Spies Within Spies

Qu An had seized control of the conversation, making them think that "a name related to light" meant a word containing light. From Xiao Ming's "brightness," they had connected it to Jiang Yuan's "light source," drifting away from the original guess about light's form. After all, light should flicker between bright and dim.

"It should be Brother Jiang Yuan. None of us saw him!"

Poor Jiang Yuan had gotten separated from the group at the start and had been fighting alone ever since. He really had been wronged—what a pitiful scapegoat.

"Then let's verify Brother Jiang Yuan and Xiao Ming!" Jiang Yuefeng said anxiously over the phone.

"If you're nearby, you can give it a try. I'm still a little far away right now. I'm planning to head to the Interstellar Universe later." At Xiao Ming's prompting, Qu An went along with their line of thought, reducing suspicion toward himself.

"Classmate Xiao Ming, if that happens, you'll get caught later, won't you?" Qu An said after hanging up.

"I'm looking out for the bigger picture, okay? Besides, we still don't know for sure what'll happen."

He had checked the distances between several locations. Tanshui Cave was really far from the tour group's location. Unless they had been hiding there from the beginning, and now that the others thought Jiang Yuan was one of them too, there was a good chance they could take out two in one go.

[No wonder everyone else got fooled.]

[These two are both so in sync and so ruthless. When they get ruthless, they'll even sacrifice themselves.]

[But I feel like this episode has to be played this way. They were supposed to make sure someone on their team survived until the end.]

[qaq, one second he and xmx are all lovey-dovey, the next second it's "we're not familiar," hahaha.]

[What's even funnier is that xmx ordered it. Who gets it? It suddenly feels completely different.]

[Looking out for the bigger picture... more like looking out for Qu An.]

[xmx really sacrificed himself for Qu An.]

[They even managed to pull off a spies-within-spies move.]

[Their brains are seriously so quick. They immediately came up with the best solution.]

[Not only are they smart, they run really fast too.]

[xmx's Hunter Obstacle Course last episode and qaq's Alert Hunter this episode... for these two, all I can say is, respect.]

The Space Pirates leader saw the mutual suspicion among the players and found it immensely entertaining. The two teams were completely opposed, fighting each other fiercely, and there was a very high chance that both sides would end up badly hurt. He was more than happy to see that happen.

So he issued a notice: "The team with the final Acceleration King will have every Acceleration Energy total of the Acceleration Team members on that team increased by fifty thousand."

Not long after the notice was issued, A-Bai realized that the Space Pirates leader intended to drive a wedge between the two teams. The Interstellar Empire marshal immediately released the final mission.

Mission Four Released

The two tour group zones are shrinking. With 2 minutes remaining, only Miedie Forest and Central Square will remain available for hiding. Seven Hunters will conduct a close search. To resolve the crisis, Acceleration Team members must board the Interstellar Spaceship and travel to the Interstellar Universe to obtain the unsealing device.

As soon as the mission was released, Xiao Ming and Qu An entered the Interstellar Spaceship. Xiao Ming explained the situation to Yi Xiaoda and told them to provide support offline and cooperate on the offline mission.

Jiang Yuefeng and Xing Tong also entered the Interstellar Spaceship soon afterward. Xiao Ming and Qu An were already lying inside the Holographic Pods, having entered the Interstellar Universe.

The moment Jiang Yuefeng entered, he went looking for Qu An. He had been feeling utterly stifled today. He had originally wanted to stay with Qu An the entire time, but they had barely interacted at all. Instead, Xiao Ming had been glued to Qu An all day.

He had no idea what was so good about Xiao Ming. Why was Qu An willing to promote a CP with him? He had seen yesterday's trending topic saying that Qu An had livestreamed in Xiao Ming's place.

With a hint of resentment, Jiang Yuefeng bounced over to Qu An's side, his voice affectionate. "Brother Qu, I barely saw you today. I missed you."

"Probably because I've been doing missions the whole time. It's normal that you didn't see me." Qu An was polite but distant. The advantage of controlling an avatar with his consciousness was that even taking a small step back looked perfectly natural.

Xiao Ming found it amusing. Jiang Yuefeng's moves were truly impossible to understand. Even after being rejected, he still rushed forward on his own.

After marveling at how futuristic the Holographic Technology was, Xing Tong moved over to Xiao Ming and asked about the upcoming process.

Although Xiao Ming was on the red team, Xing Tong felt that once they entered the Interstellar Universe, there was no longer any difference between them. Besides, Shan Yi had gone to Tanshui Cave offline, while You Duidui was waiting to support them.

