The fourth challenge arrived quickly.
The remaining ten models were transported by bus to a unique venue that looked like an indoor gymnasium, though it was filled with strange props. Wei Ming stood beside a young woman wearing a skin-tight suit patterned with designs resembling electrical currents.
“Are you curious about this challenge? This is Ms. Cen, a well-known domestic motion capture master. Motion capture is an advanced technology where actors wear specific suits to perform various movements in reality. Machines capture these actions and synchronize them to virtual characters in games, giving them a realistic and natural effect. Today, you are going on a motion capture tour!”
Ms. Cen informed the contestants that the male and female models would play different roles. She would teach them a set of movements, and the winners of the challenge would have simulated game characters created in their likeness by the development team. Their game was a major production that had been three years in the making by a famous domestic gaming company.
Many of the models did not play games, but that did not stop them from cheering. Having their own character in a game meant they could potentially gain an entirely new fan base. Everyone was eager to try.
The women were to play a female thief, requiring them to dodge bullets and sprint through streets to evade pursuers with fashionable and graceful postures. The men played a male swordsman, elegantly entering an arena and drawing a sword for a duel to eventual victory.
Zhan Zhiqing did not play games often, and given Ms. Cen’s vague instructions, though his performance was polished, the judges deemed it too realistic and not stylized enough for a game. He ultimately ranked third. To everyone’s surprise, Shen Lin took first place. It was only then that the group learned that beneath Shen Lin’s shy and timid nature lay a hardcore gamer girl.
Zhan Zhiqing was not too upset by this loss, but while on set, he noticed that Yu Can and Le Xin were getting very close.
Returning to the house that evening, Zhan Zhiqing took the opportunity to find Yu Can and warn him about Le Xin. However, since the cameras were everywhere and he lacked physical evidence, he could not be too explicit.
“It is probably better not to get into a relationship during the show,” he said casually, leaning against the balcony railing and looking out the window.
Yu Can looked at Zhan Zhiqing and scratched his head, sounding puzzled. “I am not in a relationship, Brother Zhan.” He was a few months younger than Zhan Zhiqing and had started calling him Brother Zhan since Cao Yan left.
Zhan Zhiqing was somewhat speechless and added, “Getting too close to female contestants might affect your competitive state.”
Yu Can finally realized what he meant. “Oh! You mean that. Don’t worry, Brother Zhan. There are two girls who have been close to me lately, but they are just asking for help with some questions. Don’t worry, I know what I am doing.”
However, that very night, a quarrel broke out between Yu Can and those two girls. The cause was another girl named Du Fang, who had made a late night snack for Yu Can because he said he was hungry while they were watching TV earlier. Just as she set the food out, she heard Le Xin asking Yu Can to go outside and play.
As Yu Can hesitated between the two, Du Fang, who had a fiery temper, was the first to fire a shot.
“Le Xin, can you not live without a man? Have you even broken up with the one you were dating before you started hitting on a new one?”
This sentence immediately caught the attention of all the contestants. Although Le Xin and Cao Yan had been close, they had never officially confirmed their relationship in public. According to Du Fang’s wording, Le Xin had hooked up with Cao Yan long ago and was now looking for a new target in Yu Can.
Du Fang’s voice was so loud that even Zhan Zhiqing, who was in the gym, was drawn out. He emerged just in time to see this tense scene.
Le Xin glanced inconspicuously at the nearby surveillance camera and replied calmly, “You should have evidence before you speak. Do not try to smear me with such filthy words just because my score is higher than yours.”
Le Xin’s methods were indeed superior as she immediately shifted the topic. The simple minded Yu Can even added a blow. “Yeah, Du Fang. Le Xin just said she has been under a lot of pressure lately and wanted to chat with me.”
Standing to the side, Zhan Zhiqing almost laughed. He could not tell if Yu Can was truly stupid or just pretending. He could not even see through such an obvious tactic of getting close before making a move.
With Yu Can’s interruption, Du Fang grew even more furious. “I am the one who asked Yu Can first! Why did you have to butt in halfway through?”
Seeing this, Le Xin bet that Du Fang had no substantial evidence of her relationship with Cao Yan. She became even more unscrupulous, tossing her hair and posing suggestively before replying slowly, “I did not see you, and Yu Can agreed to my request. Perhaps Ms. Du’s charm just is not great enough?”
Mocked like this, Du Fang was nearly driven mad. She pointed at Le Xin and shouted, “You are a poisonous woman! You were with Cao Yan and then plotted to get him kicked off the show. Now you are buttering up Yu Can just to frame him next! Don’t think I don’t know! I saw the two of you hugging and kissing! If Ms. Le insists that French kissing is just your normal way of making friends, then I have nothing left to say!”
As soon as she said this, the contestants in the living room began to gossip. Tongue kissing in the house? They really were something.
However, Le Xin was thick skinned and smiled. “As I said, do not make up stories to slander me just because my score is higher than yours and Yu Can chose to hang out with me instead of you.”
Du Fang was jumping with rage. She had indeed seen it, but she had no proof. Le Xin was a master at diverting the subject, calling her narrow minded and charmless, and Du Fang had no idea how to refute her.
Zhan Zhiqing, taking everything in, stepped forward and said indifferently, “Le Xin and Cao Yan were indeed quite close. I remember seeing Cao Yan coming down from the third floor around five in the morning one day. Of course, according to Le Xin’s logic, I don’t have evidence either.”
He held a grudge, and he was certainly going to kick her while she was down. Zhan Zhiqing had always maintained an image of being cold and solitary but highly capable. He had no reason to be jealous of Le Xin, let alone fight over Yu Can. With the two testimonies combined, the truth was obvious to the other contestants.
Not only that, but Zhan Zhiqing decided to break Le Xin’s last lifeline. “I remember when the incident happened, Cao Yan was clearly cleaning out my things for your sake. I wonder, while he was destroying my clothes, was Ms. Le standing by as a cold observer, just as you were the night He Yu took Cao Yan away?”
Zhan Zhiqing’s words were like pulling back a curtain, clearing away the fog and answering all the lingering doubts. The things Le Xin had deliberately ignored were now fully revealed. Once this exchange aired, the audience would naturally connect the dots: Cao Yan was disqualified to protect her, yet she escaped completely unscathed. They would even wonder if she was the one who instigated Cao Yan to do it in the first place.