Chapter 33: 033

Chapter 33

Several cameras were fixed around the office.

Jiang Juyou looked at the two young men standing in front of her. Their eyes were still red as they stood there awkwardly.

"I'm sorry for saying such harsh words earlier," Jiang Juyou's opening statement caught the two who had been looking down by surprise.

She softened her tone and continued earnestly, "You two are trainees who could easily debut solo without any problems. But you need to understand that we're selecting a group, and the most taboo thing is being unwilling to play a supporting role."

"If either of you has thoughts of going solo, you can terminate your contract with the company now and seek opportunities elsewhere," Jiang Juyou said in a consultative tone, looking at them seriously.

The two young men didn't speak, but shook their heads in unison.

"This isn't a threat or said in anger. Although I'm the producer and my primary goal is to create a group, I don't want to treat you as mere additions to my resume without regard for your feelings."

"Among the four people in your group, two have excellent academic records - so good that it feels like we're wasting their potential by keeping them here. Another one came to the staff themselves saying the intensity was too high and they couldn't keep up."

Jiang Juyou paused for a few seconds to let them consider before continuing, "If you want to stay, you'll have to learn how to complement your teammates, because that's something a group must do."

She asked, "Can I see your growth in the next performance?"

This time, they looked at Jiang Juyou as they nodded, "Yes..."

"Alright, you can go now. Have a meal with your parents."

The two young men rubbed their hands and said, "Goodbye, Producer Jiang."

"Mm."

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The entire staff of the show consisted of real people. The competition system was set by Jiang Juyou, while the filming during the show was done by staff assembled by the system. Post-production and editing were completed by the system - as soon as the raw footage was uploaded, the first episode could be cut immediately.

They finished recording all the material for the first episode in the morning, and the finished product was ready by the afternoon. The process was so fast that the announcement of the imminent premiere was only made public an hour before its release.

"@21 Heartbeats of Youth: [Throwing flowers] Hello, dear conductors! We'll be meeting you all at 8 PM tonight..."

Several accounts from Random Entertainment reposted this, even Jiang Juyou's Weibo account shared it. After the official accounts spread the news, fan support group accounts also started reposting. It was only then that everyone realized there was indeed a survival show, and the program was already coming out.

But the comments section had a slightly different tone:

"Wait, you don't even have a VIP section."

"The first episode updates at 8 PM tonight, and you're only promoting it now?"

"Looking forward to Ye Xing!"

"Is your company's main focus being careless?"

"It's making people anxious, can't you change your promotion strategy?"

"There's voting too?"

Since most people were treating this as either a passing interest or just something to watch for fun, the only proper fan base at the moment was Ye Xing's. They were busy trying to control the comments, while everyone else in the comments section was just criticizing.

Some people who came late to see this news found that the first episode was already out by the time they saw the message.

The show was uploaded to the alphabet site, and it could be watched without a membership. When Liu Yue opened the video for the first episode, the bullet comments were already loaded.

She cast the video to her TV, then went to the snack cabinet while listening to the opening song. She grabbed some snacks and cold drinks before returning to the living room.

The few dozen square meters of the living room couldn't accommodate a coffee table, so she sat on the carpet with her legs stretched out, placing the snacks beside her, with her gaze fixed on the TV.

The opening began with the announcement of the competition rules after the October performance ended.

After yesterday's performance, everyone's tightly wound nerves could finally relax a bit. The staff had informed them that they could sleep until they naturally woke up. The consequence of actually believing this was that the trainees still in their dreams were startled awake by the sound of a broadcast.

"Good morning to all trainees, please gather at Practice Room 1 in ten minutes."

This announcement was played three times. The trainees, their brains forcibly activated, received this notification with messy bed heads and eyes not yet fully open.

"These days, even having a debut group is worth doing a survival show for?"

"Can't they just form the group directly?"

"21 people? So will 7 debut in the end?"

"The 21 people selected for the debut group will go abroad for six months of training," Jiang Tang's statement caused another stir among the trainees.

"Then let me introduce the competition system for this show--"

"There will be five rounds of performances in total. The first round was the preliminary competition that you all experienced yesterday, which has already eliminated six people. There will be three showcase rounds where no trainees will be eliminated, and the final round will be the final selection to choose the 21 trainees who will enter the debut group."

"After each performance round, the judging panel will score, and rankings will be listed from highest to lowest. Your rankings will affect your grouping situations."

"Now, please look at -- the ranking results from yesterday's preliminary competition!"

As soon as Jiang Tang finished speaking, a large poster unfolded on the right wall, clearly displaying everyone's rankings in a triangular shape.

The higher the ranking, the larger the font.

At the very top was -- Pei Luming.

The program's view immediately cut to Pei Luming's face, his youthful features displaying a surprised expression. "I can't believe I'm first!" he exclaimed out loud.

"Baby, baby, my baby!"

"He's so good-looking!"

"He seems so young."

The name "Pei Luming" was written in very large font at the top, while the names of those ranked lower were squeezed tightly at the bottom.

The higher rankings were indeed different - the names of the top seven were even in green. Above Pei Luming's name was a small crown formed by a tender sprout. The other names were just ordinary gray, barely noticeable on the white background poster.

"Did everyone notice these seven green names?" Jiang Tang asked them.

"Yes, we did!"

"We saw them."

"Does anyone want to guess what this means?"

Ye Xing, standing in the front row, answered: "Solo... stage?"

As soon as Ye Xing was given screen time, the bullet comments flooded in.

"Finally, I see my baby!"

"Can't you be nicer to Ye Xing? Don't you see who everyone's here for?"

"Haha, he even has a little cowlick!"

"Who is this? He's absolutely stunning!"

"Damn, that face!"

Jiang Tang pointed at Ye Xing with her cue card, "Correct! These seven highlighted individuals are the top seven chosen by the judges for this round, and they will be the ones to perform on the Solo stage for the next public performance."

"So, will it always be only the top seven who get to perform?" She smiled, "No!"

"After the first public performance, the Solo stage performers will be chosen by audience votes!" After saying this, Jiang Tang raised her cue card and read, "A one-week limited voting channel will open after each round of public performances. The top seven chosen by the audience will have the opportunity for an additional showcase stage, namely the Solo stage."

"Viewers of this program can download the Galexy World APP to vote. Tickets for each round of public performances can also be purchased through this APP."

After introducing these details, Jiang Tang put down her cue card, "Now, let's turn back time to before the preliminary competition performance and see how the rankings were determined—"

I apologize, every time I put in the saved draft, I forget to set the time... Today it was half an hour late.

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