Chapter 20 PART 1
Skye arrived at the broadcasting building an hour early. The set wasn’t fully prepared yet; staff bustled around making adjustments.
Based on past recording experiences, guests usually just politely nodded or gave a slight bow to the staff upon entering, without much further interaction.
But Berlin liked interacting with people. Yesterday during the recording, he’d gotten acquainted with the cameramen, lighting and sound engineers, special effects team, and coordinators. Today, he even remembered everyone’s names, greeting them along the way.
The production team expected to see Berlin looking exhausted or haggard, or at the very least a bit listless, considering how tiring yesterday’s recording had been, even for the staff.
Unexpectedly, Berlin was energetic and cheerful as ever. However, the amplitude of his enthusiastic waves was smaller than yesterday’s; it had changed from a large windshield wiper to a mini one – his arms were still a little sore, limiting the range of motion.
The program’s schedule arranged for outdoor archery first, followed by the studio recording, likely considering the guests’ physical condition.
After entering the studio, Berlin spotted his assigned follow PD, Xiao Wang, and jogged over, waving, “Teacher Xiao Wang.”
Min Yuzhi followed half a step behind, observing and not interfering with his social interactions.
PD Wang was adjusting the equipment. Hearing him, he looked up, smiling, “Good morning, Teacher Lin.”
Berlin shook his head, “It’s noon, how can it be morning? Teacher Xiao Wang, are you operating on foreign time in Mong Kok?”
PD Wang laughed, “I was on noon time, but the moment you arrived, I switched to a time zone in some region of Ireland. Do you know why?”
Berlin didn’t understand how they suddenly jumped to a riddle, but he cooperated, pondering seriously, “Uh, because as a somewhat famous idol, I’m like a mobile tourist attraction?”
PD Wang: “…Why Ireland?”
Berlin shyly chuckled, “Because they’re both known for their beautiful scenery.”
PD Wang: “…”
Berlin looked at him, understandingly waving his hand, “Bro, laugh if you want, no need to hold back.”
PD Wang valiantly suppressed his smile, “Cough, no, it’s because there’s a Berlin there too.”
Berlin: “Why?”
PD Wang revealed the answer, “Because there’s a place in Ireland called ‘Dublin’.”
Berlin: “…”
Teacher Wang, so cold, March snow.
Berlin suspected the cameraman had been brewing this joke for a long time, so he decided not to tell him he’d already frozen into an ice sculpture.
Originality is not easy; all original works should be encouraged.
He looked at the cameraman with encouraging eyes, “Hahahahaha, Teacher, you’re so humorous.”
However, PD Wang didn’t feel the sense of accomplishment he expected, but looked at Berlin with a complex expression and sighed, “Thank you. Xiaolin, let me give you some advice.”
Berlin: “Mm, what?”
PD Wang: “Don’t act, and you won’t have any scandals.”
Berlin: “…”
Well, honest advice is beneficial, Teacher Wang was right.
So Berlin humbly accepted the suggestion, nodding, “Okay, bro. Teacher Xiao Wang, let me remind you of something too.”
PD Wang was alert, “Don’t become a stand-up comedian?”
Berlin shook his head, pointing to his camera, “Bro, your lens cap isn’t off.”
PD Wang calmly turned, “Ah… Thanks.”
Wu Hengyao outwardly sat on a folding chair, seemingly unobservant, but inwardly used all his strength to maintain his cool demeanor and not laugh out loud.
His gaze fell on Min Yuzhi, who was standing two steps behind Berlin. He didn’t understand how this human could remain so expressionless, cold and hard as a rock. Couldn’t he feel joy?
Out of boredom, Wu Hengyao noticed a young man in the corner who looked very similar to Min Yuzhi, the bodyguard. Broad shoulders, buzz cut, sleeveless vest, large arm tattoos; a staff member was helping him apply cover-up patches.
Wu Hengyao, having filmed many variety shows, knew what was going on. Tattoos, cigarettes, etc., couldn’t appear in the program; any accidentally captured shots would be pixelated frame by frame.
The staff were applying cover-up patches for post-production.
Wu Hengyao was only troubled by his own excessively thick hair, but he knew there was a profession called post-production, similar to programmers in their tendency to go bald.
The post-production guy was already almost bald; problems that could be solved at the source were best not to add to his workload.
Berlin finished greeting the staff and noticed a new face.
He went over to talk to the staff member applying the patches, curiously looking at this imposing figure, guessing that since he needed patches, he must be a guest appearing today.
Based on appearances alone, Berlin couldn’t guess what challenges this guest would bring.
