Ch58 - The Tourist Group’s Devil’s Bay

“His time is running out?” Lu Xu couldn’t help raising his brows when he heard this, pretending to be shocked as he asked, “Nian ge, why would you suddenly say that?”

Ji Xiunian also knew that it wasn’t good to say this sort of thing, so he had never told others about it before, even if he did have his own guesses. But Lu Xu was different from the others; someone who had previously seen ghosts would be able to accept things that were difficult to believe. Ji Xiunian had unconsciously stopped seeing him as an outsider.

“I also don’t know how to explain this to you.” He struggled to organise the words and let out a long sigh. “It’s just a type of intuition. When I saw him before, I felt like he had a lot of dark energy surrounding him. I don’t know what it is, but there’s a voice in the dark telling me that he won’t be able to live for long.”

To be able to say this out loud, even Ji Xiunian thought it was fantastical. “Just take it as me thinking too much. There probably won’t be any incident.”

Lan Gaojie had been personally sent on his way by Lu Xu, so of course, Ji Xiunian’s claims weren’t groundless.

It was just that there were some things he couldn’t talk about even if he knew about them. So he just laughed and said to Ji Xiunian, “If you want to know whether or not your intuition is wrong, it’s very simple. You’ll be able to find the answer in a short while.”

He was right. Ji Xiunian unconsciously nodded his head.

He had hoped that the production team would be able to contact Lan Gaojie, but Fan Zeng had already said earlier on that the other party didn’t even want to talk to the team.

All of it was just his own guesses. With the way things were as the moment, he could only quietly watch for changes.

The other trainees had all gone onto the bus, Lu Xu alone was the exception.

Fan Zeng had arranged for Lu Xu to go in Ji Xiunian’s car so that Jiang Aida, the head of overseas marketing in DR company, could have a brief chat with them about the commercial filming, their audience, and the result that they wanted.

Jiang Aida had yellow skin and black hair, her figure slender but full of muscle. It was clear that she worked out often. She had originally debuted as a model. At the age of 28, she moved from the runway to behind the scenes, and applied at DR company to do marketing. In the following years, she relied on her excellent working ability to become the head of overseas marketing. Without any powerful background backers, being able to get to such a position at 33 years old meant she could be regarded as a strong, successful woman.

“Hi, Xiunian.” She wore a long satin dress, her hair curled into big waves, her makeup decent. She looked charming and generous. When she got into the car, Aida very naturally greeted Ji Xiunian, then smiled at Lu Xu. “Hello, Lu Xu. I really like the ‘Ballad of Death’ that you sang.”

When Fan Zeng heard her say this, he added, “Miss Jiang saw just one episode of the show, when she heard you sing ‘Ballad of Death’, she immediately contacted us and wanted to collaborate.”

Jiang Aida smiled and nodded, agreeing.

After knowing that Aida was his fan, the corners of Lu Xu’s lips curved upwards, and he said thank you.

“Our theme for this season is ‘Forbidden Love, Death’s Praise’, you have no idea how shocked I was when I heard that song.”

As Jiang Aida spoke, her gaze was fixed on Lu Xu’s eyes, only thinking that he was even more good-looking in person than on-screen.

Ji Xiunian had a cold temperament, Lu Xu looked cunning and intelligent. The two of them were completely different, but when they stood together they were surprisingly harmonious and complemented each other.

Jiang Aida had worried that she had been rash, afraid that Lu Xu would have been too stressed beside Ji Xiunian, but now it seemed like she had been overthinking it completely. Lu Xu’s aura was so strong, there was absolutely no way for it to be suppressed.

“Forbidden Love, Death’s Praise?” When Lu Xu heard the name of this series, he couldn’t help but be interested and ask.

“Yes, our current season of women’s fragrances focuses on a dreamy summer, and the men’s focuses on the singing praises of death. Of course, it’s not referring to actual death, but using the theme of death to bring out the beauty of life.”

As Jiang Aida spoke, she also showed them the product and their plans.

Ji Xiunian casually took one of the perfumes and looked towards Lu Xu. Lu Xu naturally stretched out his wrist and let him spritz on a bit of the fragrance.

