Chapter 48

The amount of information was overwhelming, and Zuo Mingran didn't react right away. She stared blankly at the memory card in Yin Ruxin's palm and asked, "What?"

It could be considered quite unfortunate for Fan Zhenzhen. With such heavy rain, even the filming photographer had put away their equipment. However, Yin Ruxin happened to have a young photographer with her who had a small DSLR camera in his pocket. He had never seen such a scene before and enthusiastically kept taking photos even in the pouring rain, undeterred by the downpour.

When Fan Zhenzhen pushed Zuo Mingran down, Fang Ge, Zuo Mingran's filming assistant, was showing them the location of the task point. The DSLR camera followed his direction and coincidentally captured the entire incident.

Yin Ruxin reacted the fastest. While everyone was still stunned, she snatched the DSLR camera and took out the memory card from it.

Zuo Mingran's clothes were completely soaked from head to toe, and after rolling on the ground, everything except her face was covered in mud. Even though Zuo Mingran didn't have any cleanliness issues, it was still difficult to endure at the moment.

Yin Ruxin handed her the memory card and said casually, "I think this should be useful for you."

Zuo Mingran didn't hesitate to thank her. She nodded towards Yin Ruxin and said, "Thank you."

Yin Ruxin pursed her lips, seeming somewhat embarrassed. "No need to thank me. I'm helping myself too."

On the surface, she and Fan Zhenzhen were teammates, but in reality, Fan Zhenzhen resented her for taking the spotlight and becoming the center of attention during the talent show. Fan Zhenzhen had already tried to snatch many resources from her, and there were even a few times when she deliberately tried to ruin her reputation. Even with the script of rebirth in her hands, without any background support, she still had to be cautious when dealing with Fan Zhenzhen, who came from a wealthy family. Since there was now a way to permanently eliminate any future trouble, she was more than willing to sell this favor to Zuo Mingran.

Fortunately, Zuo Mingran didn't know what Yin Ruxin was currently thinking. Otherwise, she would definitely grab her shoulders and shake her wildly, saying, "You're not just holding a rebirth script, you also have a shining protagonist halo in this world. No one can do anything to you!"

The heavy rain showed no signs of stopping. Looking out from the cave entrance, the entire forest was shrouded in a misty rain. Zuo Mingran glanced down and saw that although the hillside was steep, it was only about twenty to thirty meters high. The lush greenery at the bottom was hard to discern, but according to the show's cautious approach, the chosen location for the task wouldn't be too dangerous, at most appearing more thrilling.

Ever since they came back up, Fan Zhenzhen had curled up in a corner, not uttering a word. With the heavy rain outside, she couldn't leave, and the others had witnessed her ruthless action of pushing someone down the mountain. So even though the space inside the cave was only the size of a palm, no one dared to approach within a meter of Fan Zhenzhen.

Holding the memory card, Zuo Mingran used Fang Ge's phone to make a call to the bottom of the mountain, informing Angie of their situation and asking her to relay it to Shi Shuangxia.

She has never been a kind-hearted and soft-hearted person who can repay kindness with gratitude. Whether she would kill her or not, it was obvious that Fan Zhenzhen wanted to kill her. If it weren't for Yin Ruxin and the others arriving in time, and if she didn't have any communications equipment with her, it's hard to say what would have happened. Since the other party has already done so, if she still chooses to forgive her, it's not being generous, but being foolish.

The development of the story after that is not much different from the original plot. The other two groups who lost contact with them also met up with the others shortly after and managed to contact the production team at the foot of the mountain. Except for the unfortunate photographer who twisted his foot and Zuo Mingran, no one else was injured. They just had to wait for the rescue team to come up.

With a confirmed location, the rescue team arrived quickly. Probably knowing that two people were injured on their side, the rescue team even brought two stretchers.

Although it was thrilling when they rolled down the slope, they realized afterwards that they only suffered some minor scratches. It didn't affect their ability to walk, so Zuo Mingran refused to be carried down and chose to walk with the rest of the group. However, when they were about to reach the foot of the mountain, Yin Ruxin secretly said a few words to her, and Zuo Mingran obediently enjoyed being carried on a stretcher.

The base camp was already surrounded by journalists. The news that several guests were trapped on the mountain due to the filming of the reality show had already climbed up the hot search on Weibo half an hour ago. Although the production team wanted to suppress the news as much as possible, it was hard to stop the influx of people when the news of their filming in this location was known by many. In addition, there was Zuo Mingran, who was currently in the midst of controversy. The reporters who heard the news rushed to occupy this mountain.

Zuo Mingran continued to act until the end. When she was being carried into the ambulance, the flashes from the surrounding cameras almost blinded her.

Someone tried to ask her something through the gaps, but Zuo Mingran kept her eyes closed, pretending to be seriously injured and unwilling to say much. Finally managing to squeeze into the front row, the reporters still wanted to ask more questions when they suddenly heard an exclamation. Immediately, their colleagues who had been squeezed behind them ran towards another direction as if they had seen something extraordinary.

The reporter was stunned for a moment, hesitating whether to continue questioning Zuo Mingran or follow the crowd. Then, they heard their partner shout, "Quick, Fan Zhenzhen has been arrested by the police!"

Damn!

Fan Zhenzhen?