Xiao Ming stopped watching the show and began searching for the mission entrance. After only a few steps, he saw a lake and a tall mountain. There were three pavilions beside the lake, and a Hunter stood in the central pavilion.

Notice

The password is located within the three pavilions. Acceleration Team members must work together to reach the pavilions. There are no bridges over the lake in the Interstellar Universe. Offline Acceleration Team members from both teams must press their palmprints at the central pavilion to construct bridges.

Li Zichang, Sun Junlei, and Yi Xiaoda from the red team, along with You Duidui from the blue team, all rushed to the offline central pavilion. The duration for which they held down their palmprints determined the bridge's length. Only by continuously pressing their palmprints could they keep extending it.

Bridges were needed between all three pavilions, as well as between the shore and the pavilions.

When segmented bridges appeared in front of them, Jiang Yuefeng cried out, "That's amazing!"

Listening to what Jiang Yuefeng had said and done today, Xiao Ming could not see any sign that he intended to change his image. If anything, he seemed to be getting more childish by the minute. It had nothing to do with the direction of Jiang Yuefeng's supposed transformation that Qu An had told him about.

There were three paths leading toward the pavilions. Xing Tong took one by herself, Qu An took another with Jiang Yuefeng following beside him, and Xiao Ming did not join the excitement, taking the third path alone.

As the two of them walked, they suddenly discovered that the Hunter in the central pavilion had actually jumped into the lake!

The Hunter! Had jumped into the lake! Then started swimming...

Hunters these days really were... talented in so many ways.

Because the Hunter could swim, some of their movements became very inconvenient. Once the Hunter got close, they had to find a way to retreat and escape, because they could not swim. After the Hunter jumped in, a reminder screen appeared before each of them, telling them not to enter the water.

Just as the bridge was a tiny bit away from completion, it suddenly stopped extending. A Hunter had appeared at the offline central pavilion, forcing them to suspend the mission.

They waited there for quite a while, dodging the Hunter back and forth.

Qu An was probably suffering the most. Holographic Technology had not yet enabled tactile feedback, leaving only sight, sound, and smell. So Jiang Yuefeng was constantly chattering, and he kept trying to get close to Qu An.

Even though Qu An could not actually feel himself being touched, the moment he saw Jiang Yuefeng reach out, he wanted to run away immediately.

He truly hated people who kept trying to crowd up against him, and he did not understand their thinking in the slightest.

Xiao Ming could clearly see Qu An's rejection from the other path. He only found Qu An's aggrieved appearance both pitiful and funny.

The viewers and fans had originally thought they would see a tense three-way showdown. Instead, Xiao Ming and Qu An had stayed together from the beginning, keeping far away from Jiang Yuefeng.

Once the three gathered together, Xiao Ming stood at the side grinning foolishly while Qu An faced the storm alone.

[Thought we'd see a showdown, but instead...]

[xmx, be more alert!]

[Even if xmx and qaq have nothing going on, that's ready-made popularity. Is he really just handing it over to someone else?]

[Keep grinning foolishly, just keep grinning. I'm dying from the sweetness!]

[I feel like xmx has absolutely no sense of crisis. Is it because qaq gives him such a strong sense of security?]

[Honestly, what makes it especially funny is that qaq himself looks completely resistant too.]

[qaq, could you be any more biased? At Yanshui Cave, he pulled xmx into his arms, but in the holographic world, he doesn't even want fake jyf touching him.]

[qaq: I'm a germaphobe.]

[xmx: Except when it comes to me.]

[Does no one think Qu An is being really rude? Fengfeng took the initiative, but Qu An avoided him like the plague. Don't attack me, I'm just a passerby.]

[You're calling him Fengfeng and saying you're a passerby... Do fans think viewers are stupid?]

Xing Tong, beside them, paid no attention to any of that. Once the bridge resumed extending, she continued forward and reached the first pavilion. Xiao Ming then reached the second pavilion.

There were questions on the tables in each pavilion. Xing Tong's was a true-or-false question: "In Viewing Snow at West Lake Pavilion, 'I' took a boat to the Lake Pavilion alone." The question was simple, merely a middle school text.

The moment Xiao Ming heard her read the question, he immediately gave the answer. "False. There was also the boatman."

They did not even need to ask the offline players for help. The first question was completed, earning them the first two password characters.

The question at Xiao Ming's second pavilion was also related to a lake, but it was a less familiar piece of classical prose. It came from the "Record of a Tour of West Lake" section in Sun Jiagan's Record of South Lake, asking where the author finally realized he was.

