Chapter 220 Island (Part 2)
Qiao Yuan also heard what Zhao Rulan said and looked over from the deck.
Just as Sister Jiang said, the island really looked like a small boat, anchored on the sea, waiting for everyone to arrive.
As Xiaozhou Island became clearer and clearer, the cruise ship on which the program crew was traveling finally docked. The director also signaled to the guests that they could get off the cruise ship and prepare to begin the show.
Qiao Yuan took a quick look and realized an important problem. He turned to look at the director and asked, "Do we need to find the NPC and radio communication tools ourselves?"
Director: "Yes, the NPC is on the island and needs everyone to find it. The radio communication equipment is also in the NPC's hands."
"But don't worry, the NPC is not difficult to find. It is already waiting for everyone at a fixed location."
Hearing the director's words, everyone nodded.
After everyone got off the cruise ship one by one, the director reminded them: "We will stop here when we come back and wait to pick you up."
As soon as he finished speaking, the cruise ship blew another whistle, then broke through the wind and waves and moved away, until it condensed into a black dot.
After watching the cruise ship sail away and completely disappear from everyone's sight, everyone's attention finally turned back to the island in front of them.
In the silence, Song Yanchi spoke first and said firmly: "Let's go find the NPC first."
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone echoed him.
When Qiao Yuan looked over from the deck before, he felt that although Xiaozhou Island had the word "small" in its name, its area was not small, and one could hardly see the end at a glance.
And once you actually stand on the shore, this feeling becomes even more obvious.
Song Yanchi, who was the first to speak, has unknowingly become the leader of the group.
There was a forest in front of them. Qiao Yuan took a look and found that the fallen leaves on the ground had traces of being stepped on by people, and the traces looked very fresh, so he realized that the most likely traces were left by the program team's previous arrangements, and it was very likely the NPC himself.
Song Yanchi also realized this, so after whispering a few words with Qiao Yuan, he led a group of people towards the woods not far away.
The scenery of the island gradually appeared before everyone's eyes, and everyone exclaimed as they walked -
"Wow, is this Xiaozhou Island? The scenery on the island is much better than I thought."
"Yes, I only knew about Luoji Island before. When I heard it was this island, I was a little disappointed. Now it seems that I was reckless."
"I haven't smelled such fresh air for a long time."
"We are in the woods after all, and the trees here are so tall."
"It felt a bit hot just now, but luckily the leaves helped to shade me, and now it's much better."
"But this Xiaozhou Island is so desolate. Is there no one living here now? Or was there someone here before, but they just left temporarily because they were filming a show?"
"Why do I feel like this island has never been inhabited from the beginning? Maybe it has been a deserted island from the beginning."
…
"Mr. Sheng, the director just said that your company is responsible for the development of the island. Do you know the specific situation of this island?"
A girl turned to look at Sheng Guiye and asked in a soft voice.
Qiao Yuan remembered that the other person introduced himself as Xin Min, an actor.
Xin Min was also the only girl present who was wearing a skirt and high heels.
Her eyes and eyebrows are somewhat like Qiao Yuan's, gentle and harmless, with a hint of pitifulness between them. She is wearing a white dress with long hair draped over her shoulders.
In addition, after putting on high heels, she is almost the same height as Qiao Yuan. If she and Qiao Yuan were not wearing different clothes, it would be easy to make a mistake.
And this was naturally what Xin Min intended.
She has been praised for her beauty since she was a child, so she has always dreamed of entering the entertainment industry, so she dropped out of school very early to enter the entertainment industry. However, there are too many handsome men and beautiful women in the entertainment industry, not to mention that some people come from wealthy families and have their own resources, and she has no special talents. Although Xin Min's proud appearance has opened the door to the entertainment industry for her, it is just that.
Although she has acted in TV series and movies before, she didn't make much of a splash and is still only an 18th-tier actress. However, because Qiao Yuan has been frequently on the hot search list recently, Xin Min, who is somewhat similar to Qiao Yuan, has finally been noticed by the company. The company wants to use Qiao Yuan's popularity to promote Xin Min, so they finally decided to support her.
The company can only focus on variety shows.
The variety show "Adventurers" happened to come into her sight, but the permanent guests had already been decided, so Xin Min could only start with the flying guests.