The reporter was clearly taken aback, but their professional instinct was faster than their brain. By the time they reacted, they had already followed the crowd to the other side.

A step too late, the prime front-row positions were already filled, and the reporter had to hold up their microphone from behind, barely able to see Fan Zhenzhen sitting in the police car. Unlike her usual sweet image in front of the public, Fan Zhenzhen now had a gloomy expression, wrapped in a blanket. Because of the handcuffs, her arms were unnaturally close together, and she didn't look anything like a spoiled rich girl. 

When the police car arrived earlier, they were still wondering what had happened. After all, there was no need to involve the police just because the guests were trapped. But now that the police car had arrived here, could it be that these people set fire to the mountain?

Now it seems that setting a fire is out of the question, and a bigger bombshell has emerged.

Fan Zhenzhen was taken away by the police, and the journalists couldn't get any answers from her. So, they turned their attention to the other people who came down from the mountain and Fan Zhenzhen's manager.

Yin Ruxin was the fastest to run away. There weren't many insider details involved in this matter, but it was a big deal. It would be better for her to stay as far away as possible from the journalists who were eager for big news.

The others had the same idea. Even if they were accidentally intercepted, they tried to be vague in their responses, giving off an air of "ask whatever you want, but it's your loss if you don't get any useful information."

Although they didn't get any answers, the fact that Fan Zhenzhen was handcuffed and taken away by the police was undeniable. A few quick ones even managed to take several high-definition photos.

As a result, only a few minutes later, the hot searches for "Fan Zhenzhen" and "Fan Zhenzhen arrested" quickly replaced the previous hot search for the guests being stranded on the mountain, and even pushed down the hot search for "Zuo Mingran the White-eyed Wolf." From morning until now, in just a few hours, Weibo, which shouldn't have had to bear too much, finally experienced a brief paralysis after several major events, leaving a group of spectators with no gossip to devour, looking at each other in confusion.

A phone was brought over by An Qi, and Zuo Mingran, wrapped in a blanket, absent-mindedly opened the screen to check the messages.

An Qi whispered, "Ran sister, Mr. Yan called several times earlier. I was worried that he was anxious, so I answered and told him about the situation here."

Zuo Mingran nodded in understanding and asked, "Who called the police?"

An Qi replied, "It was me. Sister Xia heard about you... heard about that incident, and asked me to call the police directly, and she said not to worry."

Such a decisive action was indeed consistent with Shuang Xia's style. Zuo Mingran looked at An Qi, whose eyes were red, and playfully ruffled her hair. "What's wrong? Crying again? I'm fine, see?"

She wouldn't have said anything, but once she mentioned it, An Qi suddenly felt her nose tingling. She held back her tears and said with a quivering voice, "Ran sister, you almost scared me to death."

Only heaven knows what An Qi felt when she heard Zuo Mingran casually mention being pushed down the slope by someone. With such heavy rain, those of them outside had to be extremely cautious, let alone on a mountain. If Zuo Mingran hadn't come down from the mountain unharmed, she would definitely have gone all out against Fan Zhenzhen.

***

Inside the rental house, Guan Cui, who was constantly paying attention to the online developments, was stunned on the spot.

She couldn't believe it as she refreshed her Weibo, muttering, "This can't be true. How could she be arrested?"

The Weibo interface plunged into a momentary collapse, and Guan Xin stared blankly for a moment before suddenly standing up and dragging out a suitcase from under the bed. Then, she opened the closet and started packing her things.

Before she could pack much, Tang Wenbin, who had also seen the Weibo, rushed in from outside and grabbed her arm, asking, "What's going on? You said everything was foolproof. How did Fan Zhenzhen get caught?"

The rapid-fire questioning caught Guan Xin off guard, and she forcefully shook off Tang Wenbin, saying in a stern voice, "How would I know! This kind of thing... how could it possibly involve the police? We didn't do anything, at most we'll be sued..."

Guan Xin's words were incoherent, leaving Tang Wenbin at a loss. He wanted to give her a slap to wake her up and say, "She's already been arrested, what's the use of saying these things now?"

"It's none of my business!" Guan Xin raised her voice, startling Tang Wenbin.

As if she had thought of something, she furrowed her brow and thought for a moment before suddenly saying, "No, if it's related to us, the police should have come to us first before going to Fan Zhenzhen. No matter how powerful Zuo Mingran is, he wouldn't be able to bypass us and directly find Fan Zhenzhen."

Tang Wenbin was also taken aback. "That's right."

After calming down, some details also emerged. Guan Xin said, "When Fan Zhenzhen was taken away, she was handcuffed. If it was just because of this incident, there's no need for such measures, right?"

Now, whatever is advantageous to them, no matter what the distinction is, it's all true. Although they are not clear about the difference, Tang Wenbin nodded and said, "Right!"

Guan Xin affirmed, "I've watched legal programs. Only suspects are handcuffed and taken away. Fan Zhenzhen must have done something else, unrelated to us."

Tang Wenbin seemed hesitant, and he asked, "But if Fan Zhenzhen is taken away, who will give us money from the Left family in the future?"

As if to confirm his statement, as soon as Tang Wenbin finished speaking, a message popped up on Guan Xin's phone - "Zuo Mingran's people have already found us. We don't have a place to stay now. Give us another hundred thousand!"