Huayu: I'm being coveted by young actresses.

Chapter 51: A Real Man Doesn't Watch Explosions

To repay Sister Wang's "great kindness and virtue," I've finished all my commercial performances; it's time to participate in variety shows.

In Shanghai, at the recording site of Tencent's basketball variety show "Super3: Star Arena", Gu Luojin, wearing jersey number 23, stood at the entrance of the program.

[Ding, mission triggered: Find a way to win the variety show championship and create a perfect winning record. You will receive 60 upgrade points.]

[Note: This system has been detected as no longer suitable for the host world's development. When the host upgrades the system to V3, the underlying logic will be completely rewritten and updated.]

When Gu Luojin saw the system's note, she was almost dumbfounded.

So the system also realized how weak he was? When he received the system, he didn't dare to complain about it, worried that the system would go on strike.

Now that the system has had a change of heart, it is no longer the most useless system among the reborn.

This made Gu Luojin pay more attention to completing the task, and he looked forward to the system upgrading to V3, which required 200 points.

He earned 80 upgrade points for participating in the Mushroom House and 60 upgrade points for playing Zhao Tai in the Conquer the crew.

Naza's mission is not yet complete; she's missing 60 upgrade points, otherwise she would already be V3.

This task cannot fail; we're just 60 upgrade points away.

To achieve complete victory, going it alone is definitely not an option, so he formed alliances.

The task is inanimate, but people are alive. A living person can't be killed by holding their pee.

……

This program was initiated by Tencent and is available on platforms such as Tencent Sports, Tencent Video, and Tencent News.

It mainly features a basketball reality show produced by iQiyi in 2018, which became a hit variety show with high viewership ratings.

We invited two top celebrities: Jay Chou, the "Milk Tea" of the music industry, and Li Yifeng, the actor.

Two well-known basketball stars, NBA's Lin Shu-hao and CBA's Guo Ai-lun, served as team leaders for the program.

With the fan base as a guarantee, and this being the first basketball variety show in China, where basketball is the number one sport, the show has a strong fan base.

The production team also invited internet celebrity athletes and college athletes with a considerable number of fans to form the team, which generated a lot of buzz and hype for the show even before filming began.

After airing on Blueberry Channel and Youku, the show achieved an average viewership rating of 0.3, ranking 13th among all variety shows on provincial satellite TV channels.

The topic garnered over 42 billion views and 13.5 billion plays, with the highest single episode exceeding 8 million plays.

It has received ratings of over 8 on both Douban and Maoyan.

With such thorough preparation, a star-studded guest lineup, and contestants who bring their own popularity and buzz, the event was a resounding success.

With impressive statistics and good viewership ratings, they were the first to try something new.

Uku naturally reaped huge profits from its data usage, earning massive amounts of Google Ads fees.

In order to snatch a piece of the pie from Uku and avoid being accused of plagiarism, Tencent...

Instead of recruiting ordinary people as contestants, they selected a group of popular young celebrities to create "Super3: Star Arena" as a competitor.

Lemon Pictures is also a media company deeply tied to Tencent. As the top influencer of Lemon Pictures, he has obtained a lot of Tencent resources. In the future, he will rely on Tencent resources to help him ascend to the throne. He must pay this price for his loyalty.

Although Tencent's basketball variety show "Super3: Star Arena" did not have the same longevity as "This! Is Slam Dunk," it only lasted for three years before being discontinued.

It was later replaced by "Super Star Games," which was created by Tencent based on South Korea's "Idol Star Athletics Championships."

The most of the new stars and talents who came were artists under Tencent's affiliated companies. They were pushed out by their agencies to curry favor with Tencent, which was essentially a pledge of allegiance, and at the same time, it was also a way to promote their own new talents.

This basketball reality show has launched the careers of several celebrities who later became quite famous.

For example, Li Junrui, Wang Anyu, and Wang Hedi—this pledge of allegiance was well worth it for the rookies.

Tencent invited three NBA legends and basketball stars as guests: Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, and Tracy McGrady.

The 16 participating celebrities are: Yan Renzhong, Yue Yue, wedding singer Zhang Yuan, Li Wenhan, Li Junrui, and childhood movie star Shi Xiaolong.

Wang Anyu, Wang Hedi, Gong Ziqi, Sun Yi, Ma Jia, Da Heiniu, Wang Runze, Li Xinyi, Li Jiaxiang, Lang Dongzhe.

They also invited Li Chunjiang, the head coach of the Zhejiang Guangsha Men's Basketball Team in the CBA, to serve as a coach.

