Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

"Everyone, pause the recording!"

"There must be something wrong with the voting equipment or system. There's no way this number of votes could appear!"

Assistant Director Souta had completely lost his composure and rushed towards the vote counting device in a hurried tone.

"But we have checked it repeatedly. Judging from the signal records of the voting machines on site, this is indeed the real voting result..."

The notary office staff standing guard there also looked puzzled.

“What are the actual voting results?”

Akimoto Manjiro turned back at some point and appeared behind them.

"You mean, all 1000 audience members voted for Xia Fan. Is that possible?"

He pointed to a quiet audience and asked in a deep voice with a dark face.

"That's right. These professional viewers... Ugh, audiences with professional artistic aesthetics... would never vote like this..."

Unable to mention the fact that he had invited "professional audiences", Assistant Director Cao Tai was hesitant to speak and was so anxious that he was jumping up and down.

Analyzing the votes currently released, the 1000 votes Xia Fan received is exactly the total number of votes cast by all live audiences.

The three people including Yuta Hirano who received 100 votes each should have received the three mentor votes from Goro Kimura, Shota Hirai and Masaru Oda.

Although the program stipulates that they cannot vote for the trainees in their own group, it does not prevent the three of them from "triangle power" and voting for the trainees in each other's group...

However, this kind of private mutual voting is exposed nakedly through data, which gives people a sense of beauty that when the tide recedes, someone is left swimming naked.

"So, Chief Director...what should we do now?"

At this moment, including Assistant Director Souta, everyone on and off the stage focused their attention on Akimoto Manjiro...

"Now……"

"We can only trouble the audience to vote again."

The program recording cannot be paused forever, so Akimoto Manjiro pondered for a moment and made a decision.

"Okay, I'll do it right away..."

"Dear audience, because the voting system just malfunctioned, please pick up your voting devices and prepare to vote again!"

Assistant Director Cao Tai and several executive directors hurriedly ran towards the audience seats...

"What? It turned out to be a malfunction. We were shocked..."

"Hahaha, I was saying, even if a god were to participate in the selection, it's impossible for him to monopolize all the one thousand votes, right?"

The trainees on the stage looked a little relieved when they saw the production team reorganize the voting.

Just now, when the vote count was announced on the big screen, for them it could be called the number one "horror movie" they had ever seen in their lives.

Chapter 338: New type of flash support?

2024-07-13

"Thank you for your cooperation, the voting count has been reset to zero. Please cast your precious vote again for the trainee you think performed the best."

"To avoid mistaken voting, please confirm the trainee's number on the big screen before voting!"

While the executive directors used deliberate words to remind the audience to vote again, Manjiro Akimoto and the notary staff personally stood in front of the voting system.

"All voting machine signals are normal, with no duplicate or invalid signals."

"The encrypted frequency band has been confirmed to be free of interference, and the on-site voting signal has begun to be received..."

"Voting completion rate 30%...45%...65%...93%..."

"All voting signals have been received, and the vote counting has begun..."

The second on-site voting was carried out in an orderly manner, and several mentors and a thousand audience members quickly completed the re-voting.

"Thank you for your hard work, audience!"

Goro Kimura once again stood in the center of the stage.

"Well, let's see, counting the correct votes..."

On the big screen behind him, the numbers behind the trainees' names began to scroll again...

"..."

After the voting data was frozen, the entire studio fell into a deeper silence than the last time the votes were announced.

Because the result after the re-vote is no different from the last time...

It’s still the same: Hirano Yuta, Takahashi Yu, and Nagase Kaito each got 100 votes, and the other trainees got zero votes…

Xia Fan, one thousand votes.

"Hey, hey... this is the result... Director..."

No matter how strong Kimura Goro's on-the-spot reaction was, he couldn't handle such a situation. He could only look to Akimoto Manjiro in the audience for help...

"Director General, our notary office has confirmed that the voting system and voting process are all normal, and this vote count is absolutely true."

In order to avoid being questioned again, the two notaries took the initiative to explain.

Even if several companies had made arrangements in advance, they could only turn a blind eye to some of the "backroom operations" and they dared not directly modify the data that was repeatedly counted in front of a thousand viewers.

"How is it possible... Someone must be playing tricks... There is no reason for these professional audiences to vote like this..."

The flesh on his face twisted and twitched, and Akimoto Manjiro didn't care that the show was being recorded and ran directly onto the stage...

"Ladies and gentlemen, given that the two voting results are identical and too extreme, as the program's chief director, I question whether there is an unrepairable malfunction in the live voting system."

