Jiang Ran had never been involved in the funding arrangements for "Back to Earth" from beginning to end, so when everyone was on the starship and the program staff announced that the champion of this season's competition could receive a prize of 20 million, she felt very confused.
Jiang Ran looked around, then gently nudged Xu Yang next to him with his arm.
She leaned closer and asked softly in a low voice, "Are you that rich? A 20 million bonus?"
Xu Yang turned his head and said, "This is what I earned last season."
Jiang Ran was even more shocked.
Jiang Ran: "How much money did you make last season?"
Xu Yang: "Haven't you checked your account information?"
"No."
"Then take a look now."
"OK."
Jiang Ran immediately pulled out her laptop and lost herself in the myriad of interfaces. Aside from StarNet and a few commonly used apps, she had no idea what other interfaces there were.
When she was dizzy and didn't know what to do, Xu Yang reached out and helped her slide the screen, and then pulled out a message from a few days ago.
Your account has received a transfer of 10 million federal coins. Please check it carefully. I wish you a happy life.
Jiang Ran: “!!!”
Seeing her shocked expression, Xu Yang couldn't help laughing: "Other people got the same amount."
Jiang Ran was silent for a long time: "May I ask how much the investment amount is?"
Xu Yang: "It should be about seven..."
Seven million?
Jiang Ran's heart beat again.
This money is so easy to make.
"...700,000 federal coins, right?" Xu Yang continued.
Jiang Ran was silent for even longer this time. After a while, she finally clenched her fists and said, "This season's prize money belongs to me!"
Xu Yang smiled and said, "Come on."
Twenty million federal coins is really not a small amount, and Jiang Ran is certainly not the only one who is tempted by it.
Looking around, all the one hundred contestants in the cabin were rubbing their hands, ready to go.
Fu Bo was sitting in front of Jiang Ran, and he also looked very confident at this moment.
"Who else but me to embark on this treasure hunt?" He slowly clenched his five fingers. "Shouldn't this season's championship be within my grasp?"
Ren Xiayang endured for a long time before refraining from slapping him: "Champion? You mean the comedic champion?"
"whispering sound--"
"Oh--"
The amount of prize money is particularly high, and each contestant can get a lot of salary.
High returns do not come out of thin air; they often represent high risks and high investments, and everyone on the starship is well aware of this.
The third season is much more formal than the second season. The starship they take is a special starship prepared by the program team, and they no longer take ordinary flights.
This means more capital investment, but also greater freedom. For example, at this moment, the starship has clearly flown to the high altitude of its destination, but it has never landed.
Looking down through the window, the deep blue ocean is dotted with spots of black or green.
Those are the many islands scattered in the Pacific Ocean, and this group of more than 600 islands, large and small, is their destination - Papua New Guinea.
"Why haven't you landed yet?" Jiang Ran finally couldn't help but ask.
"We won't be landing by spaceship this time," Xu Yang said. "This is a plan Bian Zhao just proposed yesterday, but I haven't had time to tell you yet."
How to land without a starship?
Just jump down and perform a sea-jumping competition with everyone?
However, just as Jiang Ran was about to ask more carefully, he saw the staff not far ahead start distributing huge packages.
The staff handed out the packages very quickly, and soon a huge green package was stuffed into Jiang Ran's arms. From the appearance, it looked very familiar to her.
Sure enough, Xu Yang's voice came slowly.
"This is a popular parachute in the Earth Era."
Xu Yang said: "This is a relatively classic landing method. We decided to try something exciting at the beginning of this competition."
Jiang Ran actually guessed it right. This season's show is really planning to have everyone jump into the sea.
Moreover, it is surprising that even parachutes can be considered classic these days.
But at the moment, Jiang Ran is more concerned about another thing.
Confused, she asked, "But no one has received any training on how to use a parachute. Won't there be problems if we just go in there rashly?"
Xu Yang waved his hand: "Bian Zhao said this thing is very simple, you can learn it in no time, without even using your brain."
Jiang Ran: “…”
"Mr. Xu..."
