And just as the viewers all liked that barrage, the cameraman felt a chill—after all, the director had not told him anything about this beforehand!

Luckily, the staff hurried over, which first let the cameraman breathe a sigh of relief—but three seconds later, his breath caught again.

Because the staff came to explain that this thing was not planted by them.

The reason for the staff’s arrival was simple: if something like this happened in the rented cottage, no matter how you looked at it, it was their dereliction of duty.

Even though Mr. Ye refused to let the cameraman report the matter to the director, the look in his eyes made it clear that he absolutely took this as part of the script.

After all, if a variety show didn’t mess with its guests, could it still be called a variety show?

But…

The director bit at her already broken fingernails and looked completely undone.

“…That thing really wasn’t planted by me! Where would I even get such an expensive-looking ring?”

The director turned to the staff beside her, almost shrieking.

“This was absolutely the work of some scheming villain trying to harm me!”

She said it with absolute certainty, then immediately ordered the staff to play the surveillance footage in front of everyone. Even if someone had broken in, she was willing to admit it!

With that thought, her finger already hovered over the “110” dial, ready to call.

Meanwhile, the viewers in the barrage, who had been joking and laughing, didn’t yet realize the seriousness of the situation when they saw the staff arrive. Although they felt a creeping chill, they still teased in the chat: “This time the script was written well, I’m getting goosebumps all over.”

“By the way, how did they even get Mr. Widower to agree to use his late husband as part of the script?”

“That part is unclear. After all, those two over there were both at capitalist level—maybe there was some hidden deal?”

“Wait, forget the deal, something looks wrong—why is the staff saying that the thumb ring wasn’t planted by them, and even showing the surveillance footage?”

That comment stopped the stream of banter. Everyone’s eyes snapped back to the screen, where the staff member explained the matter clearly right into the camera.

“…In short, this thumb ring wasn’t placed by us, and it has no connection whatsoever with the upcoming script. All our scripts are filed for record.”

The staff wiped cold sweat as she spoke.

Her expression already looked bad, but the audience’s faces in front of the screens looked even worse. If the ring wasn’t placed by the crew, then who could have slipped this ring box in under their watch—and even left a card written with dark red ink that looked almost black?

A chill climbed up the viewers’ spines.

Their gazes toward the red-haired man carried a hint of gratitude.

—After all, if not for him, they would probably have been frightened all over again by that red card.

But the red-haired man’s expression was no longer as relaxed as before. His face was solemn, yet his eyes carried an emotion that looked almost like he had expected this.

The beautiful man beside him, however, looked at the thumb ring with an expression that shifted from tender nostalgia to faint horror after hearing the staff’s words.

He immediately tried to pull the ring off his thumb, but it was stuck tightly at his joint, making the action difficult.

By the time he finally yanked the ring free, his whole finger joint had swollen red. Yet the swelling didn’t look ugly—it resembled a bite mark.

Still, the pallor of his face showed that the action had indeed hurt.

The young man held the thumb ring as if it were a scalding hot potato, quickly dropped it back into the ring box, and stepped back.

The red-haired man instinctively reached forward to massage his swollen joint, and the beautiful youth, who usually resisted all contact with him, uncharacteristically stayed obediently by his side, allowing the man to knead his finger.

The cameraman didn’t even notice this detail—if not for professional discipline, he probably would have already abandoned his camera and bolted from the room.

Meanwhile, the barrage erupted in screaming chaos.

“No way! If it wasn’t the crew who put it there, then who the hell did? I’m covered in goosebumps already!”

“Don’t tell me it was literally the dead husband—this is bad, it’s broad daylight and I’m drenched in cold sweat.”

“No, no, it can’t be. This was a material world, there shouldn’t be that kind of thing… right? I’m going to put on a revolutionary song to suppress the fear!”

While panic spread across the barrage, some comments also began worrying about the red-haired man’s safety.

“But seriously, if it really was what I think it was, then since he tore up that card, won’t the guy from the grave come up for revenge? Don’t let this turn into a diplomatic incident!”

“Probably not. Supernatural events weren’t within the scope of law—everything needed evidence. Besides, even if he hadn’t torn up the card, the dead one might still come after him anyway.”

