NABC Chapter 68, Extreme Challenge
Chapter 68, Extreme Challenge
On May 1st in Shanghai, it was still dark.
At exactly four o'clock in the morning, the motion-sensor lights in the hotel corridor turned on one by one, and the film crew carried their equipment silently across the thick carpet.
Director Yan Min walked at the front, clutching the room key for room 1201 in his hand.
He stood at the door for two seconds, glanced back at the photographer who was following him, confirmed that the camera was in place, and then swiped his card.
"drop."
The door opened.
The suite wasn't large; a pair of sneakers and a suitcase lying on the floor were scattered in the entryway.
Yan Min led the film crew quietly through the corridor. The bedroom door was ajar, and he reached out and pushed it open.
Gao Huan has woken up.
He sat on the edge of the bed, wearing a pair of black tight shorts, his upper body bare, his hair a little messy, but his eyes were so clear that he didn't look like someone who had just been woken up from his sleep.
The digital clock by the bed shows 4:00.
Yan Min was taken aback: "You're awake?"
"Hmm." Gao Huan's voice was low and hoarse, typical of someone who had just woken up, but his tone was calm. "I woke up when you swiped your cards."
As he said this, the camera lens was already pointed at him.
The light from the corridor shone from the side, illuminating his entire figure and making his silhouette clearly visible.
He didn't try to hide himself or pose; he just sat casually on the edge of the bed, one hand on his knee and the other stroking the stray hairs hanging in front of his forehead.
The movements were small, but the images captured on camera were impressive.
The staff members present held their breath at the same time.
His physique is amazing.
Unlike the large, deliberately sculpted muscles found in gyms, this physique resembles the naturally developed, lean and powerful build of a top-tier mixed martial arts fighter.
With broad shoulders, a narrow waist, straight collarbones, and well-defined but not exaggerated pectoral muscles, her abs look as if they were carved out piece by piece with a sculptor's chisel, extending from below her sternum all the way to her waist. Her V-line tapers at the waist of her shorts, outlining two clean arcs.
What's even more remarkable is the proportion. Long legs, high waist, and a head-to-body ratio approaching eight heads give it an ultimate sense of beauty and power.
The photographer following them was a man in his early thirties who had photographed many celebrities and had seen all kinds of great physiques.
But at that moment, his hands holding the camera unconsciously steadied themselves, and the image in the viewfinder made him instinctively adjust the focus.
The combination of this face and this body, as presented on camera, is a gift that one wouldn't want to waste.
Yan Min noticed it too.
He glanced at Gao Huan's figure, then at the photographer's framing angle, and silently made a mental note of it.
When you're editing later, you definitely need to use this footage.
All the fans and female viewers in the live chat will go crazy.
"Xiao Huan," Yan Min pulled her thoughts back and handed her a black lottery box, "We've discussed the rules for the wake-up call mission with you before. The person you draw next to wake up is…"
"1602." Gao Huan took the box, but didn't rush to open it. Instead, he glanced at it first.
"Yes. The method of waking them up will be decided using darts."
The staff unfolded a spinning wheel next to them, which was painted with various patterns: water guns, screaming chickens, ice cubes, feathers, lipstick marks, alarm clocks... It was colorful and resembled a lucky wheel in an amusement park.
Gao Huan got out of bed.
The moment he stood up, his entire aura changed.
When he sits, he is a sculpture; when he stands, he is a drawn sword.
The shorts sit perfectly at the hip bone, and the muscle lines on the sides of the waist extend from the ribs all the way to the V-line. The latissimus dorsi muscles spread out at the shoulder blades, like a pair of folded wings.
He walked barefoot to the turntable and took the darts from the staff.
"Just stick it on randomly?" he asked.
"Just stab it anywhere."
Gao Huan didn't aim properly and just flicked the dart. The dart landed in the "water gun" compartment.
Yan Min laughed: "Spray water. Xiao Huan, you have fifteen minutes to wash up and get dressed."
"No need." Gao Huan put the dart back on the table. "I'll just wash my face."
He turned and went into the bathroom, turned the cold water on full blast, and splashed water on his face with his hands.
Water droplets trickled down his jawline, past his Adam's apple, along the curve of his pectoral muscles, and were stopped at the waist by the hem of his shorts.
The photographer stood at the bathroom door, his lens pointed directly at his back.
The scenery is also beautiful from behind.
The lines of the latissimus dorsi and trapezius muscles are so clear under the light that they resemble an anatomical atlas. The grooves of the spine extend from the cervical vertebrae all the way to the waist, and the erector spinae muscles on both sides bulge slightly, like two parallel mountain ranges.
