Chapter 2

The day of the variety show recording came quickly.

We took a helicopter to a deserted island.

The production crew checked our bags and confiscated anything edible, giving each of us just a single bottle of water.

Yu Wei handed over her secret stash of chips, then turned to the camera and adorably said goodbye to them.

“Little chips, big sis is going to miss you.”

I calmly looked away.

Tch, I didn’t even need to watch to know the danmaku would be full of people calling her cute when this airs.

Yu Wei was a pro at this routine.

There were five artists in total. Besides me and Yu Wei, there was Triple Crown Best Actor Lu Mingshen, plus two boy group members, Li Qing and Fang Cheng’an.

Just my luck.

Li Qing was the junior who’d tried to harass me, failed, and then jumped ship to another company.

Now he was a red-hot rookie idol.

The moment he saw me, he enthusiastically came over to shake my hand. I pretended not to see him and turned away.

There’d be scolding later for sure.

But I was about to quit the industry anyway.

I honestly didn’t care.

The first mission was to walk alone to the campsite in the wild.

Our luggage was temporarily handed over to the staff.

Before setting out, I still grabbed a Swiss Army knife, just in case.

When I picked up the knife, Lu Mingshen glanced at me.

Then he took a lighter.

We walked for an hour and only realized something was wrong when we reached our destination.

Bushes grew thick all around us, branches clawing in every direction, the path jagged and hard to walk.

There wasn’t the slightest trace of anyone having been here.

Forget camping supplies-there weren’t even any staff.

Yu Wei looked around in confusion. “What’s going on? Where is everyone?”

Li Qing said, “Did we go the wrong way?”

Lu Mingshen stayed calm. “Call them.”

There were no cameramen following us along this stretch of road, so the only way to contact the production crew was by phone.

But unexpectedly, our phones had zero signal.

Yu Wei couldn’t help cursing. “Fuck! What the hell!”

Her usual public persona was that of a good, obedient girl-pure, naïve, a delicate little flower.

That one swear word stunned both Li Qing and Fang Cheng’an.

But Li Qing wasn’t any better.

He pulled a pack of cigarettes from his inner pocket. When Yu Wei saw it, she reached out. “Give me one.”

She only realized when it reached her lips that there was no lighter.

“Fuck.” Li Qing angrily kicked a tree. “What the hell is this place? Where the fuck did everyone go?!”

I glanced at the expressionless Lu Mingshen. He clearly had a lighter on him…

Smart man.

Fang Cheng’an looked up at the sky. “It’s going to get dark.”

Li Qing kept venting his frustration on the tree.

None of us noticed the faint red light blinking from a hidden camera buried in the bushes.