Am I a Kamen Rider or the real young master who was switched at birth?

Ye Yang walked to the karaoke machine and casually swiped his finger across the touchscreen a few times.

The densely packed playlist on the screen made him a little dizzy. He hadn't heard most of the world's popular songs, but there were a few he had covered online mixed in.

The singer section is filled with the same name: "I'm just a passing online singer".

His finger paused on one of the songs for a second, then moved away, a subtle smile that only he understood appearing on his lips.

Lin Xingran had already taken out her phone without anyone noticing.

She held her phone with both hands, the camera pointed at Ye Yang in the center of the stage, and the record button on the screen was already lit up with a small red dot.

Han Shuang moved closer to her, nudged her waist with her elbow, and asked in a low voice:

"Do you think he'll sing well? He himself just said he might not sing well. Is he just being modest? Or does he really not sing very well, and his insightful critiques of us were just theoretical?"

Lin Xingran didn't turn her head; her gaze remained fixed on Ye Yang on her phone screen.

She touched her chin, gesturing as if deep in thought, and after a long pause, she answered with the confidence of someone who had been through it all.

"If it were before—I don't know. When this kid first came back from the orphanage, I thought he was just an ordinary high school student."

"It turns out that he knows two thousand skills, can transform into Kamen Rider, can kick Shen Yunzhou into fireworks, and can even say that he is Kamen Rider in front of hundreds of people at a family reunion banquet."

"So Ye Yang—he always manages to surprise me. If he dares to stand up there, he must be confident."

After hearing this, Han Shuang put the popcorn she was holding on the coffee table, cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone, and shouted at the top of her lungs towards the stage:

"Ye Yang, good luck! Sing well! Your second sister just said—if you sing well, she'll cover all your milk tea for the next year! Double portions of pearls and coconut jelly, as much as you want! She also said if you dare to sing off-key, she'll post the video she just recorded to the family group chat—"

Lin Xingran sprang up from the sofa, holding her phone in one hand while desperately trying to cover Han Shuang's mouth with the other, her face flushed red.

"Who said that! You bastard! When did I ever say I'd post it in the family group chat! I'd only say I'd post it to a few of my sisters—Han Shuang, shut up!"

While the two of them were wrestling on the sofa, Ye Yang stood in front of the karaoke machine, his eyes scanning the song titles back and forth several times.

He opened a folder called "R&B Series", which contained several songs, some of which he had almost forgotten when he recorded.

He turned to look at the faces below the stage, which were craning their necks to look at him. He tapped the edge of the touchscreen lightly with his knuckle and asked casually, "Which song should I choose? What do you want to hear?"

Lin Ying sat up slightly on the sofa and then gently raised her hand.

"I... I like listening to that song in his new R&B series—'Small Town Girl.' It feels like you've left this small place and gone to a faraway place, and when you look back, you feel nostalgic."

"The intro also features the sound of a train whistle—every time I listen to it, I wonder if he was seeing someone off at the train station when he wrote this song."

Lin Xingran broke free from her struggle with Han Shuang, pointed at Lin Ying with one finger, and said excitedly:

"Lin Ying, you listened to it too! I thought you only listened to his ballads—didn't you listen to 'She Said' on repeat for weeks? How come you've listened to R&B too?"

"That song was so funny. I'm telling you, when I first heard it, I thought the line 'I heard you've become a big manager' in the lyrics was sung about 'Big Koi'."

"I was wondering why a small-town girl would become a lucky charm, but then I read the lyrics and realized she was a big manager. This misunderstanding makes me feel like an idiot every time I listen to this song!"

Han Shuang nodded vigorously in agreement, and began humming the chorus melody, but her tune was wildly off, with every note far from the original key.

As Ye Yang listened to their lively discussion, the smile on his lips deepened.

He turned to look at Lin Yumin and found that his older sister had also taken out her phone at some point.

Lin Yumin sat on the side of the sofa, holding an iced Americano in one hand and her phone in the other, with the camera pointed at the stage.

You should know that Lin Yumin is someone who is too lazy to even take selfies. Her phone album is filled with training notes and screenshots of tactical analysis. The only things that would make her pick up her phone to record a video are Lin Xingran's embarrassing past and something very important.

Ye Yang smiled slightly at the camera of his older sister, then turned back and gently tapped the touch screen with his finger, and the accompaniment for "Small Town Girl" began to load.

While operating the screen, Ye Yang said, "An R&B godfather once said that you can't just randomly change your pitch when singing R&B—otherwise you'll be cooking the wrong dish."

Lin Xingran stopped fighting with Han Shuang and tilted her head, looking at Ye Yang with a puzzled expression.

She held her phone steady again and asked the question that everyone present had on their minds: "What's 'wrong meal'? Is it the 'meal' in 'cooking food' or the 'criminal' in 'committing a crime'? What kind of term is that?"

