Chapter Nine: Chu Yan, Frightened Out of Her Wits

As soon as Chu Yan appeared on stage, the audience erupted into enthusiastic cheers.

“Chu Yan! Chu Yan!...”

Holding the microphone in her left hand, Chu Yan waved her right hand in the air. “Hello, everyone!”

No sooner had she spoken than the crowd burst into another round of cheers, as if being greeted by Chu Yan was an exhilarating experience.

As the background music began, Chu Yan performed cute gestures while singing her recently released album, "What Should I Do With My Gentleness."

"Ah~ Sometimes I'm too gentle~"

Immersed in her singing, she had completely forgotten about the doll.

But when she finished a verse and bowed to the audience to express her thanks, she suddenly noticed—the doll was sitting among the spectators, grinning at her with a bizarre smile!

"Ah!!!" Chu Yan was so frightened that she fell to the ground, pointing at a spot in the audience and screaming loudly—a shrill cry entirely at odds with her gentle persona.

The background music for the next song had barely started when her sudden scream drowned it out. Everyone in the audience looked toward the direction she was pointing, faces full of confusion.

“What’s wrong? It’s just a doll, how did it scare her like that?”

“But that doll really is creepy—look at its smile. Who knows what brand it is, designed to be so frightening.”

“Oh, I have to take a picture! This is definitely going to trend online!”

“Whose doll is that, anyway?”

...

The crowd began to chatter excitedly, some snapping photos of the doll. After all, it was their first time seeing such a terrifying doll.

The manager, seeing things spiraling out of control, immediately spoke to Chu Yan onstage via Bluetooth earpiece. “What’s going on?”

His tone was devoid of its usual gentleness, replaced by interrogation.

“The doll, that doll ended up in the audience...”

Now convinced Chu Yan was mentally unstable, the manager continued, “What are you talking about? That doll is clearly in the little girl’s hands. The one you saw must be a similar model bought by another audience member!”

“No! There’s something wrong with that doll! I won’t sing anymore! I won’t!” Chu Yan shouted, hurled the Bluetooth earpiece to the ground, and fled at top speed.

Hearing the static through the earpiece, the manager realized Chu Yan had probably smashed it.

“This crazy woman! What’s going on? The doll is right here in the little girl’s hands!”

He instinctively glanced toward the little girl, only to discover she had vanished without a trace.

...

Seeing Chu Yan walk off without finishing her song, the audience was thrown into chaos.

“What happened?”

“No idea! My goddess just fled the stage?”

“She really is my innocent goddess—getting scared by a doll, it’s so cute!”

“What are you talking about? Being frightened like that by a doll isn’t normal at all.”

“Hype! It’s definitely a publicity stunt!”

...

Amid the confusion, two people stood out in shock.

A man and a woman: Feng He and Lu Li. They were members of the Combat Unit of the Tianjing City Anomaly Investigation Bureau—and a couple.

Feng He gazed sharply toward the doll. "There are at least two anomalous presences here—one G-class, one F-class. The G-class is probably the doll Li Jue Tian is responsible for, but where’s the F-class?"

Lu Li shook her head. "Not sure. Maybe we should help Li Jue Tian deal with the doll—he’d owe us a favor."

"Don’t rush. If we act now, we might alert the target. A little G-class doll is nothing; if the F-class escapes, that would be a problem. It could even be the Berserk Bear," Feng He replied.

Both were F-class combatants, so a G-class anomaly was hardly worth their attention. What excited them was the possibility that the F-class anomaly present was the Berserk Bear.

The Berserk Bear was Lu Li’s assigned target; they had been chasing this anomaly for ages, but it kept slipping away.

"Who would have thought we’d get such a lead while on vacation at a concert," Lu Li said, her eyes narrowing, betraying neither joy nor annoyance.

"Sigh... As spirit handlers, we can’t just ignore an incident like this."

...

Meanwhile, Chu Yan had already reached the backstage area, breathing heavily, running frantically. Her instincts screamed at her to get as far away from that inexplicable doll as possible.

But as she ran blindly through the backstage, something tugged at her skirt. She looked down instinctively—only to see the lost little girl she had helped earlier.

She instinctively stepped back two paces, then asked, "You... what’s wrong?"

Long Meng Ting stared at her silently.

"Are you... hungry, or thirsty? Would you like some candy?"

Long Meng Ting continued to stare in silence.

She now realized the gravity of the situation—there was no doubt this little girl was trouble.

She began backing away, step by step, then abruptly turned and ran for her life.

But as she fled, she realized her feet had left the ground. Looking at herself, she saw a massive arm piercing her abdomen from behind, lifting her high into the air.

Chu Yan clung desperately to the arm, kicking her legs, trying to break free, but it was all in vain.

After coughing up a mouthful of blood, her vision blurred. In her final moments, she saw the manager and makeup artist, both with gaping wounds in their chests, their faces frozen in terror—they must have died in unspeakable fright.

On stage, the organizers tried to restore order.

"Everyone, please calm down. Chu Yan left due to health reasons, but that doesn’t affect our charity donations. Please show your love!"

The speaker was the organizer of the charity concert, now consumed by hatred toward Chu Yan.

"Damn it! That idiot—I’ll make her pay for this."

His name was Cai Xu Shuang. He used to be a second-generation rich kid—but “used to be,” because his family had gone bankrupt.

This charity concert was a trap he had set. He wanted to profit without risk, first using Long Meng Ting to sing for free and draw crowds, then getting the clueless audience to donate. All the money would end up in his pocket.

Among the audience were many of his old, wealthy friends. They weren’t interested in anything but showing off, so at times like this they’d donate huge sums just to stand out.

He had no choice—his creditors were pressing him hard, and if he didn’t pay soon, his life would be over.

But plans never keep up with changes—he never imagined Chu Yan would be scared off by a doll.

The crowd was in an uproar, criticizing Chu Yan for her irresponsible behavior.

“What’s going on with Chu Yan? We traveled so far for this concert, and she just left us behind?”

"If Chu Yan doesn’t come back, I won’t donate a cent!"

"These celebrities are spoiled—any little ailment and they go on strike!"

...

Seeing the situation spiraling out of control, Cai Xu Shuang was frantic, at a loss for what to do.

Just then, he spotted a familiar figure climbing onto the stage from the audience—it was Chu Yan, returning after her escape.