Grab The Heroine and Run Away Ch. 54
In the largest square of the park, two cages were set up. As the voice announcing “Lin Weining eliminated” echoed, sighs of disappointment emanated from the two cages in succession.
Haya leaned against a cage, sighing heavily. “Yeah, how could Ning Ning be Zhuzhu’s match?”
“Ning Ning, take your turn!”
“What’s going on exactly?”
Before long, seven girls approached. They wore pointed hats and held small flags in their hands. Their clothes were imprinted with the character “Soldier.” They confined Lin Weining to a cage meant for only three people.
Jiang Qiong tried to rush forward but was tapped on the head by Sasa.
“Prisoners, please refrain from attempting to escape,” Sasa threatened. “You’re already dead! If you run away, your soul will be annihilated~”
“Can’t you Western fantasy and xianxia genres come to an agreement?” Jiang Qiong rubbed her head. “Why mention annihilating the soul?”
“Hehe.” Sasa giggled. Seeing Xu Heran approaching, she immediately cheered.
“Hail the victorious return of our Evil Dragon!”
Other girls raised their flags and cheered, “Evil Dragon! Evil Dragon! Evil Dragon!”
“From now on, you’re the boss of the canyon!”
“Your Highness, tell us who to eliminate tonight, and we’ll carry it out without fail!”
Xu Heran stepped onto the red carpet, smiling as she asked, “Isn’t it the time when you see me and run away?”
The seven girls outside the cages were Shu Yuemeng, Sang Shiyi, Jing Rui, Sasa, Youyou, Luo Xi, and Lin Ran.
“Sis, you’re here too!” Xu Heran said in surprise. “But I didn’t see you?”
“I’ve been hiding in the grass,” Lin Ran shook her head. “I should have come out and showed myself.”
Everyone burst into laughter.
“Thanks to the seven Universal Entertainment trainees for their assistance in this episode! Let’s welcome the winner of the first episode of 《As You Wish》 Evil Dragon Xu Heran, to the throne!” the director said.
Xu Heran walked on the red carpet and stepped onto the platform between the two cages. There was a throne on the platform. After Xu Heran sat down, Lin Ran received the prize from the director and handed it to Xu Heran.
“Thanks, Sister Lin Ran,” Xu Heran placed the golden crown on her head.
Xin Nuo leaned against the edge of the cage, unhappily saying, “Zhuzhu, I want the golden cage. Can you sell me your crown to buy the cage?”
“Oh~”
“It’s too crowded here!” the girls protested.
“Losers, squat in the cages!” Xu Heran said with a cheerful grin.
Jian Yueyin raised her hand. “Let’s review, how exactly did you manage to do it?”
“Was the identity predetermined?” everyone asked.
Xu Heran quickly shook her head. Sitting on the throne, she explained, “For the first round of tasks, I only found out my identity after receiving the prompt.”
The director said, “Card drawing is random. Only when the Evil Dragon’s team wins can you get the prompt.”
On Sunday evening, at the end of the show, the initial scene flashed.
The first round of tasks ended, and Xu Heran drew a card.
“You’re the Evil Dragon. Protect your identity and eliminate everyone. To conceal your identity, please strive for victory as much as possible and let your teammates choose identity prompts.”
For the second round of tasks, it was Xu Heran who led her teammates by revealing that the first round’s ambiguous identity was hers. In an envelope, she received an Evil Dragon sticker and a clue, “Using the Evil Dragon sticker can eliminate any target. The Evil Dragon sticker needs to be exchanged. Please buy the sticker from the hawker using the secret code during the final task.”
In the next scene, the bright-eyed Evil Dragon placed both hands on the table and spoke in a low voice to the trembling hawker.
“Roar!”
“So, where did you get so many star coins?” Jiang Qiong in the cage said.
Xu Heran immediately pointed at Sasa, “The first person I eliminated, but Sasa was too stingy. She only dropped thirty star coins!”
Sasa was speechless, “Is it my fault? You came after me first!”
“I originally had fifty star coins. To confuse Nuo Nuo, I exchanged for Red Tyrant’s sticker and lollipop, leaving me with ten coins. After eliminating Sasa, I exchanged for two more coins from the remaining coins. The first booth’s stickers were sold out and it closed.”
With these two stickers, I eliminated Shiyi. She was generous and dropped sixty coins. Adding the twenty coins Nuo Nuo gave me, I exchanged for four stickers. The second booth closed.”
“I have five stickers, but the third exchange point required a hundred star coins. I happened to come across Youyou and Luo Xi dancing around Jiang Qiong.” On TV, the girl raised an eyebrow, sitting in the throne, curling her lips. “Each of them provided me with fifty star coins. Since then, I have eight stickers in hand.”
