I really don't want to be the top streamer anymore

As Shuangsheng finished his ethereal humming on stage, the atmosphere reached its peak.

"It's really hard to say who will win and who will lose!"

Fat Bird couldn't help but sigh.

If we're talking about personal feelings, he does indeed prefer Su Yuwei's stage performance.

However, if we really delve into the overall stage performance, it's clear that Shuangsheng, who appeared last, also performed almost perfectly.

Under these circumstances, it seems that it doesn't really matter who wins the championship.

In addition, Lan Shu, who received the most votes among the top three singers in the previously announced vote count, is also a strong contender for the championship.

The others, including Xu Shangyi (whose vote count had already confirmed his elimination from the championship), Mao Zheyu, and Yang Jiangjie (whose performance was indeed mediocre and whose reputation was poor), were all eliminated from the championship race early on.

……

"Alright, please have the 100 media judges here vote for our last singer, Shuangsheng."

The host walked onto the stage and began the final voting round.

Although I am biased towards Su Yuwei, the criteria and requirements for Fei Niao's voting have not changed at all.

As always, he cast his vote.

In this final round, apart from Yangjiang Jiefei Bird who did not vote,...

He voted for all five remaining singers.

In a strict sense, his vote was essentially the same as not casting it at all, regardless of who won the final.

But Fat Bird didn't think there was anything wrong with that.

Ultimately, he has always maintained the same standards.

Even Xu Shangyi, who may have received the fewest votes, performed very well this time.

If such fairness cannot be maintained, it's unlikely that Fat Bird himself would agree to be a media judge.

……

Interestingly, the two predicted different winners.

But in this vote, Fat Bird and the music director next to him were completely in agreement.

Both of them have similar attitudes on this matter.

Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to become such good friends after only a few meetings.

Aside from differing preferences for certain works.

The two share a very similar set of values.

However, as the music director of a small company, the other party may inevitably consider a business factor.

Fat Bird's words were more straightforward, almost entirely based on his own likes and dislikes.

At the same time, he himself would not have any intention of being impartial.

Although he is now considered a semi-entertainment figure, Fat Bird is still not a stakeholder.

Therefore, he has been able to maintain his outspoken style of song reviews.

But now that he's more famous and a public figure, Fat Bird won't start cursing right away like before.

More often than not, it has become a sarcastic and unsettling style.

Of course, these sarcastic and sarcastic insults can sometimes be even more offensive.

This has caused Fat Bird to offend quite a few companies and artists in the entertainment industry.

……

"I have the final vote count for all the contestants."

"Next, please welcome our special guest for this episode, Mr. Xu Kong, to come up and reveal the final champion!"

As the host began speaking, accompanied by exaggerated applause and a lively atmosphere, Xu Kong also went on stage.

In fact, besides singing one song on stage today, he did nothing else.

There were hardly any other shots.

As someone with an overwhelmingly high level of popularity in the entire variety show, the production team certainly couldn't just let Xu Kong sing a simple song.

That would indeed be a waste.

The final result was announced, and he was indeed the most suitable candidate on site.

……

"First, we need to announce the vote count for the singer with white hair!"

As the host explained the process, he handed Xu Kong an envelope containing the vote count.

"The singer with white hair has received the following final votes..."

"87 votes!"

Xu Kong understood the suspense and effect the production team needed, so he deliberately paused for a few seconds.

Even so, unsurprisingly, Yang Jiangjie received the fewest votes among the finalists.

This is largely due to his performance this time.

Indeed, the song wasn't particularly outstanding, and it also had several mistakes.

Meanwhile, Jiying Media was smarter this time and didn't bribe any of the so-called media reviewers.

Such a number of votes is within the normal range.

"The singer has white hair, it's a pity, but please take off your mask!"

The host began.

Yang Jiangjie has clearly withdrawn from the final championship competition, and according to the rules of the show, he needs to be officially unmasked.

After the mask was removed, there were no major surprises; it was indeed Yang Jiangjie himself.

However, he looks much more mature than when he last appeared in public.

He even grew a beard.

