Anticipating It in Advance

The two drama queens flattered each other for a bit. Seeing that the hunter had left, they stopped wasting time and continued forward.

One was clearly a cold, aloof young man, while the other was a gentle, refined young man. Yet whenever they were together, they somehow gave off the feeling of two goofballs.

The Space Pirates' leader discovered the Accelerators' situation and immediately issued a notice, intending to make them turn on each other.

"Notification

Accelerators whose alarms have gone off may complete verification and disable their alarms by obtaining another Accelerator's banknote."

However, Pang Ba happened to be beside the Pause Room when she received the message, so she got Lin Shange's banknote.

What a pity. The Space Pirates' leader had forgotten that there were still two eliminated Accelerators in the Pause Room. The Interstellar Empire's marshal quickly saw through the pirate leader's intentions and issued another notice.

"Notification

The banknotes of Accelerators in the Pause Room remain valid."

After receiving the news, the Accelerators whose alarms had gone off were already hurrying toward the Pause Room. As for whether they could obtain a banknote and complete verification before being captured by hunters, that remained uncertain.

There were now 84 minutes remaining. Qu An and Xiao Ming were on their way to a verification point, while quite a few nearby Accelerators had already completed verification.

For example, You Duidui, Lin Xiang, and Gu Wuping.

The online viewers who had been waiting in the livestream for over twenty minutes finally caught sight of Xiao Ming and Qu An.

Just as the two of them were about to step onto the main road viewers had predicted would be relatively dangerous, a hunter appeared from the corner behind them.

[Finally got you two!]

[Wow, seriously, just like in the first episode, they do tasks together. Are they task partners?]

[Holy crap, when I watched the show before, I only thought they were fast runners. But I didn't really feel it this deeply until now...]

The viewers spotted Xiao Ming and Qu An before the hunter did, so the two tiny figures only appeared in the shot for a few fleeting seconds before vanishing.

[Huh? Where's our Anbao? Where did my huge Anbao go? How did he disappear in an instant?]

[How are their eyes so sharp and their movements so fast? I feel like I just saw two blurry yellow blobs zip away.]

[Who doesn't?]

[No wonder we hadn't seen them for the first twenty minutes.]

[What are you all talking about? What did I miss!!!]

[It was only ten-odd seconds. You couldn't see anything at all.]

One watched ahead while the other watched behind. The moment the hunter noticed them, Xiao Ming spotted the hunter behind them.

"Go, go, go! Head to the side!"

Qu An reacted quickly as well, and the two immediately turned down a side path.

Huddled in the corner, Xiao Ming thought about the length of that straight road and calculated it against his current stamina and speed. He turned to Qu An beside him. "If we take that road later and there's a hunter, Qu An, you charge ahead. Don't worry about me. I'll cover your retreat."

Qu An had not told Xiao Ming that he had won Acceleration King in the previous episode because he wanted to tease him. Seeing him say that now, he stopped hiding it. "It's fine. I've won it once before. I'll protect you today. You go ahead. Didn't you want to win Acceleration King today?"

Hearing Qu An say that, Xiao Ming realized that some of what he had said earlier had merely been teasing him. He should have been a little annoyed at being played, but he was not annoyed in the slightest. Instead, he was rather happy.

Only after confirming that the hunter had left did the two set off again.

They were quite lucky. They did not encounter any hunters while running across that stretch, and the road afterward was even easier.

That brief shot of them was immediately treated as ship fuel by their fans.

[The two of them, seriously... This is only the third episode, and my eyes are already brimming with tears.]

[My mom asked why I fainted. I told her I'd swooned from how sweet they were.]

[Sure, someone will definitely say it's just a show effect, just brotherhood, but I still want to say it! This is love!]

[I can understand Xiao Ming always helping Qu An, but Qu An treating Xiao Ming like this too is just impossible to resist.]

[I heard Xiao Ming signed a long-term contract. If that's true, then judging by how often they've been together on this show, I think they'll probably have plenty more scenes together later.]

[Isn't this obviously just Accelerators helping each other? Didn't they do this all the time in the previous episode? It's team spirit.]

[Here they come, here they come—the fans refusing to believe the truth are here.]

When the two arrived at the Seven Fairies Opera Troupe, they saw someone waiting at the entrance and did not rashly go in. Only when a maintenance worker happened to come over did they blend in with the worker and sneak inside without attracting the attention of the person at the door.

Meanwhile, Xing Tong had just been stopped because she tried to go in directly, and she had nearly failed to protect the hundred yuan in her hand. She had only managed to sneak in with great difficulty. After completing verification and seeing Xiao Ming and Qu An, she casually asked whether the person at the entrance had stopped them.

Qu An said, "We didn't enter directly. We saw someone at the door holding a stick, so we felt like we might get stopped. We took the chance to blend in with the maintenance crew and get in."

