A Huo swiftly ran towards Fan Jialuo, with an imaginary tail wagging behind him, before coming to a sharp brake as he got closer. He then carefully took a few small steps and sat down in the empty seat beside him.

After sitting down, that sensation became a lot stronger.

It felt like an invisible magnetic field was surrounding Fan Jialuo, isolating him from all sorts of external disturbances, which included any sudden violent spiritual fluctuations and all kinds of strange or smelly auras.

Fan Jialuo possessed the tranquility of the void and was as clean as a newly-formed cloud. A Huo couldn't smell anything apart from a sense of vastness and indifference that the other exuded.

Upon sitting next to him, A Huo's nose, which was nearly malfunctioning because of the various smells mixed together in one place, and his head, which was about to explode from processing all the different olfactory information, finally relaxed completely, having found a spot where it could attain some peace.

"It's so comfortable!" A Huo held his chest and let out a contented sigh.

Beside him, Fan Jialuo continued to sit quietly in the same posture, with his head lowered, and showed no sign of paying any attention to the person next to him.

A Huo straightforwardly asked, "My name is A Huo. You can call me Huohuo. It smells pretty bad here, and it's only clean by your side. Can I sit next to you for a while?"

"Of course," Fan Jialuo agreed gently.

"Oh, thank you." A Huo looked at him gratefully.

At that moment, the side profile of his face was suddenly illuminated brightly, due to the dozens of stage spotlights that had been turned on.

The sweet voice of the off-site host soon spread to every corner of the auditorium through the microphone.

"Dear contestants, our audition is about to begin. Please direct your attention towards the stage."

"We have set up a projector and a screen behind this black curtain. The director will project a photo onto the screen, and it will remain there for half an hour. A total of five photos will be displayed in this manner. Each image will be randomly selected from the collection of a massive image library."

"The director is only responsible for pressing the pause button as the images from the library's collection scroll past on the screen, and he is completely unaware of the image which will be selected. Even our on-site staff doesn't know which image it will be."

"Under such circumstances, please do your best to sense and then tell us about the subject of each photo."

"There are five chances and if you manage to guess correctly three times, then you pass the audition, otherwise, you will be eliminated."

The off-site host pulled the curtain back a bit in demonstration while further explaining, "As you can see, this curtain is half a centimeter thick, has been made from a blend of linen and cotton, and has been painted with a layer of PVC-adhering paint on the inside. It will not allow for even the slightest transmission of any light."

"You will have to sense the photo being displayed by the projector through this thick screen."

"As mentioned previously, each photo will be displayed for half an hour, and you will have to sense it during this given time. You can write down your answer in the notebook that has been distributed to you, and then show your answer to your cameraman."

"Our judges will be able to view your answers through the monitors in the observation room, and they will then decide whether you pass the audition or not."

"You can communicate with each other and discuss the answers, but please remember that you may put yourself at risk of elimination if you do so blindly without considering whether the abilities of these 'others' are real or not."

"Only those possessing real talent can proceed to the final round. Those who merely rely on luck will find this to be the end of the road for themselves."

Upon seeing the assistant director raise the 30-minute countdown timer high into the air, the off-site host said with a smile, "Okay, the first photo has already been selected and projected onto the screen. All contestants are welcome to come closer to the stage to feel it or sense it, but you're not allowed to lift the curtain."

"Anyone who does this will be eliminated on the spot."

"Well, I wish you good luck!"

Even before the host could step down, many of the contestants, who simply could not wait anymore, ran up to the stage and started hovering in front of the heavy black curtain.

Some people stretched out their hands, as if to sense something through the air; some lit candles and chanted mantras; some gesticulated wildly or cut capers while bouncing around the stage; others sliced their fingers and smeared the blood on the ground, drawing some kind of array...

The area in front of the stage became clamorous, the scene looking very much like a group of demons dancing in riotous revelry.

Of course, there were some who remained seated firmly and securely in their seats, not moving away from their original position.

These sort of people belonged to either the category of being the 'chosen' ones, the ones who possessed real psychic abilities, or to the category of those who were just pretending to have 'real' abilities.

With the stage becoming the boundary, the contestant in the auditorium were automatically divided into two factions with diametrically opposite styles, and the cameramen were eager to find people who could feature in the highlights section of the show.

"The contestants picked out by A Hou haven't come close to the stage," Dr. Oyang said with surprise, "Can he really smell the scent of others and judge their strength through this? Can these so-called 'chosen' really sense the content of a photo through obstacles and space?"

"Who knows? The world is so large, and it is full of mysteries. Let's continue to watch. The truth will be revealed soon," Dr. Qian replied as he stared at multiple screens with interest.

"That's indeed the purpose of this show-the world is so big and nothing is too strange," Song Wennuan said with a satisfied smile.

She moved closer to her cousin, whispering, "Fan Jialuo is sitting in the last row and he still hasn't moved, I'm guessing he's given up."

Song Rui's tone was indifferent as he replied, "My opinion is the same as that of A Huo. Fan Jialuo will undoubtedly make it to the final round."

Those who had never really been in contact with Fan Jialuo would never be able to understand just how amazing he was.

