Chapter 363: Killer

Adults are always busy; everyone is busy making money, and at the very least, this type of adult constitutes the largest demographic in society.

And those who truly have free time are the student group.

They might not have much money, but their voices are definitely loud enough.

"Is this your confidence?"

"Why can't it be?"

Zhou Yi's counter-question choked Cai Zhuoyan.

It seemed indeed to be the case—everyone relied on fans.

"Have you ever thought about what you will do to step down if they succeed?" Cai Zhuoyan, no longer pretending to be the person she was in front of the camera, leaned back in her chair, propped her right palm against her left elbow, and asked with an ambiguous tone.

"Has anyone ever told you that hesitating back and forth means you won't become a huge star?" Zhou Yi, chewing on his steak, gazed at her playfully.

"I just don't want to lose."

After the previous experience, Cai Zhuoyan also began to show her true self in front of him and said frankly, "Of course, I think a genius like you, who exploded into fame right upon debut, would probably not understand the feelings of someone like me."

To debut as a big star, she trained seriously and diligently, followed seniors to various venues to build familiarity, and even when Hong Kong tycoon Wong Jim mocked her as "asthmatic when singing, don't release an album if you can't sing," she still swallowed her grievances—

Even though she had cursed Wong Jim hundreds or thousands of times in private.

Because of her unique entrance move of a one-handed backflip, she and A Jiao were even widely mocked as "circus clowns," but none of this extinguished the flame in Cai Zhuoyan's heart to become a big star.

"Coincidentally, I am not afraid to lose; what does it matter if I lose? Will it affect my sales? Will it affect my status?"

Zhou Yi, smiling as he raised a wine glass to take a sip of red wine and gently swirled the glass, asked with interest, "I am fighting so many of them alone; even if I lose, it is a glorious defeat, right? Even if the Hong Kong media write that I lost to a war of attrition, that is still praise for me.

"I ask you, apart from me, who else in the entire Chinese music scene can withstand this war of attrition composed of a string of names?"

"..."

Damn, that makes so much sense; in the end, he is in an unbeatable position.

Cai Zhuoyan, feeling she had been too obsessed with winning and losing, suddenly broke out of her mental rut, looked up at the man before her with a composed expression, propped her chin on one hand, and shook her head with a "tsk tsk": "Sometimes I feel the media's evaluation of you is quite accurate; you are truly arrogant."

"If I am not arrogant now, I won't have time to be arrogant when I get older."

Zhou Yi tilted his head slightly to the right and gestured with his chin toward the window, "Moreover, if I weren't arrogant before, how could I have kept them in check?"

Confused, Cai Zhuoyan turned her head; apart from the night view of the Mid-Levels, she saw nothing outside the window, "What?"

"You can come over here to see." Zhou Yi pushed his chair back slightly with both hands, made room, and then made a "please" gesture toward the woman.

Half-skeptical, Cai Zhuoyan stood up, walked around the dining table to the spot the man had vacated, and her gaze constantly searched the brightly lit glass window—

From this angle, several barely visible lenses were obvious; several towering trees were hung with numerous paparazzi in all sorts of positions.

Their postures varied; some were even lying on the tree trunks with their butts sticking out, and she couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

"Is there? Why do I see nothing?" Laughing, she turned sideways, looked down at Zhou Yi sitting in the chair, and asked, "You aren't lying to me, are you?"

"I may have many flaws, but my one and only virtue is that I never lie."

Zhou Yi stood up after reaching out to take a napkin and wipe his mouth, threw it onto the table, took a step to break the safety distance between the two, leaned forward slightly, brought his head close to her shoulder, and pointed upward with his finger toward the gathering of paparazzi outside—

"Now do you see?"

The warm breath exhaled from the man's mouth surrounded Cai Zhuoyan's pink earlobe; at such close range, she could even feel the clear sensation of Zhou Yi's breath fanning against her Bai Xi neck.

"I see."

Cai Zhuoyan let out a light laugh, turned her head to exchange a glance with the man, and said, "Your eyesight is really good."

"Thank you for the compliment."

"You're welcome."

Noticing Zhou Yi's body step back, Cai Zhuoyan turned around, spread her hands wide to rest on the edge of the dining table, and looked down at the man who had sat back in his chair, "But now the question arises: how do I leave?"

"Good question; you know the outside better than I do."

Zhou Yi took out a Mercedes-Benz car key, held it up, and asked, "Do you drive, or do I?"

"I can be your navigator."

Cai Zhuoyan snatched the key, turned around, picked up her bag, glanced at Zhou Yi, and walked toward the restaurant located halfway up the mountain.

On the trees, the paparazzi who had received news that Zhou Yi and Cai Zhuoyan were dating here became restless upon seeing the two moving downward—

"Quick, quick, quick! They are leaving! They are running!"

"Damn, these two really don't avoid suspicion at all; they are acting so intimate right in front of us."

"This is a provocation, right? Right?"

"..."

Zhou Yi's previous behavior, which was no different from a direct provocation, made this group of paparazzi feel their dignity had been insulted.

The silver Mercedes-Benz roared as the accelerator was pressed and sped off, its speed clearly exceeding all the paparazzi's expectations!

"Speeding! He is speeding! They are speeding!"

"Stop talking nonsense! Chase them! There is no speeding on this road section!"

"..."

Just as even the fastest AE86 could not catch a Mercedes-Benz, the speed of Zhou Yi's silver Mercedes was also beyond the reach of the paparazzi; with skilled drifting techniques, he completely shook them off after a series of turns.

"Ahhh!!!!"

