Once all the guests had arrived, Song An signaled to the camera crew, and the livestream for "Investigating the Strange" officially began.
[Finally, we're live. I thought the production team had been roasted so badly they didn't dare stream.]
[Aaaaaah, fresh footage of baby Xingchen! Those chubby cheeks are so cute. I wanna squish them!]
[Wow, Sha Chuan is so handsome and so beautiful. A true stunner!]
[Ooh, our rich lady Vivian is actually wearing a silk dress from M today. That dress is really delicate and snags so easily! I won't dare watch when the outdoor activities start.]
The camera slowly panned over until it finally reached Qi Gu.
Qi Gu waved at the camera, his voice clear and melodious, his face expressionless. "Hello, everyone. I'm Qi Gu, head of Floating Mist Temple and the specially invited occult master for 'Investigating the Strange.'"
Qi Gu was now essentially a fully automated insult magnet. He had barely said hello before the comments started.
[Why the blank face? Got something on your mind? Is this how you treat your audience? You weren't like this back when you were selling that gentle persona.]
[Didn't that persona already collapse into dust? Hahaha.]
[My smile just vanished. Aaaaaah, production team, why did you have to put something filthy on my screen?!]
[What the hell is in his pockets? Why are they so stuffed?]
[Why does he have a gourd hanging off him? Does he think hanging a gourd on himself is enough to sell an occult expert persona?]
[Here to expose a fraud. Floating Mist Temple is just some no-name Taoist temple. I searched the Taoist forums forever and couldn't find it, and Qi Gu isn't an ordained Taoist priest either. I bet he doesn't even know what ordination is.]
[Silently seconding this.]
[Camera operator, switch the shot already. Don't make me slap you!]
[Girl above, you've got a real temper. I like it.]
The camera moved again, settling on Lin Hanzhi, who was frowning slightly. He had just raised a hand to greet the audience when a violent coughing fit interrupted him.
After a long while, he straightened, like a winter plum blossom in the snow. "Sorry, my health isn't very good. Hello, everyone. I'm Lin Hanzhi."
[Is this the non-celebrity guy they invited? He looks like such a sickly beauty, hehehe. I have a daring idea!]
[Why is he holding a bag of candy? Does he have low blood sugar?]
[He's good-looking, sure, but if his health is this bad, he really shouldn't be on the show. I'm honestly scared he'll start running and die right on my phone screen.]
[You're so savage, commenter above.]
Once the guests had finished introducing themselves, the directors had each guest's assigned camera operator follow them. Then a voice-over explained, "Today, our crew will be visiting a clinic in a small town in Province Z that has been abandoned for years. According to the local residents, sounds of chopping meat and dragging heavy objects can often be heard inside, along with fleeting figures... and ghostly faces pressed against the windows when you look up close. To make the show more entertaining, we've placed clue cards in the clinic's various rooms. The guests must explore the entire map and complete the puzzle before they can leave."
The voice-over deliberately dropped to an eerie, sinister pitch, and several matching images found online appeared on screen at just the right moments.
[Holy shit, surprise pictures are the deadliest.]
[Scared me so badly I nearly dropped my bun.]
[Seriously, is this all the effort you're putting in? You're taking us to some place we've never even heard of? At least pick one of Huaxia's ten most sinister places or something.]
[Lmao, they invited Qi Gu, and you still expect them to put in any effort?]
[I hope the set dressing delivers. I want to see that bastard Qi Gu scared into screaming and pissing himself, thanks.]
[Now that you mention it... my finger just quietly stopped over the exit button.]
[Exactly. Production team, hurry up and bring on the part I want to see!]
Clearly, these comments had caught the attention of quite a few viewers who had planned to leave after insulting Qi Gu. They quietly stayed in the livestream, all eagerly waiting to see him embarrass himself.
Song An glanced at the screen, where the comments were scrolling rapidly, and thought, Inviting Qi Gu really was the right call. Whether he's a real master or has any actual ability, he certainly brings traffic and draws hate.
Look, a whole year had passed, and the netizens' distaste for him was still reflected so clearly in the livestream numbers!
Song An's foxlike eyes curved with his smile, making him look all the more cunning.
"It's still several hours by bus from here to Lotus Town. Everyone, hurry aboard and find a seat. We're about to leave."
