Life countdown begins, ice queen bursts into security room

The recording ended close to midnight.

The contestants' tunnel was chaotic.

Some people were scrolling through their trending topics on their phones, while others gathered in small groups to review the performance they had just witnessed.

Jiang Fan walked at the very back with his guitar case on his back, ignoring everyone.

Lu Ming paused for a moment as he passed by him.

Their eyes met briefly.

Lu Ming said nothing, turned his head back, and strode away.

Back on the twelfth floor of the hotel, the eliminated contestants were already packing their luggage, while those who advanced went back to their rooms.

Jiang Fan swiped his card to enter room 1208 and placed the guitar next to the bedside table.

He sat on the edge of the bed and brought up the system panel.

[Remaining lifespan: 3 days and 22 hours]

Lifespan Balance: 600 points

The numbers hung coldly on the translucent panel.

The initial stage performance may bring him attention, but attention alone cannot sustain his career.

What he needs is a genuine "deep fit".

The notification that popped up at the end of the game indicated that Xu Qingya's emotions had been triggered.

Jiang Fan turned off the control panel and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

-

Suite 1301 at the Penguin Hotel.

Xu Qingya lay on the two-meter-wide bed, staring at the ceiling for a full hour.

I took two sleeping pills, but they had no effect at all.

Xu Qingya turned over.

The straps of her silk nightgown slipped off her shoulders, but she didn't care.

The feeling of insomnia was like an invisible hand gripping her nerves, preventing her from falling asleep or fully waking up.

She picked up her phone and glanced at the contestant information sheet sent by the program team.

Jiang Fan, 1208.

It's right downstairs.

This realization made her heart beat a beat faster.

Xu Qingya threw her phone next to her pillow.

No.

She was a judge, and he was a contestant.

Knocking on a male contestant's door in the middle of the night?

If word gets out, she'll be finished.

She forced herself to close her eyes.

Ten minutes have passed.

twenty minutes.

My brain is like a machine that never stops; the more I try to sleep, the more awake I become.

The security room and the creaking single bed kept flashing before my eyes.

Damn it.

Xu Qingya suddenly sat up.

She was barefoot on the carpet, wearing a long cardigan, a mask, and a baseball cap.

As she left, she glanced down the hallway.

No one is empty.

She didn't take the elevator; she took the fire escape stairs.

The elevator takes less than ten seconds to go from the thirteenth floor to the twelfth floor.

When she reached the corridor on the twelfth floor, she stood at the door of room 1208 for nearly two minutes.

He raised his hand three times and then lowered it three times.

On the fourth attempt, the knuckles finally struck the door.

The sound was very soft, just two taps.

There was no movement from inside the door.

Xu Qingya bit her lip and tapped twice more, a little harder than before.

Five seconds later, the door opened.

Jiang Fan stood at the door, his hair slightly damp, clearly having just washed it.

He saw the person outside the door, but showed no surprise.

It was as if they knew she would come.

Xu Qingya hated his composure.

She squeezed through the doorway sideways, her movements so quick it was as if she was afraid of being seen.

Once inside the room, she closed the door behind her, the latch clicking shut.

The moment the door closed behind her, she smelled that scent again.

It was exactly the same as the security room that night, with some kind of inexplicable attraction.

Her scalp began to tingle, and her nerves, which had been tense all night, relaxed in an instant.

Xu Qingya gripped the collar of her cardigan tightly.

Jiang Fan walked to the window, stood against the windowsill, crossed his arms, and looked at her.

"Empress Xu, coming to see a contestant in the middle of the night," Jiang Fan said casually. "If the paparazzi take pictures of this, what do you think the trending headlines will be tomorrow?"

Xu Qingya slightly raised her chin, regaining her usual aloofness.

Xu Qingya looked at Jiang Fan: "Who exactly are you?"

"Jiang Fan. A contestant on the show."

"Security from EE-Media?"

"Former security guard. He's already resigned."

Xu Qingya stared at his retreating figure: "A security guard, could he really write 'Sorrow' and 'The Ordinary Road'?"

"Can't a security guard have musical dreams? Teacher Xu, occupational discrimination is wrong."

"I'm not joking with you." Xu Qingya took two steps closer and stared into Jiang Fan's eyes.

"After that night, my skin improved, and my insomnia disappeared. You did it, didn't you?"

Jiang Fan tilted his head and looked Xu Qingya up and down.

The mask covered half her face, but it couldn't hide the bluish-gray tinge under her eyes.

My lips are dry and my complexion is poor.

He was a completely different person from the one I saw in the security room that morning.

Answer my question.

"I answered, do you believe me?"

Xu Qingya fell silent.

