Chapter Thirty-Four: A Defeated Struggle

The group stage is a team sport; victory cannot be achieved by one person alone. The competition requires the effort and cooperation of every member.

All the setups are not just for show.

The group stage consists of four phases. In the first phase, each group sends one person to run from one sunshade with lifebuoys to another sunshade surrounded by curtains. During the run, they must pick up any clothing scattered along the way and hand it to their teammate waiting at the entrance of the other sunshade. In the

second phase, the person receiving the clothing must change inside the sunshade and then run back to the sunshade with the lifebuoys for a photo. The photo must be approved by David. In

the third phase, after the second person takes their photo, the third person, wearing a lifebuoy, swims to the yacht.

In the fourth phase, the fourth person waiting on the yacht takes over from the third person, boards a motorboat, goes to the opposite island, and lights the fireworks placed there.

The group whose fireworks first light up the sky wins the competition, and all members advance. The group with the worst performance is eliminated.

Does it seem strange? There are only four stages, so what's the fifth person doing?

That's right! The fifth person is responsible for taking photos.

Don't underestimate the photographer; if they don't take good photos, their group's progress will be stuck at this stage. Taking photos that the famous photographer Dawei approves of is no easy feat.

As the group leader, Sheng Jiaoyang has the right to decide the order of the group members.

"Luo Caimin runs first, Zhang Xue takes the second leg, Qi Hua goes swimming, and Huang Linying lights the fireworks last."

"And what about you?" several people asked together.

"Taking photos!" Sheng Jiaoyang said matter-of-factly.

"Why should I?" Qi Hua was extremely annoyed.

Sheng Jiaoyang blinked and said innocently, "I'm really sorry, but I'm on my period right now and can't go into the water. Even if you asked me to run, I couldn't. Do you want to lose?"

The others immediately looked constipated.

In terms of overall strength, Luo Yi's group is definitely the strongest, followed by Xiao Yang's team. Even though Sheng Jiaoyang is strong, her team has a bunch of useless teammates, and a bunch of disunited ones at that. If they lose, aside from Sheng Jiaoyang's overall strength, she also has a get-out-of-jail-free card; she won't be the one eliminated. Then the others will be in danger.

Even Qi Hua, who came to participate in the competition, doesn't want to be eliminated.

If Sheng Jiaoyang takes over other segments and deliberately delays the progress because she's on her period, everyone will understand, and might even blame the others in her group for being too cruel, making a girl on her period work herself to the bone.

The members of Sheng Jiaoyang's group hate her to death, but they are helpless; they have been thoroughly manipulated by Sheng Jiaoyang and are in a dilemma.

"Anyway, I'm not swimming!" Qi Hua rolled her eyes.

Sheng Jiaoyang wasn't angry, and cheerfully said, "Among us, you're the only one who swims regularly. I remember you saying before that you have an indoor swimming pool at home, and you don't have to worry about the cold when swimming in winter."

The other three glanced at Qi Hua; they all remembered how smugly Qi Hua had said that back then, and almost everyone had heard it.

Qi Hua choked, feeling like she'd shot herself in the foot.

"We're a team now, so we need to stick together and do our best to win. This plan wasn't just a random one. Luo Caimin has good eyesight and quick reflexes, so she can pick out nice clothes quickly. Zhang Xue is photogenic, so she'll be fast in the photos. Qi Hua goes without saying, and Huang Linying is brave enough to ride a jet ski without a problem."

Regardless of what the group thought, the cameraman filming them thought their team leader was excellent. She not only considered everyone's strengths but also didn't get angry when faced with questions from her teammates. She was truly a serious and kind girl (just kidding).

Sheng Jiaoyang smiled mysteriously.

Once everyone was in position, with Zhuo Yiyan's call to start, the first shots from the three teams were fired.

"Go Luo Caimin!" Sheng Jiaoyang shouted first.

The others glanced at Sheng Jiaoyang in surprise. Over the past few days, they had gotten to know her a bit. She was younger than all of them, but incredibly smart and quick-witted. As for her personality, well, just when you thought she was aloof, she could turn around and be all cute. Like now, they had previously thought she lacked enthusiasm for the competition, but now she was suddenly giving a passionate shout to her teammates with whom she didn't get along.

But thinking about it, no one wants to lose a competition.

Sheng Jiaoyang's shout seemed to ignite everyone's enthusiasm, and they all shouted "Go! Go!" like they were on steroids, much to the amusement of the production team.

