Sunlight spilled across the ground, mingling with the gentle breeze to sweep away the chill of early spring.
Wei Xin sat slumped in a cave, waiting to die while conveniently witnessing the entire process of An Quan attempting to escape and getting caught.
An Quan’s mind was completely numb. "Sister Xin, are you seriously not considering running away with me?"
Where was her fighting spirit?!
"I heard them say the savages' altar is just full of finger bones, leg bones, and skulls! The Yin energy is ridiculously heavy!"
Weren't they supposed to be green and eco-friendly? Wei Xin looked bewildered. "Are there spare ribs?"
An Quan: "......"
"Sister, in the face of tribal righteousness, you cannot be seduced by mere beauty!" An Quan said with heartbroken earnestness.
"Then go run along, I'll keep count for you." Wei Xin held up three fingers. "That's three times you've been dragged back so far. Keep it up, the future is bright."
An Quan: (|||?︵?)
[Hahaha, An Quan's face turned green.]
[How does this young lady manage to find a chance to run every single time, only to get caught right back?]
[She has no sense of direction; the second time she literally charged straight into an NPC's house, hahaha.]
[This girl actually has a pretty good personality. I'm a fan now.]
……
"What are you two chatting about?" Xu Wenyi spotted them chatting and laughing from afar.
Wei Xin eagerly snitched, "She wants to run away."
An Quan: "???"
Xu Wenyi said, "Stop running. Let's finish up early and have dinner together tonight."
Together? An Quan asked with some embarrassment, "Would I be intruding on your two-person world?"
Wei Xin replied, "What kind of wild fantasies are you having? Everyone is going."
An Quan looked slightly disappointed.
The three of them chatted idly for a bit before Wei Xin was led away to participate in the sacrificial ceremony.
Setting aside team allegiances, Wei Xin had to admit that the savage team's dance was more aesthetically pleasing and better synchronized than the tribal team's.
Once the dance finished, the savages scattered in an instant, not lingering for even a second.
They were doing a very dedicated job of playing out the free-spirited group personality.
Of course, Wei Xin figured the NPCs just wanted to clock out early.
Case in point: all the guests had been captured, yet the tribal side showed zero intention of mounting a rescue.
Weren't they supposed to be a loving family unit???
With a look of heartache, Wei Xin stepped into the altar, trod on a skull, and tripped.
"Careful!" Xu Wenyi's hands were quick; she caught her. "Does it hurt?"
The savage priest: ……I know you're eager, but she's my disciple now!!!
Taking advantage of the moment, Wei Xin pulled a water bomb from the inner lining of her clothes, smacked it right onto Xu Wenyi's head, and with a backhand motion, hurled another water bomb straight at the priest's head.
Her movements were blindingly fast and totally unexpected. The savage priest and Xu Wenyi were hit almost simultaneously.
"Notice: Tribe team's Wei Xin has eliminated Savage team's priest and Xu Wenyi. Tribe team wins."
Wei Xin giggled. "Nope, doesn't hurt."
[Xu Wenyi: Heh, we're breaking up.]
[Wei Xin: Gifted my girlfriend a head full of green. Combat record available for inspection.]
[She covered up her camera so early last night just to do THIS??!]
[Well, duh?]
[Was there not?] [Aggrieved JPG]
[Nope.] [Head pat JPG]
[I get it in one damn second.]
……
Outside, pandemonium broke out, and An Quan's squeals of shock were particularly piercing.
The savage priest fake-smiled. "Teacher Xu, beauty is truly a hazard..."
Xu Wenyi pressed her palms together. "Sorry for dragging you down with me."
With that, the savage priest waved a hand, signaling that it was time for them to clock out.
Xu Wenyi and Wei Xin walked side by side out of the altar. She asked, "When did you get those water bombs back?"
Wei Xin lengthened her sleeves. "When you were taking a bath. I hid them in my sleeves."
Primitive-style clothing was defined by its messy, casual vibe; hiding a few water bombs in the sleeves really wasn't noticeable at all.
Xu Wenyi feigned sadness. "Guess I'll be drinking bitter melon juice."
And having ugly photos posted!
Wei Xin felt a swell of triumph. Serving you right for tricking me in our past life—just you wait!
[Holy shit, is Wei Xin mental or something, making Yiyi post ugly photos?]
[She did it on purpose! Yiyi was so good to her, and how does she repay her? By backstabbing her?! How can someone be so disgusting, I'm gonna puke.]
