I’ve Gone Viral Because of a Money-Saving Variety Show

Qin Wei walked and suddenly tugged at Xu Mu’s hem, stepping lightly and whispered, “Do you hear people talking in the warehouse next door?”
Xu Mu stopped in his tracks, looking towards the warehouse with the concrete wall on the right side.
Indeed, there was the sound of a man and a woman talking inside.
The woman asked worriedly, “Can we really hide here? Won’t we get discovered? If we do get discovered, we can’t escape.”
The man reassured, “No problem, relax, no one will find us here.”
“Yeah, who would go into someone else’s warehouse to look for us…”
Qin Wei frowned slightly, carefully discerning the owners of the voices. After a while, she guessed, “It seems like the voices of Chen Xixi and Zhou Jinyuan.”
Xu Mu also felt it sounded somewhat similar.
Qin Wei turned to look at Xu Mu, “Should we call Zheng He first?”
Xu Mu pondered for a moment and calmly said, “Let’s not call just yet. We don’t have any points on us, there’s no loss if we can’t snatch any, and if we do manage to snatch them, we’d have to share one of the two points cards with Zheng He and the others, so it’s not necessary.”
Qin Wei was somewhat confused, “But why did you agree to team up with him just now?”
Xu Mu spread his hands, “I never agreed to it from the start.”
Zheng He can’t even defeat him; how could he possibly seek an alliance with a weaker party? That would just be a burden. Xu Mu was not that foolish.
After Xu Mu finished speaking, he quietly moved towards the warehouse door, with Qin Wei following behind him.
Xu Mu bent down at the crack of the warehouse door, trying to see the situation inside, but it was pitch black, and the gap in the door was too small to see any figures. He had no choice but to slowly push the door open a bit more, trying not to startle anyone.
The door was pushed slightly open, and the visibility improved, but still, no human figures were seen in the dimly lit warehouse.
Both Xu Mu and Qin Wei had big question marks in their minds: Where are the people?
They had clearly heard voices coming from this warehouse just now. How could there be no one here?
Xu Mu curiously took a step inside; they had no points cards on them, so they had nothing to fear and did not worry about being discovered.
From his observations, this warehouse only had one exit. If they guarded the position at the door, Chen Xixi and Zhou Jinyuan would have no chance to escape, and they would have a great opportunity to snatch the points cards.
As soon as Xu Mu stepped in, Qin Wei quickly followed suit, and just as the two entered the warehouse, there was a “clang” sound, and the warehouse door was closed from outside, followed by the sound of a lock.
“!!!” Xu Mu and Qin Wei instantly realized they had been tricked!
They had fallen for Chen Xixi and Zhou Jinyuan’s trick!!
Xu Mu and Qin Wei immediately turned around to push the door, but no matter how hard they pushed, it wouldn’t budge.
Outside the warehouse door, Zhou Jinyuan’s palm was pressed against the door, while Chen Xixi was locking it with a padlock, their coordination remarkably seamless.
Inside the warehouse, Xu Mu shouted anxiously, “What are you doing?!”
Outside the warehouse door, after locking the door, Chen Xixi dusted off her hands, her tone light and breezy, “Nothing much, just play inside for a bit, and I’ll let you out in a while.”
Qin Wei hurriedly banged on the door, the warehouse door banging loudly, “Let us out now!”
Chen Xixi heartlessly pulled out the key from the lock, “Save your energy, even if you scream your throats out, I won’t let you out right now.”
Qin Wei tried to bargain, “If you let us out, we promise we won’t compete for your points, isn’t that enough?”
After all, it’s better than staying in this dark, shabby warehouse until the game ends!
Chen Xixi played with the key in her hand, pondered for a moment, “Sure, but I’m not the type who trusts easily. Show me some sincerity, and I’ll consider letting you out.”
When Qin Wei heard there was a chance, she turned her head and exchanged a glance with Xu Mu, who asked, “What do you mean by sincerity?”
Chen Xixi: “Lure Zheng He and Hu Yun over here.”
“Okay,” Xu Mu agreed quickly, “You’ll keep your word, right?”
“It counts for now, but if you’re too slow, I might change my mind later.”
“Alright, I’ll contact Zheng He right now!” Xu Mu hastily took out his phone.
Qin Wei, however, stretched out her hand to stop Xu Mu, then leaned in close and whispered, “Directly message Zheng He saying it was Chen Xixi who asked us to lure him here.”
Xu Mu coolly said, “Of course, I know that.”
Although they hadn’t followed the ‘Save Money’ variety show closely, they had heard about how unlucky and foolish Zheng He was in the program, whereas Chen Xixi was practically a game assassin.
Therefore, the first one they should be eliminating now should be the strongest opponent, Chen Xixi, not Zheng He.
As long as they collaborate with Zheng He and manage to snatch the points from Chen Xixi’s hands, wouldn’t it be easy to then take Zheng He’s afterwards?
Qin Wei: “They can scheme, and so can we. Let’s use Zheng He to counter their plan, pretend to be deceived, come over, then after they release us, we’ll all figure out a way to grab the points from Chen Xixi’s hands.”
…
Outside the warehouse.
There are a total of three keys on the keychain in Chen Xixi’s hand.
While waiting for Xu Mu and Qin Wei to respond, she unhooked one of them.
After about three minutes of silence, Xu Mu’s voice finally came from inside the warehouse: “I’ve told Zheng He and Hu Yun, and they said they would come right away!”
“But now I’ve changed my mind; I don’t want to let you out because bringing Zheng He over is pointless. He doesn’t have any points on him, forget it…” Chen Xixi hid the key she unhooked in the grass nearby and said to Zhou Jinyuan, “Let’s hide the key here and leave.”
Qin Wei, pounding on the warehouse door, frowned and said, “How come you’re not keeping your word?”
However, what responded to Qin Wei was the sound of footsteps gradually growing distant.
[Classic Chen Xixi, lurking around the warehouse, enticed Xu Mu and Qin Wei inside, then directly locked both of them in. This way, she can have two fewer opponents. So smart!]
[Didn’t Chen Xixi promise Xu Mu and Qin Wei that she would let them go if they lured Zheng He over? How come she’s not keeping her word? That’s really dishonest.]
[Maybe she’s afraid they’ll pull some tricks. But Chen Xixi’s thoughts are hard to predict; if she wasn’t planning on letting Xu Mu and Qin Wei go, why didn’t she throw the key far away? Instead, dropping it in the nearby grass would make it quite easy for Zheng He to find if he is called over, right?]
[Maybe she’s worried that if it’s hidden too far away, it can’t be found again.]
[She still has two more keys in her hand.]
[Both keys could be for other storage rooms as well.]
Inside the warehouse, Qin Wei’s ear was pressed against the door, “They seem to really have left. But I think I just heard Chen Xixi say she hid the key nearby.”
Xu Mu: “I heard it too, now we just wait for Zheng He to come over and get us out first.”
After about five more minutes, Xu Mu and Qin Wei heard footsteps.
At the same time, Zheng He’s pretentious call also came through: “Xu Mu, Qin Wei, where are you?”