033
On this day, Su Ximu sent out his own gift and received one in return, along with the anticipation that came with it.
As dusk fell, the two at the beach started heading back and parted ways in front of the trainee dormitory building.
Su Ximu went up to the third floor and returned to the dorm. As the Blue 242 Leader had said, he placed the strange stone into the potted plant, letting it keep the mushrooms company for now.
The other bottle of little stones, the red one, he carefully stored away in his drawer. To prevent the bottle from rolling around inside, he even specially padded a folded towel underneath it to increase friction.
After finishing these tasks, he looked toward the opposite window.
The curtains on the window fluttered slightly in the sea breeze. What was the Blue 242 Leader doing now?
In a dimly lit room, the sound of ripping fabric echoed through the space.
A pair of hands glowing faintly white in the darkness, with distinct knuckles, became stained with blood.
Blood trickled down the wrist.
Drip, drip, drip.
After a long while, these hands pulled a still-beating heart from his own chest. Thump, thump, thump.
The fresh, beating heart did not receive a final glance from its owner and was casually tossed to the ground. The moment it hit the floor, it stopped pulsing.
The owner of the hands then walked into the bathroom and cleaned all the filth from his body. Only when no more blood flowed from his chest and his hands were clean again did he walk back out, heading to the desk.
He cupped his hands together and carefully picked up the grass doll, placing it into the hole in his chest.
From this day forward, this pretty little grass doll would replace the heart, continuing to beat inside his body.
Right before bed that evening, Su Ximu discovered that big bro had replied to his message, asking if he appeared in any shots in the upcoming show.
Su Ximu sat cross-legged and pondered how to respond.
In theory, as staff, he shouldn’t appear on camera. But with cameras everywhere on the island, he wasn’t entirely sure which footage the production team planned to include in the final cut.
Most likely, even if he had any screen time, it would only be a bit in the horror bloopers, and not much at that. The production team would probably focus on editing the scared expressions of the trainees.
After all, his job was just elimination staff, and the trainees were the main subjects of the show.
So, he replied to ‘big bro’: 【There might be a bit of footage of me in the first episode’s bloopers.】
The associate director had already announced in the group chat that after the show premiered at eight the next evening on GYTV Channel 3, it would go live on major online video platforms. Updating alongside the first official episode would be a fun blooper reel from the recordings.
The official first episode only edited content up to the end of the trainees’ initial ratings.
The bloopers included whatever interesting footage the production team had captured, sometimes even spoiling bits from the promotion round dance practices.
Not long after Su Ximu sent the message, ‘big bro’ replied: 【Got it, I’ll watch it then. Are you adapting to work over there? Call big bro if anything comes up.】
Seeing this reply, he reached up and tugged at his hair. He wanted to tell ‘big bro’ about all the pretty seashells he had seen on the beach that day, about the gift from the Blue 242 Leader, and how well he was adapting to this job, and how easy the production team’s trainees were to get along with…
He had a lot he wanted to say, but none of it was particularly meaningful.
That was just how chatting with family went—sharing didn’t always have to be about important things.
In the end, though, he simply replied: 【Thanks, big bro. I’m adapting well here.】
Meanwhile, Su Xuanxiao, who had been waiting for Xiao Xi to chat with him ever since his first message, saw this somewhat formal reply. His expression didn’t change much as he casually sent over a transfer of 28,888.
【Big bro: I have a few business partners whose kids are into chasing stars. Xiao Xi, get some autographs from those trainees as you see fit. This is their preorder payment for you.】
【Big bro: You can negotiate with the trainees and split it 90-10 if you want.】
These two messages, sent along with the red envelope, completely blocked any attempt by the boy to decline it.
After all, this wasn’t just a red envelope from big bro—it seemed like a revenue stream for the production team’s trainees too.
Many of the trainees here probably didn’t come from well-off families. That much was clear from how reluctant some were to even buy snacks from the supermarket.
He still had one question, though. The show hadn’t officially aired yet—did the production team’s trainees already have fans?
That was exactly what Su Ximu thought, and exactly what he asked.
Big bro then replied: 【They like the trainee genre.】
Perfect. That answer was very convincing.
Su Ximu believed it.
With a tap of his finger, he accepted the large transfer from big bro.
Meanwhile, Su Xuanxiao, in a good mood after sending pocket money to the kid, knocked on his desk. The assistant on standby outside the office entered promptly.
The Su Consortium never slept; there was no day or night, just shifts of employees rotating through.
The assistant who entered now was the night shift assistant from the president’s office.
Once the assistant stood a few steps away and bowed respectfully, Su Xuanxiao instructed directly: “Notify the Network Information Security and Control Department that starting tomorrow, the day shift and night shift teams will work overtime together.”
The assistant said nothing extra, just noted down the boss’s orders carefully. Once he confirmed there were no further instructions, he retreated from the office with extremely deferential body language.
