I'm Crushing on Gorgeous Faces in Variety Shows!

Chapter 652 - 651: Brother Cheng Is So Alpha!

Although everyone had roughly estimated rankings that didn’t quite overlap, the actual situation was definitely not like that.

Chu Qiu had a cheerful smile on his face, but in reality, he was closely watching the reactions of the other three.

What he said just now wasn’t wrong, but... that was just a smokescreen.

On the surface, it looked like he was going to go directly head-to-head with Cheng Zhirang in the next round, but based on the probabilities, he believed that Mu Qiu and Zhao Yu should be dealt with first.

After all, he might not win against Cheng Zhirang, and if he lost, he’d be in fourth place. But if he dealt with Mu Qiu and Zhao Yu first, even if he couldn’t beat Cheng Zhirang, he’d at least secure second place.

It was obviously more cost-effective, and since they didn’t have a revival chance, keeping Mu Qiu around was pointless.

Considering this, he thought about the fifth card.

The card wasn’t on him at all.

Previously, to use that card to randomly eliminate a few people, he had deliberately thrown it on the ground. Whoever picked it up and saw it would be immediately eliminated, and then someone else would pick up the card after them...

If enough time passed, it wasn’t impossible for everyone to be eliminated because of this card.

But he hadn’t expected that the first one to pick it up would be Mu Qiu, and she had guessed what kind of monster it was without even looking at it, effectively ending the card’s killing potential.

Now the card was in the pocket of either Mu Qiu or Zhao Yu, and he had no way to use it to kill Cheng Zhirang.

The boasting just now was merely to confuse Cheng Zhirang.

Chu Qiu let out a long sigh in his heart; it was really a case of missing a step and losing the whole game.

The four of them were sizing each other up, clearly not fully trusting the other’s words.

"Now that we’ve analyzed it, why don’t we start?" Mu Qiu asked.

"Let’s start then; the sooner it’s over, the sooner we can relax." Chu Qiu stood up, pushed his chair in neatly.

Cheng Zhirang also stood up, looked around at the fast-food restaurant’s layout, and said, "Do we go outside, or stay here?"

Chu Qiu: "Let’s stay inside; there’s no sun, it’s cooler."

Mu Qiu and Zhao Yu didn’t say much, standing up warily, backing away to another round table in the restaurant, staying far away from the two of them.

"Mu Qiu, why are you running so far? Isn’t it time for the final showdown?" Chu Qiu asked, leaning on the back of his chair and directly pointing it out.

Cheng Zhirang turned his head in response to look at the two of them.

Being stared at by two would-be betrayers, Mu Qiu felt she was in dire straits.

"This place isn’t spacious; even if it’s a showdown, it should be two against two, right? Why don’t you two go first? The gentlemanly male guests shouldn’t be the ones to target female guests first, right?"

Chu Qiu, still smiling, stood up straight and stretched his shoulders and back.

"Then you’ve misunderstood us. There’s no courtesy in the game, and life and death don’t differentiate between genders."

"..."

Zhao Yu had been watching Chu Qiu, and when she saw him stretch his left hand above his head as if by chance snapping his fingers, she gave Mu Qiu a nudge.

Alliance against Brother Cheng.

They weren’t the betrayers; they couldn’t use 049 to kill anyone and could only wait to be picked off. The only card that could be used without betrayer status, the fifth card, was useless against Chu Qiu.

The only viable option was to ally with Cheng Zhirang to eliminate Chu Qiu first, then use the fifth card against Cheng Zhirang, since he still didn’t know the fifth card was with them.

But if Chu Qiu found out they weren’t cooperating, he’d definitely expose them, and if Cheng Zhirang knew the card was with them, he likely wouldn’t agree to an alliance to eliminate Chu Qiu.

Both choices were traps; they needed to find a way out.

The way out was to pretend to be forced into allying with Chu Qiu.

Mu Qiu shifted her gaze to Cheng Zhirang, and along with Zhao Yu, they slowly approached him.

Chu Qiu had already retreated to the door, blocking the exit, and was staring at Cheng Zhirang with a smile.

Cheng Zhirang glanced between the three of them, raising an eyebrow: "Want to take me out first?"

"We’re going to deal with them one by one anyway, so why not start with the strongest?" Chu Qiu kept his eyes on him, but his hands reached over to drag two chairs, placing them at the door as a barricade.

In the time it took to set the chairs down, Mu Qiu tilted her head toward Cheng Zhirang, signaling with her eyes to focus on Chu Qiu.

Cheng Zhirang gave Mu Qiu an understanding glance, then turned his attention back to Chu Qiu.

Taking advantage of their locked gaze, Zhao Yu took a slight step back, half-hiding behind Mu Qiu, then transferred the card in her pocket to her hand.

They were standing very close, hands touching, with backpacks and the metal detector as cover, making the exchange very inconspicuous and unseen by the other two.

Mu Qiu hadn’t expected Zhao Yu to hand over the card. She was stunned for two seconds when she received it, but by the time Cheng Zhirang and Chu Qiu looked back at them, she was calmly watching them again.

The card was tucked into her waistband where the mic was attached, like slipping it into a cardholder, ready to be pulled out at any moment.

They began moving closer to Cheng Zhirang.

Chu Qiu was flexing his wrist, also moving in, the encirclement around Cheng Zhirang gradually tightening.

Cheng Zhirang stepped back two paces, dragged a chair in front of him, and asked Mu Qiu: "Did you really ally with him? When did this happen?"

"It’s obvious; as for the timing of the alliance—it wasn’t pre-discussed, just a consensus reached moments ago. After all, this is the best time to deal with you."

"I pose no threat to you."

"Whether you’re a threat isn’t for you to decide."

As she spoke, she had already moved beside the round table, her naturally hanging arm against the table edge, fingers discreetly signaling three.

Three, two, one, pin him down!

Cheng Zhirang suddenly lunged at Chu Qiu, and at the same time, Zhao Yu in the rear also shifted direction, sprinting toward Chu Qiu.

The area wasn’t large to begin with, and within a few seconds, Cheng Zhirang and Chu Qiu were both on the ground, grappling and hindering each other.

Chairs clattered as they were knocked over, and as Cheng Zhirang fell, his hand quickly cushioned Chu Qiu’s head, causing him to lose a bit of the upper hand.

Chu Qiu exclaimed, "Damn it," as his arm muscles beneath the chef’s uniform tensed, gripping Cheng Zhirang’s right hand tightly.

"You turned traitor too quickly!"

Zhao Yu, now by his side, said nothing, swiftly grabbing the long hem of his chef’s coat to cover his mouth.

She sat on the floor, locking his neck in place.

Chu Qiu was strong, able to struggle fiercely even while grappling with Cheng Zhirang, almost toppling Zhao Yu over.

Unable to keep his mouth covered indefinitely, Zhao Yu decided quickly, calling out to Mu Qiu.

"You do it!"

She then focused all her effort on restraining Chu Qiu’s left hand, pinning it to the ground.

With his left hand immobilized, Chu Qiu tried to leverage Zhao Yu’s force and direction to flip himself over, but Cheng Zhirang took advantage of the moment to retract his right hand from under Chu Qiu’s head, yanking his clothes in the opposite direction!

"Rip—"

The chef’s coat tore at the collar, the tattered fabric tossed aside by Cheng Zhirang.

Chu Qiu was completely bewildered.

Mu Qiu had just covered his mouth, heard the ripping sound, and looked up at Cheng Zhirang in shock.