Xiao Fen narrowed his eyes slightly and tried his best to put on a ruthless and sinister expression, proudly baring his two sharp little fangs.
Ou Yu’s gaze shifted downward to the fluffy head beside his neck. He turned his head away, touched the spot where the breath had brushed his nose, then placed his hand by his lips and coughed lightly.
“Just you?”
【Don’t pretend, I saw you smile.】
【340,000 pairs of eyes saw it.】
【Ouyou Bro, why are you smiling? You’re mine, don’t look at this vixen.】
【Of course it’s laughing at this 18th-Tier Celeb being funny. So shameless.】
“Not convincing?” Xiao Fen straightened up awkwardly, retreated to their original distance, and fidgeted as he pushed up his heavy black-framed glasses. “Sorry, I have no acting experience.”
Ou Yu patted his upper arm and encouraged him warmly. “This is just a variety show. No acting skills required. Like this—later, we can team up and finish the warm-up task together.”
【Ouyou is as warm as ever.】
“No way. Teaming up with you would get me accused of riding your coattails. I only plan to film one episode anyway, so it doesn’t matter if I get caught.” Xiao Fen politely refused and parted ways with him.
Several thousand people suddenly flooded into his live stream chat, most of them coming over from Ou Yu’s side.
【Fen Treasure, a once-in-a-millennium opportunity—why not cherish it?】
【Don’t one-and-done it again. Film more episodes. We want more of Fen Treasure’s peak beauty.】
【Your bro only has that face going for him. So shameless, clinging to Ouyou and licking up a storm. Total green tea bitch.】
【Only because our bro is kind-hearted and wanted to team up with him. So ungrateful—with that EQ, no wonder he’s stuck at 18th-Tier.】
【You guys think our Fen Treasure is good-looking too, right? Here’s him being even more obedient and milky.】
Faced with hundreds of refreshing insults in the blink of an eye, Xiao Fen’s Little Fire Seeds didn’t get mad. Instead, they spammed the haters with photoshoots and candids so they could appreciate Fen Treasure more too.
Ou Yu’s fans suddenly had nothing to say.
【Idol’s being honest, but you guys are way too easy to bully.】
【As long as one more person likes our Fen Treasure, it’s a win for us Little Fire Seeds!】
【The kid’s too quiet-tempered. We have to worry extra for him.】
【Who’s this guy? That impressive?】
Casual passersby who wandered into the live stream chat saw Xiao Fen’s appearance and unleashed a barrage of mockery.
【Looks like a dimwit who trips over his own feet. Go wash up and sleep already.】
【You’re the dimwit. Don’t talk about Fen Treasure like that.】
【Only an idiot lets people call him baby. What age are you? Retard, don’t embarrass yourself out here.】
While the fans and toxic passersby tore into each other, the screen unknowingly showed only one person left.
Xiao Fen deftly dodged the crowd, slipped into the hotel’s back-of-house changing room, and emerged without his glasses, now wearing a gray janitor’s uniform.
He pushed a tool cart onto the staff elevator and went straight up to the 19th floor.
Lu Jin heard the knock and opened the door. “I didn’t call for cleaning.”
“Daily room service.”
Lu Jin’s expression shifted slightly, a flicker of calculation in his eyes. He lifted his chin, signaling the man to come in.
His stern face grew even sharper with the anger simmering beneath the surface. He glanced at the empty hallway outside the room and shut the door.
The curtains were already drawn, leaving only two warm yellow bedside lamps lit. The atmosphere felt slightly ambiguous.
He gestured for Xiao Fen to follow him to the bathroom.
Xiao Fen trailed quietly behind him and leisurely tugged down his mask, stuffing it into his pocket.
“You clean the bathroom… Ah!”
Intense pain erupted at the right side of Lu Jin’s neck, followed immediately by dizziness.
He widened his eyes in shock and stared at Xiao Fen’s familiar yet unfamiliar face, which gazed back at him with eerie calm.
Beneath that calm was cold contempt, a sneer, and mocking disdain as it drew closer.
A metallic tang spread across his tongue. Sensing life or death hanging in the balance, a surge of fury exploded from deep within. He instinctively swung a fist to counterattack.
Xiao Fen sidestepped effortlessly, then kicked him flying before strolling closer at a leisurely pace.
Strands of messy black hair hung over his eyes. In the shadows untouched by the indoor lights, his brandy-colored irises darkened to deep amber, as if corroded by a filthy soul—no trace of light remained.
