The Most Popular Comedian

Chen Shulin felt an itch in the palm of his hand.

He wanted to press Rong Yuheng’s head against the mirror and rub it.

Gou Li kept rubbing a long-haired dog toy in his hand, reminding himself with all his might that they were still in the show.

Both of them took a long breath at the same time and then turned around to continue searching for clues.

After contemplating for a while without getting any response, Rong Yuheng finally broke free from the world in the mirror and turned his head to ask them in confusion, “Was I blocked just now?”

As he spoke, he raised his hand and touched his horns, attempting to confirm if the signal was good.

Gou Li’s expression was wooden.
“Why don’t you go find Teacher Su? Believe me, he can’t overshadow your brilliance.”

Rong Yuheng, “…”

Ah, blame himself for being too dazzling.

The group searched for a while, and suddenly Chen Shulin exclaimed, “Hey! Look at this!”

He pulled out a piece of paper from the belly of a kangaroo plush toy.
On it was a pentagram-shaped magic circle.
“Looks familiar.”

Gou Li leaned over to take a look.
“Oh, oh, oh!” he exclaimed a few times, then turned and ran to the next room.
“Isn’t it here?”

The other two followed and, sure enough, they saw the same magic circle pattern on the door of the next room.
Gou Li pushed the door, but it didn’t budge.
“Is it locked? Do we need to open this door ourselves?”

Rong Yuheng said, “Many hands make light work1The phrase “light work for martial art practitioner” means that a task or challenge is relatively easy for someone who practices martial arts regularly.
It implies that their skills and training make the task seem effortless or manageable.
In this context, “light work” refers to something that requires little effort or difficulty for someone skilled in martial arts..
I’ll go get Su-ge and the others.”

Chen Shulin looked complicated.
“…We probably shouldn’t force the lock, right?”

Rong Yuheng had an even more complicated expression.
“I meant using our brains.”

“…”

Rong Yuheng turned around and called Su Yuyin and Xi Tao.
The latter two also found clues, which were five cards with dotted and solid lines, numbered on the back.

Su Yuyin walked up to the magic circle and took a look.
“How do we open this? Do you have any other clues?”

At the right moment, Chen Shulin handed him the piece of paper.

The front of the paper had the exact same magic circle, but when flipped over, there was an octagon.
Su Yuyin flipped it a couple of times, then held it up to the light — the five tips of the pentagram perfectly matched five corners of the octagon on the back of the paper.

Xi Tao said, “Could it be that we need to recite some incantation? Maybe this is a voice-activated door or something?”

Rong Yuheng pondered for a moment, then turned to face the door and said softly, “Magic circle, oh magic circle, who is the most beautiful woman in this world?”

Su Yuyin’s train of thought was instantly disrupted by the word “woman.”

He was truly worried about Rong Yuheng’s on-screen image, “Xiao Rongbao, you’re a man.”

Rong Yuheng, “…Oh, a man.”

Everyone, “…What kind of creature is this?”

After Rong Yuheng’s failed attempt at acting, he restrained his expression, shifted his focus, and engaged in the investigation of the clues.

He stuck his head under Su Yuyin’s armpit and squinted as he examined the piece of paper.
“Have any of you noticed that this looks like a gossip array?”

Su Yuyin’s eyes lit up, ignoring Rong Yuheng’s ridiculous pose, and immediately entered decoding mode.

“That makes sense! Are these five corners implying five pieces of information? Look at the clues that Xi Tao and I found.
The combination of three solid lines and dotted lines corresponds to the symbols in the gossip array, right?”

Gou Li was puzzled, “Why are we bringing up the gossip array?”

Su Yuyin explained, “We just found five cards with symbols, and there are numbers on the back.
This way, we can determine the numbers corresponding to the five corners.”

