn it, you said you’d make us a lot of money, tricked us into investing in your lending business, and now months have passed, where’s the money?!”

The security guard, not caring about anything else, was grabbed by the collar, his face pale, and his legs shaking. "I’ve been asking for the money. The person I lent money to thinks I’m asking for too little, so they’re not in a hurry to pay me back... just wait a few more days, I’ll get the money back!"

“Tomorrow, tomorrow. Bullshit, who the hell still believes you? Boys, show him what happens when you don’t pay back money!”

The sound of fists landing on flesh rang out, and the staff members gathered at the door exchanged looks, unsure of what to do. It wasn’t until someone yelled, "The police have been called," that the gang of men scattered, leaving the security guard completely unconscious, his arm twisted at an unnatural angle.

The leader of the group spat at him as he walked away, "If you don’t pay back next time, it won’t just be your arm!"

Only then did the ambulance have a chance to take the security guard away.

The crowd watching the scene at the door broke into a cold sweat, especially the assistant, who stood frozen, the sunflower seeds in his hand now tasting bland.

For some reason, when the security guard was being beaten, the only thing that came to his mind was Ke Xingzhou’s words, "You’re in big trouble."

At the time, he thought Ke Xingzhou was just being stubborn because he couldn’t fight back. Now, looking back, Ke Xingzhou’s calm expression and unusually bright eyes, as though a golden light flickered beneath them, didn’t seem like someone who was intimidated.

The assistant couldn’t help but shiver.

Wait... this is getting a bit scary!

He looked at the talisman buried under the pile of sunflower seeds, his body trembling as he immediately put away all thoughts of mockery, carefully shaking the talisman clean and tucking it into his inner pocket.

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but as soon as the talisman was close to his body, he felt a warm sensation spread throughout him, and the cold wind blowing in his face didn’t feel as piercing.