Chapter 40.2

Proofreader: Lore

“Ye Mang, who’s the escape partner written on your task card?” After making the joke, Su Chi didn’t forget the main business at hand.

Ye Mang hesitated for a moment. “Can this be revealed?”

“It’s fine, it should be just like before with how they split the teams, can be revealed.” Su Chi said, “Xia Rong’s partner is me, while my partner is you, so we thought to ask you.”

“Oh.” Ye Mang breathed a sigh of relief and took the initiative to show his task card. “My partner is Xia Rong, then it should mean the three of us will be in a group, should be right.”

“Ah? You three are in the same group? Is this in the order of who gets out of the secret room first?” Kang Yifan wailed. “The rumor is that priority for the next round’s task will be decided according to the total escape time. Then doesn’t that mean our team would be way behind from the very beginning?”

“In fact, this should be accidental.” Su Chi comforted him and said, “It was Xia Rong who first discovered the secret of the voice-activated light. It was only because I was nearby and heard it that I got inspired to follow him as well. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been that fast.”

“I heard it, Ye Mang had also heard it. Then why was it that we didn’t get inspired?” Kang Yifan complained, “You two’s tacit understanding is just too much, you two must have slept together!”

Su Chi though, actually just smiled and said nothing back, and also didn’t continue speaking.

For his own innocence, Xia Rong simply couldn’t not speak out for himself, “Sleep, what sleep! We are a show about positive energy. Do you understand what’s positive energy?”

“Why does saying you two have slept together imply it wouldn’t be positive anymore?” Kang Yifan said with a grin, “Because both of you are male? We can’t have such a thing ah, comrades¹Raw: 同志 [tóng zhì] a slang for homosexual. can’t be positive energy? Support comrades, oppose discrimination!”

Seeing how the other’s words have reached this point, Xia Rong believed that this segment definitely wouldn’t end up being broadcasted, and so simply let go of himself. “What comrade? Su Chi being kept by me, do you know? If you don’t believe me, you ask Su Chi’s cameraman-brother一” He affirmed with the cameraman,” Wouldn’t Su Chi rush over to find me whenever I stay somewhere for too long and won’t move? That is actually because I got tired, so he would come in to massage my shoulders and thighs, and can only leave after I’m comfortable from his services!”

The brother who followed to film Su Chi revealed his face from behind the group. Seeming to have found it to be very funny, he nodded.

Immediately, as if with his tail perked up, Xia Rong quipped, “Look, the cameraman-brother is a witness!”

The reason he would say this, on the one hand, was in order to prevent attracting other people’s suspicion in case such a situation would happen again, and so he used such a joke to serve as an immunization shot of sorts; meanwhile, on the other hand, he wanted to secretly take revenge on Su Chi’s earlier ‘smile but didn’t speak’. Unexpectedly, even at this point, Su Chi would still just have a slight smile and wouldn’t try to defend himself, and so instead, gave Xia Rong the impression as if he had just punched cotton.

As they were all laughing, the countdown to the so-called “dawn” also silently continued. Kang Yifan held his breath in anticipation of his teammates’ arrival, becoming more and more anxious as he waited.

All the way until the countdown had already ended for seven or eight seconds did Zhang Xin – with the hem of his dress in hand – thrillingly came running in from the corridor. Calculating the time, he must have only escaped approximately at the final minute.

As he was worried about his last teammate’s circumstance, Kang Yifan didn’t even bother to laugh at Zhang Xin’s princess dress, but kept asking, “What about Gao Junming?” “Why has Gao Junming still yet to come out?” “Will he be eliminated now since he wasn’t able to escape within the timeframe?”…

A minute later, the directing team’s broadcast rang out once again. “Because the child, Young Hunter, couldn’t escape from the secret room before dawn, he was made into a puppet by the super witch. Gao Junming, eliminated from the game.”

Unexpectedly, one would be directly eliminated if they didn’t manage to escape the secret room in time. This was the first time that such a situation where someone was eliminated right from the first round of the game had happened, so the rest of the friends group were all in a bit of a daze.

Moreover, being made into puppets or whatever… Despite being aware that this was just a game, this still caused everyone to inexplicably shudder.

=====

After Kang Yifan’s team was downgraded by one member, their combat effectiveness seemed to have become significantly weakened. However, when they finally started the next round of games, they found that the victory of these games did not hinge on the number of people. For example, they had to answer questions while standing on a plank of wood with the “abyss” below them. After each question finished being stated, the board would continue to retract inward. If the board retracted enough until a person could no longer stand on it, then the person would fall into the “abyss” and become eliminated from the game.

There was also one where team members would be separated into individual corridors to test their tacit understanding. The walls of the corridor will continue to move inward, and only when everyone’s answers are consistent would the movement be suspended. If there were too many incorrect answers, once the wall touches a player’s body, that player would then be eliminated because they had been ‘pressed into a meat patty’.

It was in this challenge that Ye Mang, who was on Xia Rong’s team, got eliminated. At that point, it became two against two, and both sides were basically evenly matched. After passing that round, it could be considered that they had finally, with great difficulty, pushed open the main door of the ‘castle’.

At this time, the directing team’s broadcast sounded out in everyone’s earpiece. “Dear children of Fairy Tale Kingdom, the adventure through the witch’s castle has come to an end, what’s coming next is the exploration of the forest. Inside the forest is also the witch’s treasure. If you manage to get it, you may be able to recover your lost partner! We hope you would be able to hold fast to your friendship and courage and break out of this forest!”

The broadcast was very impassioned and vehement, but this group of friends who were familiar with the program’s process all knew that this meant that today’s shooting had come to an end, whereas tomorrow, a forest resurrection competition was waiting for them.

“That castle was just too frightening.” On the road back to the hotel, Kang Yifan lamented, “All those kinds of secret rooms, they’ve almost scared claustrophobia out of me.”

Ye Mang added in, “No wonder we had to come all the way to B City to film. It really isn’t something that could be built in a day or two.”

Meanwhile, at this time, Xia Rong, who hadn’t had a good rest since the day before, was listening on and off while feeling very drowsy. When he finally got to the hotel room, he directly threw his cell phone on the bed and jumped in.

Just as his eyelids were getting heavier and heavier and he was about to go meet Duke Zhou²To meet Duke Zhou or ‘Zhou Gong’, implies falling asleep., a special WeChat reminder tone sounded out.

Xia Rong struggled for a while before managing to feel out the mobile phone, he slid to unlock the screen.

【Su Chi: Was afraid that you would be too tired and forgot. Wanted to remind you, the second half of the first episode will broadcast tonight. [cat_rubbing_its_face.JPG]】

The author has something to say: 

Su Chi: It’s shameful to act cute but it’s useful.

YinYue has something to say:

Still looking for an editor~

• 1
  Raw: 同志 [tóng zhì] a slang for homosexual.
• 2
  To meet Duke Zhou or ‘Zhou Gong’, implies falling asleep.