Thriller Paradise

"A stroke of genius is our show's most popular segment, it is well beloved by our viewers." Since it had not yet reached the time for advertisement, Oscar needed to continue with his rambling, "It is very important to perform well in this segment… because most of our contestants are eliminated due to their less than stellar performance during this particular segment…" he glided slowly on the stage and had some eye contact with the audience members, that way his monologue would appear more natural and less forced. "And today… on this stage for the night of revival, only one of the constantans has the chance to join the final. In other words… we are going to eliminate not one person but six." He used a very serious tone to repeat this nugget of information that everyone had already known again but it did not feel out of place. "But assuming… one will be able to score well in this round, then essentially… that person has already extended one of their legs into the door of the final already."

When he spoke, the timer on the big screen had already ran for 2 minutes. Of the seven writers, six of them had already picked up their electronic pen and started to work on their assigned panel. Only Feng Bujue…used both of his hands to cup his chin, his head was tilted back 45 degree as he studied the ceiling. Who knew what he was doing? Thinking or just acting cute.

[This kid… what is he planning this time…] Oscar saw this from the corner of his eyes and instantly he had a bad feeling in his stomach. [Or rather… he has already given up…] he thought to himself, [or he is trying… to buy some sympathy votes from the audience?]

[No… neither of these sound like him.] Oscar thought for several seconds and soon denied these two hypotheses. [Hmm… based on his personality, the truth is probably is… he believes going to the final will be so troublesome so he is purposely getting himself eliminated.]

After he figured that out, the small surprise and confusion in Oscar's heart were swept away. At that moment, he could not help but smile because it suddenly dawned on him… how ironic the whole situation before him was… something that some people would go to even unethical ends to grasp was on the other hands a burden others could not shake however hard they tried…

…

The 10 minutes soon passed. During this period, Oscar had gone down the stage to rest for several minutes, drank some water and had his make-up repaired. The 3 minutes that he had spent rambling on stage was more than enough to fill in the gaps between the advertisement. The rest could be filmed later if needed. Other than that the set director (different from the time when Brother Jue came to the show for the first time, Director Pei had came to the studio to direct the scene himself this episode) had interacted slightly with the audience to give them some notices on what to pay attention to during the next shooting. It was not until the timer on the big screen had dropped down to 30 seconds that Oscar once again walked back to the stage.

"Attention all units, be on the ready." Pei Ran notified the crew through the communication channel.

"Welcome back to… I am a Writer—night of revival. I am your host, Oscar." After resting for a few minutes, Oscar had returned to his vibrant self. "Thank you for your patience to wait through the advertisement… Now let us look at how much time we have left for this round…" The main camera now panned over to the big screen and gave it a close up.

"We still have 21 seconds left." Oscar continued, "Are you like, as nervous as you can be?" With that, he slid over to the contestants' seat. "But I believe those who are most nervous… must undeniably be our seven writers, I wonder how their writing progress has gone so far…"

Then what followed was a confused and rather sudden silence. These 10 few seconds would be the work of the post editors. When the film was being edited, this part would be spliced into several parts and while the timer was counting down, the camera would interpose the close up of the several contestants and pair it with very intense background music… to create this kind of feeling of 'your television will explode when the timer runs out.' For some unknown reason, even though this editing formula had been used again and again in many different variety shows, it still worked every time.

"Time's up!" When the countdown was over, Oscar ended it with this and then he turned to the big monitor and said, "Let's not waste any more time… let us turn to the monitor… for the random number." 7 arabic numbers started to rapidly spin on the screen. Several seconds later, the number 6 settled on screen.

[Hah… this has to be another method of behind the screen manipulation…] Feng Bujue thought to himself. [During this round, it is clear that the advantage will be bigger, the latter you are announced because they will have more time to think… and the first person will be the unluckiest. During the voting period, the stories of the latter contestants would have already washed away the audience's impression of the earlier contestants' stories already.] His eyes involuntarily wandered over to Pei Ran. [I should have not expected something less from Director Pei… this is very well done. Naturally the last one to be announced… will be Fire in the Night. Hmm… if it was me, I would also have two other contestants between Soda's turn and Fire in the Night's turn. If Soda was placed second to the last and the direct comparison was made between him and Fire in the Night, the contrast will only be unbeneficial for the later…] Brother Jue's mind was working very fast, all these thoughts only festered in his mind for 3 seconds.

