IDEI CH41

In the final game, An Zai’s team started on the defending side.

The three of them guarded the main entrance of the park. With sharp eyes, they intercepted Mo Jinghai dressed as a sanitation worker, Xiao Yingyi disguised as a production crew member, and Pang Nong attempting to blend in with the square-dancing aunties.

As for the other three on the attacking team, two were intercepted by another group, while Feng Qingyi simply got lost inside the park.

No one knew how Brother Feng managed to get lost in such a tiny park.

“This game is way too hard!” a guest complained half-jokingly. “The whole park only has these two gates, and the walls are super hard to climb over. As long as someone guards the entrances, I refuse to believe anyone can get through without being caught!”

The attackers nodded in agreement.

Mo Jinghai asked An Zai, “How on earth did you recognize us?”

He thought his disguise was actually pretty good.

An Zai fell silent for a moment. He looked at the 188 cm tall, burly “sanitation worker,” the impeccably postured “crew member” wearing a mask and baseball cap in the dead of summer, and the “square-dancing auntie” who stuck out like a sore thumb while surrounded by actual aunties…

It would be harder not to recognize them.

After the first half of the game ended, it was already 2:00 PM. It was the hottest part of the day, and the members were physically and mentally exhausted after playing all morning. The production team arranged for them to eat and rest for a few hours before resuming the shoot at 5:00 PM.

After a quick bite, everyone returned to their assigned rooms to rest. What they didn’t see was An Zi’ai and Lou Yuxing sneaking into Gong Jiayu’s room, followed shortly by Qi Yanning and his assistant, Wu Jianming.

“…So, how exactly did you get Director Lin to agree to let you trade your off-site lifeline for me to do your makeup?” Qi Yanning arched an eyebrow.

“Director Lin didn’t agree at first,” An Zai said with a cheeky grin. “But he saw us getting brutally tortured all morning and took pity on us…”

“Oh, but more importantly, I told him this would create much better variety show effects, so he finally caved.”

Qi Yanning gave An Zai a deep look. This kid really was sharp.

“Alright, shall we begin?” Qi Yanning pushed his makeup case beside them and handed them a bundle of clothes.

An Zai had spoken to him about this right before the fifth round started.

“Let me see…” An Zai dumped the clothes onto the bed, his eyes lighting up. “Qi-ge, you’re amazing! These clothes are perfect!”

The pile on the bed consisted of two sets of elderly clothing and one set of… women’s sportswear?

“Hurry, go change!” An Zai grabbed the old lady outfit, threw the old man’s clothes to Gong Jiayu, and handed the sportswear to a dead-inside Lou Yuxing, dragging them off to change.

Before long, the three had changed.

An Zai wore a teal, stand-collar, long-sleeved Chinese-style blouse that completely covered his Adam’s apple, paired with white cotton-linen trousers. Gong Jiayu wore a thin, blue cotton suit with bagua patterns—the typical attire of grandpas taking a stroll—and held a cheap promotional hand fan.

Lou Yuxing wore athletic sweatpants and a short-sleeved shirt layered under a sun-protection jacket, looking like the most generic girl on the street.

“Qi-ge, the clothes you prepped… we literally saw eight hundred people dressed exactly like this in the park earlier, hahahaha!” An Zai laughed wildly. Paired with his outfit, the booming laugh looked utterly bizarre.

“Yeah, but why do these clothes smell?” Gong Jiayu lifted his collar and gave it a sniff.

“That scent was smoked in just now using medicated plasters and incense,” Qi Yanning said flatly. “Elderly people might have a specific old-age scent, or rarely smell like perfume, but you guys definitely smell like cologne. So I smoked the clothes with plasters to mask your natural scent.”

“Qi-ge! You thought of every single detail!” An Zai looked at him in sheer worship.

“Enough, come get your makeup done. Old-age makeup counts as special effects (SFX) makeup and takes a while. If we don’t start now, we won’t make it in time,” Qi Yanning directed.

An Zai immediately sat down obediently. Wu Jianming fitted him with a wig while Qi Yanning began the makeup process.

Achieving realistic old-age makeup required SFX tools not used in everyday styling.

