甜蜜的小狐狸

In this semi-final, the Chinese team had basically locked in the victory!

The atmosphere became relaxed.

As Lu Miao and the last Japanese player went on stage, 50 strange objects made of magnetic balls appeared on the big screen.

The audience randomly picked out three objects. Before they could finish speaking, the contestant from Japan wrote down three answers on the answer board without hesitation.

Many spectators hadn’t even had a chance to figure out which three objects were chosen.

The entire challenge, from start to finish, didn’t even last five seconds.

This astonishing performance could no longer be described merely with the word heaven-defying.

Calmly, Lu Miao observed the three patterns and then wrote down her answers on the answer board before submitting them.

When the host revealed the correct answers, the expressions of all the spectators instantly turned gloomy.

Both answers matched the correct answers completely.

In other words, not only did Lu Miao fail to recover the five-second time difference, but her opponent also widened the gap by a full minute. If she lost this challenge, it meant that the Chinese team had directly lost to the foreign team.

Except for a few foreign participants, everyone at the venue fell into silence.

Xu Tao was the first to express doubt, saying, “This challenge is considered hellish in difficulty. Even our team leader takes such a long time, yet he didn’t even take a second to observe. I suspect he knew the questions and answers in advance.”

Wang Meng immediately stood up, and the audience also began to doubt.

Although Lu Miao had shown extraordinary abilities before, there was still a process of thinking and observation.

Answering without observation was simply not scientific.

The program was interrupted, and a meeting was held. Fortunately, they had prepared two sets of questions from the beginning.

After consulting with both sides, it was decided to switch to the alternate set of questions and let them challenge again.

The R-country participant sneered at Lu Miao and said disdainfully, “You’re asking for humiliation.”

The anger in Xu Tao’s heart instantly flared up, and he was about to charge forward.

“You dare to cheat and still have the nerve to insult others.”

Lu Miao held him back.

The challenge began, and this time, the host, being cautious, personally selected three objects of different shapes.

For this challenge, Lu Miao reduced the time to thirty-two seconds, only half of the previous attempt.

However, the R-country participant, just like before, almost immediately wrote down the correct answers right after the host chose the objects.

Then, arrogantly looking at the host, he sarcastically remarked, “Aren’t you Chinese people always emphasizing fair competition? If you can’t handle losing, you resort to cheating and demand a rematch, right?”

Lu Miao remained composed and simply admitted defeat. Even if the audience couldn’t accept the Chinese team losing to the foreign team, they had no choice but to accept it now.

Everyone felt extremely frustrated, and even before the program ended, someone angrily posted the result of the semifinal online.

All the previous praises for Lu Miao on the internet instantly turned negative, with a swarm of people starting to criticize her, blaming her for holding back the team and causing embarrassment for the country.

Some people took the opportunity to create rumors and started the classic “I have a friend” series.

“I have a friend who also participates in TV programs, and it’s been said that Lu Miao relied on connections to get the privilege of participating in the show. The two victories she easily achieved before were all scripted, and she had seen the answers in advance.

“She has no shame. How dare she represent the country with her privileged status? She has brought shame upon the Chinese people.”

“All privileged individuals should die!”

After the recording of the program ended, Xu Tao and Wang Meng found Lu Miao, deeply ashamed, and apologized to her, “Team leader, we’re sorry. It’s our fault for not living up to expectations. You shouldn’t have been assigned to this project.”

Wang Meng, in his indignation, said, “I refuse to believe that the damn R-country participant is better than our team leader. I’ve watched his previous challenges, and it’s absolutely impossible for him to come up with the answers so quickly. There must be something wrong with this competition.”

“I don’t believe it either,” Lu Miao shrugged.

She also couldn’t believe that someone could directly provide answers without even a second of observation.

While all the challenges in the program followed certain patterns, these patterns still required mental calculation.

But the R-country participant clearly didn’t go through this process; his performance resembled more of an unconscious reflex.

For example, if someone asks you what is one plus one, you can instinctively answer two without consciously thinking about it.

Therefore, his response would only make sense if he knew the answers in advance and had memorized them.

However, where did these answers come from?

Were they given by the program team? Or were there other forces at play?

Wang Meng immediately grabbed her and excitedly said, “I knew there must be something wrong with the competition. Let’s go back and confront them.”

“We have no evidence. If we go back now, that R-country participant will simply say that we can’t accept defeat.”

Upon hearing her words, the two felt relieved and left.

Lu Miao separated from them, standing still in her place, and directly spoke,

“Come out.”

As the words fell, a figure emerged from behind a nearby pillar.

Lu Miao looked at him, “Is there something you want?”

Lu Yinan pursed his lips, hesitated for a moment, and cautiously said, “I heard about the competition. Don’t let the nonsense on the internet affect you. When I used to compete with others, I also lost many times. Some people can only accept victory and can’t handle defeat.

They love the champion, the vanity and satisfaction that victory brings, the ability to boast about their good judgment and how they supported you even before you became a champion. They don’t love you as a person.

These people are like fair-weather friends. They will support whoever the winds of victory blow towards.

You just need to focus on yourself and not pay too much attention to them.

Genuine supporters who truly like you will not dislike or insult you based on whether you win or lose.”

These were experiences he had gone through many times before, and he was worried that Lu Miao might not be able to handle it for the first time.

Lu Miao also didn’t expect Lu Yinan to worry about her and specifically come to talk to her about these things.

“Thank you, I’m fine,” she replied.

Lu Yinan nodded, “By the way, I heard you mention that there might be something wrong with the competition with them? I happen to have a good relationship with several staff members from your program. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“No, it’s just a suspicion that someone might have leaked the answers to that R-country participant in advance. I can’t confirm yet whether it’s the program team or someone else, but I’ll investigate it myself,” Lu Miao replied.

Both of them fell silent for a moment, unsure of what else to say. After a pause, Lu Miao said, “There’s nothing else. I’ll go now.” Lu Yinan quickly spoke up, “Where do you live? Let me drive you.”

“No need, Gu Ziheng will be here soon,” Lu Miao greeted him and walked directly towards the exit of the TV station.

Lu Yinan sighed inwardly, despite being siblings.

Turning back to the program team, his own recording session was not over yet. He had come out during the break after learning about Lu Miao’s situation.

After leaving the building, Lu Miao found a spot near the entrance and waited casually.

Today, the final challenge was completed much faster than usual, so the recording of the program ended earlier.

Considering the usual traffic congestion in the city, Gu Ziheng had just messaged her saying that he was still on the way and it would take some time before he arrived.

As Lu Miao had just settled in her spot, the door of a black car parked by the roadside suddenly opened, and several men in black stepped out, walking straight towards her..