Ch 41: Those who wronged me are now begging me for mercy

Withdrawal

Rong Ziyin’s sudden remark left the host completely stunned, almost making him instinctively apologize.

The humanities and geography scholar stepped forward, decisively questioning the host, “I think an apology is necessary, but not just for that. You also need to explain why the questions were changed on the spot.”

“The questions I answered, 70% of them, were from basic, entry-level popular science magazines. In other words, you don’t even need to ask Zhihu; you could find the answers directly on Baidu Homework Helper.”

“Even a high school student with a broad knowledge base could probably get all the answers right. So, what exactly is your intent here?”

“Are you looking down on me?” His voice trembled, clearly furious to the extreme.

Even a clay figurine has a temper, let alone these top students from various prestigious schools. These are people who, from a young age, have been capable of enduring solitude and immersing themselves in research. How could they possibly tolerate such insults?

But faced with this accusation, the host found himself unable to respond.

One key to salvaging a situation like this is timing; missing the critical moment means any attempt to make amends afterward is futile.

The host’s silence, after being stunned by the accusation, was taken as an admission of guilt.

In the livestream, viewers who had been hurling insults moments ago were now panicking. Many still didn’t understand what was happening and found the sudden outburst from Rong Ziyin and the geography scholar confusing.

Those who had already sided with Rong Ziyin, suspecting foul play from the show, quickly began to explain.

“Still don’t get it? The show’s rigged. To make Rong Ziyin’s team lose, they deliberately gave him the hardest questions while lowering the difficulty for his opponent, ensuring they could reach their desired outcome.”

“But the questions were really tough, weren’t they?”

“Are you stupid? Haven’t you ever seen a pig, even if you haven’t eaten pork? Have you ever written a thesis? The books you use for a thesis can’t all be found on Baidu, can they? No! You can’t even find them on academic databases without paying.”

“This is a show about academic excellence. If the answers to these questions could be found on Baidu, then why bring in these future research specialists? They might as well bring in some uncles and aunts who watch documentaries all day; they’d probably take first place. It’s obviously rigged!”

The discussion in the comments quickly turned one-sided, and the situation at the show’s recording site had already devolved into chaos.

Almost every scholar present was waiting for an explanation from the production team.

Seeing the situation deteriorating, the chief director made a quick decision, pushing the eloquent deputy director forward in a last-ditch effort to salvage the situation.

“Please, everyone, let’s stay calm. Let me first apologize on behalf of the production team to all the scholars here.” The deputy director, with his amiable appearance, managed to calm some people down with a simple apology, making them willing to listen to what he had to say.

He then delivered a well-crafted explanation, trying to brush off the accusations of rigging by attributing the situation to a lack of preparation and on-the-spot errors.

“Our questions were prepared on short notice, so…”

“That’s bullshit!” Yao Lele couldn’t hold back and shouted out.

The deputy director wasn’t flustered, smiling as he asked, “Young lady, calm down. If you think I’m lying, what evidence do you have?”

“…”

Yao Lele was so enraged by his shamelessness that she was left speechless.

But Rong Ziyin spoke up, “I have evidence. I’m afraid that if I reveal it, this show won’t be able to continue, and you might even face disciplinary action.”

The deputy director’s heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively wanted to have Rong Ziyin’s microphone cut off. But Rong Ziyin had already started speaking.

“What I’m about to say can be recorded by everyone and verified later.”

“This show has a script and deliberately stirs up conflicts between different schools for the sake of drama, maliciously skewing the difficulty of the questions.”

“Evidence 1: The show’s hidden rules dictate that the range of topics in the mock exams is the same as the official competition. The books used for the mock exams can all be found in the dormitory library, but there’s only one set.”

“To get them, you have to compete with other schools. In theory, it should be based on individual ability, but my PD hinted that I could use special methods, like forming alliances or scheming.”

“But in reality, each round involves only six teams, and the books covered range from 30 to 50 in total—it’s impossible for any one team to cover them all in such a short time. So instead of focusing on studying, why waste time on entertainment that serves others?”

Rong Ziyin turned to the geography and humanities scholar, “Think about it—isn’t that the case? Your team of three had the home-field advantage this time. You probably knew some of those 40 books so well that you could find the exact page with your eyes closed. With the three of you working together, why bother competing for them?”

“Who told you to do that?”

“My PD led me to believe that if you got the books, we’d lose.” The geography scholar murmured, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead.

This realization sent chills down the spines of everyone else present.

Yes! Focusing on group study would have sufficed. In hindsight, they had spent large chunks of time competing instead. They said it was ‘competition first, friendship second,’ but the constant scheming and competition had already created huge rifts between them. Gradually, they started to form cliques, distrustful of one another in their group chat.

But in reality, outside of this ridiculous show, they weren’t competitors; they were comrades, helping and supporting each other.

Yet now, they had lost sight of what truly mattered, foolishly thinking they had gained the upper hand.

It was terrifying—this realization was truly terrifying!

Seeing that they understood, Rong Ziyin quickly laid out the remaining evidence.