First, Qi Yanning used scar wax to alter the proportions of An Zai’s nose and chin. Then, he applied a layer of liquid latex to An Zai’s face and neck, using a hairdryer and setting powder to set it. He repeated this process several times to create realistic wrinkles.

Next, he used castor sealer to sculpt lifelike nasolabial folds and crow’s feet.

Once the sculpting phase was complete, Qi Yanning took a skin-toned cream foundation and pressed it onto An Zai’s face and neck, creating a dull, rough texture. He mixed a custom contour cream based on the new skin tone to deepen the wrinkles and paint on age spots. Finally, he brushed white hair color liquid through An Zai’s brows to create realistic white eyebrows.

Just like that, An Zai was dramatically transformed into an old lady.

An Zai’s hands were also meticulously aged. In an instant, his pale, slender hands became rough and sallow.

With An Zai’s look mostly finished, Qi Yanning let him go look in the mirror and pulled Gong Jiayu over.

Gong Jiayu had been watching in dumbfounded awe, and even after sitting down, he remained somewhat dazed.

He knew there were people in the world who could create hyper-realistic illusions with makeup, but he never expected to find a master of this caliber right beside him!

“…Qi-ge, were you a spy in your past life?” Gong Jiayu muttered, only to shiver violently under Qi Yanning’s icy glare.

“Qi-ge, I mean you’re insanely incredible!” Gong Jiayu’s survival instincts kicked in as he instantly corrected himself. “I thought this kind of SFX makeup only existed in Hollywood!”

Qi Yanning cast him a sidelong glance and ignored him. This was his first time doing this specific type of makeup using modern materials. While the tools were excellent, he wasn’t perfectly accustomed to them, making his progress slower than he liked.

He furrowed his brows and picked up his speed.

Repeating the steps he used on An Zai: scar wax to alter the nose and chin, liquid latex and castor sealer for wrinkles, dark cream foundation for dull and rough skin, contour cream for deep lines and age spots…

Having gone through it once, Qi Yanning was much more practiced. His hands moved in a blur.

While Qi Yanning applied the makeup, An Zai was in front of the mirror practicing his posture.

An Zai was 177 cm tall—not exactly short. To avoid giving himself away, he had to hunch over. During the morning shoot, he had intentionally observed the old ladies in the park and pulled up reference videos on his phone. Now, he was adjusting his posture to match the footage, with Lou Yuxing overcoming his own psychological hurdles to help him adjust.

With a little over half an hour left before five o’clock, Gong Jiayu’s makeup was finally finished. Because his character was supposed to have a sprained ankle according to An Zai’s script, Qi Yanning even applied old-age makeup to both of Gong Jiayu’s feet, creating a swollen effect.

“Qi-ge, why paint both ankles!” Gong Jiayu checked the time, feeling a bit anxious.

“In case someone casually lifts your other pant leg…” Qi Yanning said mildly, his hands never stopping.

If that happened—one ankle pale as jade, the other looking like wrinkled, rotting wood—getting exposed on the spot would be far too embarrassing.

Gong Jiayu instantly fell silent.

Now, only Lou Yuxing’s makeup remained.

Lou Yuxing’s makeup seemed simple, but in reality, it wasn’t. Qi Yanning had to use the simplest techniques to transform Lou Yuxing’s androgynous, pretty face into that of a complete woman… and not a particularly stunning one, either.

But this wasn’t difficult for Qi Yanning. He used a foundation one shade darker than Lou Yuxing’s pale skin, softened the arch of his eyebrows, and used cosmetic glue to turn his double eyelids into monolids. Since altering the bridge of his nose was tricky, Qi Yanning focused on the lips, overlining his naturally cute, delicate lips to make them thick and full. He used heavy contouring to soften his jawline into gentle curves.

Finally, Qi Yanning even painted a few acne scars and a massive, red, inflamed pimple on his face!

Just like that, the highly conspicuous Lou Yuxing was instantly reduced to an ordinary, average-looking girl.

“Xiao Xing, make sure to keep your sun-jacket hood up later. Even if you take it off, remember to zip the jacket all the way up to hide your Adam’s apple!” An Zai instructed. “And remember to use a female voice. Don’t blow your cover.”

Turning his head, he told Gong Jiayu, “We can’t change our voices, so we’ll just have to sound as hoarse as possible, preferably speaking in dialect. If you’re not confident, just talk as little as possible.”

