529: Chapter 529 At the preliminary selection, I saw an acquaintance again.

On Sunday in Dongdu, the weather was bright and clear, making it a great time for an outing.

However, on the elevated highway, countless vehicles were connected bumper-to-bumper, converging into a winding steel dragon.

The noon sunlight spilled in through the car windows, warming up the interior, but it also added a bit of stifling heat to the waiting process.

Fang Cheng sat in the driver's seat, resting one hand on the steering wheel, slowly creeping forward following the taillights of the car ahead.

Start, brake, start again, brake again.

The accelerator and brake pedals under his feet seemed to have become two monotonous notes, playing the metropolis's unique traffic rhapsody amidst repeated alternations.

"Brother Cheng... Will we be late?"

A soft, feeble voice sounded beside him, carrying obvious worry.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Zhou Xiumei was dressed in a light blue waist-cinching dress, her long hair draped smoothly over her shoulders.

Under the sunlight, that jade-carved profile was glowing white, shining brilliantly.

Today, she had rarely put on exquisite light makeup, and even the corners of her eyes and brows had been carefully outlined.

The light pink lip gloss made her lips look crystal clear and tenderly dripping.

Looking like this, if placed in a youth idol drama, she would definitely be that white moonlight that makes people fall in love at first sight.

Only at this moment, her black-gem-like eyes were filled with unease, her pretty nose slightly wrinkled, and she lowered her head from time to time to look at the time on her phone.

"Don't worry."

Fang Cheng turned his head, giving her a reassuring smile:

"It's only half past ten, and the audition check-in doesn't start until twelve o'clock. Even if we walk slowly, we have more than enough time."

"Really? But the front seems jammed so tightly that we can't even move..."

Zhou Xiumei bit her lower lip, her fingers gently twisting her skirt hem.

"Sister Zhou, you can rest easy!"

A crisp child's voice came from the back seat.

Wen Xin, like a restless little monkey, touched this and that in the spacious back seat, full of curiosity about the luxury interior of this car:

"Can't you trust Brother's ability? Even if we are really stuck to death, he can carry you on his back and fly to the arena."

In her words, this girl seemed to have a blind trust in Fang Cheng.

As she spoke, she leaned her little face into the middle of the front seats, asking with a cheeky smile:

"However, Brother, although this car is quite comfortable to sit in, isn't the color a bit too much? All pink and tender, it doesn't match your handsome and Yingjun image at all."

Fang Cheng glanced at this Panamera's extremely flashy cherry-blossom pink interior, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly:

"No way, my Land Rover was sent for maintenance, so I can only borrow a friend's car to make do for now."

This was of course an excuse.

Last night, after ending the gathering at the Midnight Forest Bar, to avoid the Land Rover stained with the smoke of explosion drawing too much attention,

Fang Cheng deliberately left it in the nearby underground parking lot, instead switching to Xu Hao's ride which was usually used specifically for picking up girls.

"Sister Zhou, if you are really nervous, just take a deep breath!"

Wen Xin then looked at Zhou Xiumei, waving her small hands earnestly as she gestured:

"I used to always get nervous during exams, Brother taught me just like this, and it's so useful."

Zhou Xiumei was coaxed by her into a reluctant smile, but between her brows there was a faint hint of sadness:

"If Dad and Mom could also come today, that would be great..."

"It's a pity that my dad has a temporary mission in the team, and Mom has to take care of Grandma and younger brother..."

"It's fine."

Fang Cheng freed one hand, gently patted her shoulder, his tone gentle:

"Auntie He and Uncle Zhou are doing it for work and family, there's no helping it."

"Today with Wen Xin and me cheering for you, in terms of Aura we definitely won't lose to anyone."

As he spoke, he turned his head:

"Right, Wen Xin?"

"That's a must!"

Wen Xin immediately puffed out her small chest, cooperating with a solemn vow:

"My mom is too busy at the store to get away either, today I'm representing our whole family to cheer for Sister Zhou."

