It seemed that this Otome Game wasn't entirely made up of solving cases; otherwise, it would turn into a detective game disguised in an otome skin.
Time passed quickly within the game. Liǔ Cháoquè had just been marveling at how this past month had flown by like a single week when the final exams quietly crept up upon them.
As undergraduate economics majors, one of their final assignments turned out to be a survey project.
Recalling that she had faced this exact same headache back in her own undergraduate days—where the entire class had pooled their efforts to pull it off—she could tell at a glance that this topic wasn't something a mere fifty people could handle alone.
"Step outside the campus and conduct interviews on financial management in society. Upload the video to Bilibili, ensuring the footage covers the perspectives of three distinct age groups: the elderly, the middle-aged, and the youth. The number of interviewees must be no fewer than fifty, and the total interview duration must be at least two hours."
*At least there isn't a hard requirement for a specific number of likes to pass,* Liǔ Cháoquè thought, trying to find a silver lining.
"Isn't this making things hard for a big guy like me?" Nán Chǔ said with an indignant look. "Does she take us for professional media workers? Besides, an interview that feels this official—won't people mistake us for some new kind of scammers? Plus, carrying the camera all by oneself and keeping it steady... doesn't that require an experienced cameraman? The professor really thinks highly of us."
"Actually, we could just shoot with our phones, like content creators acting on a sudden impulse to gather material," Zhào Běichén suggested.
"I suppose that's our only option." After exchanging a few remarks, the two suddenly turned in unison to look at Liǔ Cháoquè, who had remained silent the whole time. "You haven't said a word since class ended. How do you think we should handle this?"
"You're asking me?" Liǔ Cháoquè pointed at herself. "Actually, I do happen to know a cameraman."
"Oh?" Their eyes lit up. Nán Chǔ smiled and patted her shoulder. "Who would've thought, little smile, that you'd have connections like that."
"Stop teasing me." Liǔ Cháoquè brushed her hand away, pressed her face against the desk, and looked utterly helpless. "Actually, that cameraman and I only share a life-or-death bond; we aren't particularly close. Besides, he's a professional, and he probably earns a fortune every minute. For a tiny final project like ours, paying to hire a professional would be a bit too extravagant. Let's just stick to shooting with our phones."
"True... that would put him out way too much." Nán Chǔ slumped onto the desk as well, turning her head to look at Liǔ Cháoquè. "Smile, our group has a maximum of eight people. Should we assign two people to hold phones for some multi-angle shooting?"
"That works too. But who's going to be the reporter? Should we take turns so everyone gets a feel for it? Oh right, we also need someone to keep a tally of the headcount and prepare the interview questions—let's each come up with one. And then there's the final editing... Ugh, what a headache!" Liǔ Cháoquè sighed. "Just the thought of having to grab random strangers on the street makes my toes curl inside my shoes."
"Things get easier the second time you do them," Liǔ Xiàngrú said. "I have an older sister who works at a television station. If no one else wants to tackle this part, I can step in."
The five people sitting in the small classroom all turned to look at him, their eyes shining with appreciative and adoring gazes that made him quite sheepish. "Actually, being a reporter isn't as difficult as you might imagine."
"Ah, how much weight those words carry for someone with social anxiety!" Wáng Wǔ propped herself up, looked around at the group, and tapped the desk with a slightly unyielding expression. "I don't care what kind of attitude you had when you joined my group, but the urge to slack off can only remain a passing thought. Whether it's conducting the interviews or handling the final video, so many of us are involved that everyone must take responsibility for a part of it. Once the interviews are wrapped up, we'll find a place to organize and edit the footage, and aim to get it all done in a single day. Do you all understand?"
"Fine by me," Zhāng Zhùyān nodded indifferently. "I'll share my perspective too. Although Liǔ Xiàngrú says he can handle the reporting duties, interviewing fifty people is no casual stroll in the park. I think we should adopt Smile's suggestion—not that everyone needs to go out and interview, that's unnecessary, but at least two or more people should be involved, and we can take shifts."
"I have no objections either," Nán Chǔ hastily added. "Best if it's one guy and one girl."
Whether it was a specific phrase that struck a chord, everyone's gaze suddenly shifted back to Liǔ Cháoquè's face as she rested it on the desk. The implication was self-evident.
The classroom fell quiet for a brief moment before bustling back into chatter.
"Are there any girls who want to take on the role of reporter?" Zhāng Zhùyān asked.
"Um... should I give it a try?" Wáng Yíng asked hesitantly. "I'd like to try..."
"Sure," Zhāng Zhùyān asked. "Is anyone else interested?"
This time, no one else responded.
Zhāng Zhùyān had no choice but to finalize the number of reporters, followed by the interview schedule and locations. Liǔ Cháoquè would serve as the tally clerk, while Nán Chǔ and Zhāng Zhùyān would handle the phones.
The remaining three members, along with Wáng Yíng, would step in to relieve the camera operators whenever they grew tired. After all, moving around as a group of all eight people would look far too imposing.
