A Bad-Hearted Doctor is Unbearably Beautiful - Chapter 106

A flurry of footsteps followed the shadow as it darted into a corner.

Lu Xiao couldn’t see the face, but years of experience chasing criminals told him one thing: follow. That familiar aura—he couldn’t be mistaken. This was the same black-clad figure who had sniped from the building opposite Song San’s ward during the New Year’s Eve bombing investigation. It was the same assassin who had ambushed Lu Xiao in the alleyway near the flower shop.

Lu Xiao crushed his cigarette butt under his heel and took off!

Inside the arena, Nine had just finished another song. The lights above the stage flickered like stars, and the cheers from the audience surged in rhythmic waves. Nine stood in the center of the stage, breathing slightly hard. Sweat slid down his neck, soaking the open collar of his shirt.

He gripped the microphone and let out a low chuckle, his voice sounding dangerously, alluringly sexy. He raised his eyes slightly, filled with a soul-stirring tenderness.

As Shen Zhao watched, he couldn’t tell if it was an illusion, but he felt as though Nine was staring directly at him. There were nearly 30,000 spectators in the stadium, and every single one of them was staring at Nine’s face on the giant screens, trying to catch his line of sight.

The girl next to Shen Zhao widened her eyes in shock. She leaned in and whispered, “Is Damian looking at you?”

Before Shen Zhao could deny it, Nine’s voice echoed through every speaker in the stadium.

“Today is the happiest day of my life in many years.”

The stadium fell into a momentary, profound silence, followed immediately by a tidal wave of cheers. This time, Shen Zhao realized that Nine’s gaze was unmistakable. His eyes were firmly fixed on him.

The director’s camera followed Nine’s line of sight, swiveling toward the audience. An interaction shot cut onto the big screen. In the frame, Shen Zhao stood still amidst the shifting lights and the roar of the crowd, wearing a simple white shirt with a black trench coat draped over his arm. He looked exceptionally composed, radiating a sense of restrained calm.

Speculation erupted in the stands.

“Who is the camera cutting to?”

“Is that a man or a woman?”

Not only Shen Zhao, but even the professional fan-photographer next to him was stunned.

“A woman, right? If I’m not mistaken, that girl in the mask is Damian’s top fansite admin. But the guy next to her is so handsome! His style is completely different from Damian’s!”

Under the gaze of thousands, Nine began to walk forward slowly. His pace was steady, but his expression was complex. As he neared the edge of the seating area, the fans in the front rows surged forward, reaching out for an interaction. Security instinctively moved to block him, but Nine waved them off.

Shen Zhao was pushed right to the edge of the stage. He looked up at the platform, his brow furrowed as if asking: What are you trying to do?

Nine slowly crouched down at the edge of the stage, his head bowed with a faint smile. He reached out and placed his right hand on Shen Zhao’s shoulder, his fingers moving slightly as if brushing away invisible dust.

His eyes spoke volumes. At that exact moment, the fan-photographer next to Shen Zhao was frantically clicking her shutter.

Shen Zhao’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out; his shallow breathing was completely drowned by the screams and cheers. He stood there, stiff and at a total loss. In a stadium of 30,000 people, Nine’s behavior defied all conventional logic.

With every eye in the house trained on him, Shen Zhao felt as if his face were on fire, his entire body burning hot. As the stage lights cascaded down like a waterfall, the venue reached a boiling point. Everyone was guessing at the relationship between Shen Zhao and the superstar.

Outside the main arena, Lu Xiao dodged through the crowds, trailing his target with practiced stealth. The figure ahead didn’t stop once, moving as if in a great hurry. For a split second, Lu Xiao wondered if the man had realized he was being followed.

But after tracking him for a while, he realized that wasn’t it. The man seemed urgent to get somewhere.

Lu Xiao maintained a distance of about twenty meters. He followed the well-built, agile man in the cap through a maze of corridors, down a flight of stairs by a fire exit, and toward the backstage maintenance tunnels.

Why is the music getting so loud?

Lu Xiao followed through several more twists and turns, feeling a vibration coming from directly above his head. He realized he had followed the man right under the metal scaffolding that controlled the stage’s lift systems.

Lu Xiao didn’t have time to overthink it; he just wanted a clean opening to take the man down.

BOOM—!

A massive explosion of sound!

It was followed by the sound of something heavy crashing down directly above him. Then, the ear-piercing chaos of a screaming crowd reached his ears. The thumping bass and the dazzling light effects vanished instantly.

“Evacuate! Get out!”

“AHHHH!”

Lu Xiao stopped dead in his tracks. A terrible premonition gripped his heart. When he turned back, the shadow had already vanished into the depths of the control area.

His heart sank. He felt the stage above him vibrating incessantly, as if countless feet were rushing onto the platform. Dust shook down from the ceiling onto his head.

“Something happened! There’s been an accident!”

Lu Xiao was torn. He wanted to keep chasing the man, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Shen Zhao, who was right next to the stage. He abandoned the pursuit and ran back toward the exit. He immediately dialed the most recent number in his call log.

As he sprinted, he whispered a silent prayer: Pick up, pick up…

The phone rang eight or nine times before a trembling voice finally answered.

“Lu Xiao… Nine is down…”

“What?”

Shen Zhao’s voice came through the earpiece, his breathing ragged. Lu Xiao felt as if Shen Zhao sounded like he was about to break… yet he was still trying to maintain his cold, clinical composure.

“The lighting rig above the stage snapped,” Shen Zhao said, his voice ice-cold with shock. “A piece of equipment fell. It hit him.”

Lu Xiao’s heart lurched. The image of the figure that had just vanished flashed in his mind. “I’m coming right now!”

He hung up and immediately called the local precinct, demanding they bring a team to seal off the backstage and the control room.

He sprinted toward the arena. At every exit, security guards were struggling to stabilize the crowd and begin an evacuation. But the fans refused to leave. Within seconds, trending topics like “Damian’s Confession” and “Who is the handsome guy next to the fansite admin?” were replaced by “Sudden Stage Accident!” and “Damian Injured!”

When Lu Xiao burst back into the inner arena, he had to scream while flashing his badge before the huddled fans would let him through.

The stage lights had dimmed to a dull glow.

He saw Shen Zhao kneeling on the stage. Beside him, Nine lay on his side on the floor, surrounded by a ring of security guards trying to hold back the rioting fans.

The white shirt Shen Zhao was wearing was stained with a massive, spreading bloom of someone’s blood.