Behind the thick black curtain, a camera had been placed in front of the projector to record the photos that had been selected from the image library.

The first photo showed a thin black child, with his entire skeleton visible through his skin, lying on the ground. His limbs appeared to be convulsing as two lines of turbid tears flowed down from his strangely large eyes, and his parched lips seemed to exhale only a faint breath-it was clear that he was suffering from great pain.

To the side of the image was a vulture, which was staring at him while fluttering its black wings, as if waiting eagerly for his death.

In this barren land, each and every day, children suffered from hunger and died in the depths of despair. Their bodies ended up in the mouths of beasts, which would strip them of all their flesh and blood, and leave behind only a stark white skeleton.

It was a scene which could only be seen in hell.

Upon seeing this world-famous photo, the judges who had just been laughing at the contestants' strangeness, restrained their expressions and waited solemnly.

The cold and beautiful woman who had been favored by A Huo, and who had remained seated in her position, said slowly, "The emotion given off by this photo is very strong."

"Mom, I feel bad! My stomach hurts! I don't want to sense this picture!" The complexion of the pale girl who had also been favored by A Huo worsened as she plunged herself into her mother's arms.

Her mother patted her slowly and comforted her by saying, "Jinglian, please bear with it, it will be over soon. Our family is short of money, otherwise I wouldn't let you suffer this kind of thing."

Thinking of her family's predicament, the girl could only look towards the curtain once again.

The young Taoist stood in a corner as he stared at the stage, a strange light flashing through his eyes.

After a while, the corners of his mouth rose as his lips curled upwards contemptuously, it seemed as if he was confident that he had won this round.

Ding Puhang walked freely around the auditorium with his hands in his pockets. However, not once did cast his eyes towards the stage to observe what was hidden behind the curtain, and instead swept his gaze over the contestants, going completely unnoticed as he did this.

Several of the people who had been mentioned by A Huo were the main targets of his keen observation.

Seeing the middle-aged man in the black robe walk slowly towards the stage, he paused and observed the other person for a while, before pretending to follow him casually.

The middle-aged man took out a simple handbell, and then began to shake it rhythmically. It was both long and short, and fast and slow.

With this movement, the vigorous and far-reaching sound of the bell pierced through the crowd and penetrated past the curtain to reach beyond the screen displaying the photo, where it then faintly echoed against the barrier of the white wall.

He listened for a moment, then kneeling down on his knees, he touched the ground with his forehead religiously, as if sensing a response from Mother Earth.

He continued to kneel there for a long time, during which Ding Puhang continued to stand not far from him, and kept looking at the black curtain and the 'dancing' contestants in a disinterested manner.

A Huo didn't want to leave Fan Jialuo's side, but he had no other choice.

He could only murmur and complain, "My ability is more effective on living people. The smell of inanimate things is too weak so I can't smell it from a far distance. I have to go close to the stage for a look. Fan Jialuo, can you come with me?"

It was as if he hadn't heard the other, for Fan Jialuo just continued to sit quietly with his head lowered and his eyelids half-closed, not once glancing in the direction of the stage.

A Huo rubbed the messy hair that hung in front of his forehead and muttered, "Okay, fine, I'll go by myself. You just sit here and wait for me! I'll be back soon."

Then, he sped through the auditorium, climbed onto the stinky stage, and sniffed left and right in front of the curtain. As he did so, he couldn't help but frown more and more tightly.

Because of his careless character and straightforward manner of speaking, the program team had been observing him closely for a long time. They immediately sent a cameraman to record his every movement.

The off-site host raised the microphone and asked, "A Huo, do you smell anything?"

A Huo stepped back, pinched his nose and said in a pained voice, "I smell the scent of death!"

"What is the scent of death?" The host persisted in questioning.

"Someone is dying, and the smell of organs as they are decaying has stained their whole body," said A Huo in a dull voice as he covered his mouth and nose.

"Since you have already sensed this, why don't you write it down as your answer?" asked the host.

A Huo quickly took out his notebook and ballpoint pen and casually wrote his answer.

Seeing this scene through the screen, Song Wennuan firmly said, "I am most optimistic about A Huo. At present, he is the only one who has truly demonstrated his ability. The people he mentioned previously also have their own peculiarities. Look, they're all starting to write their answers-technical producer, close-up!"

The technical producer immediately manipulated the footage to display six close-up shots.

The pale girl trembled as she wrote, her handwriting unsteady-【Hunger, dying hunger!】

The beautiful woman wrote in flamboyant manner-【Smoke, war, hunger, poverty, death.】

The Taoist priest wrote straightforwardly-【The dying child.】

The middle-aged man stood up and wrote one stroke at a time-【A desperate wait and a greedy gaze, death is near, but there is still a ray of hope.】

Seeing that the other five people had already written their answers down, Ding Puhang also gave his answer quickly-【War leads to hunger, hunger leads to death. A child is suffering from the torment of pain, and is about to die in despair, but someone will come to save him, certainly!】

While the other contestants were still working on their 'strange' divinations, these six people had already completed their task.

Surrounding them was a constant stream of arrogant people who would announce their answers to the camera.

