8.16–8.17

8.16

Romeo has won Best Hard Photo twice in a row, and his rapid rise has caused animosity among the other contestants. People deliberately ostracize and isolate him, and find that he doesn’t care about it, he eats, sleeps, and trains, living more freely than anyone else, and out of all the contestants he only talks to Ivan, and the others don’t even look at him squarely, which makes it appear that it’s not that they’re isolating him, but rather that he’s just too lazy to pay attention to anyone else.

That’s a terrible feeling to have a punch swing away. The players quickly subsided and focused on the game.

Early that morning, one of the contestants found a note on the TV that read – It takes great courage to step onto the runway, do you have it?

What does this mean? Surely it’s another challenge event that can scare people out of their wits? An ominous feeling rose in the contestants’ hearts. Zhou Yunsheng made two sandwiches, took two bottles of milk, and went to the limousine bus with Ivan to wait for the departure.

One after another, everyone got into the car, and the driver, seeing that it was about time, turned his head and asked, “Are they all here?”

Everyone looked at each other and realized that Emily and Hayden weren’t among them, thinking that they must have been too mad last night to get up today. But none of them wanted to say anything about it, and nodded their heads, “All here, ready to go.” Only the drivers knew where to go for the challenge today, and if Emily and Hayden didn’t make it, with no access to cell phones or computers to ask questions, they were bound to miss the race and lose ten points.

With increasing competition, no one wants to create opportunities for their rivals.

Zhou Yunsheng also hated to remind the driver, but he was still ‘crushing’ on Hayden and couldn’t not think about Hayden. He was just about to open his mouth when Yi Fan covered it. The two of them wrestled for a while, but Zhou Yunsheng finally broke free from Yi Fan’s shackles and shouted, “Please wait for Mr. Driver, Hayden and Emily aren’t here yet, I’ll go up and call them.”

The driver glanced at his watch and warned, “Hurry up, I’ll only give you ten minutes, if you don’t show up in ten minutes I’ll just drive the car away, and you won’t have to participate in today’s challenge.” The program group had anticipated that someone would be late, so they told him beforehand to ignore it. This was also to highlight the strictness and fairness of the competition.

“Yes, thank you sir.” Romeo immediately got out of the car and flew towards the villa.

The contestants have complained that Romeo is a fool.

Ivan grunted coldly despite his irritation, “Yes, Romeo is indeed a fool. But that’s the kind of fool I’d like to make friends with, at least he doesn’t fall on his sword when I’m in trouble, even when he treats his enemies, he’s open and honest. If only there were a few more fools like Romeo in the world, the air could be fresher.”

The players who had been betrayed and counted by their so-called ‘friends’ and had long regarded hooking up as commonplace were silent. They suddenly envied Ivan.

Romeo guides her to help her and takes care of her without fail, and she defends Romeo without fail. The friendship between the two of them is jealous.

Perhaps of the eleven men left behind, Romeo is the only one who is truly pure of heart, and for all his talk, he has never done anything truly detrimental to the interests of others. He has become more and more silent lately, and seems unwilling to trust anyone else but Ivan.

There was a silence in the carriage, and Zhou Yunsheng ran into the villa at the speed of a sprint champion, and John, who was in charge of following him, was left far behind, spitting out his tongue and exclaiming, “Romeo has the looks for the looks, the body for the body, the talent for the talent, the character for the character, and the stamina for the stamina, it’s just perfect! My idol is that good!”

“Emily, Hayden, get up! You only have ten minutes, and if you don’t make the bus in ten minutes, you’ll be considered forfeited for today’s challenge. With ten points less than the other contestants from the start, you’ll likely be eliminated this episode.” He knocked on the door as he gave a quick nod to the seriousness of the situation.

Emily and Hayden practically bounced out of bed as they opened the door to their room and rushed to the public bathroom to wash their faces and brush their teeth. Emily glanced at the pile of odds and ends Hayden had placed on the table as she was getting dressed, and a crazy thought suddenly popped into her head. The cameraman was following Romeo and Hayden, no one was paying attention to themselves, and the closet and desk were oriented right in the dead center of the room where the security cameras couldn’t capture them.

