Chapter 103: If He Wants War, Then Let There Be War

The next day.

Liang Yusong brought Fang Xing to the president’s office at Extraordinary Entertainment, hoping to learn the assigned theme for the faction battle ahead of time.

Knowing it a day early meant one extra day of preparation.

The later they learned it, the worse it would be.

Fang Xing could afford not to care. Liang Yusong could not.

Tong Fei had them sit in the reception room, then instructed her assistant to brew tea for the guests.

After a bit of small talk, Liang Yusong got straight to the point. “President Tong, has the theme for the faction battle been decided?”

“President Liang, why are you suddenly so anxious?” Tong Fei teased with obvious amusement.

If Fang Xing had bowed out at the start, Liang Yusong would not have cared, and there would have been no need to compete with Tide Sound Culture on the show.

But events had already reached this point.

Next week’s faction final would, in truth, be a showdown between Pine Stone Records and Tide Sound Culture.

Tide Sound Culture was recruiting everywhere and negotiating collaborations with multiple record labels and music producers.

More importantly, the theme for the faction final was chosen by Tide Sound Culture.

That was their greatest advantage.

If Pine Stone Records were the one setting the final theme, there would be so many songs to choose from that Liang Yusong would not even know how they could lose.

“This time the theme is also being set by Tide Sound Culture, right? With such a huge advantage, you should at least let us know early and give us a few extra days to prepare,” Liang Yusong said in his usual calm, easygoing tone.

Tong Fei smiled. “It is indeed being set by Tide Sound Culture. I don’t need to say it, but you should already be able to guess that they’ll definitely aim at something specific.”

Fang Xing said with a relaxed expression, “Targeting my song library?”

Tong Fei nodded. “Exactly. Targeting your song library.”

Fang Xing frowned slightly as he thought about it. “The songs I’ve sung before cover a pretty wide range. How exactly do they plan to target my song library?”

Tong Fei no longer bothered with roundabout language and said directly, “I’ll tell you. The theme is ‘Blood-Heat Battle Anthem,’ and the faction final isn’t just one song, but two. Your songs may be varied, but you really haven’t done any especially explosive battle anthems.”

Fang Xing laughed in spite of himself. “I see. Fine then, I really haven’t sung a blood-heat battle anthem before.”

Liang Yusong carefully recalled the eight songs Fang Xing had performed before and realized that none of them truly belonged to the battle-anthem category.

Songs of that sort were extremely difficult.

Without any foundation in that direction, writing a battle anthem of truly solid quality in a short time was very hard indeed.

And this was not only aimed at Fang Xing’s song library, but at Liang Yusong’s as well.

“This theme really is tricky. It targets me too,” Liang Yusong said, shaking his head helplessly.

He had written many songs, but most of them were ballads.

Blood-heat battle anthems were also a type he had never produced before.

Tong Fei looked at the two of them with interest. “So? Can you hold up this time?”

Liang Yusong frowned. “Can the theme still be changed?”

Although Tong Fei had indeed agreed to let Tide Sound Culture choose the faction battle theme, Extraordinary Entertainment was still the production company for the show. If they truly disliked the theme, there was still room to negotiate.

Liang Yusong added, “Male groups making blood-heat battle anthems suit their style perfectly. If this is the theme, Tide Sound Culture has a huge advantage.”

Tong Fei agreed. “That theme does give Tide Sound Culture an edge. But this is a final between factions, so using a blood-heat battle anthem to decide the winner is indeed very fitting.”

“Are you sure it can’t be changed?” Liang Yusong pressed.

Tong Fei looked at Fang Xing. “What do you think, Fang Xing? If you’re not confident in this theme, then the two companies can go speak with Tide Sound Culture and see whether it can be adjusted. But I have a feeling Tide Sound Culture won’t agree to any changes.”

Fang Xing shook his head with a smile. “No need. The theme is pretty good.”

Hearing that answer, Tong Fei immediately understood what he meant, and smiled with interest. “You have songs in the battle-anthem style?”

Fang Xing smiled faintly. “If they want a battle, then let it be a battle.”

Tong Fei continued, “For the sake of the show, if the musical styles can be kept somewhat close, the competition will be more exciting.”

“The Glacier team’s second song leans toward the inspirational side. If possible, make the message of your second song lean toward something more uplifting as well.”

“Of course, if you really don’t have anything like that, then forget it. I’m only making a suggestion. You can decide based on the situation.”

Fang Xing thought for a moment. “All right. If that’s how they want to compete, then that’s how we’ll compete.”

...

After leaving Tong Fei’s office, Liang Yusong did not ask any more questions about the theme.

Since Fang Xing had said there was no problem with it, then naturally there was no problem.

Liang Yusong asked, “When will you send me the demo? I’ll listen first. If the song isn’t strong enough, we can also consider buying one from outside.”

Fang Xing answered with confidence, “No need to look outside. I’ve got it. I’ll send you the demo tomorrow.”

“All right, then we’ll wait until we hear the demo before we discuss anything further.” Liang Yusong said his goodbyes and returned to the company.

By the time Fang Xing got back to the training camp dormitory, Shao Yu, Lu Ming, and the others had already been waiting for half the day.

“Captain, how did it go? What’s the theme?”

Guo Keda was always impatient. He rubbed his buzz cut and asked the moment he saw him.

“Blood-heat battle anthem,” Fang Xing replied casually.

“Blood-heat battle anthem? I knew it. They’re targeting the captain’s song library again.” Guo Keda immediately understood.

“Captain, did they manage to pin you down this time?” Lu Ming asked.

Fang Xing grinned. “As long as you can do it all, no one can ever target you.”

The others understood at once, and all of them laughed.

That night, Liang Yusong sent over a list, along with a voice message on WeChat: “The trainees on this list either have collaborations with the company or are part of a resource exchange. Pick a few and bring them onto the team.”

After Fang Xing looked over the list, he shared it with Shao Yu and the others for discussion.

“These trainees mostly come from Hundred Rivers Entertainment and a few smaller companies. Captain, what kind of people should we choose?” Shao Yu asked while reading the list.

“If we’re going to sing battle anthems, dancing is essential, so we should pick two who are good dancers, and their vocals need to be passable too,” Fang Xing said. He already had a plan in mind.

“Let’s take Li Wenbin. He was only one rank away from debuting. In the final minutes, Tide Sound Culture used money to push two people up, and he dropped two places. In the end, he didn’t make the group,” Guo Keda said, pointing to Li Wenbin’s name.

During the night of the final sprint, Li Wenbin had still been on the team, singing “Crimson Performer” and “The Fireworks Grow Cold” together with the others. His ability was still pretty solid.

“All right, Li Wenbin can be included,” Fang Xing decided on one name first.

“This Chen Zhiyou can dance, and his singing is decent too. He’s just a bit too mature in style, and his popularity isn’t high enough,” Shao Yu suggested another.

After some discussion, they finally picked five people to make up a nine-member team.

Once the list was handed to Liang Yusong and communication between the companies was completed, the selected trainees came running over in high spirits to report in.

There was less than a week left before the ultimate faction final.

Once everyone was assembled, Fang Xing officially began leading the rehearsals.