Edited by Qiuxue and Noks
Fan Jialuo’s sudden glance aimed towards that specific camera scared all the people ‘hiding’ in the observation room.
Even Song Wennuan, who was known to carry the bearing of a great general at all times, couldn’t help but jump in fear.
The philosopher, Dr. Qian sighed. “Worthy of being a celebrity, what sharp eyes.”
Dr. Ouyang, the sociologist, tried to calm his mood by making a joke. “I almost thought he could see us through the screen.”
“Yes,” echoed Dr. Lin, the metaphysician. “He suddenly looked over, and that too with such sharp and penetrating eyes. It really was quite frightening.
“Also, on that note, I have heard about him before. Although he had predicted Gao Yize’s death, someone later published a post on Weibo disproving his words. That post stated that his death sketch was, in reality, copied from a photo taken at the scene of Gao Yize’s death. The so-called prophecy was just his way of creating hype.”
Song Wennuan curled her lips and smiled sarcastically. “I also read that post. I have to say, the method Mr. Fan used to attract attention is really inferior. If he dared to deceive people with a lie that can be so easily exposed, it seems that he is not that smart.
“Oh, by the way, he seems to have said something to the camera just now. Dr. Song, you are proficient in reading lips, can you share what he said with us?”
In fact, as he had been listening to this conversation, Song Rui couldn’t help but feel a slight dissatisfaction towards Song Wennuan’s sarcastic tone.
Since the very beginning, he hadn’t spared even a single glance at her or the other judges, and had instead kept his attention focused on the screen that displayed the young man with the lowered head, a posture which seemed to say he would wait forever for the show to start.
Song Rui whispered, “He said— We meet again.”
Song Wennuan quickly asked the technical producer to rewind the recording to a few minutes ago, and then she slowly read out the movements of the mouth word for word.
They realized that the sentence really was just that—We meet again.
“Who did he meet? Which contestant does he know?” Song Wennuan was puzzled.
Song Rui chuckled and said slowly, “I was also involved in the investigation for Gao Yize’s case. Moreover, I interrogated Mr. Fan twice during the process, and was defeated both times. He was looking at us directly. In this observation room, the only person who can be worthy of such words of reunion seems to be me?”
Song Rui raised his head and looked directly at his cousin as he said this, his voice as hoarse as the sound made by a handful of sand being blown about by the wind.
“Have you ever thought that perhaps he really can penetrate through the barrier of time and space to see us as we hide in here? There are two cameramen and dozens of cameras rolling around him. How did he just so happen to pick out the only one camera, among the so many, whose feed displays onto the only large screen in the middle of this observation room? How did he determine that it was that camera which would let us also view his image at the same time? His sharpness is far beyond your imagination.”
Song Rui looked at the youth on the screen and emphasized each of his words as he said, “I don’t know if he is a psychic, but I do know that he is by no means ordinary.”
Song Wennuan asked incredulously, “You said just now that you lost to him in two interrogations?”
In all of her 20-plus years of life, she had never seen her cousin fail. She had come to firmly believe that there was nothing in the world that he couldn’t do. This new fact was so shocking that she simply couldn’t accept it.
But Song Rui just nodded his head in reply. There was no frustration in his eyes, instead, they flashed with an extremely bright light.
Song Wennuan carefully thought over her cousin’s words from just now, and realized that Fan Jialuo was indeed somewhat unusual.
There were so many cameras rolling all around him, and each of their feeds could appear or switch onto a different screen in the observation room at any given time.
All the camera feeds were being broadcast onto these screens, but everything was random and uncertain. However, this person looked over directly and accurately found the camera positioned for the best shooting angle, the one directly connected to the central display screen in the observation room.
Then, all the judges received his piercing gaze.
He even knew that there was an acquaintance of his in the observation room.
Could all this just be a coincidence?
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Vbcu Qfccejc tjv cb kjs bo xcbklcu atf jcrkfg ab atja defralbc, yea rtf xcfk atja lo j qfgrbc mbeiv ufa tfg mberlc ab cbalmf atfw, atfc atja qfgrbc tjv ab yf rqfmlji.
This Fan Jialuo is a bit interesting!
Qlat atlr atbeuta lc wlcv, rtf delmxis wbnfv, jnblvlcu atf ilcf bo rluta bo atf mjwfgjr lc atf byrfgnjalbc gbbw, jcv rfca j wfrrjuf ab atf afmtclmji qgbvemfg, jrxlcu tlw ab jggjcuf obg wbgf rtbar bo Mjc Aljieb ab jqqfjg bc atf rmgffcr.
