73: The only team to successfully complete Chapter 73 will receive a special reward!

Before long, only two lifeboats putt-putted over on the sea surface.

The two plastic boats from their imagination did not appear.

On these two lifeboats, one carried Zhou Yichen and Su Qing, while the other carried Lin Mo and Chen Wenwen.

The four people sat on the lifeboats with rather unpleasant expressions.

After all, they had worked themselves to the bone for so long, only to fail in the end.

[What is going on? Where is Zhou Yichen's boat?]

[No, why are there only two lifeboats left? Did the boat sink?]

[No way, I saw that they were doing fine not long ago.]

[Is there a replay? What did I miss?]

[Could it be that they gave up voluntarily?]

[How is that possible? They had already rowed halfway. What a pity to give up.]

The bullet comments flew by furiously, and Director Zhou clearly anticipated the audience's reaction.

He made a gesture to the technical team, and soon, the live broadcast screen split into two.

The left side showed the real-time footage, and the right side began playing the recent playback.

In the playback footage, Zhou Yichen and Su Qing's boat was still moving forward slowly on the sea.

The hull was sitting very deep in the water, and the water surface was almost about to overflow the edge of the boat. Every time a wave hit, a large amount of seawater poured into the boat.

Su Qing could only row while bailing out water, flustered and frantic.

Zhou Yichen sat at the bow of the boat, and the paddle in his hand hadn't been used for a long time. As time went on, his expression gradually turned into impatience.

"Stop rowing."

Zhou Yichen suddenly spoke up.

Su Qing was stunned for a moment, her movements stopping.

"What?"

"I said, stop rowing."

Zhou Yichen repeated.

He threw the paddle into the boat and then plunged headfirst into the seawater. The moment he entered the water, he almost choked to death.

[I'm dying of laughter, going into the water headfirst like that.]

[No, bro... What kind of act are you pulling here?]

[If you don't want to row, just don't row. What the hell is diving headfirst into the water?]

[This splash is huge, he could join some small country's diving team.]

[Ah!!! You are not allowed to talk about Brother like that!]

The lifeboat quickly pulled close.

Then, with the help of the lifeguard, Zhou Yichen was quickly pulled onto the lifeboat.

Su Qing hesitated for a moment and also got onto the lifeboat.

The screen appropriately cut to the other side.

Lin Mo and Chen Wenwen's boat was in better condition than Zhou Yichen's group. The hull was relatively intact, and it didn't take in much water.

But they got stuck in the area with the biggest waves, which was the exact spot Lu Li and Shen Qingxue had encountered earlier.

Anyway, they couldn't go forward, and if they retreated, they would fall back three steps.

The two obviously didn't want to give up just like that and persisted for a while longer, only to move backward instead of forward.

They were completely in despair.

In the end, the two chose to give up and climbed onto the lifeguard's boat.

[Lin Mo and Chen Wenwen really had no choice. The waves at that spot were too big; they couldn't get through at all.]

[To be honest, being able to row to that position is already very impressive.]

[Didn't Lu Li and the goddess get across?]

[The problem is that they have a human-shaped motor. Do you?]

[I declare that the human-shaped motor is the MVP of this match.]

Soon, Director Zhou turned off the playback screen, and the main screen returned to the beach.

By this time, all the guests had returned to the shore.

Xu Hao and Lin Yu had long since found a place to sit, leisurely eating yogurt and some snacks.

You could say that although they "died in battle" early, they started enjoying themselves early too.

Director Zhou glanced around and began to announce.

"Alright! Since everyone is back, I will now announce the results of this morning's strait-crossing segment."

He paused and swept his gaze across everyone.

"First, most people failed to successfully reach the opposite shore, but one group successfully completed the challenge, crossed the strait, and reached the other side."

His gaze fell on Lu Li and Shen Qingxue.

"Lu Li and Shen Qingxue's CP combination successfully completed this segment's challenge, and the Program Team will give a special reward."

Appropriate rounds of applause sounded around them.

Director Zhou waited for the applause to subside and continued speaking.

"The content of the special reward will be announced when the afternoon segment starts."

He glanced at his watch and continued speaking.

"Also, it's getting late now. The morning recording ends here, and the live broadcast room will be temporarily closed. Everyone go back to rest and eat first, and gather here promptly at 2:30 PM."

As his voice fell, the live broadcast room closed right after.

Hearing the word "eat", everyone was finally able to muster a bit of energy.

Lu Li sat up from the beach, scanned his surroundings, and calmly walked over near Director Zhou.

Director Zhou was standing under a parasol, talking to the Deputy Director about something.

Seeing Lu Li walk over, he raised his head.

"What is it?"

"Where is the food? Where are we eating?"

Lu Li asked straightforwardly without beating around the bush.

Director Zhou was stunned for a moment, then pointed to the lifeboats parked on the shore.

"Get on. Go back to eat. What are you standing there frozen for?"

The beach went quiet for a second.

Everyone's attention was instantly captured by this sentence, especially Xu Hao, who looked completely dumbfounded.

What? Going back again?

Lu Li took a deep breath, trying to keep his tone calm.

"Director Zhou, so what you mean is..."

"We rowed over through all sorts of hardships, and now we have to take a boat back, and after eating, we have to take a boat over again in the afternoon?"

Director Zhou nodded as if it were only natural.

"Right."

Lu Li fell silent.

To be honest, after this experience, he felt like he never wanted to take a boat again in his life.

The kind where he got psychological trauma out of it.

Lu Li's mouth twitched, and he blurted out subconsciously.

"Director Zhou, are you out of your mind?"

Director Zhou's expression stiffened for a second.

The Deputy Director nearby couldn't help laughing out loud, but quickly held it back and pretended to cough twice.

Director Zhou took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm.

"This is for the show's effect, understand? Besides, we aren't making you row the boats back yourselves; the lifeboats will tow you."

"Is that the same? I feel like vomiting just thinking about taking a boat now. What if I throw up later?"

"Besides, going back and forth like this wastes manpower and material resources, and also wastes time. Isn't that just pure madness..."

Lu Li retorted righteously.

Director Zhou was choked up for a moment, opened his mouth to say something, but found that he actually couldn't refute it.

Because what Lu Li said actually seemed to make some sense.

The beach was quiet for a moment.

The Deputy Director nearby leaned over and lowered his voice.

"Director Zhou, why don't... we solve lunch over here? Anyway, the resort hotel here is also chartered by us, we just need to give a heads-up in advance."

Director Zhou hesitated for a moment and finally relented.

"Fine, we'll eat lunch here. The resort hotel here was also chartered by the Program Team anyway. I'll have someone prepare it in advance."

Lu Li's expression instantly changed from gloomy to sunny.

"That's more like it."

He turned around and walked back to Shen Qingxue's side, sat down heavily, and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Done."

Shen Qingxue glanced at him, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly, not knowing whether to smile or be speechless.

"Aren't you afraid he'll make things difficult for you?"

"Make things difficult for me?"

Lu Li snorted, lay down on the beach, crossed his hands behind his head, and crossed one leg over the other.

"He wouldn't dare. If he makes things difficult for me, I'll quit the competition tomorrow, the kind where even the liquidated damages can't be afforded."

"Anyway, I have nothing to lose. If he's not convinced, let's fight!"