(I can guarantee a minimum of two chapters daily. I want to ask, do you think writing so many questions makes it feel too watered down?)
(The people appearing in this show have no connection to real celebrities; they are all fictional.)
Soon, a rhythmic accompaniment began, and with the male host's announcement to start answering, the buzzer round officially kicked off. Detailed information about the question appeared on the screen.
"The tall pavilion built by the Tang Dynasty to honor meritorious officials, adorned with their portraits..."
"Lingyan Pavilion."
"Correct. Yi Xing gains one point."
Actually, the female host had only just pronounced the first character, 'Tang,' of the question when Yi Xing already blurted out the answer. The remaining characters were spoken by her at the fastest possible speed.
Before preparing to answer the next question, she suddenly interjected, "Yi Xing, please answer a little slower."
Because this show was going to be broadcast on television, the questions displayed on the big screen wouldn't be visible to TV viewers; they could only hear them spoken by the host.
Only when the question was almost fully read aloud would the complete information appear in a box at the bottom of the TV screen. If Yi Xing continued answering at his current speed...
It would result in incomplete question display. Not everyone is him, and this consideration was for the audience in front of their televisions.
..."Alright, I understand." Yi Xing was at a loss for words for a moment. Answering quickly had become his problem. Was this the constraint placed on the strong?
"If you touch a balloon with hands that have just peeled an orange, it can easily cause an explosion. This is because your hands are stained with which organic compound?"
"Citric acid."
"Yi Xing is correct, another point added."
The score continued to widen to 5:0. The next question left Yi Xing somewhat confused, making him freeze in place, repeatedly pondering the meaning of the words.
"In the sentence 'Yī háng háng xíng xíng xíng xíng, yī háng bù xíng xíng xíng bù xíng' (Line by line, line by line，No, no, no, no), what is the part of speech of the sixth character?"
This was one of the legendary 30% advanced questions, and it certainly had a lot of substance. At least he didn't quite understand it. During his two years abroad...
He hadn't used Chinese much, and his tongue twisters had deteriorated significantly. He couldn't even read this sentence smoothly, let alone identify its part of speech.
He turned his head to look at Lu Renjia, whose brows were tightly furrowed, seemingly analyzing the individual parts of speech for each 'xíng'.
After three seconds, a hint appeared at the bottom of the screen displaying the question: X word. Although its appearance made little difference, it at least ruled out 'adjective' as an answer.
"Verb!"
"Lu Renjia is correct, he gains one point. The current score on the field is 5:1."
Seeing his opponent answer correctly, Yi Xing immediately "regained a point." If he answered one more question correctly, his first challenger would face elimination.
Ultimately, he was a bit soft-hearted and decided to go easy a little. It couldn't end 7:1; people would think he was bullying him.
"In the movie 'The Shawshank Redemption,' what item did Andy use on the wall to conceal his escape tunnel?"
"Movie poster."
"In the famous dish 'Taoren Jiding' (Walnut Chicken), what does 'taoren' refer to?"
"Walnut kernel."
"What relative was Qin Kuai to Li Qingzhao?"
"Cousin-in-law."
"Cousin-in-law."
Yi Xing followed closely behind Lu Renjia's first word. From the high-speed camera, he was only about 0.5 seconds slower than his opponent.
"Lu Renjia was faster. The score on the field is 6:4."
Upon hearing the score, Lu Renjia's expression gradually became excited, thinking he had a chance to turn the tide. But reality slapped him hard.
As soon as the next question was read, he heard his opponent's answer and the host's announcement of the score, leaving him stunned in place.
The male host walked over to him and asked, "Are you ready?"
"Ready for what?"
"Of course, to say goodbye!"
"Ah!!!"
The platform beneath Lu Renjia's feet suddenly retracted, and he fell into the hole. Since the bottom was covered with sponges, he would basically not suffer any harm. If there was any, it could only be a matter of personal physique.
"Let me interview you, how do you feel seeing your opponent fall?" The female host saw Yi Xing staring at Lu Renjia's direction for a long time, thinking he was regretting the other party's failure, and asked curiously.
"To be honest, I used to watch it on screen and didn't find it that scary. Coming here in person, I've truly felt that unknown fear. To prevent myself from falling, I will give my all from now on."
"Do you mean that you didn't really show your true strength in the previous buzzer round?"
"Hahaha, who knows? I think my opponent should know very well whether I went easy or not."
If it were 18-year-old Yi Xing, he would probably jump into this dug pit without hesitation. But standing on the stage was 20-year-old Yi Xing.
He saw through the other party's intentions at a glance, not only refusing to answer directly but also kicking the ball back to Lu Renjia.
The contestants who were challenged and stood on the stage later, having witnessed the one-sided battle earlier, all chose to answer in a round-robin format.
This ensured their screen time and also hoped for some questions that Yi Xing wouldn't know, allowing them to pick up some easy points.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. After a series of tense and exciting contests, only one reigning champion remained on stage. At this point, the male host announced the subsequent rules.
"Yi Xing, I am now going to announce a new competition rule. When you eliminate the last reigning champion on stage, you will face our Hall of Fame contestant — Liu Xuhui."
"If you win, you will also become one of our Hall of Fame contestants. Of course, you can also choose to end your challenge here. After ten seconds, please give me a clear answer."
"I don't need that long. I came here to challenge experts." Yi Xing confidently gave his answer.
"So what is your choice?"
"My choice is to continue the challenge."
"Alright, then, Contestant Lu Cheng, do you choose the buzzer round or the round-robin format?"
"Buzzer round." The host was answered by a girl wearing a Little Genius Arale hat, cute and adorable. Punching her would probably make her cry for a long time.
"Oh? So many people before chose the round-robin format. Why is it different for you?"
"I think the audience is already impatient to see the showdown between Yi Xing and Liu Xuhui, so I'll satisfy their expectations."
"Do you think Yi Xing is better than you?"
Everyone thought Lu Cheng wouldn't answer this question directly, but unexpectedly, she admitted it.
"Yes, he is much better than me. There were many questions before that I didn't know, but he could answer each of them easily. However, I still want to compete with him!"
Hearing these words, Yi Xing muttered inwardly, 'I'm clearly the challenger, but the way she put it, I suddenly feel like the reigning champion, waiting for others to challenge me.'