Chapter 9 Part 1

Zhai Yi glanced at the clock on the wall, then looked down at Yu Lanting, who was slumped over her shoulder, unsure if she was crying or had fallen asleep. She asked Tuantuan in her mind, “Is the female lead awake?”

Tuantuan nodded. 【She is.】

Zhai Yi’s brow twitched. “Why is there no movement then?”

Tuantuan: 【She’s spacing out.】

Zhai Yi was curious. “Spacing out about what?”

Tuantuan: 【Probably tired from crying, taking a break.】

Zhai Yi was speechless. “…I’m tired too.”

She had swum for half an hour, then been held by Yu Lanting while she cried for another half hour. The one who should say she’s tired is her.

Zhai Yi lowered her head and gently patted Yu Lanting’s head. “No more sound, done crying?”

Yu Lanting snapped out of it and immediately sat up, her face flushed. “Y-yes, I’m done. Thank you.”

Zhai Yi shook her body a bit, turned around, and opened the wardrobe, preparing to change and leave. She didn’t want to shower here, to avoid making Yu Lanting wait for her. She’d just go back to her room to wash up.

Yu Lanting saw the phone placed in the cabinet, its screen intact.

“You got it fixed?”

Zhai Yi looked back. “What?”

Yu Lanting pointed at the phone. “The screen, your phone screen is fixed.”

Zhai Yi understood. “I got another phone. Couldn’t be bothered to fix it.”

The original host wasn’t short on money, and Zhai Yi spent it without hesitation.

Yu Lanting said, “Let me compensate you. If I hadn’t bumped into you, you wouldn’t have needed to change phones.”

Zhai Yi casually toweled her hair, too lazy to blow-dry it. “No need. I said I’m not short on that bit of money.”

Yu Lanting really felt bad. “Then can I treat you to a meal?”

“If it’s just to make up for the phone, you don’t need to treat me.”

“It’s not just the phone. There’s also you helping me stop the paparazzi, helping conceal my matters with Mu Li, and just now saving me. For all these things, I should express my gratitude to you.”

Back then, when she had broken Zhai Yi’s phone, Zhai Yi had returned good for evil by helping her block the paparazzi’s pursuit.

Now, her private meetings with Mu Li had been stumbled upon by Zhai Yi twice, and Zhai Yi had kindly covered for them both times, not using it to snitch or threaten her.

And just now, if Zhai Yi hadn’t been swimming and happened to save her, Yu Lanting would have nearly drowned.

“Helping you stop the paparazzi was because he bumped into me.” Zhai Yi pulled down the zipper of her swimsuit, revealing fair skin. “Helping cover up your matters with Mu Li was because I couldn’t be bothered to get involved from the start. Saving you just now was also a matter of convenience. You don’t need to specially treat me to a meal to thank me.”

To be honest, if she hadn’t disturbed Mu Li and Yu Lanting’s conversation last time, causing the main storyline to change, the two of them wouldn’t have had to come to the swimming pool to continue talking, and Yu Lanting’s falling into the water crisis wouldn’t have happened either.

Yu Lanting’s eyes widened, looking at Zhai Yi’s nude body.

A slender, smooth back, a waist with beautiful curves, a snow-white body tinged with pink, long legs bending as she lifted them, her buttocks appearing full and round.

Zhai Yi’s wet hair fell over her shoulders. Perhaps it was blocking her vision, she raised a hand to hook the hair behind her ear, revealing a delicate profile and a high, straight nose bridge. Her lips parted slightly from the effort, pearly white teeth visible between her red lips.

For a moment, the temperature in the changing room seemed to rise abruptly.

Yu Lanting wasn’t unfamiliar with women’s bodies, and she was a woman herself; the physical structure was the same.

She should be accustomed to it. But why was the heart pounding so violently in her chest right now?

Why couldn’t she tear her eyes away?

Why did her throat suddenly feel dry?

Yu Lanting struggled to shift her gaze, covering her burning cheeks with both hands. The sound of Zhai Yi putting on clothes reached her ears.

Rustle, rustle.

The sound was clearly very soft, but when it entered her ears, it was deafening.

Zhai Yi finished dressing and saw Yu Lanting with her back turned. “I’m dressed. Let’s go, back to the room to sleep.”

“Okay.” Yu Lanting let out a long breath, stood up, and followed Zhai Yi out of the changing room.

The air outside was much cooler than in the changing room. Yu Lanting felt the burning sensation on her cheeks subside considerably.

She looked at Zhai Yi’s retreating figure: tall and slender, with thin shoulders and long arms. Wearing a loose T-shirt and shorts, she ruffled her wet hair, making it look messy and untamed.

Yu Lanting’s expression was subtle; she withdrew her gaze and lowered her head to ponder what exactly was wrong with herself.

Walking along, Yu Lanting bumped headfirst into Zhai Yi’s back.

“Mmph, wh-what’s wrong?”

Zhai Yi pointed to the right. “Your room is over there.”

If she hadn’t stopped, Yu Lanting would have followed her all the way back to her room.

Yu Lanting came to her senses. “Oh, right.”

“Thank you for today.”

Zhai Yi shrugged. “No problem. Good night.”

Yu Lanting smiled faintly. “Good night.”

