Ch 40: Those who wronged me are now begging me for mercy

Agriculture University Must Win!

Rong Ziyin’s words left the audience in stunned silence.

It wasn’t just the live studio audience that went quiet; even the live stream chat froze.

It took a full six or seven seconds before the host managed to awkwardly respond, “Rong, you’re quite humorous.”

This host, who had been in the industry for years, was known for his antics and crowd-pleasing tactics, but this kind of quick-thinking response was far beyond his skill set. Before this episode aired, he had been doing well, often providing the laughs in each episode. The director even chose Rong Ziyin to see what kind of humorous exchange might arise between him and the host, given Rong Ziyin’s straightforward nature.

But clearly, Rong Ziyin wasn’t joking this time; he was taking direct aim at them.

Back on the forum for Agriculture University, where students had been venting their frustrations, the mood swiftly shifted to laughter.

“Damn, Rong Ziyin is so badass! Did you see the host’s face? He was stunned!”

“Not just the host! The whole production crew was caught off guard.”

“I’m betting a cucumber that Rong Ziyin is going to trend again, with another hot topic!”

“I’ve already got the hashtag ready: #TrashProductionCrewExposed, PoorDinosaursSufferUnjustly#.”

Meanwhile, viewers in the live stream also started reacting.

Unlike the students at Agriculture University, who felt vindicated by Rong’s words, many viewers found his attitude arrogant.

“Just because he knows a bit doesn’t mean he should run his mouth. If he regrets joining the show, why is he even here? Honestly, he’s the least deserving to be here. A vet? Just treating animals—does that even count as academia?”

“I’m disgusted too. I thought the host was annoying, but this guy is even more pretentious. I can’t wait to see how he actually performs.”

“Love him or hate him, what he said isn’t wrong. And what do you mean ‘just treating animals’? Agriculture is part of research too! Where do you think your food comes from? Without agriculture, we’d all starve.”

“Fellow agricultural sciences student here. I totally feel for Rong. Just for that, I hope he wins.”

The chat exploded into arguments once again, and Rong Ziyin quickly shot to the top of trending topics.

It wasn’t unusual for the show’s live broadcasts to trend, but today’s headline was particularly attention-grabbing, drawing in many who didn’t usually watch the show, eager to see what the fuss was about.

The flood of traffic nearly crashed the live stream, leaving many viewers stuck as the screen froze.

Meanwhile, the production team was in full panic mode, dealing with a far more pressing problem—Rong Ziyin.

“This is turning into a broadcast disaster. Director, what do we do now?” The assistant director was almost in tears.

In the world of reality TV, the promise of “live, unedited broadcasts” was a selling point. Small hiccups and unexpected moments made the show feel genuine, convincing many viewers that the show had no script. The production team, aware of this, had carefully selected academic participants who were often too engrossed in their studies to notice anything else, even some who had little access to the internet.

But they hadn’t counted on someone like Rong Ziyin, who could see right through them. They had been so careful, yet he had still managed to expose their game.

“This can’t be allowed to escalate. Rong Ziyin has to lose!” The director gritted his teeth and ordered the questions to be changed.

“Make it as hard as possible for Rong Ziyin—dig out the most obscure, most difficult questions. He thinks he’s so clever? Let’s see just how clever.”

The assistant director was stunned. “Change them now?”

They weren’t experts on these topics themselves, having relied on rare textbooks to copy questions from. Rushing through new questions now could lead to mistakes.

But the director’s mind was made up. “There’s no time. Our only option to save face is to make sure Rong Ziyin fails. That way, we can spin it as him not being as great as he thought, steering the narrative back in our favor. If anyone starts digging into this, we’re finished.”

“Everyone, get moving! If you don’t want this show to tank, hurry up!”

The director, in his desperation, took another reckless step forward, failing to understand why Rong Ziyin felt confident enough to stand on stage and call him out. He didn’t realize what these academic stars represented and underestimated the implications of trying to control them with entertainment industry tricks.

Five agonizing minutes passed, with the team scrambling to find new questions, edit on-screen captions, or delete previous segments altogether.

The goal was clear: crush Rong Ziyin’s performance to protect the show’s reputation through aggressive PR efforts.

An academic’s sharp critique might expose the truth, but a weakling’s rant would only make them a laughingstock.

All eyes were on the stage, where viewers eagerly awaited to see if Rong Ziyin could back up his bold words.

“I’ll… try my best…” the geography and humanities student muttered, hinting that he wouldn’t make things too difficult for Rong Ziyin, even if he won.

Rong Ziyin, however, gave no response, as if he hadn’t heard.

This made his opponent even more nervous.

The host turned to the question board and began reading out the first question. The battle had begun, and it was as tough as expected.

What they didn’t realize was that this hellish test, crafted to destroy Rong Ziyin, would ultimately be the grave of their own careers.

The first to realize this was Rong Ziyin’s opponent.

Rong Ziyin’s performance was beyond his imagination. This was supposed to be the geography student’s domain, his moment to shine on the show.

