Before Shi Yuhuai could truly go into hibernation, the electronic voice rang out in the sky above the scenic area again.
"Li Yang has failed to capture for more than twenty minutes, triggering the Freezing Skill. Ten points deducted! Moreover, their walking posture within two minutes will be designated by the program group through a draw!"
"Li Yang’s walking posture is - moving horizontally with feet not touching the ground at the same time."
Upon hearing this, Mu Qiu raised his hands, ready to applaud and cheer, but the electronic voice reported the next piece of news.
"No hibernator has appeared for more than thirty minutes, each guest will have two points deducted!"
"Jiang Zhufeng has had no changes in points for over sixty minutes, and will receive an additional three points!"
"Cheng Zhirang and Bai Shu, up to now, have only gained points without deduction, receiving an additional one point as a reward!"
"Guests are requested to seriously play the game and not lie down like salted fish!"
A string of point additions and deductions bewildered everyone, and as for the last sentence, everyone acted like they didn’t hear it.
During this gap, Shu Ran, who always kept a distance from everyone, suddenly grabbed Zhang Li’s hand.
"Zhang Li is caught, replacing Shu Ran as the captor, capture countdown begins!"
Zhang Li pulled his hand back in shock: "...Sister Shu Ran?!"
Everyone turned to look at Shu Ran.
She acted elegantly, even patting Zhang Li on the shoulder, showing a graceful smile of a popular star: "Don’t be afraid, anyway, this is the last time, sorry about that."
Zhang Li’s face fell.
Guan Yu sighed: "It’s okay, Zhang Li, the game is about to end, you won’t be the last one. We didn’t expect Shu Ran to be like this, too wicked, we’ll avenge you later!"
After casually reassuring him, she said to the camera: "What’s going on, is this some elimination game, frantically adding remaining points before it ends?"
"What do you mean adding points, I’m losing points, okay?! Ten points! Do you know how long it takes to earn ten points?!"
Li Yang started to lose his temper: "I take it back! I don’t want to be the one saving Brother Huai! I don’t want to!"
"There’s no need for that." Mu Qiu looked at him disdainfully.
"You’re still a captor now, what rescue? If you want to rescue, you have to capture someone to get five points and then go deduct those two points, it’s a win-win for you."
Li Yang was taken aback: "Really? Then I’ll save! Save save save! Brother Cheng, you come..."
"She will." Guan Yu had anticipated and pushed Shu Ran forward.
"Zhang Li, I’ll avenge you now!"
Before Shu Ran’s smile could be retracted, and before she could react from the blankness of watching the show, Li Yang cleverly grabbed her inflatable mattress.
"I caught Sister Shu Ran! She’s the captor now! I can save Brother Huai!"
"Hurry up."
Shi Yuhuai said three words, indicating he was already hibernating, then Cheng Zhirang grabbed Li Yang’s wildly waving hand and pressed it on him.
"Li Yang saves Shi Yuhuai."
Electronic voice: "Shu Ran is caught, replacing Li Yang as the captor! Capture countdown begins!"
"Li Yang successfully saves Shi Yuhuai, both sides get two points deducted!"
The transition happened in an instant.
Shu Ran, still in a daze, and Li Yang, pressed down with his hand on Shi Yuhuai’s chest, locked eyes, one turning from bewilderment to rage and shock, the other from happy to even happier.
Li Yang: "Hehehehehe."
Shu Ran: "Guan! Yu!!!"
There was no time to run, Guan Yu dropped to her knees and wrapped herself up in the mattress like a cocooned caterpillar.
"Be gentle, the mattress might leak!"
Shu Ran ignored her advice completely, pressing down and giving her a beating.
"You could think of me when it was about scoring, but not during point deductions, huh?!"
"How many points did you make me lose! Tell me! How many points did you make me lose! I just got rid of the captor status!"
"I’m going to beat you to death!"
Guan Yu cried out: "No no no! That’s the head! You can beat that end, that’s the butt!"
Shu Ran: "...What’s the difference? I’ll beat your head off! You are the biggest obstacle for me this season! Don’t think you can escape after the show ends!"
Everyone else was just watching this brutal scene. Mu Qiu, feeling empathetic, couldn’t help but advise Shu Ran: "Sister Shu Ran, you’re hitting the thigh, you should move forward a bit."
Guan Yu’s gritted voice came muffled from under the mattress: "Thanks a lot, Mu Qiu!"
Shu Ran’s thumping on the inflatable mattress was heard continuously; Shi Yuhuai, pretending to be dead and lying on the ground, got impatient and grabbed Cheng Zhirang’s trousers.
"Finish the game quickly, Brother Cheng, I cover more area lying down and it’s getting sunnier."
To catch him, make him lose five points, end the game, that’s the last step, very simple.
The important thing is to whom those deducted five points should go, in other words, who should catch him.
Shu Ran, in the midst of beating Guan Yu, paused momentarily, squinting at Shi Yuhuai, ready to make a move.
On the other side, Zhang Li, who had just turned into a captor, also shifted a bit forward, staring at Shi Yuhuai.
But they were all slightly far off, slower than those closer.
Cheng Zhirang once again played his role as the "hand presser," holding Mu Qiu’s hand and pressing it on Shi Yuhuai’s shoulder.
He moved so fast, no one saw when their hands joined.
"She got it first," he said.
With shoulders drooped, Shu Ran and Zhang Li, both eager to act, lost their drive.
Then Shu Ran resumed hitting Guan Yu, now including anger toward Cheng Zhirang and Mu Qiu, the loathsome couple.
Guan Yu wailed in agony.
The electronic voice delivered the latest message.
"Shi Yuhuai has been captured, replacing Mu Qiu as the captor, capture countdown begins!"
But this wasn’t the final message. Centered two meters around Shi Yuhuai, everyone eagerly awaited the final words, "Game over."
Mu Qiu wasn’t that focused on this anymore.
She moved her hand slightly, struggling twice in Cheng Zhirang’s palm, then calmed down, looking at him.
Cheng Zhirang subconsciously smiled at her, pausing as he understood her gaze meant to let go, then tightened his grip, first moving her hand off Shi Yuhuai’s shoulder before releasing it.
His dry, warm hand, brushing against her wrist, sent a tingling itch.
Especially when his little finger traced along the line from her wrist to her palm, the itch made her pull back immediately.
This... this kind of spur-of-the-moment flirting isn’t quite right, is it? There are so many cameras watching.
She gave him a half-hearted reproving look, dabbing his hand with a pink pig turtle, not making a sound.
Cheng Zhirang looked down at her gestures, smiling warmly like a spring breeze.
Leaving Shi Yuhuai, despised by the two, as the soil of their love, his expression turned wooden.
Why, is his shoulder some filthy place, needing to be cleared for them to flirt?
Vile couple, can’t bear to watch.
He looked away, lying back to wait for the electronic voice to announce the game’s end.