She paid a high price to bribe the staff of the program team and bought a spot as a flying guest. She also learned from the staff that Sheng Guiye would also come to participate in this program.
She had heard about the other party's legendary entrepreneurial experience before and had always admired him. Not to mention that she knew very well that if she could get close to Sheng Guiye, she would not have to worry about entertainment resources in the future.
The most important thing is that Xin Min knows that she and Qiao Yuan look somewhat similar. In addition, it has been said recently that Sheng Guiye is interested in Qiao Yuan. So since she has the same appearance as Qiao Yuan and has had several relationships and knows how to attract men, she can always attract Sheng Guiye's attention.
During this period of time, Xin Min also watched Qiao Yuan's variety shows repeatedly, wanting to learn to imitate her. To this end, she also deliberately placed a mole exactly the same as Qiao Yuan's on her face, and even her walking posture was imitating her.
When she first arrived at the show, some staff members mistook her for Qiao Yuan. For Xin Min, this was clearly a recognition.
Since arriving at the cruise ship, Xin Min's eyes have been glued to Sheng Guiye, and she even deliberately walked in front of him to attract Sheng Guiye's attention. However, Sheng Guiye had been sticking to Qiao Yuan just now, so she didn't have any chance.
Now, after hearing what someone said next to her, Xin Min realized that the opportunity had come, so she deliberately brought up the topic and took the initiative to ask Sheng Guiye.
The atmosphere was silent for a few seconds, and everyone subconsciously looked at Sheng Guiye.
Sheng Guiye noticed Qiao Yuan's gaze and realized that he was also interested. He had read the information about Xiaozhou Island before, so he said, "There were indeed villages gathered on Xiaozhou Island before, but they all moved away one after another and the island was sold."
"Xiaozhou Island is being developed into a resort, but because it was only acquired last year, only a development plan has been issued and it has not yet entered the formal development stage. Currently, only the island guards sent by the company are here."
Not to mention that Sheng Guiye has many businesses under his umbrella, he has already acquired many islands for the resort project alone, such as Luoji Island, which is almost known to everyone in China. Xiaozhou Island is just the most ordinary one among them. If it weren't for this show, Sheng Guiye would not have actually noticed this island.
The young man with a crew cut commented: "It does sound ordinary. I don't know what the mystery will be."
Zhao Rulan was a carefree person, and said, "How long will it take before we can see the NPC?"
"Many of us can no longer walk."
That's true.
Some time had passed since they entered the woods, but the woods were much larger than they had imagined. It was only now that they were finally about to leave the woods.
Because they were not wearing watches, they did not know the time for a moment. However, when they walked out of the woods before, the sun was still high in the sky, but now they could see the orange-red color of the sunlight when it fell to the ground, and judged that it was already afternoon.
Many of the guests had already revealed tired expressions. As soon as Zhao Rulan spoke, it was like a switch. Another middle-aged uncle couldn't wait to speak up: "Yeah, let's take a break."
The middle-aged woman with curly hair and simple clothes even pulled the middle-aged man's hand and wanted to sit down with him.
The two were also the oldest guests present, in their 40s and 50s, a married couple. They asked other guests to call them Uncle Zhong and Aunt Zhong. It was said that their children signed them up for them, but they didn't expect to be selected. In addition, their children said it was equivalent to a golden wedding trip, so they came here.
But before Uncle Zhong and Aunt Zhong touched the ground, they heard a male voice suddenly coming from the side: "There is a house over there."
The speaker is the male guest Huo Ling.
At this moment, he was speaking and pointing in another direction.
Looking in the direction of Huo Ling's finger, everyone noticed that not far away, there was indeed a row of wooden houses that looked particularly quaint.
Qiao Yuan also saw the wooden house: "Yes, the NPC is likely there."
Although Qiao Yuan said it was only a possibility, many people had the same idea as her, so their eyes lit up, and those who were originally tired quickened their pace and walked in that direction.
The small wooden houses gathered together, looking like a village. But they were obviously quite old, and the outside of the wooden houses had been eroded by wind and sun, showing traces of time. They must have been there originally, not built later.
There were obviously not many people in the village, so it was very quiet.
