I have a persona specifically for acting.

After finishing the instant noodles, Duan Ge fell into serious contemplation.

She was considering the possibility of slitting their throats one by one after they fell asleep.

But Kong Yeming was quite cautious. He didn’t leave only one person on watch but insisted that two people stand guard, with one person from the Thunder Squad and one from the Sun Squad each time: “Not only can they chat and bond, but it also improves safety.”

“I have no issue with chatting, sounds nice,”

He Su, who loved to talk, scratched his head. “But usually, only one person keeps watch, right?”

“There are too many unexpected situations if it’s just one person.”

Kong Yeming shook his head.

Everyone trusted his judgment completely, and no one objected.

So, Duan Ge waited for a while, watching as they ate until they were full, using bread to soak up the gravy and finishing the canned food completely. She waited until they covered themselves with the backstage theater props and tried to sleep… but two tall men still remained awake, sitting to the side and chatting.

Duan Ge: [With two people standing guard, setting fire in the auditorium is also not an option.]

Duan Ge: [My biggest advantage right now is that they are in the open, while I am in the shadows. They still don’t know I’m nearby. Unless I can ensure a reduction in their numbers with one strike, I can’t act rashly and alert them.]

[Tong Zhao is so pitiful, it really broke my defenses watching him. Can’t they give the kid something good to eat?]

[Why not sneak down and steal some food?]

[Congrats to both teams for successfully avoiding a death flag.]

Did they really avoid it?

In the middle of the night, the Thunder Squad’s guard urgently needed to use the bathroom. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he mentioned it to the Sun Squad’s guard before getting up to go. By then, everyone who should have been asleep was in a deep slumber, and only a few dedicated viewers were still watching the livestream.

One advantage of a 24-hour live-stream variety show is that it’s great for night owls to keep on in the background. Many “urban immortals” who stay up all night working or gaming like to keep interesting live streams playing in a small window, glancing at them only when something exciting happens.

Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, an everyday action, didn’t catch much attention from the audience.

The restroom was just outside the primary school auditorium, down the corridor. If the door was open, a shout could be heard immediately in the stillness of the night.

The other guard chose to stay by the sleeping teammates, urging him to be quick and continue their earlier conversation: “When you get back, I’ll tell you about my second girlfriend.”

The Thunder Squad guard didn’t turn around but raised his hand, signaling an OK gesture.

After stepping outside, his pace faltered. An inexplicable sixth sense made him stop. He looked ahead—clouds had covered the moon, cutting off the only source of natural light. The pitch-black corridor looked like the gaping maw of some monster, and the night wind blowing through the railings should have made it cool and comfortable.

But the guard felt as if he had stepped into a mass of jelly.

His legs felt rooted to the ground, and he hesitated to take another step forward.

Instinct was telling him not to go any further.

But compared to the vague sixth sense, the urgency from his full bladder was more convincing. The Thunder Squad guard shook his head, laughing at himself inwardly, thinking he had been overly cautious due to Kong Yeming’s influence.

His silhouette disappeared into the darkness.

A slender shadow flashed by, hanging outside the railing.

Everything happened too quickly.

So fast that if the show didn’t provide a replay, viewers who weren’t paying attention to the livestream would have completely missed it. A dagger sliced through his throat and vocal cords effortlessly, like cutting through soft tofu. There was no need for light to precisely find the vital point of the prey. The dagger was the assassin’s fang, sinking into the throat with a single, lethal strike.

“Ugh…!”

A brief cry barely escaped before it was reduced to a whisper.

In terror and panic, the Thunder Squad guard tried to make a sound to warn his teammates, to call for help, but it was already too late. The assassin lurking in the dark had anticipated this, giving him no chance to utter another word.

[An Imperial Assassin is not interested in hearing any pleas from their prey.]

Another fatality, and the special effects team immediately released the poetic closing line they had long prepared.

[The show’s crew really puts effort into creating the right atmosphere.]

[This style is amazing, I’m saving this as my signature!]

Duan Ge: [It seemed like he wanted to say something?]

Duan Ge: [Oh well, even if he did, I wouldn’t have understood it anyway.]

