Chapter 4: Three's a Team, and That's a Crime!

Jiang Chen pursed his lips and strode toward the cameraman. “Come on. When the stream started this afternoon, I saw you smoking under a tree. You definitely have a lighter. Hand it over. Don’t keep the viewers waiting for the show.”

The cameraman turned and ran. Jiang Chen seized him by the back of his collar and reached into his pockets.

“Don’t run. I just want to borrow it.”

“Don’t touch me! Help!”

Clutching his pockets, the cameraman screamed inwardly: Director, hurry up! If you don’t get here soon, tomorrow’s headline will be “Major Explosion on Variety Show Set”!

Just as Jiang Chen was about to find the lighter, the director and a crowd of staff came charging into the courtyard like runners sprinting the last stretch of an eight-hundred-meter race.

“Stop! Nobody move!”

The director’s shirt was soaked with sweat, and his thinning hair lay plastered across his forehead. Behind him, staff scrambled to stretch red-and-white caution tape around the three men and their battered wooden workbench, cordoning them off from everyone else.

The commotion drew other teams preparing nearby livestreams. People craned their necks to peer into the courtyard.

A chubby man in a white chef’s uniform, still carrying a large metal ladle, nudged the person beside him. “What’s going on in there? Why the big fuss?”

The rideshare driver beside him, a QR code hanging on his chest, swallowed. “I heard someone’s making explosives.”

The chef dropped his ladle with a clang. “What? Explosives? Holy crap! We’re out here struggling to sell breakfast, and they’re already making explosives by hand for views? They’ll steal all the traffic!”

More people gathered outside, marveling at how far the contestants in stream 952 were willing to go.

The director caught his breath and strode to the edge of the tape. From two meters away, he stared at Jiang Chen.

“Tell me the truth! Is that thing on the table real, or is it a stunt?”

He prayed it was an empty plastic pipe. Sand inside would be fine too. As long as it wasn’t dangerous, their show would have a guaranteed trending topic.

Jiang Chen spread his hands. “Director, didn’t I say? It’s just a little chemistry experiment. It contains seventy-four percent potassium nitrate, eleven point five percent sulfur, and fourteen point five percent charcoal powder. I added a little sugar as an oxidation catalyst. And Zhou Fei sealed the base to ensure complete combustion.”

Silence fell. Everyone sucked in a breath. The director’s vision darkened and his knees nearly buckled; a staff member grabbed him. The onlookers felt their scalps prickle.

The rideshare driver swore. “Wasn’t this guy unemployed? It’s like *Breaking Bad* found a new job! What normal person makes something like that with such precision?”

Seeing their frightened faces, Jiang Chen helpfully added, “Oh, and the powder in the pipe is packed very tightly. It’s extremely unstable now. A little flame or violent friction inside could set it off instantly. As for the force, it could probably take out half the courtyard.”

His words sounded like a death sentence. Nobody dared take another step forward. They hardly dared breathe, afraid even that might cause some kind of friction.

They’d made it, all right. But who dared touch it now? If they tried to move it and the vehicle hit a bump, everyone in it could end up meeting their maker.

Viewers could feel the suffocating tension through the screen.

【Popularity】+1 +1 +1 +1…

【Holy crap! Jiang Chen’s team is something else!】

【They’ve dragged the director himself to the site on their first day!】

【They even put up caution tape!】

【See? A talent like Jiang Chen stands out wherever he goes! Three’s a team, and that’s a crime!】

【Gold always shines! Jiang Chen is definitely going viral!】

【It has to be fake! He’s saying it for views. Who could be that professional?】

【Someone call the police and get bomb disposal to destroy it!】

【If that thing actually goes off, the whole village will be attending a funeral feast!】

The director turned and saw the cameraman standing there with the camera on his shoulder, still trained on the object. He exploded.

“At a time like this, you’re still filming?! Turn it off!”

The cameraman flinched and looked at him plaintively. “Director, if I switch it off now, is that ending the shoot, or destroying evidence of a crime? I’ve filmed the whole thing. When the police arrive, will they arrest me as the principal offender’s accomplice?”

As he agonized, a sharp chorus of sirens sounded in the distance. Several police vehicles were racing their way. At the front was no ordinary patrol car but a large black SWAT armored vehicle, its windows protected by heavy riot mesh. Several minibuses followed, marked in glaring white letters: SPECIAL POLICE BOMB DISPOSAL.

The camera, still running, broadcast the scene in full. The joking comments vanished for a second, then flooded the screen even faster.

【HOLY SHIT!!!】

【What’s happening?!】

【They sent an armored SWAT vehicle?!】

【Is this an anti-terrorism drill?】

【Or are they here specifically for those three lunatics?】

【They’re finished! Jiang Chen has really gone too far this time!】

【Someone actually called the cops! And they must have reported a terrorist attack!】

The armored vehicle braked hard outside the courtyard. Its doors flew open and fully armed officers poured out with black riot shields, surrounding the courtyard in moments. Dark gun barrels pointed at the people inside.

“Nobody move! Hands up! Stop everything you’re doing, immediately!”