Chapter 148 - Broadcast

Chapter 148 - Broadcast

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

In the Snow Leopard Entertainment building, the players all had no signal and no network access. They would only be able to watch the replay after they left filming, so at this time, they could only guess blindly at the effect of the program.

As for outside the Snow Leopard Entrance building.

On the blue star, in a certain entertainment studio.

The first episode of the current season’s <Go! Popular Youth> was projected up on a 120 inch virtual screen, and over a dozen employees were on standby, staring at the draft of their scripts.

This studio had four well-known entertainment media accounts, 26 entertainment robots with movement speeds of over 200 miles an hour, and 800,000 water army accounts that could automatically change IPs––

It could be considered a market leader for money spenders in the Azure star entertainment industry.

In the 31st century, the idol industry was extremely rich and colorful. As an important part of the fans’ economic ecological chain, the studio wouldn’t just ignore variety shows like <Go! Popular Youth>, which had the potential to create stars.

This media company could be said to have arranged things very quickly. Different employees were responsible for preparation, polishing, documenting, editing, embellishment, and coming up with key points. At this time, the first edition of the manuscript had already been written, “XX Entertainment’s unknown rapper, is full of talent and hard work, and doesn’t even hesitate to practice his flow with sand in his mouth. In order to improve stage performance, he’s made great efforts to become famous––”

The manuscript was written this way because among <Go! Popular Youth>’s contestants, rappers were the most numerous. The versions for the lead dancers and vocals were also underway. Once a guest in the program performed well and had the potential to become popular in a short period of time, their relevant manuscript would immediately be issued as a first draft.

On the virtual screen, the silhouettes of the 125 guests finally appeared. The side screen used to monitor the scrolling comments and real-time public opinion on the Star Net turned on at the same time.

“Pay attention to Eagle Blade.” The person in charge ordered.

The little staff immediately concentrated on reading the scrolling comments. A while later, they spoke in a daze, “Eagle Blade’s popularity index is 7.88. He’s ranked second, and there’s someone with a popularity level of 8.31 above him, called Wu… Wu Jin? I remember now! He’s a survival show trainee.”

The supervisor shook his head, “Ignore him for the time being.”

In the middle of the screen, the host’s warm-up ended, and the drawing and teaming up session was also completed. The crowd of guest players were running around the studio. The supervisor suddenly circled a particular place with the cursor and his eyes lit up, “Who is this? Check him out.”

Several people looked up at the same time, and their eyes brightened.

The highlighted man was about 26 or 27. His face was cold and expressionless, but his facial features were sharp and straight, an ‘alpha’ type that was quite rare amongst current idols.

The staff immediately flipped through the boy group players’ information but was surprised to find nothing. After flipping through the other data, his expression became even more astonished, “Wei Shi, how come it’s another survival show trainee…”

On the other side, the supervisor circled another person, “Who is this?”

Staff: “He’s called Zuo-Zuo Botang.” Then, their tone turned a little crazy, “He’s another survival show trainee?!”

The fourth and fifth times were the boy group trainees Hudi and Ah Yuan. The staff finally relaxed, and it was as though everything was back on track. However, the supervisor suddenly stood up, and his hands moved quickly as he pulled up a person’s profile, “This is a little interesting. He sits there quietly without saying anything, and when Zhuang Fan comes over, he follows after him, like a big doll––”

On the screen, the big doll turned around and looked at the camera with its small, round face.

The supervisor and all the employees: “……!!!” What kind of beauty was this?!

The small round face looked soft and unaggressive, and the small curls on his bangs were soft and fluffy, like a small animal that had snuck into the crowd. Even Zhuang Fan, who always had a bad temper, was more patient with him. Only when this player claimed to be a ‘survival show trainee’ did he show a bit of disdain.

Supervisor: “Quickly, check which entertainment company he’s from.”

Staff: “Eh, White-White Moonlight Entertainment. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it before, White Moonlight has three league level survival teams––what?!”

At the same time, the scrolling comments that had been going on at a constant speed, suddenly blew up!

“Haha, hehehe, my son is too pitiful!! The other children in kindergarten don’t believe him wuwuwu, I just want to smile, pick him up, and leave! Little Witch is so wronged! Oh dear, he’s so aggrieved that his small curls have collapsed––how pitiful hahahahaha!”