[…Our Tong Zhao is really committed to ruining the mood.]

[Rabbits shouldn’t refer to themselves as “laozi”!]

[Cover the rabbit’s mouth >w<]

Since it was the middle of the night, even though the show provided a replay, the number of comments in the live chat was minimal, allowing for relaxed conversations. Yet, among the few comments, about a third were in English: [Is this Tong Zhao? (in English)], [Cool!!!!!!!], [I’ve only seen moves like this in ‘Naruto’; if she had a kunai, it would be even better (in English)], and [Shut up, this is Chinese Kung Fu, not Japanese ninjutsu!].

Thanks to the advanced translation software of this era, a simple click would display translated content.

Though not always elegant, the translation was accurate enough.

The Chinese viewers still watching the stream were shocked.

They wanted to say…

Actually, this is neither Japanese ninjutsu nor Chinese Kung Fu!

What misunderstanding do you have about Chinese Kung Fu?

The Thunder Squad guard, who had his throat slit, struggled fiercely. However, Duan Ge used all her strength to shoulder-check him into the cold wall. The collision of flesh and wall made no sound, and he breathed his last in unwillingness. Duan Ge held up the tall man with both hands, preventing the loud noise of his body hitting the ground. She slowly placed him against the wall, sitting him in a pool of his own blood.

Whew, whew…

An assassin is no bodybuilder—while she could deliver precise and deadly attacks in a short time, moving a heavy human body still took considerable effort.

It was such a terrifying task to deal with a corpse—

Yet, when she did it, why did it somehow feel like a cute little bunny struggling to pull out a giant carrot?

The blood splattered from his artery formed bright red blossoms against the wall.

Duan Ge bent down for a moment, taking the watch and glasses off the man’s wrist.

In the pitch-black environment, only her eyes glowed faintly.

That tiny glimmer of light sent a chill through the hearts of all the night owls watching, jolting them wide awake.

The assassin’s reflection appeared in the restroom mirror.

At some point, the clouds had drifted away from the moon, and moonlight poured through the door. She quickly turned her head, the light tracing her high-bridged nose and slightly pouted lips, making her look like a mysterious and dangerous yet beautiful creature.

The assassin, with a displeased expression, let out a soft grunt.

Duan Ge: [That’s what you get for eating meat.]

After silently eliminating one person, Duan Ge left without a sound and returned upstairs to resume her short nap.

…

Twenty minutes passed, and the other guard, He Su, began to sense something was off when the man didn’t return.

In such dangerous times, even if someone had diarrhea, they should still hurry back!

“Why is he taking so long…”

At that moment, He Su’s instincts saved his life.

Instead of getting up and rushing out to investigate, he chose to wake up his captain, Kong Yeming. This small disturbance also woke up the Thunder Squad members, who hadn’t slept well. They rubbed their bleary eyes as He Su explained the situation. Some teased him for being overly cautious while they got up to check the restroom together.

What they found was a floor covered in fresh blood and their teammate’s corpse.

Everyone turned pale and, leaning against the walls, vomited violently.

The meat they ate that night ended up being for nothing.

On the other floor, Duan Ge, hearing the commotion, curved her lips into a smile, revealing a satisfied expression in her sleep.

Unable to control his emotions, He Su yelled, “If you have the guts, come out! Hiding and ambushing doesn’t make you a hero! Aren’t there a lot of you? Come out!”

Duan Ge turned over in her sleep.

Duan Ge: [So lively.]

Duan Ge: [They must be really full for their voices to be so loud.]

Kong Yeming said, “Let’s get some rest first. Only when we’re well-rested can we fight back.”

With death threats lurking nearby, no one dared to ignore Kong Yeming’s words anymore. The strong men huddled together, trembling, and even Sister Tan was treated like a cherished pet, protected on the inside. His decision was indeed correct. Duan Ge exerted psychological pressure while ensuring she could eliminate members. Continuous sleep deprivation would dull people’s reactions and lead to poor decisions, which could be fatal in close-quarters combat.

Duan Ge enjoyed a good, restful sleep.

…

In the later edited version, the production team carefully cut this segment of the kill.