The next evening at eight, Tonight’s Big Star aired as scheduled on GYTV3.
As Channel 3 under CYTV, dedicated to entertainment programming, GYTV had very high national popularity.
Plus, the Tonight’s Big Star crew had thrown a lot of money into marketing before the premiere, landing several trending topics. So, the show achieved quite good ratings right from the start.
After watching the first episode, viewers flooded the production team’s account with comments:
【Whose big shot pulled this off? I thought dozens of trainees were a lot, but they brought over more than a hundred? This is gonna be fun.】
【Hehehe, Trainee No. 34’s collarbone is so nice. I want it.】
【Is the production team doing a giveaway? I want No. 73’s hands! Hand fetishist drooling lololol】
【Wait, am I the only one who thinks this show is too bland? What the hell, no trainees got eliminated from start to finish in the first episode.】
【Dude in front, are you blind? Or deaf? There were 104 trainees when they arrived on the island, but only 91 by initial ratings.】
【I’m watching on your skull head! No elimination footage, talk shit all you want. I came to watch the show, not kids playing house. Thumbs down, I want my refund!】
【Still denying you’re blind? Did you check the production team’s announcement, or did you visit your parents’ graves? Can’t see that huge blooper link?】
Su Ximu figured his blooper footage wouldn’t amount to much.
But at that moment, viewers who followed the production team’s link to the online video platform for the bloopers felt utterly baffled.
Wasn’t this supposed to be an elimination highlight reel?
The bloopers started off somewhat to some viewers’ tastes.
In the night, a fourth-floor elimination staff member with an axe cornered one of the trainees. Amid the trainee’s terrified, despairing gaze, he cackled and advanced.
One weirdo sitting at his computer got bizarrely excited, gnawing on his fingers with a manic expression as he muttered to himself: “Yes, just like that! Just like that!”
“Chop him! Hack him to pieces with the axe!”
What wonderful pleading. Only sounds like that were worthy of this hyped-up crapfest of an idol selection show!
The weirdo on screen raised the axe high.
The weirdo off screen, in his frenzy, bit his finger until it bled.
The next second, rip~
Not the sound of blood spraying, but the camera suddenly going black.
The finger-biting weirdo in front of the screen froze.
After a long pause, static crackled from the speakers, and the screen finally showed an image again.
But it was a elimination staff member he’d never seen before, cloaked and wielding a scythe as he chased another trainee.
The cloak’s hood was too large, making his face hard to make out on screen.
The video labeled this as the third floor.
Third floor, third floor worked too. Third or fourth floor, same difference.
The finger-biting weirdo barely rallied his emotions and fixed his eyes unwaveringly on the third-floor elimination staff’s actions.
He pushed open the door to a trainee dorm.
He selected his prey.
He pressed the scythe across the prey’s neck.
The prey shoved the scythe away and ran.
He stood still for a few seconds before giving chase.
The finger-biting weirdo’s lips curved into a smile; his interest reignited.
This elimination staff knew how to play—he was toying with the prey thoroughly before the kill?
He watched for a good while like this until the targeted Trainee No. 44 finally collapsed in exhaustion and closed his eyes in despair.
The black-cloaked weirdo cackled as he reached into his pocket for something and extended it toward him…
The short-haired young man in front of the screen switched fingers to bite, bracing for the climax.
And then…
“Grass!!!”
Su Consortium Headquarters
At this time, the Network Information Security and Control Department was fully staffed and raring to go, ready to battle it out with the trolls online for three hundred rounds.
They had received clear instructions.
The third-floor elimination staff in the Tonight’s Big Star blooper reel was none other than their Su Consortium’s legitimate little young master!
With a command from the department head, every employee sprouted eight arms, pairing two hands to each computer.
In a flurry of afterimages, the keyboards sparked under their assault.
Some employees, for efficiency, even dragged the weirds trolling their little young master into a private chat room and went voice.
“You get the bloopers? What poetic strokes, what grand graffiti! Seeing that on those trainees’ faces is the honor of your lifetime!”
The weirdo on the other end of voice chat toppled over in rage: “What did you say? My honor? Even kindergarten little weirds wouldn’t watch that crap anymore!”
“The blooper video is garbage! Real weirds face raw, bloody reality! I %&%…￥()!”
That was too filthy; it ignited the information department employee’s fury: “What did you say? Say that again if you dare?”
“I #%9&…?!”
“Who can’t make a chat room online? Free speech, I say what I want! If you’ve got the guts, crawl over here and find me!”
Even filthier.
The information department employee’s face flushed red. How dare this guy insult their little young master’s work like that!
Having climbed to their current positions in the consortium, they were deeply bound to the entire Su Consortium.
As the saying went, when the master was insulted, the servant died.
“Crawl it is!”
He slammed the table, retracted his eight arms, and dove headfirst into the computer screen.
