His thoughts jumped around lightning fast. It seemed that he’d seen this face somewhere before––
“Sorry.” The man’s mouth curved slightly, and his fingers twisted around the rose, pulling it out of his pocket. His formal wear with its modern cut was low-key yet luxurious, and the corner of his shirt could be seen when he raised his hand.
He wore silver rimmed glasses that made him appear like the ‘Imperial gentlemen’ that were described in the tabloids, but the eyes behind the lens blazed with a strange light.
Wu Jin subconsciously lifted up the bench to scoot back. He clearly remembered where he’d seen him before. In the White Moonlight Battle Team corridor, on the bulletin board, there was an old, yellowed poster––
The man held up the rose and handed it to Wu Jin. The curves of his muscles beneath the shirt were extremely exaggerated, his skin color was dark, and the skin from the back of his hand to his forearm was covered in fierce and threatening tattoos.
He didn’t give Wu Jin any opportunity to refuse. It seemed that he’d been in a top position for a long time, and he had the look of the wilderness in his eyes.
The rose stem was smooth and flat, the sharp thorns cut off with precise knife work.
“I’m sorry. I should have come to pick you up earlier.” He spoke to Wu Jin.
Wu Jin was stunned silly, “I-I don’t know you… you-you’re…”
The black rose was stuffed into Wu Jin’s hands, and the man suddenly held onto him. The youth’s unprepared right hand was imprinted with a red mark.
The man leaned over to give it a kiss. Wu Jin shrank back. It felt like the back of his hand had been brushed by a snake.
Wu Jin wanted to withdraw, but he was pulled on tightly by a huge force and couldn’t break free. At this time, his terminal beeped noisily––
“Holy shit!” The fans behind them who’d originally been watching the gossip unfold were staring so hard their eyes almost popped out of their sockets. After that came the loud shouts from some of the young girls, “There’s-there’s-there’s a stalker fan ahhhh! Save Little Witch ahhhh!!”
The crowd in the Snow Leopard Building was suddenly disturbed as four or five security guards who’d been maintaining the line suddenly rushed in one after another, but someone was even faster than they were.
There was a boom!
The dust in the air split apart, and it appeared that some hard object had just been broken. The security guards’ first reaction was to push the fans back, and when they looked up again, their mouths dropped open––
Wei Shi stood coldly in front of Wu Jin, his body upright and powerful like a sharp blade.
The long table that was used for autographs had been kicked over by Wei Shi, and the man who’d originally held onto Wu Jin was forced to withdraw his hand and dodge. The table, chair, paper, signature pen, and other debris was scattered all over the ground as Wei Shi stood directly in front of the other person and blocked Wu Jin strictly behind him.
The little sister closest to them sucked in a breath of cold air.
She’d never seen Contestant Wei get angry before, and from such a close distance, it left her trembling and shivering.
The man’s gaze turned to Wei Shi, and he narrowed his eyes.
Wu Jin’s expression was angry and indignant. He was still foolishly holding onto the rose that had been pushed into his hand, his curls shooting everywhere chaotically. The man licked the corner of his mouth and actually laughed, speaking in a voice that only the three of them could hear, “Little Jin, I’m your match. Wait for me.”
“Remember, my name is Shao Yu.”
Wei Shi didn’t hesitate to throw a punch. Shao Yu seemed to know what he would do, and their attacks smashed together like colliding mountains. Wei Shi made use of his real strength, and Shao Yu soon grunted and frowned––
Next to him, Wei Yan and Zoe were both approaching at a run. Caesar had directly picked up a chair and was about to drive the man away, while Ming Yao was extremely resourceful, “Take photos! Expose him! Blacklist him!”
Shao Yu didn’t linger. He turned away from the crowd and disappeared.
Wei Yan had only just gotten close and could only see the back of his figure, but his body suddenly trembled.
Inside the Snow Leopard Building, the <Popular Youth> logistics team and Crosson staff all ran out one after another. Fans finally recovered from the shock and started touting, “Scarf CP real love”, “A knight saves Little Witch”, and so on. Many even took out their terminals to snap pictures of the two of them standing together––
Wei Shi had previously refused to attend the handshake event. It appeared that he’d only just removed his combat uniform, and the top three buttons of his white shirt were undone. His body still carried a murderous aura from the fight just now.
He was expressionless as he turned, protecting Wu Jin in front of the cameras and escorting him inside the building. He didn’t respond to the shouts around him and only nodded at Zoe, who looked on with worry from a distance.
Before the two of them disappeared into the building, the little fan closest to them saw Wu Jin obediently hand over the right hand that had been pinched…
The fans lining up outside the building exploded.
“God Wei is too handsome, his boyfriend powers are maxed out ahhhh––Scarf is REAL, I’m going to burst out in tears!”
“Calling out to support God Wei! He’s so righteous, I feel such heartache for my son and want to stroke Little Witch’s soft curls. It was so scary! Silly Little Witch, if he dares to attack you, you don’t have to concern yourself about whether or not he’s a fan, just punch him and be done with it!”
“Everyone stand up for Little Witch! I’m not pushing the CP, but Contestant Wei was really damn cool––”
“Question! Director, will Little Witch’s handshake event continue?” Some fans inquired timidly.
The Crosson program producer finally came over, panting for breath. He’d been so scared that he almost ended up putting his cigarette butt into his mouth. He gestured to everyone, apologized, then directly called Wu Jin on his terminal, “… Little Witch, are you okay? Yes, there’s still a line. We sent out over 300 handshake coupons, here…”
The communication ended. The program producer sighed in relief, “It’s fine, just wait a few minutes!”
