Chapter 33: Courage
While the trio, led by Xie Xizhao, began exploring the small wooden building, another battlefield—one without smoke or gunfire—had just seen a temporary ceasefire.
On the forums, the dedicated discussion thread for Super Rookie had been frozen for two to three hours, but now, it was finally returning to its usual rapid pace.
1L: That was an insane battle. Truly awe-inspiring.
2L: For real… I heard the production team’s inbox and DMs got completely flooded, all saying that if they keep treating contestants unfairly, they might as well cancel the show. They were forced to issue a statement to clarify things.
Though honestly, that “clarification” was a joke. Talking about fairness in a survival show is a joke. But still, yeah…
Xie fans, respect.
3L: Wait, what happened? I’m so confused. Why are XXZ’s fans suddenly going to war with the production team?
4L: Simple—his treatment doesn’t match his popularity.
5L: Exactly.
6L: To be fair, I think it’s getting ridiculous. At first, the way they promoted the initial center was ambiguous at best, but lately, XXZ’s screentime has been way too little. Plus, according to live audience reports, he won first place in his group’s internal vote during the first public performance, yet he wasn’t even mentioned.
He was literally chosen as the first center by the trainees themselves.
7L: Look, everyone knows survival shows are just a game of capital, but can you at least try to be subtle about it?
Also, AQY’s numbers have been dropping lately. This might actually backfire on them.
8L: If I were an XXZ fan, I’d be pissed too. He’s got solid vocal and dance skills, plus a great personality, yet he keeps getting sidelined. If the production team pushed XXZ as hard as they’re pushing AQY, the rankings might already be different.
9L: Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration? XXZ is only 20…
10L: Can’t say for sure (not a fan, don’t judge me), but his only issue is that he started with a low popularity base as a non-celebrity. That said, his skills and stage presence are undeniably good.
Plus, his looks, height, and overall professionalism don’t seem to have any weaknesses so far. His fans were inexperienced before, but now they’re gaining momentum. And let’s be real, temporary survival show stans live for this kind of hype.
11L: Yeah, and he comes with a built-in angst factor—he’s got that “sickly” buff.
12L: Oh damn…
13L: So what exactly is the production team thinking? Wouldn’t a battle between powerhouses be better? That’d bring in views too.
14L: They want a battle between powerhouses. But let’s be real—take Guan Heng, for example. He’s stuck with a same-company debuff. And as for Lu Xing and Xia Ruiyan, hasn’t the production team already given them tons of screentime? Apparently, Xia even became the leader in his group this round. But in the end? He still can’t beat the competition.
15L: Xia overlaps with Ai’s style, and Lu Xing has broad appeal but lacks die-hard fans. These two won’t cut it.
Honestly, the top 15 has quite a few promising trainees—it just depends on whether the production team wants to push them or not.
16L: To be fair, if I were the production team, I’d push Xia and Lu too.
They don’t actually want a real battle between top-tier contestants. What they want is a fake battle—one that looks intense on the surface, but ultimately leaves the final center spot open for Ai. Don’t forget, the debut group’s management company is Shenghong.
17L: Well, if that’s the case, we might as well stop watching since it’s all rigged anyway.
18L: ? The situation is a mess right now. Honestly, the production team should just bow down to Xie Xizhao at this point. Without him, this show would be even more boring.
19L: Alright, alright, let’s stop arguing. It’s only the first public performance—let’s wait and see.
On another note, while their fans are ready to go to war, XXZ and AQY actually seem to get along pretty well.
20L: They say there was a major sweet moment during the performance. A fansite master also captured them arriving at work together today. The only reason this CP hasn’t taken off yet is that XXZ barely gets any screen time…
21L: Major heartbreak.
22L: They’re filming the spin-off together? Speaking of that, XXZ still hasn’t been on any spin-off content. Even in dorm footage, he’s barely there. Whenever fans ask, the excuse is always “he’s resting due to health issues.” No wonder his fans are frustrated.
