~~Welcome back from the Easter Holiday~~
The first game was nothing special, just the common acupressure mat relay challenge. With three games, two wins and one loss, Ji Sheng’s team easily won the first round.
The chatter of the onlooking passersby was noisy. Whenever the relay passed to certain members, cheers would rise from different directions, and as time went on, the momentum grew louder and louder. Presumably, fans of the guests had gotten the news and were all rushing over here.
By the time the acupressure mat game ended, the area cordoned off by the production team was already completely packed.
Quentin and the others did not have that much pulling power. It was impossible for so many people to have come just for them. At least half were long-time fans of ECHO, and the other half were fans of Quentin and the others.
As for Inferno, a mere hundred or so people were mixed into the vast sea of people. In terms of active offline fans, they could not compare to the deeply rooted ECHO, nor were they close to the currently popular survival show trainees.
The number of fans, the volume of cheers, the enthusiastic feedback on site sparked by a certain person… All of these things easily aroused the vanity and competitive desire of young people.
Therefore, Ji Sheng’s team was particularly happy at having won the game, while the other team that narrowly lost, He Shuyi’s team, could not hide their regret.
Seeing the production team’s staff start to clean up the site, the security guards stationed at the edge of the site shouted loudly to disperse the crowd. The twelve guests, led by the director, prepared to get in cars and leave for the next filming location.
As the two teams of guests walked through the crowd, even with security guards clearing the way, it was hard to avoid close contact with the surrounding passersby. The noisy chatter surrounded them from all directions.
“Wow, how come they all look taller up close? Are all celebrities this tall?”
“The young people these days eat well and grow fast. Not only are they tall, but they also look very handsome.”
“They really are handsome, strong, and run fast. The competition between those two teams just now was so fierce. Don’t people say young people these days are fragile? They look very energetic to me.”
Quentin walked in the middle of the group. The path the director chose had mostly passersby drawn by the commotion, with very few fans.
He looked left and right and saw many elderly men and women, holding up their phones to film blatantly, while their other hands carried plastic bags with eggs and vegetables, clearly out for a walk and grocery shopping.
They had been recording this acupressure mat game for nearly an hour, it was a surprise that these elderly men and women were quite patient. They probably could not even name these newbie artists, yet they were able to stand there watching until the end.
Further away in the crowd, young girls stood on tiptoe trying to get a better look, waving their hands. They all looked quite happy, and it was hard to tell if they were fans or ordinary university students passing by.
As Quentin walked along, many people pointed at him.
The makeup and styling for this episode of “Cat and Mouse Game” was very light. Quentin did not even get his hair styled. He just washed his hair and came out, his smooth hair pressed under a baseball cap. When he took off the cap during the game, he looked exactly like a high school student.
The mixed-race features were most obvious when he was bare-faced. His deep eyes and brows combined with soft facial features, making him uniquely handsome. Added to that were a pair of light-colored green eyes, so it was no wonder the surrounding elderly men and women instinctively stared at him.
“Where did this little foreign kid come from? He’s quite good-looking.”
“This foreign kid was jumping around vigorously on those mats. I do not know how strong he is, but he ran quite fast and his movements were very agile.”
“Oh my, I just took a photo of him and posted it online, and it already has over a hundred likes. You guys should post it too. So many likes and comments.”
Hearing the escalating discussion, Ji Sheng slowed his pace to walk beside Quentin and teased, “You are quite popular with the older generation. Did you hear what they said, little foreign kid?”
During the previous game, Quentin had roughly figured out Ji Sheng’s personality and said frankly, “Brother Ji, my hometown is in Nancheng.”
Ji Sheng was stunned: “…Really? Are you kidding me? Aren’t you from Yanhai?”
Quentin shook his head: “No, I just go to school in Yanhai. My mother is from Nancheng.”
“What a coincidence, my hometown is also in Nancheng. Which district do you live in?”
“A small town on the outskirts of Nancheng. It is not famous. I have not gone back for a long time. I do not know what it is like now.”
“Oh… I have not been back to my hometown for a long time either. Sigh, work gets busier and busier. If I have time, I will try to go back home and take a look.”
Quentin smiled and said nothing.
If it were not that many famous people in this world were unheard of, and the development of various industries also differed, Quentin might indeed have been able to mistake this Nancheng for his former hometown.
Familiar architecture, regional divisions identical to those in his memory, and a small town on the map with the same name as his hometown… All these details made Quentin, who was staying in his hotel room using the system to go online, feel a sense of being separated by a lifetime.
The carefree days before the age of ten were still vivid in his mind: his gentle and open-minded mother, his wise and perceptive grandmother, the jujube tree in the neighbor’s yard, and the friend whose face was blurry yet unforgettable.