“—Look at how he was holding the widower’s hand for almost five minutes without letting go. If the one underground really crawled out, the very first person he’d look for would definitely be him!”

At that barrage drifting across the screen, the terrified viewers finally noticed that the red-haired man had already been standing together with the handsome youth for quite a while, and that their hands had been interlaced all along, looking as if the red-haired man was comforting the youth beside him.

“…The director was already pulling up the surveillance. The room had been under monitoring ever since they entered, of course except for the bathroom, and during this period the cameras had always been on.”

Although the staff’s face looked pale, compared with the youth’s expression, it still seemed ruddy.

The youth still showed little expression, but his face was so pale it faintly carried a bluish tint, proving that his heart was anything but calm.

He stared at the thumb ring, his eyes full of emotions too complicated to distinguish.

The red-haired man beside him, upon seeing his complexion, put away his mocking smile and simply stood quietly by his side.

—Only, his big hands still overlapped with the youth’s, as if giving him strength.

Only when the staff pulled up the surveillance did they finally separate for a moment.

And at this point, the live-stream chat finally broke through the five-million-viewer mark.

After all, the news that the stream was haunted had already spread online. As for the increase in numbers, the director was quite happy to see it—after all, this way the police would also come to handle things more quickly.

Just when the director thought this time she could both help the police earn some credit and use the incident to hype the variety show…

The surveillance finally started playing.

At first, the room looked perfectly normal, with no trace of a ring box or a card.

Then, after several checks, the staff skipped through the segments without the ring box and pinpointed the exact moment it appeared, rolling the time back ten seconds before.

But…

What they saw in front of them was the screen flashing white once, and then suddenly the previously empty nightstand displayed a ring box.

Even that card was lying quietly beside it.

Staff: “……”

Cameraman: “……”

Barrage: “……”

“—What?! The dead husband really crawled out of the ground!!!”

After this, the director immediately suspended the two guests’ filming and dialed the police. At the same time, she arranged for Ye Wangxing to be moved to a different room.

Fortunately within misfortune, Ye Wangxing had no intention of withdrawing from recording, and since he stayed, the red-haired man naturally didn’t leave either.

But Song Yun was nearly driven mad, almost rushing over to drag his younger brother out of the shoot.

“…With things like this happening, what’s the point of continuing this damned show? What he needs most now is to go home and find somewhere safe, not stay here being harassed!”

Song Yun lost his temper in front of everyone, directing it squarely at Shi Xuanzhu.

Even the host in the observation room nearly turned away to leave, and none of the guests present tried to stop Song Yun. Even the old-fashioned veteran actor said nothing—he only quietly moved further away from Song Yun.

—And then he took out the prayer beads on his wrist, turning them while sweating profusely.

His cowardly display made his wife’s face show some disgust, but when she looked at Shi Xuanzhu holding Song Yun back, her own face carried a trace of doubt.

Things had already blown up to this extent, so why did Shi Xuanzhu still want the recording to continue?

“…Song Yun, calm down and listen to me. In the current situation, continuing the recording is the best option. After all, so many eyes are on us, and with the whole crew here, it actually helps suppress these things. But if you went home, that would be much harder to control.”

Shi Xuanzhu spoke steadily, and it sounded reasonable enough. Gradually, Song Yun was calmed and sat back down on the observation room sofa.

For the time being he stopped bringing up stopping the recording, which made Shi Xuanzhu breathe a sigh of relief. He still looked at Song Yun with concern on his face, but his thoughts were entirely different.

Luckily I calmed him down. Otherwise, the traffic we worked so hard to build up would all vanish.

Shi Xuanzhu glanced at Song Yun with a trace of dissatisfaction in his eyes, thinking: Song Yun still wasn’t steady enough. The one affected was Ye Wangxing, not him—couldn’t he think of the bigger picture? Besides, Ye Wangxing’s husband wasn’t trying to kill him. What was there to worry about? Dragging him back home in such a rush, wasn’t that just inviting bad luck?

Though he thought so, when Song Yun looked at him he still kept a soothing smile, then turned his gaze back to the TV.

By then, the show had already moved to the next activity—going to the supermarket to shop.

The amount of money each of the eight guests held was decided by the order of elimination in the previous round of laser-tag. As champions, Ye Wangxing and that Chris held the most money. But after what had just happened, they had little desire to shop.

