I Swear I Don’t Want to Be Everyone’s Favorite - Chapter 6

Ning Fuguang’s smile gradually faded:

In the past, when filming on set, there were always many crew members coming and going. Jiang Luoyue thought she had grown accustomed to being watched by others, but only now did she realize she hadn’t.

Being stared at by so many people, her first reaction was still embarrassment, discomfort, and an instinctive urge to escape.

Just as she unconsciously revealed her vulnerability, Ning Fuguang paused and abruptly averted his gaze. The director, seemingly reminded, finally interrupted the farce: “Next, each team will be named after one of four colors red, yellow, blue, or orange based on the order of their formation.”

Fu Yunqing’s attention shifted as well: “You still haven’t answered me can we disband the team?”

The answer, of course, was no.

For once, the production team stood firm and directly handed out maps of Gu Le Street. The maps were crude, only marking general areas, but even from this hastily made draft, viewers could tell that Gu Le Street was far from the “small” place they had imagined.

It wasn’t just a single straight road but encompassed several architectural clusters, spanning tens of thousands of square meters. The crisscrossing paths alone were enough to make one’s head spin.

[Such a huge place, and they have to complete the task in six hours? For real?]

[No wonder Jiang Luoyue asked about the rewards this is practically a challenge.]

[Zhao Mei is just a dog chasing mice, sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong. What does he know about hating me?]

As everyone’s attention shifted to Gu Le Street itself, Jiang Luoyue, no longer the center of attention, quietly exhaled in relief.

Her team with Yu Jingtang was the second to form. Just as she fastened the yellow wristband marking their team identity, a map was suddenly held out in front of her.

“Hm?” Jiang Luoyue looked up to hear Yu Jingtang say, “Take a look.”

Her voice was soft, carrying a hint of apology.

In truth, Yu Jingtang had realized the moment Xiang Fan spoke that she had been too serious. Questioning Jiang Luoyue in front of the cameras had pushed her into an extremely awkward position.

Jiang Luoyue smiled, her eyes curving: “Let’s look together.”

Yu Jingtang quietly moved a little closer. She was already taller than Jiang Luoyue, and when she stood behind her, looking down at the map, her shadow fell over them like a quiet, oversized feline.

“I never thought about changing teammates,” Jiang Luoyue said softly, her voice low enough that only Yu Jingtang could hear in such close proximity. “Fu Yunqing was just joking.”

Though it was clear that Yu Jingtang didn’t appreciate this kind of joke and didn’t like being dragged into such topics.

She wasn’t trying to force Yu Jingtang to accept the humor, she only wanted to explain so there would be no lingering resentment between them.

Seeing Yu Jingtang nod, Jiang Luoyue relaxed: “Where should we go? Or… is there anywhere you’d like to visit?”

Not far away, the red team, Xiang Fan and Fang Yuan seemed to have already decided on a destination. The blue team, Fu Yunqing and Zhao Mei, had also chosen a direction. Ning Fuguang, alone with his orange wristband, flipped through the map a few times before tucking it away.

Three teams already had plans and were moving forward, leaving only the yellow team them suddenly the ones left behind.

After studying the map intently for a few seconds, Yu Jingtang said, “Anywhere is fine.”

[Is there any difference between this and saying nothing?]

[Is Yu Jingtang still upset? Her face looks so sour.]

[How many times do fans have to clarify? Xiao Tang just has a naturally cold expression it’s not on purpose. Most importantly, Jiang Luoyue hasn’t said anything, so why are you all so worked up?]

Jiang Luoyue also found Yu Jingtang’s reticence rather frustrating. After a moment’s thought, she asked, “Shall we head to the North Gate then?”

Yu Jingtang nodded and immediately started walking. The efficiency was so abrupt that Jiang Luoyue was momentarily stunned before quickly catching up. “Aren’t you going to ask why?” she inquired.

The response was still the same “Either way is fine.”

It was at this moment that Jiang Luoyue finally understood. When Yu Jingtang said “either way is fine,” she meant she was handing the decision-making power over to Jiang Luoyue. No matter what choice Jiang Luoyue made, Yu Jingtang would follow.

