Chapter 373: Chapter 373

The promotional video recording this time not only stirred up excitement in advance but also fostered healthy competition within the training camp.

After the video was broadcast, the male students learned about the netizens’ comments from the staff.

It was basically unanimous praise for the girls’ team, while the boys’ team ended up being disparaged in comparison.

This infuriated them. Although it was their own lack of effort that caused the situation, they couldn’t help but feel a small sense of hostility bubbling up inside.

To them, it was humiliating. Determined to redeem their reputation, the boys silently resolved to train harder moving forward, aiming to crush the girls’ team.

This training camp involved not just attending simple lessons, but also tracking each participant’s daily performance. At the end of the camp, three outstanding representatives would be selected based on their performance, and their achievements would be announced publicly.

Having lost face in the first public promotion, the boys were determined to reclaim their pride in the second round.

As a result, the girls’ team noticed a peculiar phenomenon—the boys had suddenly turned into competitive overachievers.

For example, during physical training classes, when the instructor required ten push-ups, someone would volunteer to raise it to twenty, another to thirty, and even some to fifty. One outdid the other, leaving everyone dumbfounded.

Similarly, in cultural and acting classes, the seats in the front rows were always occupied by boys while the girls were forced to sit further back.

Thankfully, the classroom was tiered, so even with the boys—many over six feet tall—sitting in front, they didn’t obstruct the view from the rear.

Apart from their competitiveness, the girls noticed that the boys had also grown noticeably attentive.

For instance, in physical training, they would always leave the lightweight equipment for the girls and monopolize the heavier equipment, claiming they were afraid the girls couldn’t manage the excessive weight and might injure themselves.

Simpler minds like Huang Chengzi thought these young men had finally smartened up and learned to show courtesy to the ladies.

But Sang Ning, seeing through their ploy yet choosing not to expose it, realized their attentiveness wasn’t out of kindness toward Huang Chengzi—it was fear of her.

With Huang Chengzi’s Innate Divine Strength combined with strict training, the boys stood no chance against her in weightlifting or wrestling exercises, often scoring zero.

However, they underestimated the sheer power of talent. Even if Huang Chengzi stopped training for several months, she could still easily dominate these boys.

In the end, despite their best efforts, the boys realized they could never outperform Sang Ning in cultural studies, Huang Chengzi in strength training, or even match Sun Bangyu and Wei Lejun in acting skills.

After facing repeated blows, the boys’ initial arrogance and high spirits had long since vanished.

The dream of utterly overshadowing the girls in all areas was nothing but wishful thinking—they had no choice but to accept their fate.

That is, until the second publicity opportunity arrived—a skill-based competition that gave the boys hope. At last, a chance to salvage their image presented itself.

Long-term training and lessons had grown monotonous, so the showrunners reserved a day to organize a fun-filled competition to entertain the participants.

The event was a live-streamed water race titled #AnythingCanBeRowed#.

The rules were simple: it was an individual competition where participants had to use their ingenuity and select items visible and obtainable within the training camp to fashion improvised boats.

Their goal was to cross the river using these floating items. The first three individuals to make it across would be declared the winners and rewarded with an hour-long live-stream interaction session with the audience.

The live stream was hosted by the official account, guaranteeing viewer engagement. To the participants, this was a tantalizing opportunity, and everyone was determined to secure a top-three spot.

Even without the bonus of live interaction, everyone vowed to perform well since each participant was assigned a personal filming crew to follow their every move during the race.

On the day of the competition, even though there were no training sessions or lessons scheduled, the participants were still woken up early.

The showrunners gave everyone the morning to prepare their boats and test them in the water for trial runs. The official recording of the competition began at 2 PM.

The girls’ dormitory.

After hearing the wake-up whistle, Sang Ning was the last one to rise from bed.

With no morning practice and no assembly required, the whistle simply urged everyone to get up and start preparing, making it a rare opportunity to laze in bed a bit longer in comparison to usual.

But as Sang Ning finally sat up, she noticed that the other three in her dorm had already left their beds and were in a frantic rush.

Sang Ning glanced at Huang Chengzi, who was putting on a jacket, yawned, and asked, "There’s no morning practice today. Why are you all so overly enthusiastic?"

Huang Chengzi, tying one shoe, paused upon hearing Sang Ning’s words, then suddenly realized, "Oh right, today’s the live-streamed competition. It completely slipped my mind."

The other two also froze briefly—it wasn’t their fault. Over the past few days, the moment the whistle blew, they instinctively jumped out of bed as if it was muscle memory.

Once they realized it wasn’t urgent, their movements slowed, and they began to leisurely sort out their outfits.

Even though there was no morning practice, there was still work to do, so Sang Ning calmly got out of bed without any hurry.

After finishing her morning routine, a knock was heard at the door—the follow-cam photographer had arrived.

After confirming with her dorm mates that all privacy-sensitive items were put away, Sang Ning finally opened the door for the photographer.

But as soon as she opened it, a black sack came down over her head, followed by ropes wrapping around her.

Feeling secure in the training camp, Sang Ning didn’t expect the showrunners to pull a stunt , so she let her guard down and was caught off-guard, instantly bound.

Seeing Sang Ning get restrained, the remaining three girls let out a synchronized scream and huddled closely together.

Outside the door wasn’t the expected photographer but mysterious men donning sunglasses and formal suits, each built like a tank. Latest content publıshed on 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦·𝘯𝘦𝘵

After capturing Sang Ning, they barged into the room, encircled the other three, wore cold expressions, and wordlessly sacked and bound them too.

Things escalated unpredictably—Huang Chengzi had never imagined that what was supposed to be a recording session would suddenly turn into a kidnapping scenario. Despite her Innate Divine Strength, she was so scared she forgot to resist and just clung tightly to Wei Lejun’s hand, pleading, "Sister Lejun, save me, save me, please save me!"

Wei Lejun managed only to roll her eyes at her before being sacked and left in darkness.

Huang Chengzi, honestly? Out of all of them aside from Sang Ning, she had the highest combat power. Who’s saving whom here?

But Wei Lejun quickly calmed down and realized this was likely a stunt by the showrunners.

Sang Ning probably figured it out too, which is why she played along and let herself be taken away. Otherwise, given her skills, if this were a real kidnapping, she wouldn’t leave without knocking down a few people first.