Everyone was intentionally or unintentionally avoiding Liulan, so the only one sitting next to him was still that unlucky guy, Xie Ti. Fortunately, the unlucky guy didn't seem to realize it himself. He was completely absorbed in taking in the scenery along the way, his eyes shining as he kept shouting:
"Wow! Wow! That's so cool!"
"Is that a combat mecha?!"
"Ah! That military uniform looks a bit different... Is that a field officer? It's a field officer!!"
The bullet comments in the livestream were all amused by him:
"Sorry about my silly son, everyone, thanks for bearing with him."
"Xie Ti is literally me!"
"LMAO, can someone pull Xie Ti back? The staff up front are dying of anxiety."
Liulan glanced over and reached out to pull Xie Ti, half of whose body was leaning out the window, back inside. "Careful, you'll fall out."
"Oh," Xie Ti foolishly scratched his head, "thanks!"
Liulan thought nothing of it and lowered his head to continue checking his optical computer.
He opened his chat page with Liu Ang. There were several messages Liu Ang had sent in quick succession, mostly demanding to know why he had gone online to argue with netizens again, but Liulan hadn't replied to a single one.
However, when he saw the latest message, Liulan froze.
Liu Ang said that the company was planning to replace his manager.
Staring at that last line, Liulan frowned deeply.
"Were you dragged onto this show by your manager?"
Xie Ti's voice rang out unexpectedly right beside his ear. Instinctively, Liulan switched off his optical computer and turned to look at him.
Realizing that peeking at someone else's screen was a bit rude, Xie Ti pulled his head back awkwardly and mumbled an excuse, "Don't feel embarrassed. Out of all of us here, except maybe Teacher Du, probably none of us came voluntarily."
Xie Ti spoke evasively, sparking a touch of curiosity in Liulan's mind. "Why do you say that?"
Xie Ti was stunned by the question and asked, bewildered, "You don't know?"
"...What should I know?"
"No way!" Xie Ti opened his eyes exaggeratedly wide. Seeing that Liulan genuinely seemed clueless, he hurriedly covered his microphone and lowered his voice. "Do you really not know anything about this show?"
Liulan shook his head.
Before Liu Ang brought him to join LG, he hadn't paid much attention to the entertainment industry. He hadn't even heard of this show until the company decided to put him on it. From the looks of Xie Ti, *Land of the Strong* didn't seem quite as simple as the company had claimed.
Thinking of the message Liu Ang had just sent, Liulan felt a slight sense of having been set up.
"This show," Xie Ti pointed ostentatiously toward the floor, "do you know why it was named the most brutal reality show in the history of the entertainment industry?"
Hearing this title for the first time, Liulan was bewildered. "Why?"
Xie Ti glanced left and right to make sure Director Zhang wasn't near them before whispering, "Out of the eight guests who participated last season, half ended up disabled. Of the remaining four, only two are still active in the industry, while the other two have completely vanished."
Jiang Liulan was somewhat surprised to hear this. "That severe? Then how can they still film a second season?"
"Well, it was put on hold for a year!" Xie Ti jerked his chin in Director Zhang's direction. "The director for last season wasn't Director Zhang, but his son. After the first season, his son stopped directing reality shows altogether. Director Zhang might be trying to use this opportunity to encourage him to pull himself together."
So there was such a backstory... Yet no one had informed him of something this important beforehand?
Liulan suddenly recalled Liu Ang's strange attitude on the day they boarded the ship. Could it be that Liu Ang had been afraid someone might actually get killed?
"And why did you come?" Liulan asked Xie Ti in return.
"Me?" Xie Ti rubbed his head, looking rather embarrassed. "My grandfather is a veteran. He always wanted me to join the military, but I unexpectedly became an actor. I watched this show before—last season, they went onto a real battlefield with real weapons and real gear. So I thought I'd join to fulfill my grandfather's wish."
A real battlefield.
It was just an entertainment reality show, yet they actually had to go to a real battlefield?
Jiang Liulan frowned slightly.
Xie Ti continued explaining, "As for Teacher Du, he has a personal fascination with the military. Sister Shishi and Yiyi... Yiyi got screwed over by her company, and Sister Shishi came along to keep her company. As for the remaining three, I only know Bailin wants to use the show to build momentum for his new album. I'm not sure about the other two."
"Bailin?"
"The guy who argued with you the other day." Xie Ti shrugged helplessly. "He's a rapper. He recently self-funded an album, but it didn't do very well. Maybe Director Zhang promised him something, so he's treating this show as his last shot."
At this point, Xie Ti's eyes shifted nervously.
Noticing his hesitation, Liulan pressed, "What is it?"
Xie Ti offered an awkward smile and said, "I heard Bailin is a fan of Chen Yan."
It suddenly clicked for Liulan. No wonder that guy spoke to him with such thorniness and kept looking for trouble over the past few days—he was trying to seek justice for his idol.
Seeing that Liulan remained silent, Xie Ti assumed bringing this up had upset him and quickly tried to mend things: "But don't worry, with so many of us here, we can't all be Chen Yan's fans. Right now, everyone's just not familiar with you yet. Once we've known each other longer and people realize you're not a bad guy, they won't exclude you anymore. After all, we're comrades-in-arms!"
Hearing this, Liulan found it amusing. "There are videos of me cursing at Chen Yan all over the internet. Why are you so sure I'm a good person?"
"If I couldn't even see through that, I would've wasted all my years in the entertainment industry!" Xie Ti waved his hand nonchalantly. "That video was taken entirely out of context. Only Chen Yan's fans and clueless onlookers would take it seriously. Those of us who've weathered all kinds of storms in the industry aren't so easily fooled. Besides, listening to what you shouted, it's obvious he said something to you first to prompt that reaction. I bet the others noticed it too—they're just keeping their distance because they figure it's better to avoid trouble."
Liulan was astonished. He had thought Xie Ti was just a naive, simple-minded guy, never imagining that he actually saw everything with complete clarity. The only one who hadn't really thought things through was probably Liulan himself.
The entertainment industry was far less simple than he had imagined. Even the manager he had trusted most in the beginning had kept things hidden from him. If he wanted to make a name for himself in this circle, he could no longer let his guard down. He had to stay on sharp alert.