Chapter 158: Dating Variety Show
Mu Lantu asked without much hope: [Little five, any progress on your end?]
[Host,] 005 said cheerfully, [I have one bad news and one good news. Which would you like to hear first?]
[Little five,] Mu Lantu’s voice carried a dangerous tone, [are you looking to get beaten up?]
Even though 005 didn’t have a physical body and couldn’t actually be beaten, hearing the host talk like this still made it feel terrified.
[Host, little five was wrong!]
Mu Lantu sighed helplessly. [Then hurry up and say it.]
[Yes, Host. The good news is, I’ve made some progress in cracking the system. The bad news is, progress will only advance once you enter the dungeon game. I’ve set up a progress bar for this. Right now, it’s at 10%. I was originally planning to wait until it reached 50% to report to you, since I’d have more certainty then.] 005 reported seriously.
Mu Lantu didn’t blame it. [Good, good work, little five. Record every dungeon I’ve already been to. It may come in handy later.]
[Yes, Host.]
Mu Lantu happily pulled out an ice cream. “Baby?”
Xu Huazhang shook his head, not wanting any, and opened his watch to scroll through messages.
“Baby, transfer me 2 gold coins.”
“Just 2? Do you look down on me that much? I’m transferring you 9 gold coins!” Mu Lantu said “fiercely.”
Anyone who didn’t know better would think he had just transferred Xu Huazhang 9,999 coins.
Zhao Yuanzhou glanced at Mu Lantu, then quickly looked away, a smile flickering in his eyes.
Xu Huazhang lowered his head and bit a large chunk off Mu Lantu’s ice cream.
Mu Lantu froze in heartbreak for a second. He had plenty of ice creams, sure—but Xu Huazhang had refused earlier! Now he came to steal his!
Xu Huazhang chuckled lightly, still tapping away at his watch. No one could see exactly what he was doing.
Two minutes later, he gave up.
He had tried replying to the system messages to communicate with Infinite University, but it didn’t work. He couldn’t even type—there was no input box. Infinite University clearly had no intention of talking with any players. If they wanted more information, the only option was to keep completing dungeons.
The tense silence in the classroom weighed heavily. Lu Haoran found a topic: “I saw someone begging in the cafeteria today.”
“You mean Li Kaige?” Xiong Ping said bluntly. “I saw him too.”
Zhang Junyang opened his mouth to speak, but no words seemed right. Finally, he managed only: “What was he thinking?”
“Scared of dying, obviously,” Lu Haoran sneered.
Zhao Yuanzhou said: “Even if he manages to live on, his life is already ruined. No meaning in that.”
Mu Lantu made a hand signal to Song Bochao, and the two moved to the corner of the classroom.
“There’s a job. Want it?”
“Tell me,” Song Bochao was interested.
Mu Lantu said, “Collect information on all the dungeons that have appeared so far, except the ones you and I already went through together. Write down the specific background and clearance process for each dungeon. However many you gather, I’ll take them all. No matter how much you buy them for, I’ll pay 20 gold coins per dungeon. Long-term deal.”
Song Bochao’s eyes lit up. He readily agreed, “Deal!” Easy work—and if handled well, he could earn a lot! Maybe even enough to buy a skip-class card. If he earned enough, he might never have to enter a dungeon again. Mu Lantu was basically his God of Wealth!
“But for the dungeons I haven’t been to, I can’t judge whether what others wrote is real or not.”
That was the tricky part. If he had to spend extra time verifying, the deal wouldn’t be worth as much.
“No need to judge authenticity—as long as it makes logical sense.” Mu Lantu smiled. “If the writer really has that much imagination, I’ll just treat it as buying a novel. What’s the harm?”
“That’s true.” Song Bochao got it. “Why bother fabricating when you can just write exactly what happened?”
“Baby, come here, one more minute.” Xu Huazhang called out.
“Coming!” Mu Lantu hurried back to his seat and boasted, “Just made a business deal.”
“When you earn money, treat me to a feast.” Xu Huazhang smirked. He also needed to think of ways to make money.
Mu Lantu coughed lightly. “It’s a long-term investment.”
Xu Huazhang understood. Which meant for a while, only spending, no income.
“No problem. Only with investment comes returns.”
He transferred 500 gold coins to Mu Lantu.
Though it was just 500, to Mu Lantu it felt like 5 million—so generous!
This man… how could he be so gentle?
Mu Lantu made a big heart with both hands.
The people around them suddenly felt full just from watching.
“Riiing—”
All the students tensed.
Mission: Who is the Ghost? Identify the single ghost among the crowd. Submit your answer by voice into your watch. Time limit: 48 hours. Refuse, and you will be sent back to Infinite University. No punishment, no reward. Fail to respond within 30 seconds, and acceptance is automatic.
