Life countdown begins, ice queen bursts into security room

"Holding a flower in her left hand, wielding a sword in her right—"

Shen Nian's voice filled the venue. Without any fancy reverb, it was clean and untouched by any hint of smokiness.

"A snowfall of ten thousand years has fallen between my brows—"

The technician behind the mixing console looked up. The hairs on the faces of the audience in the front row stood on end.

In the second verse, the melody begins to climb.

The breath steadily carried each note upwards, making the sound brighter and more penetrating.

"A single tear—ahhh—"

"That's me—ah—"

The high notes in the first chorus are hit directly.

In the first row of the venue, a male audience member wearing black-rimmed glasses nearly dropped his voting device.

His mouth was open and his eyes were wide open.

The chat in the live stream paused for half a second.

Immediately afterwards, the screen was covered with dense text.

Wait... her vocal range...

[Oh my god, did you hear that? That switching between real and falsetto voices...]

[No, no, no, that sound she just made was way beyond the range of a normal human voice, wasn't it?]

The 500 members of the hearing panel fell silent.

His eyes were fixed on the white figure on the stage.

Is this a sound a human can make?

Backstage lounge.

Chen Hao sat on the sofa, staring at the large broadcast screen on the wall.

His hands rested on his knees, his fingers slowly closing.

He can't reach that register, not because of his physical condition, but because of his physiological limits.

The agent stood to the side, his lips moved, but he swallowed back the words of comfort that were about to come out.

On the stage, Shen Nian stood in the moonlight, her chest heaving as she adjusted her breathing.

The interlude of strings flowed beneath her feet.

Many people in the audience were already taking out tissues.

The second chorus is coming.

"A flick of the left finger, a pluck of the string with the right—"

"Boats ferry passengers across the River of Oblivion—"

Shen Nian's voice rose again after the interlude.

"When troubles can bloom, a red lotus will appear—"

"Don't stop, give me distractions—"

The sound continued to rise.

"Left hand points to the moon, right hand takes the red thread—"

"May you and I be blessed with the love we desire—"

One octave. Two octaves. Approaching the critical point of three octaves.

"In the moonlight—ah ah—"

That high note soared up.

Naturally and seamlessly, the voice smoothly transitions from the true voice to the falsetto.

The two sounds merged together in that extreme range, becoming a frequency band that did not belong to the human world.

"You and me—ah—"

The last long note.

Shen Nian closed her eyes and tilted her head back slightly.

The moonlight shone on her face, and her white dress remained still.

The sound began to fall from its highest point, peeling away layer by layer until only a breathy sound remained, slowly dissipating.

It's quiet now.

Shen Nian opened her eyes and put the microphone down from her mouth.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds—

The applause came from all directions at the same time.

The five hundred people in the audience stood up almost at the same time.

Some people were crying, some were screaming, and some were clapping until their palms were burning hot.

A girl in the first row was squatting on the ground, crying so hard she couldn't speak. The people next to her helped her up, but she squatted down again.

The final number of viewers in the live stream reached 56 million.

The bullet screen system was briefly paralyzed for three seconds.

After the recovery, only one line of text was scrolling on the screen—

[Investiture of the Gods!]

[Investiture of the Gods!]

[Investiture of the Gods!]

Side curtain area. Jiang Fan leaned against a pillar, arms crossed over his chest.

Zhou Yutong was already crying her eyes out on the side.

"Sister Nian... Waaah... Sister Nian is so amazing..."

Jiang Fan handed him a tissue.

"Oh dear, my makeup is all ruined."

Zhou Yutong took the tissue and wiped her face haphazardly.

"Brother Fan, this song you wrote goes through way too many tissues."

Teacher He walked out from the side stage. He walked to the center of the stage and stood next to Shen Nian. His hand holding the microphone trembled twice.

He took a deep breath to steady his voice.

"I don't know what to say right now."

Teacher He smiled, her eyes reddening.

"But I want to calm myself down first."

Laughter and applause mingled together from the audience.

