When the ‘riot’ finally ended, Shen Wanwan and Qi Luozhou officially began their journey to search for the fragments.
Clearly, they didn’t have a map, yet every path they took was correct. They didn’t make a single wrong turn.
[What does this mean? Did Shen Wanwan actually memorize the map?]
[This is insane! How did God Zhou remember it too?!]
[Suddenly feeling like… WanZhou really fits, don’t they? A pair of high-looks, high-IQ CP—love it, love it!!]
[Their efficiency is insane! Oh my god. Suddenly I feel like if God Zhou had been a bit more serious before, maybe Brother Ye really wouldn’t have taken so many first places.]
[Could it be that God Zhou is deliberately giving him chances to draw good cards?]
The advantage of being the first team to clear the stage was slightly more obvious than for the later teams. The item cards on the big roulette wheel had better attributes than those drawn afterward.
[I’ve fallen for Rivals CP again (sorry).]
[God Zhou dotes so much, TAT. Brother Ye, you’re really blessed!]
But the ‘Yu Yu’s weren’t happy hearing that:
[Hey, hey, hey, you guys are overthinking it way too much, okay? Brother Ye’s first place was won purely by his own strength. You insist on saying Qi Luozhou let him have it. Seriously, you’ll say anything.]
[Exactly! What are you ‘Xiao Chuan’s fantasizing about? Is this just saving face for the defeated?!]
[We didn’t even say anything. Why are you ‘Yu Yu’s suddenly breaking down?]
A war was about to break out. Both sides went back and forth, arguing so fiercely it was chaos.
In the end, some bystander really couldn’t stand it anymore and spoke up:
[Stop arguing. Next episode, just let the two of them be partners. Won’t we know then who’s better?]
As soon as that was said, both the ‘Xiao Chuan’s and the ‘Yu Yu’s fell silent.
That image was too beautiful…
Didn’t dare look…
After Qi Luozhou and Shen Wanwan gathered all five fragments, they finally synthesized the Everlasting Lamp.
But to place that lamp at the highest point, one person had to stay inside a light circle with a time limit of only two minutes, while the other put on climbing gear, climbed a 10-meter ladder, then jumped across a gap in midair before they could place it.
If they went over time, the person staying behind would be killed by the ‘Shadow Ones,’ the progress would reset, and all collected fragments and items would return to their original positions.
But the problem was—
Their hands were shackled together. They couldn’t act separately.
[Ah! Then what should God Zhou and Wanwan do?]
[Director? Director! We’re calling the director! It’s the final step—aren’t you coming out to unlock them?!]
Watching the barrage of rapidly scrolling comments on the screen, the director finally felt a bit of satisfaction.
Wasn’t Shen Wanwan always ridiculously capable? Everyone should occasionally get to see her stumble, as a bit of balance.
Before, when she pulled all sorts of outrageous moves, they’d tacitly allowed it and didn’t stop her. There was no reason to help her now the moment she ran into trouble.
And besides—
His eyes lit up as he looked at the girl on the screen, her gaze firm.
He really wanted to know too: in a situation like this, what kind of move would Shen Wanwan make?
Qi Luozhou lowered his voice; it sounded muffled.
“Sorry.”
Shen Wanwan’s expression instantly softened.
Qi Luozhou had long noticed that she responded to gentleness, not force.
“It’s okay,” she said softly. “We’ve got plenty of time.”
Qi Luozhou blinked slowly, his lips pressed into a straight line.
Probably because he’d never made such a low-level mistake before. Under the dim lighting, he looked excessively self-blaming.
Shen Wanwan placed the Everlasting Lamp into his palm.
“Lend me your hand.”
[What is Shen Wanwan trying to do?]
[Does she have another solution?!]
[But they’re both locked together—what could she possibly do?!]
Standing together inside the narrow light circle, not far away the ‘Shadow Ones’ lurked like a pack of wolves, waiting only for the countdown to end so they could rush in and ‘devour’ the two of them alive.
One of Shen Wanwan’s hands was cuffed by the shackles; her other hand rested on Qi Luozhou’s wrist.
He held the Everlasting Lamp in his hand, adjusting its direction according to the pressure of her fingertips.
[No way, does Shen Wanwan plan to have God Zhou throw it up there?!]
[Holy, so crazy!! What if he misses, or breaks the lamp? Do they both die together?!]
[There’s this violent aesthetic of ‘if we die, we die together’!]
[Ahhh it’s too shippable! ‘WanZhou’ just has to be together, together!]
[So tense, will God Zhou hit it?!]
Their bodies were pressed tightly together.
She carried a pleasant fragrance. Qi Luozhou’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and the arm she was holding tightened for a brief moment.
Shen Wanwan’s face was just a little above his shoulder.
After a few seconds of daze, he let out a hoarse chuckle.