“66666! How could he be a survival show trainee! Little Witch, stop trying to cover it up, you’re a dancer!! The kind that dances rabbit dances!!”

On the Crosson forums, the fan management group that was originally waiting to support their fans, “Everyone, pay attention! Pay attention! Don’t wander off and do as you like. We agreed that we’ll push the competition and gain popularity––”

However, the survival show fans had always been ‘free and loose’. They were relatively older and weren’t as likely to be organized like ordinary idol fans. At this time, they were all focused on their roleplays and were discussing happily with fellow passersby.

Passerby: “!! This little brother is really handsome? Which boy group dancer is he?”

Crosson fans: “Handsome enough to fly up to the sky, right?! He’s from the Crosson Straight Man Sky group! The lead dancer is Wu Jin, the rapper is the redhead who has his arm hooked around someone’s shoulders, the vocals is Ming Yao, and the variety show actor who warms up the scene is Wei Yan!”

Passerby: “… How come I’ve never heard of it! When are they debuting? Do they have a single?”

Crosson fans: “Yes, yes! There are three more elimination matches before their debut. Their debut has <Tarot Card Lovers>, <Dinosaur’s Original Mysteries>, <Labyrinth and Moths>…”

.

“…….” The fan group management flipped the table in anger and couldn’t help joining the discussion, “There’s also the <Crosson Theme Song>!”

At this time, except for the main screen, almost all the virtual screens in a certain studio were being used to search up information for the players in the Crosson Show. The situation was quickly developing in a totally uncontrollable direction.

“How could he be a survival show trainee?!” Not just the public screen audience, but even the supervisor was caught off guard. The manuscript was being revised at a speed of 3000 words per hour.

“White Moonlight Entertainment’s unknown assault position, full of talent and hard work, even at the cost of––” Suddenly, an employee looked up at the screen and murmured, “He can’t possibly be an assault position. This, he’s really a dancer!~”

It was unknown what had happened to the public screen, but the scrolling comments were packed densely with strings of ahhhhhhhhhhh, as though there were countless crazy hamsters screaming out in a frenzy. Scenes of Wu Jin’s dance battle triumph could be seen between the lines of the scrolling comments.

The supervisor moved quickly and closed the scrolling comments.

The trainee named Wu Jin was currently stretching out his hand to pull up Eagle Blade, and his smile was as brilliant as the sun.

The supervisor was stunned. There were many people who loved ‘simple and harmless’ type idols, but everything had a bright side and a dark side. Such artists normally wouldn’t take the initiative to challenge or start a fight, and any such behavior wasn’t consistent with their ‘harmless’ character design.

However, Wu Jin was a strange one. In the program, it was clear that he’d been the one to start the battle. The youth pressed down his baseball cap, and took his entire team to the field, and his aura was full of vigor and vitality, his youthful spirit transmitting across the screen.

He wanted to win, wanted to fight. The youth was candid and direct, and the camera swept over, capturing both the light and the dark sides that were equally dazzling.

On the Star Net platform.

<Go! Popular Youth>’s audience ratings quadrupled in just an hour, and the audience retention rate was even more striking. The program used Eagle Blade and Wu Jin’s battle as the first peak, and it was followed by Ah Yuan’s ten fingers dancing across the piano, and Lolo’s internet cafe performance of obtaining eight consecutive victories. Zuo Botang was molested by a girl on the street while dancing, and Caesar led his teammates to break a cafeteria record, while Wei Shi wore sniper gloves and emptied out the shooting hall prize pool––

The scrolling comments were once again in full swing.

The passersby all expressed, “These are also from the Crosson Sky group? I’ve decided to go back and watch every episode… Ah, did I search up the wrong thing? Why is it a survival talent show…”

Even louder were the fans of the ‘Sky group’ who were chanting and howling, “Scarf! Scarf Scarf! Use your gun to attack Little Witch’s heart! Go––”

Wei Shi set down the gun.

Wei Shi turned around and walked out, feeling no regret for the group of green-eyed shooting enthusiasts.

