Chapter Summaries

Duan Xuanyu learned that his new Illusion Technique could alter people’s perceptions, but rejected it as useless and impossible to replace the time-reversal skill. Meanwhile, Su Mian recruited Gu Yuanqiu’s help to stop Gu Yichen from debuting as a singer, and the competition ended with Duan Hongxu trying to keep Gu Yichen from helping Fang Nuonuo claim the final king spot.

• Duan Xuanyu learned that the Illusion Technique could permanently change the perceptions of people within ten kilometers, but he rejected the skill and could not return to the past.
• Su Mian messaged Gu Yuanqiu that Gu Yichen planned to debut as a singer, and Gu Yuanqiu offered the Gu Group’s global brand ambassador deal if she stopped him.
• Duan Xuanyu, Yu Liqi, and Cheng Qin finished the running competition in second, third, and near-last place, while Lin Xi had run in the wrong direction.
• Fang Nuonuo fell behind and worried she would have to carry the suitcases, so Gu Yichen promised to hold Duan Hongxu back and told her to run.
• Gu Yichen grabbed Duan Hongxu’s collar to give Fang Nuonuo a chance to catch up, but Duan Hongxu smiled and challenged him.

Duan Hongxu escaped Gu Yichen by tearing off his shirt, and the guests chose attendants before Su Mian made Gu Yichen shout to damage his voice and lower his favorability. At the airport, Su Mian quietly watched influencer Disi livestream and sign autographs, then stood and walked toward her.

• Duan Hongxu tore off his shirt to escape Gu Yichen, leaving Gu stunned and dismissive of the tactic.
• The four kings chose attendants in ranking order: Su Mian chose Gu Yichen, Duan Xuanyu chose Lin Xi, Yu Liqi chose Cheng Qin, and Duan Hongxu chose Fang Nuonuo.
• Su Mian ordered Gu Yichen to shout everything he said, then revealed she meant to ruin his singing voice; his favorability fell to zero, but his disgust points did not rise.
• Su Mian reached the gate first and moved away when Disi told her not to sit near her livestream.
• Disi promoted her eyebrow pencil and upcoming remarriage livestream, then signed autographs for a crowd while Su Mian received no attention.
• Su Mian stood up and walked toward Disi.

Su Mian tricked Disi into signing an IOU after exposing her fake fans and scolding her for acting entitled. At the airport, she stopped Duan Xuanyu from confronting people from Country K and sent him to fetch a tennis ball while she watched the argument.

• Su Mian got Disi to sign an IOU, then made her admit that the people shouting for her were hired extras rather than fans.
• Disi apologized and received the paper back, realized it was an IOU, and hurried away after discovering that Su Mian was with a production crew.
• The guests put on real-time translators and understood that locals and people from Country K were arguing over the origins of malatang and Chinese characters.
• Duan Xuanyu tried to fight the people from Country K, but Su Mian told him to sit down and then sent him to fetch a tennis ball.
• Su Mian looked toward the people from Country K as Duan Xuanyu went after the ball.

Su Mian stirred up an argument between guests from the Land of Sand and Country K by mocking Country K’s claims over other cultures, while Duan Xuanyu understood why she was keeping him from losing his temper. On the plane, Su Mian urged Gu Yichen to disguise himself as someone from Country K, but he found shouting at rude passengers so liberating that his Disgust Points vanished and his Affection Points rose again.

• Su Mian told two women from the Land of Sand that Country K claimed their traditional headscarves, prompting them to condemn Country K.
• The guests repeated absurd claims about Country K stealing other countries’ traditions, and an argument escalated into a fight while they pretended to calm everyone down.
• Duan Xuanyu returned with the ball, joined the heckling briefly, and realized Su Mian had kept him calm to protect him in an era where public opinion mattered.
• After boarding, Su Mian told Gu Yichen to slick down his hair or draw a square on his philtrum, and his Disgust Points rose to 5.
• Gu Yichen slicked down his hair and shouted at passengers and a flight attendant in broken Country K language, enjoying the release.
• Gu Yichen’s Disgust Points disappeared and his Affection Points returned to 60 as Su Mian watched from behind him.

After arriving in the Land of Sand, the guests boarded a minibus arranged to take them to their hotel, unaware that the pickup was a trap. When armed locals demanded their phones and passports, the guests gave up resisting.

• Lin Xi wondered why Su Mian had lost interest in him, while Gu Yichen insisted that she was all right and Fang Nuonuo decided to find a way to win Gu Yichen over.
• Su Mian rejected the system’s offer to show her others’ favorability, saying she would miss the people she had met.
• After the flight, the production team told the guests to meet under a billboard and promised a lavish hotel stay and a campus romance at the Royal School.
• Lin Xi led the guests to the billboard, where they boarded a minibus with no phone signal.
• A man demanded the guests’ phones and passports, but Su Mian and the others put away their weapons when locals surrounded them with Gatling guns.

