Chapter 72

Chapter 72

The director, who had come to hurry him along, almost thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Previously, on the show, apart from facing the sponsor and that psychopathic entity, when was he not the center of attention?

Blue 534 simply couldn't fathom that a trainee would dare to curse at him.

Not only did he curse him, but he also attacked his taste, calling his outfit ugly and unflattering!

Did he have a death wish?

Considering that Trainee No. 43 had recently brought him some extra income, Blue 534 stared at him for a few more seconds.

A few seconds later, seeing that No. 43 still showed no reaction, Director Blue 534 sneered coldly and turned to leave.

If a trainee was asking for death, he saw no reason not to oblige.

Even if this trainee had previously been the most popular.

As long as his show continued, there would be many more seasons with new champions.

As he turned to leave, Blue 534 took out his walkie-talkie, and his voice crackled into the host's earpiece: "Trainee No. 43 has withdrawn. Send the next one up."

In the back, Wang Xingxing listened without a word, neither speaking nor making any further moves.

He was the fourteenth trainee to perform.

After him was Rao Fei.

As expected, after another long ten minutes, Rao Fei, who also hadn't gone on stage, took a seat next to Wang Xingxing.

Wang Xingxing, thinking this might be his last chat with someone, asked, "Captain Rao, do you feel you have any regrets?"

If so, there was still time to pass them on to Lin Lan.

Nearby, Lin Lan, whose presence was usually understated but who had been lingering there the whole time, turned his head.

Rao Fei paused thoughtfully, then said, "You know what? There really is something I haven't finished."

But now, he could only entrust this regret to others in the bureau to handle for him.

Hearing this, Lin Lan proactively asked, "What is it?"

Rao Fei made a chopping motion with his hand: "If anyone encounters Su Yue in the future, give him a quick end."

At this time, the State Secrets Bureau still didn't have a deep understanding of the supernatural world.

They only knew that players assimilated by a dungeon would become the lowest-level supernatural beings within it—devoid of consciousness and self, like walking corpses.

Inspired by these words, Wang Xingxing immediately raised his hand: "And me."

After this, if they ever met in a dungeon again, just take him out.

After saying that, Wang Xingxing’s gaze swept over Peng Jia and Peng Xu, who had taken seats around him, and he pointed: "And them—don't spare them either!"

The two cool guys, Peng Jia and Peng Xu, remained silent, likely acquiescing.

Lin Lan nodded seriously, indicating he had made a mental note.

Another ten minutes later, the host and mentor at the front called contestant number seventeen.

Lin Lan stood up and walked steadily from backstage to the stage.

This time, it was his most perfect performance yet.

Before entering the dungeon, even doing a split had been agonizing under his teacher’s guidance, but now he could seamlessly execute several extremely difficult dance moves on stage.

Lin Lan clearly remembered how many colleagues from the State Secrets Bureau had sacrificed themselves for him since he first entered the dungeon.

His strength was limited by supernatural artifacts, but as he cleared more dungeons, the difficulty of the dungeons he entered gradually increased.

Perhaps in the future, even more colleagues would be trapped in dungeons because of him, ultimately killed by other human players in the dungeons.

But he couldn't turn back.

He could feel guilt, but he couldn't collapse.

He could grieve, but he must never lose control.

With the contrast of the two arrogant trainees who had withdrawn earlier, after Lin Lan’s performance, the audience vented their frustration by giving him a relatively high number of votes.

However, this "relatively high" was only in comparison to Lin Lan’s previous results.

To secure his position in the top nine, according to the original plan, Peng Jia and Peng Xu, scheduled to appear nineteenth and twenty-first, also withdrew.

Not only did they withdraw, but they also knocked out two players with ill intentions who sought to secure their debut spots by harming others.

These two players, who had been lying in ambush in the restroom for trainees previously ranked in the top nine, were instead taken down by Peng Jia and Peng Xu when they went to wash up.

Thus, Lin Lan, who had originally been ranked thirteenth in popularity, now had six fewer competitors ahead of him.

Fortunately, Peng Jia and Peng Xu had also knocked out two others in advance. At the end of the performance, the large screen displayed the votes of all trainees, and Lin Lan barely managed to secure the ninth spot.

Calculating carefully, this ranking was actually two places lower than his previous performance!

Probably because this round was all individual performances, and Wang Xingxing and the others hadn't taken the stage to create any suggestive eye contact or physical moments to attract votes.

Watching from backstage, Wang Xingxing clicked his tongue: "It seems Director Lin really isn't cut out to be an idol."

His level of difficulty to promote was truly rare.

Thankfully, the outcome was good.

"By the way, we probably won't suffer too much later, right?"

Rao Fei replied, "Probably not. I saw the others before us seemed quite peaceful."

They were gone in the blink of an eye.

...

"Rao Fei, your hand is starting to turn transparent..."

On stage, Director 534 stepped up, with the nine remaining trainees as his backdrop, and declared emotionally amid falling confetti: "Today is the most important day of my life!"

"Tonight's Big Star Season 1 has concluded successfully."

After speaking, the director abruptly raised his hand backward, and nine beams of light immediately shone on the nine trainees.

The director announced excitedly, "Tonight, they shine because of you!"

Under the lights, several trainees looked as pale as ghosts—a sign of excessive blood loss.

But when the director announced that the final nine debut spots belonged to them, these pale-faced trainees couldn’t help but show expressions of relief and joy, as if they had survived a close call.

In the southwest corner of the stadium, a group of fans holding light boards scanned the stage and suddenly burst out shouting, "Rigged! Rigged! Rigged!"

One particularly worked-up fan, a die-hard member of a fan club, even rushed onto the stage the moment after shouting "Rigged!"

This fan raged on stage, "First place belongs to our Star Boy!"

