Li Muting took off Chu Ci's white hat, revealing the short black hair that had been pressed beneath it. His hair was thick and dense, and perhaps because the hat had pressed it down for a little too long, a few tufts stuck up, giving him an indescribably cute look.
"Exchange Card."
Chu Ci kept his answer brief.
"Mm."
Ye Qingzhou nodded.
The moment he heard the name "Exchange Card," he had guessed that the card might have a hidden function.
A Skill Card, as its name suggested, was an item used to improve one's own skills. Such cards usually made characters stronger in battle. If the Exchange Card could only perform a single exchange, its function would have been a little weak.
But that was only Ye Qingzhou's guess. Even if the production team's Exchange Card could only perform one exchange, there would have been nothing wrong with that. After all, Skill Cards varied in strength.
He had not expected Chu Ci to ask the staff, either.
All he could say was that his master truly lived up to his title...
Even in a completely unfamiliar world, he was as clever as ever.
[I ship these two so hard.]
[As a sapiosexual, I really can't resist types like Chu Ci and Ye Qingzhou. I hereby declare myself a die-hard Chu Ci fan.]
[Ahhhhh! Chu Ci is so smart! I just love people with high IQs!]
[Don't you think Chu Ci has changed a lot? I remember when the director questioned him at the beginning, he couldn't answer a single question. Now he seems like a different person. Do you think someone possessed him? [confused][confused][confused]]
[Girl above, have you been reading too many novels? Maybe Chu Ci did it on purpose. What's that phrase again, praise first to criticize later? We went in assuming he was an idiot, so what happened afterward made for better TV.]
[I don't think Chu Ci was acting.]
[So is filming for this episode almost over? Zhou Jin and Li Muting should be nearly there by now, right? If they find out they ran all that way just to hand Ye Qingzhou and Chu Ci the win, will they pass out from anger on the spot?]
[These days, you really can't go on the same variety show as Ye Qingzhou and Chu Ci without some ability to handle psychological pressure.]
[Wait... something just occurred to me. Did Chu Ci let Li Muting take his hat off to save his strength? After all, the final destination is still two kilometers away.]
To make the show less predictable, the director had placed the task location far from the final cash hand-in point. It took half a minute to walk there and ten-odd minutes to run.
The viewers had guessed correctly.
Distance was the key factor that made Chu Ci change his mind.
After transmigrating, Chu Ci had discovered that this body had relatively poor stamina. It could not run for long, so he had remembered the Exchange Card he had drawn.
The Exchange Card's function was indeed to "exchange," but its biggest difference from the other three cards was that a single Exchange Card could be used twice.
In short, if the other team had less money than his team, Chu Ci could use the Exchange Card again to exchange back the money they had stolen.
Besides that, the Exchange Card had another major advantage: its use could be delayed.
The Double Card, Zeroing Card, and Plunder Card all activated and were used automatically when the opposing team removed the hat, taking immediate effect. With the Exchange Card, however, the user could choose exactly when to use it.
In other words, although Zhou Jin and Li Muting had stolen Ye Qingzhou and Chu Ci's 500 yuan, as long as Chu Ci used the Exchange Card again before they reached the task point, that 500 yuan would belong to Ye Qingzhou and Chu Ci once more.
Chu Ci had already used the Skill Card again just now, but Zhou Jin and Li Muting were running so fast that even though the production staff wanted to tell them Chu Ci had used the Exchange Card again, they could not keep up with the pair.
"Quick, faster!"
For the first time, Zhou Jin felt that victory was so close.
He glanced behind him as he ran. Finding no sign of Ye Qingzhou or Chu Ci, he let out a relieved breath and picked up his pace even more.
"Wait..."
The strenuous running had brought sticky sweat to Li Muting's forehead. She was not as physically fit as Zhou Jin, and her breathing grew increasingly labored, her words coming in broken gasps. "I... I can't keep going... you... slow down... they're not... not even chasing us..."
"Forget it."
They were still a kilometer from their destination. Looking at Li Muting's flushed face, Zhou Jin sighed. "I'll carry you on my back."
The workout photos Zhou Jin posted online were not just for show. He went for a run every morning, sometimes even with weights. The production team's two-kilometer distance was very easy for him.
"No."
Li Muting did not want to hold Zhou Jin back, so she came up with a compromise. "Go to the task point by yourself first. I'll follow slowly. They probably haven't caught on yet."
The theme of this episode was "share the blessings and shoulder the hardships," so Zhou Jin and Li Muting had to appear at the task point together and hand the money to the production team for the task to count as complete.
"Don't you trust me?"
Zhou Jin raised an eyebrow and teased with a smile, "You're so light. Carrying you would be child's play."
Female celebrities in the entertainment industry were very strict about managing their weight. Li Muting was 165 centimeters tall but weighed only 45 kilograms.
At that, Li Muting stopped refusing.
"Hi."
Watching Zhou Jin approach with Li Muting on his back, the director gave them a friendly wave.
As Zhou Jin drew closer, the director was about to explain the Exchange Card, but Zhou Jin beat him to it and slapped the money onto the table. "Mission accomplished."
"Ahem, ahem..."
The director cleared his throat twice, looking a little awkward. "Well... Mr. Zhou..."
An ominous feeling flashed through Zhou Jin's heart.
Sure enough-
The director's next words confirmed his premonition.
"This money belongs to Ye Qingzhou and Chu Ci. They used the Exchange Card again, so this time, the winners aren't you, but Ye Qingzhou and Chu Ci's team..."
The more the director spoke, the guiltier he felt.
Zhou Jin: "?"
Li Muting: "?"
[Oh no, they've ended up working for someone else again.]
[Zhou Jin: Why didn't you tell me something this important sooner?]
[Hahahaha, I think Zhou Jin ran too fast. The staff did want to explain it to him, but he was just too fast.]
[So is this episode over? Ye Qingzhou and Chu Ci won in the end?]
[This is the first time I've seen someone hand the money to the production team themselves, only for another team to win...]