Jiang Fan walked over from the window, and with each step she took, the chilling aura in the air grew stronger.

Xu Qingya subconsciously took half a step back, her waist bumping against the edge of the small round table in the room.

There was no way to retreat.

Jiang Fan stopped in front of her.

The distance between the two people was less than half a meter.

He reached out, pinched the edge of Xu Qingya's mask, and gently pulled it down.

Xu Qingya did not dodge.

Pull the mask down to your chin.

Her bare face was exposed under the table lamp.

Without foundation to cover it up, the dullness of her skin and the tiredness under her eyes were clearly visible.

"Even the nation's queen looks like this without makeup," Jiang Fan said.

Xu Qingya's eyes instantly turned cold.

"you--"

"However," Jiang Fan lowered his voice, his thumb casually brushing against her jawline, "you weren't like this the morning you left the security room last time."

Xu Qingya's breathing became erratic.

His fingers, still warm, slid down his chin to his earlobe and stopped.

"Empress Xu," Jiang Fan looked down at her, "you came down to knock on my door in the middle of the night, not just to ask 'why,' right?"

Xu Qingya bit her lower lip, her ears starting to burn.

She could feel her body betraying her; her nerves, which had been taut all night, were rapidly crumbling.

"I just..." Xu Qingya's voice softened, "to confirm something."

"Confirm what?"

"To confirm, what exactly did you do to me?"

Jiang Fan looked at her increasingly unfocused eyes.

The corners of her mouth slowly curved upwards.

He leaned forward slightly, one hand resting on the table behind her.

The tips of their noses were almost touching.

"I didn't do anything, it's just that you can't quit."

Xu Qingya couldn't help but lean forward, her forehead touching Jiang Fan's chest.

"asshole……"

Xu Qingya raised her head, her voice muffled, carrying the last trace of stubbornness.

The warm light from the table lamp cast long, overlapping shadows of the two people.

Xu Qingya's lips parted slightly as she looked into Jiang Fan's eyes.

There was no fear, no fawning, and none of those things that disgusted her in those eyes.

She didn't know who started it.

Perhaps it was the moment she stood on tiptoe, or perhaps it was the moment he lowered his head.

Xu Qingya wrapped her arms around his neck, and her cardigan slipped off her shoulders.

The table lamp was knocked over, the light flickered, and then went out.

The room was plunged into darkness.

Only the lights of Pengcheng Bay outside the floor-to-ceiling windows cast a blurry glow on the two intertwined silhouettes.

Her back pressed against the glass of the floor-to-ceiling window, and the coolness made her shiver slightly.

"Cold?" His lips brushed against her earlobe.

"...Don't stop."

The fog on the windowpane started from the imprints left by two fingertips and slowly spread into a large patch.

He then carried her to the bed.

The straps of the silk nightgown had long since disappeared.

When she ripped his T-shirt off, her fingertips traced his chest, feeling the taut muscles beneath.

It was completely different from his thin face.

"Are security guards really that good at hiding?" she said, panting.

"You're only finding out now?"

He bent down.

Xu Qingya tilted her head back, and the moonlight flowed down her collarbone like a silver river.

The sheets were crumpled.

The pillow fell to the floor sometime ago.

She bit his shoulder, swallowing all the sounds back.

The pride of a decade-old superstar wouldn't allow her to lose control in front of anyone.

But the body is much more honest than the mouth.

Jiang Fan felt the tightening of her long legs and chuckled softly.

"What are you enduring?"

"There's someone next door..."

"Then keep your voice down."

"You—um..."

The second half of the sentence was blocked.

4:20 a.m.

Xu Qingya lay on Jiang Fan's chest, her long hair falling down and covering their intertwined arms.

Her breathing hadn't completely calmed down, and her fingers were unconsciously drawing circles on his chest.

"What exactly did you do to me?" she asked again.

The voice was completely different from before, languid and filled with a satisfied contentment.

Jiang Fan ran his fingers through her hair, slowly combing it.

"I told you, I didn't do anything."

"fraud."

"So what do you think I did?"

Xu Qingya remained silent for a while.

"You've got me hooked."

She said this in a very soft voice, as if admitting defeat.

Jiang Fan's fingers paused for a moment.

The system panel pops up silently.

[Total Lifespan Gained: 4000 points] (Deep Compatibility x4)

He turned off the panel and looked down at the person in his arms.

Xu Qingya's eyes were already closed.

This time, she really fell asleep.

His sleeping posture was surprisingly well-behaved; he was curled up, his fingers gripping a section of his wrist, as if afraid that if he let go, the person would disappear.

Breathing is even and long.

Stubborn insomnia was cured without medicine in his arms.