"Crazy Thursday, fried chicken — look for Jing Yuan Yuan! KFC has now joined the Jing Yuan meal set. Come and grab it, and don't miss the limited merchandise!"
"You love me, I love you — General Feixiao is waiting for you! Xue Wang has launched Feixiao's Clear Breeze Milk Tea..."
"Kafka collaboration Casio watch, now on sale..."
"Robin collaboration headphones..."
"Aventurine and Tingyun collaboration Wong Lo Kat..."
"Genshin Impact's brand new open-world game, coming soon to an even bigger platform..."
"Zenless Zone Zero's explosive action game is about to begin..."
...
A full hour of advertising time was crammed full by MiHoYo. Not a single ad was repeated.
The live stream audience gradually warmed up and finally recovered from the Siberian cold wave brought by Cyno.
Fortunately, when the competition resumed, that walking refrigerator — Cyno — had already been forcibly "invited" off stage to rest under the pretext of "protecting a rare species."
On stage, the contestants for the second round of the intelligence competition had already taken their positions.
Lingsha from the Firefly Team, Asta from the Aglaea Team, Bronya from the Phainon Team, and Topaz from the Feixiao Team.
Without Cyno's lethal pun attacks, the temperature on site had finally returned to normal levels.
In the backstage lounge, Su Chen held a cup of hot water, took a small sip, and felt the warm liquid slide down his throat, driving away the chill.
"Feels like I've come back to life."
"Yeah." Mydei was still wearing the military coat borrowed from the prop team. He held a large enamel bowl with a peony flower pattern, filled with freshly brewed hot tea.
"Drink something hot. It'll warm you up."
"Have the details for the next match come out yet?" Sparkle asked curiously while rubbing her hands together.
Su Chen took out his phone and checked. "Not yet."
His gaze fell on Little Herta beside him.
She was wrapped in three thick layers of blankets, bundled up like a zongzi. Ever since returning from the match, she hadn't said a word and just sat there quietly.
Su Chen walked over and softened his voice. "It's fine. It's just one match. Winning or losing is normal."
Little Herta looked up from under the blankets. There was no trace of frustration in her eyes. "I don't care about winning or losing."
She extended one finger and traced patterns in the air while muttering to herself, "Based on March 7th's data model just now... if the next round is a team competition, our advantage won't be obvious. But if it's an individual elimination match..."
Su Chen and Mydei exchanged glances.
Never mind. He had worried for nothing.
This girl didn't care about winning or losing at all. She was treating the competition as a large-scale experiment — collecting data and analyzing models.
At that moment, a wave of enthusiastic cheers came from the direction of the stage.
In the end, Lingsha from the Firefly Team relied on her sharp eloquence and flawless logic to break through Shush's chain of brain teasers and secure victory for the second group.
The points leaderboard on the big screen refreshed once again.
The Castorice Team, thanks to March 7th's stunning win, was tied for first place with seven points.
The Boss Team, Big Herta Team, Firefly Team, and Phainon Team followed closely behind with six points each, tied for second place.
The tight scores immediately made the atmosphere on site tense again. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the next event that could change the course of the competition.
Just then, everyone's phones vibrated at the same time. The content for the next round had finally been released.
When they saw the line of text on their screens, the entire backstage fell silent.
The cup in Su Chen's hand shook. Hot water nearly spilled out. The sip of tea Mydei had just drunk went straight down the wrong pipe, making him cough until his face turned red. Sparkle's eyes lit up frighteningly in an instant.
Competition Event — Philosophy Movement: Wrestling♂!
[????? Wres... wrestling? What does that symbol at the end mean? Is it what I think it means?]
[This is getting wild! The production team really knows what we want to see!]
[Roar roar roar roar roar! Something inside me is about to awaken!]
[We just came back from Siberia, and now we're going straight into a sauna? This ice-and-fire experience gets full marks from me!]
On stage, the host Owlbert, wrapped in a down jacket, walked up while shivering. His voice still carried a heavy nasal tone.
"Dear audience! In order to drive away the cold and ignite passion, we have arrived at the most... most exciting segment of this competition! The Wrestling Tournament!"
"The competition will be divided into upper and lower brackets for a single-elimination tournament! Winners advance, losers are eliminated!"
The moment the event was announced, Mydei shot to his feet. The military coat draped over his shoulders fell to the ground with a thud.
He clenched his fists tightly. His knuckles cracked loudly. His eyes burned with raging fire as he stared straight at Su Chen.
