A few seconds later.
Looking at the row of white and green traits that popped up, Jiang Yue had only one thought left in his mind.
There were no single-pull Gold-Tier Traits this time. Now that his novice protection period had expired, the system was finally showing its capitalistic face.
Even mobile game developers would have to offer it a cigarette in respect.
He scrolled through the rows of traits: 【Seamless Heartbeat (Blue)】, 【Smooth Talking (Green)】, 【Steady Gaze (Green)】, 【Moderate Speech Rate (White)】, 【Restrained Micro-movements (White)】, 【Basic Memory Fabrication (White)】, 【Flat Tone (White)】, 【Simple Agreement (White)】, 【Relaxed Face (White)】, 【Lie Detection (Blue)】, 【Logical Deconstruction (Green)】, 【Facial Observation (Green)】, 【Gaze Capture (White)】, 【Action Attention (White)】, 【Short-Term Memory Phrases (White)】, 【Tone Distinction (White)】, 【Breathing Observation (White)】, and 【Detail Attention (White)】.
He skipped past those and looked at the two Purple-Tier Traits.
【Bold-Faced Lie (Purple): Once equipped, eliminates facial expression flaws when maintaining a fake identity, keeps heart rate constant, completes linguistic logic, and grants innate strong persuasiveness.】
【Perceptive Insight (Purple): Once equipped, drastically increases sensitivity to the surrounding environment, capturing others' facial muscle twitches and logical loopholes in their speech.】
Jiang Yue equipped both at the same time.
Some might wonder why Jiang Yue didn't just equip all his traits all the time.
The reason was simple: traits acted as a layer of enhancement, but the energy and mental power they consumed still came from him. Keeping them all active normally would only slow down his day-to-day judgment.
Following the seating order, Zhao Songcheng was the first to flip his card.
“The story I got is about a guy who, in order to escape his debts, faked an alien abduction and even trampled out a crop circle in a cornfield himself.”
Su Yao glanced at her card.
“Mine is about a thief who broke into a house to steal, but ended up cleaning the owner's room instead, even leaving a note criticizing the owner for being untidy.”
When it was Zhang Yu's turn, he cleared his throat. “My story is about a man who trained his pet parrot to say 'I love you' to his wife. But the parrot never learned it, and instead, it confesses to the robotic vacuum cleaner every single day.”
Finally, it was Jiang Yue.
Jiang Yue looked down and scanned his blank paper. After making sure his movements looked convincing, he spoke. “The story on my card is an insurance fraud case.”
This suspenseful opening made the studio fall silent for a brief moment.
Without pausing, Jiang Yue continued, “To commit insurance fraud, a man pushed his car off a cliff and sank it into a reservoir. Three years later, the reservoir dried up, and the car was salvaged. When the owner went to claim it, the police found a skeleton in the trunk.”
The members of the Blue Team didn't speak immediately.
He Chao looked at Jiang Yue.
“Your story has plenty of details. I'll use our team's first question to ask for a specific detail: what make was the car?”
As the camera zoomed in, Jiang Yue didn't hesitate.
“A silver Santana.”
Back in his university dorm, Lu Ming had studied journalism and communication. He had been particularly obsessed with legal documentary shows and often played them out loud in the dorm.
Jiang Yue had heard plenty of keywords like insurance fraud, sunken cars, cold cases, and dried-up reservoirs. Using them to piece together a self-consistent story on the fly was more than enough.
He Chao stared at him for two seconds, then turned to consult his teammates.
“His story is hard to judge. Who should we ask for the second question?”
Lin Hao nodded in agreement. “Teacher Zhao's alien story is so ridiculous that it might actually be true. Zhang Yu's story sounds more like a joke, while Jiang Yue's story is packed with details. Su Yao's story feels like a local news piece, but it's also too ordinary.”
After a brief discussion, they directed the second question to Su Yao.
“Su Yao, what exactly was written on the note left by the thief?”
Su Yao replied with a smile, “It said, 'Your living habits are simply an insult to modern civilization. I couldn't bear to look at it, so I cleaned up for you on my way out.'”
She answered fluently, but the Blue Team still didn't completely dismiss their suspicions.
Ultimately, they cast their votes for Su Yao.
He Chao followed the procedure and announced, “Will the Red Team's undercover please reveal their card.”
Jiang Yue switched the microphone to his other hand and flipped over the white card on his lap, aiming it at the camera.
