Chapter 104: Strategy System for Dating Reality Shows (22)

"Is there a problem here?"

Zhou Hanqing stood right beside her, looking over in the direction she was staring.

Xie Yang withdrew her gaze: "Nothing, it's just too desolate. It looks uninhabited at a glance, so wasting more time wandering around is pointless. Let's head back."

Hearing her say this, Zhou Hanqing raised an eyebrow, a thoughtful look in the depths of his eyes.

However, he didn't say anything else.

The four of them turned around and started walking back.

Just as they returned to the newly paved village road, they saw the trio of Xie Danni and the others in the distance, screaming and running wildly.

"What's going on? No one is even chasing them."

The four of them stopped, and after the Xie Danni trio ran closer, they realized their bodies were covered in small, prickly burrs.

The male guest was doing a bit better, but the two female guests had their makeup ruined and looked quite disheveled.

"What happened to you all?" Jiang Tuo asked.

He had figured it out by now: in their group of four, he was the only one with a mouth. Expecting the other three to speak first was harder than ascending to heaven.

Xie Danni and Chen Anqi seemed still shaken, so it was Lu Ming who panted and explained the sequence of events:

"We heard from a local that the scenery at Little Lotus Lake in the Ancient Town is very beautiful, so after leaving the ancient street, we went to Little Lotus Lake. We met a fisherman there; we just asked him in passing if he was an NPC, but we didn't expect him to be one of the fugitives. To stop us from continuing to look for clues, he wanted to lock us up. Luckily, Anqi was quick-witted; she kicked the door open when he wasn't paying attention, grabbed us, and we ran out. We were almost caught."

"What kind of crappy game is this! I'm not playing anymore!"

Hearing Lu Ming praise "Anqi" in every sentence, and then hearing the Strategy System announce that Lu Ming's Favorability Value toward her had dropped by 10—plummeting from the Love Value of being at her beck and call back to a mere ordinary Favorability Value—Xie Danni flew into a rage.

She knew why Lu Ming's Favorability Value had dropped.

Just now, when the "fugitive" was about to grab someone, she was the first target, and she had subconsciously pushed Lu Ming out.

But she was truly terrified at the time; Lu Ming was a grown man, couldn't he show some understanding for her?

The four of them—Xie Yang and the others—looked at each other. Sympathy was one thing, but why was it so funny? They barely managed to hold back their laughter.

Finally, Fu Yichen cleared his throat and stepped forward to take charge: "Let's go back to the guesthouse to rest for a bit. We didn't have lunch, so everyone must be hungry. Let's go back, eat something, and discuss the clues we've collected while we're at it. At least one fugitive is clear now—the fisherman, right?"

The Xie Danni trio: "..."

So their miserable experience was just to help everyone identify a fugitive?

Back at the guesthouse, Xie Danni and Chen Anqi went to the washroom to change. By the time they had changed and touched up their makeup, the trio of Xiao Chenglei and the others had also returned.

Everyone sat around a long table with a mottled lacquer finish, took out the Clue Cards collected by each group, and began to discuss and analyze them.

Xie Yang appeared to be listening intently, but in reality, she was thinking about other things.

She rested her chin on her left hand and held a ceramic teacup with her right, her fingertips rubbing the handle, while her mind replayed the succulent pattern she had seen in that dilapidated courtyard earlier.

If she hadn't seen it wrong, those were the three letters "SOS".

SOS, the international Morse code distress signal.

Unless one was from the older generation who lived in seclusion and was cut off from the world, very few people wouldn't know it.

Why would such a signal appear in an emptied-out Ancient Village Site, in a dilapidated house with collapsed courtyard walls and crumbling ruins?

Was someone trapped inside the collapsed house, waiting for rescue?

Then why not use other methods to call for help? For instance, shouting "Help."

When they passed by, their laughter and chatter were quite loud; if there had been someone inside, it would have been impossible for them not to hear.

Conversely, if someone inside had been shouting for help, even if the voice were weak, it would have been impossible for her not to hear it.

With the improvement of her physical fitness, her five senses had become increasingly acute.

Unless the person trapped inside dared not make a sound.

That was why she had pretended to have discovered nothing and left at the time.

Should she call the police?

But apart from the succulents trimmed into "SOS," everything else was just her baseless speculation. What if there was no one inside at all?

Even if there were someone, would the commotion of calling the police end up harming the trapped person instead?

After pondering, Xie Yang ruled out the idea of calling the police right now.

She planned to find a time to scout that house and see if there was actually anyone inside.

"Xie Yang, what do you think?"

"Hm?" Hearing her name called, Xie Yang quickly snapped back to reality, "What?"

"What are you thinking about?" Xiao Chenglei laughed heartily, "We've called you several times. We're talking about whether to go to the Ancient Town's bonfire party tonight. The newlyweds are going to dance around the bonfire in the square tonight, and there will be fireworks when it ends. I think there will definitely be a lot of people at the bonfire party, and we might even be able to find a few more Clue Cards."

Upon hearing this, Xie Yang hesitated in her heart.

The square was at the end of the ancient street where they had done their Task at noon, quite a distance from here.

She had intended to find time tonight to scout that house, but if she went to the square, would she still have time to go to the Ancient Village Site?

But after only a brief moment of hesitation, she immediately replied: "I'll follow you all; if you go, I'll go."

At worst, she could find an excuse to slip away halfway through.

Thus, everyone unanimously passed the resolution to "go to the Ancient Town bonfire party tonight."

The female guests returned to their rooms to coordinate their outfits for the evening.

The male guests drank tea and, following the topic, chatted about the folk customs of Chunhe Ancient Town.

As for the collected Clue Cards, after studying them together for a long time, they still had no leads and simply gave up.

The director couldn't stand them splitting up by gender and doing their own things, so he had the cameraman remind the guests through the walkie-talkie: "Don't forget the Task."

"Isn't that what we're discussing right now?"

Jiang Tuo stretched out his long legs, leaning lazily against the back of his chair, and lifted his chin toward the Clue Cards scattered across the table:

"But we have no leads. How about the director gives us a hint?"

The director: "..."

"Director, I reckon this is a Love Variety Show, and the male and female guests pairing up to complete a Task to get a Clue Card is the real highlight, right? Whether or not we find the 'fugitive' isn't important," Xiao Chenglei said, smiling at the camera.

Director: "..."

Even if that is the truth, you shouldn't bring it out into the open.

The key is—"You guys didn't even go look for the Clue Card."

Almost dizzy from being led in circles, having the cameraman remind them was just a way to shoo them out to do the Task.

"No rush, isn't there still half of tomorrow left? Things will naturally work themselves out when the time comes," Fu Yichen said slowly, taking a sip of tea.

"Director, try acting like a human for once!"

Having experienced the ordeal of nearly being locked up by the "fugitive," Lu Ming was full of anger at the mere mention of the Task.

"We haven't even had lunch yet. We used our lunch time to do the Task, so can't we be allowed to finish early and come back for a meal?"

"..."

The director was so retorted that he became withdrawn: "Fine, fine, then go to the square earlier tonight."

These people were all big shots, and he, a lowly variety show director, was nothing in front of them.

The netizens in the livestream were amused:

【Actually, it doesn't matter if they do the Task or not; I also love watching the guests and the director bicker.】

【I could watch them sit together and chat all day.】

【Where are the female guests? Why aren't they here?】

【It seems they went back to their rooms to prepare outfits for the bonfire party.】

【Oh! They're out, they're out! Pfft—my Sister Xie is wearing that?】