Ahuo ran up to Fang Luo, came to an abrupt stop, then took tiny steps to reach him, and sat down beside him. Here, his feeling became even stronger. There seemed to be an invisible magnetic field around Fang Luo, isolating all external interference, including the intense spiritual fluctuations and various strange or unpleasant smells.
He was as quiet as a void, and as pure as a nebula. Apart from the distant and vast, he could not detect any other scent. Sitting next to him, Ahuo's nose, which had been almost overwhelmed by various smells, finally experienced complete relief.
"So comfortable!" Ahuo held his stomach and let out a satisfied sigh.
Fang Luo remained seated quietly, without paying him any attention.
Ahuo spoke directly: "My name is Ahuo, you can call me Huohuo. It's so smelly here, but it's clean around you. Can I sit next to you for a while?"
Fang Luo gently replied, "Of course."
"Ah, thank you!" Ahuo looked at him gratefully, but his face was suddenly lit up by dozens of suddenly opened spotlights on the stage as the off-stage host's sweet voice came through the microphone, spreading throughout every corner of the auditorium: "Dear contestants, our audition is about to begin, please pay attention to the stage. Behind this black curtain, we have set up a projector. The director will display a photo on the projector every half an hour, a total of five photos randomly selected from a massive database. The director is only responsible for pressing the pause button, and does not know which photo will be chosen, and our on-site staff do not know either. In this situation, please do your best to sense, and then tell us the theme of each photo. If you guess correctly three out of five times, you will pass the audition, otherwise, you will be eliminated."
The off-stage host pulled the curtain, further explaining: "You can see that this curtain is half a centimeter thick, made of a blend of linen and cotton, and embedded with a layer of PVC coating, absolutely opaque. You must sense the photo through this thick curtain. Each photo gives you half an hour to sense the theme, write the answer on the notebook provided by the props team, then raise the notebook to show it to the photographer. Our judges can see your answers through the photographer's lens, and then decide if you are qualified. You can communicate and discuss the answers with each other, but please remember, with no knowledge of others' abilities, you are all at risk of being eliminated. Only those with real talent can go all the way, those relying on luck will quickly fall by the wayside."
Seeing the deputy director raise the timing card, the off-stage host smiled and said into the microphone: "Alright, the first photo is already on the projector, contestants can come to the stage to sense it, but absolutely cannot lift the curtain. Any contestant who does so will be immediately eliminated. Well then, I wish you all good luck in advance!"
Before the host could step down, the contestants were already eager to rush up, hovering in front of the heavy, black curtain. Some reached out to sense, some lit candles and chanted, some danced and hopped, and others even cut their fingers and spread blood on the ground, as if drawing some kind of formation... The scene was chaotic, like a gathering of demons.
Of course, there were also people sitting calmly below the stage, looking quite relaxed. These people were either big shots with real abilities, or poseurs pretending to be mysterious. Divided by the stage, the contestants in the auditorium automatically split into two diametrically opposed camps, and the photographers eagerly sought out the highlights among them.
"The few people Ahuo was counting on didn't go on stage." Dr. Ouyang expressed surprise, "Can he really smell the scents on others and judge their strength? Can these people really sense the content of a photo through the air?"
"Who knows, the world is full of surprises. Let's watch, the truth will come out soon." Dr. Qian excitedly stared at the screen.
"This is the purpose of me doing this program - that there are no limits to the wonders of the world." Song Warmth smiled with satisfaction, then leaned towards his cousin and said in a low voice, "Fang Luo is sitting in the last row and hasn't moved, I think he has given up."
Song Rui said calmly, "My opinion is the same as Ahuo's, Fang Luo will definitely make it to the final. Those who have never truly come into contact with Fang Luo will never understand how amazing of an existence he is."
Behind the curtain, a camera was set directly in front of the projector, recording the photo as it was. A thin, black child lay on the ground, limbs convulsing, eyes swollen with tears, dry lips exhaling faint breaths, as if enduring immense pain. A vulture, flapping its black wings, stared eagerly at him, as if urgently awaiting his death.
