I'm in Wuha, and the whole internet is shipping me and Song Yuqi as a couple.

Wu Zheng held up the dark, unassuming blind box in his hand, grinning like a conman selling crutches at a train station entrance.

Song Yuqi stared at the box warily, leaning back half an inch, with no intention of reaching out to take it.

"Old Wu, what mischief are you up to now? Let's eat, why have dessert before the meal!"

"Hey, it's not my fault."

Wu Zheng shook the blind box.

"Our program focuses on responding to public opinion."

As he spoke, he turned and pointed to the tablet computer that the staff member next to him was holding up.

The screen was densely packed with bullet comments.

"Due to strong demand from netizens, our program team opened a voting channel overnight and launched a nationwide online solicitation campaign."

Wu Zheng deliberately raised his voice and scanned the guests present.

"Netizens came up with so many prank ideas that we selected the 300 tasks that received the most votes."

"Just this morning, the top three ranked tasks out of these 300 were made into cards and put into this online voting box."

There was a two-second silence.

Wu Zheng quickly added, his smile becoming even more irritating.

"Let me clarify first, I'm not targeting any particular group."

"We've set the rules for this station: the final winner of every level will have to come and draw a card from this box as a reward."

No sooner had the words left their mouths than the four people, who had just been grieving over losing the game and having to do laundry, suddenly sprang back to life.

Lu Han hugged Wang Mian tightly, grinning from ear to ear.

"Thank God! Thank Earth! Thank you the water in East Lake was cold enough today to save us!"

Deng Chao was even more exaggerated.

He clasped his hands together, bowed to the sky, and then turned to point at Jiang Che and Song Yuqi and shouted.

"So you two've finally met your match!"

"Director Wu is brilliant!"

"Who knows what kind of world-destroying thing is inside that box!"

Chen He gloated and nudged Jiang Che in the back with his shoulder.

"Lyricist, it's great that you won the game."

"Don't worry, I'll definitely wash your wet clothes clean."

Wang Mian, who was watching the commotion from the sidelines, took out his phone and started browsing Weibo.

"I just glanced at the voting plaza."

"Some netizens suggested that the red team wash each other's feet, and others suggested that Jiang Che carry Teacher Song around East Lake."

He looked up at Song Yuqi halfway through his sentence.

"That's quite polite; I'd be embarrassed to read the more impolite ones."

The four of them surrounded the red team and mocked them relentlessly, releasing all the frustration of not winning first place.

Bai Lu stood three steps away from them, rubbing her arms, which had turned white from being soaked in water, with both hands.

Everyone was laughing.

She also twitched the corners of her mouth.

But that smile just wouldn't hold up no matter how you looked at it.

Bai Lu looked at Jiang Che, who was surrounded by cameras and a crowd in the very center.

What kind of punishment is this?

This is clearly a trending topic package that the show's producers are giving to the winner.

If she hadn't been so scared when she was flying on the water earlier...

If Lu Han could catch a few more ducks.

She's probably the one standing in front of blind boxes right now, under the scrutiny of the entire internet.

The more outrageous these online voting tasks are, the more likely they are to go viral.

What's more, the person standing next to him is Jiang Che.

Bai Lu pursed her lips, put on a worried expression again, and took a step towards Jiang Che.

"Director Wu, isn't this task a bit too much of a hassle?"

Her voice softened.

"Teacher Jiang and Teacher Song fought so hard on the water to win the game, and now they have to be punished. It's so pitiful."

"How about I open this blind box for the red team?"

"Consider it an apology for not putting in enough effort in the match just now."

The atmosphere in the room cooled down a bit after those words were spoken.

Lu Han rolled her eyes.

Chen He lowered his head and touched his nose, forcefully swallowing back the retort that was about to come out.

Jiang Che was bending down, wringing out the water from the hem of his life jacket.

He didn't even look up when he heard Bai Lu's words.

"Teacher Bai likes blind boxes so much, there's a convenience store 200 meters to the right after you go out."

