His words were a bit awkward, but Su Yan still understood them quickly.
In short, Lan Jing didn’t know what things Earthlings didn’t understand, so there was no way to proactively answer their questions.
On the surface, what he said seemed perfectly reasonable—after all, these things might be extremely commonplace to him, like dirt or air.
Who would be foolish enough not to know even these things?
But thinking about it carefully, it was all nonsense.
Seeing the somewhat bewildered expressions on everyone’s faces, Su Yan sighed and asked, “You just said that Shapeshifters are unique to your Nick Star, so why do you assume Earthlings would know about them?”
Lan Jing was stunned for a moment, realizing he had indeed left himself open to criticism.
Su Yan finished speaking and didn’t give Lan Jing a chance to respond.
She directly pulled the girl next to her and walked away quickly, as if afraid Lan Jing would call her back.
As she walked, she deliberately raised her voice, “Anyway, this is your game, you make up the rules however you like, and there’s no point in us saying anything. There’s nothing more to discuss, let’s just start the game already. Don’t waste time with them!”
Watching Su Yan’s anxious and hurried departure, the tall boy faintly curled his lips into a smirk and brushed his brow.
Since she had already gone this far, it would be heartless not to help her out a bit.
He glanced at the hesitant group and said coldly, “What are you waiting for? Waiting to be humiliated?”
With that, he strode after Su Yan at a leisurely pace, his demeanor completely at odds with the anger in his voice.
The others, seeing Su Yan and the boy leave, no longer hesitated and quickly followed after them.
Mainly, they really didn’t know what to say, so it was smarter to follow someone with a brain.
The boy with the earring glared at Lan Jing in frustration.
Although he wanted to say something more, seeing his teammates leave, he gritted his teeth and caught up with the main group.
Of course, Su Yan had her reasons for doing all this. In fact, even if she said nothing, Lan Jing would surely have come to brush her off.
If someone is determined to be perfunctory, they can find endless excuses.
For example, “You came to participate in our Nick Star’s game, but didn’t even go seek out a guide spirit in our world—how is that not your fault?”
Or, “How am I supposed to know how many times you’ve played before? Lots of guests know about Shapeshifters. If you don’t, it just proves your ignorance.”
If someone wants to blame you, there’s always an excuse.
No matter what argument is used, the end result is the same—Su Yan’s group would return empty-handed.
The reasoning might be sound, but since this was someone else’s turf, they would get nothing out of it.
The result might look the same as it does now, but in fact, there’s an essential difference.
Now, Su Yan’s side appears to be the reasonable one, while the production team looks like the powerful bullies.
The difference lies in who ends the topic first.
If it’s Lan Jing or the Host who ends the discussion, refutes Su Yan’s points, and tells them not to waste time, then the production team appears strong and unyielding in the face of doubts.
But if it’s Su Yan’s side who proactively ends the topic, just as she did now, then the nature of the situation changes entirely.
Suddenly, the production team goes from being a strong, unyielding host to bullying the weaker guests, while the guests, left with no choice, stop pursuing the production team’s mistake.
Humans have always sympathized more with the weak and have greater empathy for them.
This probably applies even to people from Nick Star.
In summary, public opinion sides with whoever delivers the closing statement.
Clearly, Su Yan now holds the initiative.
When all nine people came over, Su Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She was worried someone might still try to argue with the production team, ruining the pitiful yet resilient persona she’d worked so hard to establish.
She shot an appreciative glance at the tall boy.
It was thanks to his actions that the guests followed her.
Otherwise, if people had stayed behind to argue, all her efforts would have been for nothing.
They arrived in another room—the computer lab.
With the Host gone, the earring boy could finally hold back no longer.
He stopped Su Yan, still indignant.
“I saw how you stood up to that guy just now, you’re not weak at all, so why did we just let it go? It was clearly their mistake, we should demand justice!”
Su Yan knew they were still being livestreamed and couldn’t reveal her true thoughts.
She sighed and calmly asked, “If you keep arguing with them, what do you hope to achieve?”
The boy was stunned, then indignantly insisted, “I just want justice! Why should we have to suffer the consequences of their mistake? And in the end, they don’t even show a hint of remorse!”
What a naive kid, Su Yan thought, shaking her head helplessly as she looked at the others.
“First things first—did none of you notice? The thirty-minute countdown started the moment we left the storage room.”
At her words, the nine people immediately showed shocked expressions.
A girl cried out, “What? The countdown already started? You mean the thirty minutes to find the Shapeshifter? Then we’d better hurry up and start looking!”
Su Yan nodded and continued, “If anyone has no objections to what I just did, you can go ahead and start your tasks. Don’t waste time standing around here.”
“We’ll go first, then!” the girl said, and quickly left.
The others scattered like birds and beasts.
Although they were all a bit dissatisfied with the situation, none of them planned to do anything more about it.
After all, the difference in power was enormous, like a mosquito trying to shake a tree.