This brand of perfume was different from DR company’s previous series. The top notes were fruity with blackcurrant and bergamot, and the bottom notes were woody, mixed with pine and ambergris. In fairness, the scent really was quite good.

Although the packaging and marketing had mainly dark tones as its theme, this scent reminded people of the spring breeze and summer clouds, clear and beautiful.

“We think that men are rational and tough creatures, other than the responsibility given to them by society, they also bring about a certain charm under pressure.” According to Jiang Aida, the pressure felt suffocating, but there was a saying that went “confront a person with the danger of death and they will fight to live”.

By regarding death as a way of life, life became more gorgeous and beautiful.

In a sense, this season’s product and the ‘Ballad of Death’ that Lu Xu sang were quite similar.

“The shooting location we are going to this time is Devil’s Bay, I believe it will bring you a different kind of inspiration.”

“Devil’s Bay?” Ji Xiunian noticed Jiang Aida’s tone of voice becoming excited, and only thought that the place’s name was exciting, but couldn’t remember where he had heard it before.

When Lu Xu heard this, he smiled and helped to explain, “This Devil’s Bay refers to Qiandao Bay. Legend has it that deaths would occur from time to time. A lot of people have fallen in and never come out again, even the bodies couldn’t be found.  A lot of people say that there are demons there, so everyone calls it Devil’s Bay…”

Speaking of, every coastal city seemed to have an area such as this. The wind and waves seemed calm on the outside, but the undercurrents were full of whirlpools.

If one were to fall into the undercurrents, the powerful pressure from the whirlpool would sweep the person down onto the ocean bed. Never mind getting out alive, even the body wouldn’t be found.

When Ji Xiunian heard this, he couldn’t help but frown, his heart feeling a bit uneasy. When Jiang Aida saw this, she immediately smiled and clarified, “That’s what they say, but that area has long since become a tourist area, many people go there every year.”

Humans were so strange sometimes. Wherever there was danger, their curiosity would lead them there.

As such, Devil’s Bay had now been turned into a tourist attraction today. Although there would be people who lost their lives every year, they had basically all gone swimming privately. There were cases of drownings in every coastal area, so no one thought there was any problem with Devil’s Bay.

“We won’t go to the deep water area, there won’t be any problem.”

Advertisers were concerned about the artist’s lives more than anyone else, of course they wouldn’t risk their lives.

Ji Xiunian looked at the plan for the commercial filming, and there was no problem so he didn’t think about it.

Bai Ze phoned Lu Xu and said that the DR advertising department wanted to sign on ‘Ballad of Death’ as their promotional song this year. This had originally been the Grim Reaper Bureau’s song. After receiving this invitation, Bai Ze had gone to ask the other side.

The Grim Reaper department, which was keen on increasing the mortality rate, readily agreed and did not forget to ask him to tell Lu Xu to add the name of the lyricist.

Previously only members of the Grim Reaper Bureau sang this and there weren’t any plans to commercialise it. Not many people knew who the lyricist was.

Now that it had progressed to a commercialised use, the minister of the Grim Reaper Bureau came out to point out this issue.

Lu Xu already had an answer in his heart, but he still asked Bai Ze, “So who is he?”

“Zhang Jiamu.”

As expected.

Other than Zhang Jiamu, there was no one else who could write something like ‘The Ballad of Death’.

Lu Xu hung up the phone and couldn’t help but think of what others’ reactions would be once they found out ‘The Ballad of Death’ had been written by Zhang Jiamu.

Ji Xiunian saw him deep in thought and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, my manager was cheering me on.” Lu Xu raised his head and smiled at Ji Xiunian, answering casually.

Very quickly, the vehicles arrived at the bay.

Lu Xu got off the bus and saw a large cruise ship anchored near the opening of the bay.

“Wa, this is too amazing!”

“Aaaaa I feel like I’ve finally splurged after getting to this age; I have to take pictures for the memories.”

The first reactions of the trainees upon seeing the cruise ship was happy excitement.

The ocean breeze blew the summer air past everyone’s faces. They looked out across the endless blue skies and waters.

After immersing themselves in the big, blue sea, they could only feel their bodies and minds relaxing significantly.

