211: Chapter 211 Variety Show Killer Li Li

Before Shen Jue had even been taken to the military camp, two announcements about show cancellations exploded onto the trending topics.

The official account for "Brave Blue Friends" posted an image with white text on a black background.

"Due to force majeure, the program is suspending recording. The resumption time will be announced later. We thank all the firefighters and guests for their contributions."

The attached image was a group photo of the entire Luohu Fire Station.

Li Li stood in the corner of the last row, his arm resting on Station Chief Chen Tao's shoulder, smiling to reveal his canine tooth.

The comment section went out of control on the spot.

[It is not a suspension, it is a permanent goodbye, right?]

[Programs Li Li has participated in: Dating Reality Show, Middle East war. Firefighting variety show, Hong Kong terrorist attack. Busy Roommates, suspended by association.]

[Variety show killer, confirmed.]

[I suggest that any show that wants to stop in the future should just sign Li Li; it saves them the trouble of finding a reason.]

"Busy Roommates" also followed up with a cancellation announcement.

Han Shubai wrote a long paragraph, with the last sentence being: "I have not finished that game with Li Li yet."

Qi Wanyin sent a hug emoji.

Yin Ruoying only sent a period.

Jiang Rumu did not post anything.

Lu Cheng posted a studio statement on her behalf.

"Thank you to the audience for your company. Looking forward to meeting again."

Three lines of text, with tidy punctuation, cold and very official.

Fans understood as soon as they saw it.

[Written by Lu Cheng.]

[Produced by the Messenger Bird, not a single word of nonsense.]

[So where is Jiang Rumu? Where is Li Li?]

No one answered.

The audience of the two variety shows wailed on the trending topics for three days.

On the third night, someone even made a timeline table of Li Li's variety show appearances.

Dating Reality Show, suspended.

Firefighting variety show, suspended.

Busy Roommates, suspended.

The next one is unknown.

The top-liked comment only had one sentence.

[I beg you, do not let him appear on the Spring Festival Gala.]

——

The fourth day, 3:00 PM.

Jiang Rumu's TikTok account went live.

No trailer. No promotion. The title was four characters.

"Northwest Mukbang."

In the frame, a car was speeding along the highway.

Jiang Rumu was sitting in the second row, wearing a red hoodie, with a low ponytail, holding a skewer of roasted lamb in her hand.

Outside the window were loess slopes, and soft music was playing in the car.

The bullet comments flooded in.

[Mumu! You finally appeared!]

[Is this a road trip? Who is driving?]

The camera shook for a moment.

In the driver's seat, Lu Cheng was holding the steering wheel, her face taut.

[The Messenger Bird can drive???]

[This configuration is too outrageous; a socially anxious person driving, and a top celebrity eating skewers.]

Jiang Rumu took a bite of the lamb and turned to hand it over.

"Do you want some?"

A hand wrapped in bandages reached in from the left side of the frame.

That hand took the lamb skewer.

The bullet comments paused for half a second, then flooded the screen.

[The hand! That hand!]

[Li Li!]

[Battle-damaged version of Li Li!]

[No, bro, you just came back from the Hong Kong terrorist attack, and now you are doing a Northwest Mukbang?]

Jiang Rumu moved the camera to the left for two seconds.

In the rear window seat, a man was wearing a black face mask, his hat brim pulled very low, revealing only his short, layered hair and half of his face.

He lowered his head to gnaw on the lamb skewer, not speaking.

Jiang Rumu explained for him.

"He has a cold, his throat is not good, and he does not want to talk."

The bullet comments immediately filled in the logic for her.

[In that environment at the Mandarin Oriental, it is normal for his throat to be ruined.]

[Having inhaled so much dust, it is already impressive that he can still eat skewers.]

[Li Li with Mumu, road trip version of after-sales service!]

From that day on, the live stream became fixed.

Starting at 3:00 PM every day and ending at 7:00 PM.

Jiang Rumu appeared on camera, eating and talking about scenic spots.

Lu Cheng drove in silence, occasionally reminding her not to spill soup on the seat.

Li Li was responsible for holding the phone, passing tissues, and paying.

Most of the time, he only showed one hand.

The audience from both variety shows all came.

Brave Blue Friends fans came.

Busy Roommates fans came.

Old fans of the Dating Reality Show came too.

The peak number of concurrent viewers exceeded 20 million.

Everyone waited punctually every day, just to watch Jiang Rumu eat and wait for that bandaged hand to enter the frame.

[The two variety shows are dead, but love is still alive.]

[This live stream is the real variety show.]

[Self-written, self-directed, self-acted, and self-eaten.]

——

Ten days. From the Terracotta Warriors city to Urumqi. Over three thousand kilometers.

The first day, Terracotta Warriors. Jiang Rumu stood in front of Pit No. 1, telling the live stream about the Qin Dynasty.

As she talked, she pointed to the bun of a Terracotta Warrior.

"Look at this hairstyle, does it not look a bit familiar?"

The camera turned behind her. "Li Li" was leaning against the railing, hat brim pulled down, mask covering half his face.

The wind blew his layered hair into a mess. The bullet comments went crazy laughing.

[Terracotta Warrior · Layered Short Hair Style.]

[Li Li: I traveled back in time just to be used by you to compare hairstyles?]

The person in the camera did not pick up the joke. He just raised his hand slightly. The movement was very light.

Jiang Rumu paused for a beat, then turned the camera back. "His throat still has not recovered, I will not bother him today."

The third day, Gansu Province. Outside a beef noodle shop. Jiang Rumu held a large bowl of noodles, squatting on the side of the road to eat. Red hoodie, white steam, chili oil floating on the noodle soup.

