Chapter 36: Enduring Gets You Nowhere

Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Enduring Gets You Nowhere

Because both Central and Internet TV are broadcasting this, the commentary says that ordinary people and celebrities from Zhonglia are being sent to Merrick for training, and to compete in special training with Merrick’s local professionals. Everyone’s looking forward to it, of course, winning or losing isn’t the point. The main thing is to show Zhonglia’s influence at the Merrick Base.

It’s obvious they’re happy to see this happen.

The viewers camping in the livestream room just feel fired up, vaguely sensing that the domestic entertainment industry might finally pull off a show that blows up globally—even if I’m a Real Man is just a livestream variety show.

After heading back, the squad leader gathered the Squad Two members in the hallway at the same time as usual, asking everyone to share what they’d learned from today’s training.

Once dismissed, everyone returned to their rooms.

Wendy Aldridge rushed back to start writing her self-criticism right away. As for locking Renee Morgan and a staff member in the room, the instructor told her to get Renee’s forgiveness, but she didn’t want to do it at all.

It wasn’t that she was acting on impulse; she just understood that Renee wasn’t as innocent as she looked on the surface. With Renee’s attitude so firm, there was no way this thing would just blow over privately.

In a situation like this, even kneeling wouldn’t help—she’d only be humiliating herself in the end.

Looking at the situation, she already had a plan in mind.

When break time came, Renee Morgan didn’t want to waste a single moment. She climbed right into bed and passed out.

In the middle of the night, the whistle sounded. She was sleeping deeply and by the time she snapped awake, the whistle had already stopped. Panic hit her out of nowhere; she pulled on her shoes any which way, threw her jacket on as she ran out the door, arms halfway through the sleeves, not even bothering with her hat.

In the hallway, she ran into Lynn Miller. The two headed to the assembly point together.

At the assembly field, Squad One was already standing in a neat row.

From Squad Two, Wendy Aldridge and Gael Prescott had already arrived. Renee Morgan and Lynn Miller weren’t exactly early, and under the instructor’s glare, both hung their heads in shame.

After everyone finished scrambling into place, what was surprising was that the instructor didn’t scold anyone this time—because they’d finished assembling even faster than the night before. At least that was progress.

Squad Two let out a silent sigh of relief.

The instructor didn’t hand out any punishment tonight, just let them all disperse before leaving.

Renee Morgan finally relaxed, squatting down to tie her shoelaces, trying to check her shirt buttons at the same time, making sure nothing was mismatched.

Suddenly someone rammed into her, hard. Renee nearly fell sideways from the force, hit the ground, and whipped her head around to see who did it.

Zara Chapman was in a foul mood from being woken up, but she didn’t dare lash out at the instructor—so she didn’t bother holding back on Renee. In the entertainment world, not everyone gets to stand out. A total rookie with zero connections meant nothing to Zara. Just now, seeing Renee crouched ahead tying her shoes, she thought about what happened during the day and felt the urge to vent, so she deliberately slammed into her.

Zara took two steps back, her face shiny with late-night oil, opening her mouth in a totally insincere way: "Oops, sorry, didn’t know you’d squat down outta nowhere like that."

Renee looked at her—wouldn’t even make eye contact—face full of impatience, listening to her fake apology. With a field this huge, she could still manage to run right into her? Why not just admit she’s blind?

Zara saw Renee stay quiet and couldn’t help feeling smug, grunted, and walked off.

It wasn’t livestream time right now—just a single night-shift PD was around, shot a couple of angles and left right after the emergency assembly. The rest of the contestants were heading back, the place was deserted, so Zara dared to be this bold.

Renee got up off the ground, kept tying her shoes, and before standing up glanced at her grazed palm, picked out some bits of sand—her skin torn and bloody, but she didn’t even flinch.

Anyone with martial arts training can handle pain. A cut like this was nothing, but she just couldn’t swallow that insult.

Zara sauntered back ahead, obviously in a good mood, humming a smug little tune.

Renee stared at her back, suddenly picked up her pace, shot forward, and as she passed by, shoved her aside. Zara ended up sprawling on the ground.

The way Renee hit her was professional—Zara fell but didn’t get seriously hurt. Otherwise, with Renee’s skills, if she really meant it, Zara wouldn’t get up for a while.

Even so, Zara got a taste of her own medicine—hands scraped, sprawled on the ground. She shot Renee a furious glare: "Renee Morgan, you did that on purpose!"

Renee blinked innocently, looking confused: "The lights here are blocked by the trees, I didn’t see anyone at the corner. Ms. Chapman, really sorry, didn’t know you’d just pop up all of a sudden."

Zara thought about tomorrow’s wilderness special training, realizing now wasn’t the time to go nuclear with Renee. She had to take a few deep breaths, choke down her anger, and get up.

"Yeah, see? That’s why you need to watch where you walk. Otherwise, what difference is there from being blind? Trip and fall, you hurt yourself; bump into someone else, that’s even worse." Renee sounded all guilty, just talking out loud to herself.

Zara Chapman: "..."

Well, fine. This rookie nobody actually dared to provoke her, right there on the show. Sure, she’s washed-up, but if she wanted to blacklist a newbie, piece of cake.

Renee, just you wait!

Of course Renee could see right through Zara’s face, reading her mind clear as day.

But honestly, she wasn’t afraid anymore.

If she hadn’t lived through that nightmare, Renee probably would’ve swallowed this insult whole. In showbiz, the thing you fear most is making enemies—and Zara still counted as a big shot from back in the day.

But the present Renee had nothing left to lose. In her dream she was scared of everything, endured everything, gave everything away, just for a few more seconds on camera—or a couple more chances. And where did that get her?

Everyone treated her like an easy target: even her own achievements, her awards, could be snatched away for no reason. They claimed she cheated and copied, which was nonsense, but the other side had famous directors in their corner and she had nothing.

If you keep giving in, kindness just makes you weaker. Tonight, Zara got physical. If Renee didn’t hit back, next time it’d only get worse.

By the time Renee got back in bed it was already 2 a.m. In just a few hours, it’d be morning. The night was as good as over.

Five days and four nights—their second day and night was done, three days and two nights to go.

Renee had no idea how the show was turning out, or what the livestream viewers thought. She didn’t expect a single reality show to change her life—she just wanted to finish this military stint smoothly and get back to acting.

About an hour later, Renee was barely asleep when another emergency whistle blared. She thought she must be hearing things—didn’t they already assemble once?

Suspecting what might be happening, Renee didn’t waste time. She grabbed her jacket and shoes and rushed out. Down the hallway, not caring if there were hidden cameras, she yelled at the top of her lungs: "Get up! Emergency assembly, emergency assembly! If you move slow, we’ll all get punished again!"

A few seconds later, the quiet hallway exploded into chaos.