The production team was on the verge of collapsing, and they might cut the broadcast at any moment. Rong Ziyin had to reveal the final truth before that happened.

“Evidence 2: The questions were prepared in advance. The tenth question that stumped Xu Chuanzhi was also taken from an ancient text. I’m certain that even you, as a history major, didn’t know the answer!”

“That’s right, I didn’t.”

“Which is normal, because that question doesn’t have an answer. The ancient text is incomplete, and the only extant photocopy is in the Beijing Library. If someone is nearby, they can check the borrowing records to see who read it and when.”

“If I’m not mistaken, it wasn’t today. After all, our recording site isn’t in Beijing. But both the head writer and the chief director are from Beijing, so they likely had someone check it out earlier and decided to use it to trip up Xu Chuanzhi.”

“Evidence 3: 80% of my questions weren’t within the scope of the 40 books. Some of them didn’t even fall under the general category of humanities and environment.”

“That village with the unusual name—you all think it’s just a simple geography question?”

“You’re wrong. That village isn’t missing from the map because it’s too small; it’s because the name was changed.”

“And once I say the name, every veterinary student will know it: Huoran Village.”

“This is the village that used burning toxic plants to fight off a locust plague. The result was that the livestock mutated, the humans were slowly poisoned, and eventually, it became a ghost town.”

“Surprised? This isn’t just geography; it falls under the category of human and natural interactions. From our veterinary pathology perspective, it’s called plant toxin-induced animal mutation.”

“Quick! Stop the broadcast, cut his mic!” The chief director could no longer contain himself and ordered the broadcast to be cut off.

Rong Ziyin took off his microphone, stepped down from the stage, and signaled for Yao Lele and Xu Chuanzhi to follow him.

“Where are we going?” Xu Chuanzhi still seemed confused.

“Back to school, of course!” Rong Ziyin said with a mix of amusement and frustration. After causing such a scene, there was no way this could end peacefully. But with the backing of their university, they wouldn’t be at a loss. Rong Ziyin guessed that when Xu Chuanzhi was deliberately set up to fail, their school had already contacted the show’s production team. They might even have a car waiting for them outside the studio.

However, the production team, having experienced such a major incident, wasn’t going to let them leave easily.

Soon, a crew member tried to stop them.

Without saying a word, Rong Ziyin swiftly grabbed the crew member’s hand and restrained him. “Step aside!”

Fast, precise, and efficient!

The people present were ordinary individuals, and they were stunned by his swift action.

Rong Ziyin released the crew member and quickly led Yao Lele and Xu Chuanzhi out of the recording studio and back to their dormitory.

Once inside, the first thing he did was start packing to leave.

Rong Ziyin didn’t have much, so it only took him about five minutes to get everything together. Yao Lele and Xu Chuanzhi also packed quickly. When they all gathered at the door, they were surprised to find that the dormitory’s main door had been locked from the outside.

Not only that, but their phones and computers couldn’t connect to any network, making it impossible to contact the outside world.

Were they really trying to trap them here?

The production team had lost their minds!

Other scholars who had received the news also came out, most of them carrying their luggage.

These were all smart people—though they hadn’t seen things clearly before, now that Rong Ziyin had given them a breakthrough, they quickly figured everything out and were thoroughly disgusted with the production team.

Rong Ziyin’s decision to withdraw from the competition gave them an idea, and they wanted to leave as well, to avoid any further association with this disgraceful show. Staying would only be a waste of time.

But they were a step too late, now trapped by a desperate production team.

The windows of the four-story dormitory were all equipped with safety bars, so there was no way to climb out. As a result, everyone gathered in the first-floor lobby. Some were worried things might get worse, but others quickly reassured them.

“Don’t worry, they won’t dare to actually harm us. At most, they’ll keep us here for a few days.”

“That’s the problem—being stuck here gives them plenty of time to work on damage control.”

“But the schools won’t just sit by. The production team has seriously underestimated the power of the academic community.”

However, Rong Ziyin waved over a computer science scholar and signaled for him to come over.

“What’s up? Do you have a plan?”

“Yes,” Rong Ziyin pointed to Xu Chuanzhi, who was fiddling with some components from his bag. “If he can figure out how to reconnect the cut-off wireless signal, can you quickly create a program to prevent the livestream platform from blocking us?”

“What are you planning?” The others curiously gathered around.

Rong Ziyin pointed outside. “There are still fifteen of our brothers held at the filming site.”

“The production team thought they could drag the academic world into their entertainment schemes. I think it’s time we showed them what real scholars can do.”

“You’re not planning to go live, are you?” one of the scholars asked in surprise.

“Exactly. I want to log into the livestream platform and expose everything that’s happening right now.”

“Academia has no script; it’s solely dedicated to the pursuit of truth. Universities educate for the future prosperity of the nation. Even in this age of entertainment overkill, the academic world should remain a sanctuary free from such nonsense.”

“I want to give them a lesson they’ll never forget. Are you all in?”

🍉🫐🍇🍒🥝