In this barren land, children suffer in hunger every day, die in despair, and become the prey of wild beasts, reduced to skeletal remains. This was a sight only found in hell.
Seeing this world-famous photo, the judges who had just been laughing and teasing the contestants all solemnly awaited their turn.
"The emotions expressed in this photo are very strong." The ice-cold woman, who had been liked by Ahuo, said calmly in her seat.
"Mama, I feel unwell! My stomach hurts! I don't want to sense this photo!" The girl whom Ahuo had also marked as promising, held tightly within her mother's arms, turned even paler.
Her mother comforted her softly, patting her and saying, "Jinglian, endure a little, it will pass soon. We're short on money at home, otherwise, I wouldn't make you suffer like this."
The girl thought of the predicament at home and could only force herself to look at the curtain.
The little Taoist stood in a corner, gazing at the stage, and his eyes contained a strange light that flickered and circled. After a while, he smirked, then sneered disdainfully as if victory was already assured.
Ding Puhang wandered around the auditorium with his hands in his pockets, carefree in his stride, and his gaze did not turn to the stage, but instead subtly swept over the contestants mentioned by Ahuo. Seeing the middle-aged man in the black robe walking slowly toward the stage, he stood and watched for a while, then casually followed.
The middle-aged man took out a classically styled hand bell and rhythmically shook it, the sound resonating through the crowd, through the curtain, and through the photo, faintly echoing against the white wall. He listened for a moment, then knelt down, touching his forehead to the ground devoutly, as if sensing the earth's response.
He remained there for a long time, while Ding Puhang stood not far away, casually watching the black curtain and the contestants.
Ahuo didn't want to leave Fang Luo, but had no choice, so he could only complain as he rubbed his messy hair: "My ability is more effective on live people, the smell of dead things is too faint, and I can't smell it from a distance. I have to go on stage to see. Fang Luo, can you come with me?"
Fang Luo remained seated quietly, eyes half-closed, without looking at the stage.
Ahuo rubbed his forehead and murmured, "Okay, I'll go by myself, you wait here for me, okay! I'll be back soon." He quickly crossed the auditorium, climbed onto the foul-smelling stage, and sniffed around the curtain, his brow furrowing more and more tightly. Because of his straightforward and straightforward nature, the production team had already set a photographer to capture his every move.
The off-stage host raised the microphone and asked, "Ahuo, did you smell anything?"
Ahuo took a few steps back, pinching his nose, and said in pain, "I smelled the scent of death!"
"What does the scent of death smell like?" the host persisted.
"Somebody is about to die. The smell of decaying organs has already spread all over their body," Ahuo said, his voice muffled.
The host prompted, "Since you've sensed it, why not write down the answer?"
Ahuo quickly took out his notebook and pen and wrote down the answer in a wobbly hand.
Seeing this scene through the screen, Song Warmth affirmed, "I have high hopes for Ahuo. For now, only he has genuinely shown his ability, and the people he mentioned also possess extraordinary abilities. Look, they have all started writing their answers, director, close-up shots!"
The director immediately switched to six close-ups.
The pale girl wrote shakily: '[Hunger, dying hunger!]'
The beautiful woman wrote flamboyantly: '[Gunpowder, war, hunger, poverty, death.]'
The Taoist wrote succinctly: '[Dying children.]'
The middle-aged man stood up and wrote, stroke by stroke: '[Desperate waiting and greedy gaze, death is imminent, yet there is still a glimmer of hope.]'
Seeing the other five people had finished writing, Ding Puhang also quickly gave his answer: '[War causes hunger, hunger causes death, a child is suffering and about to die in despair, but someone will come to save him, definitely!]'.
While the other contestants were still making a fuss about using their powers, these six people had already completed the task. Around them, there were constantly people boasting to the camera, "I sense that the subject of the photo is flowers and sunshine."
"It's a beautiful girl, blonde with blue eyes, I'm a hundred percent sure."
"It's an animal, a large animal, a wild beast, a bear or a lion?"