"Dear audience, those who did not vote for Xia Fan, please raise your hands immediately!"

Taking the microphone from Goro Kimura, Manjiro Akimoto shouted loudly to the audience, and his eyes for help swept over each audience member one by one.

As long as one of these "professional audiences" raises his hand and claims that he did not vote for Xia Fan, the statistical data of the voting system will naturally be negated.

"..."

However, what horrified him was that not a single person in this group of audience members, who seemed to be wearing "smiling masks", raised their hands.

"That is to say..."

"You, you all...all of you..."

"You all voted for Xia Fan?!"

"No, there must be some misunderstanding here..."

Facing the audience seats that were as calm as the sea and no one answered, an overly weird atmosphere gave Akimoto Manjiro goose bumps on his back, and he took a step back with trembling legs.

Having been engaged in the idol industry for many years, he has encountered all kinds of exaggerated and bizarre things and serious recording accidents both in front of and behind the talent shows, but he has never seen such strange audiences and ridiculous voting results as today.

"Souta, check again right now..."

Countless absurd possibilities emerged in his mind. Akimoto Manjiro frantically signaled Souta with his eyes to communicate with the "professional team" behind the scenes to confirm...

"..."

At the same time, the audience in the audience silently took out their white hooded robes and put them on.

"What is this, on-the-spot cross-dressing?"

"Could it be some new type of flash mob support?"

The entire auditorium suddenly turned into a white ocean before everyone's eyes.

"Xia Fan..."

"Xia Fan..."

"Xia Fan..."

The audience wrapped in white robes, with smiles on their faces, called out Xia Fan's name in unison in low tones.

"Xia Fan..."

"Xia Fan..."

"Xia Fan..."

Their fingers twitched as they frantically pressed Xia Fan's number on the voting machine.

The creaking of buttons and strange cries echoed in the studio, like the wails of the dead in the underworld...

"These...audience, what do you mean..."

"Are you trying to prove in this way that they all really voted for Xia Fan?"

This strange scene and the incantation-like shouting in the ears made the other people on and off the stage stunned and they dared not move for a moment.

"I know. It must be that marketing group that has been bribed by the Burning Department a long time ago, and deliberately let all these professional audiences vote for Xia Fan?"

"Asshole, you actually dared to play 69, black eating black, and eating from both ends. I will sue you according to the agreement, you [beep...] [beep...] [beep...]..."

The logical circuits in his brain froze, and a possibility emerged in the mind of Assistant Director Sota, causing him to pick up a megaphone and swear at the audience.

"Shut up, Souta... the show is still being recorded, what are you talking about?"

Manjiro Akimoto snatched the "loudspeaker" and covered the other person's mouth.

Not to mention, the "drawer agreement" between the program group and the marketing team is not something that can be brought to court, but a bomb that will explode when exposed to the light...

Even if the Burning System bribed these audiences, they only needed to pretend to be normal and let Xia Fan win. There was no need to cast such an extreme number of votes and let the audience do something that would make the whole situation out of control.

"boom!"

"boom!"

At the same time, the door to the studio corridor was violently knocked open from the outside...

"Don't move at all!"

"Everyone, this is the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. We suspect that there are members of a cult among you..."

"Please squat down with your hands on your head and accept our inspection!"

"We reserve the right to use force to subdue anyone who behaves suspiciously."

The agents, dressed in black combat uniforms, carrying tactical flashlights and pistols, rushed into the studio at lightning speed!

"police?"

"Evil, evil cult?"

"pistol?!"

In the complicated situation, facing the uniformed and armed detectives, the trainees and staff simply gave up thinking and simply chose to squat down with their heads in their hands...

"Xia Fan..."

"Xia Fan..."

"Xia Fan..."

"Xia Fan..."

The "audience" surrounded by the agents ignored the black muzzles of the guns and the brightly lit televisions, and continued to shout in unison, pressing the voting machines in their hands...

Chapter 339 Black Rain

2024-07-13

"Cult... So, these audiences are all followers of Amabie..."

"But why did they sneak into the show recording site, vote for me, and keep reading my name?"

On the stage, Xia Fan, the only one still standing, stared blankly at the white-robed people in the audience who were staring at him...

"Because, Xia Fan, you are the most important person tonight."

"It is an honor for you to have been chosen by us and dedicated to the great God..."

The woman's cold voice suddenly came out from the speakers.

"Who is talking? Where? In the background?"

"Impossible! The entire studio building should be under our control!"