In fact, even without her instructions, the technical producer had already realized the fantastic effect that Fan Jialuo’s participation could bring to the show. Forget about mentioning whether his ability was real or not, his appearance alone was enough to attract the attention of many people.
Fan Jialuo hadn’t appeared on the screen for a long time but his appearance seemed to be more vigorous than ever, and his personality traits stood out even more distinctly. Even the smallest of his actions made for a scene of thrilling beauty.
Although, in truth, his facial features hadn’t actually changed all that much, it was just that those little changes seemed to have made all of his flaws disappear. This flawlessness made it seem as if he was glittering, leaving any onlooker stunned in reverie. And amongst it all was that pair of pitch black eyes, out of which flowed a mysterious light.
Logically speaking, his appearance should have been highly sought after and cameras should have focused on it earlier, but once he stood shrouded in the darkness, he actually seemed to simply disappear.
The technical producer was stunned by the level of the other’s appearance. He didn’t know why he had ignored this person’s presence before.
Thus, he turned on the spotlight which was positioned right on top of the seat where Fan Jialuo was sitting, thus leaving the other party with nowhere to hide.
This sudden illumination of a particular seat attracted the attention of all the contestants, and it was only then that they noticed him. At that moment, they couldn’t help but inhale sharply as they looked in amazement at the young man who sat underneath the beam of light.
He was dazzling. So dazzling that they could feel their eyes sting by just looking at him.
Song Rui held his breath. He was anticipating what Fan Jialuo’s next move would be and how he would respond when everyone’s eyes were focused on him.
However, Fan Jialuo was unmoved. He sat peacefully with his head lowered, and his back held a straightened posture as his palms covered his crossed knees.
The strong light shining down from above didn’t even cause his eyelashes to flutter.
The whole auditorium fell silent, overwhelmed by his brilliance.
Failing to achieve his anticipated response, the technical producer turned off the spotlight in anger.
The little corner where Fan Jialuo was located was shrouded in darkness once again.
Several contestants whispered amongst themselves, “That’s Fan Jialuo, the celebrity who hyped himself up as a psychic. It is said that he predicted Gao Yize’s death, but the truth was that he just traced a photo of the death scene and told the Internet that it was a death notice. Later, he was exposed by the original owner of the picture and became a laughing stock in front of the netizens.”
“Ah, I know about that. I think it’s a little bit stupid to do that kind of thing.”
“If he wasn’t stupid, would he still come to this show? What reason could there be? To look for a beating? I just heard that the assistant director directly told his agent that they will never help him cheat on the show. The news that he signed up for the show has already been released on the Internet. It will only become more embarrassing if he quits now, so he can only bite the bullet and continue.”
“Heh, it’s too bad. This show is 100% based on real ability.”
The more they talked, the more excited they became, and the more people thought that Fan Jialuo was just a good-for-nothing person. This inevitably caused the rest of the contestants to have a bad impression of him.
Most of the people who had dared to join this show had some real skills, or else they firmly believed that they possessed an ability. Some of them even looked down on ordinary people.
Thus, as the only ‘ordinary person’ mixed in with them, Fan Jialuo became a target of public criticism.
The follow-up cameramen dutifully recorded the way the contestants’ excluded and criticised Fan Jialuo, and these scenes would become a part of the major highlights segment after the show was broadcasted.
Song Wennuan looked towards the screen that the technical producer had switched over to in excitement.
“It was a wise move to invite Fan Jialuo onto the show. Almost all the drama conflicts in the first episode will revolve around him.
“Cousin, you must not have seen the post on the Internet, or you’d know that he is a liar. His death sketch was actually a forgery. Someone must have provided a false statement to the police!”
Song Rui knew better than anyone else about whether Sun Ying’s statement was false or not. However, he was simply too lazy to argue with others.
This short appearance of a certain person on the screen consumed all of his focus, and his hand kept pressing the rewind button to go back to the first frame as he replayed the scene repeatedly.
Fan Jialuo was like a huge mystery—one which made him desperate to approach the core of it, and the desire to explore it drove him nearly crazy.
On the screen, the moment that the spotlight suddenly illuminated him, Fan Jialuo could be seen sitting quietly. After a short while, the spotlight was turned off, while Fan Jialuo was still sitting there quietly.
However, at the juncture when the lights were turned on and then off, Song Rui noticed that he wasn’t able to see that figure during a tenth of that second.
In that moment, the other seemed to have disappeared into the darkness that had suddenly fallen!