Jiang Ran asked sincerely, "Do you still remember that Bian Zhao was disabled from the waist down? Do you think she'd ever tried skydiving at home?"
Xu Yang: “…”
They both looked at each other and were silent for a long time.
After a long while, they stood up at the same time and went to talk to the staff.
Fortunately, Bian Zhao was not really that unreliable. She had arranged for someone to explain how to use the parachute to all the contestants early on.
What's more crucial is that this batch of parachutes is somewhat different from those in the Earth Era. They are very intelligent and can detect the distance from the ground by themselves. When the safety limit has been exceeded but the parachute has not yet been activated, they can open by themselves, which maximizes the safety of the contestants.
When Bian Zhao heard their purpose, he raised his head expressionlessly: "I've already said..."
"Stop—" Jiang Ran begged, "You can say whatever you want, but can you please stop pausing? It makes me uncomfortable."
"Heh," Bian Zhao's mechanical voice sounded coldly, "No, no."
Jiang Ran: “…”
By the time the staff finished explaining how to use the parachute, the spacecraft had completely and steadily landed over Papua New Guinea.
The contestants lined up in front of the hatch and jumped down one by one in order.
When everyone heard how to use a parachute, they didn't feel anything real, but when they really saw it with their own eyes thousands of feet high in the sky, fear came to their hearts almost instantly.
The brave ones were fine and jumped down without any hesitation, but the timid ones stopped in front of the cabin door, closed their eyes and trembled, clinging to the cabin door and not daring to move.
for example……
Fu Bo.
Ren Xiayang stood behind him and kicked him in the butt: "Didn't you say that the championship was a sure thing?"
Fu Bo clung to the hatch tightly: "Who else but me can be the champion of comedy?"
Ren Xiayang was silent for a long time, and finally said admiringly: "If this spirit is applied to skydiving, any fear can be overcome."
Jiang Ran and his friends tried their best to persuade Fu Bo for a long time before they finally managed to calm him down.
He tentatively looked back and forth downwards several times, then finally closed his eyes, roared, and then...
He was kicked down by Ren Xiayang.
"Really?" Ren Xiayang rubbed his wrist. "This guy is really good at complaining."
Zeng Pei put the huge package on his back neatly and said, "Alright, hurry up and jump. It will be dark if we wait any longer."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zeng Pei and Ren Xiayang took a step forward and jumped into the vast sea.
Jiang Ran and Xu Yang were at the end of the line.
After everyone jumped out of the cabin, they turned around and looked at the only "extra player" - Bian Zhao.
She is disabled in her lower body and has always been in a wheelchair. It would be very inconvenient for her to skydive. If she is unlucky and jumps into the water, it would be even more troublesome.
But when it comes to someone's physical defects, it's always not convenient to speak up.
Jiang Ran organized his words in his mind for a long time before he asked cautiously, "Do you want to go down with us?"
"No need," Bian Zhao said, "I have my own way."
Jiang Ran's heart softened instantly when he heard this.
This kid is quite stubborn. It's obviously not convenient for him to use a parachute, but he insists on doing it himself.
However, just as she was about to say something, she saw Bian Zhao take out a space button from his pocket.
The next second, a small hover car suddenly appeared before his eyes.
Bian Zhao leisurely entered in a wheelchair, started the hovercraft and drove out of the cabin, then parked it in the air not far from the cabin door.
She turned around and waved to Jiang Ran: "I'm leaving, bye."
Jiang Ran: “…”
She watched Bian Zhao driving the hover car comfortably down, and from time to time she would get close to other contestants to observe the expressions on their faces.
Jiang Ran couldn't see the expressions on the contestants' faces, but she felt that it would not be a good look.
Jiang Ran said dazedly, "I regret it a little bit now."
Xu Yang patted her shoulder and said, "Don't think too much. We are already far behind. Let's jump out quickly."
There are a total of one hundred contestants. Even if they take turns jumping continuously, it will still take a long time. Now the person who jumped down first has successfully landed on the island.
Jiang Ran looked down and without much hesitation, she adjusted her backpack and jumped forward.