Do it! This way you’ll get rid of two opponents at once! No, maybe three! Hurry up, there’s no time! Her inner imp kept urging, Emily gritted her teeth and quickly grabbed the diamond cross necklace that was laying on the table, hid it in the pocket of a pair of Hayden’s jeans and tucked it into the deepest part of the closet before anxiously calling out, “Romeo, Hayden’s backpack hasn’t been packed yet, can you help him?”

Zhou Yunsheng ran into the room, and with a casual scan, he realized that among the odds and ends, there was a relic left to him by Hayden’s grandmother, a cross necklace inlaid with diamonds, valued at around half a million dollars, which Hayden had to kiss before every match, or else he would have a hard time sitting still. He instantly understood Emily’s intentions and immediately tapped on the scanning function of his brain to check if the diamond necklace was still in the room.

007 makes a ticking sound that only the owner can hear, and gives a four-dimensional hologram that marks the location of the diamond necklace with a red dot.

Emily deserves to be the main female character, her heart is really deep. Zhou Yunsheng sighed inwardly, but on his face, he was anxious and immediately opened Hayden’s backpack, sweeping in all the items scattered on the table.

Hayden finished washing his face just in time to see the scene and gave him an evil glare before grabbing his backpack and leading Emily down the stairs in a frenzy.

John, who had faithfully recorded the scene, made a ‘you’re stupid’ face at the embarrassed and unusually embarrassed teenager before pulling him up and running along.

The group finally caught up with the bus at the last second, and it was only then that Ivan withdrew his long neck stretched out the window and whacked the teenager a couple times.

Half an hour later, the limousine bus pulled up in front of the Mox Building, the tallest building in the world, and Miss Jeffrey ushered the contestants into the building with a slightly wry smile. The elevator climbed straight up, stopping only when it reached the very top floor. With a ding-dong crunch, Bonnie and Atchison stood side by side under a clear dome paved with glass.

“Hello guys, today’s challenge may be a little difficult.” Bonnie smiled as she adjusted the camera in her hand. Acheson had one around his neck as well, and it looked like the two were going to be in charge of taking pictures of the contestants today.

Everyone walked towards the empty hall under Jeffrey’s guidance, and just three or four meters away, a female contestant was heard screaming in horror. It turns out that in addition to the dome, even the floor is paved with tempered glass, and you can clearly see the crowds and traffic that are saving up like ants under hundreds of meters of altitude. The feeling of falling infinitely was numbing.

Hayden went limp at once and couldn’t get up no matter what. Emily was humiliated and whispered through gritted teeth as she went to yank him, “Bonnie’s watching you tough guy, do you want Bonnie to laugh at you? Do you want Bonnie to laugh at you? Do you want her to think of you as a coward? If you don’t want to, get up and don’t look down at your feet.”

Hayden struggled to his feet, his chin lifting desperately upwards. He had a feeling that today’s challenge was going to be an impossible task for him, he feared. Damn it, why do they always have to arrange these high-altitude challenges? Is it purposely aimed at me?

Yes, this was exactly the kind of surprise Gustav had purposely arranged for Hayden. He felt satisfied when he realized that the kitten was frowning at the wretched Hayden. Look baby, is such a coward worthy of your love? To borrow a phrase from Ivan – please keep your eyes open!

Zhou Yunsheng’s heart has long laughed in the sky, but on the face of both worry and disappointment expression, the already superb acting skills through the program group polishing once again sublimation.

When the contestants finally got used to the transparent floor, Bonnie slowly spoke, “Today’s challenge is a photo shoot, me, Mr. Acheson, Mr. Sellar, and Mr. Becketto are your photographers, occupying the four shooting directions of southeast, northwest, and north. What you guys wear, what styling you do, and in which orientation you do the photo shoot is still a mystery right now. You will have to walk around outside and find the three little slips of paper bolted to the beams to get the exact information. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please. Okay, who’s first?”