Success Reward: 2 credits, 200 gold coins (minimum).
Failure Punishment: Erasure.
[Accept] [Refuse]
Mu Lantu sat on the sofa, gazing around the luxurious living room with curiosity. The moment he accepted the mission, his new identity information popped into his mind.
His name was Mu Lantu, a minor celebrity barely on the radar, and together with nine other entertainers, he was participating in a live-streamed dating variety show called Heartthrob Action!
Xu Huazhang was one of the participants too.
The show used advanced Butterfly Drone Streamers, which automatically followed and filmed each guest. The entire Heartthrob House contained only the ten guests.
The production team was stationed in the villa next door.
The livestream had already started.
Because Mu Lantu was the least popular, he was the first to appear.
A pale-blue butterfly hovered quietly a meter or two in front of him, its camera-eyes fixed on him. Another butterfly positioned itself at the door.
If this dungeon world was real, that meant the butterflies were genuine high-tech products.
Fascinated, Mu Lantu reached out to touch one. If he could catch one and store it in his system space, then after leaving Infinite University, he could find someone to study it—becoming a billionaire would be just around the corner!
But the butterfly flitted away.
Mu Lantu gave up for now.
On the coffee table sat a phone—his. He swiped it open. It had Wechat, QQ, and an app called Dolphin Live.
That was the platform for broadcasting the show.
Were real people actually watching?
Mu Lantu searched “Heartthrob Action.” Sure enough, he found it—and saw himself onscreen a second later.
The sight of his own face startled him.
Then the barrage of live comments exploded.
“Is this little guy Mu Lantu? Did he just scare himself? So cute!”
“Such a pretty boy—I want to squish him!”
“OMG, where did this angel come from? If he’s an entertainer, how could someone this handsome be unknown?”
“Let me promote my hubby—Mu Lantu, student at Infinite University, only 18 years old!”
“Tch, who gets scared by themselves? You look like you saw a ghost! Too fake, such an act!”
Mu Lantu read with great interest.
He’d occasionally seen entertainment news on his phone, so he knew stars had fans and haters. Could that person calling him fake be his first hater?
These bullet comments felt so real!
His reactions made the comments go even crazier.
“Is he smiling? Don’t smile, you’ll take my soul away!”
“Finally, a real picture for the idiom ‘a smile that topples a city’!”
“Trending topic confirmed: Mu Lantu’s smile!”
Footsteps sounded at the door. Mu Lantu set down his phone and stood.
A girl of about twenty walked in, wearing a pale green forest-style dress. Her long black hair was in two braids, radiating pure charm.
“Hello, I’m Qiu Ningning.”
“Hello, I’m Mu Lantu.”
Mu Lantu didn’t want to get close to someone who might be the ghost, so naturally he didn’t help with her suitcase—he just stood there shyly.
Qiu Ningning pouted and dragged her suitcase down the steps, shooting him a resentful look.
Mu Lantu’s scalp tingled, but he looked calmly toward the door.
Someone else arrived.
Xu Huazhang appeared in a white shirt, dress pants, and sunglasses, one hand in his pocket, casually pulling a black suitcase.
Mu Lantu hurried over to take his suitcase, completely different from just now.
“All good?”
“All good.” Xu Huazhang ruffled his hair, scanned the living room, and let his gaze linger on Qiu Ningning for a few seconds.
Mu Lantu placed Xu Huazhang’s suitcase beside his own. The two sat together on the sofa, shoulder to shoulder, leg to leg.
Qiu Ningning sat alone on a single sofa, a bit reserved.
The comments went wild again.
“Uh, excuse me, isn’t this a hetero dating show?”
“LOL, yes, it is!”
“Not necessarily—the director never said it had to be. I’m fine with either!”
Mu Lantu turned off his phone screen.
The fourth guest arrived: female, Dong Yueyue.
The fifth: male, Liang Dong.
The sixth: female, Mao Ranran.
The seventh: male, Wang Ye.
The eighth: female, Wu You.
The ninth: male, Zhao Zheng.
The tenth: female, Wei Weiwei.
After a slightly awkward round of introductions, Zhao Zheng—who seemed the oldest—suggested, “Why don’t we go check out the rooms upstairs?”
Everyone agreed enthusiastically. They all knew what this was, and couldn’t let the audience get bored.
The male guests gentlemanly helped carry the female guests’ luggage.
The butterflies flitted around naturally, sometimes perching on someone’s shoulder and facing another guest, just like real butterflies.
Mu Lantu and Xu Huazhang stuffed a red packet into their pockets, also helping with luggage.
The second floor had five rooms, and the third floor had another five. Ten people—just right.
They quickly agreed: men on the second floor, women on the third.
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