The crowd was once again in high spirits.
Five minutes later, Wu Jin pulled his small stool back to his seat again and continued to seriously sign autographs for his fans. There was now an additional expressionless big boss keeping watch beside him.
The program group was intimidated by Contestant Wei’s aura and quickly moved a table nearby, adding a small card that said, ‘Not participating in the handshake event’.
“……” Wu Jin snuck a glance at the big boss who was practically labelled ‘not for sale’.
Thoughts flickered through his mind.
Shao Yu. The first of the three genetically modified in the Federal institute, the R-Code Team captain who’d held up a championship cup on the White Moonlight poster wall.
He’d defected to the Empire four years ago.
After identifying who Shao Yu was, Wu Jin’s mind was full of ‘imperial scientific research institution arresting an illegal immigrant, sending Shao Yu to capture a certain Wu for dissection and experimentation’…
However, he’d been in a state of confusion ever since he’d transmigrated over. How could Shao Yu know about that? The ‘match’ he mentioned, what did that mean?
Wu Jin obediently signed another autograph for a fan. The little fan looked at the Wu Jin’s right hand that had been wrapped up like a giant marshmallow and then timidly turned to the cold and distant Wei Shi, “God Wei, can you sign too…”
Wei Shi glanced at Wu Jin.
“!!!” Wu Jin bounced up, the ‘dissection and research’, ‘being cut into slices and distributed evenly’, ‘marbled meat Little Witch’ that had been running through his mind disappearing instantly.
Wei Shi set down the <A Tale of Two Cities> that was half finished, and signed his name with bold strokes after Wu Jin’s signature. The character ‘Wei’ overlapped with the lines of Wu Jin’s name.
That night.
The handshake event ended. The contestants crammed in a few mouthfuls of dinner and then boarded the bus back to the Crosson Base.
When Wu Jin boarded the bus, the director was reporting to the program producer in a low voice, “Six cameras, plus the video recording that the fans provided, yet we were shocked to find that none of them captured the stalker fan’s full face… how could all the cameras have problems at the same time, or maybe he somehow adjusted the angle…”
Outside the parking lot, Red reported, “Brother Wei, it’s my fault, I wasn’t able to follow.”
Wei Shi glanced down at the terminal and didn’t comment.
The bus floated back slowly, drifting silently in the night wind.
The lights outside the window were neon bright, and most of the players were sleeping. Wei Shi sat beside Wu Jin, his palm covering Wu Jin’s hand that had been wrapped into a fat ball both inside and outside.
“It should be fine now!” Wu Jin whispered quietly.
The bandages were unwrapped, and his hand was as good as new.
Wu Jin was satisfied, patting with the front of his hand, then turning to do the same with the back.
Wei Shi, who’d just been patted on the thigh, “……”
Wu Jin thought about it. Shao Yu and the big boss were on the same level. If he was caught while he was out alone, he would be taken back to be sliced up. It was better to follow behind the big boss like a fox masquerading as a tiger…
Wei Shi commanded, “Go with me to Floating City tomorrow. Prepare for the Autumn Festival.”
Wu Jin: “!” Awesome!
Wu Jin relaxed, but then he unexpectedly found his hand pinched by the big boss.
The man’s pupils were deep and indifferent. In the darkened bus, a flicker of predatory light glinted in his eyes, like a beast whose territory had been invaded.
Wei Shi: “That Shao Yu. What did you think.”
Only now did Wu Jin think of how Shao Yu seemed to have licked his hand. However, Shao Yu wasn’t a girl, wait, that wasn’t right, the big boss wasn’t a straight man, oh right, he wasn’t straight either…
Wu Jin stated his position clearly, “He’s a pervert!”
Wei Shi nodded, a cold light flashing across his eyes.
The bus landed slowly at the Crosson Base.
The players woke up and rubbed their sleepy eyes, but even before they could recover, Caesar directed the crowd’s mood, “Is there anything to eat, is there anything to eat!”
Wu Jin couldn’t help but join in with the stream of happy trainees, “Is there anything to eat… the program producer said that the canteen is making a late night snack! Brother Wei, what do you want to eat––”
Wei Shi made a sound of acknowledgement and glanced down at his terminal.
On the map, outside the Crosson Show, there was a red dot 200 kilometers away.
A few hours ago, he’d glued a tracker onto the other party’s skin when he hit Shao Yu with his fist.
Wei Shi ordered, “Just save me something.”
Wu Jin: “Alright, where are you going––”
Wei Shi left the bus and headed towards the luxury suspension car.
The man opened up the trunk, picked out some metal parts at random, and then raised his hand indifferently to indicate that Wu Jin didn’t need to concern himself over it.
Wu Jin squeaked, then watched as the big boss drove away.
Then, he happily followed everyone else and rushed towards the canteen.
He snatched up six handheld wraps all at once.
At the White Moonlight long table.
Zoe was serious as he summed up Secretary Qu’s latest proposal for ‘Little Witch protection measures’. Halfway through, he suddenly looked at Wu Jin, “How did you manage to choke while eating a wrap?”
Wu Jin: “……”
Wu Jin: “!!!”
He suddenly remembered that the last time when he’d ridden in the big boss’s suspension car, the trunk had been full of metal parts.
He’d only ever seen the big boss assemble one kind of thing from those parts.
Guns.
Juurensha: Everyone in full mobilization mode to protect Little Witch!