“Maybe I can find time to go to the town for a look,” Quentin thought.
Although it was an evolved small world, there were too many similar details that could not be ignored. He suspected that this place was a parallel dimension of the world from his previous life.
While lost in thought, Quentin was led by a staff member to a small car, and he immediately felt suspicious.
Quentin got into the car, looked at the accompanying director in the passenger seat, and asked curiously, “Are you giving out tasks now? What task do I have?”
“Yes, the personal tasks for the twelve guests are now being distributed. Each person has a different task, and they can be done anytime until the recording ends.”
The accompanying director nodded with a smile: “If all members of the Cat Team complete their tasks, they will get the specific location of the mice in the final round. If all members of the Mouse Team succeed, they can get a period of having their identities swapped. You know these rules, right?”
Quentin nodded: “I know.”
“So, your task is to take photos with different mice.”
“…Different mice?”
“That means you cannot take a photo with the same mouse twice. The mouse here can be anything, a poster, a doll, or a real mouse.”
The accompanying director explained: “As long as it is a mouse, it counts, but those temporarily made by you or someone else do not count.”
Quentin blinked: “Does the word ‘mouse’ count?”
“It counts.”
“Then if I go to a bookstore and photograph the word ‘mouse’ in different books, do all of them count?”
“…The word ‘mouse’ in a book only counts as one.” The director paused, then added, “The word ‘mouse’ on a poster also only counts as one. The same type of mouse can only be counted once.”
Quentin then asked, “Does that mean different mouse dolls also only count as one?”
The accompanying director hesitated for two seconds, then deliberated: “If they are different sizes, they count as one. If their appearances are completely different, they can count as several.”
“What about in a pet store? How do different breeds of hamsters count? Guinea pigs are also mice, golden hamsters are also mice…”
“The same type counts as one. For example, guinea pigs count as one, golden hamsters count as one, dwarf hamsters count as one.”
“Then, does a computer mouse count?”
“…”
The accompanying director narrowed his eyes, his gaze toward Quentin somewhat subtle.
He had thought this kid was an honest young man, but it turned out he had quite a flexible mind, coming up with so many ideas.
But compared to the seasoned veterans, he was still a bit green. If it were a guest who came often, they certainly would not say so much to him. They would keep it hidden until after taking the photos and then go back on their word, bargaining with the production team to give them more points. That was the approach of veteran guests.
The accompanying director nodded and said, “A computer mouse counts. Just remember, the same type only counts as one. Take as many photos as you want.”
Quentin understood: “Got it.”
“Now that personal tasks are done, next are the rules for the second round of games.”
The accompanying director cleared his throat: “Ahem, this round of games is still team PK. Our destination is Nancheng University in Tianhai District. The name of this round is ‘Who Is My Lover’.”
Quentin raised an eyebrow, vaguely sensing a gloating meaning from the director’s smiling expression.
But he did not say anything, still quietly listening to the director.
“Who Is My Lover, as the name suggests, you need to find your ‘lover’ at Nancheng University.”
“Although it is called “lover”, there is no restriction on gender, height, or weight. All clues about your lover are hidden in various corners of Nancheng University, and you need to discover them yourself.”
“In addition, each guest has a set of special code words to connect with their lover. Only the person who answers the code words correctly is your correct lover. Please be careful, it is best not to let others know your code words.”
‘Code words…’
Quentin silently looked at the accompanying director, whose face practically screamed, “Quick, ask what the code words are!”. Thinking about it, these code words were definitely a trap!
He cooperated and asked, “So, what are the code words?”
The accompanying director laughed and said, “Your team’s is very simple. Have you seen ‘Zootopia’? There are a few classic lines of confession in it.”
“You just need to say, ‘You know you love me?’, and the corresponding lover answers, ‘Yes, yes, I do.’ That means success.”
“The game lasts for one hour. After one hour, the team with more successful people wins that round.”
According to the rules of “Cat and Mouse Game,” in each round of games, each member of the winning team could get a clue about a teammate or an opponent.
After Quentin’s team won the acupressure mat game, he chose a clue about a teammate. The director gave him a slip of paper with a dark silhouette of a person on it, and for now, he did not know who it corresponded to.
After hearing the rules for the second round and learning his own “code words,” Quentin remained very calm, not giving the exaggerated reaction the accompanying director had expected.
The camera was pointed at his face. He did not look at the camera, just repeated the phrase twice to himself.
“You know you love me? You know you love me…”
The accompanying director also looked at his face. The disappointment he had felt a second earlier because of Quentin’s calm reaction quickly disappeared.
Okay, this is fine too. Just for this shot, after it airs, the barrage will definitely be full of “Yes, yes, I do!” right?
