Welcome to the Misogyny Game

It seems that otome games aren't all about solving cases, otherwise they would just be crime games disguised as otome games.

Time flies when you're in the game. Liu Chaoque was just lamenting how a month had passed in the blink of an eye, and the end of the semester was already here.

As undergraduate economics students, one of their final assignments was a survey questionnaire.

I recall facing a similar challenge during my undergraduate years, which was eventually resolved through the collective efforts of the entire class. However, this project clearly cannot be undertaken by only 50 people.

"After leaving the school, please conduct an interview-style investigation into financial management in society and upload the video to Bilibili. The video should include the views of people from all three age groups, and the number of interviewees should not be less than 50, with the interview lasting no less than two hours."

Fortunately, there wasn't a strict requirement for a certain number of likes to meet the standard. Liu Chaoque thought to himself, trying to find some humor in his predicament.

"Isn't this making things difficult for me, Fat Tiger?" Nan Chu said indignantly. "Does she think we're media people? Besides, this kind of interview, which is somewhat official in nature, really won't make people think we're some kind of new-age media personality. And having to carry the camera all by myself, and keep it steady, requires an experienced cameraman. The teacher really thinks too highly of us."

“Actually, we can use our phones to film it too, when the content creator suddenly feels like it and is looking for material,” Zhao Beichen said.

"That's all we can do." After a brief exchange, the two suddenly looked at Liu Chaoque, who hadn't said a word: "You haven't said a word since get out of class ended. What do you think we should do?"

"You're asking me?" Liu Chaoque pointed to himself: "Actually, I have a photographer friend."

"Oh~" The two women's eyes lit up, and Nan Chu patted her shoulder with a smile: "I didn't expect that, little Smile, you even have this kind of connection."

"Stop teasing me." Liu Chaoque brushed her hand away, pressed his face against the table, and said helplessly, "Actually, I only have a life-or-death friendship with that photographer. We're not particularly close. Besides, he's a professional photographer. He probably earns a lot of money per minute. We only have a small final project. It's too expensive to hire a photographer. Let's just use our phones to take pictures."

“That’s true… it’s too much trouble for the other party.” Nan Chu also leaned on the table, and turned to look at Liu Chaoque: “Smile, our research group has a maximum of eight people. Should we have two people with phones so we can shoot from multiple angles?”

“Okay, but who’s going to be the reporter? How about we take turns and all get a feel for it? Oh, and we also need someone to keep track of the number of people, someone to prepare the interview transcripts, and let’s each think of a question. And then there’s the final editing, ugh, so annoying.” Liu Chaoque sighed, “Just thinking about randomly grabbing people makes my toes want to dig to the ground.”

"Actually, you get used to it after a few tries," Liu Xiangru said. "I have an older sister who works at a TV station. If no one wants to do this part, I can do it for her."

The five people sitting in the small classroom all looked at him, their eyes sparkling with approval and admiration, making him feel embarrassed: "Actually, being a reporter isn't as difficult as you imagine."

"Ah~ how much weight your words carry for someone with social anxiety." Wang Wu propped herself up, looked at everyone, slapped the table, and said with an unyielding expression, "I don't care what your feelings were when you joined this group, but the idea of ​​giving up is just that—an idea. Whether it's this interview segment or the final video, all of us have to be responsible for a part of it. After the interview, we'll find a place to organize and edit it, and try to finish it within a day. Do you all understand?"

“Alright.” Zhang Zhuyan nodded casually. “Then let me share my thoughts. Although Liu Xiangru said he could handle the reporter’s task, interviewing 50 people is no easy task. I think we can take Smile’s suggestion. Of course, not everyone needs to be interviewed, that’s unnecessary, but at least two or more people should be involved, and they can take turns.”

"I have no objection," Nan Chu quickly said, "It would be best if it were a man and a woman."

It's unclear what remark touched everyone, but suddenly everyone's gaze shifted to Liu Chaoque's face, who was slumped over the table, the meaning of which was self-evident.

The classroom fell silent for a moment, then erupted into noise again.

"Are there any girls who want to be this reporter?" Zhang Zhuyan asked.

"Hmm... how about I give it a try?" Wang Ying hesitated before speaking, "I want to try..."

"Sure," Zhang Zhuyan asked. "Are there any other people interested?"

This time, no one responded.