Rong Yuheng provided some knowledge, “Solid lines represent ‘yang,’ and dotted lines represent ‘yin.’ This is the concept of ‘yin-yang’ in the gossip array.
Two solid lines represent ‘sun,’ and one solid line combined with one dotted line represents ‘lesser yang.’ Like this card—” he pointed to the card with three solid lines in Su Yuyin’s hand, “it represents the ‘Qian hexagram’ in the gossip array.”

Gou Li pretended to understand, “You know a lot.”

Rong Yuheng admitted, “Mainly because I’m superstitious.”

“…”

Su Yuyin glanced at the Jade Guanyin on Rong Yuheng’s chest, “Your beliefs are quite eclectic.”

Both Buddhism and Taoism.

Rong Yuheng choked for a moment and consoled himself, “They will understand me.”

Su Yuyin didn’t want to argue with him on such a subjective matter—he had figured it out.
In Rong Yuheng’s subjective world, he had an invincible logic system that no one could shake.

Su Yuyin said, “These five cards correspond to the Qian, Kan, Gen, Zhen, and Dui hexagrams, and each hexagram corresponds to a direction.
We should arrange them in numerical order and touch the five corners on the door to activate the mechanism.” He finished speaking and walked over first, “Someone come with me.”

Xi Tao was about to volunteer, but a hand rested on her shoulder.

She turned her head and met Rong Yuheng’s understanding face.
“You’re timid.
Let me handle this kind of thing.”

Xi Tao, “…”

A hint of amusement appeared in Su Yuyin’s eyes.
“Xiao Rong, come here quickly.”

The two of them stood in front of the door and simultaneously pressed the five corners according to the sequence behind the hexagrams.
Gou Li leaned over and mused, “Will the door open? Wait… why do I feel like the door seams are painted on?”

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Su Yuyin pressed the last corner, and a dazzling light emitted from the magic array on the door.
Immediately, a thunderous sound resounded beneath their feet!

“Damn!”

The mechanism hidden beneath the square carpet collapsed instantly!

The three onlookers nearby heard Rong Yuheng’s uncontrolled exclamation drifting in the air.
The two who were just standing in place had already fallen below the ground—

“Oh my god! Teacher Su, Rong Yuheng!”

“Did the production team take it too far?!”

Rong Yuheng and Su Yuyin, despite their strong psychological resilience, were also startled by the sudden sense of weightlessness.

Fortunately, they weren’t too high above the ground, and there was a pool of ocean balls below, providing a good cushioning effect.

Gou Li trembled as he peered down from the edge of the mechanism.
“I told you… the calm before the storm.”

Although Su Yuyin was in his thirties, he was more agile than Rong Yuheng in his twenties.
After flapping his limbs a few times, he regained his footing and reached out to pull Rong Yuheng out of the ocean balls where he was swimming.

Rong Yuheng, with his playful nature, was still shaken after being rescued.
“I thought I was going to drown!”

He wiped away nonexistent water stains from his face.

Su Yuyin pursed his lips.
“Don’t put too much hope on the later stages.”

Converting this place into a swimming pool would require some cost.

Rong Yuheng, “…”

As the two fell silent, they heard their concerned teammate calling from above, “Are you two okay?”

Su Yuyin looked up and responded, “We’re fine.
It’s temporarily safe down here! Don’t come down yet; we might need coordination from both sides!”

“Okay, be careful!”

Su Yuyin struggled to move a few steps in the ocean balls, surveying the surroundings.
He noticed what seemed to be two rows of climbing-like “rock points” on a wall ahead, leading to an exit above.

“Xiao Rong, we have to go up from there.”

Rong Yuheng took a glance and rushed toward the wall.
“Let me climb up and give it a try.”

“Let me do it.
It’s too dangerous.”

Rong Yuheng shook his head.
“Weren’t you wearing leather shoes today? It’s inconvenient.
Let me do it.
Su, you just stay down there and protect me a bit.”

Su Yuyin was taken aback.
He didn’t expect Rong Yuheng to seem a bit off but still be attentive at critical moments.

