I have a persona specifically for acting.

When two paths cross, the brave win.

At that moment, Wei Zekai the corgi had many thoughts running through his mind—

For instance, he imagined a distinctive “danger” character from *Sekiro* appearing above his head.

For instance, wasn’t this his comrade?

For instance, why was Tong Zhao coming out at this time?

His view of Tong Zhao was mixed, combining two perspectives, and was quite complicated.

Tong Zhao’s view of him, however, was much simpler.

She was determined to catch this dog!

After removing the bedding, she had only a thin sheet left. She threw the blanket, which fell over the small dog, enveloping him. Catching a dog by hand was too difficult and might give the dog a chance to escape. Tong Zhao never overestimated her physical abilities. Once the blanket covered the little dog, she quickly gathered it up and packed it to bring back to her room.

[Caught!]

[Lol, this combination is so offbeat.]

[The heartbreaker turned dog-catching team leader, Wei Zekai gets the first prize, add a chicken leg!]

Wei Zekai the dog really wasn’t interested in any damn chicken legs.

The blanket was making him a bit uncomfortable. Normally, a regular dog would use its claws to get out, but he was afraid of hurting Tong Zhao. So, he kept his claws sheathed and gave some symbolic angry kicks. After a couple of kicks, he found the spot where his paws were stepping felt a bit soft… Damn it!

Wei Zekai became somewhat guilty and quieted down.

[It’s not like I did it on purpose, why should I feel guilty about it!]

[Forget it, I’m just afraid of hurting her if I push too hard.]

[By the way, wasn’t her right hand injured? How come she’s grabbing me so forcefully? Damn it!]

Wei Zekai’s furious barking was heard clearly by the audience with the God’s-eye view.

Usually, cursing on a variety show would lead to losing fans.

But Wei Zekai’s ineffectual, furious barking actually hit the audience’s cute and funny points, making them think the little master was so adorable he should debut directly, more likable than many celebrities’ true selves.

One comment that was highlighted and praised even expressed the audience’s shared sentiment:

[So, among the six people, only Wei Zekai truly believes Tong Zhao’s hand is still injured? /candle/ candle]

The general audience found him cute, but for the Wei family and those who knew both of them in real life…

Sigh, it’s painful to watch.

When Wei Zekai finally escaped from the blanket trap, he first saw an enlarged female face.

Tong Zhao only had a bedside lamp on.

The warm yellow light from the side illuminated her already beautiful face, making it appear even more gentle. The director’s casual close-up shots were of cinematic quality, and screenshots of her holding the little dog were even used by netizens for promotions—so beautifully shot that the unauthorized use of this image frequently appeared on pet bloggers’ and animal protection public accounts, becoming an unexpected viral sensation.

Everyone noticed Tong Zhao’s beauty.

Except the dog.

Wei Zekai the dog: […Caught by her again!]

Wei Zekai the dog: [What’s her problem? Why is she so fixated on me? I’m supposed to be judging sea kings and saving true love!]

The little dog barked fiercely at her, warning her to let him go.

Tong Zhao remained unfazed.

She thought that Wei Zekai would definitely panic when he realized the dog was missing. If she confronted him with the dog tomorrow, maybe she could extract some information and use the opportunity to close the emotional gap. There was no other way; this little master was too difficult to crack, so she had to use unconventional methods.

As for the dog…

Tong Zhao really didn’t plan to do anything to it; she would just take good care of it for the night.

However, after it barked at her, she narrowed her eyes slightly.

Even without being familiar with “A Hundred Ways to Gaze in Romance Novels,” one could sense the danger from her slightly narrowed eyes.

The Empress Dowager loathed being provoked.

She only let the dog’s head stick out from the blanket, leaving the rest of the short dog body still wrapped up like a spring roll, ensuring the dog couldn’t run around.

Tong Zhao: [I can’t just take out my anger on the dog.]

Tong Zhao: [Forget it, the barking dog’s blame will be placed on Wei Zekai. I’ll settle it with him sooner or later.]

