Chapter 130: A Show of Force (Release Schedule Included)

At eight in the morning, the No Challenge crew had finished assembling in the lobby of the Kate Manor Hotel.

It took more than half an hour for the celebrities, with the staff’s assistance, to familiarize themselves with the day’s competition format.

After exchanging another round of pleasantries, the Guest Team and the Hosts’ Team went to separate conference rooms to hold strategy meetings.

The Unlimited Team was brimming with fighting spirit.

Having worked together on so many games, the hosts had formed a certain comradeship.

Today would be the final time this hosting team worked together. They all expressed their determination to finish on a high note, hoping to bring the show to a close with a resounding victory.

Seeing Lu Kai, Lu Cheng, and the others so fired up, the clownish Wang Dawei hurriedly advised them, “We definitely have to win, but don’t take it too seriously! The Guest Team is far too weak today. We have to leave them some dignity. We can’t make Teacher Luo cry after losing, can we? Ha-ha.”

Wang Dawei was talking about Luo Zhikang, but in his heart, he was thinking of Zhang Qiyang.

Their opponents included the crown prince of East Entertainment!

Lu Kai and Lu Cheng would be leaving as soon as today’s competition ended, and they would have nothing more to do with East Entertainment.

But Wang Dawei and Xu Xian still had to make their living under East Entertainment.

Their opponents were all East Entertainment artists. If they humiliated them too badly, how were they supposed to survive in the industry afterward?

In any case, he and Xu Xian had already agreed privately that they would throw the match today and leave the East Entertainment artists some room.

Lu Kai, however, said, “We’ve thrown games in almost every episode and have never achieved a clean sweep. Let’s give it our all today and go for a perfect victory. Let’s challenge the limits of our team and see just how much potential we really have. If we don’t do it now, we may never get another chance.”

Lu Cheng strongly supported Lu Kai. “That’s exactly what I think. Today, let’s forget who our opponents are. Our only opponent is ourselves. Let’s give it everything we’ve got. Just like the name of this show, we should truly challenge our own limits at least once. Otherwise, all the blood, sweat, and tears we’ve poured into this program would be for nothing. Let’s try to beat them seven to zero and bring the show to a glorious close!”

Wang Dawei was so frustrated that he wanted to hit Lu Cheng. Judging from today’s schedule, the two teams would be facing off in seven games, and Lu Cheng actually wanted to beat the other side seven to zero. He was showing them absolutely no mercy!

How could that possibly work?

If they really won seven to zero, wouldn’t Master Cannon explode on the spot?

And wouldn’t all the other East Entertainment artists lose face as well?

After exchanging a glance with Xu Xian, Wang Dawei made up his mind to throw the match.

Sophie stood firmly on Lu Kai’s side and wanted to teach the opposing team a proper lesson.

The aloof Demon King Feng Sheng was infected by Lu Kai and Lu Cheng’s attitude. He, too, wanted to challenge the team to a perfect victory and give the show a fitting finale.

As for Pan Ziwen, he was even more eager to take on Zhang Qiyang.

A wicked grin had remained on his face the entire time. He was thinking, This is perfect. Today, I’ll finally be able to crush Zhang Qiyang!

More than anyone else there, he wanted to trample Zhang Qiyang.

It was not merely because he was an artist from Chu Entertainment. More importantly, Pan Ziwen had a close personal relationship with Wang Dazhong.

When Wang Dazhong heard that Zhang Qiyang would be recording No Challenge with Pan Ziwen, he had specifically invited Pan Ziwen to dinner two days earlier.

Wang Dazhong had made no attempt to conceal his intentions. He had directly urged Pan Ziwen to embarrass Zhang Qiyang on the show. Whatever happened, Wang Dazhong would cover for him.

With Young Master Wang’s powerful backing, Pan Ziwen had come today with Zhang Qiyang as his sole target.

He intended to deliver Zhang Qiyang a devastating opening blow during the very first battle segment!

Meanwhile, in the Guest Team’s lounge, the atmosphere of the meeting was much more relaxed.

Safety came first. That was their guiding principle for today’s recording.

As long as they remained safe, they could then try to put on a good performance.

As for the final result, who cared?

Even Zhang Qiyang did not attach much importance to such a meaningless score.

He had come to the show partly with the intention of having fun, but he also wanted to see the true quality of this production team, which was about to disband.

He wanted to assess the abilities of the first- and second-tier hosts in the variety-show industry as well.

If there were any particularly promising talents among them, he could have East Entertainment transfer them to his Cobbler Studio in the future. Together, they could create a new program.

Variety shows had been tremendously popular in recent years. Zhang Qiyang certainly wanted a share of that enormous pie.

Still, he was in no hurry to take a bite. First, he wanted to test the waters and see how deep and dangerous the industry really was.

According to the schedule, the program would begin with the two teams battling each other. This immediately caught Zhang Qiyang’s attention.

He understood why the production team had designed the segment this way. They wanted the two teams to collide like sparks against a stone from the very beginning, creating a strong sense of competition and immediately bringing out the show’s confrontational energy.

Many competitive variety shows began with the two sides battling it out to heat up the atmosphere. There was nothing unreasonable about the production team’s decision.

But at this delicate juncture, with the haters already picking apart Zhang Qiyang’s rapping, the opening battle could easily create unexpected trouble for him.

Since the segment was unavoidable, Zhang Qiyang decided to strike first. He would show off his rap skills and give everyone an appetizer before the real competition began.

To create a better effect, he taught Li Xuan and the East Entertainment artists on his team a short piece of a hype song, which they would put to use during the battle later.

If any other newcomer had asked major stars like Luo Zhikang and Li Xuan, or seasoned veterans like Bai Xinhong and Peng Liang, to learn a song, they would certainly have ignored him.

But Zhang Qiyang was the crown prince of East Entertainment. They truly did not dare disregard him.

Although they were somewhat wary of Zhang Qiyang and even disliked him, none of them dared embarrass him publicly.

Peng Liang and Fazai had been constantly flattering Zhang Qiyang. They learned the song with extraordinary seriousness, claiming that they would help him deliver the Unlimited Team a crushing opening blow!

Both teams intended to intimidate the other from the very start.

Now it would all depend on whose opening blow was more ruthless.

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Author’s Note:

This is the final chapter of the public release. The book will officially enter paid serialization tomorrow!

Thank you all for accompanying me along the way!

I would also like to thank the editors for their guidance and support!

The Cleaver will certainly not let you down!

Once the VIP phase begins, I’ll work even harder to update regularly!

I also hope that everyone who can afford to support the official version will subscribe to The Cleaver’s work when the time comes!

Your subscriptions will be the greatest motivation for me to continue writing!

At noon tomorrow, once the book goes live, I’ll release seven chapters in one burst and bring everyone a small climax!

In the future, there will definitely be at least three chapters every day.

As for bonus chapters, I’ve given it some thought. They’ll be tied to the total number of subscriptions.

For every additional ten thousand total subscriptions across all future chapters, I’ll add one bonus chapter that day on top of the guaranteed three.

When total subscriptions reach twenty thousand, I’ll add another chapter; at thirty thousand, one more—and so on.

In short, the more everyone subscribes, the more I’ll update!

And the more I update, the more everyone will subscribe.

Let’s see who can outdo whom in the end!

Back to coding!

See you tomorrow at noon!