jealousy

"Shocked, a female artist got frightened and jumped three meters high?"

"A famous male artist suddenly gained tremendous strength and lifted a 200-kilogram barbell for love?"

Looking at this news that looked like a certain C-level headline, Lin Lang's mouth twitched, and he complained to Su Mu beside him: "Is this really official information? Why does it smell like an editor's news?"

"I heard from Lin Yuan that this guy was a water writer in XC before he joined the official organization." Su Mu had heard Lin Yuan say this before, and explained to Lin Lang.

"Really..." Lin Lang was a little speechless, but her attention quickly returned to the information in her hand: "With the current concentration of magic power, they can actually reach this level without any training. The power of faith is really terrifying."

"That's why they asked us to come here to monitor you." Su Mu couldn't help but sigh.

The power of faith is something that even the "Twenty-Four Gods" need very much. Not only because faith can provide them with strength, but also because these beliefs can become the "anchor" of the gods, allowing them to avoid madness caused by magic.

Back in Parnagi, Yu Zhi, who was the "Goddess of Disaster", was the most powerful person among them besides Teacher Rui. If it weren't for the fact that everyone in Class Nine was gifted and had their own adventures, it would take far too long for them to catch up with Yu Zhi in just five hundred years.

"This is just the domestic situation. It is said that the situation abroad is even more exaggerated." Su Mu pointed at a few pieces of information and said to Lin Lang, "It is said that some artists have already come forward to form a sect. It is indeed a place full of evil cults."

——At this moment, Su Mu and Lin Lang were sitting on the bus heading to the program recording location, taking advantage of the few free moments to look through the information in the official database.

Since knowing the special power of "faith", the authorities have been keeping an eye on every move in the entertainment industry. The information in the hands of the two was obtained by the authorities in recent investigations. It is far from being easily accessible to entertainment reporters and the like. It is a real secret.

However, unlike entertainment reporters who need "news" to gain attention and money, the authorities need to suppress the news that can really attract huge attention in order to prevent any accidents from happening before the entertainment industry is thoroughly regulated and controlled.

Nowadays, entertainment is the mainstream and people no longer believe in gods or Buddhas. Instead, they regard celebrities and artists as their faith.

Even though it is normal for celebrities’ blogs and music to have inflated fan bases, the de-watered data may not even reach one-tenth of the total, but even if the data is de-watered, it is still at least in the millions. Even if not everyone is a fanatic, in the standard PUA process of the fan circle, as long as you choose to get involved in the fan circle, it is only a matter of time before you treat the artist as a "god" and worship him.

Under such a standard, even if there are only tens of thousands of true "die-hard fans" in the end, it is still a very scary thing - with the "assistance" of magic, even if each person can only give the artist a tiny bit of power, multiplied by ten thousand times, it is still very impressive. Moreover, "chasing stars" is not a one-day or two-day thing, and with the accumulation of time, "creating gods" is not just a simple delusion.

The magic of the earth will only become stronger, and as faith continues to accumulate, these stars will surely gain extremely powerful powers in the future.

But as we all know, those who are powerful and popular, if they do not have a good education and firm beliefs, are very likely to do things that are immoral and against the law - such as tax evasion, and the "concubine selection" incident of a well-known male artist.

Just having money, without even touching "power", is already filled with so much chaos and outrageous things. What if these people have power comparable to that of gods and can destroy a skyscraper with a wave of their hands?

The greed of human heart can never be satisfied. Perhaps before the "end of the world" comes, these people will bring "disaster" ahead of time.

Therefore, Lin Lang and Su Mu, who traveled through Parnaki and possessed powerful strength but firmly chose the official, became the official's only choice for "monitoring" the entertainment industry.

The authorities do not mind the "deification" behavior. Compared with Parnaki, the Earth is seriously lacking in high-end combat power. As long as it can maintain the fate of the Earth and protect the world, the authorities do not mind, but look forward to such "deification". But the premise is that these people must be controlled, not reckless, and not abuse their power, claiming to be "gods" and manipulating those who worship them to do crazy things.