Having exercised some energy while catching the dog, Tong Zhao found herself unable to sleep. Feeling bored, she started playing with the dog. She had always suspected that Wei Zekai might be the judge, so perhaps this official-spy dog might have some hidden mechanisms?

With this thought in mind, Tong Zhao slipped her hand into the spring roll-like blanket, trying to search the little dog for possible cameras, recorders, or GPS devices.

At first, the dog didn’t understand what she was trying to do.

Until its sensitive, snow-white belly was rubbed by her hand.

[What… the hell!]

Tong Zhao had a basic affection for small animals. Her touch was firm yet gentle, careful not to hurt it. But this gentle petting was so ticklish that the corgi started yelping loudly. Afraid of attracting others to witness its embarrassed state, the originally robust barking turned into a soft, plaintive protest.

It sounded a lot like whining.

The audience was also stunned.

[Is this content allowed? It actually seems like it is.]

[Wei Zekai seems to have started enjoying it after barking a couple of times, hahahaha…]

[If the goddess pets me like that, I could also become a dog. Woof woof!]

The mainstream sentiment on the screen became a flood of woofs.

Everyone wanted to become a little pet of their idol.

Not finding what she had imagined on the little corgi, Tong Zhao reluctantly withdrew her hand.

And Wei Zekai had already turned into a useless dog that couldn’t even wag its tiny tail, with a blank mind: [Huff… Huff… Damn woman, why am I so ticklish? It’s driving me crazy!]

Those who are ticklish know that after being thoroughly tickled, their mental defenses are at their weakest.

It’s akin to a sage’s time.

At this moment, Tong Zhao slowly threw out a question: “Little puppy… or should I call you Wei Zekai?”

Wei Zekai: [……]

Her tone was very certain.

Her inner thoughts were casual:

[Not finding anything, and now can’t sleep, let’s play with the dog for a bit and then sleep.]

This headless question was a byproduct of her insomnia and playing with the dog.

But Wei Zekai didn’t know she was such a bored person and was stunned.

The dog, originally looking angry, now seemed a bit cute as it stared blankly at itself. Tong Zhao, while patting its chin, continued with a smile: “Do you think you’re doing a good job acting? Actually, I saw through it long ago. Some of your small movements are common in dogs.”

At this point, Tong Zhao, whose interest came and went quickly, soon lost interest.

She unwrapped the blanket and planned to drive the little corgi to the bathroom, so it could make do with sleeping there for the night and avoid messing up the room: “I’m going to uncover the blanket for you now. You’d better turn back and explain things to me…”

Just as her words ended, a puff of unknown smoke with cartoon sound effects erupted on the bed.

Moments later, the smoke cleared.

Tong Zhao: “……”

Wei Zekai: “……I can explain.”

Underneath the brown-gold highlighted hair was a face of shock and embarrassment.

Suddenly appearing face-to-face, Tong Zhao’s internal thoughts raced at a speed that even advanced AI couldn’t keep up with. After a rapid, almost unbelievable internal monologue, she quickly accepted this supernatural scenario and identified the most advantageous course for herself.

Tong Zhao reached out, grabbed his collar, and pulled him towards her.

Compared to Tong Zhao’s rapid internal dialogue, Wei Zekai’s brain was blank. Caught off guard by her sudden pull, he stumbled forward. Fortunately, his physical reaction speed was good enough to single-handedly catch the blanket just in time…

At this moment, his and Tong Zhao’s lips were only a fingertip apart.

In the next moment, Wei Zekai scrambled to the foot of the bed, his back hitting the wall without him realizing it.

[What a waste, what a waste!]

[Wei Zekai probably thinks his reaction speed is amazing right now!]

Wei Zekai, still shaken: [Damn, I managed to avoid kissing even in that situation. I’m so awesome.]

[……]

[Laughing so hard, what’s the benefit for you? Hahaha!]

Tong Zhao clearly hadn’t expected this outcome either.

She wasn’t planning to force a kiss; she just wanted to close the distance to talk.

Even if he hadn’t managed to catch the mattress in time, she would have simply stopped his shoulder. But she never imagined he would perform such an evasive maneuver.