This was the atmosphere they wanted—tense and exciting, making it easier for the audience to get emotionally involved.

The three first runners rushed out only to find that some bags on the ground, which looked like packages, only contained sand and no clothes. But the production team said that if they were searching within this 50-meter radius, the clothes wouldn't be on the surface; they would be buried in the sand. Sure enough, after searching carefully, they saw some things that were a different color from the sand—these were the places where things were buried.

Just as Sheng Jiaoyang had said, Luo Caimin was indeed quick-witted and nimble-fingered. However, being born in the Year of the Monkey, she had a tendency to overlook the bigger picture. Even though she had already found a dress, she kept thinking there were many more buried in the sand, and she might find something even prettier. Relying on her sharp eyes, she became preoccupied with finding clothes, completely ignoring the loud cheers behind her and the second runner's warning to stop looking for clothes.

Finally, she found a rather elegant-looking long dress and ran to hand it to the second runner.

"I told you not to look anymore, why didn't you listen? Now we're at the bottom of the pack," Zhang Xue grumbled as she took the dress and went into the sunshade to change.

Luo Caimin turned around and realized she really was the last one, feeling a pang of regret.

One step behind, and you're always behind.

Zhang Xue's long dress made running particularly inconvenient; she had to hold up the hem. By the time she reached the photo spot, Xiao Yang's group had already finished taking photos and were showing them to Dawei for review. Luo Yi's group was leading the way, with their third member already swimming in the water.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" Zhang Xue urged Sheng Jiaoyang.

Sheng Jiaoyang, holding the camera phone sponsored by the advertiser, didn't cause any trouble. She calmly told Zhang Xue to stand facing the sea, took a picture of her back, and showed it to Dawei. Dawei approved it at a glance, unlike Xiao Yang's group which had to retake it.

Because of her success, their group surpassed Xiao Yang's group.

"Go for it, Qi Hua!" Sheng Jiaoyang shouted to Qi Hua.

Qi Hua glanced at Sheng Jiaoyang, didn't even put on a life ring, and ran into the sea. It was only about ten meters away, which she didn't take seriously.

However, swimming in the sea is different from swimming in a pool. Seawater is very salty, and swallowing even a little bit is extremely unpleasant. Moreover, the sea wasn't calm; in the afternoon, the waves were noticeably larger.

Qi Hua was indeed a good swimmer, but she was overconfident, ignoring the environment, and too concerned with her image. Because of the drone filming her, her swimming was particularly elegant and beautiful, but it was of no use in the competition. The third swimmer in Xiao Yang's group, wearing a life ring, was splashing around and quickly caught up.

The cheerleaders on the shore saw this clearly, and Zhang Xue and Luo Caimin were particularly anxious.

"Qi Hua is such a good swimmer, why isn't she swimming faster?"

"Everyone else is giving it their all, and she's just doing fancy tricks. Sister, this is a competition!"

Sheng Jiaoyang, standing nearby, had a glint of a smile in her eyes; everything was under her control.

Want to say she's scheming? Yes, she is indeed a scheming girl, bring it on!

The distance in the swimming leg wasn't actually that large; the two lagging groups had basically exchanged batons almost simultaneously, so the second swimmers from the yacht started at roughly the same time.

Huang Linying, the fourth runner in Sheng Jiaoyang's group, was indeed quite aggressive. She floored the throttle the moment she started the jet ski, practically skimming the water's surface, nearly throwing the coach in the back into the water. Although she started later than Xiao Yang's group, her initial speed propelled her ahead.

This sight made the three Xiao Yang group members cheering from the shore a little anxious, but they soon laughed.

Wang Wei leaned close to Sheng Jiaoyang and said with a smile, "So Huang Linying from your group is a terrible navigator!"

Zhang Xue and Luo Caimin's faces darkened; even they couldn't believe that Huang Linying could veer off course with such an obvious island. What good was speed then?

Sheng Jiaoyang calmly replied, "I didn't know she had this ability."

The coaches in the back of the jet ski didn't manage the direction; they were only responsible for the runners' safety.

So, Huang Linying happily sped off, only realizing she was far from the landing point for the fireworks display when she got close to the island. By the time she adjusted her course and got there, it was too late.

Luo Yi's group, which led from the start, won the group stage match. Xiao Yang's group came in second, while Sheng Jiaoyang's group's loss was somewhat unexpected.

Of course, for Sheng Jiaoyang, this result was not surprising at all.

As soon as the result was announced, Wang Wei immediately became a die-hard fan of Sheng Jiaoyang.