"At that time I will definitely shout the loudest, and shock all those judges!"

Zhou Xiumei looked at these two lively treasures, big and small, and the string in her heart that had always been tightly strung finally relaxed a little.

She nodded gently, a trace of grateful soft light welling up in her eyes.

Fang Cheng smiled, turned his head to continue staring at the turtle-speed moving traffic ahead.

Beneath his seemingly relaxed and leisure expression, his thoughts were running nonstop.

Last night, after evacuating from the unfinished building area in the eastern suburbs, he met up with Lin Chuqiao, Xu Hao, and Xiaosa at the Midnight Forest Bar.

Subsequently, he also had a phone connection with the professor who was recruiting personnel elsewhere, holding a small internal meeting of the Illuminati.

The core topic of the meeting was only one, which was how to deal with the possible retaliation from Utopia.

Everyone unanimously agreed with Fang Cheng's strategy of shifting the disaster eastward.

Since the water had already been stirred muddy, might as well make it thoroughly muddy to the end.

Xu Hao and Xiaosa were responsible for spreading gossip about the White Owl in the underground world.

Declaring that this murderer had reappeared in Dongdu, and had killed Black Shark's ace killer in one fell swoop, preventing a terrorist operation planned by a certain organization.

The purpose of doing this was to draw the attention of the Special Investigation Team and Utopia all onto each other.

Thus creating a chaotic situation of mutual suspicion and darkness under the lamp.

As for Fang Cheng himself, he returned to the lifestyle of an ordinary person, maintaining a low profile and lying dormant.

At the meeting, everyone also briefly chatted about the current preparation status of the Illuminati and the problems they faced.

Such as shortage of manpower and intelligence networks not yet laid out, all these required time to be resolved bit by bit.

The discussion lasted until late into the midnight hours.

Fang Cheng let Lin Chuqiao go home first to catch up on sleep, while he himself made do for a night at the bar.

Until dawn, he drove this pink sports car back to Jiuchang Street to pick people up.

"Right, Wen Xin."

Fang Cheng stepped lightly on the gas pedal to keep up with the car ahead while glancing at the little girl in the back seat through the rearview mirror:

"There have been too many things going on recently, I haven't been able to keep an eye on your studies."

"Today I originally wanted to let you stay home for self-study, but you insisted on tagging along. Then let me test you now, have you fallen behind on your schoolwork recently."

Hearing this, Wen Xin immediately straightened her body, full of confidence:

"Brother, test me all you want. I've been studying very hard recently, and even that fierce math teacher praised me for making progress!"

"Alright."

The corners of Fang Cheng's mouth curled into a bad smile, casually making up a question:

"Then let's have a simple arithmetic question."

"Listen well, ah, suppose there is a monkey riding on a tree, and a monkey on the ground, how many monkeys in total?"

"Isn't this simple!"

Without thinking, Wen Xin blurted out:

"Eight monkeys, ah, 7 plus 1 equals 8, Brother you are underestimating me too much, this is a first-grade elementary school problem."

"Wrong."

Fang Cheng shook his head, flatly denying:

"It's two monkeys."

Hearing this, Wen Xin's small mouth opened slightly, looking completely puzzled:

"Why ah?"

Fang Cheng explained with a straight face:

"Because there is a monkey riding on the tree, and a monkey squatting on the ground, that's two monkeys in total, ah, when did I ever say it was the number seven?"

"Ah?"

Wen Xin was stunned for a moment, then reacted, her small face instantly wrinkling into a bun:

"Brother, you're cheating! This is obviously a brainteaser, not an arithmetic problem, you deliberately dug a pit for me."

Fang Cheng shrugged:

"All is fair in war, silly girl. Brother is teaching you this to always think an extra layer no matter when, and not be deceived by surface things."

"Hmph, I'm not silly at all... Bad brother, I'm ignoring you."