"I have already sensed the theme of the photo, it's a scene of flowers, all of them bathing under the rays of sunshine."

"It's a beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. I'm 100% sure."

"Is it an animal? A large animal, a beast, a bear or maybe a lion?"

"It's a photo of a landscape. It's a place full of exotic taste. It's beautiful." This contestant was already intoxicated by his own imagination and almost turned in a circle on the stage with his eyes closed.

Upon seeing such performances, which stood in stark contrast to that of the six people whose answers were extremely accurate, Song Wennuan was shocked, and also felt that the entire situation was somewhat ironic.

It turned out that incredible people really did exist in the world, with abilities that were beyond one's imagination, these were people whose very existence could be called a miracle!

This was exactly it; this was the miracle she had been looking for. But, just one round of testing was not enough!

She had to make sure that their abilities were truly strong and genuine, and that they could remain stable until the end.

Dr. Qian carefully compared the answers of these six people and then analyzed, "I think there is something wrong with A Huo's ranking. The most capable person is obviously this Mr. Ding. His answer is the most accurate. It's as if he actually saw the photo with his own eyes. As far as I know, the person who took this photo eventually saved that child."

Song Rui shook his head and chuckled. "Dr. Qian, don't you think his answer is weird?"

"How is it weird?" The rest of the judges asked in unison.

"His answer is obviously a combination of everyone else's answers. I suspect he's cheating."

"How is he cheating?"

Song Wennuan was very sensitive to this word and immediately retorted, "I already announced it during the promotion, our show is absolutely genuine and real, and that there is no possibility of anyone cheating. With so many cameras and monitors focused on him, how can he possibly cheat?"

"After the program officially started recording, he also never approached anyone nor did he talk to anyone. You tell me how he could have cheated?! Come on, let's make it clear!"

Song Rui removed his gold-rimmed glasses and wiped them slowly.

"In a word, my opinion is different from yours. Ding Puhang is not worth paying attention to. He is just a speculator."

"When the others were sensing the photo beyond the curtain, he was the only one who wandered around the auditorium, secretly observing all the players, scouring for any clues he could gain from their subtle expressions and their eyes. These are all actions that a person who is good at reading minds will do."

Song Wennuan snickered and asked, "Can you extract such detailed content by just reading minds? Dr. Song, try it and show me!"

"Your vision seems to be getting poorer and poorer recently. While you reject others, your favorite contestant Fan Jialuo has not even moved from his seat till now. While the host announced the rules, he sat there quietly; while the other contestants moved closer to the stage and started their observations, he still sat there unmoving."

"His appearance is indeed beautiful, but what's the use? Is he just running away or else is he pretending to be strong? I warned him long ago that if he didn't have the real ability, then he shouldn't come to our program. If he makes a fool of himself, we won't be responsible for the manner in which we edit the footage!"

Song Wennuan turned around and looked directly at the camera, announcing cautiously once again, "Dear audience, our reality show is absolutely real, 100% real. There is no cheating, no pre-written script that the contestants are following, and there is absolutely no possibility of any sort of fraud taking place here!"

"I don't care who the person is or what their identity is. As long as they participate in this program, we will faithfully record their performance as it is."

"If they truly possess the ability, then they can pass."

"Our program will never help anyone cheat!"

"The World of Strange People only welcomes those who genuinely are as they say they are. Those who want to use our program to create any sort of hype, please watch how you conduct yourself!"

This admonition was obviously directed at Fan Jialuo.

Song Wennuan's style of hosting shows had always been like this, she would directly say everything that was in her mind, the words she used were spicy and straightforward, and left no room for any misinterpretation.

Moreover, the orders for the creation and broadcasting of this program had come to her from above, so her style was naturally even more rigid and stringent.

After the program was broadcasted, Fan Jialuo would undoubtedly have to face a torrent of ridicule and sarcasm, and it wouldn't be surprising if he lost more than half of his recent hard-earned popularity.

Song Rui shook his head and said nothing more.

Upon seeing the present Song Wennuan, he felt as if he was almost looking back at a past version of himself from a long time ago.

If Fan Jialuo was really so simple and superficial, he would not have rejected all the other work available to him just to appear in such a ridiculous and meaningless show.

Dr. Qian patted the infuriated Song Wennuan consolingly and said, "Okay, okay, Wennuan, don't talk about it anymore. Let's continue to watch the audition. The time limit is approaching. We'll have to change the photo displayed soon."

Song Wennuan looked at the time plate hanging over the auditorium and found that only ten minutes were left out of the half an hour time limit.

Many contestants appeared to be anxious and in a hurry as they circled around the curtain. Some of them were simply writing random words, hoping to make a lucky guess.

But, it was at this time that Fan Jialuo, who had been sitting still from the very start of the audition, suddenly closed his eyes, lifted his pen and started drawing something in his notebook.

The technical producer quickly cut to a close-up shot of him.

The slim pen did not write a single word, but instead, it slowly drew a thin outline of the human body, before filling it with light, and then subsequently, deep and dark strokes, for shading.

The surprisingly large muddy eyes; the dark sunken cheeks glistening with two trails of tears...