Lou Yuxing and Gong Jiayu both nodded.

They ran through their script one last time just as the production team knocked on the door. Wu Jianming went to open it.

“Teachers, time to head to the shoot…” The follow PD peeked in. Finding no idols, but instead seeing Qi Yanning packing his things alongside two elderly people and a girl, he reflexively shut the door.

Standing in the hallway, he processed for two seconds before checking the room number again.

He hadn’t gone to the wrong room! Plus, Qi Yanning was definitely in there.

He knocked again cautiously.

This time, An Zai opened the door. He roughened his voice, “Young man, what can I do for you?”

“Uh…” The follow PD’s mind went completely blank, utterly at a loss for words.

It wasn’t until An Zai straightened his back and burst into boisterous laughter that an unbelievable realization dawned on him.

“…An Zai?” Follow PD asked in shock.

“It’s me, PD Ning!” Wearing an old lady’s face, An Zai flashed his usual sly, mischievous expression. “Surprised? Did you see this coming?”

PD Ning took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut.

This was truly…

Brilliant! Wasn’t this exactly the kind of top-tier variety content they needed?!

Though still reeling from the visual shock, he was already buzzing with excitement. “Don’t move. Let me contact the rest of the crew to sneak you straight into the park. Make sure you don’t bump into anyone else!”

PD Ning acted swiftly and decisively. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

After coordinating with the other staff members, PD Ning stared at the three faces in utter marvel. “This makeup is insane! Qi-ge did this?”

The three nodded.

“I had no idea Qi-ge could do this kind of styling! That’s too badass!” PD Ning marveled. “I always thought this level of SFX makeup only worked on camera and looked fake in real life, but yours…”

Age spots, wrinkles, sagging skin… It looked 100% authentic!

“Right? I didn’t expect it to look this good either!” An Zai beamed with pride. “Qi-ge is on another level. He was so meticulous he even factored in our scent!”

PD Ning closed his eyes again, feeling a physical pain in his corneas. An Zai’s expressive face was lively and cute on his own visage, but superimposed onto an old lady’s face…

It was a total eyesore.

Still, he leaned in and sniffed An Zai, growing even more thrilled. “Yes! Yes! My grandma smells exactly like this! Medicated plasters mixed with incense, absolutely brilliant!”

“And Lou Yuxing. It doesn’t even look like heavy makeup, yet he looks like a completely different person?” PD Ning inspected Lou Yuxing, completely dumbfounded.

Lou Yuxing wore a messy, unkempt brown wig held up by a claw clip, sporting heavy dark circles and dull, lifeless eyes. He looked exactly like an exhausted twenty-something working girl.

Hearing this, Lou Yuxing smiled. “I find it pretty magical too.”

PD Ning was given another fright. “Xiao Xing, that voice?”

Then, it instantly clicked. Lou Yuxing had trained in traditional opera as a dan (female role); imitating a female voice was child’s play for him.

He gave a thumbs-up. Lou Yuxing merely smiled without speaking.

Soon, PD Ning’s colleagues notified them it was time to move. The three were ushered into a private vehicle and slipped into the park through a side gate.

With everything in place, the recording resumed.

***

Xiao Yingyi and Wei Mingzhe were guarding the park entrance.

“How many have we caught?” Wei Mingzhe squinted into the depths of the park.

“Two,” Xiao Yingyi replied.

Over twenty minutes had passed since the recording resumed. The strategy of Xiao Yingyi’s team of six differed from the previous group’s: two people guarded each gate, while the remaining two scoured the park to end the game as quickly as possible.

Using this tactic, they had chased down the host guest inside the park and intercepted another guest disguised as a maintenance worker at the gate.

There were four people left in the park.

To avoid drawing a crowd, the recording equipment and livestream cameras at the gate were stashed in hidden spots. Only the roaming cameramen following the two of them were relatively visible.

Xiao Yingyi and Wei Mingzhe scanned every passerby with hawk-like precision.

Until—

“Excuse me, are you waiting for someone?” an anxious female voice called out.

The two turned around, just in time to see a girl pull down the hood of her sun-jacket. It was a brown-haired girl with monolids.