Wen Xin turned her head away angrily, her cheeks bulging like a small pufferfish.

Only in her eyes there was no real Life Qi, more of a cute shyness after being teased by someone close.

Zhou Xiumei watched this scene from the side, unable to help covering her mouth and chuckling softly.

Wen Xin was sulking when she suddenly caught sight of the necklace on Zhou Xiumei's neck with sharp eyes.

Under the sunlight, that sapphire shimmered with a deep and charming light, and the four-leaf clover shape was exquisite and elegant.

"Wow, Sister Zhou, the necklace you're wearing today is so pretty, what shape is this?"

Wen Xin's eyes instantly popped with stars, leaning over to examine it closely.

Seeing Wen Xin bring this up, Zhou Xiumei's originally fair face instantly blushed with two flushes.

She reached out to touch the pendant between her collarbones, glancing evasively at Fang Cheng, her voice sounding like a mosquito:

"Um... This is... a gift your Brother Fang Cheng gave me before."

"He said the four-leaf clover represents luck, hoping it can bring good luck to my competition today."

"So pretty..."

Wen Xin drew out her tone, staring at that necklace with an envious expression, simply unable to take her eyes off.

Clearly, this kind of sparkling accessory had too much lethality against women; no matter what age, they could not resist.

Fang Cheng looked at the two through the rearview mirror and couldn't help smiling, then chimed in again:

"Wen Xin, once your final exams this semester are over, if you can place in the top three of the whole class, I'll also give you a big gift."

"Really? What gift?"

Hearing this, Wen Xin immediately grabbed the seat back excitedly.

That bit of annoyance just now was thrown to the winds instantly, looking at Fang Cheng with full anticipation.

Fang Cheng cleared his throat and said slowly:

"I'll give you a hardcover set of 《Five Years of High School Entrance Examination and Three Years of Simulation》, plus the matching Huanggang Secret Exam Papers, how about that? Is it big enough?"

"Ah?!"

Wen Xin's small face instantly collapsed, collapsing lifelessly into the back seat, letting out a wail:

"Brother, are you a devil..."

"Pfft."

Zhou Xiumei finally couldn't help laughing out loud, her eyebrows curved.

At that moment, even the sunlight outside the window seemed to brighten by a few fractions.

The car interior was filled with a joyful atmosphere, as cozy as every ordinary family weekend outing.

Listening to the laughter and chatter beside his ears, Fang Cheng couldn't help but dissipate much of the haze lingering in his heart.

Speaking of which, what he worried about the most was never his own safety.

Rather, it was fearing that because of his own relationship, these relatives and friends around him would be implicated.

After Lin Chuqiao issued the warning yesterday, Fang Cheng had made all precautionary measures in advance.

To avoid a massive explosion happening in the Tubular Building just like in the prophecy,

before the action began, he had sent all his relatives and friends away.

As for his mother's side, needless to say, she had long gone to Wanghu Town to take care of his grandfather.

Wen Huiyi was helping at Master Lin's shop, so he let Wen Xin go to the shop to accompany her mother and do homework.

As for Zhou Xiumei's family, Fang Cheng even paid out of his own pocket, secretly stuffing a sum of money to Auntie He.

Saying it was a little token of his appreciation, telling her not to make a fuss, and taking the whole family out for a dinner gathering, regarded as an early celebration and send-off for the competition.

Until all relatives and friends around him were properly settled, he alone stayed home to give it his all.

Fortunately, in last night's battle, not only did he successfully kill Ghost Sickle, but he also scared away the subsequent supporting accomplice, Night Owl.

Fang Cheng calculated inwardly.

Although the current situation seemed calm and tranquil, undercurrents were actually surging.

If the enemy really became desperate, unable to deal with a hard bone like himself, and instead used the people around him to threaten him, that would be the worst result.

Fortunately, judging from the intelligence currently grasped, Utopia didn't seem to have any intention of making a hurried counterattack.

