"Signal of Heart" — Studio.
Beneath the bright red heart-shaped backdrop, the camera cut back to Teacher He, who smiled slightly in his white shirt.
"Hello everyone~ I am He RiHuo."
"Hello everyone."
Seated to Teacher He's left and right, the male and female guests—Yang Chaole, Jiang Yuqi, Jiang Yao, and Zhu Dawen—all waved at the camera.
After the greetings concluded, Teacher He smiled and asked, "Everyone, do you think Wang Meng's stunt will succeed?"
"With that scrawny frame of his, I'm not very optimistic," said Zhu Dawen, who fancied himself a tough guy and the walking hormone of the entertainment industry, speaking his mind bluntly.
Jiang Yao, looking somewhat effeminate in a burgundy suit, stole a glance at Zhu Dawen's pectoral muscles and chimed in, "I'm not optimistic either. That's a steel basin, not plastic."
"What do you two think, Yuqi and little Chaole?" Seeing that both of them held opposing views, Teacher He turned to the two female guests.
"I... I don't know, but I hope he succeeds~" Yang Chaole honestly voiced what was on her mind.
"Hehe." Jiang Yuqi, who had recently developed a soft spot for fresh meat idols, flashed an ambiguous smile. "Regardless, of course I'm supporting the handsome little brother. You can do it, little brother~"
"Haha." At her words, everyone chuckled, and the live stream's comments section shifted accordingly.
"One must admit, I'm totally buying into Wang Meng's looks~"
"The little guy is quite handsome and has a nice voice, but bragging is a bad habit, you know~"
"Little brother, stop tearing steel basins, come tear me instead! I'll give you 20k a month~"
"Where did these hussies come from, have they no shame? Take all these comments back right now, don't interfere with me drooling over my screen, *slurp* *slurp*~"
"Ew, gross. I clicked on the user profile above, and it's a guy! Holy crap!!"
...
During their brief chat, the director's team had already retrieved the so-called steel basin.
Receiving a cue through his earpiece, Teacher He smiled and said, "The director's team has found the prop. Let's cut back live to watch Wang Meng's performance~"
As his voice trailed off, the camera immediately cut back to the scene.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Wang Meng took the silvery stainless steel basin and secretly tested its strength with a firm grip.
The moment he squeezed it, instant confidence surged through him.
Steel was indeed hard, but given how thin this layer was, he had only used fifty percent of his strength to easily deform the rim.
At this rate, using sixty to seventy percent of his strength should allow him to rip it completely apart with ease.
"Can we start?" Director Old Wang asked in a low voice from off-camera, seeing that Wang Meng had already gripped the basin.
"Whenever you're ready." Confident now, Wang Meng answered crisply and cleanly.
Clap, clap, clap—!
Hearing this, Dilraba took the lead in applauding, immediately followed by the other three pretty female guests.
This time, however, none of the three male celebrities clapped; instead, they all wore smirks of schadenfreude.
The very next second, their smiles and gazes froze solid.
Wang Meng gripped both sides of the steel basin with his hands and pulled without any apparent strain.
*Crack—!*
The silvery steel basin instantly warped and deformed, followed by a rapid series of crisp snapping sounds.
*Crack, crack—!*
Then every staff member present, the male and female guests, the studio host, and the audience in the live stream all watched as a massive tear was ripped into the silvery steel basin.
Immediately afterward, Wang Meng tore the entire thing into two halves, holding the left half in his left hand and the right half in his right hand across his chest.
His expression looked utterly effortless, as if he had just torn a thin sheet of paper.
"Nani, am I watching a supernatural show??"
"Holy cow, this little dude's got some real skills! He actually tore my steel basin!"
"Get over it, he just tore a basin, what are you guys losing your minds over? What's the point? Aren't construction workers stronger than him?"
"The little brother is pretty fierce, huh? If he's tearing steel basins in the daytime, he'll probably be tearing the female guest's pelvis apart tonight~"
"Damn, there really are some wild beasts on the internet! Turning a wholesome dating show into a criminal investigation program!"
...
At that moment, public opinion in the live stream shifted dramatically.
Neutral netizens cheered or made jokes, while only the fans of those few male celebrities were still howling.
Back at the set, there was a brief, pin-drop silence before Dilraba shouted out first.
"Wow~ So amazing!!"
"!" Meng Ziyi's eyes widened instantly, her little hands forming the shape of sixes as she gestured in the air.
"Woohoo, the little brother is amazing!!" Zhao Jinmai cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone.
"What the heck? What's ninety-nine nine?" Bailu had been staring with her mouth wide open in utter astonishment, completely clueless when she heard Zhao Jinmai shouting numbers.
"Nine means six is flying high~" Zhao Jinmai flashed a triumphant smile and winked at Bailu.
"Hahaha!!"
Prone to laughter, Bailu laughed so hard her gums showed, her mouth wide open and letting out an exceptionally exaggerated sound.
Yet right then, the three male guests all wore sour expressions.
Hua Chenchen was the first to step forward and express doubt, "Is this a real steel basin? Must be a prop, right?"
The Rapper Witch couldn't keep his hands to himself either; considering himself quite strong, he reached out directly to grab it.
"Let me inspect it!"
"Take it." Unbothered, Wang Meng tossed half of the iron basin to him and handed the other half to Cai Kunkun.
"Here, you try it too, and taste it while you're at it."
He certainly hadn't forgotten how some people claimed he could tear a basin, implying that whoever said so would eat the basin directly.
"I wouldn't touch it—how vulgar." Cai Kunkun rolled his eyes dramatically and took an effeminate step backward.
His whole vibe was essentially: I have no shame, whatever I said was just hot air.
His gesture immediately elicited a wave of discomfort across the entire set, but the fans in the live stream were howling at the top of their lungs.
"Ahhh! Oppa is slaying me! Oppa's voice is so soothing!"
"So elegant, seriously so damn elegant! As expected of my oppa!"
"Don't ask why, my oppa just exudes high-class nobility! How dare you, Wang Meng, hand such filthy trash to my oppa? Why don't you just drop dead!!"
"Is Wang Meng sick in the head? Get lost from the entertainment industry, you b*tch!"
...
Yet faced with these howls, Wang Meng didn't even need to reply before the neutral audience members grew disgruntled.
And in doing so, it effectively helped Wang Meng build his very first wave of original fans.
Fans of the other two camps also joined in the shouting; seeing their rivals' oppa step up and make a fool of himself was their greatest joy.
Right after that, however, it was their own beloved oppas' turn to humiliate themselves.
An ordinary stainless steel basin of this caliber could be pried open by any male of normal physique with proper effort.
Yet when Hua Chenchen took the half-basin handed over by Wang Meng and exerted all his strength, his plastic-surgery-enhanced face turned beet red from straining.
As for the one surnamed Witch, he was even worse off than Hua Chenchen. Since that rap bro frequently performed offline and practically partied every single night, his body had long since been hollowed out, struggling even to open a bottle of water by himself.
The moment he tried it, his entire body started shaking.
He looked as though he had been electrocuted.
At that moment,
the corners of everyone's mouths at the scene curled upward~
*(????)*
...