Entertainment: A song that brought his deceased wife back to life.

In the control room.

Wang Gang watched the data soaring on the monitor, and he was in a state of extreme excitement.

"Eighty million!"

Wang Gang slammed his hand on the table, causing the thermos cups on it to jump.

"Eighty million viewers online at any given time! That's a record-breaking achievement! This is a miracle in the history of variety shows!"

The assistant director next to me was shaking: "Director, the server can't handle it. The tech department says the traffic is too high and it's going to crash."

"Bullshit!"

Wang Gang's eyes were bloodshot as he roared, "Tell the tech department, even if it means burning out the servers, they have to hold on! Anyone who messes up at this critical juncture will be sent to guard Little Fish's grave!"

The assistant director shrank back and quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie to start yelling.

Wang Gang stared at Xu Qing on the screen.

This doesn't look like a contestant at all.

This is practically a walking traffic bomb!

"Quick! Cut the GG!"

Wang Gang made a decisive move: "Take three times the current appearance fee! No, five times! Tell those big spenders that they'll have to pay more for appearing during this time!"

on the stage.

Xu Qing paid no attention to the frenzy in the audience.

He simply bent down and bowed mechanically.

Ninety degrees.

After standing up, he did not say anything emotional or make any campaigning gestures.

He glanced down at the guitar in his arms, then turned and walked backstage.

His figure was desolate, exuding a deathly stillness that seemed out of place in this bustling world.

Passageway entrance.

The trainees who had originally crowded here to watch Xu Qing make a fool of himself were now all frozen in place.

Their elaborate makeup looked so cheap and ridiculous in comparison to Xu Qing's natural, bare face.

Seeing Xu Qing approach, this group of young people, who were usually arrogant and unwilling to submit to anyone, subconsciously stepped aside.

They made way for it.

No one dared to speak.

The feeling was like a group of clowns in brightly colored costumes meeting a veteran who had just returned from the battlefield.

The difference in aura cannot be made up for by foundation and eyeliner.

Xu Qing kept her eyes straight ahead as she walked through the crowd, guitar in hand.

His mind is now filled with that disconnected number and that phone call that can no longer be connected.

Back to the rest area.

This place, which was originally shared by all the contestants, is now completely empty.

The other contestants were either waiting in front of the stage or hiding in the dressing room touching up their makeup; they didn't dare to provoke Xu Qing at this time.

Xu Qing walked to the old sofa in the corner and sat down.

This Brazilian rosewood guitar, worth as much as a house, was casually leaning against the dusty sofa armrest.

If that blogger called "Old Wang" saw this, he'd probably have a heart attack on the spot.

The performance at the front of the stage is still going on.

The host was a seasoned veteran, and his palms were sweaty as he held the microphone.

He glanced at the script in his hand and cursed the directing team a thousand times in his mind.

Appearing right after Xu Qing, what's the difference between that and sending someone to their death?

"Cough cough..."

The host cleared his throat, trying to create a funeral-like atmosphere in the room.

"Thank you, Xu Qing, for your touching story, which makes us believe that love still exists."

"Let's welcome our next contestant—trainee Zhang Ye!"

"He's going to perform a dance song for us, 'Happy Lemon'!"

The voice just fell.

The expressions of the audience became incredibly varied.

Happy Lemon?

You want to be happy right after you've just finished crying?

Are you polite?

The lights changed abruptly.

The originally somber, cool color scheme has been transformed into a vibrant disco ball style.

Dynamic music suddenly blared out.

A young, handsome man wearing a sequined bodysuit and with his hair dyed granny gray jumped out.

"Everybody! Raise your hands!"

"Let's get hyped!"

Zhang Ye twisted his body with all his might, wearing a standard idol smile on his face. Every movement had been practiced hundreds or thousands of times.

Normally, a performance like this, with its good looks and excellent singing and dancing skills, would definitely elicit screams.

But today.

There was a deathly silence in the audience.

The audience members, still clutching tissues to wipe their tears, stared with red eyes at the person on stage who was running around like a monkey.

awkward.

Extremely awkward.

As Zhang Ye jumped around, his smile froze on his face.

He discovered that nobody was paying attention to him.

Forget singing along, there wasn't even a single person waving a glow stick.

Several older women in the front row even looked at him as if he were an idiot, as if to say: His girlfriend is dead, what are you so happy about?

On the judges' panel.

Ke Min rubbed her throbbing temples.

She cried a lot just now, and now her head hurts.

Looking at Zhang Ye on stage, who was energetically winking, she just found it noisy.

Too noisy.

That kind of fake happiness, that artificial sweetener taste produced on an industrial assembly line, was utterly nauseating in the face of Xu Qing's bitter but pure black coffee.

Zhang Ye finally finished dancing.

He struck an ending pose, panting, waiting for applause.

Sparse applause broke out.

That was out of politeness, and also out of compassion.

Zhang Ye almost burst into tears.

"Okay, thank you Zhang Ye for the wonderful performance."

The host quickly went on stage to save the day, speaking so fast it sounded like he was reciting a tongue twister.

"The first round of public voting is now officially open!"

"Please pick up your voting devices or vote for your favorite contestant through the live stream!"

The images and names of ten contestants appeared on the big screen.

Xu Qing's name was listed as the second to last.

That was a special spot arranged by the production team to be the grand finale. (The grand finale is the second to last, and the main event is the last.)

however.

The moment the voting channel opened.

It turned into a one-sided massacre.

The red bar representing Xu Qing's votes.

With a "whoosh".

It went straight to the very top of the screen.

This is not finished.

Because the votes were increasing so quickly, the red bar even broke through the UI design's borders, completely covering the words "First Round Voting Results" on it.

The votes of the other nine contestants were as insignificant as a few toothpicks compared to Xu Qing's Optimus Prime.

It can even be ignored.

The second place went to Zhang Ye, who sings and dances, with 3 votes.

Xu Qing's votes: 580 million.

This data is only from ten seconds after the channel was opened.

They're not even in the same league.

This is a case of dimensional reduction attack.

Wang Gang looked at the outrageous data and spat the tea in his mouth directly onto the monitor.

"He's gone mad..."

"These viewers are crazy..."

This is hardly a vote.

This is clearly a way for tens of millions of people across the internet to offer incense to that "dead girl"!

The chat in the live stream was so dense that the words were impossible to read.

This vote is for the little fish!

Although I don't understand music, I do understand what deep emotion means!

[Other contestants, please don't blame us; the enemy is simply too strong.]

Xu Qing must debut! We must help him stand at the top, carrying Xiaoyu's dream!

[These statistics... I reckon the remaining contestants are thinking of withdrawing from the competition.]

Backstage rest area.

The contestants who hadn't even taken the stage yet turned green with shock when they saw the terrifying number of votes.

"What's the point of even having a competition?"

A folk singer holding a guitar threw it on the ground, his mentality collapsed.

"They're singing with their lives on the line, what do we have to compare with them?"

"Exactly, who can compare to a 'white moonlight' (ideal figure)?!"

"That's right, she's still the white moonlight who died!!!"

Only Xu Qing.

He was still sitting in that dimly lit corner.

"Little fish."