Chapter 106: This Proposition, Well Chosen

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After the pre-match interaction concluded, He Hao began announcing the rules for tonight's public performance:

"Tonight is a battle between two factions. This is no longer an individual contest—it's about the honor of the entire team.

"The popularity rankings in the 'Tomorrow's Star' section have already been locked two weeks ago.

"For tonight's Ice-Fire Faction Final, all votes have been reset. The final outcome will be decided by the faction votes cast by all viewers.

"A faction vote for the Glacier Faction will be converted into Ice Power.

"A vote for the Flame Faction will be converted into Fire Power.

"Will the Glacier Boys ultimately claim victory, or will the Flame Faction come out on top? Let's wait and see."

After announcing the competition rules, He Hao proceeded to announce tonight's theme:

"For tonight's Ice-Fire Faction Final, we have another themed stage.

"Two factions, four songs, two rounds of public performances—the final victor will be decided through these.

"So what is tonight's theme?

"Please look at the big screen... That's right, tonight's theme is 'Battle Hymn of Passion'!

"Let us ignite this stage with the hottest blood in our veins, and give everything we have for this summer's musical dream!"

After the theme was announced, the live-stream comments began flooding the screen:

[Here we go, another themed stage.]

[As expected, it's a genre Fang Xing has never sung before. This song pool's been targeted so hard, it's all pinholes.]

[Now that you mention it, I realize Fang Xing really has never sung a particularly explosive battle hymn.]

[Low EQ: Tide Sound Culture is targeting Fang Xing's song pool. High EQ: Tide Sound Culture is showing Fang Xing the utmost respect.]

[Everyone has weaknesses. Maybe he'll crash and burn tonight.]

[I bought 'Nocturne,' but I genuinely want to see Fang Xing fail.]

[Want to see him fail +1]

Amidst the overwhelming barrage of [Want to see Fang Xing fail] comments, He Hao announced the performance order: "Before tonight's show began, our director sent each team a cup of our sponsor's Bright Ice Cream.

"The ice cream each team chose has the performance order for the first round written inside the lid.

"Now, please have both team captains show their ice cream lids to the live audience and to all the viewers watching the live stream."

Fang Xing and Wu Junchen pulled the ice cream lids from their trouser pockets and showed them to the close-up camera.

He Hao continued: "That's right, the team performing first in tonight's first round is the GLA Glacier Boys.

"Now, Glacier Boys captain Wu Junchen, tell the audience loudly:

"What is the name of your song for tonight's first-round stage? What kind of battle hymn of passion is it?"

Wu Junchen pressed the earpiece against his cheek and shouted at the top of his lungs: "We were born for the battlefield—the battlefield of music. The song for tonight's first-round stage is the very first group song of our GLA Glacier Boys. So tonight marks its debut performance, and its name is 'GLA.'"

"Let's hand the stage over to Wu Junchen and his teammates." After delivering his final bridging line, He Hao turned and walked off the stage.

The stage lights dimmed.

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The eleven members of the Glacier Boys took their positions.

The intro of "GLA" began to play.

All eleven started dancing fiercely in perfect unison.

After the intro dance, the members shifted to both sides, clearing the center spot for Wu Junchen.

Wu Junchen stepped out from the back, moving to the rhythm. With every step he took, ice-flame effects erupted on the floor beneath him.

He walked to the very front and sang the passionate opening verse: "On this stage of music, we come striding over ice. Glaciers may be like a butcher's block, raging flames like a furnace, yet nothing can stop our steps.

"Our voices become our weapons, our hot blood melts the icy ridges. On this battlefield of glory, with dreams in our hearts, even if we're bruised and battered, we stand tall with spines unbent..."

The powerful, stirring melody paired with the inspirational lyrics immediately brought tears to the eyes of many fans in the audience.

The live stream was flooded with fans' comments:

[Junchen sang so well.]

[Junchen works so hard—how could he lose? Everyone, let's cast our votes!]

The Glacier Faction vote count in the "Tomorrow's Star" section began to skyrocket, surging to three million votes in less than ten minutes of airtime.

Fang Xing's Flame Faction votes, meanwhile, were crawling along at a snail's pace—less than three hundred thousand.

The votes for both factions were displayed as bar graphs, making the Glacier bar ten times the height of the Flame bar. The contrast was brutal.

