16: What rich woman is crazy enough to keep a creature like this?

Zhao Jin blinked, going from terror to bewilderment in two seconds, then to suppressed laughter, and two more seconds later, she lowered her head, slightly startled, and released Chen Fang's arm as if she had received an electric shock.

The next moment, Chen Fang heard the system prompt—

“Zhao Jin's negative emotional value +555”

Hmm? What happened to her? Why such strong negative emotions? Fear?

Can the system categorize emotions?

Forget it, at any rate, she's truly an excellent experience monster!

If Guo Congxin was the No. 1 experience monster, then she was the No. 2 experience monster.

He really liked these emotionally unstable guys.

Chen Fang glanced at the emotional value in the system; in just half an hour, the negative emotional value had already increased by 36,100.

It seemed the horror atmosphere was very stimulating for the audience. Very good, continue!

In the live broadcast room, the atmosphere had been eerie before, but now, it felt completely relaxed due to the twist at the end of the ghost story.

“Working 24 hours in the factory, running up and down stairs, the ghost is pretty unlucky too.”

“Hahaha, Ghost: I have to die today, don't I?”

“Flipping through the book back and forth, I thought the ghosts at the door would keep increasing.”

“Ghost: I won't let you off even if I become a ghost!”

“No, it should be, ‘I’m already a ghost, can’t you let me off?!”

“Hahahaha, I once dreamed that a beautiful female ghost chased me desperately. When I was too tired to run, a thought crossed my mind: beautiful female ghost, night, nobody around. Why not agree?”

“You're really hungry, aren't you?”

On the mountain in the camera.

The four people bypassed the abandoned stilt house, and the creaking of the wooden boards gradually faded.

Recalling the ending where the ghost was ‘tired to death,’ Zhao Jin murmured, “Can a ghost die again?”

After asking this, Zhao Jin regretted it a little, because directly ahead was the second area on the route card—the forest.

The trees were tall and dense, making the path even darker than before, practically pitch black. Although the production team had explicitly stated that villagers often went up the mountain to farm, she still felt as if some unknown things were lurking inside.

The dirt path on the mountain was only half a meter to a meter wide, covered with weeds and fallen leaves. When the weeds brushed against her ankles, she couldn't help but imagine tentacles hooking her shoes, sending a chill down her spine.

Sigh, she suddenly regretted it. If she had been grouped with Pan Pengpeng, it would have been better. At least grabbing his clothes wouldn't lead to rumors.

Just then, Chen Fang, who was ahead, stopped, his tall figure turning his head to look down at her.

Zhao Jin sniffed.

You also find it quite scary, don't you?

You can even tell funny ghost stories to everyone, which means you're… barely considerate, right? Perhaps, could she grab his backpack?

The handsome face before her smiled gently and spoke softly.

“Ghosts can die. Humans die and become ghosts, ghosts die and become ‘jian’ (聻), ‘jian’ dies and becomes ‘xi’ (hope), ‘xi’ dies and becomes ‘yi’ (Yi), and ‘yi’ dies and becomes ‘wei’ (micro).”

“Ha! Ha~” Zhao Jin raised an eyebrow, almost swearing, and chuckled, “Brother Chen, you’re so knowledgeable.”

Haha, she was starting to believe Chen Fang was innocent.

Which rich woman would be sick enough to keep such a creature? To keep him just to anger herself?

Chen Fang walked a few steps forward, waiting for the three behind him to digest his words and gain full experience, then he stopped and turned around, hands behind his back, explaining seriously, “This can be understood as a folk custom. Ancient people believed that just as humans fear ghosts, ghosts fear ‘jian.’ If you paste the character ‘jian’ on your door, evil spirits won’t dare to approach.”

After speaking, he saw the three people behind him looking at him with resentful expressions.

