And for the rest of the meeting, while Wilford talked, Ari just repeated the same words while letting Wilford’s own words enter through one ear and fly out the other.

6 minutes later, Jamie came knocking on the door, and they both left, giving Wilford Forbes a cheerful wave.

Whether or not they edited Ari well or not for the next episode, he didn’t really care anymore.

At this point, it didn’t matter how well-behaved he was or how many deals he made with the PD; the person who had power wasn’t him. They clearly wouldn’t respect it, so he might as well do what he wanted and fight back the only way he knew how.

Malicious compliance. Since you want to create drama, don’t worry, I’ll be dramatic.

You want to meet with me? Fine. All of a sudden, I can only speak French and can’t understand English. Didn’t you know that I was born in France, not America? Please get me a translator as you get for the other foreign kids.

Ah, you want to meet with me? My team leader, James Jones III, said I can’t go because I need to practice, and if I do, he needs to come with me as my translator.

Are you saying he’s speaking fake French? No, it’s real French, I promise. It’s just his country accent that makes the words sound weird.

You want me to make a promo video for the show, fine. I’ll complain in French.

Why are Jamie and I always together? We want to try out being conjoined twins.

Smile when the PD is talking to me? What is there to smile about? The only people getting smiles from me are my teammates and friends, Jelissa, and the staff members.

The PD, William, and Wilford can just deal with it.

You want me to wear matching clothes with William, never. If you insist, I’m walking around in my boxers, the footage is now useless, and everyone is unhappy.

You’re punishing me by taking my phone? Take it. In fact, take my laptop as well. What do I care? School is over, and I don’t like checking things online anyway.

I can’t dye my hair, and I can’t cut it? Let’s wear stupid hairstyles every day.

The next six days became a battle of wills between the production team and Ari, Jamie, and Levi.

Levi spent his days terrorizing William and Wilford Forbes on one side, while Ari and Jamie spent theirs terrorizing the production team and Wilford Forbes on the other.

By the night before family day, both parties were sick of each other, and Wilford and PD Emily made a U-turn whenever they saw any of those 3 faces coming.

Just as Ari was bout to fall asleep-

[Ding!]

[Surprise Mission: Monkey See, Monkey Do, Now it’s time to Change Your Hair Do.]

[There’s a copycat on the block, and he’s trying to jack your style. But it seems that he hasn’t heard that red is dead, and black helps you get ahead.]

[In other words, dye your hair black.] 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

[Time Limit: 24 hours]

[Reward: One-time use of skill Hype Man(C)]

[Failure: Loss of 2 random stat points.]

Huh?

Before Ari could finish reading the surprise mission, another screen popped up.

[Surprise Mission: Shine Bright Like A Diamond!]

[When the lights shine the brightest, the crowds are the loudest, the pressure the highest, only the best come out on top. When faced with pressure, will you become a diamond or will you get crushed into rubble? ]

[Make your way to Pershing Square Park by 10 AM tomorrow and win 10 chess matches in a row.]

[Reward: 72-hour Diamond Aura(A) activated upon completion.]

[Failure: Loss of 5 random stat points, suffering through family day with the PD and Wilford Forbes.]

What the heck? Another one?

Why are the rewards so good just for playing chess and dying my hair back to black?

As Ari reread the surprise missions, he was a bit shocked since these were skill names that he had never seen before, and before he could even ask, NOVA provided the description.

[Skill: Hype Man(C)!]

[Effect: You emit pulse waves of excitement. All audience members who are touched by this pulse rise to higher levels of exhilaration (+70%), making them enjoy the performance even more. The energy given off by the crowd will also make you and your selected targets (up to 7 people total) perform better, creating a feedback loop.]

[Activation: To activate the skill, climb on top of something and yell "Are You Ready?!"]

[Skill: Diamond Aura(A)!]

[Effect: A charisma amplifier and aura that makes you absolutely captivating on and off the stage. It makes you look transcendent, when people see you, you’re unforgettable, and you literally shimmer and radiate light when on stage or captured on camera.]

As Ari stared at the surprise mission, his face immediately wrinkled. Glancing over at the snoring Jamie, he quickly whispered to NOVA.

"Dying my hair is easy, I already have the hair dye, but winning 10 chess matches in a row at a park? How the heck am I supposed to get there? I don’t have my phone, and I haven’t played chess in forever. Plus, the PD said I had to attend family day."

[You’re going to listen to the PD over me? After how you’ve behaved this week?]

[Really?]

[Isn’t it a bit late to be hypocritical?]

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

Well...when you put it like that...

[Besides, aren’t these the perfect skills for your final performance?]

They were.

In fact, the hype man skill would work exceptionally well considering his role in his team’s performance. It seemed like he really had to thank Vishal.

[Why are you thanking him? Thank me.]

"I’ve been thinking this lately, but you really act like you can read my mind these days. Can you?"

[Stop talking nonsense and accept the two tasks, borrow the snoring one’s computer, and start studying chess moves and practicing online.]

[You’ll need it to win 10 in a row and not embarrass yourself, trust me.]

"Who the heck will be at the park that I need to study and beat in chess? Or is there some sort of tournament going on?" Ari asked curiously.

He’d learned that if NOVA was sending him out on a surprise mission, like when he had to complete 4 acts of service, there was usually an important reason, but this one seemed so random.

Playing chess and dying his hair? Why?

[Tournament? Not at all.]

[You’re going to meet an Alien.]

"An alien? From your planet?"

[Stop talking rubbish.]

[Now get to work, chess boy.]

"Fine."

Withholding a sigh, Ari got up and grabbed Jamie’s laptop before opening a tab to play online chess and another tab to look up different strategies.

Win 10 chess matches in a row?

Ugh, it was going to be a long night.