Chapter 30
Nan Dengwei secretly switched sides, and the situation on the field became 3v3.
Now, whether it was actively using abilities to check secrets or searching for clues to piece together a deduction, it was much simpler.
“Then let’s look for clues together, use the clues to deduce their secrets, and we can also eliminate them,” Shen Wu laid out their strategy. “If we find Xia Fanxing, we’ll cooperate to catch him and let you use the stethoscope…”
Liang Shu was a senior with deep qualifications, so it was not convenient to use force against him. Lin Yanran was a girl, so it was also not suitable to eliminate her in such an offensive way.
The bullet screen was about to die of laughter.
[Hahahahaha]
[Why does Xingxing always make his presence known with this “group punching bag, dumb” image?]
[Could it be that our Xingxing is going to be the first to be eliminated again?]
[Mom’s heart aches, but Mom wants to know your secret even more~]
“How about this!” Nan Dengwei was full of interest and added to Shen Wu’s strategy, “The three of them will definitely act together. If they find out I’m with you, the mole will be useless. Why don’t I go first, and you guys follow? If we find Xia Fanxing, I’ll call him over alone…”
The audience in the live broadcast room was getting to know this semi-non-celebrity Nan Dengwei better and better.
[Hahaha, I didn’t expect you to be a black-hearted person on the inside.]
[Things are suddenly getting interesting. I’ll go and wait in Xia Fanxing’s live broadcast room first!]
Because Nan Dengwei was the main character shou of the novel, his image in Shen Wu’s heart was completely positive, pure, kind, and harmless.
Meng Huaizhi, who had been listening silently, finally spoke, “Mm, then you go first.”
“…Okay,” before Nan Dengwei left, he thought for a moment, took off the stethoscope, and handed it back to Shen Wu. “Wu-ge, can you hold this for me? I can’t use it by myself. It would be bad if my identity was exposed and they snatched it away.”
Shen Wu nodded and took the stethoscope, hanging it around his neck.
Watching Nan Dengwei walk away, he belatedly noticed Meng Huaizhi’s gaze.
He had experience this time and wouldn’t make the mistake of drinking the milk tea Nan Dengwei had given him in front of Meng Huaizhi again. The stethoscope that had been passed around several times was taken off again and handed to Meng Huaizhi by him.
He even found a suitable reason, “Do you want to take a look? I don’t know how this stethoscope works.”
Meng Huaizhi took it, “It might have a mini walkie-talkie inside.”
Shen Wu sighed, “It’s quite exquisitely made.”
Without any warning, the cool, bronze stethoscope was pressed against Shen Wu’s unguarded chest.
Shen Wu reacted a beat too late. Just as he was about to dodge, Meng Huaizhi had already pulled the stethoscope back and said with a hint of regret, “I can’t use it. There’s no sound.”
Shen Wu: “…?”
“This prop,” Meng Huaizhi’s tone was as calm as if he were just testing a product, “can be used by one person.”
This also denied Nan Dengwei’s claim that one person could not use the prop.
“…” Shen Wu was silent for a few seconds and did not agree. “That’s because we’ve teamed up. I wasn’t on guard against you at all.”
Shen Wu looked at the stethoscope, let out a breath, and lightly patted his chest with lingering fear, complaining in a low voice, “If it had worked, I would have lost a life just now…”
“Lost a life?”
“Mm… well…”
The two of them were testing the prop as if no one else was around. Only the audience in the live broadcast room still remembered the original owner of the prop.
[Xiao Nan would never have dreamed that the keepsake he left behind would become a part of their play (not serious)]
[I just came back from next door. The clueless Xiao Nan has already found Xia Fanxing, but the two teammates are still in a relationship.]
[Hahahahahaha]
The three-person alliance on the other side always stayed together and never separated for a moment.
Even though their opponents were only Shen Wu and Meng Huaizhi, they were on high alert.
“Jie!” Xia Fanxing excitedly pulled on Lin Yanran’s sleeve and then lowered his voice, “That rotary phone, it seems to be my prop…”
Nan Dengwei happened to come back at this time, panting, “Phew, I also found my prop…”
Hearing this, the three of them looked happy.
Then, Nan Dengwei poured a bucket of cold water on them, “Wu-ge found it before me, but he guessed it was my prop and wouldn’t give it to me.”
He lied with a pure and beautiful face, his acting so superb that no fault could be found.
Xia Fanxing didn’t suspect a thing and was about to take him to see his prop phone.
Lin Yanran frowned, “Shen Wu is not willing to give you the prop?”
She had worked with these two on the Racing Heartbeat set and could naturally see that their relationship was good. In a solo battle game, they shouldn’t be hostile to each other from the beginning.
