In Star City, at Mango TV, Xu Ming had just received the recording notification from the “I Live Alone” production team.
As a newly appointed host at Mango TV, Xu Ming had just completed his internship and was dispatched by Mango TV to the Star City Economic Channel, becoming an outdoor host.
With his relatively excellent appearance and professional qualities, Xu Ming was quite favored by the leaders of the Economic Channel and News Channel program departments.
As an outdoor host, his daily work was already very busy, almost constantly on the move in the city; wherever there was news, he needed to rush there.
However, even though Xu Ming was so busy, when he heard that Mu Li needed help, he unhesitatingly asked his leader for a day off.
He didn't even explain the reason for his leave to his leader, only saying that he had family matters and needed a day off.
The TV station leader didn't ask further and directly approved Xu Ming's leave, allowing Xu Ming to participate in the live recording of “I Live Alone”.
Although “I Live Alone” is not Mango TV's flagship variety show, it still provides a lot of traffic for Mango TV every year.
When the production team invited Xu Ming, they didn't conduct much investigation, only knowing that Xu Ming was Mu Li's university roommate.
After the previous live broadcast, Mu Li had successfully replaced Jin Zhong, becoming the biggest source of traffic for the “I Live Alone” production team, and because of this, the production team also paid special attention to Xu Ming.
As previously introduced, “I Live Alone” is a life observation program.
In addition to recording the daily lives of celebrities, another major highlight is that the production team invites relatives or friends of the celebrity to watch their daily life.
Typically, the production team tends to invite the celebrity's parents, siblings, or grandparents, as these people know more about the celebrity's private life and often reveal stories from their childhood.
However, Mu Li's parents were always abroad and could not be contacted.
Besides them, Mu Li had no other relatives, so reluctantly, they had to invite Mu Li's friends.
When Xu Ming arrived at the studio, most of the program's recording staff had already arrived.
In addition to the family members of the five celebrities, there were also two hosts, a psychology expert, and a celebrity guest recording the program together.
Xu Ming knew the two hosts.
The male, Xin Fei Yu, also majored in broadcasting and hosting and should have joined Mango TV two years ago; however, he graduated from Huaguo Communication University, which had a much better academic background than Xu Ming and others.
The female, Yang Jing, debuted from a girl group talent show and worked as a part-time host.
Mango TV invited her mainly because her fresh appearance was very popular with the older generation, which made communication with the celebrities' elders more convenient.
Besides the two hosts, Mu Li was somewhat surprised that he also knew the guest for this program recording—it was Chichi, who had previously recorded programs with Mu Li.
This time, he was considered a relative and friend of Mu Li and Jin Zhong, coming to record the program together.
Xu Ming was not unfamiliar with Chichi, as he often saw him on TV, but he did not expect that their connection was clearly much deeper than the relationship between an audience and a celebrity.
The program recording quickly began, and under the introduction of the two hosts, everyone gradually appeared.
First to be introduced were the relatives and friends of the five celebrities.
Besides Xu Ming, those who came to record the program this time were Jin Zhong's mother, Luo Yushu; Ming Yu's cousin, Ming Hongyi; Ai Jing's father, Deng Hongye; and Mu Si's mother, Zhou Yan.
Next was the introduction of Chichi and the psychology expert participating in the program.
After everyone was seated, Xin Fei Yu and Yang Jing began to host, asking each guest to introduce themselves.
Besides Ming Hongyi, who was a university teacher, only Xu Ming introduced his profession: “I am Xu Ming, Mu Li's friend, and also a host at Mango TV.”
Upon hearing Xu Ming's identity, Xin Fei Yu was somewhat curious about Xu Ming: “I didn't expect you to also be a host at Mango TV.”
Xu Ming explained: “A Li and I are both fresh graduates from the Broadcasting and Hosting Department of Yangcheng Conservatory of Music this year.
It's just that I chose to return to Star City, and he went to Sing.”
“Then why did Mu Li go to Sing? Is it because he usually likes it?” Xin Fei Yu asked curiously.
“To be honest, we rarely listen to music, and I rarely hear Mu Li listen to music, let alone Sing,” Xu Ming said, a little embarrassed.
“As for why he wants to be a singer, I think it might be related to that performance at our graduation party.”
“Oh? Would you mind telling us more details?” Xin Fei Yu continued to ask.
Xu Ming nodded and continued: “There was a very popular video from our graduation party, which reached a million likes on a certain video app.
That was the song our dorm mates sang together, called ‘like you as a friend’.”
“I've heard that song too, it's very good!” Xin Fei Yu said, somewhat excited.
“I've seen that video too, I didn't expect you to be in it.”
The directing team quickly projected the video onto the display.
After everyone watched the entire video, they all laughed uncontrollably, because the outfits of Mu Li, Xu Ming, and Wu Yao were simply too exaggerated.
“The one walking in the middle, dressed in colorful clothes, that's me,” Xu Ming said, a little embarrassed.
Although it felt great to perform on stage at the time, when someone later brought up the performance for review, Xu Ming was still somewhat embarrassed.
After all, not everyone is as thick-skinned as Mu Li.
However, Chichi looked at Xu Ming, his brows furrowed into a knot, and he suddenly said, “Why does your voice sound so familiar to me…?”
Chichi stared at Xu Ming and tentatively asked, “Are you Pure Eevee?”
Xu Ming's eyes widened immediately, and he stared at Chichi for a long time before finally speaking: “Great Genius Squirtle?”