The audience fell silent for a moment before erupting into an uproar.
Several members of the Blue Team stood up in shock.
“It was actually you?”
He Chao's eyes widened. “You made that entire thing up on the spot? I really thought you got a news-based story card!”
In the second round, it was the Blue Team's turn to draw cards.
After their four participating members finished describing their stories in turn, the Red Team began to waver.
Zhao Songcheng felt that Lin Hao's story was too fake, while Sun Peng was hyper-focused on the loopholes in He Chao's story.
The countdown board had already been raised, clearly a cue from the director to speed up the pace.
Jiang Yue leaned back against his chair, his gaze sweeping across the faces of He Chao, Lin Hao, and Qian Bin.
He lingered on Qian Bin a few moments longer. Qian Bin's story was about a monkey stealing a tourist's wallet to buy bananas.
At this moment, Zhang Yu smiled and directed the conversation to him.
“Brother Jiang performed so steadily just now. Do you want to give us a definitive answer for this round as well?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the director cut to a close-up of Jiang Yue.
Zhang Yu's words didn't sound harsh, but they were filled with subtle traps.
If the judgment was correct, everyone would win together.
But if it was wrong, once this segment aired, the blame would mostly fall on Jiang Yue.
Sun Peng also looked at Jiang Yue. “What do you think, Teacher Jiang? If you have any thoughts, just speak up.”
Jiang Yue didn't take Zhang Yu's bait and only answered Sun Peng.
“I'm not sure who it is, but I suggest using one of our questions on Brother Qian.”
Zhang Yu didn't feel awkward at all and chimed in again, “Ask Brother Qian? But he spoke the most fluently. If it's not him, we'll lose a valuable chance.”
While it sounded like a helpful reminder, he was actually shifting the responsibility in advance.
Sun Peng hesitated for two seconds, but ultimately chose to trust Jiang Yue, who had just carried the Red Team through the previous round.
“Alright, let's go with your suggestion. Jiang Yue, you ask the question.”
Jiang Yue didn't decline. He picked up his microphone and looked at Qian Bin opposite him.
“Brother Qian, you said earlier that in your story, the monkey took the wallet to a convenience store at the bottom of the mountain to buy bananas, and the store owner even gave it change.”
Qian Bin's smile stiffened slightly. “Right, the owner found it amusing.”
“Then could you describe in more detail: what was the monkey's exact movement when it took the change from the store owner?”
Qian Bin paused for two seconds, looking as if he was trying to recall or think. He gestured with his hand.
“It... it just reached out, grabbed the money in one go, and ran off.”
After saying this, he even mimicked a grabbing motion.
Jiang Yue felt certain of the answer now, so he put down his microphone. “I choose Brother Qian.”
For a moment, none of the Red Team members spoke.
Zhao Songcheng nodded first, and Su Yao looked at Sun Peng.
Sun Peng gritted his teeth. “Alright, let's go with Qian Bin.”
Once the results were announced, the undercover was indeed Qian Bin.
He Chao was the first to react.
“Oh no, oh no! Qian Bin got caught!”
Qian Bin flipped over his blank card with a bitter smile. “I yield. Where did I slip up?”
The microphone in Zhang Yu's hand froze in mid-air. The words he had prepared had nowhere to go, so he could only slowly lower it back to his lap.
Sun Peng pressed, “Jiang Yue, how did you know?”
Jiang Yue explained, “When Teacher Qian mentioned buying bananas, his expression wasn't right. Since the store owner gave change, there should have been a complete transaction process beforehand. But when I pressed for details just now, he didn't answer immediately, and the action he made up afterward didn't align with the story he told earlier.”
Qian Bin raised his hands in surrender.
“Alright, stop analyzing. If you analyze any further, my hosting career is going to end.”
He Chao immediately chimed in with a joke.
“Did you see that, dear audience? Don't make up stories in front of Jiang Yue in the future, or he'll investigate exactly how the monkey took the change.”
Laughter and applause erupted from the audience.
Red Team won the second round, bringing the overall score to a tie at one-to-one.
By the monitors, the executive director raised a cue card.
The stagehands quickly removed the chairs, laid out foam mats in the center of the stage, and wheeled out the props.
He Chao raised his microphone and raised his voice.
“The current score is one-to-one! Next up is the final round that will decide the winner, and also the last game of this episode of 《Star Weekend》: the Extreme High Jump Challenge!
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