A song called "The You of the Past" has prompted the entire internet to beg me not to leav

"Splash!"

The giant grouper, weighing 200 pounds, was dragged onto the deck by a winch.

The massive tail fin slammed wildly against the fiberglass floor, causing the entire speedboat to vibrate with a "humming" sound.

Zhao Yifan lay sprawled on the side of the ship like a limp rag.

Staring at the deep-sea monster in front of him, which was thicker than his waist, he stared blankly, spitting out even the last bit of acid.

Only one line of words flashed through his mind: It's over. The top-notch outdoor persona that the company spent 30 million to build has been smashed to pieces by a fish.

Returning to port.

When the yacht docked, Director Wang and the entire production crew were already lined up at the pier like a welcoming party.

Watching several strong men work together to use a crane to lift the giant grouper ashore, Director Wang's mouth twitched so hard it looked like he was about to have a stroke.

According to the program's rules, one pound of sea fish can be exchanged for ten points.

This 200-pound giant grouper emptied the entire budget of the production team for this season with just one swing!

"Teacher Lin, well done!" Director Wang forced out a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"It's alright. Hopefully, the production team isn't going to go bankrupt?"

Lin Yan shook his aching wrist, took the iced cola from Chen Yu, and chug down half the bottle.

"This..." Director Wang wiped away his cold sweat, his eyes darting around.

We absolutely cannot let this kid continue like this, otherwise this show might as well be renamed "Lin Yan and His Vengeful Director".

Two hours later.

Director Wang cleared his throat and picked up the megaphone: "Attention all guests! Due to the triggering of the hidden achievement 'Deep-Sea Giant,' the production team has decided to temporarily activate a large-scale island treasure hunt segment!"

Several staff members in black uniforms huffed and puffed as they carried out a briefcase and placed it in the middle of the beach.

"There's a treasure map in the box! This was custom-made by the show's production team at great expense, with the top escape room team in China, 'Ghost Fox,' spending a month creating it exclusively!"

Director Wang became more and more confident as he spoke.

"The treasure is hidden somewhere on the island. Find it and you'll receive the ultimate, luxurious, and mysterious grand prize!"

Teacher He leaned forward and read aloud the clue cards on the combination lock box.

"The shadow behind the sun, the point where the trident of Neptune points to the tidal convergence, the end of the number seven..."

Chef Huang scratched his head: "What is all this nonsense? Are you playing riddles?"

Zhang Zifeng and Chen Yu huddled together, staring at each other.

Zhao Yifan, who had just finished vomiting, suddenly brightened up.

Here comes our chance to save face!

He immediately adopted the air of a wise expert, walked in front of the camera, and said, "Teacher He, I know the answer to this question!"

"Neptune represents astronomy, and the shadow behind the sun is definitely a solar eclipse! Just check the local astrological calendar. As for the tidal convergence, it's clearly a beach coordinate!"

As he spoke, he took out his phone and began searching for astronomical data with great seriousness.

Die-hard fans quickly added comments in the live chat: "[Yifan looks so handsome when he's seriously solving problems! The battle of wits is about to begin!]"

On the other side...

Lin Yan was sprawled out on a beach chair, while Chen Yu fawned over him, holding a parasol over his head.

"Brother Lin, aren't you going to go take a look?" Chen Yu muttered softly.

"No, it's too hot, and it'll strain my brain." Lin Yan didn't even open his eyes.

At this moment, Shen Qingqiu walked over.

She stared at the clues on the combination lock: "A six-digit combination lock, but the clues are too fragmented, there's no logical connection. Lin Yan, come take a look."

Only after the Empress spoke did Lin Yan lazily open his eyes.

He slowly moved to the front of the combination lock box and casually glanced at the flashy clue card.

Two seconds later, she rolled her eyes.

"That's it? And you call that top-tier in China?"

Lin Yan squatted down, picked up a broken twig, and started casually scratching it on the beach.

"Neptune's trident shape represents the direction of ocean currents in ancient nautical charts. The confluence of tides refers to the angle of refraction caused by the collision of the two main warm currents surrounding this broken island."

As he spoke, he drew, and in the blink of an eye, a simple topographic map of the island and a map of ocean current tangents appeared on the sand.

The entire room fell silent.

Zhao Yifan's hand, holding the phone, froze in mid-air, his mind going blank.

"The shadow behind the sun is a game of latitude and longitude conversion. This island is at 18 degrees north latitude, and the longest angle of the shadow, calculated by the sun's altitude at noon today, points exactly 15 degrees south of southeast."

Lin Yan's twig danced in his hand as he scribbled down a series of formulas.

"As for the end of the number seven..."

Lin Yan casually tossed the branch aside and patted the sand off his palm.

"The combination lock is shifted by working backwards from the seventh term of the Fibonacci sequence. It's just basic calculus from freshman year; nothing special."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Yan reached out and turned the combination lock on the box.

"Click".

The six-digit combination lock opened with a click.

The entire process took less than a minute at most.

Director Wang was completely numb.

He spent a fortune on a brain-teasing challenge, intending to stump the guests for an entire afternoon... only to have it completely discredited like a middle school geography and advanced calculus homework assignment?!

The live stream chat paused strangely for three seconds, then the screen was filled with question marks.

【? ? ? ? 】

[Am I seeing things? He drew an ocean current tangent diagram freehand with a broken twig?!]

[A senior marine geology student is blown away... His scale drawing is perfect, I'm impressed!]

Who's treating escape room problems like calculus?!

[In comparison, Zhao Yifan's attempt to consult celestial omens looks like that of an idiot, hahaha!]

Lin Yan opened the box and took out the parchment treasure map.

He glanced at the contour lines and pointed to the coconut grove to his left.

"Go straight for 800 meters in the southeast direction, at the bottom of the leeward slope of the cliff, that's where the thing is buried."

"This...that's it?" Chef Huang swallowed several times.

"Hurry up, finish digging and we're off work."

Lin Yan, with his hands in his pockets and wearing flip-flops, swaggered ahead.

The group followed him through the coconut grove as if they had seen a ghost.

Ten minutes later, Lin Yan stopped under a crooked tree and tapped the ground with his toes.

"Dig here. Chen Yu, get the shovel."

Chen Yu picked up the shovel and got to work, but after a few strokes, he hit something hard with a "crack".

A bright red treasure chest was unearthed. Inside, there were five vouchers for premium steaks, plus several bottles of red wine.

"Tch, this junk."

Lin Yan looked disgusted, turned around and left, intending to go back and catch up on some sleep.

Behind the monitor, Director Wang watched Lin Yan's nonchalant back view on the screen with his hands and feet ice-cold.

He grabbed the walkie-talkie, his voice trembling.

"Assistant Director! Check the internal communication records! Did this kid hack into the internal network and steal the drafts?! He even pinpointed the location of the treasure chest to the millimeter—is that even scientifically possible?!"

Over the walkie-talkie, the assistant director's voice trembled with tears: "Director Wang, there wasn't even an electronic version of the answer to this question! The escape room team gave us the original paper copy in person..."

Director Wang's legs went weak and he slumped into the chair, gazing up at the sky.

I feel like my directing career has completely turned into a Barbie Q mess.