At this moment, a creaking sound suddenly came from one of the cabins. It was particularly obvious in the quiet environment, causing everyone to subconsciously look in the direction of the sound.
A girl in her twenties stood at the door of the cabin . She had neat short hair, simple clothes, a mole at the corner of her lips, and a gentle smile on her face. "You are the representatives sent by the developer this time, right?"
Qiao Yuan and others had heard the director mention before that their identities in this episode were representatives of the developer.
The person in front of me must be the NPC, so the code matches.
After everyone else nodded, the girl introduced herself and said that everyone could call her Xiaoyu.
She looks very friendly, so even though it was their first meeting, many guests had already let down their guard and took the initiative to say hello to her.
Xiaoyu's eyes fell on the guests' lips, which were already chapped due to thirst, and then she stepped aside to make way for them, saying, "Are you all tired? Come in and have a rest."
A few minutes later, the guests had entered the cabin.
The wooden house was not very big to begin with, not to mention it was divided into different rooms, which made it even more crowded. Several guests were sitting at the wooden table, which was already crowded.
There weren't many seats in the cabin, so only a few people sat down.
After everyone entered the room, Xiaoyu went to the next room to pour water for everyone, while Qiao Yuan took the opportunity to look around the wooden house.
The cabin was small, with only a few simple pieces of furniture. Perhaps because it had been cleaned by the production crew in advance, there was almost no dust.
Qiao Yuan noticed something upside down on the table, but Chen Shi had already picked it up: "What is this..."
His voice stopped abruptly, and his pupils contracted as if he had seen something horrible. Then he let out a cry of "Oh shit", and the thing in his hand fell to the ground.
It was a picture frame.
The photo frame fell heavily to the ground, but luckily it was of good quality so there were no scratches on it.
Because of Chen Shi's scream just now, everyone's attention has been drawn to him. When they saw Chen Shi throw the photo frame in his hand to the ground, everyone's eyes instantly looked over.
When they saw the photo frame on the ground, everyone was stunned.
The atmosphere was silent for a few seconds, and the people present seemed to be strangled by an invisible hand.
There was a black and white photo in the frame, and the person in the photo was very familiar to them.
The girl with short hair, smiling eyes and a mole at the corner of her lips was Xiaoyu, who was pouring water for them next door.
Although the curvature of the other person's lips was no different from before, Xiaoyu's smile lost its friendliness and instead became a bit more sinister, perhaps due to psychological effects or because of the black and white face.
Everyone knows what black and white photos mean.
But if that's the case, Xiaoyu should be dead. Why is she still standing in front of them?
The wooden house was not very soundproof, so they heard the sound of pouring water in the next room stop, followed by Xiaoyu's puzzled voice: "What happened?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiaoyu walked out from the next room.
Her eyes followed everyone's gaze to the ground, and she saw the photo frame that had fallen to the ground.
Qiao Yuan had come to his senses and realized that this was a segment set up by the program team. He bent down to pick up the photo frame and handed it to Xiaoyu: "We saw this."
“This is…”
After seeing the photo, Xiaoyu understood why everyone was so surprised and quickly explained: "Ah, did you misunderstand something?"
"The person in the photo is not me, but my twin sister. We look exactly the same, so people often mistake us for each other, but she passed away some time ago."
After seeing the photo, Qiao Yuan had this guess in her mind, and Xiaoyu's words undoubtedly confirmed her guess.
Xiaoyu also continued to speak, completing the settings in the program.
It turns out that the guests are an adventure team. After accidentally hearing the story about Xiaozhou Island, they have been fascinated by it. Until this time, they finally got the opportunity to come here under the name of the developer. Xiaoyu and her sister Xiaoning have lived on Xiaozhou Island since they were young. They are also the daughters of the village chief. Even though the island was later bought by the developer and everyone else moved away, Xiaoyu's family still lives on the island.
Later, their parents died one after another, leaving only Xiaoyu and Xiaoning. They felt that after they left, there would be no one else on the island, so they did not move away.
But Xiaoning passed away a few days ago, so Xiaoyu was the only one left on the island.
As she spoke, Xiaoyu's expression became serious: "Speaking of which, since my sister died, strange things have happened frequently..."
