After all five tests were over, the host on stage said, "Dear participants, your performance has been transmitted to our observation room through the cameras. Whether you can enter the preliminary round depends on the judgment of the judges. Now, please rest in place for fifteen minutes. The chief director will soon bring the results, and then, what is hidden behind this curtain, she will personally reveal to all of you."
The participants nodded in agreement and then chose a corner to rest. A confident participant said to the camera, "I have been using psychic power continuously for two and a half hours, and my spiritual power is exhausted. I need to restore it through meditation. Please don't gather around me and film, it will disturb me. But your test is not difficult at all, I have sensed them all."
The mischievous director immediately sent the scene of the participant using psychic power and his predictions back to the observation room. He guessed wrong for all five images, an "illustrious" record.
Pointing at the person, Song Wenwen said, "A total of 309 participants signed up, but only sixteen successfully made it through. Only seven of the five guesses and five hits were right. It seems that most of the participants who are pretending to have supernatural powers are in the majority. What are they thinking? Do they really think they can win a million by luck and deception? This is a reality show, it will be broadcasted on the entire Internet, aren't they afraid of making fools of themselves?"
Dr. Lin, an expert in metaphysics, explained, "Miss Song, you don't understand this. In fact, mediumship is a very subjective thing, some people are born with talents, while others, although not born with talents, are particularly interested in this area. In their long exploration, they grasp some vague feelings and think they can also communicate with spirits. In your opinion, these people are completely fraudulent, but in fact, they have firm confidence in their abilities, they never think it is just a figment of their imagination."
Song Wenwen nodded and said, "I understand, the highest level of deception is deceiving oneself. They even deceive themselves."
"Yes, that's right, so you can see that the participants who came to sign up all have strong self-confidence."
After the discussion, Song Wenwen looked at her cousin and asked a question that she was very interested in, "Dr. Song, we all know that you are a world-renowned expert in psychology, and your specialty is observing and analyzing people. Can you analyze these participants for us and rank them according to their strength? Come on, please ask our staff to bring the photos of the participants, and we will discuss them one by one."
The staff quickly brought the photos to the guest seat.
All the display screens had been turned off, and the people in the observation room had no way of seeing the scenes in the auditorium. As Song Rui wiped his glasses and recalled all the moments related to Van Gogh, he seemed even more mysterious and inscrutable than when they first met, and his appearance had also changed a little. He seemed to have gradually transformed from the original Van Gogh into a completely different person—a more handsome yet more closed-off person. What would he look like the next time they meet?
Thinking of this, Song Rui couldn't help but furrow his brow. Seeing him distracted, Song Wenwen could only silently tread on his foot from under the stage.
"I can only give conclusions based on my observations, which may not be accurate," Song Rui switched his mind back to reality in a second.
He spread out all the photos, shuffled them, and then selected six of them, explaining them one by one to the camera, "This is Yuan Zhongzhou, a meditator. Every time he senses something, he shakes a bell, so I think his ability should be related to hearing, similar to the echolocation of bats."
He picked out the photos of He Jinglian and Zhu Xiyah and placed them side by side, "Their abilities are very similar, both rely on keen perception."
He picked up the photos of Chongming and Ahuo, "Their abilities are also very similar, one relies on vision, the other relies on smell. Notice that when I say vision, it should be similar to the legendary X-ray vision, because Chongming's answers always only describe the physical aspect, he can accurately point out what objects are in the pictures, but he cannot receive the emotions the photographer wants to convey through these images."
Finally, he lifted Ding Pu Hang's photo, "His ability is similar to mind reading, and I am still observing how it works."
He reorganized these photos and continued, "These are what I believe to be the real participants with mediumship abilities. The abilities of other participants are still doubtful to me. If I were to rank them, I would put Yuan Zhongzhou in the first place. If you integrate his answers, you will find that he can perceive magnificent scenes and emotions. In a sense, he can even see into the past and future. Although I am an atheist, I have to admit his ability."
"In second place should be Zhu Xiyah, she can also sense a wide range of things, emotions, and changing scenes, but her perception of the past, present, and future is slightly inferior to Yuan Zhongzhou."
"In third place is He Jinglian, she cannot sense specific scenes, nor can she clearly perceive the past, present, or future, but her ability to discern emotions is the strongest. She accurately perceives the hunger in the first photo, the danger in the second photo, the tranquility in the third photo, the delight in the fourth photo, and the despair in the fifth photo. Her ability to capture emotions amazes me."