It turned out that after everyone settled down to rest and decided to have two people keep watch, Duan Ge went upstairs to the corridor on the second floor to rest. She was a light sleeper, waking up at the slightest noise. When someone passed by downstairs, she immediately woke up, flipped down like a bat, and truly achieved the feat of killing one person in ten steps.

When Director Chen woke up in the morning and checked the high-energy segments from the night, a chill ran down his neck, leaving him speechless.

If it weren’t for the control panel nearby, allowing him to intervene in the variety show world at any time…

This was practically a crime scene.

What kind of subconscious has he invited?

Is Tong Zhao really not a fugitive hiding in the entertainment industry?

The assistant director voiced what everyone was thinking: “Should we… call the police?”

“Call the police for what?!”

Director Chen summoned his fist, ready to attack, and punched the assistant director lightly. “It’s just a variety show! How long has Tong Zhao’s face been popular in the country? If she were a fugitive, how could she have escaped until now? It must be that our script is just too good and fits her perfectly!”

While the assistant director obediently took the hit, he secretly reminded himself not to provoke this female star.

She was too scary!

…

Kong Yeming and the others worked hard to sleep, but they didn’t rest well.

Duan Ge, on the other hand, had a good rest and woke up early, stirred by her superior’s message—

“Based on your known intelligence, choose a location for the gas deployment!”

The modified phone, now stripped down to only its essential functions, alerted her that she could choose a location for the gas deployment.

Duan Ge calculated the time and figured that the survivors in the school should be waking up soon. The possibility of them being poisoned in their sleep was low… However, she still held onto the thoughts of “what if” and “it doesn’t hurt to try,” deciding to deploy the gas at this school.

She skillfully crawled back into the ventilation duct, lying prone at a small window in the ceiling to observe below.

With half an hour left until deployment, their watches, tucked away in Duan Ge’s waist pouch, lit up.

Duan Ge pulled out the vibrating watch—

This was the watch she had taken off the Thunder Squad guard’s wrist last night, and it was now displaying a miniature map of Canaan City, with a red dot flashing. After double-tapping to zoom in, she saw that the red dot indicated the location of the school.

Immediately after, she saw the fugitives below hurriedly packing supplies and belongings, preparing to leave.

Hmm?

Duan Ge tilted her head slightly.

The special effects team had placed a small light bulb above her head.

Duan Ge: [Has the information leaked…?]

Duan Ge: [Receiving news half an hour early means this gas deployment won’t be lethal. Unless I can create a sealed room they can’t escape from… Ah, I realized too late. If I had known, I would have figured out how to block all the doors last night.]

When Duan Ge replayed the situation in her mind, her tone was remarkably calm; she didn’t feel frustrated at all.

[Tong Zhao is truly the most transcendent variety show guest I’ve ever seen…]

[I want to see her play a female assassin in a movie QAQ]

The fact that the fugitives could learn about the gas deployment location half an hour in advance didn’t affect Duan Ge’s confidence at all. She simply noted this time difference for future reference.

At this point, the Sun Team was down to seven members.

[Fugitives: 15/20]

When this data appeared in the upper right corner, a comment popped up in the barrage: [Did Sister Zhao just get a Penta Kill?]

[Too bad it wasn’t a streak.]

[But it’s all Solo Kills—impressive!]

Coincidentally, with the ongoing esports world championship, viewers immediately started discussing and wanted to see Tong Zhao portray an esports player—she displayed the calm and steady demeanor that professional players needed most. It was clear she was a high-level competitor, the kind who wouldn’t lose her cool even in the fifth game.

As Tong Zhao followed the Sun and Thunder Teams to “run the gas” and change their location ahead of time, the production team behind the scenes confidently shifted their focus to the remaining two teams…

Not only did they closely monitor the guests’ progress, but the entire staff also had to keep track of the competition situation while observing the live stream comments, aiming to stir the audience’s emotions and enhance the entertainment value of the show, setting up dramatic twists while ensuring everything could wrap up neatly.

The dramatic twist of Tong Zhao instantaneously taking out four people was already enough to satisfy the audience, who were left exhilarated.

It just nearly couldn’t wrap back up.

This was also something the director was eager to avoid.

