Worried about his job and salary, Su Ximu, who hadn’t rested much at home, boarded a ride from his eldest brother and third brother early the next morning and arrived at the port leading to Bizarre Island with a mix of anxiety.
After this experience, although he already knew that the colleagues he had worked with for many days on the island were probably not human, some lingering nerves from the past still made him want to try salvaging his job.
If that didn’t work, getting back some of his salary would be good too.
That was mainly how he thought about it. He didn’t have many ties left in the real world, and from now on, he would probably spend a long time split between here and there.
Living anywhere was still living, wasn’t it?
Just like his eldest and second brothers—they weren’t these powerful weirds from the start either.
Back when his eldest, second, and third brothers were starting out, no one or weird had come to help them.
And for him, on just the second day after arriving in this world, his third brother had already introduced him to a job.
Plus, this job he had found together with Blue 242 Leader—now, he was someone with experience from two jobs.
As time passed, he would slowly adapt to this world.
After arriving at the port, Su Ximu climbed out of the car on his own, then turned back to wave at his eldest brother, declaring very independently, “Eldest Brother, Third Brother, I can go by myself. I know the way. You two go ahead and handle company matters. If I need to head home later, I can call a cab myself.”
Inside the car, Su Jianglou opened his mouth, asking again with a hint of hope, “Xibao, are you sure you don’t want Third Brother to go with you?”
Su Ximu shook his head again. He had overheard the Tourism Group employees calling his third brother that morning. Third Brother had his own business to attend to, and he wasn’t some kid going to school who needed a parent to accompany him.
The hope in Su Jianglou’s eyes faded, and he could only give a reluctant final reminder. “Xibao, once you’re there, ignore everyone else. If the production team refuses to pay your salary, call Eldest Brother. We’ll pull our investment.”
“Or you could go directly as a representative of Su Corporation Investment. That would make it easier.”
Hearing his third brother’s words, Su Ximu suddenly remembered that his eldest brother had indeed invested in the production team recently. Subconsciously, he glanced toward his eldest brother sitting on the other side of the car.
Unexpectedly, the eldest brother, who always seemed mature, steady, and clear about separating work and personal matters, actually nodded slightly in agreement after hearing Third Brother’s suggestion.
At that moment, Su Ximu, whose worldview had been shaped by the real world as a model student, vaguely sensed the many temptations he might face on his path to growth in the future.
Whatever happened to the promise of letting him take a low-interest or interest-free loan to start his own business like Third Brother?
Why had Eldest Brother suddenly turned cold and ruthless?
Twenty minutes later, Su Ximu relied on his strong willpower to resist the temptation from the investor representative, waved goodbye to his eldest and third brothers once more, and resolutely turned to board a ship that was just about to depart.
Su Ximu chose a seat in the corner. After boarding, he was quietly lost in his own thoughts.
While talking to his eldest and third brothers earlier, he had thought it over again. Now, he was mentally prepared that if he didn’t use the investment to pressure the associate director, he would probably lose his job.
After all, nearly a month had passed since he last left the production team.
Putting himself in the associate director’s shoes, if he were the associate director and a staff member under him vanished for so long without resigning, he would definitely have found someone else to take over the vacant position.
And his eight hundred yuan salary probably couldn’t be fully recovered.
Eight hundred yuan, with the rule of deducting half for resigning before a full month, came to four hundred.
Then deduct the penalties for his unexcused absences…
Su Ximu leaned his head against the ferry window as he calculated, when suddenly a delighted voice rang in his ear. “Supervisor Su, you’re back?”
Supervisor Su?
Hearing the address, Su Ximu looked up toward the voice and saw Wang Xingxing sitting in the opposite corner.
Wang Xingxing seemed to have a few production team staff members with him.
On the other side, seeing that he hadn’t mistaken the weird and that Supervisor Su had really turned to look his way, Wang Xingxing waved excitedly again, got up, and walked straight over.
The production team staff traveling with Wang Xingxing showed no reaction.
As long as Wang Xingxing didn’t suddenly lose his mind and jump off the ship to escape the dungeon, they didn’t care what he did on board.
