The program was continuously playing and would not be interrupted by anyone’s chatter. In a blink of an eye, it reached the third mission. The editors also knew how to create plot twists.
Everyone who was shown on camera was heading towards the city, not a single person wanted to stay outside the city to face the three hunters. The countdown in the bottom right corner of the screen slowly ticked away.
In the last second before the deadline, a hunter walked into the city, and at the same time, the specific information for Mission Three was released. This mission required cooperation between those inside and outside the city to be successfully completed.
“What kind of mission did the production team release? They deliberately didn’t let my idol show off, did they!”
“Oh my god, who is still outside the city now?”
“No! How can my Qian Xi Gege fail the mission~”
“By the way, among all the people the camera showed just now, wasn’t one person missing?”
Among the netizens, there were still some casual viewers who were watching the show seriously and noticed that indeed, one person seemed to be missing.
Just as the bullet comments were engaged in a fierce debate about whether the mission could be completed and by whom, it seemed someone had already anticipated this situation. The camera silently cut to Yi Xing, who was standing near the city gate, looking around.
The program specifically replayed the scene where he and Ju Jingyi had a conversation: “You go into the city first, it’s safer inside. I’m afraid there might be some missions that need to be completed outside. We’ll keep in touch later, and share any clues with each other.”
“Okay, then you be careful.” This clearly explained why he chose to stay outside the city.
“Wow! Yi Xing is too amazing, he predicted the production team’s next move, he’s got something going on!”
“I always feel like I’m vaguely seeing a script.”
“The previous comment is the same as mine, he wouldn’t be the new person Mango wants to promote this time, would he?”
“It must be, otherwise my Gege didn’t guess it, so how could he guess it?”
“Is there a possibility that Yi Xing genuinely has this ability? I just checked his information. Born in 1996, he graduated from Cambridge University this year. He’s practically a god-tier student in school. It should be quite normal for him to guess the intention of this announcement.”
As soon as this information about Yi Xing’s education was released, the bullet comments suddenly decreased significantly, as if many people were checking the authenticity of this information. And in the dorm, Ju Jingyi couldn’t help but widen her mouth.
It was the first time she knew which university he attended; she had never heard him mention it before. She thought it was an unknown small school, but she didn’t expect it to be a world-renowned university. No wonder he could formulate so many plans, and they never failed.
“Xiao Ju, since you’re friends with him, can you ask him out for a meal? I want to get to know him, please?” One of her teammates grabbed her hand and swayed it slightly, acting spoiled.
Everyone admires strength. When they encounter someone who is excellent in all aspects, they can’t help but feel a sense of Yearning, treating them as a goal and striving and learning for it. If possible, they would even more want to get to know and communicate with them.
“Are you crazy! Our current identity is idols! How can you start thinking about men already!”
Ju Jingyi forcefully pushed her hand away, stood up, and questioned loudly. Everyone’s gaze converged on them, and the video playing on the wall also paused.
Hearing these two talking about men, like a badger smelling the fragrant melon in the field, their eyes lit up.
“I know, don’t worry. I don’t have that intention right now, but getting to know him in advance is okay, right? You ask them if they want to meet Yi Xing.”
Upon hearing this, Ju Jingyi scanned the people in the room. Among the dozen or so people, they were divided into two parts: one part was looking down, not daring to meet her gaze, seemingly genuinely wanting to meet Yi Xing as mentioned above.
The other part was looking back at her, their eyes very pure, without any trace of desire.
This was unavoidable. The fame of some of them was incomparable to Ju Jingyi’s, so no announcements actively sought them out. They basically spent every day practicing singing and dancing in a small theater.
Now that there was a channel to get to know other people in the entertainment industry, they naturally wanted it. Since they chose to enter the idol industry, who wouldn’t want their popularity to be even hotter?
Seeing this scene, Ju Jingyi shook her head helplessly and didn’t say much. She understood these people’s thoughts, but it was only understanding. She would not provide any help, and she also told a small lie.
“The relationship between Yi Xing and me hasn’t reached the point where we can privately go out for a meal. We just appeared very familiar on the show. All those intimate interactions and such that you saw are the work of the editing. Alright, let’s continue watching!”
Hearing her say that, the teammates whose faces had shown anticipation instantly became dejected. However, they had no way to verify whether what she said was true or false, so they could only treat it as true.
“Okay, Xiao Ju, we know.” The teammate who had initially acted spoiled left her side… Then, the progress bar reached the biggest highlight of this episode. When only three people were left, Yi Xing in the picture offered to actively attract the hunter to create opportunities for the other two. Yi Xing, watching in front of the computer, then opened the full-screen bullet comments.
“Brother, I salute you as a man! I’ll drink to that!”
“Sacrificing himself for the success of the entire team, I admire you!”
“This move is too cool, bro. Do you still need fans? I can warm the bed, wash clothes, cook…”
Bullet comments poured in like a tide, all praising his actions. He smiled knowingly, his heart full of relief. He knew that everything he did on the show was not in vain, and he was about to see a significant increase in his fan base.
When the scene of him actively walking out and shouting for the hunter played, the volume and scrolling speed of the bullet comments reached their peak for this episode. It really is about actively sacrificing for the team, which can particularly well evoke emotional resonance in every audience member.
The progress bar on the screen gradually came to an end. By this time, the viewers who had been watching promptly at ten o’clock had already finished. Yi Xing clicked on the comment section.
He was very satisfied with the program’s editing. They neither treated him as a mere pretty face nor as the backbone. Being in the middle was the best. He wanted to see the audience’s opinions on this episode.
“Treasure variety show! I watched the first episode very seriously. The missions were linked one after another, and there were no logical errors, especially Yi Xing’s highlight moment at the end, which moved me. If the full score is ten, I would give it eleven points. The extra point is so you won’t be too proud. I hope to see more exciting scenes in the next episode!”
“If the quality of every subsequent episode is as high as this one, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a hit variety show. But is the director sure they won’t consider creating some CP hype? There are so many handsome guys and beautiful girls.”
“Overall, it’s still very good. It made me, someone who usually doesn’t like exercise, want to go for a run or two!”
“I became a fan of Yi Xing because of his actions!!!”
Not long after the program aired, it sparked widespread discussion online. Compared to the discussion volume of the three TFBOYS members, the discussion volume of all the remaining people combined might only be able to compete with them. There was no helping it, who told them to have a large fan base and high popularity?
The TV ratings also crushed any other program airing at the same time. For the guests and the production team, this was a win-win situation, especially for Yi Xing, who originally didn’t have many fans; it was practically a huge gain.
After a day of fermentation, his Wei Bo fan count directly soared from just over 300,000 to 800,000, a surge of 500,000 fans overnight, and it was still continuously rising with no signs of stopping. It’s estimated that it won’t be long before it breaks the one million mark, but those are matters for later.
(To explain here, lest someone thinks this increase is too exaggerated, “Accelerating” is a hugely popular variety show, and coupled with the fact that the protagonist’s initial fan count was not high, a rapid increase in the early stages is very normal. Fan counts often become harder to increase the further along they are.)