Wang Xingxing took the blood pack from Supervisor Su’s hand. This was the first time in a Dungeon World that a Dungeon Horror personally stepped up to teach him how to exploit the bug.
In theory, such a bug should be exploitable.
But the real difficulty lay in whether the so-called audience that the horror mentors mentioned would buy it after the bug was exploited.
Unlike those new players who didn’t know the situation, ever since he joined the Weird Tales Confidentiality Bureau, he had learned a lot about Dungeons.
He also knew that those seemingly independent Dungeon games were actually all interconnected.
The horrors in the Dungeons lived in the same world.
So, since there was an Idol Draft Dungeon, there naturally could be real audiences that existed to vote for them.
Wang Xingxing pondered these things in his mind, but that didn’t stop him from thanking Supervisor Su with a face full of joy.
Just then, Rao Fei communicated with him from the second floor across the distance.
Like Supervisor Su, Rao Fei had also thought of using props to exploit the bug, but his dilemma was that faking props was hard to do.
That horror mentor had said that the stage props they needed could be obtained from the Props Team.
But those props were most likely cleavers, chisels, axes, ropes, and hammers.
And definitely not the special effects makeup tools they wanted.
Unexpectedly, in the short time it took him to return to the dormitory building and exchange a few words with Supervisor Su, the difficulty had already resolved effortlessly.
Wang Xingxing thanked Supervisor Su again, and this time his tone was noticeably more relaxed: “Supervisor Su, thank you so much. I was just worrying about where to find blood packs.”
Su Ximu waved his hand upon hearing this: “No need to thank me. Blood packs are easy to find. Even if you went by yourself, it wouldn’t be any trouble.”
Wang Xingxing thought to himself: Like hell it is. It’s a total pain.
After bringing that small bag of blood packs back to the dormitory, Wang Xingxing silently asked Rao Fei in his mind: “Will this method work? What if the audience doesn’t buy it?”
Rao Fei, on the second floor, quickly replied: “And here I thought you were a trainee preparing to debut.”
So what if the audience didn’t buy it? The production team had set the preliminary round’s elimination mode as internal group PK.
As long as all the trainees in the group were brought to the same level as them and all used blood packs, then even if the audience votes were low, a fixed number of trainees would still advance smoothly.
“But this method can only be used once,” Rao Fei said.
By the next advancement round, when the rules changed, this method wouldn’t work anymore.
Without affecting Bureau Chief Lin’s advancement, Rao Fei still leaned toward helping the other players.
Among these players, there were no shortage of quick thinkers who had also come up with using special effects makeup to substitute for real stage effects.
Especially those players placed at the end, who could only perform that dance move with the neck twisting three hundred and sixty degrees.
What a joke—what did a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree neck twist mean? It was the human neck being wrung full circle.
A normal human absolutely wouldn’t survive that.
The players temporarily had a way to cope with the advancement round. The only remaining difficulty was finding enough special effects makeup tools. If they really couldn’t, they’d have to steal from the Props Team or the makeup rooms.
But at least everyone had seen hope of avoiding physical suffering, so their hearts settled a bit more. They began normal rehearsals each day.
Mainly rehearsing the more normal moves in the dances.
Sometimes, the resident mentor Bai Bo and dance mentor Jason would come to the practice rooms to check on the trainees’ progress.
That day, Jason, dressed in full hip-hop style, sat cross-legged in the C-Class Trainees’ practice room.
When he saw all the trainees rehearsing the dances in an orderly manner, he tsked in dissatisfaction.
He clapped his hands, signaling all the trainees to stop, then began his lecture: “I know some of those dance moves are pretty dangerous. You might be worried about getting hurt, so you haven’t focused on practicing those moves.”
“But you have to understand! The more dangerous the move, the more spectacular it is! That’s the key to whether you can attract the audience’s attention and secure a debut position!”
“You’re trainees. No audience will demand debut idol standards from you right away. The five dances I selected for you are the peak representative works of five idol boy groups.”
“You need to practice more! Even if you can’t replicate them fully, as long as you capture a portion of the essence, those boy groups’ fanbases might get drawn in and vote for you.”
Jason emphasized: “It’s a matter of replication accuracy!”
Rao Fei, who was right across from Jason in the C-Class Trainees’ row, heard this and his eyes instantly darkened.
He turned his head, taking in the varied expressions of the surrounding trainees.
He knew that next, he might go viral through controversy.
The hearts and minds were clearly not aligned.
As everyone knew, the most common thing in human workplaces was internal competition.
To stamp out this crooked trend, only a dictatorial team tyrant could rise to the occasion.