However, while the guest and coaching staff is larger than that of "This! Is Slam Dunk", the participants are all rookies, resulting in insufficient organic popularity.

The most famous ones are Da Hei Niu, Wang Hedi, Zhang Yuan, and Shi Xiaolong.

As soon as Gu Luojin entered the stadium, she was asked to give her competition declaration. She said that what is needed for making lifestyle and travel variety shows is to not cause trouble and not to stand out.

But what's needed for competitive variety shows is screen time and viewership.

Maintaining a non-competitive and unambitious attitude is the same as not coming at all; you might as well go home and play with Sister Meng.

Tencent sent Mina, the face of Tencent Sports, as the interviewer for the program.

She saw Gu Luojin walking over from afar and couldn't believe that such a handsome actor hadn't become famous yet.

The Chinese entertainment industry is truly wasting its potential.

Mina approached and asked, "Teacher Gu, can I ask you a question? Why did you decide to participate in this program?"

Is there even a need to ask? Gu Luojin, a man of few words, chose to be honest.

Tricks are just icing on the cake; sincerity is the real killer move.

"Didn't your production team send me an invitation? That's why I came."

"Uh..." Mina, who was usually very talkative, was at a loss for words.

She was caught off guard by Gu Luojin's answer. The other contestants were all very serious and afraid of making mistakes in their answers.

The reasons for participating in the program include hoping to make more friends who like playing basketball; I personally enjoy basketball and this opportunity to participate is a good one, etc.

There are also many players who consider basketball important; if they can't play basketball, their lives would lack meaning.

He stated very frankly that he came because the production team invited him.

Faced with a sincere answer, she forgot all the procedures that were to be followed.

Seeing that she didn't speak, Gu Luojin assumed that nothing was wrong and prepared to leave.

"Teacher Gu, wait a minute, there are two more questions."

"Isn't there only one problem? It seems like there are quite a few."

"what!"

Another unexpected answer caused her brain to freeze again.

Which company's artist is this? Is he really that straightforward?

She found that her hosting skills were completely useless against Gu Luojin, so she could only take out cue cards and stiffly continue the process.

"Teacher Gu, one last question."

Are you sure?

"Sure."

Gu Luojin felt that she was pretty, but not as quick-witted as Meng Ziyi.

"Go ahead and ask."

"Mr. Gu, what was your competition statement? If you were to rate your own ball skills, what score would you give yourself?"

She asked two questions in one go, and Gu Luojin rarely bothered to argue with her.

"My contestant declaration is: there are ten lotus flowers in the pond, I will take one, and the other contestants will take nine."

If a variety show wants to create an effect, then it creates that effect.

Young people today like people who are both arrogant and capable; he needs to grasp the psychology of young people in the new era who idolize celebrities.

The stronger one's abilities, the more fans they attract.

Of course, you can't afford to fail at showing off. This track is one where you can't walk a tightrope without real skill; one wrong move and you can easily make the audience feel defeated.

Therefore, if you lack ability, it's better to be honest and low-key, and you won't be ridiculed.

He just happened to have that ability.

Zifeng, the younger sister in "Longing", is very quiet, doesn't have a strong variety show presence, and isn't criticized much.

Mina, the interviewer, was completely bewildered and didn't understand what his competition declaration meant.

"If I were to give myself a score, I'd give myself 91 points. I'm leaving 9 points so I don't get complacent."

This was the first interviewee she encountered who left her feeling hopeless; she couldn't even choose a topic, and they weren't following the normal interview procedure.

However, there were still some details that were unclear, and in keeping with the host's thirst for knowledge, she had to ask to find out.

"Professor Gu, I'd also like to ask, what is the meaning of your competition declaration?"

"Gather nine lotus blossoms."

Seeing that she still didn't understand, Gu Luojin ignored her and walked directly into the filming location.

He was the first to enter the venue. Among the celebrities who arrived one after another, he only recognized those who were famous in later generations; he had never heard of the others.

When these rookies looked at him, he gave them a friendly smile and greeted them, giving the impression of being a gentle lamb that everyone could bully.

"This guy gives me the feeling that this isn't an arena, but a spring outing with his classmates."

"Your description is very apt. If someone gets beaten and cries, won't they tell their parents?"

Once everyone had arrived, inspirational quotes from three NBA stars were played.

Then, Wang Zixing, the assistant of the headquarters, announced the first task: to form four teams.

The team is formed and players are selected based on the 1V1 duel rule, which is what ordinary people call bullfighting.

