He Wouldn't Allow Anyone to Ruin His Work!

Song Qiang felt that Chu Tian was targeting him, but he had no proof.

Watching Chu Tian rattle off a whole barrage of analysis, Song Qiang's eyes spun with confusion. He didn't understand a single word.

He had truly experienced the gap between ordinary people and smart people, and it hit him hard.

Song Qiang sighed and turned to lift up the bedboards.

Chu Tian turned at the noise, and his pupils shook. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for evidence," Song Qiang explained seriously. "I may not be good at analyzing cases, but I'm an expert at finding evidence!"

As he spoke, Song Qiang put on another demonstration for Chu Tian, moving the nightstand with one hand.

Chu Tian: "...Nice."

With Song Qiang conducting demolition-style evidence gathering and Chu Tian skillfully sorting through and consolidating the clues, the two of them were unstoppable. In the limited time available, they quickly collected a large amount of useful evidence.

Unlike their efficient progress, Gu Shiyan and Zhang Yang's cooperation on the other side was hindered at every turn.

Gu Shiyan didn't want to communicate too much with Zhang Yang and deliberately tried to immerse himself in the game.

Unfortunately, Zhang Yang couldn't read the room at all. Gathering evidence was completely unimportant to him; all he wanted was to stick close to Gu Shiyan.

He circled around him constantly, calling him "Brother Shiyan" every other sentence.

Thus, after Gu Shiyan and Chu Tian's CP fans, even ordinary fans of the show began to dislike Zhang Yang for being so oblivious.

Although Zhang Yang had a good audience reputation due to his identity as a child star, that was limited to his works. This was his first time appearing in a reality performance variety show like this, and it seemed to have directly exposed his true nature.

This was supposed to be a mind-bending mystery-solving investigation game. Zhang Yang not only failed to immerse himself in the script and role, but also interfered with the other guests' progress in the game. He was practically asking to be cursed out!

On top of that, he had been away from the industry for years while studying abroad and hadn't put effort into cultivating a fanbase. There were barely any fans in the livestream room who could speak up for him, and they were easily crushed into nothing by the angry show fans and CP fans.

In a short time, the condemnation and backlash against Zhang Yang in the livestream room reached its peak, even quietly creeping onto the tail end of Weibo's trending searches.

If no one intervened and Zhang Yang kept acting up like this, his negative trending topic would probably soon climb to the top ranks.

Li Yu didn't want to see that happen. He hurriedly wrote a cue card to remind Zhang Yang to quickly return to the normal flow of the show.

As for what Zhang Yang had told him before... A sharp gleam flashed in Li Yu's eyes. Nothing mattered more than the show's popularity!

He was about to use this variety show to rise in one leap and become one of the industry's hottest variety show directors. He wouldn't allow anyone to ruin his work!

After being repeatedly hinted at by Li Yu, Zhang Yang grew somewhat dissatisfied. A flash of hostility crossed his eyes, but he reluctantly gave up pestering Gu Shiyan and turned to search for evidence.

However, his attitude was visibly perfunctory. With time running out, he casually took a few photos and treated that as completing the task.

It was only a web variety show. Even if the livestream gimmick had brought it a little popularity, Zhang Yang didn't care about it at all.

For someone of his standing to appear on this kind of show was already elevating its status.

He didn't care in the slightest about the show's results. He had only come for Gu Shiyan.

During the group discussion, Li Yu had originally arranged for Zhang Yang to be the first to share his evidence in consideration of the new guest.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Yang had spent the entire evidence-gathering process circling around Gu Shiyan, so he couldn't analyze anything useful at all.

He pasted up his few half-hearted photos, made up a few wild guesses through scattered thinking, and ended his turn.

What should have been a shining moment was forcibly turned into a public trial.

The viewers analyzed his actions and remarks frame by frame. Abuse poured in endlessly, and layer upon layer of barrage comments blanketed the screen.

The guests in the show had no idea what was happening in the livestream room, but they were all dumbfounded by Zhang Yang's evidence sharing and exchanged glances.

That was it?

Everyone had a beginner phase, but when they were filming their first episode, none of them had performed as terribly as Zhang Yang!

This wasn't a matter of not knowing how to play. He simply hadn't put any effort into it.

Song Qiang was a rigid, principled person. He believed that no matter what job one took on, one had to do it seriously and responsibly. That was an artist's duty.

Being perfunctory was not only letting oneself down, but also letting down the audience.

Angry, he had no ability to manage his expression. His face darkened on the spot.

Gu Shiyan spoke next. Even with Zhang Yang causing trouble, he maintained his own rhythm and found quite a few useful clues.

"Everyone present has their own room, but look at the layout," Gu Shiyan said, pointing at an overall photo he had taken. "The six rooms are lined up in a row. Their sizes and furnishings are almost identical, including the outward-opening doors that take up an entire wall. Rather than rooms, they look more like individual compartments."

Hearing this, Chu Tian looked up and met Gu Shiyan's gaze, then casually looked away.

Gu Shiyan was very perceptive. Although he hadn't gone to the scene and seen the information related to the deceased, after connecting the existing evidence, his line of speculation was basically the same as Chu Tian's.

The other guests' statements were more or less alike. The evidence they had each found seemed to support the idea that none of them were "human."

Once Chu Tian revealed the evidence he had found, it almost completely established everyone's identities—dolls.

Thinking of the awl driven vertically into the center of the deceased's forehead, that seemed to further confirm the speculation.

It couldn't have been done by human hands, but what if the dolls had spirits?

Since all the guests had started out with amnesia, by the end of the first day's evidence gathering, they still hadn't found more useful information. They couldn't even confirm everyone's identities.

It wasn't just the guests who were left confused by the brain-burning setup. The viewers also began brainstorming based on the existing evidence.

After the livestream ended, viewers who still wanted more moved from the livestream room to Weibo. They made posts analyzing and speculating from their own perspectives, using grassroots enthusiasm to push Soul Shocker onto the trending searches.

Quite a few passersby became interested after seeing the flourishing positive feedback. Soul Shocker's official Weibo rapidly gained followers, even burying Zhang Yang's negative trending topic.

Li Yu was grinning from ear to ear. He personally logged into the official account to interact with netizens, active like a bot, completely forgetting about teaching Zhang Yang a lesson.

Zhang Yang tried for a long time without seeing any results. Unable to get even a smile from Gu Shiyan, his expression twisted with anger and his patience ran out. His manager arrived and dragged him away for a lecture.

Gu Shiyan didn't spare him a single glance. His gaze remained fixed on Chu Tian, who was chatting with Song Qiang and the others.

After several straight hours of intense mental exertion, Chu Tian had exhausted all his energy and was so sleepy that he could barely keep his eyes open. He spoke and walked entirely on instinct.

"Alright, hurry back and sleep," Tian Qianqian said. Watching him wobble as he walked like a sleepy penguin, she couldn't help but laugh. "Get some proper rest. Have your assistant..."

Before Tian Qianqian could finish, someone interrupted her.

"I'll take him back."