After Transmigrating into a Book, I Ended Up with My Dream Omega - Chapter 7

From the moment Xingyuan’s first installment of funds hit the production account, the crew used a portion of it to launch a massive, ubiquitous marketing campaign across the entire internet.

In an instant, Wilderness Survival Season 2 became a household name online. Netizens, in particular, were filled with anticipation for the promotional slogan: “24-hour continuous live stream, creating the most authentic wilderness survival program.”

As the filming date drew closer, the official Weibo account began releasing promotional photos of the guests one by one. This successfully recaptured the attention of the public, who had begun to look elsewhere after the initial buzz.

[24-hour live stream? That means no post-production editing. And they’re claiming it’s the most authentic survival show. I bet very few celebrities actually dare to go on this.]

[I looked at the guest list. Aside from Wei Lan and the recent gold medalist Yu Yayue, the others are literal unknowns. Well, it makes sense. On a live-streamed show, one wrong move can ruin your persona forever. To protect their “perfect” image, the big stars won’t touch this.]

[You’re missing a point. It’s a survival show and it’s 24/7. With the audience watching constantly, the crew definitely won’t be helping behind the scenes. They’ll have to find food and build shelter themselves. Since the difficulty is cranked to the max, few highly-paid actors are going to sign up just to suffer.]

[Exactly. These pampered stars can make easy money just by doing a few talk shows. Why suffer? Isn’t easy money better?]

[True. So, the people participating in this are all true warriors.]

[Since I didn’t recognize most of them, I looked them up on Baidu. Turns out the major investor is actually participating herself. What is she after? (Confused face)]

[According to an old classmate of mine working on the crew, the investor has her eye on one of the guests. (Deeply serious)]

[Who is it? Who could make an investor personally join such a dangerous show? (Gossip face) You clearly have the inside scoop, tell us more! Don’t leave us hanging!]

The ongoing online debates didn’t affect the participants at all. To avoid making fools of themselves, they spent their days frantically exercising at home, squeezing in time for hospital vaccinations, and studying how to build simple shelters or start fires with primitive methods. They simply had no time to pay attention to the comments.

For Xia Xiangzhen, there was one extra task on her list: figuring out how to smuggle candy and other treats into the show. She decided that, at this point, she couldn’t care too much about her “composed and reliable” image—making Yin Xiaowei change her opinion of her was the most important thing.

However, even as she prepared to board the plane for the first filming location—the Solomon Islands—she still hadn’t come up with a foolproof smuggling plan.

Eager to see Yin Xiaowei as soon as possible, Xia Xiangzhen left home early on the day of the gathering. She arrived at the designated airport lounge well before the others.

She thought she was the earliest, but after checking her luggage and entering the private lounge, she found Wei Lan already there.

Xia Xiangzhen still remembered Wei Lan’s hostility at the meeting. Plus, this person was the original protagonist who repeatedly abandoned and reconciled with her dream Omega. Wei Lan, meanwhile, was still annoyed that Xia Xiangzhen had snatched the investment away from the Wei family just to chase someone.

With both old and new grudges between them, the two were practically speechless in the absence of others. After a moment of silence, Xia Xiangzhen, as the latecomer, decided a greeting was necessary. “Hello, Miss Wei.”

Wei Lan’s lip twitched. Having known her for so long, this was the first time Xia Xiangzhen had called her “Miss Wei.” She responded coolly, “Hello, Miss Xia.”

Silence returned.

Xia Xiangzhen felt she’d done her part and sat as far away from Wei Lan as possible, waiting for Yin Xiaowei.

When Yin Xiaowei pushed the door open, she felt like she had stepped into a walk-in freezer. Even though there were two people in the room, the atmosphere was chillingly cold. Her hand paused on the door for a second before she slowly closed it and walked in.

Xia Xiangzhen, who had been pretending to look at her phone, immediately brightened up upon seeing Yin Xiaowei. Maintaining her “composed” image, she stood up to greet her. “Sister Xiaowei, you’re here.”

The moment Yin Xiaowei saw the smiling Xia Xiangzhen, she thought of the influx of script offers and the accompanying nagging from her manager. Her head began to throb. She forced a polite smile. “You both arrived so early. I thought I’d be the first.”

Since the remark included Wei Lan, the latter—who didn’t want to get involved with the other two—simply nodded. “I didn’t have much to do at home, so I came early.”