Chen Fang shrugged innocently, showing a sincere smile, “I know you’re busy and don’t have time to do your homework. I don’t have a schedule recently, so I kindly looked up a lot of information just to let everyone deeply experience folk culture. Don’t look at me like a poor student envying a top student, okay?”

“Zhao Jin's negative emotional value +166!”

“Guo Congxin's negative emotional value +266!”

“Jiang Hua's negative emotional value +56!”

Chen Fang smiled brightly.

Jiang Hua, you quiet guy, your emotions are really stable.

…

After a brief stop outside the forest, the four set off into the woods.

At the same time, down the mountain, Director Liu Yang was sitting in front of the screen, monitoring the movements of both groups.

Xie Yunxuan and Pan Pengpeng’s live stream had 27,000 viewers. Meanwhile, Chen Fang’s duo live stream had 42,000 viewers.

Director Liu stroked his chin.

Haters… how should he put it?

They claimed to hate him, but they still kept chasing him. Tsk, their hearts were shattered into a QR code, but when scanned, it still said, ‘I still love you so much.’

However, these fragments were terrifyingly resentful.

Fortunately, as the two delved deeper into the mountain, the focus of the bullet comments gradually shifted to discussing the content, with less hostility.

Director Liu rubbed his shoulders and was about to stand up and walk a bit when his phone rang.

He picked it up and saw that it was a call from Vice Director Qin of the Variety Department. Director Liu quickly pressed the answer button and immediately started flattering, “Director Qin, you’re not resting yet; you’re still worrying about the company?”

On the other end of the phone, Director Qin grumbled at length:

“Rest? Heh, Xiao Liu, viewers of ‘the adventures’ have left messages on our company’s official account, complaining about the atmosphere in the variety show’s bullet comment section. You guys need to quickly filter keywords!”

“You need to know, using a celebrity who has fallen from grace is a double-edged sword. Attracting viewers and allowing them to vent can increase audience reach, and some people are even willing to pay to become Kiwi Fruit members to vent their emotions. This certainly helps with the variety show’s membership subscriptions and advertising revenue.”

“But it can also backfire and deter regular viewers. You must be careful to maintain balance.”

Director Liu said with a forced smile, “Director Qin, I’ve been keeping an eye on the live stream, but my vision is far inferior to yours. You really see things so clearly! Thanks to your leadership, Director Qin, our production team has come this far, and you’re still working hard late at night.”

On the other end of the phone, Director Qin’s voice relaxed a bit, “Xiao Liu, let me remind you. During the May Day holiday, there are over 50 variety shows airing across all platforms. ‘the adventures,’ in terms of average viewership, only ranks 17th or 18th in popularity. Even if the cultural theme isn’t an advantage, our company invited 12 celebrities; we should at least break into the top 15, right? If the average data doesn’t make it into the top 15 before May 5th, then be prepared for a budget cut for the second season.”

Director Liu chuckled apologetically, “Director Qin, your guidance is spot on! We’ve already released non-venomous snakes and are promoting that there are snakes on the mountain to attract viewers. But this is just my humble opinion. With your wisdom and experience, you must have many great ideas. Could you give us some pointers?”

“You can’t rely on me too much; you still need to learn to think independently. How about this, I called you because of Chen Fang anyway, so I’ll just talk about him. His greatest value now is his popularity, allowing viewers to vent their emotions. In the second season, when his popularity fades, there’s no need to keep him. For the product placements in the first season, try to have other guests bear the burden, to avoid dissatisfaction from sponsors.”

“I understand. You’re truly incisive. Don’t worry, leave it to me.”

“Good, contact me if there are any problems.”

“Thank you, Director Qin, for disturbing your rest.”

Director Liu instantly dropped the fawning smile from his face and leaned back in the wicker chair with a long sigh of relief.

Keywords had already been filtered. Whether or not to keep Chen Fang for the second season was a matter for later.

The immediate priority was the data!

Data determined funding! How could he get more viewers to increase viewership?

Oh right, the snakes, Brother Snake, can you please come out now?