Xin Nuo sighed softly, “This is crazy.”
“First was Jiang Qiong, then Haya, followed by Fenghua, and Yueyin- the Evil Dragon stickers were applied. They would only take effect if they weren’t discovered or dropped within three minutes. Fortunately, I had good luck. Lastly, there was my dear Nuo Nuo sister and Sister Weining.”
Jing Rui shook her head, “And innocent passerby me.”
Linran suddenly covered her chest, “Was I the only one spared?”
Xu Heran took out the last sticker and sighed regretfully.
Jian Yueyin complained to the director, “Unfair! Our weapons were hidden too well! We couldn’t find them at all!”
The camera immediately focused on Xu Heran’s face, the smiling Evil Dragon curling her lips.
The scene shifted, showing Xu Heran who had just entered the park and started frantically searching. She casually found an identity prompt, glanced at it, tore it to pieces, and threw it into the trash can. Then, with a brilliant smile, she ran towards Xin Nuo.
Then, there were various shots of Xu Heran searching frantically for prompts. The girl refused to let the director follow her, holding the camera herself and weaving through the woods. One shot even showed her leaping over a flat thicket, pulling out a box with weapons hidden in a highly concealed spot.
The camera focused on her profile. The girl looked serious and solemn, a hint of indifference flickering in her blue-purple eyes.
But when she encountered others, she immediately put on a bright smile, innocently and cutely greeting them.
“Wow—”
“Ah ah ah ah!”
“Is this Little Pearl?”
“I’m going crazy. Did I misunderstand Little Pearl before?”
“When she jumped from the road into the flower bushes, I thought she would fly!”
“She looked so cool when she jumped on the table!”
“On last Saturday’s variety show, there was an episode where the babies casually mentioned that Pearl is a good student. I didn’t believe it. I thought the company was overhyping her, how could they give Pearl the ‘academic genius’ character setting! But with Pearl’s quick thinking today, I’m convinced! She’s really witty! Her brain works so fast!”
“Isn’t the key that she’s so good at deceiving people? When she greeted everyone while sweating and complaining that it’s so tiring to find prompts and that she can’t find them at all, who would have thought that her bag is full of prompts!”
“It’s so scary! Her agility is amazing, she just touches the stickers casually and they stick! What’s the use of these three minutes! It should be at least ten minutes!”
“The most annoying thing is, she stuck the sticker on the inside of Jiang Qiong’s clothes, hahaha, I’m amazed! Jiang Qiong really thought there was something dirty and voluntarily gave her the knife, I can’t stop laughing!”
“Whenever Xu Heran eliminates someone, the little soldiers give her prompts, but nobody noticed. And the little soldiers and the hawker get nervous and run away when they see Xu Heran. Nobody noticed! Aiya!”
“So, only Ning Ning is the most unlucky. After finally finding the buried box with weapons—blaming a certain Pearl for burying the box in the stones—suddenly, one after another, we heard news of people being eliminated. When the sound of Xin Nuo being eliminated played, Ning Ning was stunned!”
“I still dreamed that Ning Ning could counter-kill. When Xu Heran walked over while wiping sweat, Ning Ning even asked her why everyone was getting eliminated. Pearl nonchalantly said, ‘Oh, I did it,’ and Ning Ning’s legs went weak, hahaha!”
“Ning Ning’s skill freezes people for ten seconds, can be used three times. After Little Pearl released control, the way she dashed, I’m going crazy!”
“This search speed, while others are using sickles, she’s a lawnmower, buzzing past, wiping them all out! Little Pearl’s first victory, well-deserved!”
“Xu Pearl! She’s amazing!”
“… Well, am I the only one concerned about whether Pearl will get beaten up when she gets home?”
“Buzz.”
“Buzz.”
Xu Heran held a straw, staring at a WeChat video call.
Xin Nuo’s profile picture was flashing on the call interface, but the person on the other end hadn’t picked up yet.
“It’s already past nine o’clock. Are they still not done shooting?” Xu Pearl asked in astonishment.
“Maybe they’re shooting night scenes,” Jian Yueyin said.
Little Pearl waited until the call was automatically disconnected before shaking her head.
For the past few days, they had been recording songs. After recording, Xin Nuo went to the set to shoot the same day. Their variety show aired last Sunday, only three days ago. The online buzz hadn’t died down, and discussions about the new variety show were everywhere.
The invitation from 《Forever Young and Happy》 in Haicheng was placed on Cui Qi’s desk the second day. 《Forever Young and Happy》 and 《As You Wish》 were airing at the same time on the same day. At the beginning of the broadcast, 《Forever Young and Happy》 had a steady lead over 《As You Wish》 in terms of viewership. However, as the shows progressed, the viewership of 《As You Wish》 slowly increased.