"It's one dollar per draw, go play by yourself."

Jiang Che threw the soaking wet life jacket into the plastic basket, his tone flat.

"The prize for the red team will be drawn by the blue team."

"Whose meal of fish is on us for lunch?"

Bai Lu's smile froze on her face.

She was speechless and could only retreat to Lu Han's side with a wronged expression.

Jiang Che turned his head, looked at the four old foxes who were still gloating, and coldly uttered a sentence.

"You four, stop laughing."

"Old Wu just made it very clear that the winners of all groups will draw lots."

"The wheel of fortune will turn sooner or later."

Deng Chao continued his reckless antics, seemingly unafraid of death.

"It's okay. With our terrible skills, Old Chen and I probably won't get a chance to smoke in our lifetime."

"Enjoy this good fortune slowly."

Jiang Che ignored them.

He turned around, glanced at the black blind box, and immediately stepped back half a step, making room for it.

He reached out and nudged Song Yuqi's shoulder.

"Go smoke."

Song Yuqi was staring intently at the black box when he suddenly pushed her, and she turned around to glare at him.

"Why should I get to smoke?!"

"You were the star of the show when we were catching the ducks, but now you've fallen into a trap set by netizens, and you know you should let me have it?"

Jiang Che looked at her and answered confidently.

"My face is dark."

"Don't give me that!"

Song Yuqi didn't buy it at all.

"real."

Jiang Che was talking nonsense with a straight face.

"I've never even seen a 'buy one get one free' bottle cap when I've been buying drinks since I was a child."

"Especially when it comes to gacha pulls, I'm definitely unlucky."

"Letting you smoke is for your own good."

Song Yuqi reached out and pinched his arm.

The moment my hand touched it.

Through the damp fabric, she felt a handful of firm, hard muscles.

Song Yuqi quickly withdrew her hand.

Jiang Che let her pinch him, his expression remaining unchanged.

"If you really can pull out something that's not so mean, I'll pick out all the fish meat for you when we have fish at lunch, okay?"

Wu Zheng stood beside him, holding a loudspeaker and urging him to hurry up.

"Have you two reached an agreement?"

"There are so many eyes watching the live stream, hurry up!"

Song Yuqi was so angry at Jiang Che's shameless behavior that she ground her teeth.

"OK!"

"I'll smoke, I'll smoke."

She gritted her teeth, held her breath, and stretched out her right hand, fearlessly reaching into the dark hole.

Deng Chao stood to the side, hands clasped together, eyes closed, muttering to himself.

"Amitabha! Let's go all out! Let's go all out! Let these two bite each other's toes!"

Song Yuqi stirred her fingers at the bottom of the box twice.

Three cards.

She touched the edge of the leftmost one.

This is it.

Just die.

She closed her eyes and yanked the card out of the black box.

Wu Zheng smiled and leaned his head closer.

The cameraman in charge of filming carried his equipment right up to us, and the camera instantly zoomed in for a close-up.

Song Yuqi opened her eyes and looked down at the card in her hand.

The moment her gaze fell on the bolded text, her expression froze.

He just stared at that card blankly for a full thirty seconds.

Jiang Che stood half a step away from her, noticing that her reaction was off, and frowned slightly.

He turned his head, just about to lean over and see what was written on the card.

Song Yuqi suddenly snapped out of her daze, flipped the card over, and clutched it tightly to her chest.

"What's wrong?"

Jiang Che watched her defensive movements.

"Did you draw the ultimate move?"

Song Yuqi gripped the piece of cardboard tightly.

Her chest heaved twice, but she forcefully suppressed it.

What kind of stupid mission is this?

Netizens at the last stop said they wished they could lock the two of them to the headboard.

With such a great opportunity today, why did you assign such a nonsensical task?

She thought she would finally breathe a sigh of relief.

But the moment I saw the contents of the card, I felt a sudden emptiness in my chest.

Song Yuqi looked down at the card she had covered and pursed her lips.

Escaped.

I don't seem that happy.