It was just that Yu Jingtang wasn’t good with words and often omitted key details, leading to misunderstandings.

Jiang Luoyue couldn’t help but chuckle wryly.

But as they made their way to the North Gate, she still took the time to explain to the cameraman, “The four gates of Gule Street each lead directly to a different scenic spot.”

Near such special locations, there were bound to be NPCs.

When the teams split up, none of them had deliberately concealed their movements. The Red Team was single-mindedly heading west toward the museum, while the Blue and Orange Teams were moving east toward Star Lake.

That left the South Gate and the North Gate. The South Gate was the farthest and most remote. Without competition from the other teams, the North Gate was the optimal choice.

“And there’s a back gate nearby that leads directly out of Gule Street,” Jiang Luoyue concluded.

[Am I watching a fake variety show? I was so focused on Fu Yunqing’s face when the teams split up.]

[Anyone can talk big. She’s just betting no one else went to the North Gate. Only fools would believe her.]

[Stop the baseless hate. I went to Gule Street recently, and the locations match exactly what Jiang Luoyue said.]

[I checked the map there really is a small gate near the North Gate! How does Jiang Luoyue know this? Proof the show tipped her off!!!]

In an instant, the barrage was flooded with skepticism. The director, noticing the shift in tone, was equally puzzled.

They hadn’t told Jiang Luoyue anything, how could she be so familiar with the place?

But Jiang Luoyue paid no mind to the comments or the people behind them. At that moment, she was recalling the “tests” given by the inheritors in the previous season of Hate Me.

Each inheritor represented a different folk culture. Due to regional differences, the focus of their tests varied.

Music, dance, and knowledge-based tasks were the rarest. Instead, high difficulty challenges like learning a folk instrument on the spot or manipulating puppets were everywhere.

The tests consisted of two parts: teamwork and solo tasks. As the names suggested, the former required cooperation and tacit understanding, while the latter demanded individual performance. If anyone failed the solo task, the team’s progress would reset, forcing them to restart from the teamwork phase a brutal ordeal for the guests.

In the first episode of the previous season, Ning Fuguang and Yu Jingtang had initially chosen the east direction but got stuck on the test for ages. Only when the six-hour limit was almost up did they stumble upon the North Gate and discover that the inheritor there had a much easier challenge, allowing them to barely scrape by.

Even the small back gate had been found purely by accident by Yu Jingtang, no less.

As Jiang Luoyue pondered this, Yu Jingtang suddenly reached out and turned off the screen displaying the barrage.

The abrupt action, caught live, immediately sparked another wave of outrage.

[What’s the meaning of this? What’s the point of a live variety show if the guests don’t read the comments? Refund!]

[What’s the meaning of this? Can’t the guests turn off the barrage when they’re being maliciously attacked? Refund!]

[“I always said Jiang Luoyue and Yu Jingtang teaming up was just for hype. Otherwise, how do you explain her defending her so fiercely after just meeting? Trash show, one-star rating.”]

Jiang Luoyue froze. “What’s wrong?”

“Annoying,” Yu Jingtang said.

Jiang Luoyue hadn’t done anything wrong in fact, she had cleverly deduced the movements of the other teams. Yet instead of praise, she was met with insults. Yu Jingtang couldn’t understand it, so she simply turned off the comments for her.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Jiang Luoyue was surprised by her thoughtfulness. Her lips trembled, but before she could voice her thanks, Yu Jingtang suddenly pointed into the distance. “Is that her?”

Jiang Luoyue looked up. Not far away, a woman dressed in Miao ethnic attire, adorned with silver headpieces, stood out vividly. Clearly, she was the inheritor the Yellow Team had been searching for all along.

In the Yellow Team’s I Hate Me livestream, the trolls and naysayers, realizing the guests couldn’t see their comments, grew bored and left.

Yu Jingtang’s righteous act left only fans and casual viewers willing to engage in good faith, making the atmosphere unexpectedly harmonious.

The inheritor’s test and tasks were exactly as Jiang Luoyue remembered.

