The ten guests gathered in the studio the production team had set up well in advance at Tomato TV and began their second important task of the day: choosing someone who made their heart flutter.
This was the show's first couple selection, and it would also determine their heart-throbbing partners for the tasks in the next episode.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, chief director Ren Tao took out a megaphone. "Ahem! Could everyone quiet down for a moment?"
Hearing the voice coming through the megaphone, everyone who had been chatting quietly fell silent and sat in the seats arranged in the middle of the studio, waiting for the director to speak.
"How was your experience at the Pheromone Museum today? Did you find the pheromone scent of someone you liked?"
Everyone shared their impressions, obligingly playing along with the director.
"Looks like everyone had a great time on the first day. Our online viewers had a great time watching, too."
Thinking of the vicious fighting in the barrage comments and the popularity that had skyrocketed in such a short time, Director Ren looked gratified. "Everyone's been enthusiastically sharing their opinions about the show."
Apart from Sheng Nian, who knew the plot, the other nine froze before realizing what had happened. Had the production team been secretly livestreaming?
The viewers in the livestream realized it too and began calling Ren Tao a sly old fox.
With the show off to a flying start, Ren Tao was in an excellent mood. He paid no mind to the death glares the guests shot him and raised his megaphone again. "Next up is the first couple selection for Heart-Throbbing Observation Diary. This will determine your task partners for the next episode, so choose carefully."
"I'll now announce the rules for choosing your heart-throbbing partner. Please listen carefully."
"The rules are simple: any two people who found each other's bottles during the pheromone perfume search just now will automatically become a temporary heart-throbbing couple. Among the remaining guests, those who didn't find a perfume have the right to invite someone else to be their heart-throbbing partner. The person invited may accept or refuse. Anyone who successfully pairs up during the selection round will likewise become a temporary heart-throbbing couple for the next episode. Anyone who fails to pair up will be on their own, and the production team will give you corresponding solo tasks to complete."
"One final friendly reminder: choosing your heart-throbbing partner is very important. It would be best if everyone successfully paired up. After all, the solo tasks are much harder than the paired ones."
Since the person invited could refuse, the atmosphere instantly grew charged.
Once the director finished announcing the rules, apart from Mo Yuanyuan and Qi Xiao, who had found each other's pheromone perfumes, the other eight would all have to determine during the selection round whether they would pair up or remain alone. Of them, Sheng Nian, He Gu, Nie Ge, and Ye Heng had failed to find a pheromone perfume and thus had the right to choose.
Director Ren knew how to make a show generate buzz, and he immediately announced that Sheng Nian would choose first.
Director Ren's announcement, which only fanned the flames, made the atmosphere on set even more delicate.
Even Ye Heng, who paid little attention to the entertainment industry, had learned before the show began that Sheng Nian had come for Jiang Shu. This young master had done nothing since entering the entertainment industry but spend his days chasing after Jiang Shu.
Presumably, Sheng Nian would definitely choose Jiang Shu.
Rumor had it that Jiang Shu found Sheng Nian extremely annoying and had repeatedly rejected him and shown impatience with him on camera.
But back in the hovercar, Jiang Shu had taken the initiative to speak to Sheng Nian, and the atmosphere between them hadn't seemed as strained as the rumors suggested. What would Jiang Shu choose?
[Oh no, oh no, Sheng Nian's definitely going to choose our guy. What do we do?]
[Huh? What are you all worried about? Can't he refuse?]
[What do you know? Rejecting an Omega on camera is really ungentlemanly. That damned Sheng Nian definitely won't pass up this chance to use public opinion to force our guy to choose him.]
[I seriously can't take this anymore. Jiang Shu's rejected Sheng Nian on camera more than once or twice. By your logic, he lost all that Alpha gentlemanliness ages ago. Why would it take until today?]
[+1, Jiang's fans are really putting me off...]
[+my Star Network account, you don't even know whether Sheng Nian will choose Jiang Shu, and you're already worrying.]
[Um... be that as it may, I feel like there's a 99.99% chance Sheng Nian will choose Jiang Shu.]
When Sheng Nian heard Director Ren's announcement, he wished his vision would go black and he could pass out. Why? Why did he have to put me through another battlefield like this?
He didn't want to choose Jiang Shu, but he had the system monitoring him. At this stage, he had to maintain his persona of being infatuated with the main gong and couldn't act out of character. But he really didn't want to pair up with a scumbag Alpha like Jiang Shu.
As for the others on the show, Nie Ge and Chu Yue were a couple, so he certainly couldn't split them up.
Best Actor Mu Ran was the devoted supporting male character who would fall for He Gu later in the show, while Tang Jiang was a female Alpha and didn't match his sexual orientation.
Ye Heng was even worse. In the original plot, this man could practically be called He Gu's biggest cheat. He was practically the definition of a creepy, obsessive gong, utterly devoted to He Gu over a little kindness He Gu had once tossed his way. He had even had a hand in bringing down Sheng Nian's family company. Later, he had forcibly pursued and possessed He Gu, only to end up as a plot NPC who helped the main gong and shou's romance along before making a lonely exit.
Sheng Nian thought it over and over, but there wasn't a single person he wanted to choose.
If there's really no other way, I'll have to choose Tang Jiang. But choosing Tang Jiang would be troublesome too. How can I do that without acting out of character...?
While Sheng Nian was agonizing over it, System 01100's frantic voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
[Ding~ Host, host, there's been a change! The Main God System is undergoing a comprehensive update and upgrade, so us little systems assigned out here have to update and upgrade along with it. During this time, the system will enter sleep mode, and its main functions will revert to their original AI state. It won't be as intelligent as yours truly, but it'll still function normally.] [No time to talk. I'll send you the cheat I applied for right now. Remember, host, the cheat will appear after the golden light. As for what kind of cheat it is, I don't have time to check. You'll have to study it yourself. I don't have much time left. Make sure you complete your tasks properly, host. Hopefully, by the time I wake up, you'll have escaped your fate from the original novel. Good luck, and goodbye~]
With that, the system casually tossed out the golden light representing the cheat and entered sleep mode.
01100 had spoken incredibly fast. It seemed it really was in a hurry to update and upgrade; it hadn't even left a pause for Sheng Nian to get a word in.
"Huh? Then, um, will the punishment system go offline?"
"Hello? Hello? 01100? Xiao Ling?"
Sheng Nian called out several times in his mind without hearing a response. Presumably, the system had already entered sleep mode. He sighed. What did I say? This lousy system really is unreliable. Good thing I pestered it into giving me a cheat back then.
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