Upon hearing Xu Ming's answer, Chichi immediately smiled: “It really is you, kid.
A Li didn't say anything earlier, only that he had a classmate coming to record the show.
If he had said it was you, it would have been fine.”
“I also didn't expect that Great Genius Squirtle was you,” Xu Ming also relaxed.
The host, Xin Fei Yu, next to them was somewhat stunned: How did these two start exchanging secret codes?
“Did they know each other before?” Xin Fei Yu asked curiously.
Chichi nodded and explained: “We met while playing a game.”
Thanks to Mu Li, when their dorm played “Pokemon Glory”, they were often 4 missing 1, and Chichi often became the best candidate to fill that missing spot.
After playing together a few times, they became familiar with each other.
“I can't believe you're really Chichi,” Xu Ming said, annoyed.
“We always thought he and you were teaming up to mess with us.”
“I didn't expect the two of you to have such a connection,” Xin Fei Yu said with a smile.
“Then how did Chichi get to know A Li?”
“Don't even mention it, when I bring this up, I get a little angry,” Chichi feigned anger.
“A Li and I met while playing games online.
The game we played together is called “Pokemon Glory”, a very popular 5-person team competitive game.
A Li's gaming skill is very high, and I'm very willing to play with him.”
“But, I found that he never dual-queued with me.”
Yang Jing was a bit confused: “Why not?”
Chichi sneered and replied: “I originally thought he just didn't like dual-queuing, until I watched our show's live broadcast a few days ago, then I realized that kid didn't dislike dual-queuing at all; he just didn't like dual-queuing with me.”
“Yes! That's right!” When this was brought up, Xu Ming clearly also had some opinions.
“A Li never dual-queued with anyone in our dorm either.”
“Haha,” Xin Fei Yu couldn't help but laugh.
“Then who does A Li dual-queue with?”
Chichi and Xu Ming exchanged a knowing look and simultaneously spoke a name: “Fu Peiyao!”
Xin Fei Yu's expression immediately froze: “Fu Peiyao? You mean, A Li's dual-queue partner is Fu Peiyao?”
Xin Fei Yu, before asking: Hehe.
After asking: Not hehe.
Chichi shrugged helplessly: “Now you know why he doesn't dual-queue with us, right?”
Seeing Xin Fei Yu's surprised expression, Xu Ming couldn't help but ask, “Didn't you watch the live broadcast?”
Xin Fei Yu was startled and chuckled: “I've been quite busy lately.”
Xu Ming nodded solemnly and said, “Then you'll know when you watch Mu Li's segment later.”
After speaking, Xu Ming looked at Chichi with some sympathy and revealed: “Moreover, as far as I know, Mu Li's game friends are not just Fu Peiyao and her group.
Besides our dorm's and Chichi's five-person team, and Fu Peiyao's five-person team, A Li has other men outside.”
Chichi couldn't help but stand up and angrily said, “No, how many teams has this guy formed outside?
Isn't he a university student? How does he have so much time to play games in a day?”
Xu Ming couldn't help but cover his face: “That's because you haven't seen Mu Li's Sylveon.”
“What's wrong with his Sylveon?” Chichi couldn't help but ask curiously.
“I'll show you a video, and you'll know,” Xu Ming took out his phone and placed it in the middle of everyone.
The video was shot in Mu Li's dorm room.
It was originally a four-person dorm, but only three people were sitting in their seats, while Mu Li's seat was occupied by a Sylveon, operating the computer.
“See? You thought your teammate was A Li, but in fact, your teammate might just be a Sylveon,” Xu Ming couldn't help but sigh, covering his forehead.
Chichi was completely stunned: “No, whose Sylveon can even use a computer?”
Xu Ming explained helplessly: “Do you know why this Eevee chose to evolve into Sylveon?”
Chichi subconsciously shook his head.
“That's because Sylveon has more ribbons, which means she effectively has two extra hands, plus her Psychic ability.
Don't even mention us, even if A Li himself faced Sylveon, it would be a 50/50 chance,” Xu Ming explained helplessly.
“Is this the legendary Pokémon proxy player?” Xin Fei Yu and the others were also completely stunned.
The only ones who didn't react much were the parents' generation; they didn't react simply because they didn't understand.
Chichi was completely enraged now: “I told that kid many times to turn on his voice chat, and he said his throat was uncomfortable and he couldn't!
So, he found a proxy player!”
Xu Ming couldn't help but comfort him: “Forget it, you'll get used to it.
After all, if you lose, Sylveon won't come through the internet to hit you, but if we mess up, it's beyond terrible.”
“What? Does A Li lose his temper when he loses a game?” Chichi had never experienced this.
Xu Ming shook his head, revealing a bitter smile: “Not A Li, it's Sylveon.
I remember our boss once messed up a game for her, and she directly hung him on the dorm door, and even wrote on him, ‘This is the consequence of messing with teammates.’
I still have that video now.”
Xin Fei Yu's eyes lit up, and just as he was about to say something, Xu Ming interrupted him: “No, don't even think about it.
It concerns my boss's reputation; I can't make it public.”
Xin Fei Yu's eyes dimmed, and he sighed: “That's truly a pity.”
“Forget it, let's not talk about it, let's watch the video first,” Xu Ming lamented.
“After you get to know him, you'll realize how outrageous he is.
The ‘Li’ in A Li is the ‘Li’ from outrageous.”