Before the team mission began, the inheritor kindly reminded them that they could draw a bonus card. Jiang Luoyue, as the representative, drew a “Help Card,” which could be used to request assistance if a team member struggled with an individual task.

This was a special perk only available the first time they met an inheritor.

The chat erupted in complaints about the production team’s stinginess, but Jiang Luoyue just smiled and pocketed the card. Then, the two of them faced the Yellow Team’s first group challenge completing five rounds of Pictionary.

Yu Jingtang took the pen and randomly drew a card. After glancing at it, she drew a circle on the paper, with two triangles sticking out from its sides.

“Cat,” Jiang Luoyue answered in three seconds.

Though the drawing was stiff, the distinctive features made it easy to recognize.

Encouraged by her quick success, Yu Jingtang gained confidence. Maybe luck was on her side today, the next three cards she drew were all common items: a chick, a snake, and a cloud.

But when she pulled the last card, her expression turned serious.

For this drawing, Yu Jingtang put in real effort, even using colored markers.

Yet the final product left not just the chat spamming ellipses even Jiang Luoyue fell into stunned silence.

Yu Jingtang had drawn a four-panel comic.

The first panel: A square-headed figure fell backward, a bloody blur over its chest. A round-headed figure stood nearby, holding a knife, blood dripping at its feet.

The second panel: A triangle-headed figure watched indifferently, then turned to leave. An arrow pointed to its left eye, where a blue snowflake had been drawn.

The third panel: The triangle-headed figure suddenly looked down in horror a knife was buried in its chest.

The fourth panel: The round-headed figure walked away, while the triangle-headed one collapsed to its knees. Its wide eyes stared out, red ink smeared like a pool of blood, the image striking and unsettling.

Yu Jingtang’s drawing skills were poor even a straight line came out wobbly, almost comical. But her grasp of key details was sharp. By the second panel, many had already guessed the answer: Bystander Effect.

To make matters worse, Yu Jingtang added a follow-up scene of “cold indifference.” The distorted image, once colored, lost its original comedic effect, leaving only a chilling sensation that made one’s back crawl.

[Is this really something a normal person could draw?]

[Is Yu Jingtang trying to say that those who stand by indifferently will get stabbed to death? Who’s she cursing?]

[It’s just a drawing, why are you making such a big deal out of it? Give it a rest already!]

Yet Yu Jingtang seemed completely unaware of the uproar her casually drawn artwork would provoke.

She simply stared eagerly at Jiang Luoyue, her pen subtly pointing at the snowflake in the second panel.

“Cold indifference,” Jiang Luoyue answered. Yu Jingtang stood up, the corner of her lips quirking slightly, a gesture that barely passed for a smile.

Even without seeing the barrage of comments, Jiang Luoyue could guess their tone. After all, in her past life, whenever Yu Jingtang displayed traits that set her apart from others, the online attacks against her followed the same script.

Innate characteristics were instead labeled as aberrations, inciting fear and hostility.

The relentless attacks eventually led Yu Jingtang to deactivate her Weibo account shortly after the filming of Hate Me ended, rarely appearing in public again.

Watching Yu Jingtang’s faint smile, Jiang Luoyue also curved her lips. “You drew it well.”

“If it were me, I’d never have thought to add a snowflake in the character’s eyes.” To make the praise sound more sincere, Jiang Luoyue deliberately pointed out the detail. “That’s really impressive.”

Yu Jingtang visibly reveled in the compliment, her eyes even gleaming with a hint of pride.

The girl’s bright smile dispelled the momentary unease.

The audience finally snapped out of their daze, hesitantly sharing their thoughts.

[What’s going on? I also thought Yu Jingtang’s drawing was creepy at first, but the moment Jiang Luoyue spoke, it didn’t feel sinister anymore it actually seemed kind of heartwarming.]

[This is the first time I’ve seen Xiao Tang get along so well with someone. Thank you, senior, for looking out for our Xiao Tang!]

[Jiang Luoyue is as beautiful as she is kind-hearted! Everyone, join Jiang Luoyue’s anti-defamation squad to help support Jiang-jie!]