“Mm,” Nan Dengwei lied without batting an eye. “He has already formed an alliance with Senior Meng. They don’t need a third person.”
As soon as he said this, Lin Yanran immediately dropped her suspicion. “That’s true.”
[Sister Yanran, what’s true?]
[Hahahaha, Lin Yanran: I’ll just watch the little couple and say nothing.]
Xia Fanxing then pointed and also told Nan Dengwei about his prop, “My prop is that phone.”
Xia Fanxing’s prop phone was placed on a small table, a bit like the phone in the main hall at the beginning. The phone line was connected to the wall, unlike Nan Dengwei’s stethoscope, which could be moved freely.
Nan Dengwei squinted his eyes, wondering if he could pull the phone line out.
But he didn’t need to act. Xia Fanxing himself had encountered a difficult problem.
The voice on the other end of the phone was monotonous, “Please use English to ask your question.”
The Korean international student, Xia Fanxing, was dumbfounded, “Huh?”
He could barely confirm that the other person was speaking English.
He covered the mouthpiece and turned back to his teammates with a sad face, “My identity seems to be an English-speaking international student. The person on the phone is speaking English…”
“I want… uh,” Xia Fanxing stammered, trying to recall what he had learned in elementary school ten years ago, “shenwu mimi?”
The other end of the phone was ruthless and cold, “Please speak English with correct grammar.”
Xia Fanxing turned back for help again, “The person on the other end seems to have said the same thing as before, but it also seems a bit different… I don’t understand…”
Lin Yanran shrugged helplessly, “We can’t hear it either.”
[Hahaha, I’m dying of laughter.]
[I reasonably suspect that the script was written by Lin Yanran.]
[What did Lin Yanran say when they were choosing roles? Because she thought Xia Fanxing’s English was good, she gave him the role of the international student, hahaha.]
[I don’t know if Yanran was being kind or intentional, hhh.]
Seeing that Xia Fanxing couldn’t use his prop for a while, Nan Dengwei was relieved.
Suddenly, he sensed something was wrong and turned his head to look at Lin Yanran.
Lin Yanran was wearing a lace-collared shirt with a slim-fitting indigo woolen suit, giving her an elegant and retro feel. This was exactly the female version of the news reporter’s costume.
And on her chest hung an old-fashioned silver plate camera, which matched her outfit very well, without any sense of disharmony.
So much so that Nan Dengwei had only just remembered that before he had left, Lin Yanran’s chest was clearly empty.
The camera was also a prop!
“Liang-ge and I have both found our props,” Lin Yanran did not hide it. “As long as I find them, I just need to take a picture.”
Nan Dengwei’s heart skipped a beat.
It turned out that not only had Lin Yanran found a prop, but it was also a long-range attack prop. She just needed to take a picture from a distance.
He suppressed his turbulent emotions and pretended to be cheerful, sighing, “The ability of a news reporter is really amazing.”
Xia Fanxing’s face was full of sorrow, “My ability is useless.”
“Me too,” Nan Dengwei comforted him gently. “I have to put the stethoscope on someone’s chest. No one will stand still and let me use the prop. And now the stethoscope has been taken by Shen Wu.”
Xia Fanxing patted his shoulder, clearly seeing him as a fellow sufferer.
At this moment, more than eliminating Xia Fanxing, Nan Dengwei wanted to find a chance to sneak away and report back.
…He didn’t know if Shen Wu and the others had followed him.
After finishing the stethoscope test, Shen Wu and Meng Huaizhi followed Nan Dengwei’s footsteps.
The layout of the villa was winding, with various corridors and platforms interspersed.
Shen Wu had not yet walked out of the corridor when he heard the rustling conversation of several people outside.
Especially Nan Dengwei. Unlike the other three who had deliberately lowered their voices, his voice was very clear, “Sister Yanran, then your camera, do you just need to take a picture of them?”
Lin Yanran’s reply was not very clear, but the amount of information Nan Dengwei had given was enough to force Shen Wu to retreat and use his eyes to signal Meng Huaizhi to run.
The two of them exchanged a look, quickly reached a consensus, and returned the way they came.
Unlike the abandoned school in the first episode, where each floor was just a long corridor with nowhere to hide except for the classrooms, the internal structure of the villa was more complex. The possibility of bumping into an uninvited guest around a corner was greatly increased, but this also made it easier to escape and hide.
The two of them went all the way to the atrium corridor on the second floor and stood by the railing. A few meters away were layers of luxurious crystal chandeliers, and below was the open first-floor hall.
Shen Wu lightly patted the railing as he walked and asked again, “Gege, what are your prop and ability?”
“…” After a two-second silence, Meng Huaizhi’s voice came from behind, “My prop can’t be carried around.”
Hearing this, Shen Wu stopped and turned back. He saw Meng Huaizhi also standing by the railing, his gaze cast downstairs.