It was a multiple-choice question with four options: "South Screen Mountain," "Wu Mountain," "Hundred Sons Peak," and "Tianzhu Peak."

This classical prose was not widely known, but Xiao Ming had once had a research topic exploring West Lake's tourism value, involving the surrounding scenery and cultural history, so he had looked into it.

The answer was "Tianzhu Peak." Xiao Ming was about to select it when he suddenly saw the Hunter swimming toward him at top speed.

He had originally planned to run, but Xing Tong was to his left, Qu An and the others were to his right, and the Hunter appeared to be coming directly for him. His screen showed that he had been targeted for capture. He felt a little regretful that he could not play a bit longer.

He did not hesitate. Before the Hunter reached him, he immediately pressed the correct answer.

At the same moment he pressed it, the Hunter came ashore and caught him. As Xiao Ming logged out, all he could think was, Good thing I moved fast.

This segment had originally been meant to be difficult, requiring offline cooperation to find the answers. But with two swift moves from Xiao Ming, both answers came out immediately.

The chief director in the studio held a walkie-talkie, his expression less than pleased. "This Xiao Ming really makes people love and hate him. If he hadn't been caught, viewers would probably be saying we gave him a script. What kind of education does he even have? How does he know that classical prose too?"

Producer Li shook his head, equally surprised. Nothing could be found online, and even when they had someone investigate, they could not find anything. Mainly because Xiao Ming rarely took part in other programs or much else, and he did not have a company either.

"Catch Qu An," the chief director ordered.

Qu An had already won Acceleration King for two episodes. It was not that the chief director had anything against him, but the show needed unexpected developments to be more entertaining and generate more discussion.

Take Xiao Ming answering those questions, for example. Many netizens later discussed and praised it, and some even felt it proved that Xiao Ming's Shan Yi action should have been slowed down.

[Before, I only thought he was smart because he played the missions well, but...]

[Someone who knows Record of a Tour of West Lake... how could he possibly be simple?]

[Did the production team give him a script?!]

[I'm dying, didn't you see that line? Go watch the behind-the-scenes footage. The production team was stunned too.]

[xmx is seriously incredible. This is my first time seeing the production team of Full Speed Ahead! clarify that they didn't give someone a script.]

[I don't believe other things, but I don't want to believe this either. He got the answer way too fast.]

[To the one who doesn't believe it... go watch the extended version.]

After logging out, Xiao Ming left the Interstellar Spaceship and began wandering around. A place he had visited before looked very similar to this one, so after looking around for a while, he was no longer in the mood. The accompanying cameraman heard instructions from the director through his earpiece and asked Xiao Ming how he had known the answers to those two questions.

Only then did Xiao Ming realize that he might have shown off a little too much. The production team had probably wanted them to slowly search for the answers, with the online and offline players working together.

He stopped walking, found a nearby bench, and sat down without hiding anything.

"I had a research topic before that was related to this classical prose. Everyone knows how writing a thesis works—you read the same material over and over, ponder it over and over, revise it over and over. Forget knowing that question; I actually still remember the entire text even now. If you need me to, I can recite it on the spot. My hands are empty, so I really didn't bring any script with me."

He made a joke. When he saw the cameraman signal for him to recite it, he somehow felt that the entertainment industry was a little boring.

Sigh, there was too little trust between people.

Still, reciting it was not difficult for him. There were nine minutes left before the end, more than enough time for that short passage.

In his pleasant, clear voice, Xiao Ming recited the classical prose. He did not speak in a completely flat tone, pausing where pauses were needed. His intonation did not rise and fall dramatically, but it was still comfortable to listen to.

Not long after Xiao Ming, Qu An also logged out. When he came out, he heard Xiao Ming's voice, like emerald bamboo with a touch of the crispness of a sweet spring.

He stood behind him and listened until the end. The moment Xiao Ming finished reciting, he clapped, startling Xiao Ming so badly that he shot to his feet.

Only after seeing who was behind him did Xiao Ming relax. His phone had rung just now, but he had not paid much attention, assuming it was a notification that he had been caught. He had not expected both of them to be caught.

The two had been caught only moments apart. Qu An walked over and sat beside him, sounding regretful. "We're comrades in misfortune."

But he did not look sad at all. Although the chief director had ordered the Hunter to catch Qu An, the Hunter had actually been closer to Xing Tong at the time. Qu An had gone over to draw the Hunter away.

It was not that he had no desire to win. There was simply nothing left that was fun. He knew the question he had seen too. So he had simply done Xing Tong and the chief director one favor each. Coming out to play with Xiao Ming was much more interesting.