The two of them stared at each other in astonishment for a moment.

The romantic fantasies from love movies had vanished entirely.

The top-notch love movie heroine, the Empress, had been unexpectedly turned into a comedian.

Even Tong Zhao was momentarily at a loss for what to do.

While she was considering which tactic to switch to, Wei Zekai reacted first. His handsome face turned bright red in an instant: “W-Why did you pull me like that? You almost caused a big problem!”

The child was so frightened that he could barely articulate his words.

Wei Zekai had never been so close to a girl in his life.

Back in school, he liked to perm his hair, dye it, and get tattoos. To his classmates, he was seen as a wealthy, high-class troublemaker, and female classmates didn’t dare to talk to him. The young ladies of similar social status thought he was eccentric. Only Tong Zhao could handle his nonsensical and sharp-tongued remarks… even then, their interactions never crossed boundaries.

In the reality show, Tong Zhao was a girl he had only known for a little over half a month.

Initially, he didn’t take her seriously, and later, it was just a pure and steadfast friendship.

In the moment when he almost kissed her, Wei Zekai’s gender awareness, which had been misplaced in his brain somewhere, finally returned to its correct position. He realized that his battle comrade was a soft girl… indeed very soft… if her whole body is that soft, her lips must be soft too…

[Stop!]

[No more reminiscing!]

Wei Zekai was startled by his own thoughts.

His shyness and diminished confidence only added to his discomfort: “I didn’t choose to become a dog, and I didn’t intend to be caught…”

From an observer’s perspective, Wei Zekai was in the right.

He had turned into a dog, but he wasn’t chasing Tong Zhao; he was just innocently passing by in the hallway.

However, what kind of person is Tong Zhao? Even if Wei Zekai explained things clearly, her quick wit could come up with twisted reasoning to confuse him—she was like a keen predator, never missing any flaw.

The more he retreated, the more she pressed on.

Tong Zhao raised an eyebrow slightly and leaned forward. This time, Wei Zekai had nowhere left to retreat:

“Because I’m very interested in you, little doggy.”

Her usually cheerful and somewhat arrogant voice was now subdued and heavy. The light from the bedside lamp cast a halo around her, outlining her graceful figure under her nightwear. In this moment of gender reversal, the scene stirred the audience’s hearts with excitement, yet retained a subtle purity. The more they knew that nothing serious would happen, the more they looked forward to the development.

“Inter-interested!?”

Wei Zekai stuttered.

……

The production team was also quite intrigued at this moment.

A mischievous writer then suggested, “Why not let Wei Zekai keep his biggest appeal point?”

“What appeal point?” The director scratched his face.

“The dog ears and tail. Don’t people always want to pet him?”

Everyone agreed that this was a good idea.

The director glanced at the modeler, who confirmed that adding these features was a simple task and could be done immediately if approved. The director nodded enthusiastically, “Add them. Let the audience see this particularly honest tail.”

As the audience was engrossed, an official announcement with a white background and black text popped up from above:

“Staff have decided to return some of the dog features to the Judge.”

“Hope the Judge can turn the tables with the cheats we’ve given him!”

Just as the comment flew by, there was a *Duang* sound, and stuttering Wei Zekai’s head and rear each sprouted dog ears and a little tail.

……

Tong Zhao accepted this supernatural development with composure.

Her focus was solely on the prize money; as long as he didn’t turn into a cockroach, she could accept anything!

“Yes, I’m very interested in you,”

Tong Zhao pushed him against the wall. Wei Zekai, irritated, desperately pressed his ears and tail, wanting to either push them back or rip them off. However, when he tried to pull them with force, it hurt so much that his eyes turned red. His anxious and pitiful appearance stirred a hidden sadistic side in Tong Zhao. She firmly grabbed his wrist, “Stop pulling, doesn’t it hurt?”

“It hurts!” Wei Zekai was furious: “This is the ability given by the officials. It was supposed to be just turning into a dog for an hour, with the option to change back at any time. Damn it, what’s with these dog ears and tail? What the hell…”

His panic even made his dialect accent pop out.