Dizzy and nauseous, Lu Jin watched those eyes stare down at him imperiously, drawing ever closer. His body shrank back. He tried to scramble toward a nearby rack, hoping to knock over the items on it and make some noise.
His fingers were just about to touch something when his ankle was seized. He let out a startled yelp as he was dragged in the opposite direction.
Xiao Fen dropped to one knee on Lu Jin’s back, pinning him down. He pulled out the injectant prepared by the program crew and plunged it precisely into his neck.
The struggles grew weaker and weaker, his eyes gradually glazing over. Only his head, thrown back, conveyed thick unwillingness as it desperately tried to turn for a look.
“You…”
Xiao Fen grabbed the hand pointing at him, leaned down until his chest pressed against Lu Jin’s back like lovers, and cooed softly by his ear. “Shh, corpses can’t talk, you know.”
“Bear with it. It’ll be over soon.”
The live stream chat, with fewer than ten thousand viewers, went completely silent for a full five minutes.
From entering the room to the kill, it took less than a minute.
Every movement flowed as smoothly as water—calm, unhurried, and blindingly fast. The audience hadn’t even recovered from the comment war yet.
【You call… this baby now?】
【Did they hire a death row inmate from prison for the show? Playing this big?】
【What are you talking about? This is my Fen Treasure. Next time anyone says he has bad acting, I’ll smash this video in their face.】
【Not Fen Treasure. Call him Brother Fen.】
The viewer count jumped from ten thousand to twenty thousand, thirty thousand, fifty thousand… and kept climbing.
【Who gets it? Watching a live stream gave me PTSD. That creepy face came right up close for the kill.】 Lu Jin’s original ten thousand-plus viewers flooded over.
Each guest had two hidden cameras: one first-person view and one slightly farther close-up. Plenty of viewers had been watching from Lu Jin’s first-person perspective. Xiao Fen’s smile suddenly loomed large in front of them before vanishing from view, accompanied by that murmur in their ear. It gave plenty of screen-side audience an immersive brush with death.
Xiao Fen stretched his limbs. Having only arrived in this body that morning, he still wasn’t fully adjusted.
His gaze happened to catch a fly-sized camera. The cold sharpness on his face dissipated as he softened his expression and smiled. “Little Fire Seeds, always remember: when staying at a hotel, don’t casually open your door—especially when traveling alone. Even hotel staff could be imposters plotting something sinister.”
【Killed a guy and still reminds us about travel safety. He’s the real deal. I’m dead.】
In the main live stream room, the host and director—who had been stunned for a good while—finally snapped out of it. They exchanged glances, remembered what they were supposed to do, and awkwardly laughed to smooth things over. “Exactly. When traveling and checking into hotels, always prioritize personal safety. Especially…”
They then began sharing hotel check-in safety tips.
After schooling his fans, Xiao Fen pulled out the phone from his pocket and paused the recording on the screen. He rewound and replayed it.
“I didn’t call for cleaning.”
The recording paused there. He rewound again.
“I didn’t call for cleaning.” He repeated it in a low, flat voice—toneless, like an emotionless parrot.
Not quite.
Rewind.
“I didn’t call for cleaning.”
He adjusted his vocal placement and mimicked it again, now capturing some of the gravel in Lu Jin’s voice.
Rewind and replay.
“I didn’t call for cleaning.”
The timbre, tone, and inflection now matched about eighty percent.
A smile tugged at Xiao Fen’s lips. He looked up. The shattered mirror on the vanity split his reflection into dozens of pieces.
The warm yellow lamplight illuminated his porcelain-pale face, casting a razor-sharp shadow across his brow, nose bridge, and the other half of his face.
He seemed to gaze into the mirror—or perhaps directly at the camera—his eyes piercing straight into the hearts of the live stream chat’s ten thousand viewers.
“I didn’t call for cleaning.”
The intonation and expression made it seem like Lu Jin himself stood right there.
The rapidly scrolling chat came to another brief halt.
Xiao Fen picked up the room phone.
++
Downstairs at the Imperial Capital Grand Hotel, a server glanced around. Seeing no one nearby, he swiped a steak knife from the kitchen and carried a tray normally into the banquet hall. He passed by one person.
“Halt.” That person stopped him in his tracks.
The server turned to look. The man was tall—around 1.9 meters by eye—slimmer than the two burly, muscled men behind him, but still exuding plenty of pressure.
“Come here.”
The server swallowed hard, forced down his nerves, and walked over with the tray.
The tallest man said nothing. His gaze was deep and sharp, brows furrowed in silent authority as he reached for the wine on the tray.
