FS-novel Chapter 521: A Close Call—
Chapter 521: A Close Call—
“Why?”On the top floor of the venue hall, the veiled young woman in a white dress grabbed the man’s arm. “We agreed to expose them together. Why are you chicken? Do you know how I came here the other day?”
“Ah, this isn’t the company’s fault. You insisted on doing it yourself. I already warned you before, so stop making a scene, okay?”
Xiong Qi yanked his hand away, his eyes full of disgust.
“No wonder Lulu said you’ve been acting strange lately. You’re terrifying. There’s an event going on here! Don’t act crazy!”
“So what are you saying? You choose to side with the company?”
After being pushed away, the girl refused to let go and once more gripped his arm, her eyes pleading. “Do you know how many people this company has harmed? They tricked more than just me—there are many victims! Help me! We can’t let more people be deceived—”
Hearing her, Xiong Qi felt guilty and annoyed. He jerked his hand free and shoved her hard. “You lunatic, get lost. Don’t mess up my work, okay?”
Whether it was the brutality of his movement or how frighteningly thin the girl had become, the shove sent her tumbling over the railing behind her.
In that instant, both froze, eyes wide.
Reflected in the girl’s pupils was the silhouette of the man turning and fleeing without hesitation.
……
“Is she about to jump? What’s going on?”
“Oh my God, how is she hanging there? That’s so dangerous! Someone help—”
“Hold on!”
“Security? Get them up here to save her!”
A crowd stood around the outer ring of the foyer, all craning their necks to look up. The open central atrium had left a huge empty space in their view.
From where they stood, a white-dressed girl clung to the underside of the top-floor railing, her body suspended in midair, swaying and on the verge of collapse, any moment likely to exhaust her strength and plummet from the top.
The commotion at the foyer entrance rippled into the awards hall behind them. Guests who had been seated at the ceremony gradually heard word of the chaos outside.
“What’s happening?”
Hou Rongxuan, seated near the front, glanced back and noticed several staff members pouring out of the backstage corridor by the stage, their faces panicked as they wove through the crowd. Whatever was happening outside was serious.
Screenwriter Xia Ze sat up straighter, his gaze flicking to an empty seat nearby before he frowned. “They haven’t come back.”
Xia Ze had a bad feeling and stood to say to Hou Rongxuan, “We should go out and see. I feel something’s off.”
Hou Rongxuan also sensed it, and the rest of the crew began rising too.
At the same time, Liu Rulan to the rear heard the commotion outside.
As the agent, she couldn’t accompany the artist down the red carpet or sit where she might appear on camera. Organizers typically placed agents out of shot toward the back, near exits, so they’d be the first to hear any disturbance and to clearly understand what was happening.
“Someone fell?”
Liu Rulan’s expression went pale. Instinctively she stood and scanned toward the No Bait production team’s area.
—The person she was most worried about wasn’t in the room!
Without hesitation, Liu Rulan stepped into the corridor.
The hallways were already packed with people who had heard about the incident and were trying to get a look. Frowning, Liu Rulan cut through the crowd and hurried toward the foyer.
When she arrived, onlookers’ cries rose up—
“No good, she can’t hold on much longer!”
“Ah! She let go!”
“Oh my God!”
“Ahhh!”
The crowd erupted. Some people couldn’t bear to watch, but Liu Rulan pressed through and peered forward.
The foyer was hollow, with a view straight up to the dome at the center. All guests entering the awards hall had to pass through this area, but now the path was blocked.
With the danger of someone possibly falling at any moment, no one wanted to cross beneath the atrium. People were detouring around the center to avoid it.
As Liu Rulan tilted her head up, she saw a white blur fall from the very top.
The white shape looked both huge and fragile. In the instant it descended, it seemed almost weightless, as if it might float away.
When that image hit her retina, Liu Rulan froze, unsure whether she should close her eyes and turn away or witness the last moments of a life.
Then, without hesitation, someone in the crowd rushed forward.
Under everyone’s stunned gaze, just as the white figure was about to hit the ground, a person streaked past at incredible speed and leaped, catching the falling girl precisely in midair before collapsing and rolling to the floor to absorb the impact.
The fluid, practiced motion stunned everyone present.
That light, drifting fall had felt like a staged movie stunt. Many people hadn’t even processed it; they had not yet felt true panic or sorrow when the “performance” silently ended.
—There was no blood, no death.
For a moment people wondered if it had all been fake.
Only when the saved girl regained movement did they realize the person who fell had been real.
This wasn’t some prank. A living person had truly fallen from the height of five or six floors and been caught.
What was going on?
No way, seriously? He actually caught her?
Is the catcher okay?
As people moved forward to check and express concern, the young man who had caught her got up by himself. He shrugged off his coat and tossed it over the girl’s face, then looked up and urged everyone to disperse. “This matter will be handled by the proper personnel. Everyone, please leave.”
Only then did people see clearly who’d risked his life to run and catch her—Xiao He.
“Holy—”
Liu Zehang rushed over too.
“Brother Xiao, you almost died!”
Someone fell from that height and he dared to catch them barehanded?
What a miracle!
“Call emergency services, now!”
Liu Rulan’s anxious voice came from the side. She nearly twisted an ankle in her heels as she hurried over, urgently instructing arriving staff while checking Xiao He from head to toe. She probed his arm repeatedly. “Are you okay? Do you feel anything? Did you hit any part just now?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine.”
Xiao He waved his hand nonchalantly and flexed his arm to show he wasn’t injured.
With Recovery+ and Skeletal Reinforcement backing him, he wouldn’t be harmed even by catching someone barehanded or by having sheer luck on his side.
Truthfully, he hadn’t wanted the attention.
But there was no choice—this was a life. And by Liu Zehang’s identification, the falling person was someone Xiao He knew—Li Hanyue.
How could Xiao He pretend not to see if he had the ability to save her?
The instant he saw the fall, he’d already prepared to catch her.
Luckily he did.
Seeing the girl lying there, Xiao He felt a jolt of fear and immediately crouched, carefully asking, “Are you okay? How did you fall?”
After being rescued, Li Hanyue remained in shock for a moment, but her relief at surviving soon gave way to another deep despair.
She buried her face in the jacket and sobbed silently, as if she wanted the coat to smother her.
Xiao He, who had just been catching up on gossip from Liu Zehang a moment before, found himself awkward and at a loss.
Who would understand that weird mix of emotions—one second hearing gossip, the next second saving its subject?
This was clearly not the time for that.
Liu Zehang stood in front of Li Hanyue to shield her from view and helped the staff clear the area.
Liu Rulan put an arm around Li Hanyue’s shoulder and whispered comfort beside her.
“Come on, don’t be nervous. Let’s get out of here, okay?”
People nearby muttered. When Hou Rongxuan, Xia Ze, and the event’s person in charge arrived and heard the details, they nearly passed out.