Chapter 803: Brother Xiao Has Self-Quarantined, Do Not Disturb

The only saving grace was that this trending hot search was merely clickbait. The content itself was fairly truthful and didn’t spread actual rumors. Instead, it objectively described the situation: the “actor” Weifeng had accidentally run off the set and nearly been beaten to death by unsuspecting passersby who mistook him for a rabid dog. Then Xiao He and the others noticed the commotion from upstairs, jumped down in time to stop it, and ultimately averted a tragedy...

To be honest, though, I have no idea how this paparazzo managed to dig up the details of what happened. The content matched the scene perfectly.

It was just this headline...

Xiao He took a deep breath, studied the headline over and over again, then steeled himself like a man walking to his death as he scrolled through the comment section below.

Sure enough, the comment section was completely in stitches over this headline genius.

[Hahaha, Bro Xiao, it’s been so long since you had a hot search. I actually missed you, but I never expected our reunion to be through this headline...]

[Bro Xiao says: I’d rather have not gone viral at all. [Smile]]

[Hahaha, I’m dying here. Whose clickbait is this? Trying to kill us with laughter or what?]

[Not Bro Xiao, you haven’t been around for a month, and this is how you hit the hot search—cracking us up?]

[I can’t stop laughing. Isn’t anyone going to speak up for Bro Xiao? He literally jumped from the second floor (not super high, but it still looked pretty dangerous).]

[It’s fine. What kind of guy is Bro Xiao? In his prime, he could go upstairs and downstairs in one breath without even walking.]

[I can’t hold it together. Are you guys in the comments even Little Box fans? Why are you all just watching the chaos like it’s a show? I’m dying of laughter in this comment section.]

[No worries, no worries, no worries. Bro Xiao definitely won’t mind.]

Xiao He: ...Actually, I do mind. Thanks!

Then his expression suddenly hardened. He opened the image and studied it closely.

“This GIF... based on the angle, it should have been taken from—”

In no time, his excellent memory and spatial awareness let Xiao He instantly pinpoint exactly where the GIF had been shot.

Which meant the spot where these paparazzi regularly staked out was probably also here.

So Xiao He bared a vicious grin, rolled up his sleeves, and stomped toward the door. “Fine, fine. They’d better pray they switched spots right after filming, or else I’m going to teach them exactly how to spell the word ‘zombie’ today!”

“Bro Xiao, calm down! You’ve got to stay calm first!”

Seeing the situation was about to spiral, Xiao Chen rushed over and wrapped his arms around Xiao He’s waist, wailing.

“Don’t stop me! Today, I want to see how a zombie chases! I’ll even jump off a building for them to watch!”

Xiao He kept dragging Xiao Chen along as he moved forward, having fully entered his “rampage” mode.

Liu Rulan: “...”

The woman sat on the sofa, sighed, and pressed a hand to her forehead, feeling like the whole world was a noisy, clamorous mess.

She felt she ought to take back all the big talk she’d made in front of Tong Junhui.

This Xiao He guy was completely unreliable, okay?!

-

The lounge was absolute chaos.

Soon, news of the hot search spread not only to the rest of the production team but even to many friends back on the mainland, who called to tease Xiao He, asking what the zombie that forced him to “jump off a building” actually looked like.

Every time he picked up one of those calls, Xiao He just wanted to close his eyes and play dead.

Especially from people like Yuan Sitong and Yan Shaohan, whom he’d met during the *Corner Also* days. They knew full well Xiao He was currently shooting *Dragon* under Director Zhuang’s direction—a project that did involve some scary scenes—and that the paparazzi account was just plain clickbait. But they still went straight to Moments to make fun of Xiao He.

Even Zhuang Hongyi, who had initially seemed oblivious to the whole affair, couldn’t help but crack a smile when he saw Xiao He.

Faced with all this, Xiao He could only force a hollow laugh, then post a “going offline” notice on Moments and cut off his phone’s internet.

Anyone who could get through to him was basically a close personal friend anyway. During busy times, they rarely called him directly, and people who actually needed something usually contacted Liu Rulan or the company first.

So Xiao He contentedly cut off communication for a week, rejecting all calls during that period.

As for the “culprit” Weifeng, Xiao He officially decided to dock his snacks for the entire week and swore he wouldn’t feed him a single treat for the foreseeable future.

Luckily, the internet just treated the whole thing as a joke. It didn’t trigger any major public opinion storms. After a week passed, hardly anyone was still talking about it.

Xiao He naturally restored his communications.

But what he didn’t know was that during this time, an overseas number had been calling his phone. The missed call notifications from his carrier had been left forgotten in his unread messages—something this man, who rarely checked his text inbox, never saw.

Only the filming of *Dragon* continued, and it had already reached its most critical plot point.

...

Zhou Zhiyi and his team brought the helpers they’d found into the research institute and launched the final battle against the dragon. This fight was destined to be drenched in blood, tears, and death.

“Form ranks!”

The middle-aged man with his hands behind his back, holding a sword, barked out the command. The members behind him, all dressed in ordinary civilian clothes and looking like a tour group, moved with startling precision, flipping their peachwood swords in unison and combining their strength to fling the two dragons charging at them into the wall.

The next moment, several talismans flew out. The middle-aged Taoist’s hands moved at lightning speed, forming hand seals, and in an instant, he scooped up the glutinous rice from the ground, sending it spraying with pinpoint accuracy onto the dragons’ bodies.

Immediately, sharp, piercing screams tore through the cold, quiet research institute, shaking loose a cloud of dust from the surroundings.

As if on cue, more and more *crack* sounds of bones resetting echoed from the darkness. On the ceiling, several more dragons had silently crept into the corners, hunched over, their bloodied and mangled faces splitting open into gaping, drooling maws as they hungrily stared at the people in the center.

Chu Xin’s eyes were constantly scanning their surroundings. The shadowy figures that others couldn’t see clearly were perfectly sharp in her vision.

In an instant, the woman’s sharp cry warned Zhou Zhiyi, who was kicking a dragon in front: “Bro Zhou, above your head!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Zhou Zhiyi rolled sideways on the spot, then flipped over and drove his sword into the dragon’s body.

Wang Budao, acting with perfect synchronicity, rushed forward and splashed a prepared special potion onto the dragon.

White smoke rose, and the dragon let out a miserable, dog-like howl that was almost human.

But just as they thought they’d succeeded, the dragon lunged again.

Zhou Zhiyi paused, clearly not expecting this dragon from the research institute to have different traits from the ones they’d encountered in Hong Kong.

“Move!”

Wang Budao displayed a nimbleness that defied his portly frame, shoving Zhou Zhiyi aside at the critical moment.

In an instant, the dragon had pounced right in front of Wang Budao!

At that hair-trigger moment, the middle-aged Taoist at the center raised a hand and flicked his wrist. His wooden sword scooped up glutinous rice from a wooden bowl on the ground and shot it straight through the dragon’s head.

The tiny grains of rice cut through like sharp arrows, sending the lunging dragon flying backward against all logic!

Wang Budao rolled out of the way, and Chu Xin grabbed him by the collar, dragging him out of the danger zone.

But because of this lapse, in the blink of an eye, a dragon pounced on another member of the team on the opposite side and dragged him into the darkness!

“Aaaaaah!”

All that reached their ears was the agonized scream of that fellow Taoist!

Then something exploded with a dull thud, and a torrent of blood splattered across everyone!