[Off to grab Xu Wenyi's unflattering screenshots, hahaha.]
[Sister Xin is a boss.]
[Just thinking about how a certain someone's camp has to watch their own idol post unflattering photos of herself without even being able to delete them makes me feel so good all over, hahaha.]
[Gotta wipe away tears while desperately spinning the narrative too~]
[Go die, Wei Xin******]
[Can't ship this anymore. Who messes with their own girlfriend like that?]
[Seriously, I'm done. Yiyi is allergic to bitter melon! Lifetime blacklist for Wei Xin!]
[Is that even real? If an artist is allergic, how could the production team possibly use bitter melon juice?]
[My poor silly little goose who never complains, Mommy's heart hurts for you wuwuwu...]
……
Since there was only one eliminated guest, the punishment round was very simple.
Xu Wenyi pinched her nose and chugged the bitter melon juice. Before she'd even finished drinking it all, the 3x3 grid of photo options was already displayed.
Naturally, the production team wouldn't deliberately snap ugly photos of the guests—fearing they'd offend people was one reason, but more than that, they worried nobody would sign up for the next season.
But internet users didn't care about any of that. In an age of entertainment-to-die-for, they were definitely going to seize such a golden opportunity.
Especially the anti-fans and the hired trolls from rival camps, whose screenshot angles were devious and thoroughly malicious.
Whether viewed from the perspective of protecting the artists or buttering up the audience, the production team always chose to randomly draw four photos on the big screen right then and there.
As for the other five photos, they were basically gorgeous promotional shots prepared by the production team in advance—a clever little trick to save themselves from being cursed out by artists' fans in their direct messages every single day.
It left plenty of room for fans to spin the narrative: *Look how pretty my sister/brother looks no matter how they're photographed, the others were just blurry photos deliberately picked by haters*, and so on and so forth.
"Teacher Xu, the photos have been selected. Could you take the trouble to post them on Weibo?" The staff member who lost the game pressed their palms together in a pleading gesture.
Just craft a nice caption, and the private messages would stay peaceful for the most part.
My dear, there is still more to this chapter; please click the next page to continue reading. The later parts are even more exciting!
Even though this segment was utterly shameless, the... engagement was massive!
Traffic was king these days.
After posting her Weibo, Xu Wenyi asked, "What are you laughing at?"
Wei Xin chuckled. "So ugly."
Xu Wenyi reached out and pinched her cheek, threatening, "Who's ugly?"
Wei Xin stopped chuckling. "I'm ugly..."
That bastard Xu Wenyi! Didn't she know gentlemen use their words and not their hands?!
Taking advantage of the moment, Xu Wenyi squeezed her cheek a few times. It was very soft.
Wei Xin: (*￣m￣) Bastard! Taking advantage of the chance to bully me again!
****
Because the savage priest was ambushed midway and tragically perished, production wrapped up even earlier than expected yesterday. The artists were able to leisurely head back to their hotel to wash up and change before going out to eat.
Before entering the door, Xu Wenyi instructed, "Go interact under my Weibo post."
Wei Xin: "???"
"Pacify the CP fans and my personal fans, otherwise your DMs are going to be a nightmare."
*Me getting yelled at is exactly what you want, isn't it?* thought Wei Xin.
Back in her past life, she used to pull strings behind the scenes to let her team guide netizens into cursing her out—what was she pretending for now?
Could it be she changed strategies?
Wei Xin miserably scratched her head. *My head is so itchy, I must be growing a brain.*
"Did you hear what I said?" Xu Wenyi's expression turned serious. "If you don't know what to write, have the team help you think of something. Say it properly, did you hear me?"
Wei Xin was startled by her suddenly elevated volume. "I know, I know..." Such a nag.
"Good girl~" Xu Wenyi gave her cheek a quick pinch and returned to her room with a satisfied expression.
Wei Xin: That person surnamed Xu just bullied me AGAIN!!!
[Xu Wenyi V:
Tada! The sticker pack is freshly baked [Confetti]
[Photos] *9]
Wei Xin soaked in the bathtub while carefully making her selections.
[Wei Xin V: [Little pig wearing sunglasses looking smug] *3]
After replying with the sticker pack, still feeling unsatisfied, she copied and saved the photos, hugging her phone and giggling foolishly.
As she giggled, she received a message from Taozi:
[Taozi]: Sister, what did you DO?!!!
[Taozi]: If you didn't know how to comment, you could have asked me and Sister Liu wuwuwu... Even the driver would have worked wuwuwu...