Initially, most of the viewers of the show were fans of SGS members. Upon learning that besides the Saturday group show, SGS members were also participating in recording a new variety show on Sunday, everyone was excited and spread the news. The only downside was that 《As You Wish》 aired on Sunday night on TV and would only be available on the Universal TV app at 12 PM on Monday. To be the first to see the new episode, fans put down their phones and sat in the living room on time, gripping the remote control, even ignoring the angry glares of their grandparents, parents, and other family members.
Many households had similar conversations.
“How come you’re willing to come out of your room today? Watching TV? Weren’t you done with TV like eight hundred years ago?”
“Hehe, Mom, I have something fun to show you. Let’s watch together! Do you want some potato chips? I’ll open them for you!”
“Who’s eating that junk food! Watching TV is fine, but don’t eat unhealthy stuff!”
In another household:
“You play on your phone, go play your game. Why are you snatching the remote control from me? The TV show I’m watching has its big finale tonight!”
“Dad, I’ll get you the tablet. You can watch on the tablet, be good!”
“?”
“Don’t act high and mighty!”
“…”
However, when the variety show aired, the eight lovely and cute girls bounced around on TV, openly talking about how the director said “nasty things” and brainstorming to win the victory. The elders who were originally sitting in the corner lazily moved to sit in front of the TV. Some even started munching on melon seeds. When they reached the final mission, they even bet on who would win.
The later stages of 《As You Wish》 were invested heavily by Universal Entertainment. The editing techniques were powerful, with the story twisting and turning, complemented by various adorable effects. Even the interspersed advertisements were so compelling that people couldn’t help but watch them all the way through.
As the show progressed, 《As You Wish》 experienced a surge in viewership. By the time they revealed Xu Heran’s path of betrayal as the evil dragon, the viewership peaked.
In front of the TV, many girls rushed up to the screen, blew kisses at Xu Heran with a proud smile, excitedly turned around, and told their parents, “Look! This is my daughter! Your granddaughter!”
“Pearl, quickly call Grandpa and Grandma!”
Innocent parents who suddenly found out they had a sixteen-year-old granddaughter: “…”
There were also some elderly folks whose hearing wasn’t so good, who puzzledly said, “What? You gave birth to a pig?”
“… It’s Pearl’s ‘zhu’!” [T/N: Pearl = Zhenzhu (珍珠) & Pig = Zhu (猪)]
“What pig? Look at how pretty the young girl is. Don’t call her that. She’s a fairy.” The elderly person advised.
The younger ones speaking to their elders were even happier, clapping and saying, “Exactly, she’s a fairy. Our family has eight fairy sisters!”
The elderly person: “…”
Oh no, is my child’s brain not functioning properly?
In order to create a new variety show for their girl group, they enlisted Director Liu. Surprisingly, the results were so good that Cui Qi and others immediately held a meeting to discuss canceling other variety shows and focusing solely on the group’s variety show and 《As You Wish》 The remaining time would be dedicated to preparing for a new album. Unless the invited variety show had significant weight, Cui Qi didn’t plan to let the girls run around here and there.
But not long after, an invitation that Cui Qi couldn’t refuse arrived.
Xu Heran, who was on a call with Xin Nuo, opened the invitation.
“To Miss Pearl Meow, since you left the castle, everyone has missed you dearly. The prince is hosting a Christmas ball and sincerely invites you to attend—《Crazy Interpretation》 best regards.”
Xu Heran smiled and told Xin Nuo, “I’m a kitten.”
“Are we going to meet soon?” Xu Heran asked, “How’s the movie going? Do you miss me?”
Xin Nuo chuckled, her fingers tracing the sharp edge of the invitation, “At least, my hand misses you a lot.”
Xu Heran shook her head, “Saying one thing but meaning another.”
“I’m a kitten, what’s Nuo Nuo then?” Xu Heran playfully asked, “Are we going to a forest dance?”
On the other end of the call, the girl whose hair had returned to black laughed lightly, “It seems my status is a bit higher than yours. I’m a princess.”
Xu Heran raised an eyebrow and looked at the invitation. At the bottom of the invitation, there were a few words written.
“If you confirm your attendance, please scratch off the hidden layer. However, please note that this matter must be kept strictly confidential and not disclosed to anyone.”
Xu Heran bit her tongue, her fingers revealing the silver layer on the invitation.
“Your true identity.”
“You are a dragon.”
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Translator: Glariosa
Editor: Sinensis
