"Greed": We can't look at expert Xu Xi the way we look at ordinary players
"Smack--"
The chopsticks were gently placed on the table, making a soft, subtle sound.
This unusual commotion immediately attracted everyone's attention.
Feeling her pocket, Xu Xi found the two wedding candies safely back inside, and then looked at her teammates with relief.
The others watched as the Young Man in a Hoodie stared silently at the food for a while, then suddenly looked up and said, word by word:
The food is poisoned.
These four simple words were like a drop of oil falling into boiling water, causing the five people's expressions to change drastically.
The Curly-Haired Woman and the Young Man in a Duckbill Cap had already picked up their chopsticks, immediately threw them down on the table.
No one questioned Xu Xi's words were true or false.
After all, the other person was always the first to try the poison when they ate together.
The Man in a Suit looked intently at the mysterious and silent Young Man in a Hoodie before him, then shouted "Village Chief Zhu!" towards the kitchen.
Soon, Village Chief Zhu came out.
"Is there something you need, esteemed gentlemen?"
Village Chief Zhu seemed to sense the change in atmosphere, and his previously normal expression turned uneasy.
"But the food doesn't suit the masters' tastes?"
Seeing that the experts remained silent and merely stared at him indifferently, Village Chief Zhu panicked.
He had no idea how he had suddenly offended these esteemed individuals, so he cautiously asked, "Shall I have my wife prepare a new set of dishes for you all?"
The Man in a Suit narrowed his eyes slightly; he hadn't detected the slightest flaw in Village Chief Zhu.
Either the other party was genuinely unaware, or their acting skills were exceptionally good.
"No need, we can't possibly enjoy this poisoned food."
"What?!"
The players watched Village Chief Zhu's every move warily, waiting for him to show any unusual behavior so they could immediately subdue him.
To everyone's surprise, Village Chief Zhu suddenly ran towards the kitchen in a panic, shouting as he ran, "Old woman, Xiaoyu! Stop eating—"
The remaining few exchanged surprised glances, then followed.
A small table was placed next to the stove in the kitchen. Wu Cuifen was serving rice, Zhu Yu was pouring soup for himself. Neither of them had touched their chopsticks yet.
Hearing their elderly parents' terrified shouts, they all stopped what they were doing in a daze.
"What's wrong?" Wu Cuifen looked at the panting Village Chief Zhu with a puzzled expression, not understanding what had happened.
"Stop eating! The experts say this food has been poisoned!" Village Chief Zhu's expression suddenly relaxed when he saw that his wife and grandson hadn't had a chance to eat yet.
"What?!" Wu Cuifen and Zhu Yu were startled.
The players who followed were also completely baffled by this scene.
Wasn't it Village Chief Zhu who poisoned them?
"Impossible!" Wu Cuifen exclaimed in disbelief. "I cooked all the food myself, and I watched the whole process. How could it have been poisoned?"
Village Chief Zhu frowned deeply. He turned to the six experts he had invited and asked hesitantly, "Are you sure this food is poisoned?"
All eyes turned to the Young Man in a Hoodie on the far side.
Xu Xi nodded calmly.
No one was more certain than him, having experienced it once.
Village Chief Zhu wiped his face hard, as if he had made up his mind, and said to the players, "Please wait here for a while, experts," before leaving.
Soon, they saw Village Chief Zhu come in carrying a chicken.
Village Chief Zhu fed the chicken some cooked rice. Not long after, the chicken, which had been quite energetic, suddenly collapsed to the ground, convulsed violently a few times, and then fell silent.
Except for Xu Xi, everyone else looked rather grim.
Leaving aside the dishes, at least the rice was definitely poisoned!
Wu Cuifen's legs went weak, and she said in a trembling voice, "Who... who wants to harm us?"
Zhu Yu was stunned and stood close to Wu Cuifen, not daring to speak.
This family's reaction really doesn't seem like acting.
The players temporarily dispelled their doubts about them.
"If the rice and vegetables are poisonous, then it's most likely a problem with the water quality." The Young Woman in a Long Dress had somehow walked to the stove, carefully observed the food, and then drew her conclusion.
"Water?" Village Chief Zhu and Wu Cuifen were taken aback.
"... This afternoon, the impeller of the water pump in our yard broke down, so I went to another person's well to fetch water."
Village Chief Zhu's tone was like a taut string, tinged with lingering fear.
The Young Man in a Duckbill Cap pressed on, asking, "Which household?"
--
The Production Team "Shining Players" program.
Looking at the big screen, Song Yan showed a mixture of worry and relief. "It's really unexpected that there was poison in the food. Luckily, Xu Xi noticed it in advance."
"I just don't know how he figured it out, since he seemed ready to start eating."
From the moment Old Man Liu knocked on the door in the middle of the night, they never explained it again.
First, there was Old Man Liu knocking on the door specifically, and then there was the Shamaness's supposed blessing from the Mountain God. Not to mention the viewers in the live chat, even she herself felt something was amiss.
In order to avoid being criticized by netizens, she and the two experts wisely chose to remain in the background.
But they were still on the show, and they couldn't stay silent forever. This was a good opportunity for them to provide commentary.
Cao Hongbo pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "Xu Xi has always been a very observant person. After the players returned from the Mountain God Temple, they ran into Village Chief Zhu, who was inspecting the water pump impeller by the well. He probably noticed that then."
Ge Ying chuckled, "I think so too. The impeller is damaged and needs to be replaced or welded. Village Chief Zhu doesn't seem like someone who's good at these things, otherwise he wouldn't have just stood by the well observing without taking any action."
"Hiring people takes time, and so does replacing or welding repairs. The fact that no outsiders came to Village Chief Zhu's house this afternoon proves that the well is still temporarily unusable."
Song Yan asked them curiously, "Then how did Xu Xi determine that the food was poisonous after the water quality was changed?"
Cao Hongbo shook his head helplessly. "I can't give an accurate analysis of this. Perhaps his sense of smell is extraordinary, and he keenly noticed the strangeness of the food."
Ge Ying said thoughtfully, "It's also possible... he was actually testing me."
Cao Hongbo was taken aback. "What do you mean?"
Ge Ying: "We can't treat Xu Xi like we would any other player. For example, right now, all the other players are focused on the water quality, but Xu Xi might be thinking about something much deeper."
"Don't forget the more than sixty people who died in Ninghe Village over the past three years. We still don't know how they died."
Cao Hongbo's eyes suddenly lit up. "Does Teacher Ge mean that Xu Xi suspects the deaths of those villagers are related to the water quality?"
"Yes, Boss Xu Xi should have had this suspicion a long time ago. After all, water poisoning is one of the possibilities that could cause the deaths of so many villagers so silently."