Wake Up, This is Not a Dating Show! Chapter 12

Chapter 12 Hunting Time (Part 3) “Because, you are the undercover agent…

“Come on, look at the camera.”

The car owner’s words snapped Ye Nai back to reality. He withdrew his gaze and expressionlessly threw up a backwards peace sign.

He didn’t know why, under Yi Xingzhi’s gaze, the hand he was about to rest on someone’s shoulder suddenly couldn’t go down. That strange yet indescribable feeling had returned.

After taking the photo, Ye Nai walked towards Yi Xingzhi acting as if nothing happened. “Did you find anything?”

“No.” Yi Xingzhi took a few steps closer. “What about you?”

“Found a car.”

Before Yi Xingzhi could react, the people around them were far more excited. They all declared they couldn’t let him lose and started chiming in with ideas.

“Is it too late for me to ask my dad to drive his Rolls-Royce over?”

“Can I bring my house deed? But my house is a bit far, does anyone live closer?”

“I live close! But I rent. Should I try contacting my landlord to bring the deed over?”

Ye Nai was dumbfounded. He didn’t understand why these people were willing to go to such lengths for Yi Xingzhi. It was simply unbelievable.

“Did you cast a hex on them?” he asked in a low voice.

“I just sang a few lines upon their request,” Yi Xingzhi replied. “Just the song Awn from the last episode.”

No wonder, that wasn’t much different from casting a hex.

While Yi Xingzhi was responding to the passersby, Ye Nai received a notification from the production team: car keys couldn’t be used as proof of value; the car had to be driven over.

“Is this reasonable?” he asked, frowning.

Pei Ze happened to walk by and witnessed the scene, gloating, “It’s perfectly reasonable. You can’t tell the exact model from the keys, so how can you assess its value?”

“Which side are you on?” Ye Nai shot him a cold glare. “And you dare say you’re not the undercover agent!”

“Oh man, I forgot!”

“Forgot your disguise?”

“No, I forgot I’m on your team.” Pei Ze felt a bit guilty but quickly toughened up. “But it’s hard to say. This is an individual battle now. What if you’re the undercover agent? By helping you, I’d be harming our team!”

Ye Nai was almost laughing from anger and decided to ignore him, turning to the car owner. “Is it convenient to drive the car over?”

“I have no problem with it,” the car owner said. “But vehicles are prohibited from entering this area. The car can only be parked outside.”

“Did you hear that?” Ye Nai said to the cameraman following him. “It’s not that we don’t want to verify the car here; it’s physically impossible.”

After confirming with the directing team, the cameraman insisted, “But the rule is that the physical object must be brought to the site.”

Ye Nai took a deep breath, trying to calm down. But seeing the cameraman zooming in to capture a close-up of his reaction, he realized this wasn’t about sticking to some bullshit rule; it was a deliberate attempt to provoke him to generate a gimmick.

Fine, you want an effect?

Ye Nai blurted out directly to the camera, “The production team seems seriously ill; tell the director to come handle it himself!”

The cameraman originally wanted to test if he was joking, but after receiving a chilling glare, he immediately shut his mouth.

With the situation at a stalemate, Yi Xingzhi suddenly spoke up. “Two options: either the production team sends someone to the parking lot to verify the car, or the car owner provides photos of the car and other proof.”

Ye Nai paused. He hadn’t expected him to propose a solution at this moment. Seeing the cameraman still silent, he pressed, “Yes or no? Give me a straight answer.”

Although he was asking, his tone implied, “If this doesn’t work, don’t blame me if I actually snap.”

The cameraman consulted with the directing team again and said, “Providing identification or photos that clearly show the specific car model and prove the owner’s identity is also acceptable.”

“You should’ve said that earlier.” That was exactly what Ye Nai was waiting for. He patted Yi Xingzhi’s arm in thanks and then went to discuss showing the documents with the car owner.

When Ye Nai wasn’t paying attention, Pei Ze pulled Yi Xingzhi aside and whispered, “Ye Nai is definitely the undercover agent!”

“Why?” Yi Xingzhi asked, though his expression showed no curiosity.

“First, I’m not. Second, I think you definitely aren’t either, because you’ve been helping him,” Pei Ze said. “That leaves only one possibility: he is.”

“Oh, so?”

“So?” Pei Ze didn’t understand why he wasn’t surprised at all and said excitedly, “So you’ve been fooled by him! You can’t keep treating him as a teammate!”

“But judging from the basketball game, his contribution to the team was much greater than yours,” Yi Xingzhi evaluated objectively.

Pei Ze choked, retorting, “That was his scheme to gain trust! You have to believe me, I’m really not the undercover agent!”

“I reserve my judgment.” Yi Xingzhi stopped arguing with him and turned around to continue searching for a target.

Why is this guy so stubborn? To put it bluntly, he still didn’t believe him. It seemed he had to do something to make Yi Xingzhi realize that they were the ones on the same front line.

Pei Ze quickened his pace and followed him.

Ye Nai was the first to return to the inspection point, with some time left before the countdown ended. He decided to scope out the other guests’ progress. If there was a strong competitor, he still had time to adjust.

Although the park was quite large, finding the other guests wasn’t difficult. He just had to head towards the crowds or ask around a bit to track them down.

Ye Nai quickly located the other three.

The girl next to Yuan Lei was wearing a diamond ring the size of a pigeon egg. The man walking back with Yin Tianhan wore a watch on his wrist that clearly looked very expensive. As for the person standing next to Pei Ze… it was actually the girl with the designer bag. Seeing him look over, she happily waved at him.