"In fourth place is Ahuo, he can not only smell specific things, but also perceive the emotions hidden beneath those things, which is a kind of instinct similar to that of an animal, very natural."
"In fifth place is Chongming, as I have said before, he can only see the superficial aspects, but cannot uncover the essence. His ability is very limited."
"In last place is Ding Pu Hang, he is just a speculator."
Song Rui took a sip of water as if he was not going to continue explaining. However, Song Wenwen vigorously pointed to one of the photos, implying, "Is that all? Did you forget someone?"
Song Rui glanced at her with her very well-kept yet sharp and long fingernails, furrowing his brow. He pulled the photo from under her fingertips, lightly smoothing out the faint scratch, and then placed it on top of all the photos, calmly saying, "It's not that I forgot Van Gogh, but I think that he is completely on a different level from these people. His ability has exceeded my understanding. I dare not speculate."
The more Song Rui understood Van Gogh, the more he realized— how arrogant and ignorant he was when he extensively analyzed this person at the police station. How could a couple of meetings be enough to see through this person? Even ten or twenty years would be in vain.
Song Wenwen had never seen her cousin give such a high evaluation to anyone, and couldn't help but ask, "Not on your level? Don't think I don't know. In your eyes, everyone in the world is dispensable, extremely foolish, and boring, you have never put anyone in your eyes, let alone in your heart, you are the most arrogant and conceited person in the world."
"No, I am just an ordinary person," Song Rui said matter-of-factly.
Song Wenwen was astonished, looking at her cousin with wide eyes, she could not believe those words came out of his mouth. It was incredible, truly incredible, to make this apparently gentle but extremely arrogant and self-important man say such humble words—Van Gogh was truly remarkable!
"Do the other judges have different opinions?" Song Wenwen suppressed her amazement and looked at the other three judges.
"Undoubtedly, Van Gogh is the strongest," all three of them said in unison.
"But I think Ding Pu Hang's rank should be placed ahead of Ahuo's," Dr. Qian objected.
"We also believe that Ding Pu Hang's strength should be ranked ahead, he is even stronger than He Jinglian and Zhu Xiyah," Dr. Ouyang and Dr. Lin also gave their opinions.
Song Rui had lost interest in the words of the three judges, and just kept staring at Van Gogh's photo. A photographer quietly pulled a close-up to capture his face, but found that he wasn't in contemplation, just lost in his thoughts, his slender eyes fixed on the floating light, focused, obsessed, completely disregarding anything other than the photos.
Song Wenwen and the three judges discussed for a long time before finalizing the rankings. Song Rui then suddenly came back to reality and gave a hint, "When announcing the results, bring a few security personnel over, participants number 12, 66, and 109 are prone to emotional instability. I won't go over, I'll leave first."
"What? You're leaving?" Song Wenwen was about to stop him, but he had already left with Van Gogh's photo, his figure looking very casual.
Unable to stop him, Song Wenwen had to bring the security personnel to the auditorium downstairs to announce the results. She had the curtain raised and displayed the five photos one by one, smiling and saying, "You should have a good idea of whether you can advance or not, now you can open the cards in your hands. Those without any writing will be eliminated, those with writing will come with me to the recording room next door."
Seeing the beautiful and elegant Song Wenwen, Ding Pu Hang's eyes suddenly lit up, and then he graciously walked over, trying to flatter her, "Beauty, you need to pay attention to number 12 and..."
He didn’t finish his words, as participants number 12, 66, and 109 had already started causing a scene. One of them even took out a knife and cut his own hand, saying he wanted to curse the show with his blood. They simply refused to accept the reality of being eliminated and kept saying that the program team was fooling them, and the five pictures shown were definitely fake, what they had sensed was real.
If it wasn't for her cousin's reminder, Song Wenwen would definitely be at her wit's end by now. But fortunately, she trusted her cousin, and the security personnel she brought had already stealthily lurked around the three people, swiftly controlling them.
Ding Pu Hang reluctantly returned to his original position, and absentmindedly glanced at the card in his hand, only to find that in addition to the word "advanced," there was also a "6" marked on it. What did this mean?