As the Yellow Team duo breezed through their challenge and set off to find the next NPC, the satisfied audience returned to the main livestream, ready to pick another team to watch only to see a sudden comment flash across the screen:

[Fu Yunqing and Ning Fuguang just ran into each other and are now fighting over the same inheritor! Big drama, come quick!!!]

Many netizens who had adamantly dismissed Jiang Luoyue’s claims half an hour ago: How did Jiang Luoyue actually get it right?!

Meanwhile.

In the Blue Team’s livestream, Fu Yunqing was fuming. “Why is it you again?!”

Yes, again.

In fact, when they first entered Ancient Music Street, Fu Yunqing had keenly noticed Ning Fuguang tailing her team from a distance, clearly intending to piggyback off their efforts to locate the inheritor.

There was no way Fu Yunqing would let her have her way. She immediately shooed Ning Fuguang away. Yet, just as she led her team to the NPC and before she could even speak, Ning Fuguang reappeared like a lingering ghost, emerging from a corner and even claiming she had discovered the inheritor first.

It was downright outrageous!

Fu Yunqing glared at Ning Fuguang, whose expression remained calm and unbothered, as if nothing had happened, and angrily accused, “Stalking, tailing—aren’t you ashamed of yourself?!”

“First, I wasn’t following you, we just happened to be going the same way,” Ning Fuguang replied calmly. “Second, first come, first served. Isn’t that what you said yourself?”

Fu Yunqing was momentarily speechless. “I did say that, but who can prove I arrived later?!”

Ning Fuguang stepped aside, allowing the camera to capture the young girl in Tibetan attire standing behind her.

The inheritor seemed quite young, her large, dewy eyes curiously studying the camera and the barrage of comments on the screen for a moment before mumbling to Fu Yunqing, “The orange team got here first.”

Fu Yunqing took a deep breath. “Spit out the candy in your mouth before you speak.”

The girl quickly crunched the candy and repeated, “So, according to the rules, the orange team should start the challenge first.”

“This is clearly bribery,” Fu Yunqing said, unable to direct her anger at a teenager and instead turning her ire toward Ning Fuguang. “This isn’t fair!”

“The rules never said you can’t bribe an NPC,” Ning Fuguang replied with a smile. The inheritor behind her nodded in solidarity. “You could try bribing too, but do you even have anything to offer?”

Fu Yunqing was stumped.

Before entering Ancient Music Street, the production team had confiscated all personal belongings from the guests. All she had now was a map nothing she could use to bribe anyone.

[So how did Ning Fuguang get candy?]

[There’s a Ning’an Pharmacy in Ancient Music Street too. She just walked in, flashed her face, and got whatever she wanted]

[Is this the perk of having a nationwide chain of pharmacies? Noted. Next life, when I’m reborn as a rich kid, I’ll complete missions like this too.]

Seeing that Ning Fuguang had no intention of yielding, Fu Yunqing realized further argument would just waste time.

After venting her frustration, she quickly regained her composure and left with Zhao Mei.

Perhaps out of pity, the girl, still chewing on chocolate, kindly called after her, “If you head west and turn at the end, there’s another inheritor there.”

Fu Yunqing paused, unsure whether to believe her, but soon disappeared from the camera’s view.

Under the inheritor’s guidance, Ning Fuguang drew a task card. She picked one at random before asking, “Was what you just said true?”

The girl stuck out her black-stained tongue. “Nope.”

“The real inheritor is actually to the east,” she whispered. “It’s a secret, I’d get fined for revealing it. But since you’ve been so nice to me, I don’t mind telling you.”

Ning Fuguang nodded. “Got it. So the inheritor is to the north.”

[ Wait, how did she deduce that?]

[The inheritor’s location is a secret, but when she mentioned east and west, the production team didn’t intervene. As for why it’s not south, anyone watching Ning Fuguang’s perspective knows she came from that direction there wasn’t a soul in sight, let alone an inheritor.]

[She walked ten minutes just to mess with Fu Yunqing. The world’s full of bad people, and watching this warms my cold, dead heart.]