Unlike the others, who tried their best to perform in front of the cameras, the two of them simply strolled quietly through the supermarket, only picking up necessities when they saw them.

And the atmosphere between them was very warm.

So much so that even the viewers who had been screaming in fright in the barrage were calmed, and stayed in the livestream once again.

Especially the handsome young man seemed to be frightened by the recent events, he kept subconsciously leaning against the red-haired man.

The red-haired man naturally didn’t mind—his face even turned red, which gave the startled viewers a chance to tease him a bit when they saw his expression.

The two looked like a perfectly matched couple and completed the director’s task, returning to the small room.

Once they returned to the room, they were called over and led to a separate room. Their cameraman came along, and after confirming with Ye Wangxing that he didn’t mind, the cameraman broadcast the situation live.

It turned out that the investigation results from Ye Wangxing’s original room had already come out.

The speed was impressive. Since panic had already spread online, the police uploaded the technical analysis of the surveillance directly to the internet and stated that it was a highly clever editing technique.

“…The suspect secretly sped up the surveillance footage by skipping frames, then used the stolen three minutes to create the illusion that the ring and card appeared on the bedside table just one second later,” the officer explained in plain language.

The conversational tone immediately calmed the tense expression on the handsome young man’s face.

“So… this was human manipulation, not a paranormal event?”

The officer nodded lightly. The director beside him seemed a bit nervous, but fortunately, no one noticed her.

“It was human, sweetheart~ looks like you need to investigate properly.”

When the red-haired man heard it was human manipulation, he froze briefly. Then, as if covering something, he immediately put on a playful, smiling expression.

He added: “By the way, sweetheart, let me clarify in advance: this wasn’t me—I don’t want you to think about that old man.”

Hearing this, the handsome young man glanced at him, expression calm: “I know it wasn’t you—if you had that skill, you wouldn’t have been caught when you locked me up.”

The handsome young man spoke without holding back. The red-haired man clutched his chest, wearing a pitiful expression, like a character from classical paintings holding his heart.

Only a few perceptive viewers noticed that beneath the playful interaction, both the handsome young man and the red-haired man had a hint of vigilance in their eyes.

However, these few didn’t affect the bullet comments.

After learning it was human manipulation, viewers in the live stream breathed a sigh of relief.

Although no one knew why Ye Wangxing didn’t pursue it, it probably involved his own secret. The bullet comments simply watched as Ye Wangxing signed the police document.

The show then proceeded according to its schedule. Perhaps due to the earlier scare, the process went very quickly this time, with hardly any shocking moments.

For the director, having few shocking moments was ideal, today had already been full of them. She now only hoped the variety show would smoothly transition into tomorrow.

After all…

The director rubbed her arm, feeling a chill.

—Although the police found manipulation in the room’s surveillance, they hadn’t discovered anything abnormal in the hallway or other entrances.

While the director felt fearful, the trending topics were booming online. Feng Chuan, returning home from overtime, hadn’t yet reflected on all that happened in the afternoon and joined the online spectators.

She first opened the trending list and saw the entire variety show dominating it.

#“WhoseTrueHeart” Haunted#

#“WhoseTrueHeart” Guest Is a Widower#

#Even Men Are Powerless to Resist When Forced to Kiss#

#Your Face Is Red, Tea Kettle!#

#He’s Already a Widower, I Can’t Let Him Remain Alone#

The day’s events were all on the trending list. Feng Chuan clicked through, watching and reacting, exclaiming in surprise.

However, unlike live viewers, she hadn’t experienced the same on-site fright, so her comments were more unrestrained.

“—Does anyone have this widower’s contact info? I think I met my destined wife, need to talk to him, and I don’t mind the red-haired man beside him. We can join together. (Rose)”

“He’s so hot, both sharp and enticing! Red-haired man, now I understand why you laughed after getting hit. If he steps on me, I’d even let him slap me again, sob sob.”

“? Wait, why are you still eating and taking at the same time?”

“Sob sob, widower’s broken feeling really tastes good, sob sob sob sob.”

Below the trending posts, various crazy fan comments appeared endlessly.

There were also shipping fans.