Saturday arrived quickly, and the eight of them gathered at the school gates. To ensure steadier footage, Zhāng Zhùyān had even brought two selfie sticks from home.
As the group walked down the street in Biān Chéng, looking at the bustling crowds around them, Liǔ Xiàngrú stared at the slip of paper in his hand while Nán Chǔ and Zhāng Zhùyān held their fully charged phones. For some reason, a heavy wave of tension hung in the air.
"All right," Liǔ Xiàngrú said.
Liǔ Cháoquè uncapped her pen, ready to take notes, while Nán Chǔ and Zhāng Zhùyān activated their camera functions, trailing closely behind the two of them like shadows.
The three backup members and Wáng Yíng found a spot to sit down, waiting for a call to summon them—after all, traveling in a pack of eight was still quite a spectacle.
With everything in place, the day's interviews officially began.
"Hello, do you have a moment?" The very first person Liǔ Xiàngrú approached was an attractive woman wearing flat shoes and casual clothes, who looked as though she had just stepped out to buy groceries.
"What are you kids up to?" She looked at the four of them with suspicion, and seeing the phones, she immediately blocked her face. "No filming."
"We can blur your faces in post-production, we just want to ask a few quick questions," Liǔ Xiàngrú said somewhat awkwardly.
"Are you shooting short videos? The kind you upload to websites?" The woman covered her face, her curiosity still getting the better of her.
"Uh, sort of, but not really. We're students from Huāshāng, and we're working on our final assignment right now," Liǔ Xiàngrú answered truthfully, pulling out his student ID for reassurance in case she didn't believe him.
"Your school even makes you do things like this." Upon seeing the student ID, the woman finally let out a sigh of relief. She lowered her hand from her face and, crossing her arms reflexively, asked, "Where will this video end up, and can you apply skin-smoothing filters to me?"
"Yes, absolutely," the young man replied, seizing the opportunity to smooth things over as soon as he saw her resistance softening.
"Alright, go ahead and ask." The woman nodded.
Since scoring that first interview had cost them quite a bit of persuasion, Liǔ Xiàngrú decided to target an elderly man next. However, the hurdle blocking their path wasn't a refusal to answer, nor was it hearing impairment—it was simply...
"Mister, we're students from Huāshāng, and we're currently doing an interview about financial management. May I ask you a few questions?"
"Huh? Snjxjdjm?"
"Right, sorry to bother you, sir."
He turned back to look at the group. "Does anyone here understand the local dialect?"
"I know a few phrases," Zhāng Zhùyān stepped forward.
And so, the reporter was swapped out. Same location, same elderly gentleman. After a rather arduous communication process between the two of them, Zhāng Zhùyān gave an "OK" hand sign, and the group moved on to the next spot.
Over the course of the following hours, the group was subjected to a baptism of various regional dialects and local idioms, mixed in with the crying of children, the comforting words of adults, and all sorts of chaotic bouts of laughter.
Reporters were swapped out batch after batch, and even Liǔ Cháoquè had the good fortune to step up for a brief stint.
Displaying remarkable social butterfly energy, she even started chatting away with someone entirely in dialect, making it sound like a coded transmission.
By the time the day drew to a close, everyone was drenched in sweat. Liǔ Cháoquè felt immensely grateful that she hadn't ended up calling that cameraman friend of hers; judging by a full day's workload like this, his wages alone would surely run into the tens of thousands.
One of their phones had even run completely out of battery. After calling it a day, the group hurried over to a roadside KFC to sponge off the free air conditioning.
"You guys went to Biān Chéng today?" *Ding-dong.* Browsing through her videos, Liǔ Cháoquè spotted the notification.
"Yeah." Why would Wén Xià be messaging her? Liǔ Cháoquè felt a twinge of confusion.
Wén Xià had sent a voice message. Liǔ Cháoquè instinctively tapped it to play, and the next second, a clear, young male voice tinged with a hint of grievance echoed through the room: "When you were on Biān Chéng street, I even waved at you, but you totally ignored me..."
The group members, currently munching on their hamburgers, turned their heads in absolute unison toward Liǔ Cháoquè. Their eyes sparkled with gossip, and Wén Xià even covered her mouth, smiling with an expression full of maternal affection.
Feeling as though needles were pricking her back, Liǔ Cháoquè quickly typed out a reply: "Didn't see you there, so sorry about that!"
Wén Xià sent another voice message. Fumbling frantically, Liǔ Cháoquè put on her headphones: "Where are you right now?"
Liǔ Cháoquè: "What's up?"
Wén Xià: "Are you still on Biān Chéng street? I want to come find you... are you free?" His tone carried a slight note of probing hesitation.
Liǔ Cháoquè: "Free, I suppose we are. We're at a KFC on Biān Chéng street right now, but it's a bit far."
Wén Xià: "Coming. Send me the address."
Liǔ Cháoquè: "Are you seriously coming?"
Wén Xià: "You think I'm joking?"