TWWMABMTBH Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Agricultural University Wins!

A phrase that doesn’t shock will never be remembered.

The last word from Rong Ziyan landed, and the entire scene fell silent.

No, it should be said that not only the recording venue but even the live stream chat was frozen.

A full six or seven seconds passed before the host reacted and tried to smooth things over, but found himself only able to stammer, “Student Rong is truly humorous.”

This host was actually a veteran in the industry, and his specialty was creating a buzz and making a spectacle of himself. However, his ability to salvage a situation was far inferior to that of the true veterans.

The production team had called him in because he was known for jumping around and they figured that if the straightforward science became too dull, he could liven things up.

Before Rong Ziyan’s episode aired, he had indeed done a good job. He provided almost all of the jokes in each episode. The director had also chosen Rong Ziyan hoping that the two would clash and create even more laughs.

After all, Rong Ziyan’s bluntness was naturally hilarious, as long as you weren’t the one being targeted.

But it was clear that Rong Ziyan was now targeting them.

On the Agricultural University forum, the people who were originally complaining and cursing were now all laughing.

“Holy crap, holy crap! My Brother Rong is so mighty and domineering, did you see how dumbfounded the host was?”

“It wasn’t just the host! The whole production team is bewildered.”

“I’ll bet a cucumber that there will be a trending topic, and the keywords will be Rong Ziyan!”

“I even thought of the hashtag #GarbageProductionTeamBlackmail,InnocentDinosaursReputationDamaged#”

The online viewers in the live stream also reacted.

However, contrary to the Agricultural University students’ approving of the cathartic moment, they felt that Rong Ziyan’s actions were too arrogant.

“He’s just blabbering because he knows a little bit, why bother coming if you regret participating? If you ask me, he’s the least qualified here. A veterinary medicine student, treating animals, and he dares to call himself an academic?”

“I’m disgusted too. I originally thought the trash host was already too much, but this one is even more pretentious. I just want to see how good he really is.”

“Whether he’s good or not, his words are true! And what do you mean ‘treating animals’? Can agriculture not be considered scientific research? Is rice not delicious or pork not tasty? Without agriculture, you’d all starve.”

“As someone also in agriculture, I really feel that. Just because of Rong Ziyan’s words, I hope he wins.”

The live stream chat was once again divided, and the topic related to Rong Ziyan rose to the top of the trending list.

Normally, the show making the trending list wasn’t anything new. But today’s headline was particularly eye-catching, drawing in many people who didn’t normally watch variety shows.

The massive influx of traffic almost exceeded the capacity of the live stream, and many people were stuck due to the lag.

But the director’s team had no time to worry about that because they still had to deal with Rong Ziyan, who was more troublesome than the live stream.

“This is a broadcasting accident, director, what should we do?” the assistant director said anxiously.

Variety shows were like this, using the slogan of live broadcast and no editing, with some harmless little twists, many viewers would really believe that the show had no script.

As for some minor adjustments made by the production team from a god-like perspective, it would be a case of not being able to see the forest for the trees. Especially for those scholars they invited, when they were selecting the contestants, most of them were focused on their studies, and some were even out of touch with the world.

But who could have imagined that Rong Ziyan, who looked so unassuming, would see through the production team so thoroughly? They had been so careful, yet they were still exposed.

“This matter can’t blow up, Rong Ziyan has to lose!” the director gritted his teeth, indicating to change the questions.

“Change only Rong Ziyan’s, make it as difficult and obscure as possible. Isn’t he capable? Let’s see how capable he really is!”

The assistant director was a bit confused, “Change them now?”

They weren’t really familiar with the questions themselves. In the past, they would just find a rare book and copy the questions verbatim. If they were to make them up in a hurry, would there be any loopholes?

But the director had a different mindset, “There’s no time, if we want to turn the tide, the only way is for Rong Ziyan to lose. That way we can step on his lack of excellence to sway public opinion. Otherwise, if someone with a motive starts digging, we’re finished.”

“Everyone move now! If you don’t want the show to be canceled, hurry up!”

The director took another step towards their doom without hesitation. He still didn’t understand why Rong Ziyan dared to openly confront him on stage. He also didn’t understand what these scholars he had invited to the show represented.

Otherwise, how could he have dared to use the entertainment industry’s shady tactics to try and control everything, dividing them into different levels?

After a long five minutes, the backstage was clearly divided. Some were finding questions, some were temporarily modifying the public screen subtitles, and if they couldn’t modify them, they simply deleted what they had done before.

At this moment, the production team had only one goal: they had to suppress Rong Ziyan, so that they could use public relations to restore the reputation of the production team.

An academician’s sharp insight is seen as uncovering the truth, while the ramblings of a loser can only be mocked as impotent rage.

At this moment, all the viewers watching the live stream were holding their breath, waiting for the competition to begin, wanting to see with their own eyes what kind of confidence Rong Ziyan had to stand on this stage.

“I… will try my best…” the geography and humanities student vaguely hinted to Rong Ziyan, meaning that even if he won, he wouldn’t let Rong Ziyan lose too badly.

Rong Ziyan didn’t give any response, as if he didn’t understand what he meant.

The geography and humanities student immediately became uneasy.

The host turned to look at the question board in front of him and began to read the first question. The hell-level duel had begun.

Little did they know, the hell that they had painstakingly set up for Rong Ziyan was the tomb that would bury their future.

The first person to realize this was Rong Ziyan’s opponent.