He had even confronted Rong Ziyin after losing the mock exam, but later realized that Rong Ziyin might actually be the stepping stone to his own success.

But now, standing opposite Rong Ziyin, he began to feel like the stepping stone himself.

Even though Rong Ziyin’s tone remained calm and steady throughout, always waiting for the host to finish asking the questions before responding, and never interrupting or rushing, the pressure he exerted on his opponent only grew more intense.

Rong Ziyin’s questions were incredibly difficult.

Starting from the fourth question, content began to appear sporadically that even his opponent, a specialist in the field, couldn’t answer correctly. There were even some questions he had never encountered before. In contrast, Rong Ziyin’s opponent faced questions that were almost ridiculously simple—so basic that anyone could answer them.

So what was the production team trying to pull?

Could it be that everything Rong Ziyin had said was true? Was the show really rigged?

But it shouldn’t be. When they were invited to participate, the terms clearly stated that all proceeds would be donated to the National Academy of Sciences to support research projects. Wasn’t this show supposed to be for the sake of public education?

As the match went on, the geography and humanities student became increasingly doubtful, confused, and nervous. By the end, he was nearly paralyzed by uncertainty.

Meanwhile, the production team was on the verge of losing it.

What kind of knowledge base did Rong Ziyin have? Why would a veterinary student know so much about humanities and geography? Was he crazy?

The viewers, too, were glued to their screens, utterly dumbfounded.

“He’s unbelievably strong!”

“I’ve never even heard of these kinds of questions.”

“That village with the long name actually exists? I couldn’t even find it on Baidu!”

Three minutes is an incredibly short time—practically a blink of an eye. But when those three minutes are packed with high-stakes action, every second becomes iconic.

In the first minute, neither Rong Ziyin nor his opponent made a mistake. Both had answered 20 questions correctly.

At a minute and thirty seconds, Rong Ziyin had 27 correct answers, while his opponent had 26.

At two minutes, Rong Ziyin had 38, and his opponent had 39.

At two minutes and thirty seconds, Rong Ziyin had 46, and his opponent had 47.

Neither of them made any mistakes, and their scores were neck and neck—a true battle of equals.

With just thirty seconds left, everyone’s nerves were stretched to the breaking point.

“I can’t take this anymore!”

“Aaaaaah, he’s only one question behind! But why are Rong Ziyin’s questions always so long?”

“I don’t know! And his answers are long too, don’t you think?”

“They’re tied! They’re tied! There are only ten seconds left, and it’s the last question!”

On the Agriculture University forum, all replies to the show’s discussion threads suddenly stopped—no one had time to post. Everyone’s thoughts were focused on the final outcome.

Maybe even the heavens couldn’t bear to watch this unfairness any longer, because the final question fell to Agriculture University!

With ten seconds left, the final question went to Rong Ziyin. If he answered correctly, Agriculture University would win!

The students watching the screen were so nervous that their hearts felt like they were about to stop.

At the live event, even Yao Lele and Xu Chuanzhi couldn’t help but stand up from their seats.

But how could the production team allow such a thing to happen?

Out of the camera’s view, they swapped Rong Ziyin’s question. The original short, straightforward question was replaced with a new one over a hundred words long.

Ten seconds—barely enough time to read the question!

“Damn it!” Xu Chuanzhi couldn’t hold back his curse. The other competitors were equally shocked by the production team’s shameless move.

This was clearly designed to make Rong Ziyin lose!

Some were on the verge of swearing at the unfairness. Even the geography and humanities student glared at the host, demanding an explanation.

“What’s the meaning of this?”

He wanted to win, but he wanted to do it fairly, to truly showcase his talents and earn the respect of his peers—not to snatch a tainted victory handed to him by the production team’s manipulation.

In his eyes, what the production team had done was not just an insult to Rong Ziyin and Agriculture University, but to himself and his own institution.

It was an insult to everyone who had dedicated themselves to the pursuit of knowledge.

Years of hard work, driven by a desire for truth and a commitment to science, reduced to this farce for shallow applause?

As if they were clowns performing for the public’s judgment.

The geography and humanities student could no longer contain his frustration. But just as he was about to speak up again, Rong Ziyin suddenly said, “The answer is A.”

The countdown stopped, and the correct answer flashed on the screen.

Rong Ziyin had won!

The unexpected twist left everyone stunned. It took several seconds for the geography and humanities student to process what had happened before Rong Ziyin continued speaking.

“This question’s answer is from the diary of a Ming Dynasty water management official. It’s less than twenty pages long.”

“Because the language is obscure and the content is rather niche, not many people are aware of it. It’s stored in the Beijing Library. You must have gone through a lot of trouble to find it just to create some drama.”

“Unfortunately, your translation was wrong, so the question didn’t make sense. I take back what I said earlier—not everyone is a scholar compared to dinosaurs.”

“You guys are no match for dinosaurs; hurry up and apologize to them!”

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