Who else but him, Rao Fei?
While the trainees were busy practicing, the Associate Director was also assigning tasks to all the crew staff in the work group chat.
【Associate Director: @Everyone, Tonight’s Big Star premieres tomorrow night at eight on GYTV Channel 3. All crew members’ blood, sweat, and tears are finally about to bear fruit! At the same time, this is our greatest test!】
Everyone instantly got it.
【Makeup Group Xiao Mei: Director, don’t worry! I’ve already told all my aunts and cousins. Tomorrow, besides Tonight’s Big Star, they won’t watch any other shows. Our family has 1583 members total. I guarantee every one will provide viewership for the production team.】
【Associate Director: @Makeup Group Xiao Mei, Xiao Mei, you’ve worked hard. I’ll give you a raise next month.】
【Camera Group Jump Jump Rabbit: Director, our family will contribute 3252 viewers to the production team!】
【Associate Director: @Camera Group Jump Jump Rabbit, Good, good. Keep it up, and there’ll definitely be a spot for you among the outstanding employees.】
【Camera Group Jump Jump Rabbit: Thank you for the recognition, Director. I will definitely keep pushing and go through fire and water for the production team!】
【Associate Director: Ahem, it’s Associate Director in a work setting.】
After sending that message, the Associate Director in the control room smugly put down his phone. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he puzzledly scratched his bald head with his short, thick fingers.
He asked the assistant beside him: “Why haven’t I seen Director Shi since the day before yesterday? Wasn’t he always overseeing the recording before?”
With the show about to air, it was unreasonable for the chief director not to be at the recording site.
He did want to seize the chance to usurp the position, but he lacked the strength to suppress all the horrors on Bizarre Island.
Hearing the Associate Director say this, the assistant also fell into thought.
Indeed, Director Shi hadn’t shown his face in the control room since the day before yesterday.
He guessed: “Maybe Director Shi has something to attend to?”
The Associate Director wasn’t convinced by this reason: “What could be more important than the Tonight’s Big Star premiere?”
For the vast majority of horrors, the Dungeon they constructed was essentially the territory they had painstakingly carved out. If that territory could also generate economic benefits for them, then that horror had already surpassed 99.9% of their kind and stood at the pyramid’s peak.
So, what horror could be so carefree? Not even caring about their own territory.
In the evening, as they had all finished work and were strolling on the beach, Su Ximu also received the group message.
He figured his connections were limited and he probably couldn’t provide much help to the production team. The most he could do was try recommending Tonight’s Big Star to “Big Brother.” As for “Third Brother,” he’d think about it some more.
To avoid forgetting later, he exited the group chat, found “Big Brother’s” avatar, opened the chat interface, and sent over the show’s viewing link.
He thought Big Brother probably wouldn’t be interested in an idol selection show, but posting a screenshot of his chat with Big Brother in the group would count as completing the task.
After doing that, he pocketed his phone and focused on watching the sea with Blue 242 Leader, who was accompanying him on the walk.
Before coming to work on Bizarre Island, he had never seen the sea.
Bizarre Island’s sea and beach perfectly matched the imagination of a boy who had only seen the ocean on TV, and it was even more fantastical.
The blue, crystal-clear sea surface.
Milky white sand beach.
Tall coconut trees.
As he walked on the white sand beach, a thought suddenly flashed through Su Ximu’s mind unbidden: White sand beaches were said to form through complex processes, and the explanation he remembered most clearly was that the beach turned white because of a high content of parrotfish excrement.
So, was he walking on a pile of parrotfish poop right now?
To match the beach stroll vibe, the youth had even worn toe-exposing sandals.
At this moment, his toes curled against the sole of his shoe, feeling like his feet had nowhere to settle.
Until Blue 242 Leader, who was also wearing sandals and had one foot in the seawater, turned back and gently stroked the youth’s sea-wind-tousled bangs: “What’s wrong?”
Su Ximu felt that saying it directly would make him seem low-EQ, but he still told Blue 242 Leader the truth.
Then Blue 242 Leader told him: “Bizarre Island’s beaches are man-made, so they shouldn’t have those complex composite elements.”
The various shells on the beach were indeed accumulated over time and washed up by the sea.
With Blue 242 Leader’s explanation, Su Ximu nodded and believed it.
He thought that from now on, he definitely had to take Blue 242 Leader as a role model and learn more from him. Because Blue 242 Leader was truly like a workplace know-it-all, able to quickly familiarize himself with all sorts of things no matter where he worked.