Since the budget wouldn't cover a professional host, Song An simply took over the host's job of cueing the proceedings from off camera.
There was plenty of room on the bus, even with the staff aboard. Qi Gu didn't like sitting too close to other people, so he took a row to himself.
He wasn't sure whether he was imagining it, but he kept feeling that Lin Hanzhi, who had boarded behind him, had intended to sit in the same row.
When he plopped down in the aisle seat, Lin Hanzhi's steps noticeably faltered.
Only then did he continue forward as though nothing had happened and sit in the row behind him.
As the bus swayed along, everyone began to feel sleepy, but since they were livestreaming, they forced themselves to stay alert and interact with their fans.
As for Qi Gu, his head tilted to one side as soon as he boarded, and before long, he was sleeping so soundly he was drooling.
This reality show appearance was a one-off gig anyway, so why bother working the audience or crafting a persona? He chose to go with the flow.
In the seat behind him, Lin Hanzhi had also slumped forward and fallen asleep.
But he was a non-celebrity, so the netizens couldn't even be bothered to criticize him.
[Seriously, is Qi Gu this unprofessional? All the other guests are working hard to engage the audience, and he just goes to sleep???]
[Maybe it's because he doesn't have any fans to interact with.]
[Lin Xiao, you...]
When Qi Gu woke, the bus had already left the provincial highway and turned onto a narrow concrete road, where dense trees on both sides blocked out every trace of daylight.
It had been overcast throughout the journey, and now, as they approached the town, the trees blocked out the light as well. There would probably be quite a few complications on this trip.
Qi Gu thought this with casual indifference and didn't take it to heart.
Drawing his attention back from their surroundings, he felt as though someone was staring at him and instinctively looked toward the source of that undisguised gaze.
He looked ahead-and found it was Sha Chuan, the long-haired male influencer known for his looks.
His gaze could hardly be called friendly; his eyes were full of sinister calculation. Faced with this unprovoked malice, Qi Gu hadn't intended to bother with him, but his indifference only made Sha Chuan stare with increasing intensity.
Just then, a bit of fluff floating through the air flew into his eye. It irritated Qi Gu's eye, and he rolled his eyeballs upward several times before finally blinking it out.
Sha Chuan had his back to his own camera operator, so his gaze wasn't caught on camera, but the camera keenly captured Qi Gu rolling his eyes.
[??? Holy shit, Qi Gu really is a bastard. What did Sha Chuan even do to deserve him rolling his eyes at him?]
[My poor beauty. Hugs.]
[Why would they invite someone as nasty and lazy as Qi Gu onto the show?]
The bus drove on for another half hour. During that time, Qi Gu admired the scenery outside the window while pulling Want Want rice crackers, QQ gummies, chocolate, and fruit jelly from his pockets and eating them one after another, looking exactly like an elementary school kid on a spring outing.
[So his pockets were full of food. Nice.]
[Seriously, you're here to be a guest, not go on a spring outing!]
[Has this guy suddenly decided to try selling a foodie persona?]
[To be fair, he didn't litter. Points for that.]
[Are your standards for him that low? You're praising him just for not littering?]
By the time Qi Gu finished a bag of beef jerky with his cheeks puffed out, the bus finally left the narrow concrete road for Lotus Town's slightly wider main road. Lin Hanzhi was the only person still asleep.
He sat in the seat behind and to Qi Gu's left, his alluring eyes closed, his long lashes casting fan-shaped shadows over his pale, jade-like skin.
At the directors' instruction, Qi Gu gently nudged his head. "Wake up."
He had a good first impression of Lin Hanzhi and felt that, like himself, the man must belong to the school of slacking off.
Still slumped over the seat back in front of him, Lin Hanzhi blinked slowly, then met Qi Gu's gaze head-on.
Qi Gu wasn't sure whether he was imagining it, but he kept feeling that Lin Hanzhi's originally glassy eyes had lit up the instant they saw him.
"Sorry, did I oversleep?" Lin Hanzhi asked politely.
"It's fine. We're not there yet. If the director hadn't asked me to wake you, you could've slept a little longer." With that, Qi Gu turned back around.
"Oh," Lin Hanzhi said, remaining draped over the seat back in front of him as his gaze drifted toward Qi Gu.
Before you continue