He looks much older now, but in terms of temperament, he is similar to some artists.

……

"Congratulations to Yang Jiangjie for placing sixth in this season of 'The Masked Singer'!"

The host began by announcing this.

Then, Xu Shangyi and Mao Zheyu, who came in fifth and fourth place respectively, were announced.

The two had already revealed their identities once before, so their reappearance on the final stage didn't bring much of a surprise.

Of course, the audience was very supportive, with constant applause and cheers.

"Next up is our third place winner, congratulations Rose!"

The host didn't keep them in suspense for too long.

Because what the audience really cares about right now is who will win the championship.

If it comes to third place, there definitely won't be much discussion.

Lan Shu took off her headgear, and many people at the scene were visibly stunned.

"Holy crap, it really is Lan Shu?"

"The song style is completely different. I really didn't expect it to be Lan Shu."

"Rose is actually Lan Shu? That fat bird guessed right?"

The audience members at the scene were buzzing with discussion.

However, the one who couldn't suppress the urge to smile was Fat Bird, who was sitting on the media judging panel.

He was right after all.

He was the first person on the entire internet to propose that Rose was Lan Shu.

He remained steadfast in his beliefs, even when mainstream identities differed from his own.

Now that he has discovered that it really is Lan Shu, Fei Niao knows that just by guessing Rose's identity, he can gain popularity and traffic that other music self-media cannot obtain.

……

After Lan Shu finished sharing her thoughts, the host finally moved on to the last part of the program.

"That's right. It seems that the next champion will be decided between Miss Rabbit and Teacher Shuangsheng."

"Now, Professor Xu Kong, could you please announce the vote results for each of them?"

Xu Kong didn't feel too nervous.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter who wins the final championship.

It's all the same to Xu Kong.

After all, both of them are artists under Fengqing Entertainment, and he provided both songs for the final.

Naturally, there was no way he would show favoritism. So he calmly took out the card with the vote results written on it from the envelope in his hand.

……

"Miss Rabbit, the final vote is... 97 votes!"

As soon as Xu Kong finished speaking, gasps of surprise rang out from the audience.

This is the highest number of votes the show has received so far.

"It seems that Su Yuwei is indeed the champion after all?"

The music director next to Fat Bird said with some regret.

In fact, in his opinion, Shuangsheng was the one who deserved to win the championship the most for his performance in this final.

However, Su Yuwei also performed very well, so it wouldn't be incomprehensible if the other side had won.

Most people at the scene believed that with this vote count, Su Yuwei was likely to win.

However, Xu Kong on the stage did not stop, but continued to speak:
"Double Voice, the final vote count... is also 97 votes!"

After Xu Kong finished speaking, the scene immediately fell silent.

……

Although there are only one hundred media judges in total, there will definitely be cases of tied votes.

But if you put it on the same stage as the finals, the champion will get the same number of votes, and they will both get such a high number.

It's just too much of a coincidence.

"If the votes are the same, how should we calculate it?"

Xu Kong hadn't expected this outcome, and subconsciously asked a question before looking at the host.

The host paused for a moment, then spoke:
"Please wait a moment, everyone. We need to communicate with the director and the production team!"

Xu Kong knew that this probably wasn't actually a script.

Wu Youxue has always had a very fixed bottom line when it comes to competitive music variety shows: fairness cannot be compromised.

And no one is allowed to tamper with it.

In this regard, Xu Kong has participated in many variety shows on Hunan TV, including "Singer" and "Our Song", so I am willing to trust him.

……

"What does this mean? They have the same number of votes? Do we have to vote again?"

"It would be best to add another round of performances, so that while determining the champion, we can also enjoy another stage performance."

"Great idea! It would be best if it were a new song, and it would be awesome if we could sing it again!"

The audience was also discussing it at this moment.

In reality, there wasn't that much controversy surrounding who would win the title of "The Masked Singer".

Most viewers felt that it didn't matter who won the championship.

The main difference between "The Masked Singer" and traditional competitive music variety shows is that the biggest attraction lies in revealing the real identities of the participating singers.