He heard her crisp, commanding voice.
“Throw!”
Qi Luozhou exerted force with his arm. The Everlasting Lamp traced a bright arc through the air, flying steadily toward the 10-meter-high platform.
Everyone’s gaze converged on that hopeful point of light.
But he lowered his eyes, quietly looking at her.
Shen Wanwan also didn’t look at the lamp. She only tilted her face up slightly, her gaze bright and clear as she looked at him.
Their eyes met, and in each other’s gaze was a shared, knowing smile.
In the next instant, a sharp *clang* rang out.
There was no need for them to turn their heads. Lights were already flickering on one by one above them.
Bright light flooded the entire room. The grotesque figures that had lurked in the darkness vanished without a trace, replaced instead by the hopeful cry of the little boy from before—
“It’s light!”
“It’s light!”
The livestream comments exploded with excitement as well:
[Aaaah! It’s light!!!]
[Wanwan is amazing! God Zhou is amazing! ‘WanZhou’ is the ultimate OTP1, no rebuttals accepted!!!]
The path ahead of Shao Yuye and Jiang Yuan was also suddenly illuminated.
The abrupt brightness made the two of them squint and blink uncomfortably. A staff member signaled that they needed to pause their actions and wait until Shen Wanwan and Qi Luozhou cleared the stage before continuing.
Shao Yuye exclaimed excitedly, “Holy shit, they cleared it?!”
They had passed by the Eternal Lamp platform earlier and read the rules. Completing the task within two minutes was still quite challenging.
Qi Luozhou really is something.
Jiang Yuan looked on enviously. “Ah… I’m so jealous of God Zhou.”
He had just witnessed the entire process of Shen Wanwan efficiently ‘killing ghosts.’
So cool!
So badass!
So reassuring!
Shao Yuye snorted coldly. “I’ll make you jealous of me in a second.”
Jiang Yuan: “……”
With your kind of luck, buddy, the two of us are probably teaming up till death, dear.
As the first team to clear the hidden stage, Shen Wanwan and Qi Luozhou received extremely generous rewards from the production team.
Not only did they jump ahead ten stages in one go, they were given ten stage-clearing item cards, plus a bonus of 500 Speed Coins.
The barrage erupted in celebratory cheers for them—while behind the screens, the director was grinding his teeth.
They had poured a lot of effort into designing this hidden stage.
Basically, any guest who entered could easily be trapped for several hours, even days.
Especially the final segment—
They had actually placed ‘ghosts’ on the high platform as well.
When adventurers thought victory was within reach, when they were ready to savor the final triumph—completely focused and totally unguarded—
That final ‘gift’ was guaranteed to scare them senseless.
But Shen Wanwan and Qi Luozhou broke the setup entirely.
Damn it!
The director clenched his jaw, silently staring at Shen Wanwan on the monitor.
After walking through the haunted house, she was still radiant, red lips vivid, elegant and captivating.
At this moment, even he had to admit one fact—
Shen Wanwan really was…
Damnably charming.
A staff member came over to ask, “Director, should we unlock their shackles?”
The director snorted. “No.”
He refused to believe that in the upcoming stages, she and Qi Luozhou could keep breaking through every single one.
The exit of the haunted house was also a bright glass conservatory.
But compared to the withered flowers when they entered, the conservatory was now brimming with vitality.
As bright light poured in through the transparent glass, 001—who had crashed the moment they entered the haunted house—finally spoke weakly:
{Actually, just now the male lead was lying to you.
{The key was in his jacket pocket. It never fell.}
Unexpectedly, Shen Wanwan wasn’t surprised at all. Instead, she raised an eyebrow.
“I know.”
{???}
The little light orb was completely confused.
{Huh? Huh? Huh?
{Then why didn’t you—}
—{Expose him?}
“You wouldn’t understand.”
Her tone was as arrogantly casual as ever as she looked at Qi Luozhou. In the morning light, the man’s brows and eyes carried a gentle warmth.
“This is called…”
She curved her lips, clearly amused by the term she had come up with, and enunciated each word slowly:
“Married. Couple. Intimate. Play.”
001: {……??}
What the hell?!
When it finally realized that the host wasn’t joking at all, 001 rolled several times in midair, clutching its head: {My ears! My ears!!!}
What kind of scandalous words had it just heard?!
After teasing the little light orb, Shen Wanwan smiled again at Qi Luozhou.
They had completed the day’s challenges in one go, yet only two hours had passed.
“Want to go play?” she asked.
Qi Luozhou smiled like a spring breeze.
“Sure.”
The shackles on their wrists were never removed.
The livestream comments wailed nonstop—
[Honest question: is this a date?]
[Don’t stop me, I’m shipping ‘WanZhou’ today, no backing out!!!]
- One True Pairing ↩︎