Lin Lang and his friends didn't even need to use the chaos that Parnaki had experienced as an example of how terrible the consequences of faith could be. Just the several "holy wars" in Western history could give us a glimpse of this.

...

"Teachers, we will arrive at the recording site in three minutes. Please be ready."

The voice of the staff member in the headset interrupted the discussion between Lin Lang and Su Mu.

Lin Lang put away the barrier and soundproofing magic, said "OK" softly, and then started to act cute in front of the camera fixed on the car according to the character assigned to her by the program team.

She deliberately took a deep breath and pretended to be extremely expectant yet also nervous and anxious: "Su Mu, this is my first time participating in this type of program. What if I get eliminated right at the start? I'm not very good at running."

Su Mu, who was also designated as a "warm man" by the program team, immediately comforted him: "It's okay, I'll take care of everything. I will definitely protect you from being eliminated."

The two of them acted enthusiastically in front of the camera, but in private they had already opened a chat channel to complain crazily.

"What on earth are they thinking? They want to portray me as a sports loser. Didn't they watch the show yesterday?" Lin Lang was somewhat speechless: "How will I run later?"

"I guess he really didn't watch it." Su Mu couldn't stand the character the program team created for Lin Lang: "These two TV stations are competing with each other."

Lin Lang was dissatisfied: "It's okay for her to be a delicate and weak girl, but what's the point of acting like a spoiled child to you? Even if we want to copy each other, you should act like a spoiled child to me, right?"

Su Mu: "Is this the point?!"

After selling a wave of CP according to the program team's script, the bus finally stopped. The two walked out of the bus under the guidance of the staff and joined the resident and flying guests who were already standing at the program recording point.

"Hello, brothers and sisters." Lin Lang, who was still complaining about the delicate character a second ago, immediately got into the role and acted very enthusiastically: "I am this episode's flying guest Lin Lang, please give me your guidance."

"Hello, teachers." Su Mu followed beside him and said, "I am this episode's flying guest Su Mu."

"Oh, you look so young." You Zhenghao, one of the flying guests, looked at Su Mu and Lin Lang with a smile. He seemed to be very harmonious, but his words made people feel a hint of malice: "I heard that you are classmates, signed with the same agency, and always record programs together. Are you two a couple?"

Su Mu smiled unchanged: "Our class teacher forbids students from dating each other, you must be joking. We are still students after all, so of course we have to focus on our studies."

"Haha." You Zhenghao laughed: "You are really good at self-control. If I had such a beautiful classmate by my side all the time, I would have pursued her a long time ago."

"Isn't this person too deliberate?" Su Mu said, "He wants to make me angry right away. Does he want me to lose my composure?"

"He's also testing your character." Lin Lang saw through You Zhenghao's tactics at a glance: "This kind of topic that can hype up the couple is probably instructed by the program team, otherwise he wouldn't dare to point it out at the beginning. But he's probably happy to test you on behalf of the program team, just to see how stable our emotions are, so that he can plan countermeasures against us later."

As expected, You Zhenghao changed the subject and said with a sigh, "I heard that you are only seventeen years old? High school students are different from people like us who are almost fifty. They have better physical strength. Maybe even the hunters can't catch up with you."

Before he finished speaking, several sharp gazes fell on Lin Lang and Su Mu.

In other programs, this sentence can be regarded as a compliment to Su Mu, but "Running Man" is different from other programs. As the name suggests, it is a competitive variety show. The setting is somewhat similar to "Battle Royale", but it is not that the guests of the show eliminate each other, but the "hunters" sent by the program team capture the guests, or "players".

In each episode, the program team will set up mission points and story backgrounds in a specific map. Missions are combined with stories, and once completed, they can prevent new hunters from appearing, or obtain props that can temporarily control hunters. If the mission fails, there will be more and more hunters in the map, and it will become more and more difficult to escape.