Ye Yang didn't answer, but simply smiled and shook his head. At that moment,

The accompaniment to "Small Town Girl" flowed from the surround sound system around the private room.

The first sound is a long, drawn-out train whistle, followed by a very rhythmic prelude.

Ye Yang stood in the center of the stage, holding a microphone in one hand, leaning slightly forward.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then began to sing—"Yeah—come on now—"

When he spoke, everyone present was stunned.

The voice was exactly the same as the one that Lin Xingran had been listening to on repeat in her headphones for months.

Lin Xingran nearly dropped her phone. She stared, mouth agape, at the boy on stage who was still leaning slightly forward; her brain's information processing system was clearly undergoing a severe overload.

She never imagined that her younger brother, who would steal her snacks every day at home, would sing in the exact same voice as her idol, whom she had been a fan of for months.

Han Shuang's eyes widened, and she covered her mouth with both hands, letting out a squashed gasp.

Ye Yang didn't look at them; he was completely absorbed in singing.

He leaned slightly forward, his left fingertips lightly touching the armrest at the edge of the stage, and sang the second line with an extremely relaxed and natural posture: "Oh yeah—small town girl—"

He raised his hand and casually snapped his fingers at the people below the stage, his eyes sweeping over each of their faces, a knowing smile playing on his lips.

"I still remember holding your hand many years ago. You were so shy that you didn't dare to look up. You just stared blankly at the stars in the sky. You were so pure."

Han Shuang gasped, leaning back against the sofa, looking at the boy on the stage with the eyes of someone who had witnessed a miracle.

She turned to look at Lin Xingran, exclaiming in disbelief, "No way—his voice sounds so much like the original singer! He was speaking normally just now, how did it change like this when he started singing?"

"And look at his condition, someone who hasn't practiced a lot couldn't possibly do that. Is Ye Yang possessed by some music department senior?"

Lin Ying sat on the sofa in the position closest to the stage.

She placed the hot cocoa cup completely on her lap, folded her hands over the cup, and stared intently at the boy singing on stage with her light gray eyes.

Her pupils sparkled in the colorful light spots from the rotating light bulb in the private room, and the same song she played on repeat every night before bed was playing just a few meters in front of her.

Her lips moved very, very slightly, as if she were silently reciting the lyrics, but dared not utter them aloud.

Zhou Zhi leaned back on the sofa armrest, holding a cup of tea that seemed to last forever.

She turned to look at Lin Yumin, her voice filled with a delighted smile, and pointed with her finger towards Ye Yang on the stage:

"Your brother sings so well? I've known your Lin family for so many years, and I never knew anyone in your family could sing. Isn't your family all about fighting and killing?"

"You won the national championship, Xingran is number one in the whole school in fire control, and Lin Ying is an S-rank in ice magic. I thought your family spent all your dinners discussing tactics. Turns out you also have a hidden singer. Has he trained? Or is it just natural talent?"

"This is the first time I've heard him sing like this. He's never sung at the Lin family's house before; he probably only sang for children at the orphanage."

Lin Yumin's phone was still held steadily in her hand, but a faint smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.

Soon, the first chorus arrived. Ye Yang, microphone in hand, leaned back slightly and precisely cut into the rhythm of the chorus:

"I don't understand—I don't understand—why can't I let go—why can't I bear to part with—this love—you'll never understand—I understand—"

Halfway through the chorus, Lin Xingran suddenly jumped up from the sofa.

She continued holding her phone in one hand, while waving the other hand vigorously in the air, letting out an extremely loud cheer: "Great! Great! Ye Yang, you're amazing! This is the best live performance I've ever heard!!!"

Hearing the unrestrained cheers from below the stage, Ye Yang smiled.

As he continued singing, he walked a few steps off the stage, pointed at Lin Xingran who was enthusiastically recording on her phone, and sang the next line of lyrics directly to her:

"I remember at first you couldn't adapt to that busy and noisy environment. You must have heard the story of a girl from a small town coming to the big city."

When Ye Yang pointed at Lin Xingran and made her sing, she was stunned for a moment. Then, as if a switch had been turned on, she excitedly made a peace sign at the phone camera and sang the next line with Ye Yang, although her voice was a little shaky and she was off-beat in several places.

Han Shuang exaggeratedly clutched her chest with her hand, then fell back onto the sofa as if she had been hit by something, causing the burgundy cushions to bounce.

She closed her eyes and murmured in a tone as if bidding farewell on her deathbed:

"Mom—I'm in love. I might get married young. Han Li, don't stop me—I'm not acting impulsively, I'm serious. Look at him on stage. He usually looks like an ordinary high school student in his magenta shirt, how come he becomes like this when he sings?"

Han Li sat in the corner, silently picked up a bottle of mineral water and took a sip, without commenting on his sister's declaration.