Perhaps because they truly lacked usable high-end combat power in Dongdu, out of caution, they were temporarily holding their ground without moving.

Or perhaps, they really believed the truth he fabricated, pointing their spearhead at the Special Investigation Team, and were busy investigating the truth and falsehoods.

At least Dachui and Monkey guarded outside the Tubular Building for a whole night, and until he went out just now, they hadn't found any suspicious personnel approaching.

For Fang Cheng now, this undoubtedly bought valuable breathing time, enough to take further measures to eliminate hidden dangers.

"We've arrived, we've arrived! Brother, look quickly, so many people!"

Wen Xin's exclamation interrupted Fang Cheng's thoughts.

The car finally moved out of the ramp of the Second Ring elevated highway, turning along the crowded traffic flow into a wide urban main road.

This was Dongdu's Central Business District, where every inch of land was worth gold. Usually the traffic volume was already large, and today it was blocked to the point of impenetrability.

On the asphalt road surface that was originally eight lanes in both directions, it was now jammed with various vehicles.

Besides private cars, there were also quite a few buses and multi-purpose vehicles pasted with support stickers, like a group of slowly moving beetles.

Looking up, the scene ahead was even more spectacular.

I saw that not far away in the square, a skyscraper with silver wavy curtain walls stood erect.

The logo of Dongdu TV Station at the top shone brilliantly in the sunlight.

Several huge red banners hung down from the waist of the building, fluttering in the wind, and those lines of large characters on them appeared extra eye-catching.

[National Rookie Singing Contest Dongdu Division Audition Venue]

In the square in front of the building, it was already a sea of people at this moment.

Long-haired youths carrying guitars, girls reciting numbered musical notation, fan groups holding light boards, and sweating security guards maintaining order.

The shoulder-to-shoulder crowd surrounded the entire entrance tightly, and the noisy sounds could be heard from far away.

Fang Cheng looked at that bustling scene, then reined in the depth in his eyes, putting on a cheerful smile:

"Alright, future big star, are you ready to welcome your stage?"

"Mm, I'm ready!"

Zhou Xiumei nodded hard, clenching her fists to pump herself up.

Only the hand placed on her knees was trembling slightly.

Clearly, that oncoming arena atmosphere still made this girl who had never seen such a battle array feel an instinctive fear.

As the pink Panamera followed the traffic flow, edging closer bit by bit to the TV station building parking lot.

Fang Cheng's gaze was suddenly attracted by a huge promotional poster erected in the center of the square.

That was a solo poster occupying the C position.

On the picture was a young man wearing a white suit, with an extremely handsome look and skin so fair that even women were jealous.

He wore exquisite eye makeup, his gaze melancholic and affectionate, holding a microphone while making a infatuated pose.

Below it impressively wrote a line of large characters:

Special Guest Star Mentor, Cheng Jiashu.

And below the poster, a large group of young girls gathered around, excitedly holding up their phones to take pictures with the portrait of Mentor Cheng.

Fang Cheng froze slightly, his gaze becoming somewhat weird.

Then he turned his head to look at Zhou Xiumei sitting beside him, who was breathing into her palms to relieve her emotions:

"The judges for your audition this time include Cheng Jiashu?"

"Yeah, Brother Cheng, didn't you know?"

Hearing this name, Zhou Xiumei's eyes instantly brightened a bit, forgetting even some of her nervousness:

"He is the talent show grand champion from five years ago! Everyone says he is a man kissed by an angel, with super strong singing ability."

"If I could get his personal guidance in this competition, how great that would be."

"Kissed by an angel..."

Fang Cheng's mouth twitched slightly.

It had been a while since he last saw this fellow.

At this moment, what emerged in Fang Cheng's mind was not any picture of a melancholic prince holding a microphone and singing affectionately.

Instead, it was a scene of a madman with an equally pretty face, humming an opera while using those slender piano-playing fingers to eviscerate someone.