Esports world champion, debuted as the center of a talent show

"Before announcing the eighth place, we will reveal the trainee who is ranked twentieth in this ranking."

As Yu Lan finished speaking, a suspenseful background music began to play.

The heavy drumbeats struck the hearts of every contestant on the verge of elimination, each beat causing a tremor.

[How come they've got so much money, yet they still haven't changed the Thunder background music?]

[Could it be that we've misunderstood, and it's not because we're short on money that we chose this, but simply because this is Hong Liu's aesthetic?]

[I don't know about other things, but Hong Liu's aesthetic sense is definitely quite outrageous.]

"Twentieth place—Dong Fa!"

The camera lingered on Dong Fa, whose eyes were slightly red.

The person in the video was taken aback for a moment, then burst into a huge smile, and happily walked towards the comments section amidst the congratulations of those around them.

Chen Yue was eliminated before the finals he had been looking forward to. He looked at the contestants in the pyramid-shaped seating area who were beaming with joy, and then glanced at Jiang Zhiyu, who was focused on the comments section, with a blank expression.

The camera never lingered near him, as always.

The rankings continued to be announced, and soon the top eight were reached.

"Eighth place, Deng Sushui, 6854223 votes."

【????ah?】

【Wow, Deng Sushui dropped to eighth place?!】

[As expected, once the one pick arrives, you can tell who's been swimming naked.]

Why are you so surprised? Actually, it was predictable; his popularity had been declining for a while.

Although Deng Sushui dropped in rankings, she didn't fall out of the debut position like some other people.

"Seventh place, Yu Wen, 7437675 votes."

"Sixth place, Ahn Joon-young, 8912331 votes."

"Fifth place, Yao Wei, 10052767 votes."

Yao Wei was stunned for a moment, then grinned and quickly stood up.

His ranking has been steadily rising, which is quite incredible for someone who comes from a small company with little budget for marketing and promotion.

[Wow, fifth place already has over ten million votes?? I remember Jiang Zhiyu only broke ten million votes in the second round? What kind of terrifying vote pool is this?]

[It's so touching. I still remember how I used to fawn over Jiang Zhiyu like a puppy when we were choosing seats. Now he's a mature idol with many fans.]

Wait, if I remember correctly, this kid's idol is River? Did he already recognize her but didn't share this secret with his family? Good lad!

[That's great! Yao Wei and Jiang Zhiyu should debut together!!]

[It feels like Jiang Zhiyu's universe is about to become a dynasty.]

"Fourth place, Wei Shuang, 12867454 votes."

Wei Shuang also moved up one place in the rankings, with more than two million more votes than Yao Wei.

It can be said that the higher the trainee's ranking, the greater the difference in votes will be.

The most unexpected change was the shift between third and second place.

"Third place, Mi Lan, 15986726 votes."

[Milan dropped three ranks???]

[Holy crap, I'm shocked! Mi Lan was actually surpassed by Lin Sen?]

[Isn't Milan's team always shining second in every statistic? I thought they'd be stuck in second place forever...]

[It's reasonable to suspect that Hong Liu can't get enough votes for Jiang Huang, so he's only trying to manipulate the votes of second and third place to win over fans and urge more votes.]

But this time, Hong Liu is truly innocent.

He was somewhat surprised when he saw the backstage data, but then he understood, considering that Lin Sen's discussion volume had remained high during that period because of the second public performance.

"But Lin Sen and Mi Lan's votes are really close."

The staff at the control panel looked at the scrolling comments, glanced at the numbers on the side screen, and then at the number of votes shot out in the first line. They couldn't help but gasp: "No matter how you look at it, it's a bit too exaggerated."

In the studio, Mi Lan gave a simple and appropriate speech about her advancement, and Yu Lan continued to announce the rankings and vote counts.

"Second place, Lin Sen, 16132344 votes."

As soon as he finished speaking, many people in the audience widened their eyes upon hearing that the difference was only a few hundred thousand votes.

In the debut positions, especially in the top ranks, these hundreds of thousands of votes are almost the final push.

"Why are you so close?"

"Is this a battle of gods? We mortals can't understand these ticket types."

"But Lin Senmi Lan's left and right protectors are definitely the same. In a life-or-death struggle, it's just a matter of standing on the left or the right."

"Keep your voice down! How dare you say that? Are you out of your mind?"

"It's true..."

A few trainees who had already been eliminated and were now completely unburdened huddled together and whispered among themselves.

Jiang Zhiyu stood in the crowd, calmly watching as the people around him went up on stage one by one to express their gratitude, and then walked towards the pyramid throne.

The waiting area dwindled as the seats, symbolizing the final night, were gradually filled, and the hushed conversations reached his ears without hindrance.

Finally, Yu Lan's gaze settled on Jiang Zhiyu, who stood silently in the crowd.

The moment their eyes met, Jiang Zhiyu saw a mix of emotions in her eyes, a mixture of amazement and admiration.

"Jiang Zhiyu, come here." She beckoned to Jiang Zhiyu.

The prospective first place winner, whose name was called, walked out from the side of the crowd, amidst congratulations and envious glances.

Yu Lan asked with a smile, "Guess how many votes we'll get this time?"

Jiang Zhiyu recalled the vote count from earlier, did a quick calculation, and confidently announced, "One hundred million."

Yu Lan, who was holding the microphone, was taken aback, realizing that Jiang Zhiyu was much more daring than she had imagined.

The number also surprised the viewers in the live chat.

[Winning the prize? One hundred million? Isn't Emperor Jiang a bit too trusting of his fanbase?]

[No, even 100 million would be at least five times more than other debut spots. Is that really possible?]

For some reason, if it's Jiang Zhiyu... it doesn't seem impossible...

Yu Lan didn't keep everyone waiting for long. She glanced at her cue cards, a mysterious smile playing on her lips.

"Actually, you've already made a very bold guess, but unfortunately—"

"The first place in the ranking of the three public officials is Jiang Zhiyu, with 247,635,823 votes."

Upon hearing this staggering number, the live stream chat exploded with comments, the dense text almost completely obscuring the screen, filled with disbelief and amazement.

【You mean seize the young master? You mean seize the young master?】

I thought Jiang Huang was a clown, but it turns out I'm the real one.

This must be the most outrageous vote difference in the history of talent shows, and it's only the third round of performances...

When I first heard the first "two," I thought it was twenty million... For a moment, I wondered why there wasn't a layering issue this time... But it turned out to be two hundred million? That's such a rip-off...

[Jiang Zhiyu is like: He's more confident, but only a little.]

That's normal, he's River, after all.

Jiang Zhiyu stood in front of the microphone and glanced at the pyramid-shaped seating area, which was now empty at the very top.

Golden light shone down from the seat, hitting the backrest like a giant throne.

He raised his hand and grasped the microphone on the stand. The dazzling lights constantly shimmered around him. Jiang Zhiyu didn't blink, looking directly at the live stream camera, and slowly said:

"Thank you to all the viewers who voted for me, and thank you to my teammates who have stood by me all the way."

"I will not let you down. Be a river that flows forward forever."