Chapter 3

"That may be true, but capital has no mercy, and foreign laws serve the rich too. Once the show ends and the Ten Conglomerates get the result they want, they'll throw money at Jiang Ye. If one million isn't enough, they'll offer ten million; if that's not enough, a hundred million. Would Jiang Ye refuse?"

"That's right. Since Jiang Ye went abroad to study, I reckon he's one of those banana people who think the moon is rounder in foreign countries."

"I hope Jiang Ye does a little better and doesn't do anything too outrageous. Otherwise, we'll lose all face."

"You're pinning your hopes on a banana person?"

"Come on, we don't even know if he's a banana person. Why are you sticking that label on him already?"

"Why doesn't the country step in? Guys, come with me and tag Tuantuan. Isn't this obviously going to make us lose face?"

Inside a secret agency.

A room with people seated all around a conference table.

About eight or nine people were watching Jiang Ye eat breakfast on the screen with rapt attention.

A middle-aged man sat at the head of the table, dressed in a military uniform with two bars and four stars on his shoulders.

He was looking over the information on Jiang Ye in his hands.

After the incident with Jiang Ye occurred.

The authorities had established a special department to deal with it.

And he was the newly appointed director, Zhang Puze.

The information showed that Jiang Ye was ordinary.

There was nothing particularly conspicuous or outstanding about his past.

His family background, social connections, academic record, and everything else showed that he was just an ordinary member of the general public.

Minister Zhang lit a cigarette, looked at the man beside him, and asked, "Has any intelligence come back explaining why the Ten Conglomerates chose him?"

The man was in his thirties and wore glasses. He immediately replied, "Based on our analysis of the intelligence we received, the Ten Conglomerates chose him entirely at random."

Director Zhang nodded. Unexpectedly, the man with glasses asked, "Director, why did we let the Ten Conglomerates run this show?"

"From the perspective of human nature, apart from religious people, I'm afraid people of any other ethnicity would do utterly depraved things in a situation like this!"

Minister Zhang did not answer. Instead, he asked, "We haven't contacted him and told him about this show, have we?"

"No."

The room fell silent for a while. Then, faced with the curious gazes of everyone present, Minister Zhang explained, "This is an international contest."

"What's pressing right now is the Ten Conglomerates' encirclement of our nation's rise."

"Under the agreement, as long as we allow this show to run, we can break through the Ten Conglomerates' encirclement."

Minister Zhang breathed out a cloud of smoke. "The Ten Conglomerates chose Jiang Ye because they want to see him make a fool of himself, thereby undermining our nation's confidence in itself and its culture."

"They're approaching this from the perspective of human nature, believing that, in a setting like this, human nature will develop as they expect."

"But we're approaching it from the perspective of national culture. As the saying goes: heaven moves with vigor, and the gentleman strives unceasingly to improve himself; the earth's nature is receptive, and the gentleman bears all things with profound virtue."

"Each side has its own confidence. Since they were willing to pay such a high price, we agreed."

"We should believe in him!"

So they did not ask Jiang Ye to be particularly brilliant or outstanding. It would be enough for him to do passably well.

What followed would be a contest of who did worse.

Whoever did worse would lose more face and take the harder slap in the face.

They believed in Jiang Ye!

Jiang Ye felt that something was off.

But for the moment, he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

As he put the last bite of breakfast in his mouth.

He finally realized it.

The outside world was eerily quiet.

Even though this wasn't back home, and there was no honking from cars on the road or lively clamor from the crowds on the street below.

There wasn't the slightest sound.

That was far too abnormal.

He would usually hear children playing too.

As he pondered, he came to the window and looked at the bright, sunny sky and the deserted street.

A moment later, Jiang Ye's gaze settled on a Ford sedan that had crashed into the doorframe of a house.

There had been a car accident, but where was the driver?

And where was the owner of the house the car had damaged?

Jiang Ye frowned slightly, looking somewhat puzzled, and turned to walk outside.

"Our production team deliberately placed that car there, so the target would quickly go outside and discover that humanity had disappeared."

In the international production team's livestream, commentator Chen Danni explained this to the audience.

Chapter 4: Survival Assistance System Activated! (On My Knees Begging for Flowers, Rating Tickets, and Monthly Tickets)

"The production team sure is thoughtful. Let me thank you on Jiang Ye's behalf!"

"According to the production team, everyone in an entire city was evacuated, and they made it look as though humanity had suddenly disappeared. How much did that cost?"

"I'm a resident of the city where the target is. I don't know about anyone else, but the production team gave me ten thousand bucks."

"Ten thousand bucks doesn't seem like much."

"That's pretty good. All you have to do is play along and disappear for a bit, and you get to watch a really interesting show."

"I contributed a car and had it wrecked on the street. The production team gave me seventy thousand bucks."

The viewers were buzzing with discussion. Meanwhile.