A long time ago, Jiang Ran had a fear of heights. Although he basically overcame it later, even if he looked down at the deep blue sea from thousands of feet in the sky, he would not feel too much fear, and would not cry for his parents like Fu Bo. However, after suddenly being trapped in a strong sense of weightlessness, he could not help feeling a little confused and uneasy.
Jiang Ran was so nervous that he had no energy to observe the situation around him. The only part of his mind that was working was used to estimate the distance between himself and the ground.
When she just landed and had not yet opened the parachute, she was still concentrating on looking at the sea and islands in the distance. But after opening the parachute and entering a temporarily safe state, she suddenly closed her eyes.
Jiang Ran knew very well that closing her eyes during skydiving was a very dangerous thing. She just wanted to relieve her emotions briefly, and she opened her eyes again within two seconds.
However, when the light shone into her eyes again, Jiang Ran saw Xu Yang's face at a glance. He had also opened his parachute pack and was almost at the same level as Jiang Ran. His hands were trying to control the joystick, trying to get closer to her.
"What are you doing?" Jiang Ran asked loudly.
"If you are scared... just hold my hand!" Xu Yang also said loudly.
At this moment, even though they had all opened their parachute packs, they were still descending very quickly due to inertia and gravity.
The sound of air tearing kept coming into Jiang Ran's ears. He already had some tinnitus, but Xu Yang's voice still came through clearly.
Jiang Ran felt both heartwarming and funny.
By this time, their umbrellas were already open, with the huge umbrellas propped up above them. How could people get so close to each other, let alone hold hands?
Jiang Ran just opened his mouth to refuse when he suddenly saw an orange-yellow shadow appear in front of him. He looked up and saw that it was a floating car.
Bian Zhaoan sat inside quietly, holding a drink in his hand.
She took a leisurely sip, then curiously uttered a smooth, cool, metallic sound: "It's just a parachute jump, why make it seem like we're all going to die together? Isn't this parachute equipped with a protective device?"
Jiang Ran: “…”
Xu Yang: “…”
It turned out that I shouldn't have agreed to let her come.
Although Jiang Ran was not used to the high-altitude fall and weightlessness that he had not experienced for a long time, he had lived in the wild for many years and was not unfamiliar with parachutes.
She skillfully used the joystick to control the direction and finally landed on an island.
Xu Yang always kept a distance from her that was not too far away, and landed on the same island almost right after her.
However, when I looked around, I didn't see any other people.
"I don't know where the others landed." Jiang Ran got up from the ground while packing his parachute bag.
"They all fell from the same place, so they can't be too far away. You'll find out if you look for them," said Xu Yang.
They packed up their things and groped their way forward, but before they saw anyone, they discovered a huge ship.
The ship was pure white and lay quietly on the calm sea, as if waiting for people to explore it.
"What is that?" Jiang Ran asked, "Why is there such a big ship here?"
"This season's theme is treasure hunting, so finds need a place to go, so we've arranged a large ship," Xu Yang explained. "Advisor Zhou is also aboard. Anyone who finds a 'treasure' can come to him on the ship for an 'appraisal'. This way, everyone's score is updated in real time, and everyone knows their current ranking."
"That's quite good."
Jiang Ran thought about it and asked curiously, "Could it be that someone has accumulated a lot of 'treasures' and hasn't appraised them, deliberately letting others relax their vigilance, and then taking them out all at once when the competition is almost over?"
"I've asked this question before, but after considering the overall situation, I feel that the possibility of it being realized is not high."
"Why?" Jiang Ran asked.
Xu Yang: "Firstly, whether it's on the seabed or on an island, the 'treasures' you find there are quite a lot. If you want to stockpile a lot of stuff, it will also create a huge baggage burden for you."
Xu Yang: "Secondly, the contestants have limited knowledge and are not allowed to search online for information during the competition. They have no way of estimating the value of their 'treasures'. Even if they have stockpiled some, they may find that they are nothing but garbage after all."
Jiang Ran thought about it carefully and felt that what Xu Yang said made sense.
For the contestants, it is indeed unlikely to make such an attempt, as it carries a heavy burden and huge risks, with no certain result in the end.