When everyone had gathered together, the mentors announced that they could go on the cruise and play.

Everyone took their phones out and excitedly took pictures, keeping group photos for the memories.

Lu Xu went to the A-rank section after getting off the bus, and met up with Song Zhe, Xu Haoming, and the others.

The other trainees came along with the buses. Only Lu Xu had been specifically called over to a different car, so everyone couldn’t help but feel curious.

Xu Haoming was close with Lu Xu and he was bold. He directly asked him, “Xu ge, did the director give you a special mission when he called you over?”

Han Tianyu guessed on the side, “I bet it’s for more camera shots? Xu ge is the current week’s internet Charisma King. There’ll probably be 100 seconds of personal screen time for next week’s episode.

Either way, they would learn about the advertisement shooting sooner or later. Lu Xu didn’t hide it from them and merely quietly told them about DR scouting him to film a commercial.

“Fuck!” Xu Haoming couldn’t help but be moved at the mention of DR. He was afraid he would draw the attention of others and repressed his voice. “Xu ge, you’re going to fly up! DR ai!”

“I’m so envious I want to cry, I also really want to shoot a commercial.” Han Tianyu flattened his lips at the side, pretending to be pitiful.

Lu Xu immediately followed up with, “The A-rank trainees also have an ad to film today. You guys don’t know?”

“Ai? Really?” When Han Tianyu heard this, his entire person became excited.

Song Zhe couldn’t help but ask, “What commercial?”

“I heard it’s a commercial for SK’s product.”

“‘Wa, it’s actually SK!”

The members that heard the name of the brand had light shining in their eyes. To be able to work with a high-end skincare brand before debuting, just thinking about it would be something joyous right?

Not long after Lu Xu had finished speaking, one of the directors called the A-rank students over to film a commercial.

A-rank originally had seven people. Now that they were missing Lan Gaojie, there was only Lu Xu and the five members of BTT left.

Everyone was pretty familiar with each other at this point in the program. There was no pressure in collaborating with each other.

The product SK was promoting this time was its ‘Light and Bright’ series, targeting its younger customers.

Youthful boys already had very good skin. It was just that they had a lot of pressure recently, along with plenty of all-nighters, so it was natural for even them to have a few flaws on their faces.

All of the people in the makeup room were bare-faced. All of them looked pretty decent anyways, but the Lu Xu who had been added in the middle seemed different.

Xu Haoming looked at the dark circles under his eyes, then at the Lu Xu who was pale to the point of glowing. He couldn’t understand. “Xu ge, did you really not sneakily do skincare behind our backs?”

“I also want to ask, what skincare products do you use?”

It wasn’t because everyone was mindlessly praising him. Lu Xu’s skin condition was really too good, clean and bright with its own allure. There was even a light layer of peach fuzz under the lights. Even if one stared at him from a close distance, one wouldn’t be able to find a single flaw.

Lu Xu thought for a moment. He really hadn’t ever used skincare products before.

It was just that everyone’s gazes were focused on him. After thinking, Lu Xu only said, “Probably because I rarely go under the sun?”

When Lu Xu didn’t have any tasks under the Grim Reaper Bureau before, he would always stay in the underworld. Afterwards, he had a rotation of a few decades of night shifts. He really hadn’t spent many days under the sun.

“As expected, keeping out of the sun really is the best method.” The others nodded their heads, thinking of using some more sunscreen products.

Boys around their twenties had a youthful invincibility. Along with the lighting and makeup, they were exceedingly handsome.

“SK is here to protect our skin…” The script of the commercial was a bit embarrassing, but they smoothly completed everything after a few NGs. Thinking of the fact that their own images on a commercial were about to be broadcasted on TV, everyone was extremely excited.

Xu Haoming was also happy, but for some reason, he thought of Lan Gaojie.

If that person was still here, he bet that ugly expression on his face would also bloom into a flower. He merely failed a PK contest once; he didn’t understand why he had to withdraw from the competition.

As he randomly thought of this, he heard the staff members call Lu Xu. “Xu ge, get ready to go down and film the next one!”

Tofu: That is one ambitious perfume series DR is trying to sell