Tong Zhao couldn’t help but smile and gently stroked his dog ears.

The moment she touched them, the dog ears perked up.

Wei Zekai, panicked, slapped her hand away: “Don’t touch!”

He hadn’t felt it when he was pulling them himself, but when someone else touched them—especially Tong Zhao’s cool, soft little hand—it made his nerves tingle and his whole body felt off. He had slapped a bit too hard and, realizing his mistake, his eyes showed a large amount of regret as he held her hand: “I didn’t notice earlier. Damn it, your hand was already injured… I’m sorry, my mistake.”

His face was visibly remorseful.

[Poor Wei Zekai, fooled completely by the wicked woman.]

[To this day, he still believes Tong Zhao’s hand is injured! Wake up!]

[He might be the type who still believes in Santa Claus as an adult.]

Tong Zhao was as stunned as the audience.

However, after hearing his self-explosion, she was even more certain of his role as the Judge and knew she needed to be more careful in her approach…

【Wei Zekai’s personality is a bit off-track; you can’t use typical strategies to deal with him.】

【Playing subtlety with him either means he understands it as ‘we’re really close’ or, by the end of the month, he still won’t grasp my subtext. It’s useless; the subtext needs to be submerged so deep it’s at the bottom of the ocean.】

Tong Zhao’s inner thoughts precisely analyzed Wei Zekai’s personality.

So, she decided to go for a direct approach.

“By ‘interested,’ I mean I like you,”

Tong Zhao pulled out her phone, turning her back to Wei Zekai as she clicked through to open the photo album.

In the album were three screenshots of the “Heartfelt” app’s interface, edited for effect.

The only difference between the three screenshots was the name selected on the app:

“You are my Heartfelt Choice.”

After a pause, amidst the audience’s barrage of question marks and exclamation points and the anxious silence from Wei Zekai holding his breath, she spoke the crucial line in a firm, gentle, and earnest tone, flipping her phone to show him the screen—her carefully prepared ace!

The “Sea King Kill” battle tested emotional intelligence and, even more, intellectual prowess.

……

[Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, who can compete with her?]

[Is there a cut of this scene in Tong Zhao’s individual segment? How did Sherlock Holmes miss this clue?]

[I’m crying; my baby is being deceived by the wicked woman.]

At this moment, the audience was ecstatic over the “wicked woman.”

This was precisely the kind of intellectual and courageous showdown they had hoped to see in “Sea King Kill.” Tong Zhao, who remained clear-headed until the final moment, was indeed incredibly impressive… Of course, she was also very cool and fierce in “Countdown 72 Hours,” with action scenes that made hearts race and legs go weak.

However, the literary scenes in “Sea King Kill” delighted the brainy audience, like taking a big bite of cake only to find it filled with fresh, surprising fruit.

This woman was a master strategist.

With “Sea King Kill” still ongoing, various variety shows and film invitations, like snowflakes, were flying into the hands of her manager, Sister Chu.

Who wouldn’t want the subconscious effects of such a show?

The one that intrigued Sister Chu the most was an invitation to a fantasy martial arts film.

“Ruthless Tribulation”

She checked the information and found that it was a long-standing major production, fully prepared and ready to start, but they were struggling with choosing the lead actress. The scriptwriter had given the heroine so many challenges that there was no suitable actress to take on the role. Moreover, the scriptwriter was a prominent figure with a powerful background who refused to make changes, leaving no solution but to delay the project.

The industry had nearly forgotten about it.

“… Let’s have Tong Zhao decide.”

Back to the scene.

Wei Zekai hesitated and asked, “You like me? How is that possible?”

Once Tong Zhao confirmed that Wei Zekai had seen the content, she pressed the lock screen button and set her phone aside.

“How is it not possible?” she asked, curious about his reasoning.

He nodded solemnly:

“Well, liking me is quite reasonable. After all, I have so many advantages. I always found it strange that no one confessed their feelings to me before. It seems the world has finally returned to normal.” Wei Zekai sighed in relief, as he had indeed been puzzled by the lack of confessions in the past! The world had been out of order.