Wei Shi bought flowers…

The scrolling comments suddenly jammed.

For the Snow Leopard Entertainment servers to freeze, it meant that the traffic had obviously exceeded the peak values from all previous periods.

The studio’s supervisor had a keen sense for the market. He asked quickly, “Wei Shi, Wu Jin? Are they an official Crosson CP? Look at how this CP was done! Cold blooded sniper loves and spoils you X Absolute beauty and dance king with a single rose. They’re also selling rot, yet they’re even more open and obvious about it than some of those artist entertainment companies!”

“That Crosson director really gets it! The markets are the same. Character design can win over people’s hearts.”

“Change the draft again! By the way, also put in those other ones, Jingyi Double C, Thin Family, Crosson Double Foul––”

Staff: “Double Fools!”

Supervisor: “Oh, oh. In any case, put them all into the notice and make a separate section to cater to the readers’ tastes!!”

That night, traffic boomed for both the Crosson Show and <Popular Youth>.

The modified draft from the studio was sent out, and the director of Snow Leopard Entertainment who was entertaining guests and directors had a good time with the Crosson program producer.

On the way back, the program producer who’d had so much to drink he was sloshing around and having difficulty walking, pulled out his terminal to take a look, “Hey, the traffic has exploded!”

The little stage manager who was also hiccuping, “It’s just a little more than when we released the theme song.”

The program producer shook his head and stuffed his hand into his pocket, “It’s not the same. This time, it’s outside of our circle.”

The stage manager was in a trance and looked at the program producer’s back as they walked through the night. A kind of high respect suddenly rose up. This hard working producer had laid out a solid foundation for his players’ future popularity––

The program producer beamed as he looked back, “The… hic, the fan merchandise for our first elimination match. Put them back up and sell them again! In particular, make CP co-branded versions and put the fan merchandise of the CPs together. For example, Jingyi Double C’s. This way, we don’t need to give any discounts, and we can even increase the price!”

The stage manager: “……”

Thousands of cosmic units away.

Azure Cosmos, Floating City.

The instructor’s room in the underground training camp seemed to have become a variety show viewing place. Arjun was staring indignantly at the terminal, “If it wasn’t for Silly Red’s target shooting being slightly better than mine, I’d be the one following Brother Wei to the variety show to pick up fans. Wwuwuahhhh…”

Researcher Song felt a headache coming on from all the noise, “Is there any way to make him shut up?”

Mao Dongqing quietly blocked his guinea pig’s ears.

However, Arjun soon found something new to be delighted with, “Brother Wei is now involved in all kinds of things, so it’s very appropriate for me to take charge of Brother Wei’s fan group management!”

Then, Arjun immediately mixed his way into the fan group and tried to intimidate the lead management into handing over the position using a screenshot of his Star Net balance.

Arjun was kicked out.

“……” Arjun persevered, switching to an alt account to continue indignantly, “What’s the meaning of this? My fan value is too low, and I must be a spy who has been put into the God Wei fan group? How do I save up fan value?”

This Floating Base instructor stretched out his neck and followed the steps one by one according to the group leader’s instructions, “Install the emergency assist plug-in, present flowers to Brother Wei’s Star Blog, turn on notifications, and cheer for Brother Wei along with your friends and relatives…”

A few minutes later, Researcher Song, Doctor Xia, Mao Dongqing, and the security team leader Little Ye were all forced to get the plug-in installed by Arjun. All their terminals beeped twice at the same time.

Your little darling Wei Shi has entered <Go! Popular Youth>’s relevant hot search.

Little darling.

Everyone: “……”

Researcher Song’s back was numb, “Do you think that Brother Wei won’t chop you to death?!”

Mao Dongqing directly made a move and pushed Arjun out the door. Arjun was still struggling, “What’s the matter? Little darling is so intimate. Ah, ah, don’t drive me out, I’ll go out myself, didn’t we say that we were going to report on our tasks this evening––did you guys find Shao Yu yet?!”

The instructor’s room suddenly fell silent. Mao Dongqing opened the door again and let Arjun return.

The variety show was cut off and replaced by a dense grid diagram.

