At 3 a.m., the landmines in front of the station

None of his teammates were in the room.

"Ai."

What an adorable young master.

Nao sighed inwardly.

I feel regretful that I couldn't touch him tonight.

"You can easily win by simply letting me touch you, so why do you insist on struggling and working hard with your meager abilities?"

"Young Master, you're still the same as before, so innocent and captivating? Hmm?"

As Nao spoke, she walked to the gap between the twin beds.

He looked around for a second.

After determining that Lin Xiao's bed was on the right,

A tube of white powder was squeezed into her water cup, kettle, toothpaste tube, disposable face wash, and the remaining half-bag of potato chips.

Immediately, with a gloomy expression, he turned and walked towards the door.

……

……

Chapter 253 Their Comfort

Early the next morning.

Lin Xiao felt dizzy and lightheaded.

"Xiaoxiao, are you alright? You look terrible..."

"I'm fine, I should be fine."

Lin Xiao covered her forehead, frowned, and looked haggard.

The voice sounded weak and listless, which was completely wrong.

Su Che saw this and felt quite distressed. "Did you get tired from rehearsing all night? Even though we're still young, our bodies can't handle this kind of high-intensity training..."

"It shouldn't be... I can usually manage to stay up all night occasionally. It's possible that after I got back in the morning, I couldn't resist and took some materials while you were in a deep sleep, which caused this..."

“?” Su Che opened his mouth. “I think I only slept for 3 hours.”

"Yes, those three hours..."

Lin Xiao avoided eye contact. "Then I took a shower, drank a glass of water, and after I woke up, I started feeling dizzy..."

"..."

Su Che's expression stiffened. He glanced at the time and rationally changed the subject, saying:

"So there are still a few hours of free time before the competition. Do you want me to take you to the hospital for a check-up? There's a People's Hospital nearby, I think it's a top-tier hospital."

"No, no. I feel like I can manage. Just buy me a four-times espresso during the competition..."

Xiao Xiao knew that today was a big day, and any unexpected event could have an irreversible impact on the performance, so she was determined to risk her life to persevere.

Su Che understood that there was no point in trying to persuade her, so he told her to continue resting in her remaining time while he went to discuss the next steps with his teammates.

"You don't need to practice the drums anymore, that's fine. Leave the rest to me."

After saying that, he gently pushed the soft little girl back into the blankets and gave her a rewarding kiss on the forehead. With her body temperature suddenly rising and the added debuffs, he left the room with Qin.

-

Time flew by, and before we knew it, it was time for the afternoon match.

In the waiting room, all the women of "Seven Colors" were fully dressed up, and Yu tide's personal makeup artist was touching up their makeup.

Su Che originally wanted to ask Nana for help, but Nana, who is usually free, was recently entangled in trivial matters and seemed to be too busy to come.

Speaking of their team, Miya also disappeared around the same time.

Su Che called her to ask about her recent situation, but Miya's answer was that she was very busy with rehearsals and couldn't come to the competition to accompany her... This made him very concerned.

"It seems that the kitten's team is also entering the initial stage."

At this moment, he sat in front of the makeup mirror, being touched all over by the female makeup artist, calmly pondering the important matter at hand.

After last night's hard work, An Qing, Yuan Xiao, and the other girls were all listless and dispirited. They could only rely on makeup to cover up their fatigue, and their energy was completely depleted.

A quick calculation reveals that the entire team gathered in the rehearsal room at 8 PM, and after working through the night on rehearsals and adjustments, they stayed up until about 4:30 AM before finally returning to the hotel in extreme exhaustion.

Regarding the music, Yu tide and Xiao Xiao had no problems with their parts, and Gu Zhi was also relatively skilled, so the probability of her making a mistake was not high.

Yuan Xiao knew she was far behind, so she didn't sleep at all. Even after returning to the hotel, she kept trying to improve her finger memory. She was the most hardworking one.

As for An Qing, as the lead singer, she is the focus of much attention, so the pressure is naturally immense.