Yangyang Jin stood in the corridor without going in, but she could hear the sound of water coming from the bathroom and the faint sound of the camera lens extending and retracting as the photographer adjusted the focus.
She leaned against the wall, a slight smile playing on her lips.
Having followed Gao Huan for over two years, she was all too aware of the destructive power of this body.
It was a kind of sexiness that he didn't care about at all, and the camera just happened to capture that indifference.
That's the most lethal kind of sexiness.
When Gao Huan came out of the bathroom, his face was still wet and half of his hair was wet, but he looked refreshed.
He picked up the folded black T-shirt from the sofa at the foot of the bed, put it on, and did so swiftly.
The T-shirt clung to the body, covering up the exposed scenery again, but that "covering up" left more room for imagination than "exposing".
The folds of his clothing rose and fell with his breath, and the outline of his shoulders and back was faintly visible through the thin cotton fabric.
"Let's go," he said.
……
1602 is at the other end of the corridor on the 16th floor.
Gao Huan, wearing a pair of white hotel slippers, walked silently on the carpet in the corridor.
Yangyang Jin followed behind, holding the water gun in her hand, her expression suggesting she was trying not to laugh.
"Brother Huan, are you really going to criticize Brother Honglei?"
"I'll follow the rules as they are set," Gao Huan said calmly.
Yangyang Jin couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Sun Honglei's team had just contacted her, offering to pay her almost half of her usual fee, and they seemed very open to negotiation.
The corridor was long and brightly lit, with intricate patterns printed on the carpet.
Gao Huan stood at the door of 1602 and raised his hand to knock.
No one answered.
He knocked three more times.
Still, no one answered.
"Brother Honglei?" he called out, his voice not loud, but very penetrating.
A muffled voice came from inside the door, "Hmm, who is it?!", as if the person hadn't fully woken up yet.
Gao Huan glanced at the hotel staff following behind him. The staff nodded and opened the door with the room key.
But the door didn't open; an old hand is an old hand, it was locked from the inside.
After waiting for about three or four minutes, Sun Honglei finally opened the door.
The moment he pushed the door open, Gao Huan didn't rush inside.
He stood at the doorway and glanced around the room.
The curtains were drawn tightly, leaving only a small gap.
Sun Honglei put on a coat, and his already small eyes became just slits because of sleepiness.
Gao Huan walked in and pointed the water gun directly at Sun Honglei's face.
Pull the trigger.
A thin stream of water shot onto Sun Honglei's forearm.
no response.
Gao Huan sprayed again, this time aiming at the neck.
Sun Honglei frowned, subconsciously reaching up to touch his neck, only to find his hand covered in water. He mumbled indistinctly, "What the hell is this...?"
"Brother Honglei, get up. This is a task given by the production team," Gao Huan said with a smile.
Sun Honglei squinted at Gao Huan for two seconds, his mind not fully processing the information. It took him a few seconds to see the water gun in Gao Huan's hand.
"You brat..." His voice was a little hoarse, but there was no anger in his tone, "You tried to spray me with water?"
"The rules." Gao Huan raised the water gun, a slight smile playing on his lips. "Brother, you have to understand me. I was forced into this."
Sun Honglei stared at him for two seconds, then smiled.
"Fine, you wait." He said, pretending to grab Gao Huan by the neck. "I'll remember this."
"Remember that." Gao Huan stood up, took a step back to make room for him, "Anyway, today has only just begun, my task is done, I'm going to go back to sleep for a while."
Sun Honglei waved his hand, smiled, and walked into the bathroom, the sound of running water filling the air.
Gao Huan leaned against the door frame, waited for two seconds, and then looked back at the director following behind him.
"Can this part be cut?" he asked.
The photographer shook his head, and the lens remained motionless.
Gao Huan sighed, his expression saying, "I knew it."
……
The wake-up call process proceeds in the order determined by the morning's lottery draw.
Gao Huan scolded Sun Honglei. When Sun Honglei went to call Huang Lei, he threw the dart three or four times before finally choosing the kiss.
She kissed a circle of lipstick marks on her face, then leaned close to Huang Lei and said, "Lei Lei, look at me."
Huang Lei opened his eyes and saw a face full of longing from the honeymoon phase. He froze for three seconds, then said something that made the whole audience burst into laughter:
"Stop joking, I have children, but I'm straight."
Sun Honglei immediately knelt down: "Lei Lei, you can't say things like that! This is a mission, a mission!"
Huang Lei chose Huang Bo and immediately sprayed water on his face. He took a big gulp from a mineral water bottle and sprayed it on Huang Bo's face.