Their discussion threads were like racetracks, with new posts crashing into old ones.

After all, the red-haired man and the widower, or the fiery-willed widower and the perfectly-built red-haired man, offered endless material for creative play.

Of course, there were casual viewers curious about Ye Wangxing and his deceased husband.

This took time, so Feng Chuan continued browsing until 1 a.m., occasionally seeing posts clash with others, until she finally found a fully compiled timeline.

Due to its length, she grew drowsy and decided to check the comment section instead.

As expected, a “class representative” had been waiting.

“To understand this story, first, we need to know one person—Kaizer Gore.”

“The Gore family is a major powerhouse in the USA, comparable to the Aldrin family. They are also in industry, but unlike the Aldrins who focus on military, the Gores focus on technology and electronics. Many electronic products in your hands are funded by them.”

“The Gores have always been few, this generation only has two brothers, unlike the numerous Aldrin family members—although now only one Aldrin remains. It’s hard not to suspect the Gore family’s involvement.”

“The USA’s media can’t figure this out, let alone us. So for now, let’s skip that. Let’s talk about Kaizer Gore and our widower’s love story.”

“—Two years ago, our widower met his now-husband in first-class on a plane. They fell in love at first sight and quickly married.”

“Their married life was extremely sweet, documented on Kaizer’s social media. His love was evident in every photo. Whether skiing, discussing business, or anything else, Kaizer always kept Ye by his side and taught him personally.”

“‘We are friends, teacher-student, and soulmates.’ These were Ye’s words a year ago, on their first anniversary.”

“Perhaps even God couldn’t stand their happiness. Six months ago, a car accident took Kaizer Gore. Ye cried so hard he was admitted to ICU, and upon waking, he clung to Kaizer’s body crazily. For a month, he traveled to over ten countries, performing countless DNA tests.”

“Only two months ago did he seem to accept reality, returning to the USA—then came the publicized confinement case.”

The “class representative” sighed: “Ye was already extremely devoted, performing DNA tests for months, refusing to believe his husband was dead. Hopefully, he finds his own happiness now, and I believe Kaizer would agree.”

Most comments expressed sadness that lovers couldn’t grow old together. A few directly challenged her final statement: “Are you sure? That man acted like a stalker on social media, always photographing his husband, making her angry sometimes, yet hugging him and never letting go. If he saw someone else near his husband, wouldn’t he crawl out of his grave?”

“He already did today. And judging from Kaizer’s social media, Ye was involved in everything. If he didn’t drag Ye down, that would already be considered good.”

Feng Chuan silently liked these two comments. She agreed with them.

She originally planned to sleep after reading this post, but couldn’t resist checking the trending list again. New trending topics about other people appeared, while the previous ones rotated…

By the time Feng Chuan looked up again, dawn had broken. It was already 5 a.m.

Fortunately, she had a day off. She was about to put down her phone when a pop-up appeared: “—The ‘Whose True Heart’ live stream is now on.”

Feng Chuan, ready to sleep, groaned and clicked it open.

The live stream already had five hundred viewers, mostly those who had stayed up all night following the drama.

The stream’s title indicated an early-morning event, immediately signaling what would happen next.

The camera was fixed looking from inside the room to the outside, right at the door, building anticipation.

“Ding-dong~ ding-dong~”

The doorbell rang, startling Feng Chuan.

The people in the room woke up and got up to check.

Feng Chuan realized this was Ye Wangxing’s room. The young man rubbed his eyes and went to the door, slightly puzzled, but trusted the security enough to open it lightly.

A man appeared in the frame.

He had silver hair, blue eyes, tense facial features, and a detached expression—clearly a successful professional in a three-piece suit, posture impeccable.

Only his shoes looked slightly unusual.

—At that moment, most people didn’t notice this.

They also didn’t notice the fruit tray by the door.

Ye Wangxing stared blankly at the man for a long time, then slammed the door shut.

Before they could react, the handsome young man seemed triggered. He immediately scanned the room, expression stern and cold, finally focusing on the fruit tray—or rather, the fruit knife on it.

Three seconds later, the door opened again.

The handsome young man grabbed the fruit knife and thrust it straight toward the man’s face at the door.

Feng Chuan instinctively screamed: “—Ahhhhh!”

 

 

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