The contestants looked outside at the circular promenade and revealed expressions of horror. There was no guardrail there at all, and the floor was still paved with tempered glass, and the wind was so strong that it could easily blow people askew. If one were to accidentally fall, they would surely be reduced to mincemeat.

God, the show is murder! Even the contestants who aren’t afraid of heights are freaking out.

“Well, I won’t be that cruel.” Bonnie had enough of admiring everyone’s twisted expressions before adding, “There’s a crew out there looking after you, and they’ll tie a safety rope around you, so even if you fall, they’ll pull you back up in time. You guys just think of this challenge as a bungee jump.”

Who the hell wants to bungee jump! If you’re good, you’re on! The contestants internally vomit madly before taking a neat step back (except for the two freaks, Ivan and Romeo).

“Well, Guts showed up. Ivan, Romeo, which of you two will go first?”

“Me (I),” Zhou Yunsheng and Ivan raised their hands at the same time.

“Romeo goes first, there’s no such thing as ladies first at this point.” Bonnie smiled and patted the teenager on the shoulder, just as she saw that the BOSS had walked outside the circular promenade and was explaining something to the staff.

Gustavo repeatedly made sure the safety measures were okay before personally tying the kitten’s leash, and softly asked, “Are you afraid of heights?”

“I’m not afraid.” Zhou Yunsheng shook his head.

“So what are you afraid of?”

“I’m afraid of being alone.” A gust of wind almost swept the words away, but Gustav heard them anyway. His heart stung hard.

“Go.” You won’t be alone, I’ll always be here behind you waiting. With the cameras circling him, he couldn’t say his innermost thoughts out loud, only give the teen an encouraging hug.

Zhou Yunsheng smiled faintly at him and walked out with big strides. He didn’t pay attention to the height of his feet, but focused on the beams above his head, and sure enough, when he walked out in half a circle, he saw a note bolted to one of the steel bars. He reached out to pick it, but found that he couldn’t reach it, so he could only jump up and rip the rope that held the note.

A large gust of wind blew by, skewing his body suspended in mid-air a bit, so when he landed he almost fell off.

The contestants were horrified by the shocking scene and covered their faces and screamed in unison. Hayden even set aside the crowd and retreated to the side of the elevator, standing close to the wall. Only the floor around the elevator was made of marble, and not being able to see hundreds of meters into the air at least gave him a little sense of security.

8.17

Gustav was also so shocked by the scene he just witnessed that he almost ran over and scooped the kitten into his arms without thinking twice about it. He deeply reproached himself for coming up with such a dangerous idea. While he still maintained an elegant and bland expression on his face, a layer of cold sweat broke out behind his back, and his palms were so wet that they could almost drip water.

Bonnie walked up to him and gloated and flirted, “Are you okay Boss?I think I just saw you shaking?”

Gustav asked in a hushed voice, “Whose idea was it to tie the note that high? Don’t you know it’s dangerous? He almost got blown out by the wind just now.” God knows, his heart was about to explode.

“It’s Jeffrey.” Bonnie dryly betrayed her teammate, “He said strap in high to see the contestants’ twisted and horrified expressions, and maybe someone will crouch on the ground and cry in pain. That would be a great image, great for pulling in the ratings.”

Gustav cut the laughing Geoffrey with an icy glare.

Zhou Yunsheng had even tried flying with a sword, this kind of high altitude walking was not even a hair’s breadth for him. He quickly finished walking in a circle and found all three slips of paper.

The first note says white shirt and jeans; the second note says guitar, collegiate style; and the third note says South.

He immediately ran into the fitting room, picked out a white shirt and jeans to put on, asked for a guitar from the props guy, and then ran into the dressing room to have the stylist give him a fresh make-up look. When he walked to the location, which was directly south of the city, he looked like a high school student.

If the aunt hadn’t embezzled the inheritance left by her parents, Romeo would indeed be attending high school right now, instead of running away to the show.

“Hello Mr. Acheson, I’ll take the picture.” He bowed slightly to the tall man fiddling with the instruments.