Under Blue 242 Leader’s explanation, having let go of his parrotfish excrement idea, Su Ximu followed Blue 242 Leader’s example and stepped one foot into the shallow seawater.
After walking like this for a while, the youth suddenly turned his head.
His bangs lifted by the sea breeze, revealing his smooth forehead, he looked at the person beside him with curved brows and smiling eyes: “Blue 242 Leader, I have a gift I want to give you.”
He even remembered to treat the trainees to snacks for helping him clean.
How could he overlook Blue 242 Leader, who had always been so good to him?
During his time in this world, Su Ximu thought clearly: “Big Brother” and “Third Brother” were good to him because they treated him as their little brother, but he actually wasn’t.
But Blue 242 Leader wasn’t the original host’s good friend—he was his.
Su Ximu took a pretty little grass doll out of his pocket and held out his palm: “The lavender we bought together at the zoo last time withered, so I dried it and made it into a lavender doll.”
“My grandma taught me this. When I was little, Grandma would make straw dolls to coax me.”
As he spoke, he looked at the lavender doll in his hand and felt a bit embarrassed. It was his first time making one for someone else, and it didn’t look that great—not really presentable.
But Blue 242 Leader seemed unwilling to accept it? No, he had spent a lot of his own salary buying things for him.
Blue 242 looked at the grass doll, cupped his hands together to take it from the youth’s palm, and examined it carefully in his palms.
“It’s so pretty,” Su Wuzi cherished it, closing his palms: “I love it.”
“I’ll hide it in the safest place. Cherish it forever and always.”
Blue 242 Leader’s reaction was happier and more appreciative than he had expected.
Su Ximu wanted to say some polite, modest words, but his little face had already honestly flushed with excitement, his mood incredibly good.
During the rest of the beach stroll, he even childishly splashed through the water with his head down.
As they walked along like this, Blue 242 Leader suddenly extended a hand toward him.
In the slowly opening palm lay a small glass bottle.
The thing inside the bottle looked at first glance like rubies. Upon closer look, it was many small stones of demonically red hue.
Su Ximu took it, counted carefully, and found thirteen little stones, each with a slightly different shape upon inspection.
“Blue 242 Leader, what is this stone? I’ve never seen it before.” Su Ximu uncorked the bottle and poured out one of the little stones, carefully examining it in his palm.
He was afraid the sea breeze was too strong and might accidentally blow the little stone away.
Blue 242 said, “It’s a stone I suddenly wanted to pick up for Xiao Xi.”
If one day, every anomaly he had encountered in this world in the past was like beads suddenly strung together by a flash of insight.
If the true nature of the world unfolded right before his eyes.
His clever Xiao Xi would definitely recall at that very moment those terrifying struggles he had once overlooked.
One trainee after another vanishing, he would finally understand what those disappearances truly meant.
He couldn’t control all the weird in the entire world, but he could make sure that when Xiao Xi confronted this world head-on, aside from feeling surprised and a touch of fear, his heart wouldn’t be filled with belated guilt and self-reflection.
He hoped that starting from the moment they reunited, there would be no regrets.
Su Wuzi thought that his old world hadn’t treated him kindly, and the current one had only taught him survival of the fittest.
But he was willing to learn something else for Xiao Xi’s sake.
Even if he might never truly learn it.
True kindness wasn’t shameful—it was what had redeemed him at the beginning.
“When the show wraps up that day, Xiao Xi, try scattering these little stones into the sea. Something magical will happen.”
Something magical?
Like the colorful little mushrooms in the Tourist Garden?
Blue 242 paused at those words and thought for a moment. “A bit similar, but not quite the same.”
With that, he pulled a slightly larger stone from his pocket. Its shape was ugly: half the features resembled a human’s, the other half a fish’s, and the legs were split—one a fish tail, the other a short stubby leg.
Su Ximu took the stone and glanced at Blue 242 Leader, as if to ask: Will throwing this stone into the sea cause something magical too?
Blue 242 explained that he hadn’t picked this stone on purpose. While gathering those little stones, this thing had suddenly jumped out and tripped him. It was ugly and hard, just like a stone.
So he had simply taken this “stone” along as well.
Su Ximu studied the ugly stone carefully for a while. Though its shape was crude, the carver must have been highly skilled—the tiny stone figure’s expressions were vividly lifelike. For an instant, he even felt like this strange fish-man could come alive.
“Mm… Then I’ll put it in the mushroom potted plant.”
“I’ve got the potted plant on the balcony now. If someone lost this stone, when they spot it in the potted plant, they should come looking for me.”
Blue 242 nodded, agreeing it was a great idea. This stone paired perfectly with the red mushroom.