And Oscar took that much time to walk to the spot before him. "Bujue, I remember when you came to our show last time, you have obtained the good result of a second place in this round. Even though you were unfortunately eliminated in the end, but the extremely satirical story that you wrote for this round had left a very deep impression on the viewers." With the hint from the crew (through the ear mic), he quickly gone through Brother Jue's performance in the past, "I wonder… if you will bring us another similarly pleasant surprise this time around."

"Well, I can guarantee you the surprise…" Feng Bujue replied with a lack of expression, "But whether it will be pleasant… he he…"

"Then, please be… gin…" When Oscar said that, there was a clear surprised pause between 'be' and 'gin' because in that second, he took a glimpse of Brother Jue's control panel… the screen was empty of anything, he had not written a single word.

"A long time ago, there were two persons." Feng Bujue steepled his hands and pressed his hands under his nose and to assume the signature pose of Gendo Ikari, he began chillingly, "One was called Zhang San, the other Li Si." The studio suddenly became very quiet…

All the live audience, including the fans of the other writers all anticipated Brother Jue's performance in the segment of A Stroke of Genius because no one could really tell what kind of story this person would come up with… Feng Bujue's story telling slowly unfolded itself. "During an unknown dusk, Zhang San invited Li Si out for a duel of speed…"

[Huh?] Oscar's heart dropped a beat. He thought. [So a race?]

"The location of the duel would be on a field…" Feng Bujue continued to say, "Li Si was a limping name, nicknamed Li Tieguai, normally, he needed an iron staff to help him move around. While Zhang San was an athlete, 2.6 metres tall, with long legs. People call him Chamberlain."

[Are those really just nicknames…] Oscar really wanted to ask that and it was all he could do to keep it in.

"The two stood side by side and the arrogant Zhang San had Li Si call for the race to start, giving him the advantage." Feng Bujue continued, "Therefore, Li Si called out loudly, 'Ready, set… walk!'"

[Shouldn't it be ready, set, go? Why is it walk?] Oscar was screaming within.

"Before Li Si even finished counting down though, the man had already charged forward." Feng Bujue said, "Zhang San did not care that much about this cheating manoeuvre. He responded with a light smile and soon caught up to his opponent."

[You are painting Zhang San as a good guy but how good can a person be for him to ask a limping person to race for speed?!]

"In just 10 seconds, Zhang San had easily passed Li Si and put at least more than several hundred metres between them. He continued to race with his optimum speed… when he turned back to look, the limping Li Si was already a small dot at the far back of the field." Brother Jue continued, "Zhang San thought to himself, the finish line is just 5 metres away. Since there is no way I am going to lose, why not I take a small break for him to catch up?"

[Has he lost his mind? Why not just finish the last 5 metres and then rest?]

"Zhang San leaned on the carpet of grass, the night breeze caressing his face, and without knowing it… he slipped off into sleep." Feng Bujue continued his story. "On the other hand, Li Si did not rest and race limp by limp to catch up… When he reached Zhang San's side, he was already as tired as he could be."

[Ha ha… If it was me… if I see Zhang San stand up at that moment, I would use my staff to break his leg…] Oscar's mockery could not stop in his heart.

"And Zhang San was still asleep… Even though Li Si also wanted to rest, he knew Zhang San would run faster than he would and only through persistence could he win." Brother Jue said seriously. "After a wild and intense philosophical contest in his mind, Li Si gritted his teeth and forced himself to continue."

[It was just 5 metres? What kind of philosophical contest is needed? In the real race, that would be a few nudges of steps!]

