CHAPTER 30: CHAPTER 30: THEY... KISSED!? (FEATURED!)

The countdown outside has entered the final fifteen seconds. Mu Qiu has confirmed that the photographer didn’t follow her in. She presses close to the wall, slowing her breath, trying hard to hypnotize herself into thinking she’s in an unseen Jiezhi Space by others.

Su Yan and Lin Banyan definitely did not notice her.

Indeed, they didn’t. She casually opens her eyes and sees Su Yan already reaching out to grab Lin Banyan. The two of them are speaking while facing sideways to her. Due to the loud countdown outside, she can’t hear clearly.

"Countdown has entered the last three seconds, 3——"

"Boom!"

A cardboard cutout of Li Yang, thrown by the explosion, sticks to the window glass. That handsome face smiles on the glass, then slowly slides down.

Poor Li Yang, even his cardboard cutout wasn’t spared.

Mu Qiu withdraws her gaze, and it involuntarily falls back on the two people outside who are in the middle of body contact.

"...2——1——"

Just at the moment of the loudest explosion sound, Su Yan catches Lin Banyan’s chin, those lips fantasized by countless fans descend, and his hand firmly controls Lin Banyan’s waist.

Kissing during an explosion sound on a variety show... very bold indeed. Turns out some cliché plots in showbiz novels aren’t made up out of thin air.

If this scene were exposed, can you imagine how crazy Su Yan’s tens of millions of fans would get?

"What are you looking at?"

A very soft voice suddenly comes from behind, right beside her ear.

Startled, Mu Qiu subconsciously makes a big motion to turn around, but before she turns much, a hand from behind suddenly covers her mouth, with an arm resting on her shoulder, suppressing her motion.

The explosion sound outside has ended, and silence, mixed with the heat, spreads out centered on her position, firmly enveloping her senses.

The man’s hand isn’t rough, slender and carries a cool warmth, gently covering her lips and cheeks for a moment, then quickly retreats, hovering very close in front of her.

Her heartbeat loses its rhythm for a moment.

Tilting her head to look at the person now standing side by side with her, Cheng Zhirang raises a finger gently to his lips, without making a shushing sound, but she naturally closes her mouth, even consciously slowing her breathing.

Who wouldn’t listen to such a gentle person?

They stay quietly in this corner for quite some time. Outside, Su Yan and Lin Banyan have already left. Cheng Zhirang retracts his hand, points outside, indicating for her to go out first.

Mu Qiu nods, standing there watching his back disappear into the blind spot of the corner.

If, just saying if, when his hand was covering her mouth just now, she lightly moved her lips to kiss his palm, what would happen?

Would he awkwardly withdraw his hand, panic-stricken staring at her, or just frown slightly and leave coolly? Or perhaps, would he say "Woman, you’re bold" like the men in CEO novels?

What kind of character setup does Cheng Zhirang have?

While thinking, Mu Qiu quietly goes upstairs, then calculates the time, and runs down the stairs loudly, peeking out the door.

There are black traces from the explosion in the middle of the road; cardboard cutouts are scattered everywhere. Beneath the closest cutout, a long figure is lying.

Lin Banyan and Shu Ran, standing at the factory door, stretch their necks to watch just like Guan Yu.

"Why did the explosion suddenly happen?"

"This explosion looked too real, I even saw Li Yang’s cardboard cutout fly into the sky and fall down."

"So scary, this explosion happened out of nowhere."

Su Yan walks to the middle of the road, squats down and lifts the cardboard cutout. Behind him, Cheng Zhirang hands the cutout to Shi Yuhuai,

"It’s yours."

Li Yang, who ran off to collect his own cardboard cutout, finally drags himself and his three cutouts over.

"Who is this?"

Su Yan makes way, revealing the long figure lying on the ground.

All dressed in pink, Zhu Qi lies "peacefully" with eyes closed on the ground.

"......Did he take on another task of playing a corpse?"

"I think it might be him playing dead again." Guan Yu shouts from the factory door, forcibly joining the conversation.

Li Yang looks at his teammate and brother-in-law with suspicion: "Can a corpse die a second time?"

"That ’corpse’ was even calling you brother-in-law just a while ago."

It’s creepier once someone points it out.

Mu Qiu interjects, "Does he have a manual with him this time? Maybe we could find out why the explosion happened."

The bystanders are taken aback.

Li Yang: "Manual?"

Shi Yuhuai: "You mean that piece of paper?"

Su Yan stays silent for two seconds, shakes Zhu Qi’s hand, "Hey? Where’s the paper this time?"

The ’corpse’ doesn’t react.

Shu Ran and Lin Banyan approach, with Shu Ran tentatively calling out, "Zhu Qi?"

Still no reaction.

"How about we check him?" Li Yang suggests.

The others think about it and decide it’s worth a try, so they start searching the stiff figure "up and down."

Finally, they pull out a familiar piece of paper from Zhu Qi’s sleeve.

[I’ve bought insurance, please send me to the hospital promptly]

"..."

Even playing a corpse has so much baggage, really dedicated.

There seems to be no reason for the explosion, so they have to temporarily use the gas leak mentioned on the small broadcast as the cause.

Li Yang refolds the paper and stuffs it back into Zhu Qi’s sleeve. Suddenly, Guan Yu at the factory door shouts.

"There seems to be someone over there!"

Su Yan and the others stand up, looking toward the other side of the road.

There are people appearing at both the other viewing villa and the factory door, quite a few people.

"The two actors from the previous scene recreation are there." Cheng Zhirang states.

"Let’s go have a look."

The corpse, Zhu Qi, is ruthlessly abandoned, moved into the factory to keep the immobile Guan Yu company.

The rest proceed along the road where the explosion occurred, examining the places where people appear.

The buildings here are quite similar to the initial ones they were taken to. The factories are next to the viewing villas, the villas next to red-walled houses with different styles. Opposite the explosion site, there is a similar set of closely-matched buildings, now all housing their original owners.

The red-walled house holds a middle-aged couple, with a tall, thin student in a school uniform sitting at the door. The viewing villa houses a young couple having an argument, a lazy young man whistling nonchalantly heading inside. At the far-right factory entrance, facing each other, stand a much younger man and woman, unlike the other two families in arguments, they stand silently without a third person.

Their features are distinct.

"They are impersonating us," Lin Banyan says.

"Is this a new scene recreation?" Li Yang asks.

Cheng Zhirang withdraws his gaze, saying, "One group each side, let’s go separately, see if we can find any information in their words."

"Then we return to Guan Yu, consolidate the information, maybe we can identify that God figure in one go." Shi Yuhuai agrees.

"Alright."

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