Yao Shen doesn't have anything else to tell the system.
He's not interested in, what...having Xin Hulei under his thrall?
He's even less interested in whatever power struggle is going on in Youdu between the ghost kings. For better or worse Yao Shen is no longer one of them, so he's going to keep his head down and just deal with it until he can get away from this madness and go on with his life.
[Host should reconsider.]
He's not going to.
[There might come a time when Host won't have a choice.]
The System falls silent after that. No matter how many times Yao Shen directly asks it for answers, he doesn't get a reply.
"Is everything okay?" Xin Hulei asks, noticing Yao Shen's pinched brows, his serious frown.
"I'm fine," Yao Shen says, just as the car comes to a stop on the station's parking lot.
They get out without another word, and put on masks and sunglasses to mix in with the throng of commuters and passengers undetected.
This time, they all travel in the same compartment to make logistics easier and make it harder for anyone to approach them.
Some of the security guards stay outside, patrolling the hallways like restless passengers who can't make up their minds about where to sit.
Inside the small private cabin, the three of them and Bi Jialu look out the windows in silence.
Now that they've exposed the criminals, Yao Shen feels a cold anxiety settle into him.
Who knows what's going to happen now?
Who knows how the public is going to react, the authorities?
No one expects celebrities to get involved into unsolved murder cases. Will they think this is a just a ploy to get more attention?
Will the realization that they made such a public spectacle of it, because they didn't trust the police force not to let itself be corrupted over the unsolved death of two prostitutes, land them in hot water?
Yao Shen doesn't even notice it when the train starts moving, his mind whirring at speed.
The silence in the cabin is too cloying, Yao Shen can't take it.
He knows it's not a good idea, but he starts browsing weibo.
As expected, all trending topics are about the dramatic reveal in 'Missing Piece of Love'.
[Lilly bloom: Watch here the video of one of suspects trying to escape the network studio during the live recording of 'Missing Piece of Love' shocked.emoji angry.emoji
Let's hope the police will do their due diligence and bring this criminal to justice, as well as all the other suspects.]
[Day after day: I still can't believe that a murder was revealed during a dating show. Truth is stranger than fiction]
[Cat Lover: Well, they had to act fast to trap in the one suspect whose identity they knew. It's a good thing that celebrities were the ones to stumble on the secret footage. Someone else might just have handed it off to the police, and a powerful guy like that, as soon as he knew someone was on him would just have hopped on to a private plane and left to another country.]
[Winter bug: Anyone know anything about the other men in the video? Have they been found yet?]
[Snake charmer: Not yet, this just happened, how would anyone know anything?]
[#4555433: Lmao, actors turned crime fighters, this is so weird. I guess the government cracking down on illicit wealth got them scrambling for some extra income dyinglaughing.png]
[Trendypants: ^ this got me thinking they just did it as a publicity stunt to get more attention for their drama]
[Just facts: ?????? How do you find secret footage of a double murder no one knew anything about as part of a publicity stunt?]
[Optimistic realist: do celebrities have a bottom line these days? I won't put anything past them]
[Tardiness must be forgiven at least once a week, sorry boss: Listen, one of the murderers has been caught, and now that three celebrities have attached their faces to the case the other suspects will have a hard time evading justice, either by attacking the victim's families or by trying to bribe others. All in all, what those actors did is a net positive for society so I don't care at all if they get some good publicity out of it.]
[Spindly vine: ^ Right on, as far as I'm concerned, whatever good publicity they get is deserved, after bringing such cruel monsters to justice]
The main trending topics are mostly about regular people with no interest in the entertainment industry coming across the news of what happened during the tv show.
All the different opinions are somewhat in line with what Yao Shen expected of regular people -- there's more interest in learning more about the victims, and the criminals themselves, updates on the police investigation than on the actors that broke the news.
It's a huge source of relief, but Yao Shen knows the real trial isn't regular people, but the avid followers of celebrity gossip and the entertainment industry as a whole -- that's where the problems are bound to be found.
Bracing himself, he heads over to that particular corner of the circus.
The first post he sees is a gif of him smiling and laughing during the 'Missing Piece of Love' broadcast.
[How dare: I've never seen quite a media campaign for a little fresh meat actor like the one x3iao Shen is getting hahahahaha couldn't they just get him an endorsement deal with a popular brand or something? Do liuliangs these days have to fight crime too? hahaha]
[Silver spark: Poor guy, people were so mean to him, so now he has to do all this to show everyone he's good person. He was very cute in the show tho, I was curious about the sudden reveal that the cast of 'Crimson Promise' would be attending so I was watching live. Shen Shen is a lot more natural and cuter than he seemed at first]
[Yoyo: Does no one else find it weird, how a group of actors ended up stumbling on footage of something like that? What even are the chances of something like that happening?]
[Two x Two: ^ it's very simple: Yao Shen and Xin Hulei were sneaking into an empty room to have some alone time, and whatever they were doing in that room doge.emoji made the hidden camera come loose from its hiding place. They checked it, to make sure there was nothing incriminating them, and found the footage of the crime.]
[Purple Peony: what were they doing sneaking around their own hotel? Don't they have their own rooms....I don't get it]
[Two x Two: It's like this: their secret relationship was exposed some days ago. I bet their companies gave them trouble because of that. They're probably under a lot of scrutiny lately. So, they decided to sneak away to a secluded room...the rest is history. They're good people so they wouldn't just stay quiet because it could incriminate them, so they asked Tan Liansi to be in on it to offer plausible deniability]
[two left feet: hey, maybe it was a threesome doge.emoji]
[Lian Lian my goddess: F##K off, my jiejie doesn't share uwu]
[in the know: ^ don't worry, I don't think your jiejie likes men at all]
[Lian Lian my goddess: how dare you spread baseless rumors about my jiejie?]
[in the know: why are you so pressed? you don't like men either]
[Lian Lian my goddess: wat oAo what are you talking about?]
[in the know: girl...your liked pages are visible ToT]
[Red Triangle: Uh, is there a CP supertopic for Yao Shen and Xin Hulei?]
[Abyssal Rex: Not yet, make one]
Discussion goes on in that vein for a while, but mostly it's positive, although everyone seems to be of the opinion that Yao Shen and Xin Hulei were sneaking into the empty room to have sex.
That particular rumor is bound to land them in hot water with their agencies sooner or later, but on the other hand, at least for now everyone is too distracted by the crime to pay too much attention to it.
Yao Shen is scrolling through the discussion threads when his mobile vibrates with an incoming text.
[Xin Hulei: you've been looking at your phone for a long time, what's gotten you so interested?]
[Naughty Ghost: reading up about us]
[Xin Hulei: anything good?]
[Naughty Ghost: sorta, link, link, link]
[Naughty Ghost: why does everyone think we were fucking in that room?]
[Xin Hulei: I would be more worried if they thought we were looking for ghosts]
[Naughty Ghost: speaking of which how will we know if she has moved on?]
[Xin Hulei: we'll have to check, there's likely other ghosts around too, but not all of them will be bound by such strong resentments]
Yao Shen lets out a groan, and in the seat across from his, the corner of Xin Hulei's lips raises minutely as he keeps writing.
[Xin Hulei: do you want to go back to my place when we arrive in Hengdian?]
Yao Shen looks at the message for a long time, unsure of how to answer Xin Hulei.
On the one hand, he really wants to, but the System's warnings are still ringing brightly in his mind.
Is he only making things harder for himself and Xin Hulei by getting more involved?