The fans grew even more excited:

[Fang Xing's votes aren't even a tenth of Junchen's. How pitiful—like a clown.]

[A nobody like that deserves no sympathy.]

The live stream continued.

By the time the "GLA" stage ended, the Glacier Faction's votes had broken straight past ten million.

The Flame Faction's votes were still crawling, still not even a tenth of their opponent's.

Then He Hao walked onto the stage to deliver his bridging lines: "Thank you to the eleven Glacier Boys for that performance. Truly spectacular. Live audience, was the Glacier Boys' performance spectacular or what?"

The fans below shouted at the top of their lungs, hoarse and frenzied: "Spectacular!"

He Hao continued: "Then next up, it's the Flame Faction's turn to take the stage. Please welcome the eight members of the Flame Faction."

Fang Xing led his team onto the stage, and they lined up side by side.

He Hao began the pre-performance interactive Q&A: "Fang Xing, 'Fire Team' is the group name the production crew gave you. Have you all discussed any other names among yourselves?"

Fang Xing smiled and replied: "We have. We originally came up with a name."

"What is it?" He Hao held the microphone out to Fang Xing.

"Day-Disposal Brothers," Fang Xing answered with complete seriousness.

"Day... Disposal Brothers? What does that mean?" He Hao raised an eyebrow, looking taken aback.

"It means exactly what it says. Our group only exists for one day. After tonight's competition, we disband on the spot," Fang Xing replied casually.

"Is that so..."

He Hao's mouth twitched, but he pressed on: "Will you all get together again in the future?"

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"If there's a gig, sure. Then the Day-Disposal Brothers reunite, finish the gig, and disband on the spot again," Fang Xing continued with an utterly straight face.

The live audience caught on that Fang Xing was cracking jokes and burst into laughter.

Hahaha...

The live-stream channel was instantly flooded with silly comments:

[He's telling jokes again. Maybe you should quit singing and switch to stand-up comedy.]

[Keep the jokes coming. Your vote count can't even reach a tenth of your opponent's. Looks like you're crashing tonight.]

[I'm holding my vote until after I hear the song. If the song flops, the man flops with it.]

[Other fans: Voting before their idol even starts singing. Fang Xing's fans: If he botches it, the vote gets torn up and never cast.]

[What nonsense? He's a singer—since when did he have fans?]

[Sitting here waiting to hear the song. Flop the song, tear the vote.]

[Tear the vote if he flops +1]

[Fang Xing has never sung an explosive battle anthem. He's due for a loss. Rip up those votes, rip them up.]

Amidst a screen full of [Tear the vote if he flops] comments, He Hao finally got to the real question: "After watching GLA's debut group song performance—it was so brilliant, and your opponent is so strong—are you feeling nervous?"

"Not really," Fang Xing answered offhandedly.

Guo Keda chimed in: "Bro, that's something we could have. Look at my hands—they're shaking."

"Seriously, no," Fang Xing remained utterly calm.

He Hao frowned as he recalled something, then asked: "Fang Xing, tonight's theme is 'Battle Hymn of Passion.' As far as I know, you've never performed a fiery, stage-exploding battle anthem before."

Fang Xing smiled and replied: "I just want to tell whoever picked this theme: good choice. You picked a fight with a nuclear warhead."

...

...

A Note About Going on Sale:

The novel goes on sale tomorrow at noon. Today I'm posting four chapters, and I'm asking in advance for tomorrow's first-day subscriptions.

This isn't Pian Feng's first time going on sale, but it is the first time being featured on Sanjiang.

I've been writing for many years and reached level 5 author status on Qidian, but never once making it onto Sanjiang—that should be a pretty rare thing.

Earlier, because I was accompanying my wife during childbirth, I spent three days in the hospital, and all updates relied on my saved drafts.

The baby is adorable. That feeling is so wonderful, I don't know how to describe it.

Pian Feng has now leveled up to being a dad. There's more responsibility on my shoulders. This book is doing pretty well, and as long as the royalties are enough to buy milk powder, I'll keep writing with quality and consistency.

So, dear readers, if you plan to keep this book on your shelf for stacking, please try to enable auto-subscription.

The novel goes on sale tomorrow at noon. If first-day subscriptions reach three thousand, I'll update twenty thousand words that day.