Warmth filled Su Yuyin’s heart, and he was moved.
“Okay, big brother will catch you from below.”

After Rong Yuheng climbed a couple of steps, he paused upon hearing Su Yuyin’s words.
“…Let the ocean balls catch me instead.
If you cushion my fall from below, we’ll both be injured.”

Su Yuyin, “…”

He retracted his previous sense of gratitude.

Rong Yuheng climbed cautiously, still feeling somewhat frightened.
He actually had a slight fear of heights, especially now without any protective equipment like safety ropes.

But as he said, Su Yuyin’s leather shoes today were prone to slipping, so it made sense for him to climb up by himself.

For Su Yuyin to take care of him was already a favor, and he couldn’t feel truly at ease and enjoy this care.

After all, they were a team, and taking care of each other was mutual.

Rong Yuheng slowly climbed up, his palms already sweating.
Su Yuyin below anxiously cautioned him like a worried mother, “Be careful… be careful…”

Rong Yuheng took a deep breath and cautiously poked his head out towards the hidden door on the ceiling.

However, he forgot that he was still wearing a unicorn hairpin on his head.

With a tap, the rainbow-colored horn poked the door panel, squishing it flat and bouncing back onto Rong Yuheng’s head, making him yelp in pain.

Su Yuyin, “Haha.”

It felt quite adorable, actually.

Finally, the door panel was pushed open, and Rong Yuheng emerged from below with a lopsided horn on his head, greeted by a sea of flowers.

This “flower sea” was truly a deconstructed combination of “flower” and “sea”–

The flowers were plastic, and the sea was a low-grade pool.

A narrow plank without guardrails was placed over the pool filled with plastic flowers, with smooth platforms at both ends for people to step on.
Rong Yuheng was now in the center of one end platform, and he could faintly see a clue on the opposite wall.

“Su-ge, there’s a pool, a rope bridge above, and a clue on the other side!” Rong Yuheng climbed out of the passage, surveyed the surroundings, and noticed a button on the wall behind, saying, “There’s also a button here, let me press it first.”

As his hand pressed the button, the other side of the wall suddenly made a rumbling sound, slowly shifting to reveal the room previously filled with bubbles!

At the same time, an automatic retractable ladder descended from the passage, extending directly into the ocean ball pit below.

“Oh my goodness!”

Everyone exclaimed, and Gou Li and the others quickly ran over.
Su Yuyin also climbed up using the retractable ladder.

Once he reached the top, he hugged Rong Yuheng’s shoulder and said, “You did a great job, you worked hard.”

Rong Yuheng blushed.
“Everyone worked equally hard.”

After the false pleasantries, the five of them continued to immerse themselves in the game.
Looking at the rope bridge in front of them, they collectively felt worried.

Gou Li said, “I really can’t do this.”

Xi Tao pondered for a moment and stepped forward, saying, “Let me try.”

She had a background in dance, and her balance was better than the others.
To prevent slipping, she took off her shoes and socks and stepped onto the rope bridge with bare feet.

The bridge wasn’t very sturdy, and the first few steps were barely stable.
However, as she reached the middle, Xi Tao started swaying.
She froze in place, trembling, and glanced down below.

Chen Shulin hurriedly shouted, “Don’t look down, look ahead!”

But it was too late.
Xi Tao’s legs gave way, and she squatted down, holding onto the rope bridge beneath her, caught in a dilemma.

Watching her movements, a long-forgotten familiarity washed over Rong Yuheng… Suddenly, a spark of inspiration flashed in his mind.

His expression instantly became solemn, like an old cadre.
A deep, resonant bass flowed from his mouth, silky and melodious like a cello:

“Crawl—forward—crawling!”

 

Link For Gossip Array Pic

1The phrase “light work for martial art practitioner” means that a task or challenge is relatively easy for someone who practices martial arts regularly.
It implies that their skills and training make the task seem effortless or manageable.
In this context, “light work” refers to something that requires little effort or difficulty for someone skilled in martial arts.