Seeing that the guests truly had no energy left to deal with anything, the director spoke straightforwardly: “Let me share some good news with you all: three pairs completed a mutual selection this time. Therefore, the pair that didn’t achieve a mutual selection will also need to team up for their date!”
The original design had been for group tasks, and it was easy to understand why a mandatory measure like this was necessary, as a two-person task would be impossible otherwise.
However, the audience didn’t quite get it.
Viewers who hadn’t been camping in Wen Ze’s live stream were confused: 【It would be Xie Tingyan and Qu Zheng, Shen Ruan and Zhou Zichen, and Ji Yun and Wen Ze, right? I just don’t know who President Gu and Ji Hang chose.】
But those who had been watching were scratching their heads in frustration: 【The Heavenly King Xie and that Zhou bastard groups aren’t the mystery, but Wen Ze didn’t choose Ji Yun. So which of those two paired up with President Gu or Ji Hang in a mutual selection?】
When everyone compared notes, things became awkward.
The answer was revealed: the third pair to achieve mutual selection was… Wen Ze and Gu Chao!
Even Wen Ze himself was stunned when he saw the results.
The audience knew perfectly well that he had deliberately chosen the person least likely to match with him…
Gu Chao had been sitting quite far away from him and shouldn’t have been able to hear him speak, so how did they end up as a mutual selection?
The audience was completely baffled: 【Heavenly King Xie and Mr. Qu are a long-standing CP; Shen Ruan and that Zhou bastard are clearly just clout-chasing. Wen Ze deliberately picked the most impossible option, so why did President Gu choose Wen Ze?!】
Some amateur Sherlock Holmeses chimed in weakly: 【Hasn’t everyone noticed? When President Gu first arrived and greeted Wen Ze, they weren’t very close, but they weren’t entirely strangers either.】
Those with sharp eyes had already recorded the screen and turned it into a GIF—they had met before. However, it was also obvious that their relationship was distant.
One netizen boldly asked: 【Could it be that President Gu has a secret crush on Wen Ze?】
【Impossible!】 someone argued fiercely. 【How is Wen Ze worthy! They must have agreed to manufacture a CP pair!】
Someone else replied, speechless: 【To the user above, are you a fan of the Best Actor, or did you just wake up today? How is Wen Ze unworthy of being loved? And you’re being contradictory, saying he’s unworthy while simultaneously claiming he and President Gu are manufacturing a CP.】
In any case, regardless of the conflicting opinions, tomorrow’s schedule was set.
Wen Ze and Gu Chao looked at each other, the surprise in their eyes impossible to conceal—a fact that slapped the “manufacturing a CP” conspiracy theorists in the face.
As for exactly where they would go for their dates, the production team had a passion for drawing lots. The director obligingly asked, “Would you all like to draw now, or wait until tomorrow morning?”
They were out here, and there wasn’t much the production team could prepare anyway, but knowing the results in advance was still a good thing.
“Stop talking and just draw now,” Ji Yun said, rubbing his temples, looking like he had a headache. “Are you doing this on purpose? Although I said I don’t care about age, you didn’t have to find me the youngest one!”
The director, who was on good terms with him, didn’t hold back, responding with a grin: “No good deed goes unpunished!” The director winked. “Then tell me, who did you want to go on a date with? I’ll rig the draw for you next episode; I guarantee the selection will be spot on!”
“You don’t know who I want to date? Stop acting stupid.” Ji Yun rolled his eyes and clicked to draw his lot. “Milk tea shop? How unoriginal.”
“What kind of creativity do you need for dating? Generally, creative dates never work out anyway.” The director shrugged, unfazed.
Xie Tingyan drew his lot as well, his face darkening the moment he opened it: Amusement park.
Heaven knows that a childish place like that had never had anything to do with His Majesty in his entire life. The director laughed until he was doubled over, dodging Xie Tingyan’s glare as he called out: “Wen Ze and President Gu, whose turn is it!”
After Wen Ze consulted with Gu Chao, he drew: Art studio.
The director looked surprised. “That’s a tough one for you two. If neither of you has a foundation in painting, it might not look very good.”
【Who needs a foundation for dating?】 【As long as the love is real, even scribbles look like masterpieces by famous artists!】
Wen Ze smiled shyly but didn’t say anything.
The final option was naturally left for Zhou Zichen and Shen Ruan; it was an option as cliché as it could possibly be: Cinema.
Zhou Zichen’s complexion finally eased, but the audience’s dissatisfaction grew even stronger Zhou Zichen was a Best Actor himself; what was he doing going to a cinema? Was he going to watch a movie he starred in? They didn’t believe this was Zhou Zichen’s luck at all; it had to be a script!
“Alright, I won’t waste any more of your time. Today’s live stream ends here. See you all tomorrow morning at 7:30 sharp!”
The director bid farewell to the camera with the skill of a professional streamer before cutting the feed, his smile remaining perfectly unchanged throughout, as if he hadn’t been the one manipulating the results.
As for the raging storm unfolding online and how many people were lying awake all night? What did that have to do with him? The results came from drawing lots, didn’t they?
Wen Ze sat on the bed, feeling the aura of “pleasure” drifting over from Zhou Zichen’s side, and felt puzzled: What is this fool so happy about? I’ve never heard of succubi having a ‘diminishing intelligence’ side-effect when they erode a human’s mind.
