Chapter 108: The Men's Basketball Team's Crushing Defeat

“No way, did I hear that right? Lin Feng’s votes remain unchanged, but Zhou Ziqian’s dropped by 200,000!”
“This is hilarious! Always accusing others of vote rigging, turns out he was doing it himself!”
“Hahaha, no wonder Zhou Ziqian doubted Lin Feng—he rigged 200,000 votes and still got completely crushed!”
“Zhou Ziqian is shameless, rigging votes and still having the nerve to accuse Lin Feng!”
“This time Zhou Ziqian really got beaten to a pulp by Lin Feng—winning all three rounds, and in the final round Zhou got zero votes. Ha! That’s the sweet taste of defeat!”
“Zhou Ziqian, just get out of the music industry already! Keep your pre-competition promise!”
...

As Zhao Tong announced the verified results of the second round’s off-site votes, both the live audience and viewers at home erupted once again.

At the end of the second round, Zhou Ziqian’s off-site votes were reported as 410,000, but after verification by the production team, the number dropped to 210,000. It was clear who had been rigging votes!

Zhou Ziqian’s face darkened as if squeezing out water. He glared fiercely at Zhao Tong and said, “Producer Zhao, isn’t there something wrong with releasing these numbers? Why did Lin Feng’s vote count stay the same while mine dropped by 200,000?”

“The production team verified the off-site votes for the second round at Mr. Zhou’s request, and this was the confirmed result. Also, I must apologize on behalf of the production team to all viewers at home. There was indeed an oversight in tallying the off-site votes for the second round. Fortunately, with Mr. Zhou’s reminder, we corrected the error immediately!” Zhao Tong’s lips curled into a mocking smile. Since Zhou Ziqian had publicly questioned the production team during the livestream, almost causing a broadcast incident, she had no intention of giving him any favors.

“Fine! Very fine!” Zhou Ziqian sneered, “Since your team insists on protecting Lin Feng, I have nothing more to say. However, I still have reservations about the second round’s results, and I’m starting to doubt the results of the first and third rounds as well. I thought this was supposed to be a fair competition, but it seems...”

“Shush!”
“Yeah, right!”
“Get off the stage!”
“Have you no shame at all?”

“Still doubting? With your lousy works, only idiots would vote for you!”
“Just leave the music scene already. We never thought you’d be such a sore loser!”

Before Zhou Ziqian could finish, the audience erupted in boos and shouts.

Not just the live audience—viewers watching from home were equally scornful. It was obvious he just couldn’t accept defeat!

“So this is the so-called magnanimity of a musical genius, huh...” Zhao Tong shot Zhou Ziqian a cold glance, then gave a subtle signal to the host, Wu Chuan.

Wu Chuan immediately took over and announced the end of this episode of *Music PK Arena*.

The livestream nearly turned into a farce because of Zhou Ziqian’s disruption, yet the episode’s ratings shattered all previous records, peaking at 3.15.

This not only set a new viewership record for *Music PK Arena* but also became the highest-rated variety show ever on Jingcheng Satellite TV, which had never before seen a variety show break a 3.0 rating.

The *Music PK Arena* livestream concluded.

Yet the topics sparked by this broadcast continued to spread, becoming the nation’s hottest discussion points.

Foremost among them was Lin Feng’s marriage to Qin Ruolin. Thanks to Qin Han’s “revelation,” their relationship was confirmed beyond doubt, officially upgrading from dating to engaged.

Next was Zhou Ziqian’s vote rigging and shameless remarks. His “spectacular” behavior on the show turned countless fans into critics overnight.

Within five minutes of the show’s end, Zhou Ziqian’s Weibo was flooded with comments demanding, “Zhou Ziqian, get out of the music industry!” More than 200,000 comments appeared in under five minutes, giving Zhou a taste of “viral fame.” Unfortunately, every message was either telling him to leave or insulting him, proving the public’s moral compass remained intact.

Amid the flood of criticism, netizens also dug up Zhou Ziqian’s dark past: plagiarism, drunken violence, sleeping with female fans, and more...

In no time, Zhou Ziqian became a pariah, reviled by all.

...

In contrast, Lin Feng received unanimous praise. His two songs, “Encounter” and “Ten Years,” quickly became trending hits, while “Village Tune” turned into the new generation’s “divine song.” The duet partners Lin Wen and Qin Han also gained fame; Lin Wen especially was hailed as the new male fan goddess, gaining nearly a million Weibo followers overnight.

The next day, the buzz around *Music PK Arena* showed no signs of fading.

Meanwhile, a sports news story ignited another heated debate. Though unrelated to Lin Feng, his name was frequently mentioned in the comments.

The Chinese men’s national basketball team, training in the United States, played a warm-up match against an American All-Star team—and was soundly defeated by 57 points.

This humiliating loss sparked widespread ridicule across the nation. If the opponent had been the official U.S. national team, a 57-point loss, though embarrassing, would be understandable, since the U.S. team is the world’s strongest. But this so-called All-Star team was mostly a name game—only one or two players were in the NBA, while the rest played in secondary American leagues. Yet this ragtag team beat China by 57 points, fueling fan outrage.

“Damn, a bunch of nobodies just humiliated our national team. What’s the point of the Olympics? Might as well disband the team!”
“Who told the team not to recruit Lin Feng? If he were there, it wouldn’t be such a massacre!”
“The basketball association has been blind for years. Coach Zhou Zhicheng is useless. They ignore a player like Lin Feng, so he quits and goes into music instead. But I must say, Lin Feng’s songs are truly amazing!”
“Getting off-topic here—we’re talking basketball! Honestly, I’m kind of glad they lost so badly since they didn’t use Lin Feng. But even if they wanted to, they can’t now; he’s already quit the national team!”
“Lin Feng quitting was forced, but it’s a huge loss for the team. This squad is in a transitional phase with overall weak strength. I doubt they’ll even qualify for the Olympics.”
“Though this team is weak, saying they won’t qualify is alarmist. There’s no real competition in Asian basketball.”
“Not so sure. Iran is strong this year. I’m not optimistic either. Of course, if Lin Feng was still on the team, qualifying would be no problem. Without him, it’ll be tough.”
...