The program recording time is one and a half hours. If the player is not caught within one and a half hours, he will receive a one million bonus from the program team - real money, not virtual currency, nor some useless points.

Therefore, in each episode, except for a few fixed MCs who are responsible for attracting popularity and cueing the process and livening up the atmosphere during the ending period, the players participating in the recording basically come from all walks of life, from well-known artists to traffic stars, eighteen-line artists, or well-known Internet celebrities, outstanding representatives from all walks of life, and even pure amateurs with no special identities, a total of thirty people.

But the production team made a tricky setting: the 1 million will not be given to every surviving character, but will be divided equally among all the surviving players. In other words, the more people who stay until the end, the less money each person will get.

One million may not be a big temptation in the eyes of well-known artists or popular young actors, but for 18th-tier artists who have almost no jobs, or pure amateurs, one million is undoubtedly a blockbuster.

In order to get more money and prevent more hunters from being released, players will cooperate with each other in the early stage to complete one task after another. However, as the game enters the later stage, these former "teammates" become "opponents", and most players will spare no effort to "pit each other".

Well-known artists generally don't care about these things for fear of being scolded, but amateurs are different. They don't need to care about the reputation of the outside world, nor do they need to struggle in the entertainment industry. At most, they can get the money and leave. If they perform well enough, they can still be an Internet celebrity for a while in the future. Why not?

Therefore, these "amateurs" will become the real "bugs" in the second half of the game. Artists who have to call for "love and peace" will often be cheated and have to pretend to be kind.

Relying on the competition between players, this program has been full of blood and gore since its broadcast. Relying on these quarrels, the program has been popular again and again and has gained extremely high popularity.

You Zhenghao is one of the amateurs among the flying guests this time. However, this is not his first time to participate, but he has participated three times and won a prize of one million in one of them. He is a very strong amateur.

Although he received many negative reviews for causing competition and instigating opposition among players, You Zhenghao, as a middle-aged man in his late 50s, has a very good mentality and doesn't care about it at all. The program team is also happy to let him play the "bad guy". Wherever You Zhenghao is, there are always bloody storms, but it is also very exciting.

The audience also has a love-hate relationship with this guest star who is serious about "fighting". They hate his instigation, but also love the conflicts he brings among players.

After all, it is more interesting to see such open confrontation than a group of ordinary people shouting "we are a family" with fake smiles.

Facing You Zhenghao's hatred, Su Mu was not flustered at all. Instead, he raised the corner of his mouth and smiled awkwardly: "Brother You, you are joking. I am just a person who failed in physical education. How can I compare with Brother You? I heard that you have won a bonus before? The other two times you survived until the last five minutes. Why do you have to belittle yourself? Compared to us, you are the real master."

Seeing that Su Mu took the initiative to transfer his hatred to him, You Zhenghao's eyes flashed with surprise, but he was not angry. Instead, he looked at Su Mu with admiration.

This guy is no ordinary guy. I originally thought he was just an ordinary artist, but I didn't expect him to be so smart and quick-witted. He even investigated all of us in advance. He is not someone who can be easily fooled.

After You Zhenghao made a judgment about Su Mu in his mind, he quickly and seamlessly switched from his previous state of deliberately provoking trouble, revealing his smooth side, and smiled as he tried to smooth things over with Su Mu.

The two of them sang a few words in unison, and You Zhenghao quickly retreated back to the team, no longer being the first to stand out. But his eyes were still on Su Mu, with vigilance and fear.

——As for Lin Lang beside Su Mu, she had been acting like a pitiful little white flower since You Zhenghao appeared. She seemed to have very low fighting power and did not arouse any fear from anyone, including You Zhenghao. They just regarded her as an ordinary artist who came to attract attention and get the camera.

...

