During a brief moment of distraction, the cameraman finally noticed the movement and instinctively aimed the camera at the person behind the rockery. However, the next moment, after recognizing who the person was, they quietly moved the camera away.
Yet, even in just those few seconds, the sharp-eyed audience in the live stream recognized the figure, and the chat erupted.
“What the f*ck?! What the f*ck!!!”
“Am I hallucinating?! Why do I think I see Gu Tingshen?!”
“Sh*t!! Why is Mr. Gu appearing in the live broadcast?”
“Ah ah ah ah, cameraman, can you dare to move the camera back?!”
…
As the audience in the live broadcast room was in an uproar, Gu Tingshen also slowly walked up to them.
“Welcome to the end of the island. I am the final guardian of the treasure—Gu Tingshen.” Gu Tingshen smiled and nodded to the crowd in greeting. The others also instinctively nodded and returned the greeting, and they were then stunned by the information implied in his words.
The final guardian of the treasure???
Was it the meaning they were thinking of?
The netizens and fans who heard him speak in the live broadcast room were also stunned.
“WTF? The final guardian of the treasure? Gu Tingshen? Did I hear it wrong?!”
“Sister in front! You didn’t hear it wrong!! Gu Tingshen did say he is the final guardian of the treasure!!!”
“Did the production team go all out?! They even invited Gu Tingshen?”
“Emm, I actually have a bold guess!”
“The one in front, I also have a bold guess?!”
“The program said before that the filming location is on a private island, could it be that Gu Tingshen is the owner of this private island?!!”
“!!! I feel that’s the case! And I have a hunch that Mr. Gu is actually here for a certain ‘koi’!”
“As expected of a gentle and doting gong, this is too doting!”
“Wuwu, let’s just give up on resisting! This couple is too sweet!!”
…
And the subsequent conversation between Jing Li and Gu Tingshen directly confirmed everyone’s guesses.
“The final guardian of the treasure?” Jing Li looked at the man in front of him with a surprised look, “Shen-ge, were you also invited by the production team?”
Then he did such a good job of keeping it secret that he didn’t even know about it.
As if sensing his confusion, Gu Tingshen smiled at him and explained, “It’s not an official invitation. I just happened to come here for vacation and coincidentally met the director of the program team, so I simply lent a hand.”
Jing Li paused, clearly not expecting this situation. He didn’t understand why Gu Tingshen would suddenly be kind enough to help the program team. But thinking that the other had generously lent out his island as the filming location, he simply nodded in response.
With the two’s conversation, the photographer quietly moved the camera back to focus on them.
Afterward, everyone saw Gu Tingshen smile at Jing Li, and then, as if finally picking up his mission again, he slightly sobered his expression and said, “Since that’s the case, as the first two guests to make it here, would you like to take on the final challenge task to obtain the treasure?”
However, as he spoke, he then blinked at Jing Li teasingly, “But I must declare in advance that I won’t be soft-hearted to anyone this time.”
“Just because I borrowed money from you?” Jing Li also tilted his head, playing along.
“Of course not.” Gu Tingshen was instantly amused by his playful remark, the arc of his smile unconsciously widening, his words even more gentle, “A trivial matter like that, I wouldn’t even bother to keep it in mind.”
Especially when it concerns you, even if I spent my entire fortune, it would still be nothing.
Jing Li paused, feeling that there was something different in Gu Tingshen’s gaze when he said those words, making his heartbeat quicken, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on why, and could only force down the palpitation and smile at him.
With the two’s interaction, the barrage in the live broadcast room immediately surged again.
“Hahaha, is this him coming to the scene to collect the debt because of the borrowed money?!”
“Mr. Gu, if your gaze at Jing Shao was even a little less gentle, I would have believed your nonsense!”
“Jing Li’s innocent expression (inwardly cursing): Dare to nod in agreement!”
“Jing Shao’s head tilt attack, it’s simply lethal!”
“Ugh, the way Mr. Gu looks at Jing-shao, it’s too doting!”
“Ah ah ah ah, these two are really too sweet!!”
“Guli CP, I won’t disassemble or go against it!”
“I came to watch the survival adventure, why do I have a feeling of walking into the wrong romance variety show???”
…
After their banter, Jing Li and Gu Tingshen returned to the main topic.
Jing Li asked Gu Tingshen about the rules of the final challenge. Gu Tingshen explained the final challenge rules: they had to complete three mini-games within a specified time to obtain the treasure key and unlock the treasure.