Under the gaze of passersby who heard the noise, Cai Zhuoyan, sitting in the passenger seat, gripped the seatbelt tightly with both hands; only after the vehicle's speed gradually slowed down did she slowly recover her breath. Her heart, which had been tense, was beating rapidly, and the "thump-thump" sound kept striking her eardrums along with the rhythm of "Killer" playing on the car radio—

"Absolutely perfect hands, no sweat and no trembling

"Crossed behind a smile, hiding a dangerous outline

"When you are most relaxed, strike without any emotion~"

"You are really a madman, driving this fast."

"This is called absolute confidence."

Zhou Yi, tapping his right index finger on the steering wheel, turned his head to gaze at her, raised an eyebrow at her proudly, and asked, "How was it? My driving skills aren't bad, right?"

"Want to hear the truth or a lie?"

"A lie."

The wild pounding of her heart kept fueling Cai Zhuoyan's emotional turmoil; that face right before her eyes—she could no longer tell whether it was excitement or a flutter.

After sighing, Cai Zhuoyan, smiling and shaking her head, undid her seatbelt, and then—leaned in and kissed the smug corner of the man's lips!

The tender touch was enough to make one suffocate.

"You really are a bastard, Zhou Yi."

Gasping for breath, Cai Zhuoyan hooked her hands behind the man's neck and gave her answer.

On the radio, the song "Killer" was still drifting.

"My heart stops wavering, beyond your three hundred meters

"Feeling starving, needing you to fill the emptiness

"Lock it in, come in, this beautiful sorrow~"

…………………………………………

"This is love, is love, only you understand~~~"

As "Killer" ended, Li Yaozhong excitedly hit pause—the suit-wearing killer Zhou Yi in the MV almost gave him the feeling of watching a movie—

Bullseye shooting, playing piano as self-therapy, crisp and clean fighting style, and—because of the female lead's rejection, ultimately twisted into a freak who killed her.

Whether it was the lighting, the set, or the camera movement, it all gave him a cinematic-level enjoyment.

"Still, Zhou Yi's MV is the most thrilling! I really shouldn't have been cheap buying the standard CD and cassette—if I'd bought the deluxe edition earlier, I'd have enjoyed it to the fullest long ago."

No matter who stood in his way, in the end it was kill, kill, kill.

Combined with Zhou Yi's ultra-handsome moves, it could practically be called a bona fide suit-wearing thug—even fighting and killing people, he did it like some swagger king, as if showing off were carved into his very bones.

This hit him right in the gut.

He felt so-so about the 90-minute "In the Name of the Father" that came after; after watching it, his only impression was that the song was pretty obscure—something about God and redemption. Also, that female character Cheng Hao was really beautiful; he wanted to find himself a mafia heiress like that and live off her.

If the protagonist had been him, Cheng Hao would've been home on maternity leave long ago.

"What a pity, such a good song and not many people appreciate it—can't even squeeze into the top ten on the charts."

Thinking of this, Li Yaozhong couldn't help but sigh.

As a philosophy major, just starting his freshman year, he flattered himself that his music taste was considerably higher than his old man's at home.

He was sick of all those sappy love songs, including Zhou Yi's biggest hit this time, "Fairy Tale"—he actually didn't care much for it.

His favorite was "Ghost"—it had flavor. He even wrote a music review at length, but it was drowned out—nobody cared.

Because right now, the entire Hong Kong music scene's news was all about "war."

Zhou Yi's die-hard fans were in an uproar, believing those rival camps were deliberately trying to embarrass Zhou Yi by not letting him slap down the Americans;

The rival fans argued that we were just competing for the charts normally—the music scene wasn't opened just for your Zhou Yi.

Both sides stuck to their guns, arguing fiercely with no end in sight.

"Damn it, a bunch of useless idiots, can't even brag with any class—gotta be me!"

As a member of Zhou Yi's fan club, Li Yaozhong, who flattered himself he'd risen above lowbrow tastes, prepared to wield his brush and submit another piece.

On October 25, 2002, an article titled "Lianshan: Zhou Yi's Unique Love Letter to the Hong Kong Music Scene" was published in a small newspaper.

"As someone born in '81, Zhou Yi undoubtedly grew up listening to the music of Hong Kong's golden era.

"But now, just as 'Killer' sings, against the Hong Kong music scene that refuses to submit and obey him, he strikes without mercy!

"Those who follow me thrive, those who oppose me perish.

"Many people focused their attention on the B-side's twin stars, overlooking the A-side's domineering, iron-fisted godfather Zhou Yi. And this muddled Hong Kong music scene is the already-mutated 'Ghost'…"

Just as this article was published, the fierce battle on Xincheng radio had already reached a white-hot stage—

Chen Yixun's "Today, Next Year" knocked "Fairy Tale" off its champion Wang Zuo; Lu Qiaoyin's "Kind-Hearted Breakup" blocked Zhou Yi's "Dad and Mom";

"Little Dimples," "Today You're Marrying Me," and Wang Fei's old hits "Kai Dao Tu Mi" and "Fable" were battling it out back and forth for places 5–8.

Zhang Xueyou and Anita Mui's duet "Love Is Hard" and Liu Hua's "Heaven-Born, Heaven-Raised" directly kicked "Cheers" and "Fireworks Are Easy to Cool" out of the top ten, faintly showing signs of the old Tianwang's glory.

"Yang Qianhua," which dropped out of the top ten today, became the gatekeeper at thirteen, joining Chen Huiling's "Blessed" at fifteenth in a pincer formation against Zhou Yi's "Mr. Lonely."

Zhou Yi's English songs' rankings plummeted straight down after this group of veteran Hong Kong singers' eruption.

And on that very same day, the article "Chen Long Was Cried Bullied" began appearing frequently on the social accounts popular among students…

(End of chapter)