Lin Xingran continued recording the video with one hand, while grabbing Han Shuang's shoulder with the other and shaking her violently, shouting in a warning tone:

"No, no, wake up! There's no way you two can be together! You don't even have his phone number! I disagreed with you last time you said you wanted to pursue him as your boyfriend, and now you actually want to marry him—Han Shuang, has my fire control technique burned your brain?!"

Zhou Zhi sat on the sofa and clapped her hands gently to the rhythm. Today, she was unusually not holding the cup of tea in her hand, but instead focused all her attention on the stage.

Lin Ying was still swaying her shoulders gently to the rhythm, her light blue hair ribbon swaying softly under the light as she moved.

Ye Yang pulled the microphone off the stand, held it in one hand, gently covered his chest with the other, and swayed slightly as he entered the chorus in a relaxed and natural manner.

"I don't understand—I don't understand—why can't I let go—why can't I bear to part with—this love—you'll never understand—I understand—"

Lin Xingran and the others joined in the singing. Han Shuang raised the microphone and sang a line, but then her voice cracked again, making everyone in the private room laugh.

As Ye Yang walked towards the center of the stage, he pointed his finger at the group of family and friends below the stage who were wailing and howling along with him:

"Perhaps one day you will miss me, but I will be gone."

After singing that line, he smiled, took a step back, and handed the microphone towards the audience, saying, "Perhaps one day you will miss it—"

Han Shuang was the first to raise the microphone and shout out the next line. Although her voice cracked again, she smiled very happily.

Ye Yang took the microphone back, put it to his lips, and sang the last line: "But I am already—I am no longer here."

The transitions at the end of the notes were extremely smooth, exactly the same as the version that Lin Xingran had listened to on repeat countless times in his headphones, with every transition falling in the same position.

When the music stopped, the entire private room fell into a brief silence, and then everyone applauded at the same time.

Han Shuang raised both hands above her head and clapped loudly, while Lin Xingran put her phone on the coffee table and jumped up in cheers.

Zhou Zhi also put her teacup aside, smiled, and clapped her hands gently.

Lin Ying blushed, her silvery-white eyelashes fluttering gently under the lights as she looked at the boy on stage who was bowing in thanks.

She forgot to clap her hands; she just sat there, constantly rubbing the fabric of her skirt that she had tapped along with the rhythm on her knees.

Lin Xingran turned around and patted her shoulder several times before she suddenly came to her senses. Then she turned to look at her second sister's face, which was very close to hers, her eyes still holding a bit of focus that she hadn't had time to look away from.

Lin Xingran scratched his chin, gave her a strange look, and then turned back to continue clapping.

At this moment, Han Shuang seemed to suddenly remember something extremely important. She sprang up from the sofa, grabbed Lin Xingran's arm with both hands, and shook it violently, shouting in a rapid, hoarse voice:

"Record! Record! Did you get it on? You recorded the whole thing, right? Did you film the chorus? Did you film the part where he points at you while singing? Did you film his final vocal run?!"

Lin Xingran was shaken so badly by her shaking that her whole body was swaying, but she still nodded vigorously.

She pushed Han Shuang onto the sofa, then picked up her phone to check the video files:

"Recording! Recording! It's on! Not a single second was missed—it started recording from his very first line, 'Yeah, come on now!' Even that final vocal transition was recorded!"

Ye Yang put the microphone back on the stand and bowed slightly to the audience: "I'm sorry for making a fool of myself. It's been a long time since I sang this song, and I almost couldn't get back on that last note—thankfully I didn't crack in front of you all."

Lin Yumin turned her phone sideways and took one last look at the footage she had just recorded. Then she looked up at Ye Yang and said in a gentle voice:

"If you call this making a fool of yourself, then Lin Xingran and the others are—never mind, we're here to relax today, let's not discourage her."

Lin Xingran was completely unaware that her older sister was attacking her; she was staring at Ye Yang with an extremely intense gaze.

She stood with her hands on her hips, her short, wine-red hair bouncing under the light, her voice carrying the excitement of finally piecing all the clues together:

"Ye Yang, your singing is just like my idol's! I specifically compared it when I was recording just now. The transition you made when you sang 'I don't understand, I don't understand' was exactly the same as the version he posted online! Even the breathing points were the same! And your demeanor on stage just now—"

She gestured in the air with her hand, "That sense of relaxation, that tacit understanding with the music after being with it for a very long time. This isn't something you can achieve in just a few days of practice. Tell me honestly, are you really—"

Ye Yang leaned against the edge of the karaoke machine, his arms crossed, tilting his head to look at Lin Xingran with the expression of a detective solving a case.

"Oh—that. Because I'm just 'a passing online singer,' of course my voice is the same. You just asked me how I know him—I look in the mirror every morning when I brush my teeth to get to know him."