Van Gogh had not opened his card, just stood up to brush an imaginary smudge off his shoulder, and then silently followed Song Wenwen out of the auditorium. Three accompanying photographers continued to take pictures of him, focusing on his every side, front, and back, every expression, every step, and even every incidental change of eye movement. The numerous monitors installed on the truss also followed his movements, completely treating him as the center of attention.
Most of the participants who made it to the preliminary round possessed keen perceptiveness, naturally aware of the preference Van Gogh secretly received. However, their reactions were completely different: Yuan Zhongzhou was always immersed in his own world, not caring about others; Zhu Xiyah curiously glanced at Van Gogh a few times and then looked away; Ding Pu Hang followed Song Wenwen all the way, looking for opportunities to talk, not caring whether the cameras captured him or not; it was Chongming, who should have been indifferent to fame and fortune, who was the most envious of the treatment Van Gogh received, secretly glaring at him several times.
Van Gogh walked through the crowded corridor, as if walking in an empty wilderness, believing himself to be a world in itself.
Gradually, He Jinglian, who still felt extremely restless when hugged by her mother, began to look at him frequently, showing struggles and longing in her eyes. Seeing Ahuo circling Van Gogh, although being ignored, and yet not being driven away, she finally pushed her mother away and stumbled to his side.
In an instant, the whole world quieted down, and those noisy, cold, greedy, and jealous emotions disappeared completely, leaving only the clear and warm tranquility like spring water. He Jinglian's pale face recovered its healthy color at a visible speed, and she quickened her pace to catch up with that dazzling young man, like a star chasing the moon.
Her mother followed her and shouted her name, looking very anxious.
"Mom, you should go back. I'm much better now. I can handle it on my own," He Jinglian said as she continued to walk backwards, waving her hand with a relaxed smile on her face.
Mrs. He was stopped by the staff outside the recording room, as she was not a contestant and was not qualified to participate in the filming of the program.
The heavy door with sound insulation was closed, and Song Wen warmed up to everyone to choose their seats. Fan Garo sat down in the last row, and the two empty seats next to him were quickly taken by Ahuo and He Jinglian. Due to their urgent mood, the two even bumped into each other on the way, almost causing a commotion.
It was not until this moment that Fan Garo looked up, quietly observing the sixteen selected contestants. His deep gaze passed casually over some people's faces, but lingered on Yuan Zhongzhou and others for a long time.
Almost immediately, Zhongzhou sensed this scrutiny, then quickly turned around to catch the eavesdropper: three young people were sitting in the back row, all of them very attractive. Two of them had abundant energy, while the third had a slightly weaker aura and nothing special. Zhongzhou withdrew his gaze, but his whole body's hair was standing on end, and his heart was uncontrollably trembling. He had only experienced this feeling once before, and that time, he was 0.01 seconds away from death.
Fan Garo raised the corner of his mouth, continuing to observe the others, then all his attention was focused on Chongming. His eyebrows raised slightly, as if somewhat surprised.
Chongming was holding a passing card and asking Song Wen, "Miss Song, what does this number mean?"
"Oh, this is your ranking," Song Wen casually replied.
"Our ranking? Based on our strength?" Chongming's tone was clearly indignant.
"Yes, we have ranked you based on your overall performance. You are in seventh place, which is very good!" Song Wen began to tease.
Chongming sneered, "Why do you have the right to rank us? Do you really understand our true strength? Can you show me who the six people ahead of me are?"
Song Wen proceeded to list the names of the sixteen contestants, only to find that Fan Garo was unexpectedly ranked first. The other contestants started whispering, revealing disgruntled expressions. They were convinced that Fan Garo's entry into the preliminary round was a result of the program team giving him special treatment. But it's not hard to understand, after all, they were all amateurs, while Fan Garo was a star with his own popularity and influence, which could help boost the program's ratings.
Even so, the program team couldn't give him the label of being the strongest overall, which would not be convincing and would risk being criticized by the audience after the show aired!
The contestants began to protest, with Chongming being the most vocal. He, being young and arrogant, was not willing to accept the fact that six people were ranked ahead of him, threatening to quit the competition. Ding Pu hang also seemed very dissatisfied and was about to confront Song Wen seriously, but freaked out and hesitated when he looked into the other's eyes.
He closed his mouth unnaturally and sat back in his original seat. Just at that moment, Fan Garo casually glanced at him. Although his attitude was relaxed, his piercing gaze was undiminished.
Ding Pu hang's cheek twitched for a moment, struggling to hold back his emotions.