“Can we help you?” Xiao Yingyi replied politely.

“My grandpa sprained his ankle…” the girl said, her voice laced with sobs, perfectly masking her natural vocal resonance. “My grandma and I can’t carry him, so we have to ask for help.”

“Are you waiting for someone, or…? If you’re busy, I can go look for someone else…” The girl sounded incredibly desperate.

“Where is your grandpa?” Wei Mingzhe’s expression grew serious. “Let’s go take a look. An elderly person spraining an ankle is no small matter.”

“Thank you, thank you,” the girl nodded gratefully. But looking at the camera equipment trailing after them, she hesitated. “Are you filming a show? Are you celebrities? Am I interrupting you?”

“Maybe I should ask someone else.” The girl looked flustered.

“It’s fine, we’re just recording a vlog, it’s not important,” Xiao Yingyi said dismissively. “Let’s go see your grandpa.”

The girl mumbled hesitantly, but out of concern for her grandpa, led the two men away.

Xiao Yingyi and Wei Mingzhe were led to a rockery inside the park. Following this path led straight to the gate, but it was rarely used by pedestrians.

“I’m not familiar with this park, so I took my grandparents this way, and then Grandpa sprained his ankle…” the girl explained.

The two men stepped forward and saw an old man leaning against a rock with his eyes squeezed shut in pain, while an old lady looked on helplessly, muttering in an unrecognizable dialect.

This grandma’s voice is a bit deep… The thought briefly flashed across Xiao Yingyi’s mind before vanishing entirely. If anything, he felt a twinge of guilt for judging an old lady’s voice.

“Grandpa, where did you sprain it?” Wei Mingzhe crouched down and lifted one side of the old man’s pant leg.

“…It’s the other side,” the girl reminded him softly.

Wei Mingzhe rolled up the other pant leg, revealing a bruised, swollen ankle. Xiao Yingyi leaned in to look as well, meaning neither of them caught the guilty, loaded glances exchanged between the girl and her grandparents.

“This looks pretty severe!” Wei Mingzhe frowned. Just as he reached out to check the bone, he was startled by the old man’s wails of agony.

Why does the texture of an old man’s sprained ankle feel different from when I sprained mine?

A sliver of doubt crept into Wei Mingzhe’s mind, but he quickly rationalized it away. It’s probably just the difference between an elderly person and a young man.

The two men supported the old man from both sides and headed toward the gate.

Along the way, they ran into Mo Jinghai, who was patrolling the area.

“A-Yi, Xiao Zhe, what happened?” Seeing the scene, Mo Jinghai rushed over.

“The old gentleman sprained his ankle, we’re helping him out of the park…” Xiao Yingyi said, pausing to look at the girl.

The girl quickly added, “I’ve already called a cab, it’s waiting right at the gate. We’re going straight to the hospital. Thank you so much for your help.”

Saying this, her voice choked up with emotion again.

Seeing this, Mo Jinghai stepped forward and hoisted the old man onto his back. “Walking him out is too slow. I’ll carry him.”

With that, he dashed toward the gate with the old man on his back.

As he ran, he secretly marveled to himself: This old man must be in great shape. The thighs I’m holding don’t have that loose, flabby feel that most elderly people have.

Upon reaching the gate, they loaded the three of them into the taxi. Amidst the girl’s earnest gratitude, they saw them off. Even the old lady grabbed their hands one by one, expressing her thanks in a dialect they couldn’t understand.

Having done their good deed for the day, the three returned to the park entrance in high spirits.

However, confusion soon set in.

“An Zai’s entire group hasn’t shown up at all. Did they just give up?” Mo Jinghai wondered aloud.

“Impossible,” Xiao Yingyi said with certainty. “An Zai and his team aren’t the type to give up easily.”

Yet, right until the countdown timer hit zero, there was no sign of the trio.

Even more bizarrely, the director announced that the three of them had successfully escaped!

The six defenders were gathered by the production team in the conference hall, all completely baffled.

“How is that possible?” Feng Qingyi frowned. “We were guarding the gates and checking everyone. No one who even remotely resembled those three passed by.”

“Exactly,” Wei Mingzhe was equally stumped. “Could they have slipped out while we were helping that old man out the gate?”