Gustav pretended that he had only just realized him, stood up to shake his hand and explained, “Sit on the high chair, I’ll take a few photos of you, and the judges will divide the winner of this challenge based on the merits of the photos. Don’t worry, I’m not only a model, I’m also a professional photographer, and my work has won gold medals in international photography competitions.”

Zhou Yunsheng was very facetious and let out an exclamation of surprise, his large navy blue eyes filled with admiration.

Gustav struggles to maintain a serious expression so he doesn’t laugh like a fool. He pulled out his cell phone and asked, “Would you like to see my work?” He loved the way the teenager gazed at him as if they were the only two people left in the world.

Zhou Yunsheng actually wanted to hurry up and finish the photo shoot, but in order to satisfy the producer’s vanity, he had to come over and show that he was willing to appreciate it.

Gustavo pulled up a few of his best works, animals and scenery, but only no people. He never took photographs of people because he felt that there was no one in the world who deserved to be remembered by him and left with an image that would never fade. Sooner or later they would all disappear, while he would be ever-present.

The thought was arrogant and ridiculous, yet firmly rooted in his soul. Now, however, it was different, and he was almost frantically collecting all the images of the teenager, hiding in his dimly lit study like a voyeur, relentlessly playing clips from his matches on his computer. His every move fascinated him. And here he was standing next to him, his furry little head in the crook of his arm, his warm breath on his wrist, making every muscle in his body tremble with excitement. It took all of his self-control to repress the desire to take him into his arms.

Zhou Yunsheng was surprised, he didn’t expect Gustav Acheson’s photography skills to be so great. He always managed to take the most unique photos with the most unique perspective, like a bystander cruising through the world, sober and cold. The man’s heart was completely different from his appearance.

So much for the so-called hot face and cold heart.

He looked at the man several times with a searching gaze.

Gustavo, hot from his look, glimpsed a male competitor finishing up and running toward his machine, and had to end his close encounter with the kitten.

“If you get a chance, I can show you my photography studio, which houses my work through the years. Okay, now let’s get to work.” He picked up the camera and adjusted it slightly.

Zhou Yunsheng was flattered and smiled, sitting on the high chair at his gesture and lowered his head to pluck the strings of the zither.

“Make yourself at home, I’ll capture it.” Gustav said as he held up his camera, “You play guitar? Then sing me a song.”

Singing was also Zhou Yunsheng’s old specialty. He played as he pleased almost without thinking, his mouth spat out a string of French poems, a country lad who fell in love with a beautiful noble lady, gradually pining away in his day and night longing, reciting and changing to a sad chant, the heavenly singing echoed in the empty hall.

Gustavo was completely mesmerized by the kitten’s song, yet he didn’t forget to take his expression of sadness or joy or composure into the camera. He felt a little more in love with him every day, with no end or bottom to it.

Everyone in the hall applauded enthusiastically after a guitar lick was played, and even Hayden’s face reddened slightly.

“Romeo, my dearest Romeo, how many more surprises can you bring me? Your singing is fantastic, if you went to A Idol you would win!” Bonnie came over and hugged the teenager warmly as Ivan whistled like crazy and screamed for another song.

Zhou Yunsheng waved his hand, indicating that he couldn’t disturb everyone’s filming, and then retreated to the side carrying his guitar. The contestants had a whole new appreciation for Romeo’s overwhelming talent, and even their jealousy felt powerless. But they wouldn’t easily admit defeat, so they immediately set aside their distractions to complete their tasks.

Romeo’s increasingly impressive performance caused Emily to have a deep sense of crisis; he could even play the guitar and sing, at a level not unlike that of a professional singer. If this episode was broadcasted, she could imagine how the audience would be obsessed with the teenager. There are a lot of beautiful people out there, but there are only a handful of beautiful and talented people, and every once in a while one of them comes along and is wildly popular.

Isn’t Gustav Acheson a real column? That’s why Romeo has to be eliminated in a hurry!

With that thought, she flew to Hayden’s side and yanked him toward the middle of the hall.

“Honey, you can’t run away anymore, everyone is almost done and you’re the only one left. Do you know how many viewers are watching you in front of the TV? Do you want to be eliminated? Do you want to be laughed at by everyone? Don’t give them a chance!”