Shen Wu was stunned for a moment and followed his gaze, “…A piano?”
“Mm.”
“This is indeed a bit tricky,” Shen Wu now knew why Meng Huaizhi had been reluctant to say. He probably also thought his ability was useless. “Going to the first-floor hall to play the piano will not only be seen by the people on the second floor, but the sound will also be loud.”
This greatly increased the difficulty for them to win the game.
But Shen Wu was not discouraged. “Let’s go down and try first.”
Meng Huaizhi nodded, “Okay.”
The two of them did not delay. Once they had decided, they immediately went downstairs, trying to be as quiet as possible.
However, the four-person alliance soon found their way to the second-floor atrium corridor and, looking down from above, easily spotted the two people furtively approaching the piano.
“Huai-ge’s prop is the piano, right? We can’t let them touch the piano,” Lin Yanran first said in a low voice, but she did not rush to take a picture.
She waited patiently for a while, but the two of them did not turn towards her at all. Even if they did, they would not raise their heads.
Her most powerful ability had a limitation, which was that she had to take a picture of the other person’s full face, with complete features.
Lin Yanran had no choice but to shout, “Shen Wu!”
The two people below both looked up at the sound.
Click. The photo was taken.
Shen Wu realized something was wrong, pulled Meng Huaizhi, and turned to run, no longer caring about the piano that was right in front of him.
Lin Yanran’s camera had a limited number of uses, and she was also afraid that the two of them would come and snatch the camera. Seeing that she had succeeded, she ran back to the room where she had found the camera.
There was a small darkroom for developing photos there, but what was hidden inside was of course not a developing machine, but a staff member.
Lin Yanran first confirmed the picture on the camera screen. Both faces were clearly captured.
She was so excited that she couldn’t contain herself and quickly confirmed with the staff member, “Does this count as taking a picture of two people? Can I get both of their secrets?”
The staff member pointed at her camera, the requirements were quite strict, “You need to capture the complete and clear features to develop it. Closing your eyes doesn’t count.”
“Who closed their eyes?” Lin Yanran grumbled and took back the camera suspiciously. “Ah… this is because I was taking a top-down shot, and Huai-ge was looking down, so his pupils weren’t captured. But he definitely didn’t close his eyes…”
The staff member: “If the pupils can’t be seen, it doesn’t count.”
Seeing that the two of them were about to argue, the follow cameraman gave a close-up of the camera screen to let the audience in the live broadcast room judge together.
[I feel like Huai-ge definitely didn’t close his eyes. He just didn’t look up, right?]
[Although he didn’t close his eyes, you really can’t see his pupils.]
[I told you this ability is too strong. The requirements are quite strict. When everyone knows about it and is on guard, it will be very difficult to take a clear frontal photo again. No one will stand still and let her take a picture.]
Lin Yanran also knew that this seemingly heaven-defying ability would be useless after one use, and insisted on arguing with the staff member.
“Look! You can clearly see a bit of the white of his eye here! It’s because your pixels are not high enough, so it’s not clear…” Lin Yanran said. “He’s opening his eyes, he’s clearly looking at Shen Wu!!”
Meng Huaizhi had clearly heard her shout, but his first reaction was to look at Shen Wu, not at the source of the sound.
Lin Yanran couldn’t help but feel indignant.
[I told you Sister Yanran is the one who knows best.]
[Ahhhhhh]
[Hahaha, Yanran is a bit cute. I also want to know Huai-ge’s secret, wuwuwu.]
The staff member coldly took back the camera and refused to discuss it further. “I’ll develop Shen Wu’s secret photo for you now.”
It was fine to get one person’s secret.
Lin Yanran reluctantly took the photo.
However, what was printed on the photo was not any unknown secret, or even… a person.
She had given the staff member a photo of two people, and the staff member had actually given her a stick figure drawing.
Lin Yanran: “?”
She waved the photo and pretended to glare at the staff member, “…Is this something Shen Wu drew to mock me?”
The staff member’s expression was blank. “Young Master Shen from the bank has bought today’s exclusive report. I’m sorry, I have nothing to say about his secret.”
“Ah, I know,” Nan Dengwei said from the side. “Wu-ge’s ability should be money power. He has more than one life.”
Xia Fanxing echoed, “That’s right, he’s the young master of the bank.”
Lin Yanran sighed, really reluctant to part with the photo she had worked so hard to get. “…Is this photo completely useless?”
Nan Dengwei took the photo and examined it carefully.
On the photo were two stick figure drawings that looked like they had been copied and pasted.
And the ends of the two stick hands were overlapping, as if they were holding hands.
dont tell me his secret is faux german orthopedics? they really do have a thing for gege’s 😭😭