168: Zhao Jin: Is this even a horror story? I can listen to it while eating snacks tonight.

Ten minutes later, at the entrance of a haunted house.

Xie Yunxuan slapped the pen on the table, stood up triumphantly, and let out a long sigh.

"That was incredibly simple. I told you, letting me calculate it would definitely be fast. Just 10 minutes, tsk," Xie Yunxuan raised an eyebrow, picked up the paper, waved it in front of the camera, and handed it to Bai Wenbin, "We're definitely faster than Team Two. Come on, quickly enter the password."

Bai Wenbin took the paper and smiled, "Why are you acting like a peacock?"

"I'm telling the truth." Xie Yunxuan, annoyed by his dawdling, snatched the phone, quickly entered the password, and when the phone successfully unlocked, he shrugged and pointed the phone at the camera, "Cameraman, is Team Two done?"

"Yes, they're done."

Xie Yunxuan was slightly stunned, then snorted, "Are you messing with me? Weren't we faster in the last segment?"

"They didn't unlock it; Chen Fang just swiped right on the phone screen and took a picture."

The four of them froze in place.

Xie Yunxuan's mind buzzed, and he felt completely disoriented.

His moment of glory!

From now on, he would never participate in the same variety show with someone who used such underhanded tactics.

Fans in the live stream, watching his expression, couldn't help but sigh helplessly.

【Xie Yunxuan, next time you achieve something, can you just quietly make a fortune? Let your fans praise you, don't praise yourself.】

【Chinese Dominates the World: Yes, leave the praising to your fans. Our Little Bai is much more composed.】

【The two upstairs are both Xie Yunxuan's fans. Hahaha, even his fans are embarrassed and disowning him.】

Xie Yunxuan entered the haunted house, but he couldn't get excited; he just felt like a dark cloud hung over him.

Is his name not so good?

Xie Yunxuan, a homophone for 'dizzy'.

Moreover, "Xuan" can refer to an ancient type of carriage with a canopy and a high front, or it can refer to a corridor with windows or a small house.

Xie Yunxuan, as if trapped by clouds.

He felt like a dark cloud hung over him right now…

On the other side, Chen Fang and his three teammates were quite happy; discovering a shortcut brought them the secret joy of making others frustrated.

Soon, it was lunchtime.

After finishing his bento, Chen Fang walked to the temporary work tent where Director Liu was, "Director Liu."

"Teacher Chen, what's up?" Director Liu pulled out a plastic stool nearby, "Have a seat."

Chen Fang sat down, "Director Liu, I'd like to use the meeting topic designation card."

With that, he handed the card to Director Liu.

According to the card's rules, the meeting could be a discussion, a storytelling session, or other forms, led by the user, lasting one hour, and everyone must attend and participate in the discussion. If the user wanted to torment others, making a PPT and lecturing on quantum mechanics for an hour was also permissible.

Director Liu took the card, "No problem. We'll head back at 4 PM. What time do you want to set it for, and what do you want to talk about?"

"I want to tell a novel."

"A novel?" Director Liu's eyes lit up, "That's good. You're about to reveal the identity of Dongfang. A short story to set the stage would make it easier for the public to accept. Very good. What genre?"

"Sci-fi horror. Not bloody," Chen Fang paused, "To be precise, only a tiny bit bloody."

Director Liu frowned slightly, "Can you let me see it first?"

"I didn't bring it. I'll tell you a rough outline first, and then send you the full text? But you have to sign a confidentiality agreement with me."

"Of course, we'll sign it. Just have Song Yu contact the production team later."

Chen Fang organized his thoughts for a moment, briefly outlined the content of "`leaping special`," and described the tiny bit of bloody content exactly as it was.

15 minutes later.

Director Liu's mouth was slightly agape. He gasped, and it took him a while to recover from the shocking ending. He looked at Chen Fang and patted his shoulder.

"You... you truly are my good brother! How about this, let's use the live broadcast. Although this story isn't bloody, it has a significant lingering effect. It's truly terrifying upon closer thought. To be safe, the promotion will state that it contains horror elements, not for the faint of heart, and recommended for viewers 18 and older."

In reality, this novel was definitely not R-rated. Doing so was merely for the safety of the program. If those under 18 insisted on watching, then so be it; he couldn't stop them. Just like some things are marked 18+, but those under 18 still watch them.

Chen Fang agreed, "Okay, thank you, Director Liu. I'd like to set the location in the second-floor terrace living room."

There was a small living room on the second floor, nearly twenty square meters, connected to a balcony.

Director Liu nodded, "Okay."

"Let's set the time after dinner, how about 7 PM?"

"Alright, not too late. You go rest. I'll contact the publicity team now."

"Thank you, Director Liu." Chen Fang stood up and left.

Director Liu watched his retreating figure, feeling a bit excited.

Today's, and even tomorrow's, viewership ratings were secured!

…

Fifteen minutes later, in the lounge area.

Zhao Jin looked at the promotional preview that the official team of the adventures had just posted on her phone, and tilted her head in confusion, "Sci-fi horror?"

"Mm."

Zhao Jin frowned slightly, "Not bloody, and not Chinese horror. What's so scary about that? Is it really enough to be rated 18+?"

She had previously researched horror film ratings for a zombie movie.

Folklore and ghost possession, with a bit of blood and gore, were usually only 15+ or 16+.

18+ was for very violent and bloody movies, like "Psycho Killer" and the like.

Not bloody, but given an 18+ restriction?

Chen Fang echoed, "It's not that serious. It's not scary at all; no bad guys and no monsters. Director Liu is just being overly cautious."

Zhao Jin chuckled, "Does this even count as a horror story? I could listen to it tonight while eating snacks. Does he really need to be this cautious?"

Chen Fang pursed his lips and shrugged, not responding.

…

The sun gradually set.

At 3 PM, the production team ended today's live broadcast.

Because the flying guests of the other team had participated in many detective variety shows and were familiar with the routine of hiding clues in indoor scenes, Chen Fang's team finally lost once today.

At 3:30 PM, everyone returned to the villa.

Unless there were special circumstances, their daily activities in the villa were generally pre-recorded.

Everyone was sharing snacks, so they were all resting in the living room.

As soon as the production team set up the camera in the hall, Xie Yunxuan hurriedly pulled out two cards and handed them to the director, "Director Liu, I want to use the designated bathroom cleaning card on Chen Fang to make him clean the bathrooms in Liang Yan and Bai Wenbin's bedrooms. I'll also add an anonymous card so he can't bounce back. A true man dares to take responsibility, so I won't be anonymous."

Xie Yunxuan turned to look at Chen Fang, "According to the bathroom cleaning card's rules: within the designated time, spray cleaning agent on the toilet surface and wipe it once…"

Xie Yunxuan read out each task, "Finally, you must leave acceptance photos for the album at the end of the day."

As his words fell, a thought surfaced in most people's minds—

The internal conflict has begun!

"No!" Bai Wenbin suddenly stood up, "Take it back!"

Xie Yunxuan shoved the cards into the director's hand, turned to Bai Wenbin, and shrugged, "It's already submitted."

Bai Wenbin clenched his fists, looked at Chen Fang, "Teacher Chen, you have a task replacement card, right? Transfer it to me! I'll clean it myself."

Chen Fang shook his head, "No, I don't want to involve others."

Bai Wenbin sat down, resting his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands together and pressing them against his forehead, "No, transfer it to me! Please!"