With each contestant leading their own team, the most tedious part was tracking down NPCs. If not for wanting to save time, Ning Fuguang wouldn’t have bothered tailing Fu Yunqing.

Getting the next inheritor’s location so effortlessly left Ning Fuguang in an uncharacteristically good mood, a faint smile playing on her lips.

Until she flipped over the prop card.

The moment the text on it became clear, the comments exploded.

Prop: [Help Card]

Introduction: [A special card to call upon teammates when you’re stuck, hindered, and feel like you can’t go on. The situation was chaotic at the time, they were shouting something about bonds and friendship, hating me? I did it on purpose! And then they just charged over What? You say even teammates won’t help? Victory and defeat are common in battle; please try again, hero]

[Now I finally understand what it means when they say a smile doesn’t disappear it just transfers to someone else’s face.]

[Xiao Ning, your stubbornness your sister gets it. A Jie is crying for you!]

[Sis, the neighbors knocked on the door and said if you laugh any louder than a rooster’s crow, they’re installing a floor vibration device.]

After a brief silence, Ning Fuguang put away the help card. The production team hadn’t specified in the description that the card was limited to this episode, meaning it would still be useful in the future.

“Being alone this time was just an accident,” Ning Fuguang said. “Next time, there’ll be teammates for me to call on.”

This seemingly self-directed remark sent another wave of [HAHAHAHA] through the livestream.

Since Ning Fuguang was on her own team, she only needed to complete three individual tasks to pass the assessment.

Perhaps her bribe had genuinely moved the inheritor, because the first task the girl assigned was solving five math problems within three minutes.

Ning Fuguang had participated in and won many math competitions, so this task was effortless for her. Before most viewers could even finish reading the questions, she had already calculated the answers, as easily as rolling over in bed.

The second task kept the same time limit, but the five problems were upgraded to ten.

This time, it was a bit more challenging, and Ning Fuguang barely made it. The livestream chat grew tense.

[Is the third task going to be fifteen problems in three minutes?]

Viewers expressed their worries, but fortunately, the inheritor remained biased in Ning Fuguang’s favor.

Task Three: [Sing any song for thirty seconds. When the countdown ends, it counts as success.]

[This is more lenient than the Pacific Ocean.]

[Any song? Even “Counting Ducks”]

The answer was yes. As long as Ning Fuguang sang for thirty seconds, she would complete the task.

The inheritor looked particularly pleased, clearly thinking she had assigned the easiest task possible and that Ning Fuguang should thank her. The livestream chat also began celebrating early, speculating about the next assessment’s tasks.

But Ning Fuguang, under everyone’s watchful eyes, didn’t move.

For someone tone deaf and musically illiterate, making Ning Fuguang sing in public was more humiliating than being scolded by Fu Yunqing in front of a crowd without retorting.

She even began to suspect whether the inheritor had done this unintentionally or deliberately. Out of all possible tasks, why this one?

Just then, the inheritor urged, “Is there a problem with the task?”

“No problem,” Ning Fuguang sighed. “It’s just too easy.”

“Completing it so effortlessly might seem unfair in some people’s eyes. So, I’d like to change the task.”

Her tone was light, as if she truly didn’t care about the challenge. Though the livestream chat sensed something off, they instinctively chose to believe her.

[Is Ning Fuguang bringing up fairness now to defend Jiang Luoyue against Zhao Mei?]

[She’s so kind, I’m crying.]

[She hasn’t even finished one task and she’s already acting like she’s invincible isn’t that a bit too arrogant.]

[Since when does Ning Fuguang need to act arrogant? She is arrogance incarnate.]

The inheritor was also baffled, but as long as it was within the rules, she wouldn’t refuse: “If you want to change the task, you’ll have to draw one yourself.”

Ning Fuguang let out a soft sigh.

Distrustful of her own luck, she meticulously selected a mission card after careful consideration, drawing upon theories of probability, universal gravitation, and even quantum mechanics.

The card flipped over: [Perform 30 seconds of any rap song.]

Ning Fuguang’s smile slowly faded.