"Okay." Teacher He turned to the mentors' table. "The three teachers, please give your comments."

Jay Chou held the microphone, standing instead of sitting down.

"Today's stage... is the most challenging live performance I've ever heard. Bar none."

He paused for a moment.

"Shen Nian, you're not singing. You're creating something that no one else can ever reach."

The audience erupted in applause again.

Peter Chan put his glasses back on and flipped through the lyric sheet in his hand.

"To be honest, the vocal range of this song is so wide that I can't think of anyone else in the entire Chinese music scene who could do it live. That doesn't count studio recordings with auto-tuning."

He looked toward the side curtain.

"Teacher Jiang Fan, you did this on purpose, didn't you? When you wrote this song for her, you knew no one could cover it."

Another burst of laughter erupted from the audience.

It was Tang Yingxue's turn. Her hand was still a little unsteady when she picked up the microphone.

She watched Shen Nian grow step by step under Jiang Fan's guidance to where she is today.

After tonight, the title of rising star might fall on Shen Niantou.

And she became the touchstone.

The whole place fell silent.

"Shen Nian."

She looked up at the people on the stage.

"I've been singing for twenty years. As for my singing skills, I've always felt that I'm...not bad."

The venue was very quiet.

"You taught me something today—"

Tang Yingxue's lips twitched slightly.

"Talent is a real thing."

She put down the microphone and didn't say anything more.

Applause erupted again.

Shen Nian stood in the center of the stage and bowed to the three mentors.

As she straightened up, her gaze went past Teacher He's shoulder and toward the pillar next to the side curtain area.

Jiang Fan stood there and gave her a thumbs up.

Shen Nian rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and whispered into the microphone, "Thank you everyone."

Teacher He took over the stage.

"Great! Thank you both for your wonderful performances tonight."

He paused for a few seconds, allowing the emotions of the entire audience to gradually subside.

"Next, we invite the 1,000 members of the audience to vote. You have three minutes to vote."

The large screen switched to the voting interface. The voting channel for the 1,000-member jury was opened.

An eerily quiet silence fell over the scene. Everyone was waiting.

The voting progress bar slowly moves up from zero.

The last voter pressed the button with five seconds left in the countdown.

Teacher He walked to the center of the stage.

"Okay, the voting is over. Let's take a look at the final results."

On the large screen, two numbers slowly appeared.

Chen Hao: 412 votes.

Shen Nian: 588 votes.

The venue erupted. The 500-strong audience jumped up again, their screams drowning out the applause.

The live stream chat exploded with comments again.

She won! Shen Nian won!!!

Teacher He picked up the microphone, her voice trembling.

"Please welcome this season's champion of 'The Voice of China'—Shen Nian!"

Shen Nian walked out from the side of the stage.

She walked to the center of the stage, towards the gleaming championship trophy.

Teacher He stepped forward and handed her the championship trophy.

Shen Nian's hands were trembling when she took it.

"Say a few words," Teacher He said, handing her the microphone.

Shen Nian held the microphone, looked at the audience, and then at the side curtain area.

"I……"

Her voice was a little hoarse.

"A year ago, I thought I was finished. I was framed, blacklisted, and had nothing left."

"I thought I would never be able to return to the stage."

She paused for a moment.

"But there was one person who never gave up on me. He wrote songs for me, taught me to sing, and stayed with me through the hardest days."

Shen Nian turned to the side of the screen.

"Jiang Fan, thank you."

"I also want to thank everyone who has supported me. Thank you for the stage of The Voice of China. Thank you for the guidance of my three mentors."

Shen Nian raised the trophy.

"This championship belongs to everyone who believed in me."

Teacher He took the microphone.

Let's give Shen Nian another round of applause!

The audience erupted in thunderous applause.

The camera zooms out, revealing Shen Nian standing in the center of the stage, holding the championship trophy.

The moonlight shone on her, and the hem of her white dress gleamed softly under the light.

The number of viewers in the live stream eventually reached 52 million.

This moment was recorded in the history of Chinese pop music.