Whoever scores 11 points first, or scores the most points within 4 minutes, wins.

After watching the one-on-one matches between the stars, he realized that there weren't many who could fight, and even fewer who could fight well.

Everyone in the basketball circle says that Wang Hedi is the best basketball player, which makes him eager to try and choose him as his opponent.

But at that time, Li Junrui was still a nobody, and he was chosen as an opponent.

"Next up is Gu Luojin, and who is his opponent? It's our young basketball player, Li Junrui."

Why is there no background information for him? Generally speaking, only cannon fodder or extras don't get any introduction.

"Li Junrui is very skilled at basketball; he's also a level-two athlete."

"I've played against him in private, and many players off the court are no match for him."

"Looks like the guy wearing the number 23 jersey is in trouble, but he's kind of handsome."

Whether a man is handsome or not should not be judged by the opinions of women, but by the praise he receives from men.

Like repels like, and opposites attract.

"What's the use of being handsome? On the court, basketball skills matter. I hope I don't get slammed, that would be too embarrassing."

It seemed that the people off the field did not have high hopes for him and all thought he would fail.

The first point was scored by Li Junrui on the offensive side and Gu Luojin on the defensive side.

With the sound of the whistle, the match officially began.

Li Junrui tried to get past him, but Gu Luojin let him pass and followed behind him.

When he took a layup, he was immediately blocked with a huge block.

The two are about the same height, and he is second to none in jumping ability.

A large, topped hat brought the competitive atmosphere to a climax.

"Yo ho..."

"This guy, number 23, is really good. He must have been playing professional matches before entering the scene."

"Who said he was harmless and weak? His explosive power is probably unmatched."

"When I play with him, I don't dare let him stand behind me. I'm afraid he'll block my shots and make me the background character."

The second ball was in Gu Luojin's hands. Not wanting to waste his energy, he immediately pulled up for a three-pointer, and the basketball swished through the net.

Referee: "Three points."

Those present were shocked and stood there dumbfounded. Didn't they need to warm up their hands?

They started with blocks and pull-up jumpers right away; do they even want people to live?

"I don't want to fight him, he's too scary, I want to go home."

"Where did he come from? There wasn't a single word about him before. Tencent, you've really kept a deep secret."

Gu Luojin felt her touch return, sinking two consecutive three-pointers, bringing the score to 9-0.

The situation arose suddenly and too quickly. Many people did not expect that Li Junrui, a formidable athlete and a second-level athlete, would be beaten so badly that he was completely powerless to fight back.

If there's no system update to attract attention, he can give Li Junrui a chance to get two or three points, since being completely shut out is a very embarrassing thing.

But for the sake of the plan, for his own happiness, and for the sake of maintaining a perfect record.

He must make an example of Li Junrui, who was the captain in his previous life and won this year's championship, and make him lose this right.

Li Junrui is the most important cornerstone in maintaining the undefeated record.

Gu Luojin knew that Li Junrui was going to defend his fourth three-pointer, so he didn't plan to shoot from the spot. Instead, he chose to shoot a step-back three-pointer, a move famously used by NBA star James Harden.

The basketball glided through the air in an arc. After Gu Luojin made the shot, she spread her arms, turned her back to the basket, and displayed her confidence.

A real man never looks back at an explosion.

Referee: "Three points."

The entire audience watched Gu Luojin's pretentious act in complete silence.

They couldn't believe the result until they saw the three-pointer go in and the referee announced that the three-pointer was valid.

Such a scene is probably only seen in anime or NBA-level games.

If even bystanders felt this way, then Li Junrui, who was fighting Gu Luojin one-on-one, must have felt even more strongly.

He swallowed hard, realizing that he hadn't just picked a seemingly kind and easy-to-bully opponent, but one who was clearly a powerful figure.

Among these 16 contestants, his strength ranks at least in the top three.

His seemingly kind attitude led him to underestimate Gu Luojin's strength, resulting in his crushing defeat.

He believed that if it were someone else, he would be able to defeat them with his own abilities.

Gu Luojin barely broke a sweat, and with a clean block and four three-pointers, he defeated Li Junrui, whom everyone had high hopes for.

The victory was too quick; no one expected the formidable Li Junrui to lose so swiftly.

It was a complete upset.

"Did someone pinch me? Tell me, this isn't a movie."

"Can someone tell me, if this guy is this good, why doesn't he go play in the CBA? Playing against us is like stomping on weak teams!"

Some people still don't believe the result, while others have chosen to accept reality and have listed Gu Luojin as the strongest contender for the championship.