Chapter 36: A Satisfying Result
Zhu Feiyu was restless and fidgety until class finally ended. He glanced at his group of lackeys.
“Reporting someone isn’t ideal, but we’re doing it for the good of the school.”
The lackeys understood immediately.
One of them volunteered, “Young Master Yu, how about I find someone unrelated to us to make the call?”
Zhu Feiyu didn’t reply.
But silence was consent. They all understood.
The rain had stopped. The group walked through puddles as they left campus. One of the lackeys pulled aside a boy on the street who looked like a middle schooler. After a brief conversation, the lackey grinned back at Zhu Feiyu:
“Young Master Yu, he agreed. Fifty yuan… uh…”
Zhu Feiyu glared at him coldly.
The lackey reluctantly scanned the 50-yuan payment to the boy.
The boy, upon receiving the money, promptly dialed the complaint number they gave him.
Zhu Feiyu and the others stood a short distance away, listening.
“What? He has a valid audit pass?”
Zhu Feiyu cursed and kicked a nearby tree. The rainwater on the leaves came cascading down with a splash, drenching the entire group like drowned rats.
Just then, Mu Lantu happened to drive past in his car—but he didn’t notice any of this.
—
Saturday arrived quickly—the LEGO preliminaries began.
The venue was a rented hall at the Youth Palace, arranged by Doumao Livestream.
Mu Lantu had reserved the right to stream the preliminaries himself. He got up early and brought his audience along to the competition site via his stream.
The sky was clear, endless blue stretching overhead.
The plaza was packed with people—mostly young, with a few older participants refusing to be left behind. It was lively but orderly, with staff keeping things under control.
Over 50,000 people had registered for the event, so the preliminaries had to be conducted in batches. Those at the venue today were the ones scheduled to compete on this day.
The prelims followed a simple format:
Each group had 50 participants. The computer would randomly assign a theme—residential buildings, commercial towers, parks, hospitals, bridges, etc. Contestants would use identical sets of LEGO parts to build a model based on the theme. They had complete creative freedom, and each group had one hour to complete the task.
Because multiple groups ran simultaneously, the pace was fairly efficient.
Additionally, since many contestants had traveled from out of town, those who passed the prelims could apply to proceed directly to the semifinals—so long as there were enough participants (a group of 50), they could compete again that same day.
This thoughtful arrangement earned praise from the participants.
It also explained, in part, why so many had signed up.
Mu Lantu led his viewers around the venue. As the first group neared the end of their hour, he picked a competition room at random and watched quietly through the window.
He couldn’t wait to see how successful the external LEGO assembly results would be.
Inside, the judges and staff were aware that the organizer of the event had livestreaming rights. Recognizing Mu Lantu, they politely nodded but refrained from speaking, so as not to disturb the competitors.
For many viewers, it was their first time watching such a competition. They were completely absorbed and full of commentary.
[Looks like the theme for this group is ‘Hospital.’]
[Second from the left in the front row—solid hands, quick build. Definitely advancing.]
[Middle guy in the third row keeps wiping sweat. Can’t handle pressure. Pass!]
[It’s just LEGO, not a college entrance exam. What’s there to be nervous about? Grow a spine!]
[The beauty in the back row is crushing it—her hospital looks better than some private estates I’ve seen online!]
…
A judge checked the time.
“Attention contestants. The five-minute countdown begins now.”
Five minutes later, time was up. All participants stopped building, took their contestant IDs, and exited the room to wait for results. The three judges scored each LEGO hospital one by one. The top three average scores would earn the cash prizes.
Winners beamed with joy. Those who didn’t make it weren’t too upset—it was just a 50-yuan experience after all.
One contestant asked, “Sir, can we keep our LEGO builds as a souvenir?”
“Unfortunately, the event rules require all LEGO parts to be collected. But you can take photos.”
Disappointed contestants brightened up again, enthusiastically snapping selfies with their creations.
This too would be a fun, memorable life experience.
Once they cleared out, staff carefully collected both completed and unfinished LEGO models and loaded them into a truck for delivery to a designated warehouse.
The warehouse had been arranged by Mu Lantu.
As the competition continued on one side, Mu Lantu ended his livestream and drove straight to the warehouse—where he initiated the scan-and-deploy process for all completed LEGO models.
In total, there were 212 LEGO builds. Of those, 127 were successfully deployed.
A success rate of exactly 60%.
Mu Lantu felt a massive weight lifted off his shoulders. Finally, he could breathe easy. He wanted to share the good news—and the first person who came to mind was Xu Huazhang.
He sent him a message on Wechat:
“Today’s a good day. You should treat me to dinner.”
