GBT Chapter 3

Jiao Bai walked out of “Di Ye” on his own. He stood on the steps, looking up at the night, which was already in the late hours, with few stars visible.

“Young Master Xiao Qiu,” the driver urged.

Jiao Bai gave a self-deprecating smile. The driver looked at him as if he were some cheap prostitute, yet addressed him so politely.

“What’s the rush? My head’s still spinning. I need a moment.” Jiao Bai noticed a needle mark on his arm. He’d had an IV drip and his fever had gone down, making him feel much better.

“Di Ye” actually had a medical team. Probably to prevent rich young masters from overdoing it and needing emergency repairs for their “toys.” A medical team… this was another thing not mentioned in the comic.

Jiao Bai walked down the steps one by one. He reached the car but didn’t immediately get in. Instead, he stood with the Qi family driver and patted him on the shoulder, “Hey, pal, got a smoke?”

The driver’s face turned liver-colored. He stiffly advised, “Young Master Xiao Qiu, you don’t seem to be feeling well. You shouldn’t smoke. Go back and drink some water. Your health is important.”

“Thanks for the concern.” Jiao Bai friendly straightened the driver’s upturned collar. His lips curled up, revealing a pair of sharp little tiger teeth. “Let’s go, pal. Thanks for your trouble.”

Jiao Bai opened the car door and slowly got in. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black car coming toward them from the corner. It comically slammed on its brakes, making a scalp-tingling screech.

Without even looking, Jiao Bai could imagine the look of shock on the driver’s face. His eyes were probably bulging out, wanting to run him over but not daring to offend the master of the car he was in. He could only suppress his anger, wearing a twisted expression as if he’d eaten shit but had to swallow it.

The frustration and resentment Jiao Bai had felt since arriving here finally dissipated a bit.

That dog in the car was acting on impulse, driving over in a daze to stake out the place, acting like the wronged wife catching her husband cheating. But he was just a dog himself. He missed his chance, and he wouldn’t dare to do it again.

Jiao Bai relaxed against the back seat. When he was reading the comic, the melodramatic storylines were like comfort food, so delicious. But now that he was a part of it, it was hard to put into words.

Jiao Bai’s wish was to extract himself as soon as possible and stay away from everyone related to the main plot, especially the protagonist shou. But reality was the opposite; he had to jump into the whirlpool.

He had to cultivate activity with the eight friends on his list. Eight, damn it, what a rip-off.

Just as Jiao Bai was drifting off to sleep, the car suddenly turned around without warning and headed back toward “Di Ye.”

Jiao Bai glanced at the rearview mirror and saw that the driver had just finished a phone call and was looking at him with a gloating expression, as if watching a good show. He swallowed the question that was on his lips and dug his fingernails hard into his palm.

He’d been exposed!

Jiao Bai turned to look out the window. The city’s nightscape rushed past in his pupils through the glass. How had he been exposed?

From the time he collapsed with a fever until now, a few hours had passed. What had Qi Yi Liao based his discovery on?

Jiao Bai’s back suddenly left the leather seat. Surveillance!

Qi Yi Liao had installed surveillance cameras in his room, probably all-around coverage. He must have become suspicious and checked the surveillance footage, finding more suspicious points.

That was the only possibility.

Jiao Bai leaned back, his entire back soaked with sweat. He lowered the car window, and the night wind rushed in wildly, messing up his bangs and making his wound throb.

Forget it. He’d deal with it as it came. Anyway, there was no regular system supervision, no need for role-playing. He might as well just say he was pretending before.

Everyone wears masks in life. Everyone understands.

Jiao Bai thought, as long as he didn’t say he transmigrated, no one would think of that.

Besides, even if he said it intentionally or unintentionally, no one would believe him.

If those favored sons of heaven knew he was just a character in a comic, drawn by an author, they would send Jiao Bai to a mental hospital and let him die there.

Sometimes, the truth should be buried.

Jiao Bai’s heart, which had been pounding in his throat, gradually slowed down and returned to its place. He took advantage of the time on the road to conserve his energy. He didn’t know how long this battle would last.

Di Ye.

In front of a computer, Qi Yi Liao, with a cigarette between his fingers, reached for the ashtray. He lightly tapped the long accumulation of ash into it. His gaze remained fixed on the multiple surveillance screens.

One of Qi Yi Liao’s pleasures was to install surveillance cameras in his room and watch himself on them. Awake, reading, working, or sleeping. From the perspective of a stranger.

He monitored himself.

That was why this scene was unfolding now.

Qi Yi Liao couldn’t find anything else to pass the time tonight, so when he noticed that after he simply took a shower, the young man dared to speak to him, and said quite a lot, he pulled up the surveillance footage to take a look. And he really did find something.

Zhang Zhen was puzzled. “What could cause an empty shell to suddenly gain a soul?”

Qi Yi Liao clicked the mouse, and the footage played from the beginning.

The young man under the camera was originally lying naked on the bed, with his eyes closed. His thin, bony limbs were shrouded in an aura of decay and ruin. After a moment, he suddenly opened his eyes, first looking around in a daze, and then breathing rapidly. As if he couldn’t breathe, he grabbed the bedsheets beneath him, his pupils constricted.

After that, the young man’s behavior became even more bizarre. He actually put on his clothes with trembling hands, and crawled off the bed on all fours, hiding under the table…

He seemed to be escaping something, very panicked, but forced himself to face reality.

Both the richness of his emotions and the frequency of their changes were extremely strange.

“It’s a bit like being possessed,” Zhang Zhen said hesitantly. Besides that, there was another possibility: Wang Chuqiu had learned to obey under the suppression of his environment, and only knew how to obey. Gradually, his mind had fallen asleep and rotted away. Tonight, he had “awakened” and “come alive.” In short, it was so-called split personality.

