Chapter 25: 025

Chapter 25

The air conditioning was on in the practice room downstairs. The trainees were sitting in a circle, heads bowed, writing something quickly. Someone was on lookout duty at the door, making the scene resemble students rushing to school early to finish their homework.

Pei Luming knelt at the door, keeping it slightly ajar as he peered outside.

"Are they here yet?" asked someone inside, scribbling furiously.

Pei Luming shook his head, "No, keep writing!"

It was impossible to watch a 90-minute video in less than an hour, so the trainees focused mainly on the group performances, watching the individual stages at double speed.

Just as they were quietly complaining about their aching fingers, Pei Luming at the door suddenly became excited. He abruptly stood up, ran a few steps, and then slid on his knees to the others, exclaiming, "They're coming! Walking really fast!"

"Quick, quick!" Upon hearing this, everyone hurriedly put away their notebooks, with the fastest already standing at attention.

Outside, Jiang Juyou, thinking she was late, quickened her pace. She strode in briskly, startling the trainees despite their mental preparation.

It seemed their fear of the chief producer was ingrained in their bones.

"Sorry, I had to deal with something and was delayed," Jiang Juyou said as she entered, scanning the practice room. She noticed the screen was on, paused on yesterday's performance video.

After sitting down, she pointed at the screen and asked, "Did you watch it?"

"...Yes," came voices from various corners, though they clearly lacked confidence.

Jiang Juyou didn't express any dissatisfaction. "Whether you watch or not is your business. The process is yours, but I only look at results. If anyone thinks they can improve without watching, they don't have to in the future."

She glanced at the time and continued, "...It's mealtime, so I'll be brief. You know about the elimination system starting next month, right?"

The trainees responded in unison: "Yes―"

"Good, but there's been a change," Jiang Juyou said, shifting gears. "We're going to produce a survival reality show. Only twenty-one people will survive."

After she finished, the trainees looked at each other. If they remembered correctly, there were only twenty of them.

"Over forty new people will be joining this week. Including you, there should be nearly sixty people. Do you know what you need to do before the next performance?" Jiang Juyou asked. The trainees were clearly stunned, their minds unsure whether to focus on the forty newcomers or on the question at the end.

Jiang Juyou continued: "I want to see you grow."

"Your skill levels vary. The only way to evaluate is by how much you grow in this month. Some of you started at a high level but haven't shown much improvement after training for so long. Others started low and may not rank high now, but have shown the most progress."

"What I want to see is that you can absorb what you learn, not just rest on your natural talents, training for months without much change."

"Filming will likely begin after the next performance. There will also be the first elimination after the performance, narrowing the number of participants to forty-nine."

Jiang Juyou was only stating the initial requirements. She continued, "The goal of the show is to select—the debut group."

The system didn't respond, instead asking again, "Download?" Its tone even more impatient.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Jiang Juyou said, immediately clicking download. "I was shortsighted earlier. Please forgive me, and maybe offer a discount in the future?"

The system remained silent, but that didn't stop Jiang Juyou from continuing, "Oh no, now I'm not thinking about the survival show anymore, but all sorts of horror movies. It would be so interesting to set up a big escape game here. Can I create a haunted house and go in to play myself?"

"Can I please? I'm begging you!" Jiang Juyou, a suspense and horror enthusiast, was now completely distracted from her work.

She clung to the doorknob, twisting like a pretzel, engaging in hardcore wheedling, "Do I have to pay to go in and play by myself? Just open it for a little bit, does it cost money to open it for one day?"

Jiang Juyou was prepared to be ignored, but the system suddenly spoke up, "Yes, it does."

It even startled Jiang Juyou, "You scared me to death!"

Jiang Juyou refused to admit she was startled by the system's sudden response, so she twisted her words, saying: "How come you charge even for one day! That's so heartless!"

After returning, Jiang Juyou wasn't much better off. While writing the survival game plan, her mind wandered, imagining how to create a grand haunted house world.

If it cost money to open for just one day, she might as well film for several days, and hopefully get to play inside herself.

"Ah..." The more Jiang Juyou's mind wandered, the less she wanted to work.

But without work, there would be no money.

At the mention of money, Jiang Juyou picked up her phone again.

She remembered she had concert venues in several other cities too, though they weren't unlocked yet.

"If I recall correctly, the seating capacity seems to differ in each city," Jiang Juyou said as she flipped through those buildings.

The capacities written on them were indeed different. The Chengdu venue could hold 3,200 people, the Shenzhen venue 5,900, and Shanghai's was the largest, accommodating 6,200 people: already twice the capacity of Beijing's venue, which had the smallest capacity.

Although the capacities varied, the unlock cost was the same for all.

Jiang Juyou quickly used the recently received two million to unlock the Shanghai venue, then immediately switched to the company's internal software to message the performance department.

"Head Producer: Urgent! Quickly ask if Li Nayou has booked the Shanghai show. If not, we have a venue in Shanghai!"

Over six thousand people: that could mean several million in revenue!

Jiang Juyou thought: If we act too late, the opportunity will fly away like a duck!

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I'll add more chapters for everyone once I've saved up some more content. Right now, I really don't have a single drop left...

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