The Game of Life

“Sorry, everyone, as one of the contestants is currently experiencing some health issues, we’ll need to pause the contest,” the host quickly picked up the microphone to handle the situation.

Meanwhile, the live broadcast of the competition paused, temporarily switching to commercials.

The countdown on the background screen froze at 13 minutes and 57 seconds. Wu Minqi was half-kneeling on the ground, asking Jiang Feng if he could stand up again, while staff members were asking in the audience whether anyone was a doctor. Standing right behind Jiang Feng, Zhang Xi was also somewhat stunned by the sudden turn of events.

Jiang Feng hadn’t actually fainted; thousands of system prompts were sounding off in his mind at the same time. He couldn’t make out anything clearly, only hearing a massive jumble of noise, like winding lightning crackling explosively through his brain while a muffled thunder reverberated beside his ear.

“No, no problem, just a little dizzy, my eyes are a bit blurry, I’ll be fine after sitting for a while,” Jiang Feng struggled to prop himself up and sit on the ground, feeling as if someone had delivered a heavy punch to his head, now seeing the world upside down, his ears ringing nonstop.

This damn game, he’d complain about it one day!

“Son, son, how are you?” Wang Xiulian and Jiang Jiankang ran over from the audience.

“Mom, I’m fine. I just got a bit dizzy all of a sudden and got disoriented when I fell, it’s no big deal, I just need some rest,” Jiang Feng said.

“Ding, congratulations player on obtaining: ‘Lies (Advanced)’.”

Jiang Feng:…

Was it his illusion, or did this ridiculous game seem even more rampant after the update?!

“Son, you scared us to death!” Jiang Jiankang said, still shaken.

At the same time, the staff managed to find an emergency doctor in the audience.

After a cursory check, the doctor couldn’t find anything obviously wrong with Jiang Feng, and without making any definitive statements, suggested that if they were concerned, they could go to the hospital for a more thorough checkup.

“No need, no need, I’ll be fine in a couple of minutes.” Jiang Feng actually no longer felt dizzy and the ringing in his ears had stopped. He got up from the ground, dusting off the spice and seasoning powder that had sprinkled onto him.

He had spilled the entire bowl earlier, so Jiang Feng asked the staff to bring him another one.

A few minutes later, seeing that Jiang Feng was indeed alright, everyone dispersed to return to their stations, and the contest continued.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. Due to an unexpected incident just now, the competition was paused for a few minutes, but now it will resume,” announced the host.

Jiang Feng quietly looked at the new bowl of spice and seasoning powder in front of him, as well as the limited vegetable juice left.

[A mixture made of star anise, angelica, pepper, lemongrass, Sichuan pepper, mint, cumin, cassia twig, licorice, perilla, black cardamom, cubeb, galangal, dried orange peel, gromwell, and salt]

[A cup of vegetable juice mixed with facing heaven peppers, tomatoes, pumpkin, white radish, onions, carrots, loofah, Chinese cabbage, lion’s mane mushrooms, cabbage, potatoes, and zucchini]

That long-lost feeling of cheating…

Jiang Feng’s eyes moistened.

He was indeed the destined lead!

The champion foreordained by fate!

The crap game might be late, but it would never be absent!

Like a student who faces mostly blank pages during an exam only to suddenly receive a cheat sheet from a top student, Jiang Feng pretended to sniff at the powder in front of him.

Indeed, it’s the smell of cassia twig!

Yes, cubeb and galangal!

And he could even smell the dried orange peel!

It was like writing an exam with the answer sheet right in front of you, too awesome for words.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Feng added cassia twig, galangal, dried orange peel, and salt to the whiteboard. With the addition of these four seasonings, he scored 22 points; advancement was a certainty.

He glanced back at the monitor behind him, two minutes left.

But the organizer was really cheeky. At the beginning, the host said that it was a mixture of spices and seasonings, and Jiang Feng thought the seasoning referred to pepper powder, but it actually turned out to be salt.

Salt is something you could never smell, left completely to guesswork.

Everyone could identify a white granular powder, but few would dare to guess whether it was salt or something else, after all, a wrong answer carried the penalty of losing a point, with risks far outweighing rewards.

Two minutes later, the host announced the end of the competition.

The staff collected the whiteboards, and the five judges began scoring like teachers grading papers. Jiang Feng noticed that the originally calm and unruffled competitors were beginning to show signs of tension on their faces.

On the contrary, it was him, who had been nervous from start to finish, who was now relaxed and composed.

This crap game is really handy!