"Li Li" stood three meters away, the phone mounted on a selfie stick, the footage very steady.

The bullet comments asked him. [Bro, is it good?]

He waited two seconds before replying with one word. "Yeah."

The voice was hoarse, short, with no extra words.

[This throat issue is too serious.] [Ten days and it is still not better?] [You go try inhaling dust for a night at a collapsed building site.]

The fifth day, Mingsha Mountain. Jiang Rumu rode a camel. "Li Li" followed alongside to film. The camera was always aimed at her, never shaking.

She turned back to call him. "Do not just film me, film the desert."

He shifted the camera a little, then quickly turned it back.

The bullet comments started teasing. [This camera work is steadier than the variety show cameraman.] [He used to be a war photographer in Ala Country, do not forget.]

Starting from the sixth day, the bullet comment section started to feel off. Someone discovered a problem.

[Do you guys feel like Li Li has been acting weird lately?] [He did not talk to Jiang Rumu like this before.] [He is always half a beat slow when taking things.] [His walking is also different.]

Soon, another group of people explained. [Su Wantang just had an accident at the Mandarin Oriental, he saw it with his own eyes, anyone would need time to recover.] [His ex-girlfriend died, and his current girlfriend is still by his side, who could recover immediately from something like this?] [Can we stop judging the victim?]

The live stream quieted down for a while. But the old fans were not so easily fooled.

The Li Li from before, when he was with Jiang Rumu, even though he was quiet, he was truly annoying.

If she handed him water, he would take it. But he would definitely add, "Drink another sip, otherwise you will blame the Northwest altitude for your hypoglycemia later."

If she asked if it looked good, he would not just say it looked good. He would twist a simple sentence into two layers of meaning.

This person now is very steady. Too steady, too honest.

The eighth day, Dunhuang. Jiang Rumu was drinking apricot peel tea outside the Mogao Caves. "Li Li" stood five steps away, his mask pulled up to the bridge of his nose.

Someone posted a bullet comment. [I think this Li Li is not Li Li.]

This bullet comment hung for less than two seconds. It was gone.

Someone else tried. [His walking center of gravity is wrong, the previous Li Li—] It was also gone.

A system prompt popped up. [This content involves sensitive information and cannot be sent.]

The live stream was immediately flooded with question marks. [???] [Is it sensitive to say Li Li walks nicely?]

This one was sent. So more people changed words to test. [The brother today is quite dignified.] It was sent. [The brother today does not seem like himself.] It was gone. [The brother today looks like he was trained by a company.] It was gone. [The brother today is so obedient.] It was sent.

The old fans understood. They did not dare to speak anymore. Someone posted a screenshot to the super topic. Half an hour later, the post was gone. The comment section only had one sentence left. [With this level of censorship, even when I post coupons, it is not this fast.]

The tenth day. Urumqi Grand Bazaar. Jiang Rumu bought a silk scarf and turned to hand it to the person behind her. "Does it look good?"

"Li Li" took the silk scarf, lowered his head to look for two seconds. "Looks good."

Two words. Steady. Clean. No teasing, no snarky comebacks, and none of that nonsense that makes people want to hit him.

Jiang Rumu took the scarf back. She stood there for a beat, turned around, and continued walking forward.

Someone in the bullet comments typed a sentence. [The Li Li from before would say, you look good in anything, but you look even better.] It was followed by many ellipses. Soon, that bullet comment was gone too.

Jiang Rumu saw it. She did not mention it. She just turned the camera toward the stall. "Boss, how much is this?"

—— Okinawa. Early morning. The coffee shop faced the outer wire fence of Kadena Air Base. In the distance, the sound of F-15s taking off rang out every few minutes.

Zhang Nan sat by the window. Sunglasses, floral shirt, holding an Americano in his right hand, left hand resting on the back of the chair. He was slumped in his seat, with no intention of reporting to the base.

Mina, sitting opposite him, had been enduring this for two days. Brown short hair, black ear studs, phone face down on the table, not a sip of coffee touched.

"It has been two days." Mina suppressed her anger. "When exactly are you going to enter the base?"

Zhang Nan pulled his sunglasses down a bit. "What is the rush?" He leaned back against the chair.

"Before entering the base, I am still a free man. After going in, with checks, reviews, and interrogations, it is hard to say if I will even be able to come out after all that."

Mina stared at him. "Are you scared?"

"Being scared is not shameful." Zhang Nan picked up his coffee and took a sip. "If I can live for another half a day, why would I want to live for half a day less?"

Mina held back from cursing. She was responsible for picking Zhang Nan up from the plastic surgery clinic in South Korea and sending him into Kadena Air Base. This was the mission. If she failed, she would be transferred to a peripheral station.

The problem was, this Zhang Nan had been stalling ever since he landed in Okinawa. The first day he said he had not adjusted to the jet lag. The second day he said he wanted to look at the beach. Today he said the coffee was bad, affecting his mood.

The excuses were terrible. But he always stepped right on the line where Mina could not flip out.

"This is the last time." Mina slammed her phone on the table. "You must go in today. Otherwise, I am reporting this directly."

Zhang Nan raised both hands. "Fine, you are the boss."

He stood up, stretched his waist, and a piece of his floral shirt slipped out from his waistband. "I am going to the restroom first."

Mina watched him turn into the hallway. The door closed. One minute. Two minutes.

The phone vibrated. An anonymous message popped up on the encrypted channel. "Make Zhang Nan enter the base for an examination immediately."

The next message popped up right after. "We suspect he is not Zhang Nan."