“Ah—”
Panicked screams rang out nearby.
Everyone looked over to see the three of them holding a woman hostage as they dragged her into the lounge next to the banquet hall and locked the door.
【Tonight’s prime crime show is here!】
Tonight’s warm-up had drawn over fifty thousand viewers. After the Film Emperor revealed himself and thirty thousand-odd bounced, most of the rest crowded into these three kidnappers’ live stream chats.
【Smart plan. Just hole up in the room for seven hours and they win.】
【Rooting for you guys.】
【How’s the Film Emperor doing?】
【Boring. I’d have closed his stream ages ago if not for up-close Ouyou face time.】
Peng Xiaoxiao trailed behind Fang Si Ting as they reached the lounge door. The server had thought the commotion would let him slip away scot-free. But just as they were about to leave him behind, Fang Si Ting waved toward the rear. Two action team members immediately tackled him to the ground and took him into custody.
“Listen up, pursuit team outside! Try breaking in and we’ll kill this woman! Let’s see if your moves are faster or our knife is!” the thug inside barked.
“Ah—don’t—please!” The hostage woman panicked. “I beg you, I have money. Let me go!”
Unaware guests clustered at the hallway entrance, whispering among themselves.
++
In the program crew’s control room, dozens of staff stood to greet the figures at the door.
Station Director Chen respectfully ushered Old Master Lu and Bureau Chief Wu of the Capital Special Investigation Bureau inside.
“How’s the traffic on this warm-up live stream?” Old Master Lu asked. “The guests haven’t gone overboard, have they?”
Station Director Chen sneered inwardly. He’d advised against it before, but no one listened. Now they asked? Who’d watch this boring show? Guests couldn’t go too far, but they needed traffic—and the more episodes, the more losses. Spoil your grandson all you want.
He plastered on a smile and stepped forward. “Peak of fifty-eight thousand concurrent viewers, thirty-nine thousand now. A bit low, sure, but it’s only the first episode. It’ll ramp up. Rest assured, Wu Bureau, Chairman Lu—we’ve been actively sharing safety tips in the chats.”
“Good. Don’t spread any misguided values. Young people get led astray easily these days. You in entertainment have to set the example.”
Bureau Chief Wu clasped his hands behind his back and spouted a bunch of official platitudes. He was just about to leave when, on screen, Fang Si Ting kicked the door open. While the three thugs were still dazed, he kicked one knife flying and smashed a fist toward another.
The thug barely dodged. The punch that grazed his ear sank straight into the wall, cracking the surface around it.
Eyes wide, the thug stayed stunned for a good half minute. Bai Zhu led the action team in right after and pinned the thugs to the ground.
The close-up on Fang Si Ting’s fist gave Old Master Lu quite the scare.
Bureau Chief Wu burst out laughing. “Your grandson borrowed all our top talent from us. Perfect chance to show them off on your variety show.”
Fang Si Ting shook out his hand and asked Xu An, “How many left?”
Xu An, wearing glasses and sucking on a lollipop, didn’t look up as he flashed a “three” with his fingers.
On the main live stream screen, the left side floated photos of the forty pursuit team members, while the right showed the criminals in prison garb. Only the last row still had three empty slots.
【Under two hours, and twenty-seven criminals all in custody. God-tier.】 The chat filled with exclamations.
【Agile moves, terrifying explosive power, astonishing observation skills—special forces background, right?】
【Has a military vibe, but not quite.】
【It’s all acting, there’s a script—don’t buy it.】
【You try punching a wall—watching that made my head hurt.】
【Found it: Fang Si Ting is our country’s national treasure-level criminal investigation expert, former tactical analyst and special operations inspector at the National Special Investigation Bureau. He’s cracked over a hundred major cases that shocked the world inside and out, renowned for his thunderous and swift methods. The industry calls him “Fang Yama.” He’s maintained a one hundred percent case clearance rate since starting. Last year Inspector Fang retired from the National Special Investigation Bureau. No one knew where he was working now—didn’t expect to see him here.】
【My god, too awesome!】
【Fang Yama, you’re my one and only male god.】
Station Director Chen bent at the waist, accompanying the two big shots on either side, when several staff members suddenly let out cries of surprise.
“What’s going on? The live stream viewer count is skyrocketing—it’s already at six hundred thousand, breaking today’s high—no, seven hundred thousand, suddenly nine hundred thousand…”
“What?!” Station Director Chen shoved aside the idle bystanders and hurried to the big screen.
Meanwhile, the Pursuit Team quickly received a message.
19th floor. A murder case occurred.
