440 [PENALTY QUIZ] (II)

“SINCE we have a special emcee today, we also prepared a special topic for today’s quiz,” the emcee said.

The quiz on this show usually didn’t have a specific topic. It’s just literally about anything that’s under the sun. So, this was very rare. But programs like this usually do surprise changes from time to time to increase the ratings more. Since they already knew that this episode would be a hit just by Lance’s presence, they simply added something to spice up things more.

Even without the prompt in his ears, telling him what to say, Lance understood what he should do.

“Oh, now that’s making me curious,” he quickly said as a follow up. “So, what kind of theme would it be?”

“Well, didn’t someone ask you to pick a category earlier back stage?” the emcee asked.

Lance acted like he just realized something and then said with a surprised expression, “No way, is it about that?”

There was indeed a staff who asked him to pick one out of the three categories that he showed him. Lance just picked something randomly, not really thinking of anything. How could he when all his attention was focused on Leland? Even now, he wanted to turned where the other was standing. Only his professionalism was preventing him to do that.

“Yes. So, let’s reveal it now before our audience get bored of us.”

After the emcee said that, the screen, where the quiz category was, started to roll like a wheel. And when it finally stopped the words that appeared was;

…..

[Ancient Earth]

When Lance read that, he felt a bit guilty. If the category was ancient earth, then the questions would be related to before mankind started to explore the vast universe. It’s not really something that was taught in-depth at school. It was just something that was taught during their primary education.

If one wanted to know more about it, they could take a course on it on university or study it thoroughly if they wanted to become a researcher or a professor focused on that topic. In short, it’s not an easy topic for a quiz show.

He suddenly felt the evilness of the program team. They must have known that their quiz questions would not be easily answered and would therefore lead to a lot of penalties.

Lance took a quick glance at his co-cast members. Sure enough, they all had a grim expression on their face. That was his thought until his gaze landed on Astrid. Hmm? Was it just his imagination or did Astrid’s face seem brighter?

—–

That’s right. Astrid could barely hide his happiness when he saw that the topic would be about ancient Earth. Especially after he heard the emcee’s explanation.

“For our today’s quiz takers, you don’t have to worry about this topic being too broad. We’re not that evil, you know? The questions would only be until the 21st century.”

That’s definitely good for Astrid. Since he really didn’t have any knowledge of what happened after he died. But there’s still a problem though. If he showed that he knew too much, there’s a possibility that people would suspect that the program team gave him the answer beforehand.

So, Astrid decided to do it moderately. Seriously, he didn’t want there to be another controversy. It felt like every time he appeared in a program, there’s always some kind of controversy. Yes, it’s good to be talked about, but if the reason was because people always doubted him, then he’d rather not.

“Then, for the first question, should you do the honors, Lance?” the emcee asked.

“With pleasure,” Lance said, even bowing like a gentleman. Then, he gestured towards the screen. “Quiz cue!”

A light appeared one by one on each category block until it stopped on the Arts category under the easy difficulty. Then, the screen changed and what appeared was a painting of a woman with a slight smile on her face.

“For five points—”

Before the emcee could finish his question, one of the female guests pressed the buzzer and shouted, “It’s the Mona Lisa!”

“Oh, it seemed that you’re very confident with your answer.”

“Yes, everyone knows this painting is the Mona Lisa,” she said proudly.

“That’s indeed correct.” But before she could celebrate, the emcee suddenly added, “Sadly that’s not my question.”

The female guest froze. Before she could fully understand what the emcee meant, the other female guest pressed her buzzer.

“Is it Leonardo da Vinci?”

After she said that, a ding-dong sound echoed around the studio, not to mention, the block where the question came from turned green. This only indicated that she was right.

“Correct! It seemed that the quiz takers for today would not stumble just because we have a difficult topic,” the emcee said. But everyone here knew that that was just lip service. After all, the question just now was very easy. “Before we proceed to the next question, it’s penalty time! Are you ready, Myla?”

At that, Myla – the female guest who answered incorrectly – tried to act cheerful. But it was obvious that she was very worried about what kind of penalty she would receive.

“I’ll try my best,” she said.

The screen changed once again. But now it was rolling to know what kind of penalty the guest would do. When it stopped, what appeared was a four-leaf clover.

“Oohh… it’s a luck item!” the emcee said. “This means that you don’t have to do the penalty this time.”

Myla let out a sigh or relief when she heard that. She was so worried that she had to do something embarrassing or be put in an embarrassing situation. It seemed that her luck was still there. This was a warning that she should let the emcee finish the question first next time before answering.

Of course, the other three also realized that from her blunder. Astrid was actually also about to press the buzzer earlier and answered ‘Mona Lisa’, good thing that he didn’t.

“Instead, one of the other quiz takers should do something that the audience requested,” the emcee added which surprised the other three. “Now, who will be the lucky audience?”

Then, some of the cameras floating around turned to the audience. They appeared on the screen. The cameras continued moving until it stopped on a girl. Her shocked expression was caught on screen, and then her expression quickly turned to excitement. One of the staffs nearby quickly gave her a mic.

“So, which one would you make a request to?” Lance asked.

“It’s Astrid!” the girl almost squealed in her excitement. “Hi, Aster! I’m a big fan! Can you do something cute for us?”

Astrid felt the corner of his eyes twitched when he heard such a request. But since the other called him ‘Aster’, she must really be a fan. He showed a helpless smile. “Okay, I’ll try.”

He put his hands in front of him, them formed a circle with both. Then, he took a bite as if it was an apple and the circle suddenly turned into a heart shape. At the same time, he finished it off with a bright smile.

And the audience went nuts.

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