Chapter 79
“Children! Your old Sun has returned!” (Sun = Sun Wukong)
Xie Mi came back fully loaded with two secret codes and distributed them right away.
“Lingdang’s code is ‘Wisdom fruit beneath the wisdom tree’, and Little Sang’s code is ‘Love you walking alone through the dark alley’. You two head off now to find the contact person. I just saw there were NPCs near the coffee shop and the merchandise store.”
Sangzan was full of admiration. “Xie Teacher! You are mighty amazing!”
“What about you, Teacher Xie?” Peng Lingdang realized something.
Xie Mi waved it off. “I can still find one. But time is short, so you two go first and get rid of your alarm clocks. We’ll meet up at the coffee shop later!”
“No way, Teacher Xie should be the first one to get rid of hers!”
Sangzan also realized, blinking in confusion. “Xie Teacher, you don’t have a code yet? Then I won’t deactivate mine either.”
Xie Mi clutched her chest in anguish. “Once the big boss, always the dad for life! Since you’ve acknowledged me as your father, naturally I must protect you!”
Peng Lingdang hesitated. “We didn’t really acknowledge you as dad though…”
“If I can’t even protect my teammates, then what kind of qualified father am I?!”
Peng Lingdang: “…I seriously never acknowledged you.”
Sangzan: “Dad!!!”
[Pfft]
[Team affection has turned into father-son affection, hahaha this girl really knows how to milk the show]
[You guys still don’t get it, do you think she’s only doing it for the effect? She genuinely wants to be the dad]
[Qiu Chengye, you’ve got yourself a new brother! (not really)]
[Who understands—originally I was hopping around different live rooms, but this one glued me here for half an hour straight]
[Same here! She’s both hilarious and genuinely kind-hearted, selflessly giving her codes to her teammates. But I really don’t want her to be eliminated, waaah]
In the end, Xie Mi left the codes behind without further debate and walked off, leaving the two little followers as “left-behind children” once again.
Sangzan was still stretching out his hand toward Xie Mi’s retreating figure, while Peng Lingdang asked helplessly, “Do you even know what dad means?”
Sangzan’s eyes were crystal clear. “Does it mean butterfly? Xie Teacher wants us to think of her as a beautiful butterfly.” (Father = diē = butterfly)
“No. It means father.”
“…?”
At that moment, Xie Mi had shifted her battlefield to the Magical Theater area.
She wasn’t really being a saint—giving away her codes was simply because she was absolutely confident she could find new ones.
For the other guests, this was their first time filming the show, so they weren’t familiar with its design.
But as a reader, she had read the novel beforehand and knew the production team’s tricks very well.
Even if the original story didn’t describe the hiding spots in detail, she could still guess.
Just like now—she was creeping under the theater seats.
(sinister crawling) (rolling) (intense scrambling) (twisting) (spasming) (eerie low growls)
[Oops sorry, did I stumble into a horror movie?]
[I’m laughing so hard my hands are cramping, is she just going to clown around the whole time?]
[I clicked in from the rankings—no wonder this stream has the most viewers, this is killing me]
[The second-ranked room is also great, they’ve been kiting a hunter around ten laps already, comments keeps spamming “defying heaven”]
There!
Xie Mi finally spotted a code card and reached out to grab it.
“Ahhhhhh!!!”
A piercing scream tore through the air.
The volume made Xie Mi see stars.
Sis, are you a car alarm?
“Teacher Xie? It’s you? You scared me to death, the theater’s already dark—what are you doing down there?”
Standing before her was Xu Shuangrong, who had ducked into the theater to hide from hunters.
Behind Xu Shuangrong were three little followers, their gazes carrying a strange hostility.
Xie Mi didn’t care one bit. Calmly, in the darkness, she slipped the card into her pants pocket before standing up and dusting herself off.
“I was hiding from the hunters.”
But the actress Yu Qianqian whispered, “Why do I feel like you were looking for something…”
As soon as she said that, the two male idols also became alert.
“This area definitely has cards. Since no one else has searched here, they must still be around…”
“Sister Shuangrong, let’s search too, okay?”
Xu Shuangrong didn’t answer, which was basically agreement.
They immediately started searching frantically, as if terrified Xie Mi would beat them to it.
Already ahead, Xie Mi was about to sneak away when Xu Shuangrong grabbed her wrist.
“Teacher Xie, it’s dangerous for you to be alone. Why don’t you join us? You probably haven’t found a code yet. When we do, we’ll help you too.”
Her gaze burned—appearing warm, but actually sharp and calculating.
Smart as Xu Shuangrong was, she guessed Xie Mi had already found the card and was deliberately stalling her from finding the contact.
But Xie Mi didn’t panic, chatting casually. “So you came in here to escape hunters?”
Xu Shuangrong nodded earnestly. “Yes, one was chasing us outside just now. It should still be nearby—it’s very dangerous.”
“Then… do you remember you screamed a moment ago?”
“…?”
While Xu Shuangrong was distracted, Xie Mi yanked her wrist free and bolted. Just then, Yu Qianqian shrieked: “A hunter just came in!!!”
Xu Shuangrong’s group immediately scattered, but since the hunter came through the front door, the exit was blocked—and they didn’t know about the back door.
Seeing Xie Mi running upward, they instinctively followed.
And then—
Xie Mi hit a dead end, but leapt onto the back of a chair, sprang upward, caught the railing of the second-floor balcony, and nimbly swung herself up.
The four below: “???”
Dude, are you a monkey?
The hunter was already upon them. One male idol shut his eyes, face full of tragic resolve, spreading his arms wide in front of Xu Shuangrong.
“Take me instead!”
And indeed, he was caught.
“Cai Siyuan out!”
Xu Shuangrong’s live comments erupted in squeals—her fans shouting how adorable and selfless he was.
Xu Shuangrong herself was deeply moved. “Siyuan, thank you.”
Being thanked by his goddess, Cai Siyuan had no regrets. Before leaving, he said with hope, “Sister Shuangrong, I’m Cai Siyuan from TAT boy group. Could you follow me on Weibo?”
Xu Shuangrong pretended not to hear. “Siyuan, thank you.”
Meanwhile, Xie Mi, successfully escaped, quickly located the contact for her code and deactivated her alarm at the 25-minute mark.
The program team also broadcasted good news: Sangzan had succeeded in deactivating his as well.
But Peng Lingdang remained silent.
Xie Mi was just about to message her when another program announcement appeared:
[Guest Li Yingwu successfully found the contact for ‘Wisdom fruit beneath the wisdom tree’ and deactivated their alarm.]
Xie Mi: “?”
Wasn’t that the code she gave Peng Lingdang?
Beep beep—
A message from Sangzan:
[Sangzan]: Xie Teacher! Lingdang’s code got overheard by Senior Li, and he used it first!”