"It's a landscape photo, a place full of exotic charm, really beautiful!" This contestant had already become intoxicated with their own imagination, almost spinning in circles on the stage with their eyes closed.
Seeing their performance, contrasted with the exceptionally accurate answers of the six, Song Wenwen felt both shocked and a little amused. It turned out that there really were incredible people in the world, their existence was truly a miracle! And what she was ordered to find was exactly this kind of miracle. However, one test was not enough, she had to ensure that their abilities were strong and stable.
Dr. Qian carefully compared the answers of the six and said, "I think Ahuo's ranking is problematic. Clearly, Mr. Ding has the strongest ability. His answer is the most accurate, as if he had seen the photo with his own eyes. As far as I know, the person who took this photo ultimately saved the child."
Song Rui shook his head with a light laugh, "Dr. Qian, don't you think his answer is strange?"
"Where is it strange?" several judges asked in unison.
"His answer is obviously a synthesis of everyone's answers, I suspect he's cheating."
"How could he cheat?" Song Wenwen was very sensitive to this term and immediately retorted, "I said during the promotion that our show is absolutely one hundred percent authentic, there is no possibility of cheating. So many cameras and monitors are filming him, how could he cheat? After the formal recording of the program began, he did not approach anyone or talk to anyone. Tell me, how could he cheat! Come on, let's clarify this!"
Song Rui took off his gold-rimmed glasses and wiped them slowly, "Anyway, my opinion is different from yours. Ding Pu Hang is not worth attention. He is just an opportunist. While others were sensing the screen, he was wandering in the field, secretly observing all the contestants, trying to find clues from their every subtle expression and gaze. This is a move that only someone adept at mind reading would make."
"Can psychological mind reading reveal such detailed content? Dr. Song, show me one you've read! Your recent judgment seems to be getting worse. When you dismiss others, the one you favor the most, Vangallo, has not made any movement until now. When the host announced the rules, he was sitting still. When the contestants were on stage sensing, he was sitting still. His appearance is beautiful, but what's the use? Is he avoiding or pretending? I've told him before, if you don't have real skills, don't come to our show. If you embarrass yourself, we won't be responsible for editing!"
Song Wenwen stared straight at the camera, once again solemnly announced, "Audience friends, our reality show is absolutely one hundred percent authentic, no cheating, no script, no faking! I don't care who he is, or what his identity is, as long as he participates in this show, we must faithfully present his performance. It's either good or bad, our show will never help him to fake it! The world of extraordinary people welcomes only truly extraordinary people. Those who want to use our show for hype, please behave!"
This statement was clearly directed at Vangallo. Song Wenwen's hosting style has always been like this, saying whatever there is to say, cutting, direct, and unsparing. Moreover, she had received instructions to produce this show, so her style was naturally more tough. Presumably, after the show was aired, Vangallo would once again suffer a lot of ridicule and sarcasm, and the popularity he had just earned would be lost to a large extent.
Song Rui shook his head and said nothing more. Seeing Song Wenwen at this moment, he felt like he was seeing his former self. If Vangallo was really so shallow, he would not have left all his work and appeared in such a ridiculous and meaningless situation.
Dr. Qian patted the agitated Song Wenwen and rounded off, "Alright, Wenwen, stop talking. Let's continue watching the auditions, time's running out, we need to change the picture."
Song Wenwen then looked at the timer hanging over the hall and found that the half-hour deadline had indeed dwindled to just ten minutes.
Many contestants became anxious, circling around the screen, and some even tried to take a chance by making things up. At this moment, Vangallo, who had been sitting still, suddenly closed his eyes, picked up a pen, and skillfully sketched something on a notebook.
The director swiftly cut to a close-up of him, only to see that the fine pen had not written a single character, but had slowly drawn an outline of a lean figure; densely and faintly colored with dark skin; filled with unusually large and murky eyeballs; two rows of shining tears in the sunken cheek area; and then drew a wing, two wings; a sharp beak, fierce eyes, and even a greedy light in the eyes...
When the timer hit 00:00, Vangallo opened his eyes and handed the drawing to the leading photographer, who was completely failing to maintain his composure.