The tattooed guest was clearly not someone who suffered from social anxiety; he proactively initiated conversation with Berlin, “Hello, I’m your fan, can we take a photo?”
Five minutes later, the tattooed guest had received VIP treatment: photos, autographs, and casual conversation.
Since the recording was about to start, knowing thirty minutes earlier didn’t make much difference. Berlin secretly asked the guest about his expertise.
The tattooed guest laughed heartily, “Nothing much, just the four-time consecutive world record holder in mental calculation.”
Berlin: “…”
Berlin silently opened his phone, opened the memo app, his eyes shining brightly as he handed it to the guest, “Bro, can you sign this for me? I’m your newest fan.”
Wu Hengyao, who had been eavesdropping, twitched the corner of his mouth.
He silently thought: Witnessing a mutual admiration.
Berlin also went to the gym religiously, but he knew that idols shouldn’t become like those ripped guys in Korean comics; that was the perfect physique for fictional characters, not real-life humans.
He also couldn’t lift weights excessively; it would make his neck look thick. He maintained his workout routine but still retained his youthful appearance.
The tattooed guest looked like he did extreme sports, but he actually made a living through pure brainpower.
A mental calculation world record holder, very high gold content, undoubtedly a top figure in his field.
It proved that stereotypes were unreliable; not all smart people looked frail.
“Okay,” the staff member who helped the guest with the patches breathed a sigh of relief, jokingly saying, “It’s probably hard to meet colleagues at the gym, Teacher.”
Before the tattooed guest could speak, Berlin seriously shook his head, “How could that be? Gyms don’t restrict people with high IQs from getting memberships.”
Staff: “…Right, haha.”
That day’s recording was completely different from the previous one.
Yesterday’s main theme was overlord (not really), comeback, and inspiration – summary: many people are talented, but it proves that continuous effort leads to success, quite inspiring, suitable for inclusion in the college entrance exam inspirational edits.
Today, however, was the tattooed guest’s personal showcase, with the other guests applauding politely, and Berlin clapping enthusiastically.
The reason is simple: supernatural beings outperform humans in physical fitness; they’re not on the same level…but they can’t do math.
To be more specific: They think one plus one equals two, and ten plus ten equals one hundred.
For a moment, it was unclear whether elementary school mathematics had been delayed, or whether elementary school students were secretly involute and had learned binary numbers in advance.
In any case, today the other guests didn’t have a chance to show off their skills, only to bow down in defeat.
Berlin was the only one who could do math, but today’s challenge was extremely difficult.
The tattooed guest’s first demonstration was enough to stump Berlin.
The program prepared two sets of numbers, one blue and one white.
The two sets of numbers would randomly appear on the upper and lower screens at a speed of 0.12 seconds. Both sets were two-digit numbers; there were eighteen blue numbers and one hundred and eight white numbers.
Skye’s first and simplest challenge was to add up the blue numbers that appeared on the screen and answer the sum after all the numbers had flashed.
After hearing the rules, Berlin: “…”
Berlin, who always thought his college entrance exam score was above the first-tier line and considered himself quite good academically, was at a loss.
Xiaolin didn’t pretend to understand; he honestly chose to face the difficulty, calmly looking at the host, “Sorry, the teacher spoke too fast, I didn’t understand the rules. Could you explain it again? Thank you.”
Everyone has their own expertise; Berlin didn’t feel there was anything shameful about not understanding.
The rules weren’t difficult to understand; Berlin just hadn’t heard clearly; he understood after they were repeated.
But understanding was one thing; Berlin still had self-awareness. He could practice archery and improve, but this type of challenge was more like giving a primitive calculator with a full numeric keypad a calculus problem.
Berlin sighed: Your servant can’t do it.jpg
The tattooed guest displayed the extraordinary capabilities of the human brain, shining brightly in Berlin’s eyes. Unfortunately, the non-human teammates couldn’t grasp it – how could you expect four non-humans who think ten plus ten equals one hundred to easily understand the difference in difficulty between a simple linear equation and the Navier-Stokes equations?
Absolutely not.
So, in the shots shown, during the tattooed guest’s demonstration, among Skye’s five members, only Berlin looked at the tattooed guest with awe, while the other four had expressionless faces.
The director watching the nine-grid screen hesitantly asked the assistant director, “No way, yesterday’s archery already surprised me. Today’s hellish, super-difficult challenge, can they still succeed at once? Is that even possible?”
“…” Before yesterday, the assistant director would have answered “impossible” without hesitation, smiling. But after the last recording, the assistant director hesitated.
He cautiously worded his response, “It should… not be possible, right? If they’re this all-around talented, why would they come to the entertainment industry to be idols?”
Recommended Reads