From the observation cameras, it could be seen that the Star and Moon Teams were back on track.

They had settled down at locations ten minutes apart. After seeing that the first gas deployment was far from them, they all relaxed, becoming more proactive in searching for supplies. With a large area of Canaan City rendered inactive, the likelihood of conflict with other teams increased.

The early bird gets the worm.

Just when it seemed like things were calming down, the production team dropped the first resource supply pack—

And informed all team members via their watches that this supply pack contained lethal weapons!

Upon seeing the content on the watch, the Sun Team leader, Kong Yeming, changed his expression.

In the control room…

During lunchtime, when the viewership peaked, the director satisfiedly pressed the drop button: “What’s the point of them all settling down? It’s all about creating suspense. If they really unite, there won’t be much excitement left.” From the production team’s perspective, Tong Zhao was capable of killing and winning, but she shouldn’t do it too quickly.

Facilitating communication between the teams was meant to slow down her killing pace.

Dropping weapons was not only giving the players the means to resist but also lighting the fuse for conflict.

It was also a carefully prepared climax for the audience.

A helicopter slowly flew into the skies above Canaan City.

All the contestants looked up in unison.

Once again, standing at a high vantage point, Duan Ge also raised her head, observing the helicopter’s flight path, thinking: What is that thing?

As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she pulled out the gun from her waist.

It had only one bullet, coming from her unscrupulous boss and the show’s “supply resources.” She hadn’t used it while killing, thinking it would be a waste of a bullet, but now she took it out without hesitation.

Seeing this scene, Director Chen’s eyes widened: “That’s impossible to hit; this isn’t a movie—there’s no guaranteed hit coding…”

That’s right. In many instinctive films, the “marksmen” and “snipers” have every bullet pre-programmed with automatic navigation codes, enabling them to achieve dramatic, guaranteed hits. Such coding is too detailed and needs to be incorporated early in the world-building; it’s not easy to implement in an instinctive variety show.

Moreover, the production team didn’t want to give Tong Zhao that kind of treatment.

One dagger and two arrows could take out a team.

Would they really give her a gun that never misses? As if they thought she wasn’t killing quickly enough?

However, Duan Ge’s marksmanship had withstood countless real-world tests; her physical abilities were slightly above average, and her dynamic vision was comparable to that of a hawk.

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

The shot was quick, so quick that the data couldn’t be altered in time.

The shot was loud, loud enough that all the contestants drawn by the helicopter’s presence saw this scene.

A dark figure brought the helicopter down—

This was obviously impossible.

It couldn’t be done scientifically, nor could it be accomplished in the world of variety shows.

But the problem was that the knot hanging the supply drop package was a relatively large target. When the helicopter flew low, Duan Ge, standing on the rooftop water tank of the building, was quite close…

One could only say that Duan Ge’s habit of occupying the high ground led the production team to forget about this possibility.

When that supply package crashed down right in front of Duan Ge, the director gritted his teeth: “Who the hell used a helicopter for a supply drop? Should have used a plane!”

Modeling Technician: “Uh, didn’t you say that the rental cost for the helicopter model is cheaper, Director?”

Director: “…”

He didn’t really expect something to appear at such a height.

Isn’t the show’s budget squeezed out by cutting costs here and there?

Speaking of which, the financial strain was partly due to Duan Ge’s somewhat high remuneration.

“Hiss…”

The director slapped his forehead.

At the same time, Duan Ge had already opened the huge box, revealing it was filled to the brim with weapons.

Duan Ge: “…Wow.”

[Poor Zhao Zhao, suddenly rich like a rabbit!]

[It’s over, it’s over! The big shot has got a full magazine; how are we going to fight with that?]

[I’m dying of laughter! Can she really shoot that down? Isn’t this set up by the production team?]

The livestream timely gave her a close-up.

Duan Ge’s eyes widened brightly as she touched the weapons. Underneath them were military rations, the kind that could heat up with just a little cold water.

Duan Ge: “This definitely isn’t our military’s supplies.”

Duan Ge: “It must be from those fugitives…”

She stood up holding the box, carefully searching for an escape route while seriously contemplating:

[Is it too late to change jobs now?]