Being a gigolo was too much for him, so he had to become a music superstar.

Zhou Qian simply turned slightly to make way for him.

Lin Buyi walked past him.

After walking over, he heard a very soft sound behind him.

"interesting."

Two words. The voice was very soft, and the tone was devoid of any emotion.

But Lin Buyi understood.

I wasn't interested in this person before.

That's not the case anymore.

Now we've met our match.

He didn't look back. He kept walking.

I had only one thought in my mind—the score. The judges' approval didn't guarantee a high score. The competition rules stated that the lowest scorer would be eliminated immediately.

His technique is indeed lacking. If technique accounts for the majority of the scoring, then no amount of praise from the judges will matter.

He can only breathe a sigh of relief when the final score comes out.

All the contestants' performances have ended.

Next comes the announcement of scores.

The eight contestants from Group C returned to the stage and stood in a row under the lights. Lin Buyi stood at the very edge, next to He Jiaqi, who was the seventh contestant to perform.

He Jiaqi was a short boy who looked very nervous; his lips were trembling slightly. Lin Buyi glanced at him out of the corner of his eye but didn't say anything.

The scores began to scroll on the big screen.

The rules are as follows: the mentor's score accounts for 60%, and the audience score accounts for 40%. The total score is calculated by weighting both scores. The person with the lowest score among the eight people is eliminated.

The first score displayed is Zhou Qian's score.

Mentor's score: 99.

Audience rating: 97.

Total score: 98.2.

The audience erupted in applause. As expected. This score was far too high, almost impossible to surpass.

The second one is Li Ang.

Mentor's score: 92.

Audience rating: 91.

Total score: 91.6.

Li Ang nodded slightly, his expression showing satisfaction. He knew he couldn't beat Zhou Qian, but his second-place position was secure.

The third one is Wang Ke.

Total score: 89.4.

The fourth one is Zhao Xiaoyu.

Total score: 87.1.

As the scores were announced one by one, everyone's expression changed. Some breathed a sigh of relief, while others furrowed their brows even more.

Lin Buyi stood there, calculating in his mind.

The scores of six people have been released so far, with only Zhang Ziming and He Jiaqi's scores yet to be released. The lowest score among the six is ​​Zhang Ziming's 83 points.

In other words, if either he or He Jiaqi scores below 83, that person will be eliminated. If both of them score above 83, then Zhang Ziming will be eliminated.

Based on his performance today—Fang Yizhou said he was scared, Xue Xinghe immediately stood up to support him, and Zhou Wanting said he was the most talented newcomer—the mentors' evaluation of this level couldn't possibly be low.

He should be fine.

should.

But Lin Buyi had a nagging feeling. He remembered something—forty percent of the weight in the competition was given to the audience's score.

The so-called live audience consisted mostly of fan groups arranged by the companies and atmosphere-building groups hired by the production team.

This score can be manipulated.

He Jiaqi's score began to appear on the big screen.

Mentor's score: 81.

Audience rating: 85.

Total score: 82.6.

He Jiaqi's face turned pale. 82.6, even lower than Zhang Ziming's 83.

If Lin Buyi's score is higher than 82.6, He Jiaqi will be eliminated.

If Lin Buyi's score is below 82.6—

All eyes were drawn to the last empty spot on the big screen.

The score column next to the three characters "Lin Buyi" is still jumping.

Lin Buyi stared at the fluctuating number.

My heart was pounding in my ears.

He told himself to stay calm. The mentors' evaluations were there for all to see; none of the four mentors gave a bad review, so the mentor scores wouldn't be low. Even if the audience scores were slightly lower, the weighted average wouldn't be that low.

Will not.

impossible.

The numbers stopped.

Mentor's score: 94.

Lin Buyi breathed a sigh of relief. 94 points, even higher than Li Ang's 92. The mentor really gave him a lot of face.

Then the audience scores were released.

68.

Lin Buyi's breath hitched for a moment.

68?

A commotion erupted in the audience. It wasn't applause, but rather voices of doubt.

"What? 68?"

"What's going on? How can it be so low?"

"I was in the audience, and I definitely didn't give that score!"

Lin Buyi's fingers tightened. His face remained expressionless, but his heart pounded in his chest.

The audience score of 68 points plus the mentor score of 94 points, weighted 60/40—

He quickly calculated it in his mind.

94 multiplied by 0.6 equals 56.4.

68 multiplied by 0.4 equals 27.2.

Total Score —

The final score was displayed on the big screen.

83.5.

The entire venue erupted in cheers. But not from joy, but from anger.

"83.5? That's way too low!"

"That can't be right? The mentor's score is 94, but the total score is only 83.5? How are the audience scores calculated?"

"This is clearly someone playing tricks!"

Lin Buyi stood on the stage, looking at the number on the big screen.

83.5.

He Jiaqi's score is 82.6.

He scored 0.9 points higher than He Jiaqi.

83.5 is 0.5 points higher than Zhang Ziming's 83.

he lived.

But it only survived for 0.5 minutes.

Lin Buyi loosened his grip and then clenched it again.

He survived. But the score was too strange. The mentor gave him a high score of 94, but it was dragged down to 83.5 by a 68-point audience score.

Who did it?

He doesn't need to guess.

0.5 points. I almost killed him.

Just a little bit different.

The host announced the results: "The final eliminated contestant from Group C is He Jiaqi."

He Jiaqi swayed. He stood on the stage, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word. Staff members came up and led him offstage; his steps were mechanical, his gait lifeless.

Lin Buyi stood there watching He Jiaqi's departing figure.

83.5 points.

He won.

But he won in a breathtaking way.

……

The control room is on the third floor of the studio, and a huge monitoring wall displays the images from more than a dozen cameras simultaneously.

Zhao Leiming sat in a high-backed chair behind the mixing console, a pen clutched in his hand. The number 83.5 was frozen on the screen in front of him.

Liu Lei, standing behind him, pushed up his glasses and said in a low voice, "Director Zhao, the audience score is 68... This data will look bad if it gets out."

Zhao Leiming did not turn around.

He knew, of course, that it would look bad. A 68-point audience score, given the judges' collective scores of over 90, was ridiculously low. Anyone with expertise would be suspicious.

But this is the limit of what he can do.

Wang Shaohui's exact words were that he wouldn't be able to pass this round. Zhao Leiming followed instructions and lowered the scores of all the atmosphere groups he could control to the lowest level.

But he didn't expect two things—first, the mentor's score of 94 was too high, so high that he couldn't manipulate it in this segment because the mentor's score was entered in real time on site, and there were several cameras recording it, so it couldn't be changed; second, a considerable portion of the audience was not part of the atmosphere group, but ordinary audience members who were genuinely moved by Lin Buyi's song, and their scores couldn't be lowered either.

68 points is the lowest he can bet on.

Result – 83.5.

It was 0.5 points above the elimination line.

Half a point.