Wait… did he even have much intelligence to begin with?
Wen Ze couldn’t help but lament his own poor strategy. What a pity I can’t play with such an interesting toy for a few more days!
Wen Ze’s fingertips twitched slightly, and a stream of invisible air flowed slowly away from Zhou Zichen’s body. He felt the demonic aura returning to his own body and couldn’t help but click his tongue. Going for a spin through Zhou Zichen’s body was even more effective than brewing it inside my own.
What a waste that he’s only a human! It seemed like a waste to just throw him to other demons for torture; he wondered if he could turn him into a “conversion furnace” instead?
So thought Wen Ze, who had been poisoned by too many modern web novels.
Gu Chao, who lived on the same floor, suddenly felt his heart lurch. He clearly felt something fly out of Zhou Zichen’s body and into Wen Ze’s. Even though they were separated by doors and a hallway, he could clearly feel the trajectory of that thing. He also discovered that after that stream of energy was divided, he somehow knew that Zhou Zichen didn’t have much time left to live.
Demons being able to sense the scent of death was a common occurrence; Wen Ze didn’t even take it to heart. For a beast guilty of such heinous crimes, why keep him around?
Gu Chao went to sleep in a daze, not even processing his work.
After Wen Ze finished his shower, he heard a knock on the door. A staff member, wearing an ill-fitting uniform and sporting a pair of large black-rimmed glasses, appeared hurried. “Does Mr. Wen need a late-night snack?”
Wen Ze thought for a moment and nodded. “Just a little, thank you.”
“Alright.” The staff member acknowledged, then went to ask the others, but all received refusals. Celebrities needing to maintain their figures rarely had the habit of eating at night.
Consequently, the staff member only brought up one meal, consisting of a simple bowl of rice porridge and small side dishes. When Wen Ze took the tray, he heard a very quiet voice: “Everything is done.”
The tone was the familiar, refined, and calm one. This was no staff member; it was clearly Zong Du.
Wen Ze nodded, suppressing a laugh, and whispered, “Where did you get that outfit? I almost didn’t recognize you.” It was a world of difference from his usual “social elite” look.
Zong Du felt a bit embarrassed. “I was in such a rush, I was so nervous I forgot to prepare, so I just borrowed it from someone.”
Wen Ze understood. The two didn’t need much small talk and soon went their separate ways. Zong Du got into his car, and a reply from the “troll leader” popped up on his phone. Succubus guidance was one thing, but manpower was also essential. Things like this had to be foolproof to be trusted. Zong Du didn’t hesitate to wire the final payment, even adding an extra bonus.
Wen Ze had taken some investment classes and used his demonic abilities to check “luck.” Although it hadn’t been long, he had already made quite a bit of money.
The troll leader asked carefully, “Boss, I feel like there’s more than just our group guiding this. Do you have other arrangements on your end?”
Actually, he originally didn’t want to ask, because such a gesture smacked of pushing business away. But the circle was only so big, and the people in this business were limited; he had already asked everyone he was familiar with, and none of them had anything to do with it! If it was the boss’s arrangement, at least let their main accounts coordinate the other side was clearly of a higher grade…
Who knew that Zong Du was even more bewildered than he was?
Zong Du had exhausted all his energy over the past few days just trying to convince the director and contacting Xia Nanshan’s side. He had hired these trolls on a whim based on the situation; otherwise, with his meticulous nature, he wouldn’t have made a last-minute addition to the payment.
The two sides were speechless. Could it have been arranged by Wen Ze? But he should have told me.
Zong Du couldn’t figure it out, and in the end, he could only say, “Do whatever needs to be done. As long as it’s our own people, it doesn’t matter.”
“Understood.”
With his orders, the troll leader went silent, leaving Zong Du sitting alone in the car, tapping at his keyboard and wondering what on earth was going on. He knew Wen Ze although he was his boss now, to say they had a “friendship” was an exaggeration; at best, he had a terrifying ability to calculate the human heart. But to calculate to this degree was unlikely, not to mention those high-end trolls he didn’t have those connections!
Zong Du thought for a long time, figured out nothing, and simply stepped on the gas to head home. The boss had said one thing right: “Heaven and Earth are great, but rest is greater.” Only after eating well and sleeping enough would one have the energy to think about other things.
Hmm, a very demonic philosophy.
Wen Ze lay in his room hugging his phone, continuing to obsess over his half-read novel, completely unaware of Zong Du’s confusion.
Directly below him, Gu Chao received the same question. The troll leader’s intuition was correct—this side was indeed higher-end because they were a legitimate PR department with extremely high academic qualifications… they were just wearing the skin of a marketing account.
His secretary had been confused just two days ago, but today, she was filled with righteous indignation. Adhering to her principle of “never work overtime,” she was a person who clocked out on time and never wasted company resources, yet for the first time in history, she worked overtime voluntarily to report this to the CEO.
President Gu felt unappreciated on one hand, but on the other, he guessed the truth, so he simply adopted a “free-range” approach, saying almost the same thing: “Let them be; we’re all on the same path anyway.”
High-level logical persuasion combined with high-intensity brainwashing it was quite possible the combination worked even better.
The netizens verified President Gu’s thought with their own personal experiences. Before the next day arrived, Zhou Zichen’s reputation was already too rotten to look at.