“Possessed? Hardly.” Qi Yi Liao glanced at the locations of the small surveillance cameras in the room.

“Then it’s schizophrenia,” Zhang Zhen said, answering a phone call and speaking softly. “Third Master, the person is back.”

Qi Yi Liao stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray. “Send him next door.”

Zhang Zhen immediately went out to meet them. They were only in South City to offer birthday greetings, and would leave after attending the banquet tomorrow at noon. Third Master didn’t have time to deal with this, and wouldn’t. It was irrelevant, unnecessary.

The Shen family was different from other prestigious families. Old Lady Shen had been a devout Buddhist for many years and placed great importance on ghosts, gods, and fate. The Shen family couldn’t have blood on their hands. They had their servants do everything, and they not only had to clear themselves of suspicion, but also had to spend time in temples.

If the young man in the surveillance footage was really possessed, then the situation would be serious.

Qi Yi Liao called out to Zhang Zhen, who was about to reach the door of the room. “Change the bedding, everything.”

Zhang Zhen scratched his head. Earlier, when he wanted to hug Wang Chuqiu, Third Master stopped him, saying not to touch dirty things. He suspected that Wang Chuqiu had done something on his own that made Third Master dislike him. Now he was even more certain of it. He sighed inwardly. Third Master was going to keep Wang Chuqiu for the night. Everyone thought Third Master could relax a bit, but he hadn’t expected this result.

“Yes,” Zhang Zhen said.

The next moment, he heard his master speak again, “And throw away that can of tea on the table, too.”

Half past one in the morning, Jiao Bai returned to “Di Ye” and stood in the room filled with the strong scent of chestnut blossoms. On the left was a messy bed and the unconscious Xiao La Jiao, and directly in front of him was Shen Ji, whose clothes were still on, but with only two buttons undone. He was a few years older than Qi Yi Liao, nearly forty, with cold, handsome features, and his long legs and narrow waist were eye-catching.

[Your friend Shen Ji has come online]

His profile picture was Pikachu.

A yellow-orange blob, with two ears standing up, small short arms in front of him, a flat lightning-bolt tail sticking up high, and two small patches of blush on his face.

After confirming that he wasn’t mistaken, Jiao Bai took a deep breath. The little person in his heart was shouting like crazy: So cute, I want to hug him!

But after he glanced at the old man who reeked of outdated CEO vibes…

Pikachu was no longer appealing. Goodbye.

Shen Ji was quite famous in the comic. The author had arranged several highlights for him, placing him at the top of the important supporting characters. His ranking in the fan community outside the comic and his popularity in fanfiction were second only to Qi Yi Liao. His only downfall was that he later had an official pairing.

“Sir,” Jiao Bai called out. This old guy’s hair was as thick as his lust, with no signs of hair loss.

Shen Ji’s voice was languid, like a male animal after finishing a conquest, “Get me my shoes.”

Jiao Bai: “…”

Did the original owner have to do this?

Jiao Bai loved to read BE dog-blood abusive comics. He remembered a lot about sugar daddies and their mistresses. Their mode of interaction was like this.

A few seconds later, Jiao Bai chuckled to himself. No, it wasn’t the same.

This old man didn’t just want him to get his shoes; he actually wanted him to help him put them on.

Jiao Bai gritted his teeth and knelt to put the leather shoes on the ground. Suddenly, his calf was kicked. He was caught off guard and fell to his knees with a thud.

Shen Old Dog! Your mother is dead!

Jiao Bai’s knees hurt like they were about to crack. He gritted his teeth and knelt on the ground to relieve the pain. Above him was a cold and unsettling gaze. It seemed that Qi Yi Liao had already given the surveillance video to this old thing.

“Shoes,” Shen Ji said coldly and impatiently.

Jiao Bai wanted to pick up the leather shoes and slap Shen Ji’s big mouth, with all his strength, so that the other party would be crawling on the ground looking for his teeth, crying and begging. But his situation didn’t allow him to do that. Not yet. He had to endure.

There would be a chance. I’m going to beat Shen Ji into a pig’s head. Jiao Bai soothed himself by imagining it. The moment he touched Shen Ji’s calf, he didn’t have to worry about what to do next. This body’s muscle memory helped him complete the act of putting on the shoes.

It was done in one go.

Jiao Bai almost laughed out loud.

For the original owner, a man had gold under his knees. He couldn’t reach it while standing; he needed to kneel to pick it up. And once he knelt, he couldn’t get up.

“What are you thinking about?” Shen Ji bent down, and the mint scent from his collar mingled with the sweet and greasy fragrance that the small toy had picked up.

Jiao Bai lowered his eyes, “I wasn’t thinking about anything.”

“Look up and say that to me,” Shen Ji ordered sternly.

Jiao Bai, struggling to resist the urge to obey, thought, “…” What the hell? Was the original owner being pua’d?

Just as Jiao Bai was about to get up, Shen Ji suddenly grabbed the back of his neck. His palm was cold and wide, pinching him like an ant. Jiao Bai struggled uncomfortably.

Shen Ji pinched Jiao Bai’s neck with one hand and tore off his top with the other. His dry, slender fingers slid down from top to bottom, stopping an inch above his tailbone.

This body’s tailbone had been injured before, right where Shen Ji’s fingertip was.

Jiao Bai knelt in front of Shen Ji’s legs, goosebumps breaking out all over his back. A sense of crisis made his limbs tremble and his breathing quicken. Just as he was about to jump up and fight back, Shen Ji tightened his grip on his neck. At the moment he felt suffocated, the fingertip touching his tailbone suddenly pressed down, with terrifying and cruel force.

Jiao Bai’s face turned pale with pain, and he convulsed uncontrollably.