To achieve a satisfactory result, she must understand the emotions contained in the lyrics, amplify them, and empathize with them in order to sing the entire song well.

But here's the problem...

Ever since she learned that this song was written for a certain woman, she found it difficult to sing it as an ordinary love song.

After all, the composition and arrangement are the soul of the piece, and it's clear that Su Che spent countless days and nights, exhausting his potential to create it, making it exceptionally meaningful.

That's why An Qing found it so difficult to sing.

So, before me, there was already a woman who entered his life and left such a deep impression on him?

This thought wouldn't go away, making her feel extremely frustrated.

An Qing has always believed that even though there are countless cats around her now, she is one of the earliest ones to arrive and has "female owner priority," so she can live in the master bedroom with peace of mind and enjoy the top-level treatment that other cats cannot get.

Now that he's discovered this person actually resides in his heart, how could this not send the exhausted house cat into a state of heightened anxiety?

She was sitting in the corner of the room, forcing herself to stay awake, but her eyes were lifeless.

Su Che noticed her expression and asked with concern, "Are you sure you'll be okay going on stage later?"

"Yes. It won't go wrong."

An Qing responded as best she could, though she seemed a little downcast.

Su Che felt uneasy.

To be honest, the bold act of asking everyone to change their song choices overnight already represents a greater than 50% chance of failure.

Risky decisions, unstable teamwork, formidable opponents, and teammates in dire straits...

Considering all these factors, Su Che believes that "Seven Colors" would be lucky to win by 30% tonight.

But now there's no turning back.

Win or lose, you have to keep moving forward.

He sighed inwardly, glanced at the time, and realized it was almost time.

Then he suddenly stood up and addressed the group in the preparation room, encouraging them:

"Tonight's performance doesn't matter whether we win or lose, as long as everyone has tried their best."

Since I wrote the song, it's understandable that my familiarity with it and the level of preparation were somewhat lacking.

Since Senior Yu Xi proposed forming a team, I've seen everyone's hard work and dedication, and I've tried my best to repay everyone in my own way. Therefore…

Just do your best to avoid regrets. I hope everything goes smoothly from now on.

It's like a speech before parting ways.

Although Su Che spoke these words in a calm tone, almost all the girls present could hear the dejection of certain defeat in them.

"Hey, don't take responsibility before the competition even starts..."

Xiao Xiaoqiang perked up and said with a yawn, "They've already played with you this much, if we're not happy now, how will we be in the mood for team building after the competition?"

"…Too."

"Right? Don't forget our team tradition—every time after a game or after a live show, everyone has to get together to celebrate, and no one can be absent."

"Ah."

"So you have to be happy. Only when you're happy will we be happy too."

"……it is good."

Su Che, who had intended to motivate his teammates, found himself being comforted by them instead.

It's a strange feeling. Before we knew it, everyone seemed to be entangled by a red thread, and our destinies, which had been moving in parallel, became closely intertwined.

Whether in life or music, everyone has entered each other's field of vision and will gather together for a long time, becoming a whole.

That's the magic of "bands".

Su Che had long known that the band possessed such magic, but he dared not participate.

As a child, I was all alone, with nothing but my skills.

While technical skill is a decisive factor in a guitarist's popularity within an ACG (Anime, Comics, and Games) community, the introverted guitarist prioritizes avoidance over anything, believing that "it's better to avoid trouble" and "it's better to play by myself than to meet other people."

With this mindset, apart from meeting Nana online, he had no contact with anyone else in his circle, nor did he want to.

Now, everyone's intervention has changed his mind.

Actually, there's nothing wrong with being in a band.

The significance of a band extends beyond just playing together.

On the surface—it's about live performances, competitions, fame, and business opportunities;

Offline—it's about relationships, emotions, companionship, and hard-won humanistic care.

Although, such care... has become somewhat distorted.

Su Che shook his head and took a deep breath.

He picked up his instrument again and gestured for the women to join him.

Let's go.

"It's a matter of sticking your neck out or not, isn't it? Let's go, let's go."