Rong Ziyan’s strength was beyond his imagination. He was from a proper geography department, in other words, this competition was his home ground. It was even the highlight of his participation in the show.

When he lost to Rong Ziyan in the practice exam, he was still not convinced and even questioned Rong Ziyan about it. But later, he realized that Rong Ziyan was actually the stepping stone for his moment of glory.

But now, standing in front of Rong Ziyan, he had the feeling that he was the stepping stone.

Even though Rong Ziyan’s tone was always calm, and he always waited for the host to finish reading the question before speaking, never arguing or interrupting, the pressure he brought was getting stronger and stronger.

Because Rong Ziyan’s questions were really too difficult.

After the fourth question, the content that appeared every now and then even stumped him, a professional. There was even some content that he had never seen before. In comparison, his questions were extremely simple, some of them were just common sense, and anyone could answer them.

So what was the production team doing?

Could it be that what Rong Ziyan said was true, and this show really had a dark secret?

But that shouldn’t be the case. When they were invited to participate, the letter of commitment stated that all proceeds would be donated to the National Academy of Sciences to support research projects, and wasn’t this show made for science popularization?

The more it went on, the more suspicious he became, the more confused and nervous he became, and the geography and humanities student was almost completely bewildered.

And the production team was going crazy.

What kind of knowledge base did this Rong Ziyan have! Why was a veterinary medicine student looking at so much human geography? Was he crazy?

As for the audience, they were staring at the screen, dumbfounded.

“He’s too strong, oh my god!”

“I’ve never even heard of these questions.”

“That village with such a long name actually exists? I couldn’t even find it on Baidu.”

Three minutes was actually extremely short, almost in the blink of an eye. But those three minutes of highlight were so classic that every frame and every pause was worth remembering.

In the first minute, neither Rong Ziyan nor his opponent made any mistakes. Rong Ziyan and his opponent had answered the same number of questions correctly, both with 20.

At one minute and thirty seconds, Rong Ziyan had 27 questions correct, and the geography and humanities student had 26.

At two minutes, Rong Ziyan had 38 questions correct, and the geography and humanities student had 39.

At two and a half minutes, Rong Ziyan had 46 questions correct, and the geography and humanities student had 47.

Neither of them had made any mistakes, and the number of correct answers was so close that it could be said that their strength was evenly matched.

In the last thirty seconds, everyone’s hearts were in their throats.

“I can’t do it anymore, I can’t take it anymore!”

“Ahhh, just one more question, damn it, why are Rong Ziyan’s questions always so long!”

“I don’t know, and don’t you think his answers are very long too?”

“It’s tied, it’s tied! He caught up! There’s still ten seconds, the last question!”

On the Agricultural University forum, the replies to posts related to the show stopped instantly. No one had time to post, and all they could think about was the final result.

It seemed that even God couldn’t bear to watch this, the final match point was actually on the Agricultural University’s side!

There were only ten seconds left, and the last question was for Rong Ziyan. In other words, as long as Rong Ziyan answered it correctly, then the Agricultural University would win!

These students who were staring at the screen felt their hearts almost stop beating.

On the show, Yao Lele and Xu Chuanzhi couldn’t help but stand up from their chairs.

But how could the production team allow this to happen?

From an angle that the live stream camera couldn’t see, they replaced Rong Ziyan’s question. The original short question instantly turned into a new question with more than a hundred words.

Ten seconds wasn’t even enough to read the question!

“Damn it!” Xu Chuanzhi couldn’t help but curse. The other academics present were also shocked by the production team’s dirty tricks.

They were deliberately trying to make Rong Ziyan lose!

Someone couldn’t help but want to curse, and even the geography and humanities student who was competing glared at the host, immediately asking him for an explanation.

“What do you mean?”

He wanted to win, but he wanted to compete fairly with Rong Ziyan before taking the championship. He wanted to really show his talent so that the public would see the true style of geography and humanities students, instead of always carelessly saying things like, “What can you do after you graduate? Be tour guides?” He also wanted to earn the respect of his opponent.

Instead of being like now, relying on a bunch of weak questions, enjoying the favor of the production team, and stealing the title of victor, which was stained with dirty tricks, from an erudite opponent.

In his opinion, the production team’s actions were an insult not only to Rong Ziyan, but to the Agricultural University.

It was also an insult to him, an insult to the school behind him.

It was even an insult to all of them, who strived for science!

They had studied hard for years, determined to pursue truth, and willing to dedicate their lives to academics. Was this what they got in return, superficial praise?

Like clowns, standing before the public and enduring the judgmental comments of countless strangers.

The geography and humanities student finally couldn’t take it anymore. But just when he was about to speak again, Rong Ziyan suddenly spoke, “The answer is A.”

The countdown stopped, and the final answer was displayed on the public screen: correct.

Rong Ziyan, wins!

The huge turnaround left people with no time to react. The geography and humanities student was stunned for several seconds before he heard Rong Ziyan continue, “The answer to this question is from a hand-copied journal of a water management official from the Ming Dynasty. It’s less than twenty pages.”

“Because the wording is obscure and the content is relatively niche, very few people know about it. It was originally stored in the Beijing Library. You guys really went through a lot to create a spectacle.”

“It’s a pity that the translation was wrong, so the question didn’t make sense. I’m sorry, I take back what I said before. It’s not that everyone is an academic compared to the dinosaurs.”

“You guys just can’t compare to the dinosaurs, quickly apologize to the dinosaurs!”