When Huang Bo went to call Luo Zhixiang, he bombarded him with alarm clocks, setting eight alarms in advance and hiding them in various corners of the room, one of which would ring every thirty seconds.
Luo Zhixiang started searching the whole house as soon as the first alarm rang. By the time he found the eighth alarm, he was completely awake, his hair standing on end as if he had just been struck by lightning.
When Luo Zhixiang went to call Wang Xun, he used a screaming chicken, one of those orange plastic chickens that screams when you squeeze it. He stuffed it in the blanket, and when Wang Xun turned over, he pressed it down, and Wang Xun bounced off the bed like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
When Wang Xun went to call Zhang Yixing, he used ice cubes and stuffed them into Huang Bo's collar, causing Zhang PD to let out a scream on the spot.
At this point, the wake-up call process is complete.
The six people went back to their rooms to change their clothes and then met in the hotel lobby.
It was just getting light, around 7 a.m., and the corridor was still unusually quiet.
Gao Huan changed into a black tracksuit, with the zipper halfway up and the neckline open, revealing a section of her collarbone.
The door opened.
"Teacher Gao, please come with us."
The staff member said something, and then two men in black wearing V for Vendetta masks came up, grabbed his arms on either side, and put a black cloth bag over his head.
The moment his vision was blocked, Gao Huan did not struggle.
His hands hung at his sides, and he walked forward at a moderate pace, following the guidance of the staff.
The cloth bag was made of thin, translucent fabric, allowing a vague glimpse of the shifting light and shadows outside. The elevator reached B1, and he was taken to a car.
The car drove for about twenty minutes, making several turns before stopping.
He was supported by two men in black, one on each side, and walked for a while.
"Be honest, count by yourself, and don't open your eyes until you reach one hundred."
Gao Huan felt a pressure on the handcuffed wrist, and then the footsteps quickly faded away.
He waited for three seconds.
Then I took off the blindfold.
The blinding morning light rushed into his eyes, and he squinted for a moment. Only after his pupils adjusted to the light could he see where he was.
A spacious square.
In the distance is the skyline of Lujiazui.
The Oriental Pearl Tower, Jin Mao Tower, and Shanghai Tower, three skyscrapers, look like three swords piercing the sky in the morning light.
There weren't many people in the square, except for a few elderly people doing Tai Chi in the distance.
He glanced down at himself. On his left wrist was a digital watch, displaying the numbers: 59:47.
The handcuffs were on my wrists; they were metal and not heavy, but the coldness against my skin made me instinctively uncomfortable.
On the right is a silver briefcase.
"Fifty-nine minutes." Gao Huan glanced at his watch, then at the box.
He squatted down, laid the box flat on the ground, and pressed the latch.
"Click."
The box was opened.
Inside was a cell phone, a card, and several colorful banknotes.
He picked up his phone first. The screen lit up, displaying an image of a black knight mask. An electronic speaker then announced the game rules.
"Welcome, everyone, to the hunting ground of time."
Each of you has one hour to survive. Your watches will record the passage of time.
Time replenishment stations are scattered around the plaza; completing tasks will increase your time.
At the same time, each of you has a target to hunt.
Find him, press the red button on his chest, and his time will reset to zero, while the remaining time will be transferred to your watch.
Those you hunt will become your bodyguards, following you on your next hunt.
Gao Huan put down his phone and picked up the card.
The card had a name printed on it: Sun Honglei.
A slight smile played at the corners of his lips.
During the wake-up call segment, he criticized Sun Honglei, and during the hunt segment, his first target was also Sun Honglei. The chain is tightly intertwined.
He thought about the order in which the people revealed in the group chat after being woken up that morning: he was woken up by a water gun, he sprayed Sun Honglei, Sun Honglei kissed Huang Lei, Huang Lei sprayed Huang Bo, Huang Bo used an alarm clock to blast Luo Zhixiang, Luo Zhixiang used a screaming chicken to scare Wang Xun, and Wang Xun used an ice cube to freeze Zhang Yixing.
The chain started with Gao Huan and passed down to Zhang Yixing, making a chain of seven people.
The hunting rule is: whoever you wake up, you kill.
After you finish killing, the probability is... Then you continue killing the person you woke up who was originally going to wake up, which means killing people down the chain.
So if you can speedrun, the order is: Gao Huan kills Sun Honglei, then kills Huang Lei; Huang Lei kills Huang Bo, then kills Luo Zhixiang; Luo Zhixiang kills Wang Xun, then kills Zhang Yixing.
He put the card in his pocket, stood up, and glanced around the square.