Song Rui’s breath halted for a moment. He replayed that certain second over and over. Finally, after dozens of attempts, he managed to capture that precise frame within the tenth of a second in a screenshot.
In the place where Fan Jialuo originally sat, the surroundings could be seen to be shrouded in darkness, but the slender figure that had been there had completely disappeared. He had disappeared inexplicably, without even a trace, it was as if he had been completely melded into the surrounding darkness.
Was he a real existence?
Was there something wrong with the camera?
How could anyone merge with the darkness?
Song Rui removed his gold-rimmed glasses and kneaded his aching brows skillfully.
It seemed that as soon as he encountered Fan Jialuo, his mind would dive into a state of constant confusion.
He deleted the screenshot and let the feed resume its normal broadcast again; he had no intention of telling anyone what he had discovered.
Since his bearing and demeanor were too detached, during the time he had fiddled with the computer, no one in the observation room had moved to stop him, let alone crowd around him curiously to watch what he was doing.
After a while, Song Wennuan craned her neck to peek at her aloof cousin. Seeing the screens in front of him filled with only Fan Jialuo, she couldn’t help but curl her lips.
In the auditorium, the off-site host was still interviewing the contestants. The psychic teenager from before was introducing himself to the camera.
“My name is A Huo. I live in one of the deep valleys of the Himalayas, and I’m from the Hunza Tribe.
“Have you ever heard of the Hunza people? Certainly not, because our ethnic group is not a part of the 56 official nationalities in China, it is an undisturbed hermit tribe. The people in our ethnic group never get sick, and they are all very healthy.
“I discovered that I had psychic abilities when I was six years old, so I always thought I was the most special one in existence. But after I came here, I realized that there were many people with abilities surpassing mine.”
The host asked with particular interest, “A Huo, can you predict the result of this audition? Who do you think will make it to the preliminaries?”
“First of all, there must be me.” Ah Huo grinned, showing two rows of white teeth.
“The uncle in the black robe will definitely be the first after me. The pale-faced girl is also good, then the beautiful sister, the Taoist priest and the handsome man, all of these people will all enter the preliminary round. Their aura is very strong!”
The last person listed by A Huo was a very handsome man who was wearing an expensive suit and diamond earrings.
His keen vision noticed that the host and the cameraman had turned their attention towards him, so he put his hands in his pockets and walked over unhurriedly with a smile.
“What are you talking about?”
The off-site host was fascinated by his elegant demeanor, and was left stunned for a second or two before he answered, “A Huo predicts that you will enter the preliminary round. He thinks you are one of the most capable people out of all the contestants.”
“Oh? Is this A Huo?” The handsome man held out his hand and shook A Huo’s hand with elegance. “My name is Ding Puhang. Can I be friends with you? I can also see that you are very strong.”
“Oh, thank you for the compliment!” A Huo felt at a loss after the man approached them. He could smell a scent that made him extremely uneasy from this man, but he didn’t understand what it was.
However, according to what his past experiences had taught him, most people who gave off such a scent were dangerous and must be kept away from.
The man glanced at him, stepped back, and widened the distance between them to 1.2 meters—no more, no less. It was a safe distance between people, one which allowed them to communicate cordially whilst also maintaining a safe range without letting the other party feel excessive alienation.
As expected, A Huo breathed a sigh of relief. The man raised his lips secretly, a movement that easily went unnoticed, and a few dark lights flashed within his eyes.
“Who else does A Huo think is strong? Can you tell me?” Ding Puhang asked politely.
“Ah, I’m also optimistic about that uncle, those two sisters and that Taoist priest. They will all make it to the finals.”
A Huo was very confident in his own judgment, even daring to directly predict the final result of the audition.
Ding Puhang frowned slightly and pointed at Fan Jialuo, who was sitting in the corner. “What about him? You’re not optimistic about him?”
“Him? I can’t smell him. He should be an ordinary person,” A Huo said as he shook his head.
“No smell at all?” Ding Puhang asked, his frown tightening a little.
“Yes, there is no smell.” A Huo continued to shake his head.
“Okay, I see.” Ding Puhang nodded slightly before walking away with elegance.
The off-site host and A Huo looked at his back rather dumbfoundedly.
They couldn’t understand what this person had been trying to do by saying such words so haphazardly. Was it to get a shot? Or to show off his face? His appearance wasn’t that graceful ah!
A Huo scratched the back of his head and sniffed the air. Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and howled in realization.
“Ah, I was wrong! I was absolutely wrong! How can I be so stupid?! Everyone has a scent, and every scent is different, but Fan Jialuo is the only person I’ve ever met who has not the slightest hint of a scent. A person with no scent is too abnormal!”
