Chapter 404

The doctor stared at the wound on Xiao Huiyu's arm for a few seconds, his brows furrowing.

He used tweezers to pick up the fabric at the edge of Xiao Huiyu's wound, leaned in to look, brows tightly furrowed, pulled a test strip from the bottom of the first-aid kit, dabbed it on the seeping blood, and the strip's edge quickly turned an abnormal gray-blue.

"He needs to be sent immediately to the Dome-affiliated hospital." The doctor held up the discolored test strip so Xie Jingyan could see it more clearly.

"There's something on the knife, I can't handle this poison."

Xie Jingyan stared at the test strip, the gray-blue especially glaring under the light, "Call a car."

The staff member nearby had already started making a call, "Yes, go directly through the backstage passage, there's poison on the dagger, we need to send the person to the Dome-affiliated hospital immediately."

Xie Jingyan turned around and immediately found the leading staff member wearing a dark blue suit, with a work badge pinned to his chest.

"The meet-and-greet is canceled." Xie Jingyan wasn't discussing it with them.

The man opened his mouth, "Miss Xie, the fans have already lined up outside the venue; if we cancel now——"

"I'll pay the penalty, and we'll bear the consequences ourselves." Xie Jingyan interrupted him, and the man immediately shut his mouth.

They were merely in a cooperative relationship; canceling the meet-and-greet would cause some controversy, but since it happened suddenly, if we handle fan refunds and compensation properly, most fans should still understand.

Qi Ran stood aside, her gaze darting between Xie Jingyan and Xiao Huiyu, finally landing on Xiao Huiyu's pale face.

Her wound was still bleeding; unknown if due to the poison, regular hemostatic methods were useless.

"What if I fill in?" Qi Ran said, "Two people can still hold up the event; better than outright cancellation, we can't really make fans run for nothing......"

"No need." Xie Jingyan didn't even turn his head.

"As for the fans——" Qi Ran still wanted to say something.

"I'll go apologize." Xie Jingyan finally turned his head to look at her, "I'll issue a statement regarding this, including making all monetary compensation, but today's meet-and-greet will not be held."

Qi Ran's lips twitched, wanting to say something but swallowing it back.

After all, this young lady never lacks money.

"Alright, I got it." Qi Ran shoved his hands into his pockets.

Xie Jingyan knew Qi Ran was dissatisfied with her decision, but she didn't elaborate further.

Although that person claimed to be an anti-fan, he was actually targeting her; if Xiao Huiyu hadn't shoved her just now, the one poisoned and lying here would have been her.

If that person were merely an extreme anti-fan, at most it would be inadequate venue security; she fears another possibility.

Recently, the Dome has experienced a series of incidents, such as "Undead invasions" and terrorist attacks by Undead organizations; those Undead are now completely opposed to the Dome.

It's said those Undead will do anything; Xie Jingyan herself has been set up as a living target, and she truly worries that staying here will bring trouble.

At least, the Dome-affiliated hospital has a dedicated security force, whose protection is incomparable to that here.

In her view, compared to being some so-called idol, her companions matter more.

Qi Ran and she are completely not of the same mind.

Compared to those young ladies who become idols purely for entertainment, she truly needs to rely on this job to earn money and support her family.

Who let their group get to where they are today; it's entirely thanks to the influence behind that young lady.

Ying Duo stood at the other end of the hallway, watching all this from afar.

His position was just behind the corner, half his body hidden in the wall's shadow, only revealing a small half of his face covered by a mask and glasses.

The side mission seems to be stalling.

He lowered his head to glance at his communicator; Yang Yichen had already sent a message asking where he was.

【Yang Yichen: Where did you go? I wasn't telling you to wait for me here?】

【Yang Yichen: Hurry back, I'm still waiting for you at this spot, the line's already formed over there; if we don't go over now, we're done.】

Overall, I feel his brother cares more about this fan-chasing thing than he does.

However, queuing seems unnecessary anyway, since the main person here has already left.

How to put it, from that conversation just now, Xie Jingyan definitely has something odd about her, and Xie Jingyan and Qi Ran obviously don't get along.

If we want to further advance this side mission, we probably need to follow them to the Dome's hospital.

In that case, let's put this side mission on hold for now.

Anyway, there's no rule that the task must be completed within a certain time; worst case, we give Hua Jian Lei some extra work, gossiping about the cause of internal discord in the popular girl idol group.

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Yang Yichen tossed his big and small bags onto the sofa, then flopped onto it himself.

"I didn't expect the meet-and-greet to turn out like this," he rubbed his shoulders, his tone tinged with regret; had he known something would happen, he wouldn't have queued that long.

Ying Duo didn't respond; the night before leaving, he had noted down Hua Jian Lei's communicator number, and immediately sent over the photo he'd just scavenged.

【Help me check this person.】

Yang Yichen tilted his head watching him operate, then suddenly sat upright, "Who are you messaging?"

"A friend," Ying Duo said without reservation, he didn't think Yang Yichen would know anything, "Have him help me check the person in the photo."

Yang Yichen leaned in a bit, squinting at the photo on the screen.

The man in a dark suit to Xie Jingyan's left turned his profile to the camera, his hair neatly combed, appearing to dote on the young Xie Jingyan.

"I know this person."

Yang Yichen pointed at that middle-aged man; Ying Duo, hearing that, looked up at him.

"This is our Ministry of Foreign Affairs minister Xie Jingnian; why are you investigating him?"

Yang Yichen instinctively sensed something off; why would Yang Yixie, who doesn't know Minister Xie, still have someone look into him?

Given his brother's prior hijacking of an airship, he genuinely suspects that this world's brother is planning some major illegal crime.

However, this world seems to lack......

"Just check it out casually." Ying Duo slipped the communicator into his pocket, giving a casual reply.

Then his luck is pretty good; just pulling out his communicator and finding an excuse can directly get him a minister's daughter.

Whether biological or adopted doesn't matter; the key is the other person's identity.

So, is it because Xie Jingyan is the daughter of the Minister of Foreign Affairs that someone from some unknown faction went to attack her?

Given that Xiao Huiyu's bookmarks can be used as thrown weapons, this person is either an assassin or a bodyguard, but based on today's actions, she is probably working as a bodyguard.

And Qi Ran... seems to have been planted by some faction to be in charge of surveillance.

Almost as soon as this idea began to form, the system pop‑up window appeared simultaneously.

【Side Quest: The strange idol group has been completed.】

【Reward Obtained: Title "Paparazzi Squad" (Stealth Success Rate Greatly Increased)】

Looks like the guess was correct.