Even though Mr. Yoo had started the question, he did not finish it in one breath. Instead, he turned to Feng Bujue with a smile and said, “The first question is always easier, so please don’t be nervous.”
“Did I say I was nervous? History is my strong suite,” Feng Bujue replied calmly.
“Okay, the question’s on… Di Renjie.”
When Mr. Yoo said that, Feng Bujue sighed in relief. He had been a bit worried that the history was going to be based in the virtual world, something that Feng Bujue would not have understood. Thankfully, the fatty asked about an actual historical person. In that case, this would be easy for Feng Bujue.
“I believe we all know who Di Renjie is. He was the chancellor in feudal China during the Wu era. According to legend, he was a good detective.” Mr. Yoo once again broke off to a non-sequitur.
“Just finish the question!” Feng Bujue roared.
“Haha… Sorry, sorry,” Mr. Yoo said. “The question is, what is Di Renjie’s Chinese zodiac sign?”
“Huh?” When he heard that, Feng Bujue was dumbfounded. Xiao Tan and the rest wanted to help, but they were all stunned when they heard that question.
“The countdown of forty-five seconds starts now!” Mr. Yoo announced without pausing, and at the same time, the sound of ticking emerged from the speakers that filled up the studio.
“What kind of historical question is that? This is more like a math question,” Feng Bujue mumbled softly. “Thankfully, the year Di Renjie died and was born in are both complete numbers, so they’re easy to remember. Hmm, year 630 to 700, and this year, 2055, is the year of the pig…”
“You have thirty seconds left,” Mr. Yoo reminded him with an easy expression on his face.
“His sign is tiger!” Feng Bujue was not fazed, and when he finished his calculation, he swiftly gave the answer.
“Correct!” Mr. Yoo announced. The audience rewarded him with applause. Mr. Yoo raised his hand, and the first question card burst into flames.
“And now for the second question.” Mr. Yoo turned to Xiao Tan. “Participant No. 2, you look so nervous.”
“Er… was that first question really one of the simpler ones?” Xiao Tan’s face was so pale.
“Ha ha… Of course.” Mr. Yoo smiled. “Alright, now pay attention. This is a question… about sports. Please name any three players who have won the Snooker world title.”
He raised his head to look at Xiao Tan. “Your time starts now.”
“Do you need their full names?” Xiao Tan asked.
“Yes,” Mr. Yoo answered. “Also pay attention. There can be no mistake. If you get one wrong, you get the whole question wrong. Please take note of your time.”
“Er… Joe Davis.” Xiao Tan began with the one that he had the most confidence in.
“Correct, two more,” Mr. Yoo said.
“Stephen Henry.”
“Correct, last one. 30 seconds left.”
“Ding Junhui!” Xiao Tan answered.
“Er…” Mr. Yoo was silent for two seconds. “You have all the answers correct!”
“Phew…” Xiao Tan instantly collapsed onto the panel. Applause erupted through the crowd.
“Haha… See, I told you not to worry. Isn’t it very easy?” Mr. Yoo said. “This is basically common sense.”
He picked up the microphone and cleared his throat. He turned to face Passing Rain. “Participant No. 3, please listen to the third question.”
After the second card burnt, Mr. Yoo read from the third card. “This is… a brain twister.”
Passing Rain did not react much, but Feng Bujue, who sat across from her, had a face that said, “This is giving away free points!”
“Here goes. If we place a chicken and a swan inside a fridge, the chicken died from freezing, but the swan survived. Why?” Mr. Yoo asked. “The countdown starts now.”
“Because Ji (Chicken) Dong (Freeze), a word that means excited in Chinese?” Passing Rain answered without wasting any time.
“I’m sorry to inform that your answer is wrong.” Mr. Yoo smiled. “The real answer is because the swan (Er) is a penguin (Qi Er).”
Boos rose among the crowd. The screen on the surface of Passing Rain’s podium showed minus ten points. Mr. Yoo turned to the camera to explain, “The answer given by Participant No. 3 is more suitable for a dad joke, but the question is really a brain twister question.”
“Tsk… It’s more likely because the answer is from the same species as you…” Passing Rain commented coldly.
Raucous laughter travelled through the audience. Mr. Yoo took out his handkerchief to wipe away the cold sweat. He turned to face Laughing Soul and raised the fourth card to his face. “Alright, Participant No. 4, this is your question.”
“Ah… Difficulty like this is no worry. Get on with your question!” Laughing Soul claimed excitedly.
“This is a question… about gaming,” Mr. Yoo said. “Who are the three members of the group commonly known as the ’Brush Brothers’? The countdown starts now!”
“Huh?” Laughing Soul widened her eyes, and her face was blank. Passing Rain could not help her, but Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi kept winking and mouthing the answer to her.
“Haha, giving hints is not allowed,” Mr. Yoo warned. “If you have given her the real answer, she will fail this question.”
