Everyone Can Hear My Thoughts, and Now They're Panicking

Adrian Lancaster couldn’t believe it. Had his brother really just ditched him like that?

He was both shocked and furious. Meals for the premium rooms were all freshly made to order. You couldn’t get one without ordering in advance, even if you were willing to pay extra. It wasn’t like some cheap takeout you could find on every street corner.

He had even squeezed in a workout that afternoon, knowing he’d be looking after a patient, so now he was starving.

Yet here he was, heartlessly abandoned by his dear brother, who wouldn’t even bring up the takeout he had ordered for him.

Seething with hunger and rage, Adrian Lancaster suppressed his fury and sent a voice message to Alvin Lancaster. "Alvin, the nurses said they can’t order any more food. Where’s your takeout?"

He waited with forced composure for a moment.

Alvin Lancaster quickly replied with a voice message: "Oh, sorry. I gave it away."

Adrian Lancaster: "..."

’That’s not the solution I wanted! I want Alvin to come back and bring me the takeout, right now!’

’What do you mean, you gave it away? Don’t you know your own brother is starving to death over here?’

Adrian Lancaster nearly fainted from rage. He swayed on his feet, grabbing the sofa for support as he sat down.

After a moment, he calmed down and began to think things through.

’My brother would never just ditch me to go have fun. And he especially wouldn’t, not when Luna Morgan needs someone to look after her.’

’But Alvin has always been a soft touch. Jane Lancaster must have done something to make him abandon both me and Luna.’

His phone suddenly rang, and Adrian Lancaster answered it without thinking.

"Chad."

"Chase, take a look at the post I sent you. You should probably deal with it as soon as possible. This could turn into some bad press," the voice on the other end said urgently as soon as the call connected.

Adrian Lancaster hung up and clicked the link.

A fan, using his photo as their profile picture, had posted about running into Sylvan and Cecilia Nash at the Stratton airport a few months prior. The fan claimed to have overheard them mention going to the "Lancaster" residence and speculated that it was Adrian Lancaster’s family they were talking about.

Long-time fans all knew that his family name was Lancaster.

A prominent fan insisted, "Sullivan the Great really admires our idol. Our guy was also in Stratton at that time, so Sylvan must have made a special trip to visit him."

In the replies, other fans rejoiced, saying that, as expected, geniuses only hang out with other geniuses.

The post became a massive bonding session for his fans. But just as the hype reached its peak, a well-known Solara University alumnus replied with a single comment: "Sylvan and Cecilia Nash were visiting a classmate from the Genius Youth Program. Has a certain someone ever been in the Genius Youth Program? How dare they try to ride their coattails?"

The comment was quickly upvoted to the top, gaining an insane amount of traction.

The original fan got scared and deleted the post, but it was too late. People had already taken screenshots and spread them across the internet.

There was nothing left to deal with. Hashtags like #AdrianFansGetOwned, #RidingSullivansCoattails, and #AdriansGeniusPersonaCrumbles were already trending.

Clicking on any of them revealed a flood of ridicule from the general public.

[So, Adrian and his fans, does your face sting yet?]

[Why would they mindlessly hype up a ’genius’ persona? Look how it’s crashed and burned.]

[A little praise from his fans and he really started to think he was a child prodigy, huh?]

[Trying to ride Sullivan the Great’s coattails? The audacity!]

[@Adrian The only reason you’re not in the Genius Youth Program is because you don’t want to be, right?]

Reading that last comment, Adrian Lancaster’s hatred for Jane Lancaster reached an all-time high.

——

[WARNING! WARNING! Adrian Lancaster’s favorability score is about to reach zero!]

Hearing the system’s notification, Jane Lancaster couldn’t help but smile.

’Finally, the first piece of good news all day,’ she thought. ’This is great!’

She raised her glass, clinking it against that of the stranger beside her. "Cheers~"

The woman froze. She had just started to raise her own glass when the man beside her cleared his throat. She quickly and stiffly set it back down.

Alan Wallace inwardly cursed his luck. ’Of all the people to be seated with, why her?’ he thought. ’And to top it all off, my wife is an idiot.’

’Just a moment ago, while I was off mingling, Jane Lancaster came over and asked my wife if she could sit here, and she agreed without a second thought.’

’What in the world was going through her stupid head? Can’t she tell the hosts don’t want her here?’

’Cozying up to that woman right now... isn’t that just asking for trouble?’

Alan Wallace stood up, coughed twice more, then picked up his glass and walked away from the table.

The woman scrambled to follow him.

They didn’t go far, and their conversation drifted back.

"Darling, I’m sorry. I just figured... you can’t be rude to someone who’s smiling at you..."

"A glutton for punishment is what you are! Have you given a single thought to our daughter?!"

Several people glanced over at Jane Lancaster. A married couple was fighting because of her; wasn’t she embarrassed?

Jane Lancaster looked up with a smile. "Would you all like to toast with me as well?"

Everyone quickly looked away, pretending to be absorbed in something else. ’No, no, no, we absolutely do not.’

Jane Lancaster’s mood wasn’t the least bit affected. If the guests at this table were unwelcoming, she could simply move to the next.

As a family of scholars, the Hughes family’s party was filled with distinguished guests, most of them intellectuals. There were a few friends from the business world, but none were seated at the head table.

The Hugheses likely knew full well that business people are only motivated by profit; they were all here for the connections to Solara. As a result, the family didn’t particularly care for their commercial-minded guests.

The hosts maintained their poise with a coolly polite attitude, and most of the guests followed suit, remaining refined and courteous. Both drinking and conversation were carried out with an aim for elegance, making the event far less boisterous and dramatic than a party thrown by the Holt family.

Then again, considering it was a baby’s first-birthday party, it wasn’t appropriate for things to get too rowdy.

Jane Lancaster had only taken a few steps when an unwelcome guest blocked her path.

"I bet you never thought we’d meet here," Mia Lanley said, a hint of smugness in her voice.

’The tables have truly turned,’ she thought. ’You never imagined you’d one day end up in my hands, did you?’

Jane Lancaster replied, "Not at all. I figured out a while ago you were the one pulling strings."

Mia Lanley scoffed. "No need to pretend you’re so composed. Do you even know who I am? How dare you accuse me of pulling strings?"

’If she knew, would she have still shown up so eagerly to this party?’

’The answer is obviously no. After all, the very person she’s trying so desperately to curry favor with will never give her the time of day.’

Jane Lancaster sighed. "What’s there to question? Mr. Hughes, who’s celebrating his newborn son today, was the one who called me Stratton’s number one socialite back in the day. The elder Mr. and Mrs. Hughes agreed with their son’s assessment. From that perspective, the Hughes family holds me in high regard, at the very least. If I wanted to generate some hype, they’d be the perfect people to approach."

"But today, neither Mr. Hughes nor his parents have paid me much mind."

"And that’s because the mother of their grandson—the co-host of this party, Ms. Langley—won’t let them, isn’t it?"

"And that Ms. Langley... she’s your cousin, right?"

Mia Lanley’s expression flickered. "How did you know that?"

Jane Lancaster said, "What’s so strange? I read the invitation. Ms. Langley’s name was on it."

Most people don’t bother reading invitations that closely and tend to overlook the hostess’s name, but Jane Lancaster had registered it at a glance.

The surname Langley is uncommon. And while that Ms. Langley was very low-key, Mia Lanley herself was anything but.

A little digging around at school was all it took to learn that Mia had often bragged about a cousin who had married well.