Thinking this, Kexiao quickened his pace, he decided to see for himself, as the saying goes, "Seeing is believing." After all, the overwhelming news you see and hear are not necessarily true. Nowadays, the self-media industry has developed to such an extent that even a simple story can be turned into a myriad of bizarre plots by self-media.

For example, today Xiao Ming had a normal day and was heading home. The journey back was uneventful, and that was the end of it.

But in the eyes of those media people, such a mundane story is ridiculously dull. They not only write about Xiao Ming going home but also concoct tales of how Xiao Ming encountered his aunt and other relatives, how he faced robbery by delinquents, and engaged in a battle of wits that lasted for minutes. Or they might simply take Xiao Ming's safe storyline and introduce an encounter with a gang of stinky thugs—gangsters who are tough and hard to chew—bullying a powerless girl from his class, which then sets the stage for action.

How could Xiao Ming use his strength to rescue the girl from the hands of the villain, battling wits, or in a moment of heat, stripping pants and opening fire—no, that's impossible. With his own strength, he couldn't possibly beat a gang of ruffians. But this is wish-fulfillment fiction, and as long as he has passion and courage, that's enough. The result? Xiao Ming actually stepped up. His usual cowardly, loser self with no girlfriend suddenly exploded upon seeing a beauty, igniting the last bit of manliness within him. And the small-time bullies in fact turned out to be all bark and no bite, getting scared away by his outburst. From then on, Xiao Ming embarked on the pinnacle of life and won the beauty's heart.

Such a plot is clearly unreasonable. For one, Xiao Ming himself is cowardly and incompetent. It's almost impossible for such a reversal to happen to him. So what should he do, ignore the girl in danger? That clearly deviates from what the audience expects. The answer is... of course not. Even though he might be a salted fish, he's a salted fish with dreams, aspirations, and ambitions. Then comes the twist in the story.

Xiao Ming intervened. Far from disappointing the audience, he saved the class beauty, and himself turned out to be a mysterious and powerful master disguised as harmless, simply because of various reasons he couldn't blow his cover. This was why he was hiding in Class 23 of the second year or Class 1 of the third year, accustomed to sitting in the back row by the window.

With this, all the implausibilities suddenly made sense. Xiao Ming wasn't weak after all. His purpose of going undercover at the school was to investigate the headmaster—who was also the girl's father—in a melodramatic twist. To cover up one plot hole, self-media would dig a hundred others to fill, creating linked segments that are indeed attractive and enjoyable to look forward to.

But in the news, self-media companies often use this phenomenon with their usual tactics, which can be described as "walking the old path in new shoes," changing the form but not the substance. Such crooked trends need to be hit harder. Although the times have changed and the thresholds have lowered, the powers that be still handle things perfunctorily and officially—yet, the intention is the same.

Kexiao did not expect much integrity from these media people. In addition to online news, he decided to go out and see for himself, as it's said, "Reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles, and traveling thousands of miles is not as good as meeting countless people." Only by walking the land, seeing many people, engaging in conversations, and having lengthy chats could one truly understand the variety of the world.

However, the scenes flashing through his mind were invariably those of cheesy disaster movies like "humanity's last days." While thinking this, he silently scoffed to himself. After much tossing and turning, he quickly found himself beside the main avenue of a city's central street.

The central avenue was densely packed with people, almost squeezing into a blob. Fortunately, although everyone was in a hurry, due to the congested vehicles on the road, their walking speed was not fast.

Kexiao stopped a woman who was wandering aimlessly, "Sister, where are you heading?"

"Where I'm going is none of your business! If you want to chat up someone, go somewhere else. I don't have time for you right now; I can hardly save myself."

Kexiao was momentarily taken aback, realizing immediately that his comment was indeed inappropriate for the time. The middle-aged woman was obviously in a rush and didn't recognize him in his disguise. She hurriedly tossed out a sentence and slipped away.

Tsk tsk... such an irritable sister. With that appearance and temperament, ordinary people can't handle her, she's determined to be a tough nut to crack.

Scanning the crowd, Kexiao attempted to find a few approachable individuals to ask about the situation. Sometimes, the intelligence from ordinary people is much more truthful than the data held by the upper echelons.

This time, Kexiao was lucky enough to come across an elderly man. The old man was in his fifties with salt-and-pepper hair, but was very hearty and merry. He immediately said to Kexiao, "Young man, I've got stories for you, but do you have any wine?"

"Uh... this…" Kexiao hadn't expected these refugees to be so pragmatic, but upon reflection, it might be precisely because of the financial turmoil caused by the epidemic that such a situation had arisen. At least during this exceptional time, fine wine was much more valuable than cash.

As a warrior, physical fitness was crucial. Kexiao never indulged in smoking; tar from cigarettes can directly induce chronic diseases like cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases by inhibiting blood flow, raising blood pressure, and causing various ailments. If brain blood supply was insufficient, it could even lead to localized tissue necrosis and reduced intelligence, so it was best avoided. Kexiao advocated for everyone to quit smoking, starting with himself.

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