Lin Chen felt a chill run through him, as if he could still feel the despair of that rainy night.
"Lu Tianyu used my and A-Jie's dreams and blood to pave his red carpet to fame and fortune." Chen Kai's voice regained its composure, but beneath that composure burned with over twenty years of anger and sorrow. "He's adept at manipulation, shrewd at calculation, and ruthless in achieving his goals. His Starry Entertainment, on the surface, is a star-making factory, but behind the scenes, it's rife with capital operations, resource exchanges, and even more sordid dealings. He likes to control everything, especially talented young people like you with no background. He'll promote you first, give you hope, and then, when you're at your most triumphant, he'll make you see who's truly in control—either you'll completely submit, or… you'll be destroyed."
The past, like dust stirred by the wind, revealed the cruel truth buried beneath.
Lin Chen finally understood that what he was facing wasn't just an entertainment company, but a kingdom built on ambition, betrayal, and sin. And Lu Tianyu was that cold-blooded king. "Child," Chen Kai's voice was filled with worry, "you are in great danger. Lu Tianyu won't easily let anyone who tries to resist his control go. You must be extremely careful. That reporter Su… might be a breakthrough, but she's equally dangerous."
Just then, Lin Chen saw Amy and her staff anxiously looking around, seemingly searching for him. He had to go back.
"Mr. Chen, I understand. Thank you for telling me all this. I will be careful." He said hastily, hung up the phone, hid his old phone, took a deep breath, and walked back the way he came.
His steps were heavy, as if each step was treading on the blood-soaked dust of Chen Kai's story.
He finally saw how deep the abyss he was in truly was. And the way back had already been cut off.
The past that Chen Kai recounted weighed on Lin Chen's heart like a heavy lead weight. He knew the ruthlessness beneath Lu Tianyu's glamorous mask, the festering sores beneath Xingyao Entertainment's glamorous exterior, and he realized even more clearly the perilous nature of his situation. The feeling was like walking alone in a dark forest, finally seeing the lurking beasts in the lightning; the fear became concrete and acute.
Back in the company-arranged apartment, Amy's face was grim. Although she didn't directly reprimand him, the dissatisfaction and scrutiny in her eyes were almost overflowing. Lin Chen knew his brief "disappearance" had aroused suspicion. He made an excuse that he got lost on the large campus, barely managing to get away with it, but the tension in the air didn't dissipate.
In the following days, the surveillance noticeably tightened. Amy was practically inseparable from him, even his bathroom breaks were meticulously calculated. He hid his old phone even deeper, afraid to use it easily again. Su Yuqing's business card was like a hot potato; he knew it represented hope, but could also be the fuse that ignited everything.
He needed an absolutely safe opportunity, a chance to avoid all eyes and ears.
A turning point came a week later. The company received a temporary assignment requiring short-term business travel—to perform two songs as a guest artist at the opening ceremony of a commercial real estate development in a second-tier city in a neighboring province. These kinds of events aren't high-profile, but the pay is decent, and they're usually offered by less important artists or has-been celebrities who need to maintain their public image. Perhaps because of Lin Chen's recent "fall from grace," this task fell to him.