"Our Wang Xingxing fan club won't accept any other winner!"

In their fury, the fan even tore the corners of their mouth, revealing a row of serrated teeth, and attempted to bite the trainee currently standing in first place.

However, the current Lan 534 was no longer the Lan 534 of the past—he was now Director Lan 534!

He handled the sudden situation effortlessly, grabbing the fan who was still biting on stage and flinging them into the air, sending the fanatic, who had become obsessed with their idol, crashing heavily outside the stadium.

After doing this, he coldly avoided a few specific spots and scanned the crowd, saying, "The competition process of 'Tonight's Big Star' has been fair, just, and transparent throughout. The trainees who did not appear on stage dropped out for personal reasons and have been handled by the program team."

In the audience, Su Ximu was equally puzzled upon hearing that Wang Xingxing and the others had dropped out for personal reasons.

He had seen Wang Xingxing already changed into their costume when he left the backstage earlier—how could they have withdrawn so suddenly?

Could something else have gone wrong?

At this thought, Su Ximu’s first suspicion was that Wang Xingxing and the others might have encountered issues with their props.

Tonight was the final performance for all the trainees, and it was clear that everyone had put in great effort, with many props brought on stage by each trainee.

Could it be that the management companies behind the trainees had run into problems?

One guess after another crossed his mind. Remembering that he also had the identity of a crew member, Su Ximu told his eldest and third brothers goodbye and pulled his second brother along to leave their seats and head backstage.

Along the way, the director on stage was still speaking, but Su Ximu wasn't in the mood to listen carefully.

After avoiding the excited fans swarming around them and successfully reaching the backstage, Su Ximu found the entire backstage eerily quiet.

The other 12 trainees who should have been there had vanished.

Was this what the director meant by "handled by the program team"?

Unable to find Wang Xingxing and the others, Su Ximu returned to the audience seats. The director had already forcefully quelled the protesting fans.

He also announced that "Tonight's Big Star" had one final bonus episode.

It was an interview with the nine debuted trainees and behind-the-scenes footage of popular contestants from previous episodes.

This move effectively won over the fans.

After all, fans of every trainee believed their idol was truly the most popular.

The final episode was sure to include never-before-seen footage!

In contrast to the fans’ excitement, the nine trainees on stage were not in a great mood.

They had thought the competition would end after the performance, only to find out there was still an interview.

The final performance felt somewhat anticlimactic, with several popular contestants missing at once.

***

As the audience gradually left, Su Xuanxiao and Su Jianglou accompanied Su Ximu onto a ship heading to Guiyi Island.

They had agreed the day before to help Su Ximu get his belongings today.

While the ship was moving, Su Ximu noticed Lin Lan sitting alone and slowly made his way over to sit beside him.

After sitting down, the young man asked with a mix of curiosity and concern, "Were Wang Xingxing, Rao Fei, and the others taken away by your agency?"

The performance hadn't even fully ended, yet they were already gone.

It was almost unnervingly quick.

Lin Lan’s heart felt as though it were bleeding with pain, but he kept his cool and replied according to the young man’s odd question, "Yes, they're all gone."

Withdrawing from the competition essentially meant violating the dungeon rules.

So, before the performance could conclude, they... were no longer there.

After saying this, Lin Lan fell silent.

The other trainee players were equally worn out, both physically and mentally.

Silence filled the cabin.

After arriving on the island, Su Ximu and his brothers went to pack their luggage and collect their pay from the finance team.

Lin Lan and the others went to record their interviews.

Lan 534 was pretty reliable—perhaps because he had now become the program director and taken over the show, bound by its rules.

Thus, Lin Lan’s interview did not take too long.

Under the neon lights illuminating the island’s pier, the entire pier was as bright as day.

At the end of the pier stood a wide arch adorned with flowers.

Connecting the neon lights and the arch was a long flower-lined red carpet.

For the remaining nine trainees, walking down this long red carpet and passing through the arch meant that the calm sea beneath the pier would be their way home.

Director Lan 534 intended to maintain this sense of ceremony season after season.

While the trainees walked the flower path, Su Ximu had already finished packing.

He had very little luggage. His eldest brother pushed the suitcase, his third brother carried a potted plant, his second brother carried another, and he only needed to carry his own glass bottle.

On the deck, not far from the trainees, Su Ximu also saw the sea below.

Lights dotted the water, so even at night, the sea near Guiyi Island did not appear dark and ominous. It remained crystal blue.

Su Ximu looked at the sea, then at the large glass bottle in his hand, and suddenly thought of something.

He looked up and asked, "Second Brother, can I pour all the little stones into the sea now?"

When Second Brother first gave him these little stones, he said that once the filming ended, something magical would happen if he poured them into the sea.

Now, it should be considered the end of the filming, right?

Su Juzi, holding a small mushroom potted plant, nodded as he reached out and handed over another small handful of red pebbles.

There were about twelve.

The young man squatting at the edge of the deck took the small handful of stones from Second Brother and ceremoniously first placed them into the bottle, then shook it.

He raised the bottle, taking another look at the glass bottle in his hand under the light of the neon sign.

On the other side, Lin Lan, who was last in line walking the flower path, noticed this scene, and his eyes were drawn to it.

When he was satisfied with examining the glass bottle and the little stones inside, the young man held the bottle with both hands, tilting its mouth toward the sea.

He didn't forget to ask his brothers to help record the moment, so they wouldn't miss this magical moment.

Although he didn't yet know exactly how magical it would be, since Second Brother said it was magical, it had to be pretty amazing.

The red pebbles almost filled the bottle. As the bottle tilted, the first small stone soon tumbled into the clear seawater, landing in the crevices of pink coral.

As the young man shook his wrist, the second, third, and fourth stones followed...