“Oh! I know, a trio, right‽” Laughing Soul was still pouting like there was no inkling in her mind, but suddenly, she broke into a smile. “They’re Luffy, Ash, and Sabo!”
BANG! BANG!
That was Brother Jue’s and Xiao Tan’s faces hitting the panel. The glasses of the audience fell and broke against the ground.
“Your answer is wrong,” Mr. Yoo said. “But this question is admittedly more difficult for female participants.”
Therefore, Laughing Soul’s points also dropped down to minus ten.
“Alright, after the first four questions, let’s look at where we stand in terms of points,” Mr. Yoo announced. “Both male participants are at ten points while the girls are at minus ten points.
“Now, we’ll go to our three guests for their comments.”
The spotlights and camera moved to the special guests. Miss Pride moved her head aside and scoffed like it was beneath her to be addressed by Mr. Yoo. Mr. Pestilence coughed through his comment, “I think we should swap the questions between the male and female participants, then perhaps everyone would get the questions right.”
Hephaestus though mumbled to himself, “I wonder what will happen if you put a cyclops inside a fridge…”
The spotlight returned to Mr. Yoo. He shrugged helplessly before continuing. “We thank our special guests for their brilliant comments. Now…”
Turning back to Feng Bujue, he said, “The question’s difficulty is about to rise. I hope you’re ready.”
“How come I feel like I got the hardest question for the first round?” Feng Bujue mocked expressionlessly.
Mr. Yoo ignored him and said, “From this question onward, I will not give you the field the question is about. Please listen carefully… The question is… in pi, or π, what is the ninth number after the decimal point? The countdown starts now.”
“3.” Feng Bujue used one second to give his answer.
“Are you giving me a random guess?” Mr. Yoo asked.
“No,” Feng Bujue answered.
“Very good, your answer is correct,” Mr. Yoo announced. Another round of applause echoed through the audience, and Feng Bujue’s points increased to twenty.
“Normally, people only memorize until the seventh digit after the decimal point, but it looks like Participant Feng goes beyond that,” Mr. Yoo commented.
“I suppose so.” Feng Bujue was being humble. Actually, he had memorized more than two hundred digits after the decimal point. He treated pi as his personal password generator. Using any string of six, eight, or ten digits would be a useful password, and if he forgot, he could just refer to the calculator.
“Looks like Participant No. 1 is moving further away from the coliseum.” Mr. Yoo turned to Xiao Tan with a wickedness in his eyes. “Participant No. 2, here is your question.”
When Xiao Tan heard that the questions were going to be more difficult, he started to get nervous. His expression was like primary school students getting in line to get flu shots.
“The question is… when we say a woman is at ’her age of hairpin’, how old is this woman? Your countdown starts now.” Mr. Yoo had just finished, and he instantly turned to glance at Feng Bujue. “Do not try to give hints with gestures or by mouthing the answer, or else points will be deducted from Participants Wang.”
“Damn… I don’t know this.” Xiao Tan glanced at Brother Jue, and the latter rewarded him with a condescending gaze, one that said, I can’t believe it. How do you not know something like this? This is just common sense!
“You have thirty seconds left,” Mr. Yoo reminded.
Xiao Tan believed that he would not eventually figure out the answer even if he drew the time out, so he provided a random guess. “Eighteen!”
“Your answer is wrong,” Mr. Yoo announced with a bright smile. “So, your points return to zero.”
It was Passing Rain’s turn. Mr. Yoo wiped at his sweat before looking at the question card. “Phew… Participant No. 3, how are you holding up? Are you nervous?”
Passing Rain did not answer. She had learned from Pride. She slowly turn her head away and scoffed.
Fatty Yoo looked greatly devastated. He continued on his own. “Alright, question number seven… how many strings are there on a common Gu Zheng? Your countdown starts now.”
“Twenty-one,” Passing Rain answered easily.
“Correct,” Mr. Yoo announced. He did not add any extra comment lest he got mocked or ignored again. The audience clapped. Then came the eighth question, the last question of the second round.
“Participant No. 4, please listen closely…” Mr. Yoo said. “The question is… what is the next line after ’She never showed her fears or let you hear her cries’. Your countdown…”
“She never showed the tears that fell down from her eyes,” Laughing Soul answered before he finished his sentence. Before the host announced the result, applause already came from the audience, a sign that she was correct. It seemed like poems were not only Feng Bujue’s specialty.
“Hmm… Correct.” Mr. Yoo smiled after burning the question card. “Our participants this time are all very knowledgeable, but… someone will have to enter the coliseum either way. Hahaha…”
This time, he did not ask the special guests for their comments. Instead, he turned directly to Feng Bujue to ask the ninth question. “Participant No. 1, please listen carefully.”
He glanced at the question card. “Oh! This is a special question. If you get it right, you’ll get an extra twenty points, but if you get it wrong, twenty points will be deducted from your total. So, you’d better be careful…”