Her words finally made an impact. Hayden slowly walked over to the clear glass.

“God, that’s awful!” He wailed, trying to grab the cross necklace on his chest and kiss it, but realized that he was in such a hurry to leave the house that he forgot to hang it up. He rushed to his backpack, only to realize to his horror that the necklace was gone. It was a relic left to him by his grandmother, and was extraordinary in both market value and memorabilia value.

“My necklace is missing, did you see it? I obviously took it off and left it on the table last night in the shower.” He forgot his fear and tackled Emily’s thin arm in question.

“I don’t know. Romeo helped pack your things this morning, ask him.” Emily secretly fanned the flames.

It turned out to be Romeo, who must have stolen the necklace. Hayden, who had long held a grudge against the teenager, immediately laid the charge at his head and wheeled his fists around to charge at him. He’d been suffering in fear for so long that his nerves were on the verge of breaking down, and now all it took was a trivial reason to drive him crazy, and he had it in his mind to make a big deal out of it to avoid the challenge.

Zhou Yunsheng felt a strong wind coming from behind his ear, and hurriedly inclined his head to avoid a heavy punch that was aimed at his nose, and Ivan, who was standing beside him, was angered, and was about to kick over, but he was held tightly.

“Don’t resist, the program strictly forbids any physical conflict. As soon as we resist, we’ll be unconditionally eliminated.” He attached himself to Ivan’s ear and whispered.

Ivan held back hard as the two headed for the corner to hide as Hayden relentlessly chased after them and whacked them. The contestants were surprised that none of them came forward to stop them at the sight. They can’t wait for the three to fight and be eliminated in unison.

Gustav, who was filming, heard a noise and dropped his camera to check, his face instantly grimacing. He darted over to pull Hayden away, then scooped the much-shocked kitten into his arms.

“Baby, are you okay?” In the confusion, no one noticed his ambiguous address. He cupped Kitten’s chin, checking the sides of his cheeks repeatedly, and then switched to rubbing his scalp to see if there were any lumps. Gustav was even more in shock than Kitten, his heart thumping so wildly that it actually brought out a gripping sensation of pain.

Bonnie and Jeffrey arrived with a crew and restrained Hayden.

Hayden roared as she struggled, “He’s a thief, stealing the relic my grandmother left me, a diamond necklace worth at least half a million dollars! I’m going to call the police, I’m going to sanction him, I’m going to put him out of the fashion industry forever!”

His screams went unheeded as Gustav was forcefully lifting up the kitten’s jacket to check out the bruises on his back. At the moment, he couldn’t wait to kill Hayden.

Well, he’ll make sure Hayden understands who should be sanctioned and who should get out of the fashion world forever.

“Take him to the common room.” He waved his hand, signaling the staff to take Hayden away, and followed himself, embracing the pale kitten; this had to be taken seriously.

After the crowd had left, Emily then bristled with an expression of utter disappointment. She had expected Romeo to fight back under Hayden’s attack, and with any luck Ivan would do the same, so all three would be eliminated for breaking the rules. But Romeo grabbed the agitated Ivan and ducked into the corner as hard as he could, surprisingly not even offering a punch back to Hayden.

Is he too cowardly or too calm? If it was the latter, then this enemy was terrifying! As for the necklace hidden in Hayden’s pants pocket, Emily knew that the staff must have gone back to search for it by now, and for the sake of this show’s reputation, they would surely find out. At the time, she had also thought about simply flushing the necklace down the toilet to completely eliminate the evidence, and was worried that John, who was inseparable from Romeo, would film him loading it as evidence. The facts showed that her concern was necessary, otherwise she would be the first person the police would suspect when Hayden called the police and Romeo was cleared.

After all the fuss to get rid of only one Hayden, Emily was in a depressed mood, but thinking that she would have another chance later, she let it go.

In the lounge, Gustav was nuzzling and patting and petting the kitten, and Hayden was being held down by the staff in a chair across the room, screaming things like ‘thief, asshole, and pauper’.