And so, Wang Xingxing smoothly made his way from the east corner of the cabin to the west corner and plopped down right next to Supervisor Su.
Among the many trainees in the production team, Su Ximu was quite familiar with Wang Xingxing.
Seeing Wang Xingxing take the initiative to sit beside him, he temporarily set aside his thoughts and greeted him. “Wang Xingxing, did you just come back from outside too?”
Besides the grand performance, weren’t trainees not allowed to leave the island at other times?
Catching the doubt in Supervisor Su’s tone, Wang Xingxing tugged at his performance outfit that he hadn’t had time to change out of. “The production team said another variety show invited me for a crossover. It’s called Joyful Family—seems pretty popular.”
Wang Xingxing mentioned the popularity on his lips, but in his heart, he was thinking about the appearance fee from the Joyful Family production team.
Damn dungeon horrors!
They only made him go for the crossover without even mentioning the appearance fee!
And over this period, he had shot over a dozen commercials! No sign of the ad fees either!
He had discreetly inquired, and the money existed—it had all been pocketed by the associate director, who had now been promoted to director!
If this were the real world, he would at least try reporting the production team for tax evasion.
Su Ximu had returned too recently and hadn’t watched the last two episodes yet. But just from Wang Xingxing being invited alone to appear on a show, he could guess that Wang Xingxing’s popularity ranking was still very high, just like before.
Sure enough, without waiting for Su Ximu to ask, the ever-chatty Wang Xingxing reported the current trainee rankings in full.
He still firmly held the top spot in popularity.
Second was Peng Jia.
Also a member of their Four-Protect-One Team. Perhaps that cool guy face inexplicably appealed to the tastes of the stans in this weird world, propelling him to second place through votes.
Third, fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth were all people Wang Xingxing knew, but not too closely.
Fifth was Peng Jia’s younger brother, Peng Xu, who looked eighty percent like his brother—another icy cool guy.
As for the ninth place, the final debut position, the trainee currently ranked ninth in popularity was Rao Fei.
Although Rao Fei, like Lin Bureau, had no foundation in singing or dancing and was cramming last-minute, his physical fitness gave him a huge edge over Lin Bureau’s slow progress.
Speaking of Lin Bureau, Wang Xingxing had been so worried lately that his hair was falling out in clumps.
As the competition neared its end, Wang Xingxing realized Lin Bureau had a true transparent personality.
He couldn’t figure it out—Lin Bureau wasn’t ugly. Upon closer look, his features and aura could match Peng Jia’s evenly, differing only in vibe.
How could he have a transparent personality?
In his experience, that kind of trait was a major taboo in the entertainment industry! Especially for idols relying on personal charm—it was disastrous.
Imagine a group of five, seven, or ten members where one person was always the one whose name the audience couldn’t recall.
Even if that person was dancing his legs off on stage.
How could that end well?
To save Lin Bureau from his transparent personality, and seeing that sucking just one person’s blood wasn’t enough, the “four” in Four-Protect-One Team all pitched in.
Wang Xingxing even scheduled a fan service pairing calendar for it.
Monday: him and Lin Bureau.
Tuesday: Peng Jia and Lin Bureau.
Wednesday: Peng Xu and Lin Bureau.
Thursday: Rao Fei and Lin Bureau.
Friday: Peng Jia and Peng Xu return for a brotherly love triangle drama with Lin Bureau in a sandwich cookie setup.
Saturday: Casually drop that he and Rao Fei had something ambiguous in the past, shocking the weird world’s audience old masters with lovers turning rivals!
Sunday: The ultimate love triangle drama. The selection show’s transparent underdog and his high-popularity harem.
This combo finally got Lin Lan staggering through the 45 to 21 round.
But now, approaching the critical 21 to 9 round that decided life and death, Lin Lan’s ranking was still far from ideal.
When reporting the name of the trainee ranked thirteenth in popularity to Supervisor Su, even as Wang Xingxing tried hard to mask it, a trace of dejection inevitably crept into his tone.
Lin Lan.
Su Ximu remembered that name.
He was one of the trainees who had gone to the supermarket with Rao Fei and Wang Xingxing that day.