“What’s wrong with Fan Jialuo?” The off-site host asked in confusion.
A Huo’s face was red with excitement. “Fan Jialuo is the only person in the world who has no scent, you know? Although I haven’t seen the whole world yet, he is absolutely unique in my world. There is no one like him! I can’t smell him. He’s cleaner than the white and clean snow of the Himalayas!”
“Is that an exaggeration?” The off-site host’s face was full of black lines.
“No exaggeration, I can even smell the freshness of the snow on the Himalayas. It’s somewhat astringent, and somewhat sweet, though it’s faint, very very faint!
“I thought it was the lightest scent in the world, but he doesn’t even have that faint scent. Do you understand what that means? This means that his existence is thinner than that of the freshly fallen snow. He is either a fragment of nothingness or someone enclosed by the world.
“It’s amazing. It feels like he has the ability to go unnoticed by others, as if he doesn’t even belong to this world.
“I want to change my prediction, he will definitely make it to the finals!”
Then, A Huo ran to Fan Jialuo. He was the very image of a big dog that had seen a meaty bone and was afraid of it being snatched by others, so he flicked his tail and ran wildly towards it.
The off-site host who was abandoned by A Huo for Fan Jialuo could only smile at the camera.
At the same time, Song Rui stared at this scene on the display monitor, secretly pondering— A fragment of nothingness? Is he not real?
For some reason, he specifically rejected any negative answers to this question.
…
Noks: A lot of vague stuff about FJL in this chapter, which even we (translator+editors) don’t know anything clearly about. Hopefully, the mystery will solve itself for us and SR soon…
Frozenmirage: Uh oh, a question of his existence 
I realized that I was holding my breathe halfway. I really love the details. Fan Jialuo, what are you? Also, Ding Puhang, I see you👀
Thank you for the chapter~
🤔
Oops didn’t mean to reply to your comment😅
I’m so happy when I saw the update! I was checking the notifications whole day good thing I restrained myself from mtl-ing.. Thank you so much for the chapter!
So he literally disappeared for a moment?? So mysterious~ I wanna know moreee :3
Thank you for the chapter!!! ❤️❤️
Ay got yourself a new fanboy XD! Thanks for the chappie!
wonder what is his purpose
I need to re-read the introductory chapters •́ ‿ ,•̀
hhh I forgot about how good this novel is
having a whole arc about one of the romance interests seem interesting ( ╹▽╹ )
thank you for the chapter!
Well I really hope he is real.
Thanks for the chapter
Song Rui and Fan Jialou are both so interesting characters. I love every chapter with them 🧡 (now I’m quite sure I haven’t boarded the wrong ship 😂)
“Fragment of nothingness” – what beautiful methaporic for FJL’s existence. Looking forward to finding out more about it.
Ding Puhang def is wary of FJL. And wot… he disappeared?? :O
Thanks for the chapter! 🙂
Sooo mysterious I love it….Thank you
Well, we already knew that his was not a real body. More of a projection?
It wasn’t his real body, but it was a body, and it shouldn’t have been able to vanish in a split second without FJL doing some cool stuffs~~ hehe, looking forward to updates for sure!!
Its nothing about projection. Its already been introduced several chapters before this one that the MC can reduce his own existence into nothingness when he is in the darkness. Remember that idol who were envisioned by FJ about his death? His crazy fan brought a group with her and went into mc’s community planning to kidnap him and shoot a video. They found a bank notes worth 2k without knowing that the one they planned to kidnap is there listening to their plans, he hide himself by reducing his existence by using the darkness during that night
lolol I wanted some face-slapping until I remembered that it’s better for everyone to resent FJL because he feeds off that negative energy.
Haahhhh, on another note, this cousin of SR’s doesn’t know SR very well if she doesn’t feel like his obsession with FJL is a marker for how strange FJL is. Thanks for the chapter!
Woah they’re not fake! So then FJL is an oddity among the oddities!! I’m so excited for whats going to happen next!
Thanks for the update!!
Thak you for the chapter:) It made my day!!😊
Althought a lot of ml candidates, they do not have or didn’t show yet shameless attitude. So I will wait for that to come out first. 😉
fjl is a cryptid and a huo is my new son
thanks for the chapter!
Ooooh this is getting exciting 🤩
What’s Fan Jialuo?! Well, we know he’s no human.
Thanks for the chapter!
What is FJL? Hmm
Thank you for the chapter
Our beloved MC is just a simp magnet.. damn 😭😭 Got everyone under his spell
*such not just