After Lin Lang and Su Mu had a few brief interactions with other players, the program officially began recording.

In order to increase the show's appeal and excitement, players determine each person's number by drawing lots, and then roll the dice to decide when to release the "hunter" trapped in the cage.

The dice has six sides, with numbers on sides one to five. The side that was originally "six" has been replaced with an eye. Once the player rolls the dice and lands on the eye side, all hunters will be released immediately.

If the dice rolls a number from 1 to 5, the hunter's cage will move forward the corresponding number of squares until the cage reaches the end of thirty squares, and all players will be able to leave early.

Lin Lang was extremely lucky. He got the number "01" when drawing lots and became the first person to roll the dice.

"Come on Lin Lang!" At this time, all the players stopped scheming against each other and were sincerely looking forward to Lin Lang's performance.

Even if you can't get one million, it's a good thing to appear on screen more often. At least it will increase your popularity, and popularity has always been linked to wealth.

They don’t want to be “game over” before they even start to escape.

Lin Lang performed as usual as the "little white flower" character given to her by the program team. She clenched her right fist and made a "come on" gesture, very cutely encouraging herself: "I will work hard!"

"So cute." Su Mu heard a player mutter behind him.

"She is quite cute." Su Mu couldn't help but think in his heart: "Especially those kings who were killed by Lin Lang's blow thought she was particularly cute before they died."

Lin Lang gently tossed the half-man-high dice up, which spun back to the ground and finally landed on the number "5".

“Good job!”

“Good job!”

The players clapped loudly and smiled with joy.

Lin Lang pursed her lips and smiled shyly, then she waved to the players: "Then I'll leave first."

——Players who throw the dice can enter the venue in advance and hide in a safe place for bombing.

Amid the voices of encouragement, Lin Lang and Su Mu exchanged a knowing look, turned around and ran into the game area.

...

After several players successfully left the preparation point, the dice finally came into Su Mu's hands.

"Come on, Su Mu!" the players encouraged.

You Zhenghao was also among them. His expression was sincere and genuine. He seemed to be a completely different person from the one who had deliberately mocked Su Mu and made him hate him before. He seemed to be a good man who trusted his "teammates" wholeheartedly.

Hearing this, Su Mu turned his head and smiled at You Zhenghao. The seemingly friendly smile made You Zhenghao's heart tremble for some reason.

I'm afraid I'm overthinking it. He's just a student. What kind of thoughts could he have?

You Zhenghao was comforting himself in his heart, and then he saw Su Mu holding the dice in both hands and throwing it into the air with force.

——Since the dice are so large, it is very difficult to control their throwing and landing. There are players who want to control the dice surface, but they all fail after trying.

Therefore, until the "eye" side was facing up, everyone thought it was just a coincidence.

“Beep——”

A sharp whistle accompanied by white mist sprayed out from both sides of the cage, stimulating the nerves of every player.

Everyone reflexively ran, including You Zhenghao. But before he had run a few steps, he felt something was wrong.

Su Mu suddenly appeared in front of You Zhenghao and blocked his way forward.

You Zhenghao tried several times to change his escape route, but Su Mu seemed to have eyes on his back, changing lanes accurately every time in advance, blocking his actions.

All this seems to be just a coincidence. After all, who can judge the movements of the people behind them?

But considering Su Mu's mischievous smile before, You Zhenghao knew in his heart that Su Mu had done all this on purpose.

Especially, Su Mu deliberately slowed down every time he changed lanes, as if to lure him to overtake him. But every time You Zhenghao wanted to speed up, Su Mu also accelerated and blocked his route in advance.

After several rounds, Su Mu and You Zhenghao unsurprisingly became the second to last and last in the group.

Falling behind is extremely fatal in "Running Man". Hunters are set to capture only enemies that appear in their field of vision, and will choose the player closest to them to capture. Once they capture a player, they will immediately stop their actions to give other players time to escape.

