Can I Just Eliminate That Useless Lu Yuanhang?!

When Lu Yuanhang eagerly picked up his phone, he found that the trending hashtags about him had already been up for quite a while-

#Lu Yuanhang cheated at shooting#

#He deliberately missed but somehow scored a ten#

#Was this financial manipulation or an insider on the production team#

Although all three trending hashtags were sensationally worded, and the curses in the comments piled sky-high, they still couldn't catch up to the top-ranked topics marked "Exploding."

#Jian Li is a hot-as-hell sharpshooter#

#Jian Li is practically using cheats#

#Jian Li fan community established#

Those blazing-hot topics sent Lu Yuanhang into a rage. He couldn't even be bothered to read the comments insulting him. He grabbed his phone and called his manager.

The call was answered quickly. "Second Young Master Lu-"

"Are you all dead? Jian Li's reputation is about to be cleared, and you can't even see it? You're just letting those topics stay up?!" Lu Yuanhang gritted his teeth, wishing he could crawl through the connection and curse them out in person.

His manager sounded helpless. "Second Young Master, PR is handling your public opinion crisis. We simply don't have time to deal with anything else."

Lu Yuanhang sneered. "Did I hire a bunch of useless idiots? It's just a matter of taking the blame. Can't you find some random person to shoulder it?! Do I have to teach you everything?!"

"Yes, yes, of course!" His manager's tone turned ingratiating. "You're absolutely right, Second Young Master Lu. We'll find someone to take the fall right away!"

"You have half an hour. Clean it up, or go to accounting and collect your final paycheck!" With that, Lu Yuanhang hung up.

Watching the phone return to its previous screen, his manager rolled his eyes hard. "Idiot!"

Besides acting and stirring up trouble, what the fuck can you even do?!

If it weren't for your brother, do you think we'd give you the time of day?!

One of his subordinates leaned over. "Boss, are we still posting the statement?"

"Of course!" A mocking smile tugged at the manager's lips. "Where else are you going to find a financial backer this generous?"

"Got it." His subordinate immediately caught on.

Less than ten minutes later, Lu Yuanhang's studio posted an update on Weibo.

[Lu Yuanhang V: To all netizens, please approach this matter rationally. I performed normally during shooting class and had no knowledge whatsoever that the target sheets had been switched. If anyone continues spreading rumors or slandering me, my studio and I will take legal action to defend our rights! Rumors stop with the wise. Please do not become accomplices to cyberbullying!]

Just as the comments began piling up, someone claiming to be a production staff member on Lone Warrior also issued an apology, voluntarily taking responsibility for the target-sheet incident and even offering to resign and leave the industry.

Before long, marketing accounts had painted Lu Yuanhang as "the most innocent victim in history."

Wave after wave of paid commenters joined the fray, scrubbing away dissent in the comments...

Jian Li wasn't particularly concerned about the turmoil online.

Since transmigrating, his only goal had been to turn the original owner's scrawny body into one of steel, then wait for a chance to leave the entertainment industry, head overseas to a smoke-filled battlefield, and return to his old trade as a mercenary.

So he raced to finish his meal, sprang to his feet without wasting a second, and hurriedly asked the instructor, "What are we training this afternoon?!"

"A weighted run? Shoulder throws? Or scaling obstacle walls?"

As Jian Li asked, the director behind the monitors flipped open the planning document, baffled.

"How does he know all the upcoming training?"

"Did someone leak it to him?!"

Fuck!

How many insiders are there?!

How many times do I have to catch them?!

The director was feeling rather desperate, but Feng Dayuan laughed in the cafeteria. "You're that eager to train?"

As he spoke, he glanced at Jian Li's somewhat lean frame. "Can you handle it without a midday break?"

"Once you're on a battlefield, nobody cares whether you've had a nap or whether you can handle it." Jian Li quirked his lips, slipped one hand into his pocket, and headed out. "I'm done eating. I'll wait for you outside."

The other guests at his table watched his departing figure, their gazes turning complicated and strange.

Comments streamed through the livestream.

[Isn't Jian Li overdoing the act a little? What a joke! We live in peacetime. War is nowhere near us!]

[Isn't building a persona the whole point of coming on a variety show like this? Showing how patriotic, vigilant, and invincible you are! But his acting is a little fake. This is just a show, after all. There's no need to get so fired up!]

[Just because Jian Li doesn't want a midday break doesn't mean the other guests don't. What gives him the right to decide for everyone else?!]

[Our Xiao has always been rebellious. He would never... wait, where's he going? Don't tell me he's going after Jian Li?]

[The kid's following him too? And Luo Xiaohong?]

[You two older guys, stop joining in! Don't you know how old you are? Do you have to wear yourselves out?]

[Who would've thought? Jian Li's actually pretty good at rallying people...]

And so, just after resolving his trending-topic crisis, Lu Yuanhang saw the guests file out one after another and stand on the training ground beneath a blazing sun hot enough to roast them alive.

"W-what are you doing?" he asked, puzzled and alarmed.

A sense of foreboding filled his chest.

"Extra training," Zhou Nan kindly replied from the back of the group. He was a retired officer from the XX Theater Command and now an informant for the Institute of Domestic and International Affairs.

Lu Yuanhang froze. "Aren't we taking a break?"

Zhou Nan's kindness had limits. He wouldn't answer a question a second time after he had already explained it.

He walked straight past Lu Yuanhang onto the training ground and shouldered a weighted pack.

By then, Feng Dayuan was already standing before the group, explaining the rules. "A long-distance running route has been mapped out on this island in advance, with a marker every ten meters. As long as you follow the arrows, you shouldn't get lost."

He glanced at his watch as he spoke. "The time limit for the weighted run is four hours. For every ten minutes you're late, you'll be penalized ten push-ups."

Nobody complained, and Lu Yuanhang couldn't very well be the odd one out. Reluctantly, he joined the group and shouldered his own weighted pack.

The heavy weight on his shoulders soured his expression. Then he suddenly remembered the text his manager had sent.

[You must abandon the sickly persona, or it'll be difficult to turn public opinion around.]

Fine. I can't get anyone to donate blood right now anyway, so there's no point making myself look so frail.

It's just a run with ten kilograms on my back, isn't it?

If someone with Panda Blood like me makes it to the end, my fans will be insanely moved.

At that thought, a sly smile curved Lu Yuanhang's lips.

"The timer has started. You can set off."

Feng Dayuan turned toward the exit as the guests started running.

Each of them had a camera clipped to their collar for the split-screen feeds, saving the camera operators some effort.

For the next stretch, they would be on their own...

The director approached from behind. "Captain Feng? What do you think?"

Feng Dayuan narrowed his eyes. "Hard to say. None of them seem ordinary."

The director wore a mysterious expression. "We still have time. We can observe them slowly."

"All right." Feng Dayuan paused, then suddenly thought of something and asked,

"Can I just eliminate that useless Lu Yuanhang?!"

"No!" The director shook his head firmly. "If we do that,"

"Everyone else will stand out even more!"