Chapter 55: Challenging the Upper-Rank Teams—Wu Junchen’s Decision

Originally, after the firepower scores were announced, there was no Q&A or interactive segment planned. He Hao added this part to allow Wu Junchen to reassure his fans at the venue.

Since Wu Junchen was asked, naturally Fang Xing had to be asked as well.

“Fang Xing, was your group’s victory in this performance battle within your expectations, or was it a surprise?”

Fang Xing thought for a moment and replied, “It’s all right. It just depends on whether there are more votes from fans or more votes from the professional judges.”

Many people didn’t immediately grasp the meaning of this statement. When it finally dawned on them, many in the audience widened their eyes in surprise. This was clearly a subtle hint.

Was it to be determined by the fans’ votes, or by the professional judges’ votes? It was obvious that Wu Junchen and Liu Yichen’s fans were present in large numbers. Anyone could guess with certainty that those fans’ votes would go to Wu Junchen.

Ordinary audience members would vote for whichever stage they thought was better. Wu Junchen and Liu Yichen’s new single, “Youthful Recklessness,” was produced by a top Korean production team, so its quality was outstanding. Even the stage design was personally overseen by the Korean team, making the live performance explosive.

Therefore, “Youthful Recklessness” was bound to receive many votes from the live audience. From a musical standpoint, “When the Wind Rises” was even more highly regarded, and it too would not lack votes from the audience. It was impossible for either group to pull ahead significantly in the audience’s voting.

Thus, the real decider between the two teams was the votes from fans and the professional judges. The fans’ votes would go to Wu Junchen’s group. If Fang Xing’s group wanted to win, they would have to secure enough votes from the professional judges.

Strictly speaking, the on-site firepower voting wasn’t exactly fair. For fairness, fans’ votes would have to be excluded first, since these votes would never shift based on the quality of the song. However, “Star of Tomorrow” was a boy group talent show, driven by the fan economy. So even if it wasn’t fair, the production team would never entirely shut out the fans.

Clearly, “When the Wind Rises” had garnered the majority of votes from the professional judges; otherwise, the outcome wouldn’t have been as it was. Most of the on-site professional judges worked in the music industry. When they heard Fang Xing’s remark, they exchanged amused glances, all understanding the implication.

Among the professional judges this time, there was a particularly notable music critic—Ni Hongdan. In the first episode, she spoke out for Fang Xing against the tide and ended up being attacked by fans, trending on social media as a result. As Fang Xing shot to popularity, she benefitted as well, gaining hundreds of thousands of new followers. The production team’s invitation for her to join the panel of professional judges had her excited for days.

A music critic beside her, named Luo Siwei, turned and said, “I suppose you voted for Fang Xing too?”

“Yes, actually my vote might not be entirely fair, because I’ve supported Fang Xing from the very beginning.” Ni Hongdan thought to herself that even if Fang Xing hadn’t performed that well this time, she would probably still have given him her vote.

Luo Siwei replied matter-of-factly, “There’s no need to overthink it. The vote is yours, you can cast it as you wish. Besides, from a vocal music professional’s perspective, this is a single-choice question.”

Ni Hongdan considered this for a moment and realized it was true. “You’re right. Although ‘Youthful Recklessness’ was made by a top production team, it’s a typical K-pop dance track, with little vocal difficulty and no way to showcase real singing skills.”

...

The recording continued.

He Hao, having understood the deeper meaning of Fang Xing’s words and knowing he couldn’t pursue the topic any further, quickly changed the subject: “Fang Xing, there’s still the upcoming PK segment. According to the rules, there’s a captain-assist round. Will you be singing the PK song together with your team member who’s competing?”

“Of course,” Fang Xing replied as a matter of course.

“Do you have confidence in winning the PK battle?” He Hao asked again.

“Of course.” The same answer, the same certainty, expressed as though stating a fact.

He Hao then turned to Wu Junchen and asked, “What about you, Junchen? Are you confident you’ll win in the upcoming PK round?”

Wu Junchen raised his right fist high, tightly clenched: “Victory is certain!”

The fans at the venue shouted in unison, “Junchen will win! Junchen will win!”

He Hao flashed a mysterious smile and said, “However, the two of you may not actually face each other in the PK round. Now, please have both teams step down and rest. We have four more teams who will perform their stages. Only when all performances are over will we move on to the PK segment.”

The next four teams consisted of two groups performing fast songs and two performing slower numbers—songs chosen by the production team, each set up as head-to-head showdowns.

Once all the performances concluded, the losing teams would fall into the lower bracket. In each lower bracket team, the three members with the lowest popularity would be directly eliminated.

This round would see nine people eliminated at once.

Wu Junchen’s group originally had eight members; after three were eliminated, only the five from ChaoYin Entertainment remained.

Once the elimination list was announced, the PK round immediately followed.

...

He Hao, full of energy, returned to the stage to announce the rules for the PK segment:

“In the upcoming PK round, the firepower will be ramped up once more.

“Because the captain-assist rule is now in play, it will no longer be a relay battle. Instead, teams from the lower bracket will challenge teams from the upper bracket.

“The upper bracket teams must send out members to compete, and the loser will have to leave.”

Wow!

Upon hearing this rule, the venue broke out into commotion.

“They’re raising the stakes? The lower bracket can actually choose their opponent.”

According to this rule, upper bracket teams had no initiative; they could only wait to be challenged by a lower bracket team. This gave lower bracket teams the upper hand, a hard-won advantage after losing three members.

He Hao continued, “Of course, each upper bracket team can only be challenged once.

“The order in which lower bracket teams choose their opponents is determined by the total popularity ranking of each team.

“To begin, the team with the highest total popularity in the lower bracket is Wu Junchen’s team.

“Junchen, please come over from the prep area, and staff, please hand him a microphone.

“Junchen, among the three upper bracket teams, which one would you like to challenge?

“Will you challenge Fang Xing’s team, who just suffered a loss, or one of the other two teams?”

Seated high above in the upper bracket, Fang Xing looked down at Wu Junchen below, savoring the feeling.

Wu Junchen looked up at the three upper bracket teams, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Among these three teams, it was obvious Fang Xing’s was the strongest. With the captain-assist rule, challenging Fang Xing’s team meant not only facing one team member but also going up against Fang Xing himself.

From a probability standpoint, choosing another team would give a better chance of victory.

The other two upper bracket teams were on edge, nervous to the extreme. After all, there was a monster in the lower bracket.

Who could have predicted that the ChaoYin Five reunited, plus a brand-new single produced by a Korean team, would end up in the lower bracket?

The situation was now clear: apart from Fang Xing’s team, whichever team Wu Junchen chose to challenge would be the unlucky one.