"Finally, Li Si crossed the finish line." Feng Bujue's story was reaching its end. "Once Zhang San woke up, he turned back to look… Eh? How come Li Si has disappeared?" He used a tone that was reserved for a class of kindergarteners and continued in a cartoonish voice, "Oh no, how could this be! Li Si has already crossed the finish line. Once Zhang San saw that, he was breaking in nervous sweat but he knew even if he chased after the man now, it would not change the result that Li Si has already won this race." He shook his head and sighed, "Aiz… this is such a thought-provoking story…"

"Director… We should call the security…" Oscar turned his head around and talked into the mic which had switched to the staff channel.

"I don't think it's necessary…" Pei Ran replied, "He has already finished his story already, even if you chase him out now, it is already too late…"

"No… I mean, we better have the security be ready." Oscar lowered his voice to say, "What if the audience members throw objects onto to the stage or charge up to the stage, at least the guards will be able to secure the peace…"

"it will be fine… Just try to brush over this." Pei Ran said, "I know you have the ability to overcome this…"

"Overcome this fuckery?! Aer you kidding me?!" Oscar cursed at the director through the mic, "Even a kindergartener can tell this is the story of hare and the tortoise!"

"Calm down… you need to calm down…" Pei Ran comforted in a calm voice, "Just cherry pick the good things from the story, if you really can't do that, just try a few jokes and change the subject…" This part where Oscar whispered into his mic would naturally be edited out so he hissed for 3 full minutes into the mic. 3 minutes later, after Oscar had adjusted his emotion and expression, he switched the mic back to the hosting channel. "Ha ha ha…" He laughed, a laugh that was as fake as it could be. "Bujue… your story… overall… sure is educational…"

"Boo—" The audience responded with a thunderous boo. This time all the audience were booing Brother Jue. Those that came to support him, some had already left in a fury while those that remained basically turned from fan to haters, they tore up his banners and joined those who booed him.

"Ha ha… That's only natural, it was a story based in the race between the hare and the tortoise." Feng Bujue smiled shamelessly and responded with ease.

"Who do you think you are to act like this?!" Suddenly Fire in the Night who sat next to Brother Jue demanded loudly. This was the first time such a thing had happened… On the history of I am a Writer, there had never been a situation where the contestants got into direct conflict. Oscar was a very good host, normally… it was he who decided who should speak at which moment and what should be done next… this was all being handled by him as the host. But now things had gotten out of his control.

"Be on your toes, all unit. Do not stop, keep on recording!" Pei Ran's excited voice rang in the staff communication channel. Looks like… the director was happy to see this development.

"No matter the purpose behind your presence here, please do not use this kind of attitude to desecrate this sacred stage!" Fire in the Night used a severe tone to address Brother Jue while glaring at him.

"oh?" Feng Bujue turned around and looked at Fire in the Night with a sarcastic smile. "is this stage that sacred?" Then Brother Jue suddenly stood up. Near the stage, the several security guards were covered in cold sweat. They were all thinking. [No way… do we really need to intervene…]

Feng Bujue crossed the two steps to stand before the seat of Fire in the Night and placed both of his hands on the latter's control panel. He leaned his face close to the other man's face, looking the latter right in his eyes…

Facing Brother Jue's action, Fire in the Night was instantly flustered… Initially he wanted to use his supposedly judicial statement to win himself some brownie point and at that same time, push the person who was the second on the online popularity pole down a peg. It was a plan that would kill 2 birds with one stone. But to his surprise… Feng Bujue left his seat and crossed right to stand before him. Based on his posture… he was asking for a fight?

Fire in the Night was around 30 and he was impeccably dressed. Even though he was in a tailored suit, it barely covered his beer belly. On the other hand… Even though Feng Bujue looked thin, due to this systematic training recently, he was tall and imposing and the muscle was visible under his sleeves; combined with his towering height, he would not be on the losing end in a fight…

[Hey hey… what is going on now… If you really punch Fire in the Night, this is not something that can be solved by the security guard, he might sue you in civil court…] Oscar thought worriedly.

"If this stage is that sacred…" Feng Bujue looked right into the man's eyes and said darkly, "… then how is it that you are sitting right here?"