“Okay, now that we understand the rules clearly, we can be prepared.” Jing Li smiled and nodded at Gu Tingshen, then turned to Hu Li beside him. “Su Mengran and Ling Mei are probably still on the mountain. You go notify them, and I’ll go back to the camp to call Hu Feifei.”
“Okay.” Hu Li nodded, “We’ll gather here directly, and then complete the challenge together to get the treasure key.”
The two of them left with the people, and Gu Tingshen instinctively spoke up, “It’s still a distance from here to the foot of the mountain. Why don’t I have someone drive you a sightseeing car to the foot of the mountain?”
Jing Li and Hu Li exchanged glances, both feeling it was feasible, but they still had a slight hesitation. “Wouldn’t riding your car come at some kind of cost?”
Cost? Like offering their bodies in exchange?
“No need.” Gu Tingshen looked at him and smiled warmly, “This is personally sponsored by me and has nothing to do with the program team.”
“Then I’ll thank Shen-ge first.” Hearing this, Jing Li immediately broke into a smile, not being polite at all and simply waiting for Gu Tingshen to have someone bring the sightseeing car over, then got on the car with Hu Li and left.
With the sightseeing car to help them get around, the two’s progress immediately became much faster. By the time they reached the foot of the mountain, they split up to notify the others.
This time, the path they took was relatively gentle, and with a purpose, their pace was also faster than before.
It took Jing Li less than an hour to reach the position halfway up the mountain. He raised his hand to wipe the sweat off his face, and just as he was about to continue walking up, he suddenly heard voices coming from above. After waiting a moment, he saw a few figures slowly coming down from the mountain.
Upon closer inspection, they were Su Mengran, Ling Mei, and Hu Feifei.
Since his memories of the black and red mist had been erased, it didn’t affect his normal memories, so Su Mengran was now walking in the lead, clearing the way while talking to the two female guests behind him, his expression looking completely natural.
“Mengran,” Jing Li called out. The three on the mountain heard the voice and looked over, instantly spotting him.
“Ah, Jing Li? We were just coming to find you all.” Ling Mei immediately smiled and waved at him. “Mengran and I have found a new clue, the treasure is hidden in the villa at the foot of the mountain.”
“What a coincidence?” Jing Li also smiled and responded, “Hu Li and I also got a clue and went to the villa to investigate. We’re now coming back to notify you.”
The two groups approached each other as they spoke, and Su Mengran glanced behind Jing Li, then asked, “Where’s the captain?”
“We thought you and Ling Mei were still on the mountain, so we split up to notify you separately.” Jing Li explained, then reached out and took the extra luggage from Ling Mei’s hands, putting it on his own back. “Let’s go, we’ll head down that way and call him to join us.”
The others naturally agreed.
They hadn’t walked down for long when they encountered Hu Li, who was coming up to look for them.
With everyone together now, the five of them headed down the mountain, discussing the challenge games along the way.
According to the program team’s game rules, they had to complete three tasks: water ping-pong, blowing out candles with palms, and reverse speaking.
The first two were to be completed by the guests themselves. For water ping-pong, five cups filled to the brim with water were on a table, and the ping-pong ball had to be blown from the first cup to the last one without falling out of the cups.
For blowing out candles with palms, they had to use their palms to blow out all the candles on the table.
Each guest had three chances for these two tasks, and they could take turns, but only if a guest completed the challenge alone within the set number of chances would it count as a success.
The last task, “reverse speaking”, was initiated by the final treasure guardian. The guardian would say a word or sentence to the guests, and the guests had to say it backward from the last character. If they answered correctly, they could then challenge the guardian, and anyone who said it wrong or couldn’t answer would be eliminated. If three people could defeat the guardian, the challenge would be considered successful.
After understanding the game rules, the expressions of the five became quite serious. These three mini-games sounded simple, but executing them was not that easy, especially the last one. Upon hearing that the guardian was Gu Tingshen, apart from Hu Li and Jing Li, the other three were somewhat intimidated just at the mention of that name.
But no matter how difficult it was, when they arrived at the villa gate, everyone immediately became energized, encouraging and cheering each other on.
“It seems you all are ready.” Gu Tingshen had been waiting at the gate since Jing Li and Hu Li left, and now, seeing the five return, he smiled and approached them. “In that case, I look forward to your performance.”
As he spoke, he gestured for them to enter, but the corner of his lips curled as his peripheral vision glanced toward the nearest Jing Li.
Subsequently, the stagnant spiritual energy in front of the gate suddenly surged towards Jing Li, instantly enveloping him.
Jing Li opened his mouth, but the next moment, he was stunned by the sight before him.
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