Su Mian and the other guests were kidnapped after boarding the wrong bus and taken to a compound where people were sorted for a scam operation and possible organ harvesting. Su Mian disguised herself as an idiot to reach the compound, then attacked Disi as she tried to summon help.

• The production team announced that the livestream was suspended after the guests went missing, while the guests were taken to a desert compound called Stringy Squid.
• Disi ordered the captives divided by appearance, sending the ugly people to the compound and the pretty people to a manor; Su Mian explained the scam to Duan Xuanyu.
• Su Mian told Duan Xuanyu to keep everyone safe, then pretended to be an idiot so the guards would send her to the compound with Gu Yichen.
• Su Mian and Gu Yichen were taken for blood tests as other captives were beaten and forced inside, and Su Mian spotted Disi passing nearby.
• Su Mian followed Disi into a room, stopped her from reaching a button, and stabbed toward her heart with the blade hidden in her self-defense baton.

Su Mian threatened Disi into offering protection, but Disi suddenly recoiled from her in disgust. Meanwhile, Duan Xuanyu used the Illusion Technique to make the estate’s perpetrators see their intended victims as piles of poop, throwing the gathering into chaos.

• Su Mian held a knife to Disi’s throat as Disi claimed she had been forced into telecom fraud and offered to protect Su Mian in the compound.
• Disi abruptly shoved Su Mian away, called her a monster, and retched, leaving Su Mian confused.
• Duan Xuanyu and the other victims were brought into a luxurious estate, where powerful figures selected people from the group.
• Duan Xuanyu asked his system to use the Illusion Technique on the perpetrators, but the system mistakenly made the victims look like poop to them.
• The perpetrators panicked and fled from the victims, who remained unharmed and bewildered.

Duan Xuanyu helped the captives escape the Stringy Squid Compound, and the stranded guests later searched for help and food on the outskirts of a city. Lin Xi went to investigate a church offering free eggs and returned bruised.

• Duan Xuanyu urged the victims to flee after the perpetrators began vomiting, and everyone escaped the Stringy Squid Compound in minibuses.
• Duan Xuanyu found Su Mian and led her onto a bus, keeping his role in their escape a secret.
• The minibuses ran out of fuel near the city, leaving the guests without phones, money, or passports as they discussed finding the production crew.
• Su Mian spotted a nearby church giving away free eggs, and Lin Xi volunteered to investigate it alone.
• Lin Xi returned from the church with a bruised nose and a swollen face.

After escaping the criminals, Su Mian and the guests found shelter and food at a church, while Duan Xuanyu learned that his illusion had made elites see feces as attractive people. The production team and police searched for the missing guests, and an online photo finally revealed they were safe near a desert lake.

• The guests entered a church for shelter from the rain, received boiled eggs, and planned to spend the night there; Duan Xuanyu stayed awake beside Su Mian.
• Duan Xuanyu's system revealed that his illusion had made the elites perceive feces as handsome men and beautiful women, and he wished them luck.
• The production team and local police found the victims' belongings and arrested Disi and other criminals, while the elite perpetrators returned to their countries for treatment.
• News outlets reported a supposed Dung Beetle Virus affecting elites, and online spectators speculated about its cause and spread.
• A netizen spotted Su Mian and the other guests in a photo near the desert lake, prompting the production team to rush there to find them.

Stranded near a church in the Land of Sand, the guests argued over how to earn taxi fare to the embassy while their discussion was broadcast live. Cheng Qin and Yu Liqi rejoined the production team first, while Lin Xi wandered into a residential neighborhood and was surrounded by teenagers.

• The guests failed to find a taxi to the embassy and debated begging or other ways to earn money, unaware that a livestream was broadcasting them.
• Viewers recognized the guests in an overseas influencer’s livestream and alerted the production team, while the Land of Sand police arrested the influencer after mistaking the reports about his crime for a tip.
• After the church sent them out and the guests could not agree on a plan, they split up to earn taxi fare or seek help.
• Cheng Qin and Yu Liqi stayed near the church, developed ideas for future writing projects, and rejoined the production team when it arrived.
• Lin Xi went off alone to find the production team, entered a residential neighborhood, and was surrounded by a group of teenagers.

Lin Xi was rescued from begging children and reached out to the embassy, while a fellow countryman’s video exposed the risks of begging in the Land of Sand. Su Mian and Duan Xuanyu found food from a gorilla in a private garden, and Su Mian came up with an idea to make money.

