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

The little mouth opened slightly, indicating CPU overload.

Finally, the person who was closest to Su Che was An Qing.

An Qing could certainly sense the deathly aura emanating from him, and she wouldn't just stand by and watch him sink into despair.

“Cheche”.

"Ok?"

"Don't be unhappy."

"I'm not unhappy."

Su Che spoke nonsense with a blank expression.

"Your words are written all over your face. If you lie, the bad kids will eat you up."

"..."

Su Che's tense expression finally showed a hint of dejection.

Taking advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention, An Qing took the initiative and grabbed his left hand.

The cold, lifeless hands sent a shiver down An Qing's spine.

But it doesn't matter, his body temperature can be transferred to him, allowing him to feel a bit of warmth in this cold backstage area.

Su Che realized that her cat was probably healing herself in her own way.

"Thank you, An Qing. I'm tired."

It's rare for him to express his weariness in this way.

This is probably what it feels like to be on a string that's been taut all the time, just before it snaps.

An Qing understood that no amount of comforting words would help in the current situation, so she simply took his arm and stayed by his side.

time flies,

Su Che didn't know why there was no sound of a band playing in the empty concert hall at this moment.

What no one knew was that the moment "Black and White" stepped onto the stage and the moment "Seven Colors" left, all the judges and staff breathed a sigh of relief. The host even put the microphone back in his bag, as if he were leaving work, and waved to the leaders in the room before leaving.

The members of "Black and White" also left after posing for a few photos on stage.

Nao Ise personally stepped down from the stage and came to the center of the judges' panel, where she wrote down "S+" as her team's score.

"At six o'clock sharp, you can send a message notification."

"Yes."

-

……

Based on past patterns, after the competition, "Seven Colors" will need to go on a team-building activity, regardless of the outcome.

Su Che mustered his spirits and led the group of women to a nearby Disney buffet restaurant. The average cost per person was over 400 yuan, with each dish costing around 300 yuan, but the advantage was that there were few people.

In the past, when Yuan Xiao came to places like this and saw so much delicious food, she was always the one who chattered the most and carried the food the busiest, like a diligent little bird.

But today, the atmosphere in the team was off, and it was difficult for her to inject energy into everyone... She could only carefully pull her sister along to choose food so that Su Che could rest properly in his seat.

Lin Xiao really wanted to do something, but strangely, even though so much time had passed and she had persevered through the competition, her drowsiness only increased... It was as if she couldn't fully wake up unless she slept for 24 hours, as if her mind was covered by a layer of fog.

She slumped in her seat, indicating that she couldn't move.

An Qing and Yu tide each had their own plans. An Qing snuggled up to someone, offering him warmth and comfort, while Yu tide took her elegant wallet and headed straight to the front desk, trying to pay the bill before Su Che noticed.

Even if the sky falls, you still have to eat, right?

Xiao Xiao waved her little hand weakly, "No band has a smooth ride from the start and wins every competition. So, Su Che, don't worry too much. We... we have a long road ahead of us, don't we?"

"Ah."

Su Che stared at the wall clock in the restaurant, watching the hour and minute hands stop at 5:59.

Generally speaking, 6 o'clock is the official time to send out the results. It is a scheduled message notification, and there will be one regardless of whether the result is good or bad.

As the second hand was about to complete its second half, bringing the answer, Su Che looked bewildered and suddenly felt a sense of alienation from his future self.

If I lose, how should I continue?

Do you still want to be in a band?

This is the problem we are facing.

If we continue, the difficulty of leading everyone to regroup after one failure will double, and the momentum will never be as strong as before.

But if we give up the band...

What will become of the cats around us?

Whenever Su Che thought about this question, he felt his scalp tingle and as if an invisible hand was gripping his throat, making it impossible for him to breathe.

In order to prove the weight of "responsibility" to his father, he has to bring the cats with him in all kinds of situations and give everyone a satisfactory ending.

But if such an unexpected event occurs halfway through, would everyone still be willing to stay and accompany a "loser"?

Su Che felt bewildered.

The word "failure" has been a capital letter in my dictionary since I was a child.

Loneliness and solitude have surrounded me for years, and kinship and true affection have vanished.

Having stumbled and struggled to this point, breaking through so much disgusting darkness, I still find a wall blocking my way.

If only we could break down this wall.

If only we could break down this wall.

Will I become a better person?

Will everyone get better?

Su Che frowned deeply, in pain.

Bloodshot eyes stared intently at the clock on the wall—

tick.

Buzz, buzz—

I felt it.

The phone vibrated in my pocket.

The message arrived precisely on time, and the second hand swept past six o'clock, continuing forward as if no one else was there, rotating in its orbit like the Earth.

"Cheche, Cheche?"

I heard my cat calling in my ear.

Su Che closed his eyes gently, cherishing the last few seconds of blank space before obtaining the answer.

Across from them, Yuan Xiao and Gu Zhi carried four plates of exquisite food toward the dining table, while Yu tide returned from the bar with two cups of hand-drip coffee.

Xiao Xiao opened her sleepy eyes and An Qing loosened the restraints on her left arm.

There's no time to keep running away.

Su Che took a deep breath and reached for his phone with his left hand.

"Relax, junior. In my performance career, I've lost no less than 30 competitions just because I ran into Wu You. Oh, and they were all swift defeats."

Yu tide placed a glass of iced Americano on his table and sat down to his right with a smile.

"Ok."

Su Che held the screen in front of his eyes, unlocked it, and opened the message notification sent by Mosse.

The next breath—

Congratulations to the "Seven Colors" Orchestra for narrowly defeating "Black and White" by half a point in the second round of competition and advancing to the next round! Let's meet again at the Tianhai Central Grand Theatre in the depths of winter this December! The semi-finals are tentatively scheduled for December 21st! 32 to 16, 16 to 8! Distinguished guests from various fields will be in attendance. The competition will be broadcast live, so please make full use of the remaining three months to prepare!

"..."

Su Che narrowed his eyes, and for a second, he thought he was seeing things.

It wasn't until An Qing and Yu tide, who were standing nearby, came over and saw the result that they exclaimed in surprise, "What?!"

Only then did I realize that the ending seemed to be far beyond my expectations.

"impossible."

Su Che rubbed his temples, utterly perplexed—

"Absolutely impossible."

Sitting opposite him, Yuan Xiao and Gu Zhi also read the message in his expression. They exchanged a glance and cautiously asked, "Could it be... that we won?"

Xiao Xiao: "Huh? Really? I forgot to turn on sampling when I was playing, the PAD sound effects weren't even set up, it was all thanks to my senior's keyboard that we won... How can we win like this..."

Yu tide: "..."

At this moment, Su Che could no longer hear any sounds from the surrounding area.

His only feeling was utter bewilderment.

I don't understand how my team, which made so many mistakes, could win against an opponent rated SSS.

Could it be that the opponent made a major mistake, causing their score to plummet?

Considering Li Encheng and the others' descriptions, Su Che felt that the other party was not the kind of unstable group at all, especially after he saw the lead singer in person, he was even more convinced of this.

How strange.

【Completely strange.】

Su Che subconsciously felt that there must be a problem, but he couldn't ask the audience as he had before.

After all, they left early, and other teams weren't qualified to enter the field.

Now, everything froze.

"Cheche, winning is a good thing, don't look so gloomy anymore, eat well and celebrate, okay?"

"..."