Chapter 4

Chapter Four

After Lu Yan left, Gu Xu remained seated in the conference room, reviewing the contract.

Since the boss hadn’t left, the employees naturally didn’t dare to move. One of them managed a smile and said, "I didn’t expect Lu Yan to be... quite approachable."

Gu Xu chuckled softly, picked up the contract and walked out of the conference room, leaving behind a sentence: "Tell Assistant Xu to organize the major resources the company has on hand during this period and send them to my office."

Xu Fei, Gu Xu’s assistant, who had been by his side for four years, knocked on the boss’s office door with a stack of documents in hand.

Gu Xu took the documents from Xu Fei, casually flipped through them, and picked out two: one for a leading male role in a TV series and another for a fixed cast in a reality show. "Proceed to secure these two."

"Yes," Xu Fei replied, then remembered that the company had just signed a big star and wasn’t entirely sure who these resources were intended for. He asked, "Are these for Young Master Lin?"

Gu Xu looked up, "Who else would it be for?"

...

Xu Fei coughed lightly, "I will make the arrangements immediately."

Gu Xu hummed in acknowledgment, then sifted through the documents and pulled out a movie script, written by a well-known screenwriter and directed by a famous director.

"Deliver this script to Lu Yan. If he’s interested, arrange an audition."

Xu Fei worked efficiently and returned within half an hour to report, "Lu Yan said he’s already taken on a movie and isn’t available for the next few months."

He paused before continuing, "He also mentioned that he accepted the script immediately after his contract ended, and that even during the contract period, the company would still receive its share..."

Gu Xu suddenly recalled the smile on Lu Yan’s face and the calmness in his eyes when they met in the morning, as if nothing could disturb him.

"Since it was accepted before the contract was signed, there’s no need to pay the share," Gu Xu said, twirling the pen in his hand. "Has Lin Qing’s agent been arranged?"

"It’s arranged. He’s a veteran in the industry and has managed many big stars."

Gu Xu narrowed his eyes, "Instruct him to drop all other artists he’s managing and focus solely on Lin Qing."

Xu Fei had anticipated this arrangement and lowered his gaze, "Don’t worry, he recently left another company and isn’t managing any other artists at the moment."

*

Lu Yan finished filming his last scene, signaling the conclusion of his role in the TV series.

Although he played the male lead, the series was a historical palace drama, and his role as the emperor had fewer scenes than the third female lead. By the time he wrapped up, the series was only halfway filmed.

Skipping the wrap-up party felt great.

Claiming he didn’t want to hold up filming, he firmly declined the crew’s invitation to a dinner and went home early.

As soon as he returned to his apartment, Lu Yan called Chen Jing.

Chen Jing, despite his feminine name, was a burly man with a beer belly, and his voice was deep and powerful, "Kid, finished reading the script?"

Lu Yan laughed, "Yeah, when does filming start?"

Chen Jing replied, "You know, slow and steady wins the race, understand? This is my first directed movie, and I’m focusing on every single detail!"

Lu Yan turned on the speakerphone and started undressing to take a shower, "I’ve recently signed with a new company, and I can’t leave my schedule empty for too long."

Chen Jing was silent for a moment, "Alright, I’ll speed things up. It should be within this month. Ensure your schedule is clear for me."

Lu Yan teased him, "What happened to the guy who said I had no acting skills and wanted to replace me a few years ago?"

Chen Jing spat, "Keep bragging! I'm hanging up now, I'm eating."

After showering, Lu Yan slung his bathrobe around his waist, picked up his phone, and ordered some takeout.

Bored, he opened a mobile game of Werewolf.

Werewolf is a discussion game where the villagers must listen to discussions to identify the werewolves, then vote them out. Each night, the werewolves can kill one person and must hide among the villagers during the day, trying to disrupt their vision and avoid being voted out.

After entering the game, he drew a civilian card.

A civilian, also known as a 'blind player,' has no special information or abilities, relying solely on their words to figure out what roles others have.

A rather unfortunate role, vulnerable to being framed by the werewolves, and poorly chosen words can make the villagers suspicious.

The game began at night, when the werewolves strike. Since he had a civilian card, his phone screen was pitch black. Bored, he rubbed his chin and noticed he hadn't shaved.

The emperor he portrayed was eventually poisoned by the leading lady, lying on the dragon bed in critical condition. For authenticity, he hadn't shaved in days.

Remembering an event to attend the day after tomorrow, he went into the bathroom to clean up his stubble.

He set his phone on the sink, covering the front camera with a tissue.

Since facial expressions and demeanor can also help identify werewolves, this mobile version of Werewolf requires the front camera to be on when players speak. However, most players keep their faces hidden since they're strangers online, and Lu Yan was no exception.

In the office, Gu Xu reviewed the documents in his hand, which detailed several live streaming platforms.

With the internet's rapid growth, numerous business opportunities have arisen, with e-sports being the hottest, and live streaming platforms have gradually become popular.

His childhood friend Chen Yiming owns a live streaming platform, earning a substantial income with little oversight. Gu Xu thought it was a good idea and considered acquiring one.

After a while, he tossed the documents aside and downloaded these live streaming platforms onto his iPad.