The so-called rankings have actually been relegated to a less important position by both the show's promotional efforts and various online discussions.

……

It's highly unlikely that there will be another round of performances.

Fat Bird made its own judgment.

First, there's the issue of the program's runtime. Even for the finale, the runtime has actually been sufficient so far.

Adding another round would be completely unnecessary.

Besides that, most importantly, he felt that the voting result was a coincidence.

At the very least, if the production team wanted to manipulate the competition results, as a media judge, he couldn't possibly be completely unaware of anything.

Since it's a real-name voting system, every vote from the media reviewers is crucial in order to deliberately create the same number of votes.

Even Mango TV couldn't control the vote count so accurately.

However, it's possible that they could be given another chance to choose between the two options.

Of course, in that case, it all comes down to the preferences of the one hundred media judges present.

With both of them receiving such high votes, there shouldn't be any major issues with their songs or live performances.

……

"After some discussion, we've decided that this season's 'King of Mask Singer' champion will be... a double champion!"

Congratulations to Shuangsheng and Miss Rabbit!

"Let's work together to win a championship title this season!"

The host came out and announced a result that surprised everyone, yet was also quite reasonable.

While two champions are rare, they have happened before.

Moreover, it would obviously have the highest acceptance rate if placed on this program.

Most viewers felt that it didn't matter which of the two won the championship, but the fact that they both won the championship seemed like a perfect ending that was hard to fault.

……

"Alright, now let's invite our two champions to remove their masks..."

The host spoke.

The scene immediately fell silent.

The speculation about Shuangsheng's identity has been going on for a long time, and even media reviewers like Fei Niao are very curious about what Shuangsheng looks like.

Su Yuwei, wearing a rabbit headgear, was the first to reveal her face, but no one was surprised.

After all, Su Yuwei's identity was guessed when she participated in the first episode.

Although he has never officially revealed his identity and has never admitted it, his features are so obvious that there is almost no other possibility now.

At the same time, Ke Shen also took off his mask.

To the slight disappointment of many, the popular Shuang Sheng was not wearing a familiar face under the mask, but rather a completely unfamiliar face that almost no one recognized.

Besides, Shuang Sheng himself is not actually handsome; in fact, he looks rather ordinary.

……

"You two, you've been singing while wearing masks before. Why don't you take off your masks and sing a couple of lines for us a cappella?"

The host was good at creating a lively atmosphere and took the initiative to offer suggestions.

Both of them sang new songs that they had just performed in the finals.

However, when it was Ke Shen's turn, upon hearing that familiar voice, which actually came from the mouth of this somewhat unremarkable-looking boy on stage, the atmosphere was once again pushed to a climax.

"Thank you for your support. I am Shuangsheng, or you can call me by my real name, Ke Shen."

"I'm still a newcomer, so please take good care of me in the future."

At the host's suggestion, Ke Shen began to introduce himself.

There's no way around it; the main reason is that among the singers in the finals, the others are already quite famous, or have a high level of star power and popularity.

Ke Shen is the only one who can be considered a complete newcomer.

……

At this stage, the program is almost coming to an end.

However, to everyone's surprise, when the last two champions were giving their acceptance speeches, they dropped another bombshell.

It's normal for Su Yuwei to thank Xu Kong, since he's the one who wrote the songs for her after she participated in the show.

But Ke Shen mentioned Xu Kong's name more often.

"Damn it! I knew those songs were written by one person, and that person could only be Xu Kong!"

Fat Bird couldn't help but curse.

The main reason is that he had considered similar possibilities before.

But I wasn't even sure myself.

Who knew that going there would actually turn out to be true.

Even Shuang Sheng, the promising new champion, is an artist under Xu Kong's company, and all the songs he sang on the show were written by Xu Kong.

Including Xu Kong himself, he sang a total of seven new songs in the final.

The result was that all five songs were written by Xu Kong, and the two champions were both artists under Xu Kong's company.

Who would believe it?

After all the twists and turns, Xu Kong turned out to be the biggest winner?

...(End of chapter)