Researcher Song sighed, “Can’t find him. Every point on the grid is a place where Shao Yu could be. We can’t compete with him when it comes to existing technology. Shao Yu has technical support behind him, and I’m even starting to suspect that he didn’t come alone. Perhaps Shao Yu has come to stir up trouble with the approval of some of the upper class members of a certain Empire.”

Mao Dongqing nodded.

Arjun sighed and spread his hands, “When soldiers come up to block, the water has no means to resist.”

From beside them, the guard team captain Ye Cui spoke hesitatingly, “Shao Yu. What kind of person is he?”

Shao Yu had invaded the treatment module a month ago, and the entire Floating City was under high level martial law. Brother Wei had narrowly escaped a disaster. In fact, the entire Federation was familiar with Shao Yu: He was the former number one genetically modified human from the R-Code Base, and the captain of the R-Code Team after the base was disbanded. He’d disappeared after a certain match and defected to the Empire.

Everyone looked at Mao Dongqing.

Mao Dongqing: “An abnormal person.”

This law enforcement officer of Floating City, who’d also undergone genetic transformation, stood up, “R-Code Base had three sharp blades. Brother Wei was the second one, and Wei Yan was the third. The first was Shao Yu. Back then, in the R-Code Base, only Shao Yu was of noble birth.”

The people in the room were all stunned. Only Researcher Song had already known this information ahead of time.

Mao Dongqing continued, “Shao Yu’s father is an extreme left wing high-ranking Federal official, and his mother is 563th in line as a successor to the Empire. It was a political marriage, and the couple are fanatical supporters of genetic modification. It was decided that Shao Yu would be ‘genetically modified’ from an early age.”

“To some extent, he has inherited his parents’ will.”

“He’s been injected with the emotional locks, but he also enjoys the process of emotional breakdown and fragmentation. Similarly, pain only serves to further excite Shao Yu. He’s known as ‘the Federation’s first sharp blade’, and ‘the perfect combatant who feels no pain’.”

Arjun: “… Holy shit, so perverted?!”

Researcher Song opened up the virtual screen and played several videos in succession.

Shao Yu won the championship for the Azure survival competition, and lifted up the cup indifferently beneath the public’s gazes.

In the surveillance from a Federal military base, Shao Yu smiled as he abused prisoners of war with a blunt edged dagger. He was wearing slippers and seemed to have just come out from the bedroom, his toes arched with excitement. Then––Shao Yu suddenly stabbed himself in the arm, his expression growing distorted from the enjoyment.

Arjun leapt up, “He’s crazy! I have the same expression after coming. Does he also want to have a cigarette after––”

The video switched again.

The media flocked over for an interview. R-Code Team’s Captain Yu had taken two male prostitutes to bed overnight during the competition. Shao Yu had replied coldly that one had been there for his physical needs, while the other was there because the second one came at half price.

Researcher Song: “I also have the hotel monitoring from that night––”

Arjun: “This is quite valuable!”

In the middle of the screen, two well-dressed prostitutes were shivering in one corner of the bed, and it was unknown whose blood was on the ground.

Shao Yu vomited in the bathroom, and his face showed an expression of aversion, similar to those who were addicted to cleanliness.

Researcher Song: “My guess is, as early as six years ago when Brother Wei brought us to Floating City, Shao Yu’s emotional state had already completely collapsed due to the pressure from the emotional lock.”

“A blade without a scabbard. A desperate man can do anything.”

––

Early morning.

In the Snow Leopard Entertainment building, the players huddled together and brushed their teeth.

Hudi peeped out into the corridor and raised his eyebrows, “Brother Wu, I just saw a stage manager! His expression was excited and happy, there must’ve been a good response for the variety show broadcast yesterday!”

“Brother Wu, when the shooting is over, can we… hey, about that, trade contact information?”

Wu Jin smiled and exchanged Star Net accounts with Hudi.

A crew member suddenly knocked from outside the door, “Contestant Wu Jin, right!”

Wu Jin squeaked.

The crew member handed him a big bouquet of black roses, “From your fans.”

There was a single word on the card, ‘Yu’.

Juurensha: NOOOO back off you pain freak! Little Witch isn’t for you!

xiin: welp. learned something about Arjun that i never wanted to know… (also the creep gets creepier)