23L: I saw the fansite video. Honestly, XXZ really knows what he’s doing… He and AQY are total opposites.
24L: If I were an Ai fan, I’d probably switch biases. What’s with the attitude?
25L: You know… some people actually have switched biases, lol. Didn’t AQY’s fan club management have someone step down? The official reason was “too busy with school,” but who knows?
26L: Hahaha, seriously?
—
Caught off guard by the sudden mention of her in the topic, Jing Jin felt a moment of guilt.
A knock came from the door. “Xiao Jin, the milk is warm!”
She snapped back to reality and responded, “Coming!”
Then, she stopped looking at the screen and closed the page.
She let out a soft breath and slumped into the plush chair.
She really hadn’t expected that, even after a few days, the melody of Stand By was still stuck in her head.
And that ridiculously captivating ending wink from her brother.
It was a strange feeling.
Every fangirl had their own reason for stanning their idol. Jing Jin had initially liked Ai Qingyuan because of his personality.
She had always been timid, someone without a strong presence. So, she had wanted to be like Ai Qingyuan—someone who could do as he pleased without caring what others thought.
For her, idolizing someone was just a way to add some color to her life. She had never thought of herself as the type to fantasize about being an idol’s girlfriend. So when the idol she followed ended up being her own brother, she hadn’t expected to get so obsessed.
In fact, she had always had a good relationship with Xie Xizhao since childhood.
As only children, their cousins became their closest peers. Thinking back, her admiration for her brother had been there all along.
It was just that later…
Jing Jin sniffed.
Seeing Xie Xizhao standing on stage, what she felt wasn’t just the pure admiration of a fangirl anymore.
It was pride. And deep emotion.
And it was precisely because of this that she wasn’t sure if she would continue being a fan of Ai Qingyuan. But as long as her brother stood on that stage, she thought, she would be there in the audience, supporting him.
To be honest, Jing Jin was moved by her own sense of devotion.
She even had the urge to secretly tell Xie Xizhao about it—only to find out that her honest and rule-abiding brother had actually handed in his phone when he said he would.
Her burning enthusiasm was instantly doused, but she wasn’t discouraged.
For the past couple of days, she had been working on persuading her aunt and uncle. The progress bar had already moved from “It’s just singing and dancing on stage” to “This is his dream and passion. As his family, we should unconditionally support him.”
Well… her aunt and uncle were still half-convinced, but at least the number of times they asked when Xie Xizhao would be eliminated and sent home had dropped from seven times a week to four.
What a monumental achievement!
Jing Jin felt she was really putting in the effort.
Her hard work finally came to an end for the day—managing Xie Xizhao’s fan club affairs, patrolling the social media platforms and entertainment forums.
Then, feeling quite satisfied, she pushed open the door and walked into the living room, ready to enjoy a warm cup of milk before bed, where she could scroll through the latest updates on her brother before drifting off to sleep.
—
Xie Xizhao had no idea that a single wink on stage had earned him such a dedicated, behind-the-scenes supporter in his cousin.
While his sister was getting ready for a restful sleep, he was still standing in a run-down inn, with two clingy troublemakers trailing behind him, refusing to be shaken off.
Yun Pan shivered and asked, “Brother, are you done yet?”
Ai Qingyuan’s voice trembled slightly too, though he tried to sound composed. “Xie—Xie Xizhao, are you done yet?”
Xie Xizhao replied, “Five minutes. Stay quiet.”
The two immediately fell silent.
At the same time, the two of them edged even closer to Xie Xizhao.
Xie Xizhao didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh.
But… he couldn’t really blame them.
He thought.
Inside the tightly shut doors, the inn was completely empty. At some point, every single member of the production team had left the building without a sound.
All that remained were the countless cameras set up around the room and the recording devices each of them carried.
No one had expected that the supposedly fun and relaxed puzzle-solving game the show had promised—something they had all confidently believed in before entering—
Would turn into a full-blown Chinese horror-style escape room.
And right now, there wasn’t even half a brave soul among them.
