Back at the cave, Liam looked over Taylor, who had followed him all the way there.
The college student really did have impressive stamina.
She had actually managed to reach the destination without falling behind, unlike Heather and those other college students who had been exhausted after barely walking any distance.
Taylor explained, “For the sake of my dream, I have to be prepared for anything at all times. Good stamina is essential.”
“Good. That’s exactly the attitude you need. Prepare ahead of time for whatever might happen in the future.”
The two then began setting up the entire course.
Since this was Liam’s first attempt at producing a show with multiple participants, he decided to play it safe and make it a short three-day, two-night program, keeping the chances of anything going wrong to a minimum.
He also chose an area he knew extremely well for the adventure course, which made it easier to construct traps that were both safe and frightening.
Short on money, Liam decided to use whatever materials he could find nearby.
There certainly was no shortage of trees.
After all his constant physical strengthening, his arm strength had long since surpassed that of an ordinary person.
He could bring down a tree thick enough for one person to wrap their arms around in just a few minutes.
Watson pushed the felled trees into position while Taylor stood nearby with the camera on her shoulder, recording the process.
Just as Liam was about to start building the traps, Lily came over and curled her tail around his hand.
“Little one, two humans are approaching from about a kilometer away. They’re coming straight here.”
Liam nodded, set down his tools, stood up, and dusted off his clothes before heading toward the edge of the clearing.
Before leaving, he reminded Taylor, “Some overenthusiastic fans are coming. If anything happens, stay close to Watson.”
Taylor hesitated, then nodded and moved a couple of steps closer to Watson.
…
About a kilometer away, two young men dressed like tourists were making their way through the forest.
“Tony, why do you think Liam stays in a place like this? Doesn’t he work for a TV station?”
Tony ventured, “Weirdos like him don’t think the way normal people do. Just look at that bearded guy from before. He was basically a savage.”
“What should we do about Liam? I think we could recruit him into our organization. Nobody cares about that bearded guy anyway.”
Tony shook his head and warned him, “That bearded guy isn’t someone you can kill that easily. We need to be careful with Liam. If he’s even crazier than the bearded guy, then we’re in trou…”
Before he could finish, the sound of branches snapping came from the bushes in the distance.
Both men immediately fell silent and stared cautiously in that direction.
A figure suddenly burst from the undergrowth.
Before either of them could react, he was already beside them, draping an arm over each of their shoulders.
The two men turned their heads and were horrified to discover that it was Liam, the very person they had just been talking about.
Liam wore a warm, friendly smile as he looked at them in apparent surprise.
“I didn’t expect fans to come looking for me this soon.
“We’re not…”
The other man had barely started speaking when Tony stepped hard on his foot.
He immediately caught on and shut his mouth.
Tony forced a smile.
“Sorry. We got the date wrong. We thought filming had already started, so we came over to take a look.”
Liam gave both of them a firm pat on the shoulder.
The force nearly made their knees buckle.
“No problem. My show welcomes anyone with a curious mind, but not this time. Children will be participating in this episode, so for safety reasons, the set will be closed during filming.”
“We understand.”
The two nodded vigorously, wanting nothing more than to get away from this unnervingly unpredictable man as quickly as possible.
“Good. Then stay tuned for the show.”
With that, Liam released them, turned around, and walked back into the forest without giving them another glance.
The moment he disappeared, Tony and his companion let out a breath of relief.
Sweat instantly covered their foreheads.
“What the hell is with that guy? How did he know we were here? Isn’t the bearded guy’s cave a long way from this place?”
Tony caught his breath.
“Forget it. Let’s get out of here. That guy’s trouble. We’ll let the higher-ups deal with him.”
The two immediately hurried back the way they had come, terrified that Liam might suddenly appear again.
…
With the unwanted visitors gone, Liam made rapid progress on the traps.
Taylor might only have been a part-time college student, but she worked enthusiastically.
Whenever she was not filming, she was constantly helping Liam with whatever needed doing.
Liam was very pleased with her.
Finally, on the day before the program was scheduled to begin filming, every part of the course was complete.
…
On April 1, Emma carefully picked out several beautiful outfits, trying them on and twirling in front of the mirror several times.
“Not bad. I’m this pretty, so I’m definitely going to shine on television.”
After admiring herself for a while, she heard David calling from outside.
“The TV station’s bus is here.
Finally!
Emma eagerly grabbed her suitcase, rushed out of the bedroom, and climbed aboard the TV station’s bus without even looking at David.
Seeing that his daughter had completely ignored him, David gave an awkward smile and went back to his own business.
With his daughter away for the next couple of days, he could finally relax.
The moment Emma boarded the bus, however, she became so nervous she had no idea what to do.
There were far more participants inside than she had expected.
She had assumed she was joining some kind of children’s talent show or child-star competition.
She had imagined the bus would be full of girls her age, all dressed up as carefully as she was.
Instead, the entire bus was filled with the noisy voices of boys.
Even though most of them had only just met, they were already laughing and fooling around together like old friends.
Completely bewildered, Emma tugged at Taylor, who was filming nearby.
“Miss, is this the TV station’s bus?”
“That’s right.”
That explained it.
Maybe these were participants from a different show.
That was the only way Emma could reassure herself.
After all, she was still just a child.
Smart as she was, she had no idea how to handle a situation like this.
She hesitantly made her way farther into the bus until she finally spotted another girl and quickly went over.
“Hi, I’m Emma. What’s your name?”
“Sofia. You probably don’t want to be friends with me, because the grand prize is definitely going to be mine.”
Sofia did not even bother looking at her after saying that.
Emma was not discouraged by the cold reception.
Instead, one phrase immediately caught her attention.
The grand prize.
She had no idea what the grand prize actually was, but her pride had already made the decision for her.
She was going to win it and rub Sofia’s face in it.
Emma looked around the bus again and soon spotted another girl.
This one wore thick glasses and was absorbed in a book.
Emma went over and repeated her introduction.
“My name is Mia. You don’t have to worry about competing with me. My uncle forced me to come, and I’m not interested in the grand prize.”
Why was everyone making such a big deal about this prize?
Emma was full of questions, but she kept them to herself and sat down beside Mia with a friendly expression.
The bus drove to the TV station, but under Emma’s expectant gaze, it did not stop.
Instead, it kept going, heading out toward the wilderness.
Where are we going?
What kind of show is this, anyway?