The studio was climate-controlled; everyone was dressed in shirts, wearing long sleeves that theoretically shouldn’t make anyone feel hot, but the guy to Jiang Feng’s right began to sweat profusely from his forehead once the whiteboard was taken away, his sweat pouring down like rain. His face spelled panic, but in reality, it was panic indeed.

Jiang Feng couldn’t help but admire silently, “Buddy, your acting is quite something; you almost had me fooled.”

“Hey, hey, are you alright?” Zhang Xi whispered from behind.

“I’m fine. I just felt a sudden bout of dizziness that made me fall,” Jiang Feng replied, looking back.

“Ding, you’ve earned 1 point in ‘Lies’ proficiency.”

Shut up!

“That’s good, I was scared to death when you took that fall just now,” Zhang Xi said, “I’ve seen you in the last competition.”

“My name is Jiang Feng, a student at UAL University,” Jiang Feng introduced himself.

“My name is Zhang Xi, a student at the city’s number one high school,” Zhang Xi said.

Neither of them were good at making conversation, and the sudden silence made the atmosphere very awkward.

Zhang Xi and Jiang Feng looked at each other, both with awkward smiles on their faces.

Before two minutes of awkwardness had passed, the results came out.

Jiang Feng noticed that the guy next to him had his shirt collar soaked with sweat.

“Next, I will announce the scores of the contestants in the ‘flavor’ segment in descending order.”

“Zhang Guanghang: 26 points.”

“Jiang Feng: 22 points.”

“Zhang Xi: 21 points.”

“Wu Minqi: 20 points.”

“Ji Xue: 18 points.”

“Sun Jikai: 18 points.”

“Zhang Guang: 11 points.”

“Nan Qi: 11 points.”

“Unfortunately, the contestants ranked in the last eight have been eliminated,” the host said.

Jiang Feng was shocked.

He… Was he really that good?

Even without the last 4 points from cheating, he would have scored 18 points, which would place him in joint fourth place.

Round it up and that’s the champion!

After the host read out the scores, everyone’s white boards were projected onto the screen behind them, and everyone turned to look, the first that caught their eye was naturally Zhang Guanghang’s board.

He had actually gotten 27 right, but because he got one wrong, he was docked a point and ended up with 26 points.

The first few places had Jiang Feng’s writing as the ugliest.

It was ugly without any distinctive features; it lacked soul.

Zhang Xi, true to her reputation as a top student from the city’s number one high school, had neat handwriting, evidently practiced on copybooks.

“Does your family also run a restaurant?” Jiang Feng asked.

Zhang Xi got all the vegetables and nine spices right. Even if her sense of taste and smell were extraordinarily sensitive, an average high school girl shouldn’t have had so many opportunities to encounter such a variety of spices.

“My father is the head chef at Imperial Meal Tavern,” Zhang Xi revealed.

Jiang Feng:…

Sorry to have bothered you.

The last eight contestants were directly eliminated and left the stage, and the guy next to Jiang Feng was one of them.

“I have a question for contestants Zhang Guanghang and Jiang Feng,” Tong Deyan took the microphone, “You both wrote ‘salt’. Was it a guess or did you figure it out?”

The staff hurriedly handed the microphone over to Jiang Feng and Zhang Guanghang.

“It was a guess,” Jiang Feng said.

“Ding, you’ve gained 1 point in ‘Lies’ proficiency.”

“Half guess, half analysis,” Zhang Guanghang spoke in standard Mandarin with a hint of a Beijing accent, “The pepper in there was ground into powder, not pre-ground pepper, so I guess what the host meant by seasoning did not refer to pre-ground pepper.”

Jiang Feng wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he felt that the lighting on Zhang Guanghang was a bit brighter than on the others.

“I have no more questions,” Tong Deyan put the microphone down.

“Luck is also part of strength,” the host said with a smile, “So next, we will be competing in slicing sashimi.”

“Sashimi, which originated during the Former Qin period, later spread to places like Japan and the Korean peninsula and represents the pinnacle of knifework.”

“Since it’s difficult to provide contestants with fish of uniform quality, you’ll be picking out the salmon yourselves according to your ranks in the previous round,” the host explained, signaling the staff to push up carts loaded with large chunks of salmon.

“This round has a ten-minute time limit. Please slice five pieces of sashimi within the time frame. Going over time means forfeiting and immediate elimination.”

“Now, Zhang Guanghang can come up and choose the ingredients,” the host gave Zhang Guanghang a sweet smile.

Two little dimples, just perfect..