The karaoke room was noisy as music was being played.
Tang Hao sat in a corner with Ma Fangfang stuck to his side, her soft and lithe body leaning against him. On the other hand, Li Fei was holding a microphone, singing to his heart’s content.
Li Fei was very good at singing. He had performed onstage as the class’s representative when he was in junior high. Zhao Li had taken a liking to him because of that incident.
The song he had performed was called “Endless Seas and Open Skies”, and Li Fei had sung with all his might as if he was pouring out all of his resentment and worries into his singing.
Back then, after he had finished singing, many people broke into applauses.
Tang Hao had clapped for him as well.
Li Fei put down the microphone and walked over.
“Li Fei, you were amazing!” Ma Fangfang clapped.
“No! No! I say, Hao’zi, you should sing a song too!” Li Fei said.
Tang Hao waved his hand hurriedly and said, “No thanks, it’s not like you don’t know that I can’t sing.”
“Haih! Don’t be so humble, you can sing. Fangfang, say something to him, quick,” Li Fei said.
“Come on, sing a song!”
Ma Fangfang pulled at Tang Hao’s hand and said in a coquettish tone.
“Fine, fine, fine! You both win!” Tang Hao could not escape, so he took the microphone and sang “Fairytale”.
Tang Hao’s singing was not that remarkable, but that was because he rarely sang. In the past, he was poor. Hence, when he was in junior and senior high, he rarely went out with his friends.
However, it was a little different this time when he sang.
At the beginning of the song, his voice was hoarse and he could not catch the melody. Nevertheless, very quickly, it was like he had an epiphany as he suddenly knew how to control his breathing and rhythm.
The more he sang, the smoother his singing became. Not to mention, the more he sang, the more he began to enjoy himself and became immersed in the song completely.
At first, no one in the room paid attention to him as they were chatting amongst themselves. However, their gazes soon shifted one by one as a look of bewilderment flashed across their eyes.
“Who’s that? They sound really good!”
They lifted their heads and looked around. When they saw that it was Tang Hao holding the microphone, they were stunned.
It was him!
When did Tang Hao get so good at singing? When they were in junior high, no one was aware he could sing!
The crowd was puzzled.
However, Li Fei’s eyes were wide open, and he was looking at Tang Hao with an expression of disbelief.
He was the most aware of Tang Hao’s singing skills, and he knew that they were average as he definitely would not have said that Tang Hao was good at singing. However, suddenly listening to Tang Hao, his friend’s singing skills were far beyond his imagination.
On the other hand, Ma Fangfang had her hands clasped over her mouth. She was looking at Tang Hao with a surprised look on her face.
Her pair of beautiful eyes were wide open, glistening with awe and a hint of adoration.
When the song ended, the room fell silent for a moment. Then, it erupted in a round of applause.
“Wow! That was amazing! Why did you say you weren’t good at singing? You were great!” The expression on Ma Fangfang’s face was full of excitement, and admiration was evident in her gaze as she looked at Tang Hao.
“Awesome, Hao’zi!” Li Fei grinned as he gave Tang Hao a hard smack. “In the last three years, you’ve haven’t stopped practicing!”
“Cough cough!” Tang Hao put down the microphone and coughed gently a few times, his face was beginning to become flushed with embarrassment.
He had not practiced at all. The only reason why he was so good at singing was that his cultivation base had increased. His ability to control his body functions had become more refined, and he had become better at imitating things.
That time when he was playing tennis, all he had to do was recall a simulated scene in his mind to learn a technique that ordinary people normally would not have been able to master.
Compared to that, singing was much easier.
“Hao’zi, let’s form a group sometime and participate in an audition. We’ll definitely stand out, and everyone will know our names!” Li Fei quipped.
“Sing another one!” Ma Fangfang urged.
Tang Hao wanted to test out his new skill as well, so he sang a few more songs. Everyone in the room was soon entranced by his singing, even Liu Bingyao whose eyes began to dazzle with a glint.
Looking at the Tang Hao standing before her now, he was completely different from the Tang Hao she remembered back in junior high.
He used to be quiet and plain in the past, but now, he was much more energetic. It was like he had become an entirely different person.
After he had finished singing, Tang Hao put down the microphone. Then, he grabbed a bottle of draught beer and drank from it.
The room became lively once again.
After a while, Tang Hoa excused himself to the bathroom and left the karaoke room. Outside, it was a lot quieter and brighter. He became much more aware of his surroundings, and his mind felt much clearer.
He went to the bathroom and washed his face.
When he went back, he saw that Liu Jiawei was standing at the entrance with a man who was dressed like a delinquent. The two of them were acting incredibly suspicious. The delinquent took out something and handed it over to Liu Jiawei.
Liu Jiawei took the item and quickly shoved it into his pocket.
“Master Liu, don’t worry. That thing is really efficient! It’s not your first time buying it either, so you should know very well yourself,” the delinquent said in a low voice.
Liu Jiawei nodded, took out a wad of cash from his wallet, and handed it to the man.
Then, he turned around and walked away.
Tang Hao made a turn and hid behind another hallway. He watched as Liu Jiawei walked back into the karaoke room.
They had booked two rooms because they were a large group of people. Hence, he and Liu Jiawei were in different rooms.
Tang Hao furrowed his brows, slightly bothered by it. ‘What was that? Was it drugs?’
However, because they were in different rooms, he had no way of making sure.
“Forget it, it’s none of my business!”
Tang Hao murmured and returned to his room.
He sang a few more songs and even sang a duet with Ma Fangfang.
All of a sudden, at the other end of the room, Liu Bingyao stood up and took a few steps forward before her figure began to sway slightly.
“It feels a bit stuffy, I’m going out for some air!” Liu Bingyao said.
As she said that, she headed toward the door.
“Bing Yao, let me accompany you!” A girl stood up and held on to Bingyao. She then walked out of the room with her.
Tang Hao glanced at them but did not really care. In such a room, it was easy to feel stuffy and dizzy.
However, after a while, Tang Hao began to feel that something was wrong. A few minutes had gone by, and they still had not returned.
‘They should be fine!’
Tang Hao murmured silently.
Nevertheless, there was an unsettling feeling in his heart. It was just a hunch, but Tang Hao knew that he was now a cultivator, and that meant his intuition was more accurate than anyone else’s.
Once again, he recalled the scene he had witnessed at the entrance and felt that something was even more off.
“Was it… Liu Jiawei?”
Tang Hao muttered to himself and then stood up abruptly. He said to Ma Fangfang and Li Fei, “I’m going out for a bit!”
When he passed by Liu Bingyao’s seat, he glanced around and saw that in her drink, at the base of the glass, there was some kind of undissolved powdery substance.
“This isn’t good!”
Tang Hao screamed silently. He walked out of the door and looked around, there was no sign of those two. He entered the other room and realized that Liu Jiawei had gone missing as well.
“Damn it, that scumbag!”
Up until then, Tang Hao still had no idea what had happened.
He raced to the receptionist at the entrance and found out that the girl had helped Liu Bingyao out of the KTV. Shortly after them, Liu Jiawei followed suit as well.
Tang Hao rushed outside and looked around the streets, they were nowhere to be found.