His voice was low and powerful. "This round — let me go!"
Su Chen looked at his expression, which screamed that he wanted to rush onto the stage and tear someone apart right now, then glanced at the "Wrestling♂" with its special symbol on his phone. The corner of his mouth couldn't help but curve upward.
"Oh? That confident?"
"This time, I absolutely will not lose!" Mydei said word by word. "I'm going to personally win back the face I lost earlier!"
Su Chen nodded.
It wasn't that he wanted to watch two muscular men have a thoroughly satisfying wrestling match.
He simply wanted Mydei to reclaim the dignity he had lost.
"Alright. Go. Don't disappoint me."
Then Owlbert announced the match bracket and grouping results.
Upper Bracket: Phainon VS Mydei; Feixiao VS Acheron.
Lower Bracket: Firefly VS Cyrene; Hysilens VS Huohuo.
Sparkle saw the bracket and laughed even more happily. "Wow! Muscles, your opponent is still Phainon. Old grudges and new hatred — you can settle them all at once now."
Mydei glanced at the grouping, then looked at Phainon not far away. The fighting spirit in his eyes grew even stronger.
"Now, let us welcome the first group of the upper bracket onto the stage!"
Amidst thunderous cheers, Mydei ripped off his T-shirt in one motion, revealing rock-hard muscles that gleamed with a bronze luster under the scorching lights. He strode onto the ring with large steps.
On the other side, Phainon also calmly walked onto the stage.
He gently removed his upper garment, revealing equally solid muscles.
The two stood in the center of the ring. One was bursting with muscle and imposing presence; the other was tall and straight, calm like an abyss.
The strong contrast instantly maximized the visual tension.
[It's here, it's here! I already took my pants off for this!]
[Mydei's physique... hiss ha hiss ha... my nosebleed...]
[Phainon!!!! Husband! I can't take it anymore! Even though I'm a guy.]
With the referee's signal, the match officially began.
Without the slightest hesitation, Mydei let out a low roar, pushed off with his feet, and charged straight at Phainon like a tiger descending the mountain.
He wanted to use the most direct force to repay the humiliation he had suffered during the "Who Is the Mole" segment — with interest!
However, Phainon's reaction exceeded everyone's expectations.
Faced with Mydei's thunderous charge, he did not meet it head-on. Instead, he slightly shifted his body to the side and took a sliding step with his feet, like a fish in water, elegantly dodging Mydei's momentum.
At the same time, his arm moved like a spirit snake emerging from its cave, naturally hooking onto Mydei's back. With a twist of his waist, his entire body pressed tightly against him in perfect alignment.
"Thud!"
The collision of muscle against muscle produced a dull sound. Two powerful bodies became entangled.
Phainon's movements seemed slow, even elegant, yet he always managed to predict Mydei's intentions one step ahead. Using an extremely exquisite force-redirection technique, he dissolved Mydei's attacks into nothingness.
He stuck to Mydei's body curves like an unshakeable plaster. Every breath, every exertion, every friction of skin against skin was filled with a primal, wild beauty.
Mydei let out an angry grunt and forcefully twisted his waist, trying to break free with brute strength. The veins on his arms bulged. Sweat evaporated under the scorching lights, turning into white mist.
But no matter how much force he used, Phainon could always wrap around him like a vine, forcing him to let out unwilling roars.
The two rolled and grappled on the ring. Hot sweat drops fell from their foreheads onto the mat with a faint "sizzle."
"Hmph!" "Ugh!" "Ah!" "Mmm!" "Ha!"
"..."
The philosophically charged sounds were steady and loud!
[Holy shit! This isn't wrestling anymore. This is art! This is human body art!]
[That twisting waist, those tensed muscles, that steaming sweat... Director! Give them a chicken leg! Get the camera closer! I want details!]
[I declare, this is the real intelligence competition! It's a dialogue between bodies, a collision between souls!]
[So why haven't these two gotten married yet?]
Backstage, Su Chen silently finished the last sip of water in his cup. He felt that the blood that had been frozen out of him earlier had now been completely replenished.
His eyes were glued to the two entangled figures on the screen, watching the smooth muscle lines and explosive movements.
This strength, this technique... it was truly... pleasing to the eye.
Wait, what was he thinking?
Su Chen shook his head, trying to throw out those strange thoughts, but found that his gaze couldn't move away at all.
He was even getting a little worked up.