Tuantuan said quietly: 【First Sister, the way the female lead looked at you just now was a bit off.】

Zhai Yi walked into the bathroom. “How so?”

Tuantuan thought about it. 【She’s curious about you.】

Zhai Yi raised an eyebrow. “In today’s game segment, everyone was curious about me. That’s normal.”

Tuantuan nodded. 【That’s true. Today, everyone thought you were amazing, First Sister.】

Zhai Yi smiled. “This is just the beginning.”

Perhaps because Zhai Yi played support too outstandingly, viewers watching the livestream went to their favorite artists’ Weibo and live chat rooms to leave messages, urging them to quickly pick Zhai Yi, not to let her be too idle, and not let her earn money so easily.

This comment was too insignificant and was quickly buried by other comments and bullet chats. The artists naturally didn’t take it too seriously, still learning under the teachers they initially chose, sometimes switching teachers to learn new heroes.

Zhai Yi had been very comfortable these past few days. During the day, with nothing to do, she would play games with Zhai He and Zhou Zhu. At night, she would play games with the program to earn big meals.

In the nightly games these past few days, whenever Zhai Yi participated, the win rate was as high as one hundred percent. As a result, the audience began to believe in her luck, even worshipping her photo, praying for good fortune to descend.

Zhai Yi’s live stream room also transformed from various curses and rejection to a series of messy prayers like “Worship,” “Pray for good luck,” “Pray for sudden wealth,” “Pray for sudden weight loss.”

On Saturday night, the evening game arrived as scheduled.

The staff placed the lottery box on the table as usual.

Luo Xi said, “A week is almost over. Presumably, everyone has learned something. Tonight is the time to test the results.”

“There are name-drawn lottery balls in the box. You will send one person to draw lots to select players to compete against the program group in a match, BO3, best of three. Heroes selected cannot be chosen again. Win the game, get a big meal. Lose, and it will affect your score. Tomorrow, the first eliminated guest will be announced.”

“The guest whose name is drawn can participate in the match. Winning increases your personal score, losing decreases it. Guests who do not participate have no change in score.”

“For each game, a new draw will be conducted to select players.”

As soon as the evening game rules were announced, the guests on-site and the bullet chats in the live stream room surprisingly unified in their demand.

Even though in previous evening games, Zhai Yi had repeatedly won relying on good luck, tonight’s game wasn’t something that could be won by luck alone.

: Oh my god, can’t pick Zhai Yi, can’t draw Zhai Yi, otherwise it’s a guaranteed loss ahhh!

: Zhai Yi plays support okay, why can’t we pick Zhai Yi?

: What use is support? The key still depends on the damage dealers, okay?

: Worship! Worship! I worship on behalf of my brother! Tomorrow is the seafood feast my brother has been looking forward to for so long, don’t let it go down the drain!

: Person upstairs, you’re worshipping Zhai Yi’s photo praying for Zhai Yi not to play, aren’t you afraid of a bug?

: Worship! I worship too! Zhai Yi must play hahaha

: Fight, fight, fight.

: Everyone really loves watching the drama without fear of a big mess.

After everyone heard Luo Xi’s explanation, their gazes briefly exchanged.

Jiang Qingyan asked, “Who will draw?”

Le Yang waved his hand. “Not me. My hand luck is terrible.”

Every time it came to the drawing lot, the person drawing was cursed by online viewers, saying things like bad hand luck, unlucky, dragging others down, and other malicious words. As a result, everyone felt a bit resistant and timid about drawing lots.

“Then I’ll do it.”

“Let me.”

The first sentence was Mu Li taking the initiative to speak. The second was Yu Lanting raising her hand to indicate.

Their gazes briefly met, then both fell silent.

Zhai Yi took in the subtle shift in their emotions.

After the swimming pool incident last time, Yu Lanting had been deliberately avoiding Mu Li, as if truly intending to never see each other again. But Zhai Yi knew clearly that as the world hosts of this task world, with the main storyline revolving around them, their relationship was like a tangled ball of yarn, difficult to separate. How could they possibly reach the point of never seeing each other again?

So, our male lead took a step forward.

Mu Li knew Yu Lanting had grown closer to Zhai Yi, so he adopted a roundabout strategy. First, he apologized to Zhai Yi, saying he hadn’t meant to snap at her at the swimming pool that day, and thanked her for saving Yu Lanting. Finally, he wanted Zhai Yi to create an opportunity for him to apologize to Yu Lanting.

Regarding this, Zhai Yi knew full well that with Mu Li’s emotional intelligence, it was hard for him to think so comprehensively. It was probably Weixing Yan who gave him the plan. After all, when Mu Li apologized to her, his expression was like he wanted to take her head, every word squeezed out through gritted teeth. If not for Weixing Yan smiling apologetically and holding him back on the side, Mu Li would have turned and left several times out of shame and indignation.

Zhai Yi also couldn’t be bothered to get involved in the development of the male and female leads’ relationship line. After all, in the original main storyline, the two did clear up their past misunderstandings during their first private meeting, and then their relationship eased. So, Zhai Yi agreed to Mu Li’s request to create an opportunity to meet Yu Lanting, which also counted as setting the plot back on track. And agreeing to this had no impact on her.