“Is this the result of you wandering around for half a day?” Ye Nai couldn’t understand what Pei Ze had been busy doing. He hadn’t seemed to rest for a moment, yet he just ended up picking up his scraps.

“Don’t worry about it, I have my own plan,” Pei Ze said confidently.

“Oh, your undercover plan?”

Ye Nai roughly estimated the prices of those items. Barring any surprises, they shouldn’t exceed the Bentley, making him feel much more relaxed.

He only slowly strolled back as the timer was about to run out, and the others arrived at the inspection point one after another.

The host verified the items in the order they arrived, and Ye Nai was first. When they saw that his verification object was a car, those who didn’t know beforehand gasped in amazement.

Yuan Lei: “A car actually counts?”

Yin Tianhan: “Looks like we really needed to think outside the box!”

After the first four were verified, none exceeded Ye Nai’s. The fifth was Fu Tingyuan, who brought back a plainly dressed man. The man had stubble on his face and his hair looked like it hadn’t been cut in a long time, messy and blowing in the wind.

No one could see anything valuable on him. They only saw him unzip his messenger bag, pull out a massive key ring, and say calmly, “These are all my properties for rent. You can check the specific details on the rental apps. Just calculate the price based on the market value.”

Ye Nai: “…”

Someone actually brought a landlord? And a landlord with this many properties!

Overtaking this mega-landlord wouldn’t be easy. Everyone simultaneously looked at the person Yi Xingzhi had found.

It was a middle-aged man wearing glasses with an extraordinary aura. His clothes also looked quite expensive. He remained composed even after seeing what the previous person had shown. But what exactly did he have in his hands that could compete?

Seeing that he made no move to show anything, the host reminded him, “You can now present the item to verify its value.”

“I don’t have anything to present.” The man faced the confused gazes around him and said, “What I want to verify is myself.”

As soon as he said this, the crowd went into an uproar, unsure of his exact background.

“This gentleman not only owns multiple real estate properties but also several companies, none of which are small in scale,” Yi Xingzhi briefly introduced. “The specific valuation of the companies would require a professional to calculate.”

The crowd fell silent for a moment before they began to marvel.

Yin Tianhan: “There’s probably no need to calculate anymore, right?”

Fu Tingyuan: “This park is truly filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers.”

Yuan Lei: “How did you come up with such a tricky angle? What a genius!”

Yi Xingzhi only smiled without speaking. Pei Ze, however, wore a smug look, as if he wanted to say something but forcibly held it in.

Ye Nai observed this scene and, linking it to what Pei Ze had said earlier, guessed the situation. This person was likely found with Pei Ze’s help.

Pei Ze was willing to lose this round himself just to let Yi Xingzhi win. Why?

Undoubtedly, the final gentleman became the ultimate winner relying on his net worth. Yi Xingzhi won, but the others had no right to know what specific reward he received.

By the time this round ended, it was already lunchtime. The lunch location was a Chinese restaurant in the park.

After a morning of physical exertion, everyone was starving. They thought they could get a moment of peace, but were informed that the live broadcast would not stop, and the next individual battle would take place during lunch.

Ye Nai’s face darkened a few shades, thankful he had listened to Yi Xingzhi and eaten something in the morning.

Even though the three members of the Red Team were currently suspicious of each other and falling apart, to prevent the Blue Team from realizing there was an undercover agent, they gritted their teeth and didn’t show it, still sitting together seemingly harmoniously.

There were no activities while waiting for the food. Pei Ze went to the restroom, while the three members of the Blue Team gathered to discuss in low voices, likely plotting their next tactics.

Ye Nai sat at the very edge, staring blankly at his tableware for a while before turning to Yi Xingzhi beside him and asking, “That big boss just now, did Pei Ze help you find him?”

Even knowing the other party might not tell the truth, he still asked.

“Yeah.” Yi Xingzhi admitted straightforwardly. “He heard me asking if anyone was an entrepreneur, so he started asking people one by one, and even mobilized passersby to ask more people. That’s how we finally found him.”

With such an extroverted approach, it was definitely something Pei Ze would do.

“Then why do you think,” Ye Nai deliberately slowed his speech, “he helped you?”

Yi Xingzhi shot him a deep look. The person in front of him had a few stray hairs resting on his brow, yet they couldn’t hide the bright light shining from his eyes. The usually half-drooping eyes were slightly wide now, proving he was getting serious.

“Two possibilities.” Yi Xingzhi’s slender fingers tapped lightly on the table. “First possibility: he’s the undercover agent, and to prevent me from suspecting him, he gave me a hand. Second possibility: he’s not the undercover agent, and simultaneously believes I’m not either, so he helped to show his loyalty.”

Ye Nai stared at him intently. “So which one do you believe more?”

“The former implies helping a member of the opposing team win a reward. The price paid is a bit too high.” Yi Xingzhi’s expression was calm, his logic clear. “The latter makes much more sense. Anyway, we’re on the same team; whoever wins, it’s the same.”

“So you also think he’s not the undercover agent, right?”

Yi Xingzhi gave a very slight nod.

“What a coincidence. Your analysis matches mine perfectly.” Ye Nai’s tone carried a hint of a smile, as if encountering something very interesting. “Then, according to your current deduction, the undercover agent can only be me?”

Yi Xingzhi didn’t speak, just watched him silently.

“Or perhaps, you don’t even need to deduce it.” Ye Nai continued, “Because, you are the undercover agent.”

Translator’s Note:

• “Hidden dragons and crouching tigers” (藏龍卧虎) is an idiom meaning undiscovered talent or hidden threats.
• “Social butterfly” (社牛) literally means “social cow,” internet slang for someone who is incredibly extroverted and unbothered by awkwardness.