Rather than just looking at the data, it's better to conduct on-site inspections.

The first to download was DouMao TV. Gu Xu opened it and casually glanced through, with the popular streamers having tens of thousands of viewers, indicating significant traffic.

He clicked on a live stream with a modest audience of a few thousand, but instead of the usual game interface, it resembled a short video.

The streamer was a young girl, average-looking with a sweet voice: "Player 7 speaking, I'm the Seer (*a divine card that can check one player's card each night), I checked player 8 last night, player 8 is a werewolf."

Gu Xu frowned, what is this? How can this thing have thousands of viewers?

He was about to exit the live stream when a deep male voice slowly came out.

"Hmph," a cold laugh first, "Player 8 is a Hunter (*a divine card that can shoot any player after being eliminated), player 7 can be eliminated."

The voice was magnetic, with a hint of laziness, very familiar.

But for some reason, the camera was completely white.

The comments below increased a bit.

"666666, jumping (*a werewolf claiming to be the Seer) to a Hunter card, this streamer is doomed."

"Ahhh, this guy's voice is so nice!"

"People with nice voices are usually ugly, just look at the streamer, if not ugly, why cover the camera?"

"System: XXXXX has been banned by the moderator for 24 hours."

The platform's admin is pretty decent.

Gu Xu pulled his finger back from the exit button, placed the tablet on his desk, and continued to wait for the eighth player to speak.

The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place it, and it felt a bit off.

After all twelve players had made their statements, it was the host's turn again. Her expression dropped: "No way, so unlucky, I drew a hunter card, I'm going to be eliminated today, I hope my wolf teammates can pull through."

After the host finished speaking, it was the eighth player's turn to speak.

But this time, the eighth player's feed wasn't just a blank screen.

In the frame, there was a beige bathroom background, and—a strikingly vivid half-naked man. The man was tall, with well-defined, proportionate muscles, his skin fair, a white towel loosely hanging around his waist, the V-line of his hips partially revealed, super enticing.

But the camera only captured the area below the neck, not the face.

The hostess: "Ahhh! Oh my god! What is this?! Ah... I'm gonna pass out!"

After that, she covered her eyes with her hands, cleverly peeking through her fingers.

"LOL host, stop pretending, just look if you want to!"

"This body, I'm about to get a nosebleed, but... I'm a guy?"

"Report! I'm reporting this! Pornographic host!"

"Haha, this body is good? His muscles aren't as big as mine."

"Who likes muscles as big as hammers these days? This is just right, yum yum yum!"

...

The viewer count in the live room shot up to five digits, and the host cleverly changed the room name to "Werewolf Kill Met a Muscular Brother!", instantly attracting a lot of people.

Gu Xu squinted.

The man on screen hadn't noticed anything wrong yet, his right hand raised, his body slightly leaning forward, and the sound of a buzzing machine, now most of the viewers guessed he was shaving.

"Player seven is scared already? Actually, I'm not a hunter, I'm a civilian, just messing with you, why so scared?" The man said with a smile, "Since I scared out a wolf, it means I'm not a wolf, I hope the good guys here don't suspect me."

After saying that, he finished what he was doing, leaned down to the sink, and turned on the water to rinse his chin.

Then everyone saw the man bending over, looking at the camera in shock, the action of catching water in his hands also paused.

His eyebrows were clear and handsome, his nose straight and lips thin, it was Lu Yan looking completely bewildered, some foam still lingering by his slightly open lips, paired with his half-naked body, it was extremely seductive.

After a few seconds of silence, the live room exploded, the host screamed while efficiently changing the room name to "Werewolf Kill Matched with Lu! Yan!!!"

The live page on the tablet was completely flooded with comments, no gaps in sight.

Gu Xu clicked his tongue lightly and turned off the... barrage.

Lu Yan looked at the white paper that had somehow fallen on the floor, somewhat dazed.

But he quickly reacted, hurriedly wiped his hands, picked up the phone, and pulled the camera above his neck.

Then he smiled: "Do I look a bit like a male celebrity?"

The chat exploded with laughter.

"Hahahaha yeah, he totally looks like that guy Lu Yan!"

"Babe! Babe! Babe!!"

"OMG, I’m dying for that half-naked video! QAQ!"

"Selling Lu Yan’s muscle pics for XX yuan, hit me up at XXXXX if you’re interested."

Right after Lu Yan wrapped up, the other players immediately spammed him with "Time Extension" cards, extending his speaking time from one minute to ten minutes. He sighed, knowing he couldn’t keep pretending.

He looked up, gave up the struggle, and winked at the camera: "It’s not often I get to chill like this, so please keep it on the down-low. I’m just a civilian, end of speech."

However, now only Lu Yan was still talking about the game. The other players were cracking up, some asking for his number, others begging him to add them for a game session, all promising to keep his secret if he did.

When it was Player Seven’s turn to speak, the girl tried to stay calm: "It’s Player Seven, babe Yan Yan, I’d love to keep your secret, but I’m a DouMao streamer, and my live audience just hit 300k..."

Author’s note:

I hope adding this game explanation doesn’t annoy you!

It’s just for the plot!