Zhang Zhuyan had no choice but to make the final decision on the number of reporters, followed by the interview time and location. Liu Chaoque was to act as the counter, while Nan Chu and Zhang Zhuyan held the cell phones.

The other three would take over the work when the two photographers got tired.

Saturday arrived quickly, and the eight of them gathered at the school gate. In order to capture a more stable shot, Zhang Zhuyan even brought two selfie sticks from home.

The group walked along Shuangqiao Street, watching the people coming and going. Liu Xiangru looked at the note in his hand, while Nan Chu and Zhang Zhuyan held their fully charged phones, feeling inexplicably nervous.

"Alright," Liu Xiangru said.

Liu Chaoque opened the pen cap, ready to take notes, while Nan Chu and Zhang Zhuyan turned on the camera function and followed behind the two like two shadows.

The three substitutes and Wang Ying found a place to sit down and wait for the call. After all, it would be quite intimidating for eight people to act together.

With everything prepared, the day's interviews began.

"Hello, do you have a moment?" The first person Liu Xiangru approached was a beautiful woman wearing flat shoes and casual clothes, who looked like she was out buying groceries.

"What are you doing here?" She looked at the four people in confusion, and when she saw the cell phone, she covered her face: "I won't take pictures."

"We can blur out the images later, just ask a few simple questions," Liu Xiangru said somewhat awkwardly.

"Are you making short videos? The kind you upload to websites?" the woman asked, still unable to contain her curiosity, even while covering her face.

"Um, yes and no. We are students of Huashang University, and we are currently working on our final assignments." Liu Xiangru told the truth, and even took out her student ID to make sure she didn't believe him.

"Your school does this too?" The woman breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the student ID. She removed her hand from her face and instinctively crossed her arms, asking, "Where will you post this video? Can you add a beauty filter?"

"Sure, sure." Seeing that the woman was showing signs of loosening her grip, the young man immediately went down the slope of the donkey path.

"Okay, go ahead and ask." The woman nodded.

This first opening required quite a bit of persuasion. Liu Xiangru decided to go find the old man, but the obstacle in their way wasn't that the old man refused to answer, nor that he was deaf; it was simply...

"Sir, we are students from Huashang University, and we are currently conducting an interview about financial management. May I ask you some questions?"

"Huh? Snjxjdjm?"

"Alright, sir, I'm sorry to bother you."

He turned to look at the crowd: "Who among you understands the CCP language?"

“I do know a few words,” Zhang Zhuyan stepped forward.

So, the reporter was replaced, but the location and the old man remained the same. After a somewhat difficult conversation between the two, Zhang Zhuyan gave an OK sign, and the group moved to another location.

Over the next period of time, everyone was exposed to a variety of dialects, including NB, GX, and TZ, amidst the cries of children, the comforting words of adults, and all sorts of chaotic laughter.

The reporters came and went, and even Liu Chaoque had the chance to appear for a while.

He even chatted with people in a very sophisticated way, in dialect, as if it were an encrypted call.

By the end of the day, everyone was covered in sweat. Liu Chaoque was extremely glad that she hadn't asked that photographer friend to come over; she felt that she would have earned tens of thousands of yuan just for that day.

One of their phones was out of battery, so after finishing work, the group ran to a KFC on the street, hoping to enjoy the free air conditioning.

"You guys came to Shuangqiao Street today?" Ding-dong, Liu Chaoque, who was scrolling through videos, saw this message.

“Yes.” Liu Chaoque was a little puzzled as to why Biancheng had sent her a message.

Biancheng sent a voice message, and Liu Chaoque subconsciously clicked play. The next second, a clear male voice, tinged with grievance, rang out in the room: "Back on Shuangqiao Street, I even waved to you, but you didn't respond..."

The group of people eating hamburgers all turned to look at Liu Chaoque, their eyes sparkling with gossip. Wen Xia covered her mouth, smiling kindly.

Feeling uneasy, Liu Chaoque quickly typed a reply: "I didn't see it, sorry, sorry."

Biancheng sent a voice message, and Liu Chaoque hurriedly put on his headphones: "Where are you now?"

Liu Chaoque: "What's wrong?"

Biancheng: "Are you still on Erqiao Street? I'd like to come find you... Do you have time?" His voice held a hint of probing.

Liu Chaoque: "I do have some free time. We're at a KFC on Erqiao Street now, but it's a bit far."

Border Town: "Here, give me the address."

Liu Chaoque: "You actually came."

Border Town: "Then there's still time to come on leave?"