“…”

Tong Zhao: [I really want to hit him.]

However, his smugly wagging little tail was somewhat endearing.

Tong Zhao graciously forgave him and continued the scene: “So, do you have any feelings for me?”

Tong Zhao had two thoughts: [1. To seduce Wei Zekai and actually make him like her.] [2. If that doesn’t work, Plan B is to let him say he doesn’t like her, and she’ll just leave him alone, but at least she wants to pair up on the Heartfelt app. Given his personality, the chances of him agreeing are quite high.]

The ruthless and merciless woman had only one goal in mind: to complete this game.

“Huh? Feelings?”

Wei Zekai’s brain was overheating.

He was originally holding Tong Zhao’s hand to check for injuries, but she took the opportunity to interlock their fingers and put on an expression of focused anticipation: “I played so many games with you, and you don’t have any feelings for me?”

Realizing that Tong Zhao was a girl, Wei Zekai could no longer view her as he had before.

Wei Zekai: [Wow, she’s kind of pretty.]

[??????]

[If given another chance, would you still say it’s just a little?]

[Tong Zhao, such a beautiful woman, has such a hard time being pursued. I’m starting to wonder what kind of girlfriend the real Mr. Wei would end up with.]

“I think you’re quite good,” Wei Zekai said, each word coming out slowly as if he was searching for the right expression. “Wang Er’s Diao Chan is very skilled, Orange’s Guan Yu self-destructs all the way, playing an ADC in the bottom lane against two opponents, and the support is also great at engaging…”

Tong Zhao felt her temples throb.

[Forget it, I didn’t expect that even Tong Zhao would resort to moral blackmail. Sigh.]

The bullet screen exploded with comments.

“… You’re also very beautiful and a good person.”

By this point, Tong Zhao was so embarrassed she almost wished she could die.

Fortunately, it was just the two of them in the room. If a third person knew she had been rejected, she’d have to shut down on the spot.

[Hahaha, didn’t see that coming! We’re watching!]

The malicious VIP viewers even took a screenshot of the current live viewer count, adding the caption, “2516434 people watching Tong Zhao get rejected,” making the audience laugh uproariously.

[You bad woman, you have your day now!]

[So satisfying. Natural blackness is indeed a cure for scheming blackness.]

Wei Zekai finally blurted out the most crucial part: “Where do you think is a good place to buy a wedding house? During the New Year, I definitely have to go back to my own home. If you miss your home, we can each go back to our own places. My family doesn’t mind; if they do, I’ll handle it. And if we have kids, if you want them, we’ll have them. If you don’t, we won’t. But it’s better to have one. My family is quite wealthy, though we don’t have a throne, we do have a lot of money to inherit. I like both boys and girls. Actually, as long as we have a living heir, it’s not a loss. Even if it’s an alien, I’d still love it.”

…

…

Tong Zhao: “Huh?”

After finishing that long speech, Wei Zekai regained his rhythm. After all, he shouldn’t be shy in front of his girlfriend!

So he continued to outline his future plans with Tong Zhao: “I’m currently getting an allowance from my family and have some shareholder dividends. I used to spend a lot and had no money left, but I’ll save more with a girlfriend. At most, I won’t start a business, which should save about three million each quarter to support you. After the show ends, let’s go register for marriage? If you think it’s too soon, we can get engaged first. It’s up to you; I don’t mind.”

Mr. Wei’s indifference was surprisingly detailed in his planning.

Engagement, marriage, and having children—this was his maximum understanding of romantic relationships.

As Wei Zekai spoke, he looked up, smiling with a somewhat nervous grin, his dog tail wagging as fast as a fan’s blades, and his eyes bright.

His golden-brown head was just as bright.

“According to our jungle rules, if you’re with me, you’ll get all the Buffs, but you’ll also need to share the mid-lane minions with me…”

After saying this line that would enrage any mid-laner, he suddenly lowered his head and quickly pecked her lips.

[……Got it, it’s indeed soft!]