Xia Xiangzhen didn’t follow up and just kept looking at Yin Xiaowei. Yin Xiaowei didn’t know how to respond to Wei Lan, and Wei Lan didn’t want to continue. Despite having three people in the room, they fell into a dead silence, and the scene became awkward once again.

Xia Xiangzhen, however, was in a good mood. Her smile widened.

The awkwardness between her and Yin Xiaowei was due to Yin Xiaowei’s current “misconception” about her. But seeing that it was also awkward between Yin Xiaowei and Wei Lan made her very happy. Does this mean there’s even less chance of anything happening between them? she thought. She chose to believe this and would brook no argument.

She pointed to the seat next to her, intending to invite Yin Xiaowei to sit. “Sister Xiaowei, sit her—”

Yin Xiaowei knew exactly what she was going to say. Before she could finish, Yin Xiaowei looked at the seats of both Xia Xiangzhen and Wei Lan and quickly chose a spot right in the middle. “I’ll sit here.”

“Huh?” Xia Xiangzhen’s eyes followed her finger.

Taking advantage of the moment, Yin Xiaowei bypassed Xia Xiangzhen and sat down in her chosen spot.

Xia Xiangzhen’s happiness at seeing Yin Xiaowei evaporated. Seeing her choose a seat between them—and one that was actually slightly closer to Wei Lan—made the corners of her mouth droop. She debated whether she should move her seat, but seeing Yin Xiaowei’s “do not disturb” vibe, she sat back down in her original spot.

Better give her some space, she thought, lest I lose even more favorability points. Starting tomorrow, they would have plenty of time together. For now, she had to stay calm and steady.

Yin Xiaowei pretended to organize her backpack, stealing a glance at Xia Xiangzhen. Seeing that the investor hadn’t followed her but had returned to her seat to look at her phone, she let out a sigh of relief.

At this point, she almost wished Xia Xiangzhen would act more like other predatory investors—get rejected and then fire her immediately. Otherwise, once filming started and the cameras were rolling, she would have to navigate a fine line between rejecting Xia Xiangzhen’s advances and maintaining a professional “degree” for the audience.

Just thinking about the future made her head ache. If the penalty for quitting weren’t so astronomical, she might have chosen that as a permanent solution.

After Yin Xiaowei arrived, the remaining three guests entered. Yu Yayue and Chen Shengze even arrived together, arm-in-arm and chatting happily. However, when they pushed the door open, they saw three people sitting so far apart there was an “Ocean” between them, in a silence so thick it was stifling.

The atmosphere made Yu Yayue nervous. After the formal greetings, she tried to lighten the mood. “It’s been a while! How has everyone been?”

“Very good,” Xia Xiangzhen said, pushing up her glasses. “Busy with work every day, and spending my free time exercising, getting vaccines, and studying survival skills. It’s been very fulfilling.”

Yu Yayue was worst at dealing with “business elite” types, so she turned to the next person. “And you, Xiaowei?”

Yin Xiaowei wouldn’t share her true family situation. “About the same, though I didn’t have work to keep me busy.”

Asking why she didn’t have work felt rude, so Yu Yayue turned to the last person. “Wei Lan, you…”

“The same,” Wei Lan replied simply.

Faced with two people who didn’t want to talk and one who seemed approachable but she couldn’t handle, Yu Yayue dragged Chen Shengze away in defeat, giving up on her attempt to be the mood-maker.

When He Zixi entered, she was met with five people sitting in total silence. The five-fold silence sent her scurrying to a corner to look at her phone.

When the Chief Director walked in to call them for boarding, she was stunned. Why is the vibe like this? It was fine at the meeting. She looked hesitantly at the six guests. Judging by their eyes, three of them were desperately hoping she would rescue them from the situation.

Those three aren’t the culprits, she thought.

That left Xia Xiangzhen, Yin Xiaowei, and Wei Lan.

The Director rubbed her forehead. It seemed the fallout from the meeting was continuing. Knowing the root cause, she didn’t comment on the silence. “Let’s go. Time to board.”

She wasn’t a kindergarten teacher; she wasn’t responsible for mediating the guests’ moods. As long as they could act harmonious and helpful on camera, that was enough. And if they couldn’t… well, let them fight in front of the audience. A bit of drama for the ratings wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

The Director thought quite indifferently.