Nie Junfeng's supercharged declaration instantly ignited the live stream's atmosphere:
Holy crap, one "milk" dries up, and another springs up! Truly the Nie Family Patriarch's dedication is unmatched!
Cifera: I sense someone's jinxing me from afar. Plans have changed! Tomorrow at 9 AM, divine luck will guide my desperate escape!
[Isn't that Poison Milk?]
[What's Poison Milk to you is Divine Milk to me, kid. Don't you get it?]
[Let's be objective here. The Patriarch's assessment is spot-on! I doubt this plan will succeed.]
[No more memes. All I know is if Cifera escapes under these circumstances, they might as well rename the show.]
["Global Manhunt: The Pursuit Team's Doom," right?]
[You guys are overthinking this. Cifera's playful, but she's not going to walk into a dead end.]
[Exactly! Little Ya is probably a Cifera hater pretending to be a fan, deliberately stirring up trouble.]
Clearly, apart from the viewers reveling in Poison Milk memes, even Cifera's fans dismissed Little Ya's theory as absurd.
[Are you kidding me?]
While Cifera might be agile enough to scale chandeliers in a single bound...
But now the mole's identity has been exposed!
If you keep staying at the base, the closer it gets to the time the wanted notice is released, the more people will be watching you.
And what will the Pursuit Team think when they realize you're really going to fight your way out?
You're not taking us seriously! they'll think. We let you escape, and now you're making a mockery of us?
They'll throw every last ounce of their strength into capturing you.
In that situation, how could a girl, no matter how skilled, possibly break out of their base?
The comments in the studio sparked some debate, but because the idea was so far-fetched, few people took it seriously.
As the Pursuit Team resumed hunting down the remaining contestants, the topic faded completely from public discussion.
After nearly half a day of practice, the Pursuit Team's coordination became increasingly seamless, putting ever-greater pressure on the fleeing contestants.
Although the contestants could use Cifera's intel to escape in advance, the problem was that the Pursuit Team had the same intel. They might arrive late, but they always arrived!
This meant the contestants had to keep running endlessly just to avoid elimination.
But that was fundamentally impossible.
Without rest, even if they had prepared food in advance, it wouldn't help.
In the end, they were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the Pursuit Team.
As time passed, more and more contestants were captured.
Around 11:30 PM, the last fugitive contestant finally succumbed to exhaustion and was apprehended.
With this, all eight contestants who had been placed on the wanted list were eliminated.
On the very first day, only two of the ten initial contestants remained, truly living up to the show's title.
After a long and arduous day, Liu Shanhe gave the order for all Pursuit Team members to return to base. There, the Production Team had prepared a lavish late-night feast to reward their efforts.
The Expert Team unanimously believed that Cifera had already left, severing her partnership with the other contestants.
But to their surprise, when they returned to the second floor, they found Cifera sitting at the conference table, calmly eating a bowl of plain congee. Before her was a table laden with the special late-night feast reserved for the Expert Team.
"You've all worked so hard," she said cheerfully. "Come and eat quickly! Don't starve yourselves. I've already tried everything—it's all delicious! The Production Team hired a famous street food vendor just for us."
"..."
Seeing Cifera act as if nothing had happened, the Expert Team members couldn't help but admire her composure. How could she act so casually after everything that had happened? Isn't this awkward at all?
"You've deceived us all! Now that the victims have returned, how dare you still be here?"
"Did you poison our midnight snack, trying to imitate Teacher Wang Lei and render us all incapacitated tomorrow?!"
At this thought, everyone couldn't help but glance at Wang Lei, leaving him utterly bewildered.
"What are you all staring at? As long as the arrest warrant hasn't been issued, I'm still free to move about. Unless you kick me out, what's wrong with me being here? Do you even understand the rules of the show?"
Cifera stood up, shook her head, and looked at the crowd speechlessly.
"Well, are you going to kick me out or not? If not, I'm going upstairs to sleep~"
The awkward atmosphere was finally broken by Liu Shanhe:
"Um, Cifera, of course we wouldn't kick you out. But you do know the arrest warrant will be issued at 9:00 AM tomorrow, right?"
"Don't worry, I know perfectly well about such an important matter."
"Good... By the way, where's Little Bingbing? Didn't she eat the midnight snack?"
"She finished eating long ago and went to rest on the third floor. She said she's currently unconscious and doesn't want to appear before you all."
"..."
Cifera's answer left everyone speechless.
Typical Nie Bing, they thought. Still being so meticulous even at a time like this.
Since Cifera's cover is already blown, what's the big deal if we see you?
Are we supposed to shout, "Nie Bing! Why are you tied up? Are you okay? Wake up! Who did this? I'll definitely catch them!"?
Are we crazy or something?!
"Alright, I'm heading upstairs now. Enjoy your late-night snack. Oh, by the way, even though there are stir-fried green beans, I've already tried them, and they're definitely cooked through. So please stop giving Teacher Wang Lei those looks. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes."
With that, Cifera scurried up to the third floor, leaving Wang Lei with a flushed face and the rest of the group utterly mortified.
You little troublemaker, Cifera! Even as you're leaving, you're still trying to sabotage us!
Just wait until tomorrow—we'll see if we catch you then!
The third floor had four rooms, arranged for occupancy as 2 + 3 + 1 + 1.
Only two girls had private rooms.
After a refreshing shower, Cifera prepared to rest well.
Tomorrow, she would return to her life as a thief, beginning her life on the run once more.
After properly saying goodbye to the Pursuit Team, she could leisurely find suitable targets for heists.
Petty theft held little interest for her; if she was going to act, she'd go big.
This approach would not only yield substantial profits but also garner significant attention, boosting her capabilities.
Thanks to her efforts throughout the day, the Trust values for her three Lies Become Reality abilities had increased considerably.
However, compared to the "Magician" ability she had obtained from the start, "Hacker" and "Ventriloquist" had now surpassed it.
Magician (Trust Level: 5 million+)
Hacker (Trust Level: 10 million+)
Ventriloquist (Trust Level: 10 million+)
Cifera understood the reason. The later true crime cases had generated immense national interest, showcasing her hacking skills and voice mimicry abilities to a massive audience.
The Magician, however, had only been featured in the earlier episodes, making it natural for the other two to surpass them.
But when the escape and theft missions truly began, that would be the Magician's most crucial battlefield. At that point, they would undoubtedly surpass the other two once again.
With this thought, Cifera, though not particularly tired due to her Golden Descendant physique, still felt the pull of her sleep habits. She closed her eyes, intending to rest.
Just as she did, her phone rang.
Seeing the unfamiliar yet vaguely familiar number, she paused briefly.
What could this person possibly want calling at this hour?