"I see."
Jiang Ran asked as they walked, "But why didn't you tell the contestants about these things? Even I didn't know this ship was used for 'storing treasures' and 'valuing' them, so they wouldn't know either, right?"
Hearing this, Xu Yang paused and said, "They know."
"How is it possible..."
"The staff had already explained all the details while you were sleeping."
Jiang Ran: “…”
Jiang Ran recalled it carefully and found that it seemed to be true.
But the staff member spent almost twenty minutes explaining the main plot and rules of the treasure hunt, repeating the same content over and over again, so she couldn't help but fall asleep...
It's understandable, right?
Jiang Ran remained calm, pretending nothing had happened. "Then let's hurry to that ship! Everyone should be gathering there, and if we find any 'treasures' later, it will be easier to hand them in and get them appraised."
Xu Yang was silent for a moment and nodded, saying "OK".
Only after finally getting on the big ship did Jiang Ran take off the parachute bag with a sense of relief.
She breathed a sigh of relief and finally got a chance to catch her breath. She leaned against the low railing on the edge of the boat and leisurely looked at the sea view.
"The sea is so beautiful." Jiang Ran exclaimed.
"Indeed," Xu Yang agreed, "The sea here is much bluer than on the ice field."
"It's the third season," Jiang Ran said. "After three seasons of the show, this is the most relaxing and comfortable moment I've felt."
Xu Yang turned his head to look at her.
Jiang Ran was looking at the sea with a smile, and the lines of his lips were reflected in Xu Yang's eyes without a single detail.
He opened his mouth and was about to say something when a cold voice suddenly came from behind him.
"You two, contestants are not allowed to stay on board. Please disembark as soon as possible."
Jiang Ran heard this and turned around stiffly after a while: "Isn't it okay for me to just rest for a while?"
"No," the staff member said coldly, his attitude almost identical to Bian Zhaoyou's. "If you don't get off the boat within two minutes, your points will be deducted."
Jiang Ran and Xu Yang: "..."
The two of them almost ran off the boat as if they were escaping.
Jiang Ran breathed a sigh of relief only after they stepped into the safe area. When he turned around, he saw a contestant standing where they had just stood, looking at the sea view leisurely.
The staff member who had driven them off the boat was standing nearby, but he looked calm and composed, as if he had suddenly gone blind, and had no intention of driving anyone off the boat again.
Jiang Ran panted and asked, "Where did you hire all these outstanding employees? They can remain calm and impartial even when facing the big boss, yet they are very tolerant towards other ordinary players. They are really good."
Hearing this, Xu Yang said in bewilderment, "I don't know. These trivial matters are left to Liang Feichen."
Liang Feichen...
As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately understood.
Xu Yang participated in two seasons of the show in a row, and all the company's affairs were thrown to him. He was secretly looking for an opportunity to take revenge.
After they calmed down, they looked up at each other and both smiled bitterly.
Just then, several other people stumbled over from a distance.
Fu Bo limped and said angrily, "What are you doing here? I saw you two talking and laughing from a distance. What are you talking about behind our backs?"
Ren Xiayang didn't know why, but he suddenly sided with Fu Bo: "It must be some little secret that we can't know."
Jiang Ran rolled his eyes at them both speechlessly: "Are you two too idle?"
They talked and laughed, teased each other for a while, and finally calmed down the tension that had lasted until now.
However, at this moment, an orange-yellow hover car flew in the sky not far away.
The car slowly landed in front of them, and soon, a pretty girl came out of the car in a wheelchair.
Ren Xiayang nudged Jiang Ran with his elbow: "Who is this?"
Jiang Ran held his forehead and said with difficulty and sluggishness, "This season's observers are responsible for recording the live performance of the games."
As soon as she finished speaking, everyone looked at her and Xu Yang with condemning eyes.
They're just hiring an observer, and they're hiring a disabled person? That's outrageous!
The author has something to say:
【Small Theater】
Jiang Ran: She was the one who came here crying and shouting! I really didn't want to hire her!
Others (staring): You are such a person.
Jiang Ran: ...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