Only at the beginning of the show, in order to increase the show's appeal and quickly disperse the game players, prevent them from forming groups, stimulate them to go deeper into the map and trigger game tasks, the hunters will each choose a direction to hunt.

Now the other three have each gone to different pursuit routes, leaving only one hunter following closely behind Su Mu and You Zhenghao.

"Su Mu, don't treat me like a Taoist priest!" You Zhenghao finally had no time to maintain the superficial harmony and shouted at Su Mu anxiously. But he was still a step too late. The hunter who was chasing him had already put his hand on his shoulder, forcing him to end this "game".

At the same time, Su Mu also stopped, turned around, looked at You Zhenghao with a half-smile, and pretended to be surprised and said: "Hey, Brother You, how come you were caught so quickly?"

"You!" You Zhenghao glared at Su Mu angrily, wanting to curse, but he didn't dare to show his true side in front of the camera - it's okay to compete in the game for the show effect and bonus, but cursing at the players after leaving the game is a pure quality problem. Even if you like the "competitive" audience like You Zhenghao - even if the opponent is scheming, so what? Su Mu didn't break the rules of the game, everyone was competing fairly within the set rules. If you don't like it, just win it back next time.

You Zhenghao also understands this principle, so in order to win, he would deliberately trip up other players again and again in the game, and would apologize to all the players he had cheated in front of the camera after the game. In this way, the audience would at most say that he was too serious about playing games and would do anything to get what he wanted. But with one million dollars on the table, most of the audience would understand even if he did anything to get what he wanted - after all, it was one million dollars!

But Su Mu obviously didn't intend to let You Zhenghao go. Su Mu's eyes curved and he said sincerely, "Brother You, you are right. High school students like me are really different from you. I have good physical strength. Even hunters can't catch up with me, hehe~"

After saying that, he no longer looked at You Zhenghao's angry look, and ran happily towards the depths of the map.

...

The program crew didn't pay much attention to the little incident between Su Mu and You Zhenghao near the break room. The elimination of a player was just a normal thing for this program, even if the eliminated player was You Zhenghao, who they had high hopes for.

What made them more concerned and anxious at the moment was another matter.

"How come we can't find him?" The director was sweating profusely: "Did you check the surveillance?"

"I'm looking!" The field controller also looked anxious: "But we still can't find Lin Lang!"

"Where is her follow PD! Ask him to come back quickly and bring the materials for us to see!" said the director.

——Less than two minutes after Lin Lang was the first to enter the gaming venue, a piece of news hit the director team like a bomb, making everyone’s heads buzz.

Their show guest Lin Lang is missing!

The news was brought by Lin Lang's follow PD through the intercom. It was said that Lin Lang suddenly disappeared after turning into an alley. The cameraman had been wandering around for most of the day but still hadn't found Lin Lang.

Players’ intrigues are one thing, but “disappearing” from the production team is another.

There are also players who deliberately throw away the camera in order to get rid of the cameraman and increase the chance of winning, and the program team did not stop the players from using this tactic. For this reason, they also deliberately filled the map with surveillance cameras so that players can run and hide more flexibly.

But now even the surveillance cameras couldn't find any trace of Lin Lang, which was very scary - if the players made any mistakes, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television would definitely ask them to stop recording the program for safety reasons. What they would have to face afterwards was not the audience's condemnation, but the liquidated damages from the investors.

At the same time, Lin Lang, who was deemed "missing" by the program team, stood in a small courtyard in the corner of the map, looking at the NPCs hugging each other in front of him, with an embarrassed face: "Well, you guys continue."

The NPC in ancient costume reached out to her with a look of despair: "Don't go! Help!"

The air was filled with the scent of magic, and the barrier surrounded the small courtyard in front of me tightly.

Lin Lang: “…”

She was just participating in a show! Why can there be mutants here?

Can you please not let her work two jobs at the same time? It will cost more!