Sensing Wang Xingxing’s sudden low mood, Su Ximu figured he must be close to Lin Lan.
Wait.
Thinking of that, he couldn’t help patting his head, feeling like he had overlooked something.
Ever since his memories fully returned, he had clearly recognized his tendency to miss abnormalities around him. But after more than a decade of subconscious habit, if he wasn’t careful, his thoughts still wandered like before.
As Wang Xingxing continued listing the rankings, Su Ximu’s gaze gradually went vacant as he pondered carefully what exactly he had overlooked.
After thinking for a bit, he finally grasped a thread—the anomalies on the trainees themselves. Suddenly, after finishing the rankings, Wang Xingxing changed the subject.
“Supervisor Su, after you took leave, no new supervisor came to the third floor. Are you back to clock out your leave this time? Tomorrow’s our final grand performance—want to come watch?”
“Supervisor Su?”
Before Supervisor Su took leave, when he first saw that potted landscape, chatting with Supervisor Su like this would have scared him a bit.
But now, it didn’t matter.
Four-Protect-One Team.
When they first named the group, they had already prepared for the ending.
So now, Wang Xingxing was quite calm about it.
“Hm?” The called-out Su Ximu responded, pausing a moment before asking, “You said someone took leave for me?”
Wang Xingxing nodded. “Yeah, it was that guy who was always with you before… uh… Blue 242 Leader?”
Blue 242’s name wasn’t easy to remember, so Wang Xingxing thought for a second.
“But after helping you with the leave, that Blue 242 Leader left too. Not sure if he quit or took leave himself.”
This fully shifted Su Ximu’s attention.
He recalled Blue 242 Leader’s tone, attitude, and expression when smiling at him during their talks.
A small guess suddenly formed in his heart.
As for Wang Xingxing’s invitation, he hesitated slightly. “Mm… I need to go to the production team first and ask about the leave. Also check if they need anyone for the grand performance day.”
Otherwise, working less than a month, taking nearly a month off, and then showing up the next day after returning to freeload on the grand performance—it would be pretty awkward.
Wang Xingxing vouched for the production team. “They do, definitely. The production team’s been super busy these days.”
As a talent show-style weird dungeon, even the program group themselves knew that the so-called nine debut positions were simply the nine player slots that could survive and clear the dungeon.
There was no such thing as the talent show ending with the group debuting and continuing to rake in money.
It was just a one-time deal.
That was why they had to make the most of this final big haul.
At the end, Wang Xingxing let his true feelings show. “Supervisor Su, actually… actually, if this wasn’t in the show, I’d really want to be friends with you.”
“The cafeteria food had too many calories before, and we didn’t have popularity points to buy stuff at the supermarket. We were originally planning to tough it out and starve until the first ranking announcement. I still remember the first energy bar you gave me was chocolate-flavored.”
“At the time, I was afraid I wouldn’t have any left to eat later, so I ate it really sparingly. There’s still one left in the dorm now.”
“I…”
When he reached the last sentence, Wang Xingxing’s voice choked almost imperceptibly. He quickly covered it up himself, then acted as if nothing had happened and didn’t finish his words.
He wasn’t that old. In the real world, he would have been in university.
Even after all the mental preparation he had done before, when the moment came, he still felt afraid and wanted to escape.
But he couldn’t share those feelings with his teammates.
For some reason, facing Supervisor Su at that moment, he had almost let his true emotions spill out.
But actually, that wasn’t appropriate.
Humans and the weird were, after all, two different forms of life. There was no way for them to empathize with each other.
Just like those eliminated players before. Before their elimination, they had gained more or less some fans through the show.
Those fans looked no different from real-world fans.
They voted, chased grand performances offline, and shouted “I love you” at the trainees from below the stage.
They watched those trainees passionately as they walked toward death.
They waved glow sticks and support signs vigorously but never truly reached out a hand.
After Trainee No. 44 was eliminated, Wang Xingxing thought that when he had left the island to record the show earlier, he must have seen in his station sister group that the president of the support club—who had originally cheered the loudest for Trainee No. 44—
Her smile remained the same, but she had simply swapped the support sign in her hand from Trainee No. 44 to him.