The weak can’t beat the strong—when you’re a fish on someone else’s chopping block, you just have to endure.
The tall boy nodded at Su Yan, hesitated as he looked at the earring boy, but ultimately said nothing and left.
Once everyone else had gone, only the earring boy was left beside Su Yan.
He stared at her intently, determined not to give up until he’d made his point.
What a stubborn one!
Su Yan ignored his piercing gaze and carefully searched the room.
She actually wanted to hurry to the office, since that was where she was most familiar.
But this guy clearly intended to follow her the whole time.
If she found a clue in the office and he got greedy, things could get ugly.
After all, she was just a petite girl and not good at fighting.
Even though she’d signed up for self-defense classes, one month wasn’t enough to learn much.
Since she couldn’t beat the earring boy, she’d better not reveal any possible Shapeshifters in front of him.
After all, human nature is most fragile when put to the test.
The earring boy trailed after her like a shadow. He knew he was wasting her time and explained, “It’s not that I want to waste time, I just really want some justice.”
Su Yan replied coolly, “And then what?”
She glanced at him and said lightly, “You don’t really think they failed to explain Shapeshifters to us because of an honest mistake, do you?”
Su Yan saw things clearly: they made sure to mention Shapeshifters in the rules, but didn’t explain them.
Given how nasty this game was by design, she didn’t believe it was a simple oversight.
The earring boy was stunned by her question.
He actually knew deep down they’d done it on purpose, but just didn’t want to admit it.
That subconscious realization was exactly why he so desperately wanted justice.
Su Yan could tell from his expression that he wasn’t entirely clueless about the production team’s tricks.
Still a kid, she thought, sighing.
“They’re scheming from every angle! If you find the Shapeshifter and keep arguing with them, you’ll just waste your time.”
As she continued searching the room, she said casually, “And if you don’t find anything, then of course you’ll lose out while searching. Either way, they make sure they never lose.”
Remembering there were still viewers watching their conversation live, Su Yan added, “This is Nick Star’s show—they don’t care what we Earthlings think. So what if they purposely left things out? As long as they deny it, what can we do?”
After Su Yan’s words, the audience began to form their own opinions.
“How should I put it? I feel bad for the Earthlings.”
“Yeah, it was supposed to be a mutually agreeable arrangement, but after what Lan Jing said, now it’s like we’re the ones at fault.”
“They’re weak, so they deserve it. It’s not like any of you stood up for them before!”
“They’re questioning the character of our Nick Star people—why shouldn’t we criticize the production team?”
“Maybe it’s not the production team, just Lan Jing being an unqualified Host.”
“I won’t say anything else, but bullying our Chu River and Han Border is not okay!”
“Chu River and Han Border already knew about Shapeshifters, so it’s not really bullying.”
“Suggest Lan Jing apologize!”
“Apology +1”
Lan Jing clearly hadn’t expected that Su Yan would seize on a slip of the tongue and drag him into a storm of public opinion.
He felt bitter inside.
He really had purposely avoided explaining Shapeshifters, but that was on the showrunners’ orders!
Now he was left to take the blame for it all—what kind of bad karma was this?
Because the children’s variety show was a long-established program, every move was under public scrutiny.
As soon as this incident happened, many media outlets began reporting on it.
The production team quickly suppressed the reports and then summoned Lan Jing—someone had to take the fall for this…
After finishing her act, Su Yan felt she had perfectly played the role of the pitiful, suffering girl.
If Nick Star people’s values weren’t too different from Earthlings’, her performance must have left a sympathetic impression on them.
She casually picked up a mouse and shook it. According to what they’d said, a Shapeshifter would copy something nearby exactly.
In other words, if there’s only one of something, it can’t be a Shapeshifter in disguise.
Since Shapeshifters can’t stray far from their original form, if there are two identical objects in the same room, one of them is likely the Shapeshifter.
This room was full of identical things.
Thankfully, she hadn’t wasted time here at the start—Su Yan couldn’t help but feel relieved.
Better to head to her home turf—the office—where she at least knew something.
With that in mind, Su Yan walked out of the computer room.
The earring boy quickly caught up, looking embarrassed.
“Um, sorry for wasting your time earlier and for my attitude. Let’s introduce ourselves—I’m Si Nian.”
Su Yan didn’t mind and nodded.
“I’m Yan Jing. Now that you’ve figured things out, hurry up and start searching. We only have thirty minutes, and five have already passed.”
With that, she headed straight for her destination.
Seeing Si Nian still following her, Su Yan turned back and stopped him.
“Are you a bee? Don’t keep following me, OK?”
She walked off without looking back.
Behind her, Si Nian thought for a long while before suddenly realizing, “Hey! Are you calling yourself a flower? Isn’t that a bit narcissistic?”
Su Yan hadn’t even reached the office when the system notification suddenly chimed:
Guest “Chu River and Han Border” has already found the Shapeshifter and passed the first round of the game.
That speed—is he a monster?