Xiao Yingyi fell silent. That was the most likely scenario.

But—

“The team of An Zi’ai, Lou Yuxing, and Gong Jiayu escaped within half an hour, earning 152 bonus points. This includes 30 points for dialogue, 90 points for physical contact, and 32 points for time,” Director Lin announced coldly.

Every single defender stared at him in utter disbelief.

“How is that even possible?” Yan Zihao blurted out. “30 points for dialogue means they held six conversations with us. 90 points for contact is even more absurd!”

The live comments exploded in tandem.

[How is that possible?]

[Wait, with a score like that, the only explanation is that the defenders let them win on purpose!]

[How on earth did they pull that off?!]

[Huh? What exactly did Xiao Yu’s team do?]

But Director Lin offered no immediate explanation. Instead, he smiled and said, “We’ll let them explain it to you themselves. But before that, there are three special guests who want to see you. Especially Xiao Yingyi, Wei Mingzhe, and Mo Jinghai.”

The three looked toward the entrance of the hall in surprise.

They watched as the girl and the old lady from earlier walked in, supporting the injured grandpa.

“Why are you guys here?” Mo Jinghai frowned, immediately stepping forward to meet them. “Sir, your ankle needs to rest, you can’t…”

Before he could finish his sentence, an absurd scene unfolded before his eyes.

The trembling, frail old man threw off the two people supporting him, took a running start—

And executed a flawless backflip right in the middle of the hall!

“Holy… heavens!” Yan Zihao barely managed to censor himself.

But the bullet comments flooded the screen with the words he didn’t say.

[HOLY SHIT!!]

[Must have stood up too fast, I just hallucinated a grandpa doing a backflip!]

[Wait, why is this so surreal?]

[HUH???]

[I’ve literally just been saying ‘Huh?’ for this entire afternoon livestream!]

Mo Jinghai’s eyes were glazed with utter bewilderment. “This… I… huh?”

“Hahahahaha, surprise!” The old lady opened her mouth, letting out a burst of gruff, booming laughter before An Zi’ai’s voice emerged.

And that girl…

She glanced at the three of them. “You couldn’t even recognize the teammates you spend day and night with. You guys are too disappointing… Ah!”

If the expression on her face hadn’t been so smug, her accusation might have been a bit more convincing.

“Wait, what is this? Where did you guys get SFX makeup done?” Wei Mingzhe finally caught on, caught between tears and laughter.

“That’s cheating!” Yan Zihao yelled. “You hired such overpowered outside help, this is unfair to the production team!”

“Did not!” An Zai, wearing an old lady’s face, acted incredibly arrogant. “No outside help. We just cashed in our off-site lifeline to get Qi-ge to do a teeny, tiny little makeup look for us~”

[Wait, you call THAT a teeny, tiny little makeup look?]

[Wait, Qi Yanning did this?]

[Wait, this… ah.]

Everyone’s eyes immediately locked onto Qi Yanning, who was sitting quietly on the sidelines.

Meeting their gazes, Qi Yanning didn’t shift his posture in the slightest, merely giving a gentle nod.

“Ahhhhh An Zai!” Yan Zihao prepared to lunge forward, paused, slammed on the brakes, and abruptly lunged toward Qi Yanning on the sidelines instead.

“Qi-ge, you’re so freaking awesome! You can even do this!”

“This is so cool. Qi-ge, I want to do this too! Aliens, zombies, elves, you can do them all, right, Qi-ge!!!”

Yan Zihao’s voice echoed throughout the conference hall. Even the live broadcast camera pivoted to capture him.

The previously unshakeable Qi Yanning now wore an expression as dark as still water, looking ready to violently peel the clinging Yan Zihao off his body.

[And here I was just thinking Qi-ge was so amazing he practically had a halo.]

[Super badass, total final-boss aura, only to get flying-tackled hahaha]

[Lmao, Qi-ge’s boss aura was shattered in a second]

[Qi-ge is furious!]

[Yan Zihao is in danger!] ……

Before the livestream even ended, the viewers—utterly mind-blown by the trio’s SFX makeup—had already pushed a hashtag straight up the trending charts, rocketing it into the top five!

#QiYanningYouStillSayYouDontKnowMagic!#

The viewers on the hot search square were making furious accusations!