Capturing My Demon King Costar

MY COSTAR IS IMPRESSIVE

Yao Shen holds his breath the entire time Xin Hulei is up there. Afew paces away, Tan Liansi's hands are clenched tightly into fists.

No one notices when Xin Hulei takes something out of his pocket and fiddles with the gaudy computer.

Everyone does, when instead of some song and cutesy visuals a black and white video starts playing, blown up huge on the monitors behind Xin Hulei.

In the audience, a lone figure in the back shoots up from his seat. Yao Shen watches his every move as he tries to make it to the emergency exits only to find them blocked.

Xin Hulei addresses the confused audience, as well as the befuddled contestants.

"Quite by accident, me and my costars found a hidden camera in one of our hotel's empty rooms. That footage, which you're seeing now, altered to respect the victim's identity, has been shared in full with the police, who have already mobilized. We ask for your help in identifying and reporting the location of the remaining three men, since one of them has already been identified."

As Xin Hulei falls silent, the audience becomes aware of the sound of someone furiously tugging on the emergency exit's handlebar. Almost in unison, dozens of heads turn towards the source of the sound, finding a man wearing an expensive suit desperately trying to make his way out of the room.

One by one, cellphones start raising in silent judgement, their cameras aimed at the man and his sweaty, red face.

---

The last thing Xin Hulei does before walking backstage is addressing one of the cameras to thank 'Missing Piece of Love' for helping the victims get justice. He disappears behind a black curtain after that, and Yao Shen and Tan Liansi follow silently after him.

Everything is a blur afterwards.

Yao Shen faintly remembers Bi Jialu's shocked face, a volley of questions directed at the three of them, and Xin Hulei calmly answering everyone that the issue was now an ongoing police investigation, and that the three of them wouldn't be able to answer any questions.

After that he makes the decision of escorting the three of them towards the studio's garage, so they can leave as soon as possible, and before the media swarms in on them.

"We should try to arrive in Hengdian today," he says, looking at his watch.

It's prohibitively late, Yao Shen's mind reels when he looks at the time.

He can't believe they did it, his blood feels like it's running backwards.

"It's a good thing that we'll be going back by train," Tan Liansi says, tapping away at her phone. "They'll be trying to ambush us at the airport."

"It pays to be environmentally conscious," Yao Shen says, looking at Xin Hulei's sculpted profile, still dazed.

He doesn't know if it's a good thing that they aren't alone, because if they were he would be climbing all over Xin Hulei.

The wild rush of adrenaline pumping under his skin makes Yao Shen lightheaded.

Suddenly, a voice Yao Shen hasn't heard in some time whispers up from the corners of his mind.

[That's what delivering justice feels like. Host used to do it all the time when he was a Ghost King. Rewarding the righteous and punishing the sinners.]

Yao Shen goes immediately still. Why is the System talking with him after such a prolonged silence?

He asked it questions directly several times and didn't get an answer, and now suddenly it's feeling chatty.

The System doesn't comment on Yao Shen's recriminations, instead it continues whispering into his mind.

[Host should forget the ambitions of his mortal life, and take back his position as Ghost King. Capturing Xin Hulei will give Host the necessary edge to win over the Ghost Kings trying to manipulate him.]

Ah, so much for saving the mortal realm and all that.

Yao Shen needs to work hard to school his features into neutrality, or he might give away the outrage he's feeling.

'What about you? Aren't you trying to manipulate me too?'

[This System has been trying to return Host his ghostly powers. All of the System rewards are nothing but the abilities all Ghost Kings have access to, but since Host is now human, they need to be awarded in the form of 'rewards' for surpassing bottlenecks.]

So, Yao Shen was right.

He's in the middle of an Underworld power struggle with two sides trying to use him to their advantage.

Which only means that Yao Shen can't trust either of them.

[This System has never done anything to harm Host, nor will it ever.]

The car is quickly approaching the train station. Xin Hulei is staring at Yao Shen from the corner of his eye, aware of his odd behavior.

Yao Shen wants to put an end to the conversation, but he just has one more question for the System:

'What is going to happen if I 'capture' Xin Hulei? What will happen to him?'

[After capturing his spirit stone, Host will be able to send him to the Underworld, where he'll be used as a bargaining chip to force the demons attacking Youdu's walls to stand down.]

Yao Shen is speechless, in the two times he went to Youdu, he never got the impression that it was a city under siege.

He wonders if Xin Hulei knows. He wonders what he's doing in the mortal realm instead of helping the other demons conquer Youdu.

The System's voice grows frantic, as if afraid his big reveal isn't enough to sway Yao Shen -- and why would it? If Yao Shen has no memory of Youdu, no loyalty to a city he doesn't remember.

[Host doesn't need to kill him! After taking control of the spirit stone Host can do whatever he wants with the demon king.]