Chapter 42 A New Battlefield

"Get up, hurry up!"

The contestants were sound asleep when the sound of hurried footsteps broke the silence, followed by shouts amplified through a loudspeaker.

Then, several cameramen, carrying cameras, stormed into each bedroom.

In a bedroom on the second floor with floor-to-ceiling windows, Sheng Jiaoyang sat up, still half asleep. She had gone to bed too late the night before and felt like she'd just fallen asleep when she was woken up.

She rubbed her hair, yawning sleepily, her eyelids drooping as if she couldn't open them.

Still not fully awake and without her contact lenses, she completely ignored the cameramen who had barged into the bedroom, forcing one of them to cough to indicate that someone was in the room.

Hearing the cough, Sheng Jiaoyang, who hadn't even finished her nth yawn, immediately shut her mouth in fright, her eyes widening as she stared at the close-up camera.

The cameraman found it strangely endearing. He'd been following Xu Jiaojiao for a while now, and this girl usually seemed so calm and collected. He hadn't expected to see something different about her during this surprise visit.

Seeing the girl with a few tufts of hair sticking up on her head through the camera lens, the cameraman grinned.

"Are we starting filming already?" he asked, then Sheng Jiaoyang felt like yawning again. She quickly covered her mouth, only her watery eyes blinking.

The cameraman nodded silently.

Sheng Jiaoyang scratched her hair, got out of bed, went to the window, and drew back the curtains. Only a faint light was coming through; it was clearly still early.

What's going on? The production team is getting more and more inhumane.

This was probably the sentiment of all the contestants.

Yesterday, it was already past 5 PM when they got off the plane, and by the time they took a bus to the Supermodel House in Rome, it was already 8 PM. After eating dinner prepared in advance by the production team, they played a quick-fire question and answer game to win a single bedroom. Finally, after all the room assignments were done and they washed up and went to sleep, it was already past midnight.

Everyone originally thought the production team would at least let them sleep in, since it was their first day in Rome and they should at least get some rest. But alas…

well, the production team is the boss, they had no choice but to accept it.

The cameraman left the room after capturing the footage the director requested.

Sheng Jiaoyang finished washing up, changed her clothes, and walked out of the bathroom. She stopped as she passed the corner camera and removed the towel covering it.

“You guys are so naughty!” Sheng Jiaoyang poked the camera. The camera wobbled from side to side

.

Sheng Jiaoyang chuckled, winked at the camera with a smile, gave it a flirty look, then turned and picked up the black leather vest hanging on the coat rack, putting it over her striped shirt before leaving the room.

The living room on the first floor gradually filled with people.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning!"

Greetings echoed throughout the living room.

Counting carefully, only nine contestants remained; the rest had been eliminated in the first three rounds.

Just yesterday, they had arrived in Rome, their first stop in Europe, with the production team, officially kicking off the final nine competition.

As the undisputed intellectual powerhouse, Sheng Jiaoyang once again topped the memory challenge, securing herself the best single bedroom, much to the envy of the other contestants—they wished they could go back to childhood and ask their parents for brain-boosting lessons.

Why such a difference in intelligence?

All the contestants who arrived in the living room looked exhausted and yawned constantly.

Before the contestants could even clear their heads, the director handed each of them a map, telling them to find the places marked with stars, saying there was a surprise waiting for them.

Having already endured the production team's torment for over half a month, the contestants silently scoffed. A surprise? They were more likely to be shocked.

Wang Wei, who, despite not being particularly strong, miraculously made it into the top nine, immediately clung to Sheng Jiaoyang's leg.

"Goddess, take me to the heavens, take me flying, okay?"

Sheng Jiaoyang beckoned to Wang Wei, and while the others were still figuring out the route, she stepped out into the morning light.

Wang Wei chuckled and immediately followed.

Luo Yi glanced at their retreating figures, hesitated, and didn't follow. She had never been to Rome, but she had been to Europe, giving her an advantage over the other contestants who hadn't even left their home country. She didn't believe Xu Jiaojiao could find the destination faster than her; even a top student would be clueless in unfamiliar territory. Although the Supermodel

House was located in the suburbs, it wasn't remote; the streets were just outside the residential area.

Looking at the surrounding buildings with their distinctly Italian style, both of them were in high spirits.

Wang Wei glanced at the map and said, "Jiaojiao, this place is quite far. Even if we don't get lost, it'll probably take half an hour to walk there, right?"

"It is quite far," Sheng Jiaoyang replied. She didn't look at the map and stopped at the roadside.

"The production team just loves to make things difficult for us. Hey, what's wrong?" Seeing Sheng Jiaoyang suddenly stop, Wang Wei quickly stopped as well.

"So I'm not planning to walk."

"Not walk?" Wang Wei's eyes widened in surprise. "But we don't have any money on us, and we don't even know if there are any taxis around here."

Sheng Jiaoyang answered Wang Wei's question with her actions, waving and flagging down an SUV.

Wang Wei opened her mouth, but before she could express her surprise, the driver's side window rolled down, revealing a young face—a very typical Italian man.

The man looked them over, said something Wang Wei didn't understand, but she heard the girl next to her naturally respond, speaking the same language as the man. Soon, the man said "OK" and waved for them to get in.

At that moment, Wang Wei only wanted to say to the girl:

Goddess, please accept my utmost respect!

The cameraman sat in the passenger seat, while Wang Wei and Sheng Jiaoyang sat in the back. Luckily, only the owner was in the car, otherwise, there wouldn't have been enough room for the three of them.

The driver seemed quite excited, talking non-stop, with Sheng Jiaoyang occasionally chiming in, while the other two remained completely bewildered.

"Jiaojiao, what are you talking about?" Wang Wei tugged at Sheng Jiaoyang's sleeve and asked softly.

"He said he's very lucky today, to run into us so early in the morning. He said he wants to come with us to see how our show is filmed," Sheng Jiaoyang said.

"Is he a student or a working professional?"

"A student."

"Uh... doesn't he have to go to class with us?"

"He's on leave."

"Okay, that's really capricious!" Wang Wei shrugged. He wasn't even in a hurry, what could she do? Besides, it was lucky they met someone like him; otherwise, no one else would have had the time to take them to their destination.

Not long after they left, Luo Yi's large group arrived at the roadside.

"Strange, we saw them heading this way earlier."

"Even if they were running, they couldn't run this fast!"

"Could they have taken a detour down some side road?"

Luo Yi reminded them, "Let's hurry!"

The others stopped looking around and quickly followed Luo Yi.