• Lin Xi ran from children demanding money and was helped by a fellow countryman, who explained that begging was illegal in the Land of Sand.
• Lin Xi contacted the embassy to ask for help reaching the production team, while the fellow countryman posted a video that drew a huge audience.
• Duan Xuanyu admitted he felt guilty about leaving Duan Hongxu behind, and Su Mian suggested he could make it up to him by abdicating in his favor.
• Su Mian and Duan Xuanyu spotted animals in a rich man's private garden, and Su Mian persuaded a gorilla to give her its bananas.
• Su Mian shared a banana with Duan Xuanyu, then noticed a fallen banana leaf and came up with an idea to earn money.

Su Mian and Duan Xuanyu sold flower crowns while the production team searched for them, until Su Mian’s death forecast showed a fugitive killing the gorilla that had helped her. They rescued the gorilla, captured the fugitive, and received a hundred-thousand-dollar bounty and a gold watch worth ten million from the gorilla’s owner.

• Su Mian wove flower crowns, gave one to the gorilla, and then sold crowns with Duan Xuanyu despite their translators running out of battery.
• Su Mian learned from a news report that fugitive Tao Fan was wanted for telecom fraud, then foresaw him killing the gorilla wearing her flower crown.
• Su Mian and Duan Xuanyu rushed back to the courtyard, where Tao Fan had pinned the gorilla down, and Su Mian identified and tackled him.
• Duan Xuanyu struck Tao Fan with a heavy banana leaf, and the arriving police arrested him.
• The gorilla reunited with its owner, who gave Su Mian a gold watch worth ten million to thank her for saving the gorilla, and Su Mian and Duan Xuanyu also received the hundred-thousand-dollar bounty.

After the guests reunited at the hotel, Duan Hongxu regretted plotting against Duan Xuanyu, who thanked him and promised to treat him well. The next day, the campus episode began with a heart-rate game to determine the guests’ roles, and the production team revealed its first image.

• Su Mian guessed Gu Yichen and Fang Nuonuo had gone busking, and the production team found them there before Gu Yichen could begin singing.
• Duan Hongxu revealed through his thoughts that he had stayed at the hotel and hoped to rescue the other guests and win Su Mian’s favor.
• Duan Xuanyu thanked Duan Hongxu for looking after him, and Duan Hongxu realized he had treated his ancestor unfairly.
• The guests rested at the hotel, then gathered the next day for the campus episode’s Heart-Fluttering Tea Party, where they would earn points by keeping their heart rates below 120.
• The game began when the production team displayed its theme image.

Su Mian won the heart-rate challenge by making the other guests laugh, angry, or startled, while Fang Nuonuo was the last opponent she eliminated. The host assigned roles according to how long each guest lasted, leaving Su Mian to play Duan Hongxu’s seventy-year-old grandmother.

• Su Mian joked about disinfecting the guillotine, and Duan Xuanyu and the other guests joined in with absurd comments that made their heart rates rise.
• Su Mian eliminated Duan Hongxu, Gu Yichen, and Duan Xuanyu with taunts, while Fang Nuonuo resisted her repeated attempts to provoke her.
• Su Mian startled Fang Nuonuo by standing up and roaring at her, then won the challenge as the last guest remaining.
• The host assigned roles based on how long each guest had lasted, giving Duan Hongxu a sixteen-year-old transfer student role and Su Mian the role of his seventy-year-old grandmother.

The production team announced a school-role competition whose winner would have a bronze dragon sculpture donated to the National Museum in their name. As Su Mian prepared to play a grandmother, Duan Xuanyu was overcome by fear that he would die before seeing her grow old, and she noticed his distress and ran toward him.

• Yin Xiaohong announced that the guests would take on school identities and compete for votes, with the winner earning a bronze dragon sculpture donation in their name.
• Su Mian emerged in elderly makeup, while viewers wondered how her grandmother role could win over the students.
• Duan Hongxu teased Su Mian, who offered him sugarcane after pretending to have peeled it, and he left in disgust.
• Duan Xuanyu saw Su Mian's silver hair and makeup, then hid outside the garden as he feared he would die before seeing her grow old.
• Su Mian noticed Duan Xuanyu was upset, put down the fruit, and ran toward him.

Su Mian and Duan Xuanyu joined the school mission, where Duan Xuanyu’s lesson on ancient Chinese technology won students’ support before Fang Nuonuo overtook him with promises to help them. Su Mian impressed the students with her athletic feats and kindness toward Duan Hongxu’s classmates, while Duan Hongxu began to understand why someone liked her so much.