Rewinding to just after the previous three Accelerators completed verification, the opera troupe members became curious about the people who had suddenly entered. They felt those people had bad intentions, so they began searching the area.

Xiao Ming asked, "So you haven't left yet because you can't get out through the main entrance?"

Xing Tong said, "Yes."

After confirming the situation, Xiao Ming did not hesitate and immediately prepared to retreat the way they had come. "Then come with us."

There truly was no one guarding the small entrance. However, not long after they left, they ran straight into a hunter coming around the corner.

[Got you two again!]

[Oh, Xing Tong is here too.]

[Looks like they're either going to do a task or just finished one, right? But why aren't they hiding inside?]

[Run faster!]

[I'm getting anxious for them!]

Xiao Ming and Qu An moved quickly, turning around and running. Instead of continuing into the Seven Fairies Opera Troupe, they ran farther away and headed for a corner to try to shake the hunter off.

During the escape, Xiao Ming and Qu An got separated. Qu An found a nearby spot, crouched in a corner, and used a board to hide himself.

Xiao Ming was not so lucky. Soon after running off, he encountered another hunter.

[qaq is gone.]

[Anbao looks like he hid himself well. What a relief.]

Through the hunter's swaying camera footage, viewers saw Xiao Ming climb directly over a low wall and disappear from the hunter's sight.

[Why is Xiao Ming so agile?]

[He looks like a cat.]

[That insanely fast speed, seriously—and his movements are so clean.]

[I really want to see him act in a martial arts drama.]

[The junior disciple in Only Me in the Martial World was him!]

[Wow! Did he learn those moves on the previous set? So handsome!]

[Even though it's blurry and shaky, I still saw my wife. My wife is so handsome!]

The hunter who had just chased the three of them returned along the original route and entered the Seven Fairies Opera Troupe they had just left. The sound of people arguing could be heard inside.

[It seems Xing Tong got caught.]

[But if someone gets caught, the director wouldn't show it to us, right? What happened?]

[I'm suddenly curious why Qu An and Xiao Ming ran so far away to hide. Shouldn't they have been like Xing Tong?]

[We'll probably have to wait until the full episode airs to find out.]

After finally hiding somewhere safe and taking several deep breaths, Xiao Ming felt he had recovered enough. He opened his phone and saw the messages Qu An had sent him.

Qu An had sent them three minutes ago. He was probably afraid Xiao Ming might be dealing with a hunter, so he had not called directly.

[Qu An: I'm at the tea stall beside Seven Fairies.]

[Qu An: How are things on your end?]

[Xiao Ming: I just hid from a hunter. He got too close, so I climbed over a wall to shake him off. I ran a little far.]

[Xiao Ming: I'm in the storage room behind a farmhouse restaurant beside the Celestial Immortal Opera Troupe.]

Qu An had apparently been waiting for Xiao Ming's reply. The moment he confirmed that Xiao Ming was safe, he immediately called.

"Hello, student Xiao Ming. Stay where you are for now. I feel like the next task should be coming soon. Hide properly first, then I'll call you once Task Two is released."

"Okay. Be careful and hide well."

If this did not count as being good brothers, then who knew what did? The first thing they did after getting out of danger was worry about each other.

After the episode aired, everyone unanimously agreed with what the narration said.

[The narrator is right.]

[Replacing the words 'good brothers' with 'love' doesn't seem wrong at all.]

[Qu An, seriously... I'm crying so hard.]

[I feel like qaq's fans can't even say anything anymore.]

[qaq used to smile on variety shows, but it felt like he treated everyone the same. Yet in Acceleration, he really favors xmx so much.]

[Exactly. With Qu An's status and background, he doesn't need to lower himself for resources. If he treats someone this nicely, I seriously won't believe there's nothing between them.]

[Is this really okay? The two of them are always tied together.]

[The other Accelerators haven't said anything, and the two of them complete tasks insanely fast.]

[How many times has Xiao Ming even participated?]

[All right, stop arguing. Can you just watch the show?]

Later, the other Accelerators gradually arrived and completed verification as well. However, Meng Na was captured by a hunter because of the alarm.

"Notification

Xing Tong, Meng Na, and Shan Yi, three Accelerators, have been captured by hunters. Eleven Accelerators remain."

[Task One Results

All remaining Accelerators returned their one-hundred-yuan banknotes. The alarm crisis has been resolved. Task One succeeded.]

Dong Yong also did not fall into the trap of having to prove his own innocence.

"You said I stole it, but you haven't provided any evidence. You took this item out of my bag, but I could also say that you deliberately put your own belongings into my bag in order to frame me.

Without sufficient evidence, you claimed the item was in my bag and then searched through it without my permission. No matter how you look at it, the problem is yours. And even if you want to say the item was found in my bag, then how do you explain this recording? You deliberately put your own belongings into my bag. What were your intentions?"