• Su Mian interrupted an emotional moment with Duan Xuanyu by doing push-ups, and he lifted her to her feet before the guests began their school mission.
• Duan Xuanyu taught students about ancient Chinese technology and explained that foreign invasions had destroyed many of its inventions, earning their anger and votes.
• Fang Nuonuo gained votes by promising to speak to the students’ parents on their behalf.
• Su Mian caught a basketball, performed tricks and stunts, and raised her vote count with the students.
• Su Mian opened a juice bottle with her teeth and poured drinks for Duan Hongxu’s classmates, who appreciated her efforts to help him fit in.
• Duan Hongxu gave Su Mian a chicken drumstick and told her he understood why someone liked her so much.

Su Mian and Duan Hongxu joined Duan Xuanyu for an evening shopping trip, where Duan Xuanyu threw Duan Hongxu after he proposed returning to the ancient world alone. The next day, the guests took the students to the beach, where Duan Hongxu grew jealous of the children gathering around Su Mian.

• Duan Hongxu told Su Mian about his childhood school transfers and wished he had had an elder to help him, but Su Mian reminded him it was for the show.
• Su Mian rose to fourth place in the student vote rankings, while Fang Nuonuo stayed first, Duan Xuanyu second, and Gu Yichen third.
• Su Mian bought skincare products for Duan Xuanyu and Duan Hongxu, then overheard Duan Hongxu joke about replacing her expensive cream with his own.
• Duan Hongxu suggested Duan Xuanyu return to the ancient world while he and Su Mian stayed in the modern world, so Duan Xuanyu threw him over his shoulder.
• Su Mian and the other guests arrived at the beach for the second day's activities, and Duan Hongxu pushed through the children surrounding her.

Duan Xuanyu staged a drowning to draw Su Mian to him, then reminded her of their history and asked her to teach him to swim or love. After their underwater encounter, Su Mian surfaced with her disguise washed away and her diving suit torn, putting her at risk of early elimination.

• Duan Hongxu shooed the children away from Su Mian, while the guests tried to earn votes by spending time with them.
• Duan Xuanyu joined the children snorkeling and pretended to drown so Su Mian would come save him.
• Duan Xuanyu reminded Su Mian that she had saved him three years earlier and promised to teach him, then pulled her underwater and asked her to teach him to swim or love.
• Su Mian realized Duan Xuanyu had faked his helplessness, dragged him underwater, and saved him again after he choked on seawater.
• Duan Xuanyu noticed the red hair ribbon Su Mian wore, and the two repeatedly sank beneath the surface while their audio equipment stopped recording clearly.
• Su Mian emerged with her old-age makeup washed off and her diving suit torn, then heard the host warn that students who uncovered a guest's disguised identity could get that guest eliminated early.

Su Mian helped Gu Yuanqiu uncover how Fang Nuonuo was encouraging Gu Yichen to pursue a music career, while Gu Yichen rejected his mother's request to quit the show. The chapter ended with Gu Yuanqiu offering Su Mian an endorsement contract and asking her to help her son debut, despite his terrible singing.

• Duan Xuanyu carried Su Mian from the sea, then joked online that her shoulder scar was a crease in a love letter she had given him.
• Fang Nuonuo arranged professional equipment so Gu Yichen could perform and win votes, while Su Mian secretly reported their conversation to Gu Yuanqiu.
• Gu Yuanqiu called Gu Yichen and urged him to stop filming, but he declared that he wanted to live his own life, hung up, and blocked her.
• Gu Yuanqiu told Su Mian she would help Gu Yichen debut and explained that his singing was awful, then sent Su Mian an endorsement contract and asked her to help him.

Su Mian helped Gu Yuanqiu arrange remote vocal tuning for Gu Yichen, then deliberately provoked him until she maxed out his Disgust Points and completed his mission target. Gu Yichen rejected the help and vowed to succeed without his family, while Su Mian looked ahead to finishing the remaining mission.

• Su Mian agreed to connect equipment for Gu Yuanqiu so a vocal tuner could help Gu Yichen remotely.
• Yu Liqi confided her insecurities to Su Mian, who praised her independence and criticized Gu Yichen for taking his family’s support for granted.
• Fang Nuonuo saw Su Mian working backstage with Gu Yuanqiu and told Gu Yichen, who confronted Su Mian and ended her video call.
• Su Mian admitted that she had told Gu Yuanqiu about Gu Yichen’s plans because she wanted the spokesperson contract, then taunted him until his Disgust Points reached their maximum.
• Gu Yichen refused the vocal tuner and declared that he would prove he could succeed without his family; Su Mian urged him to get started.