Chapter 36: 036

Chapter 36

After the second episode aired, the popularity of Gao Xiayu, Pei Luming, and Ye Xing skyrocketed, with Pei Luming's popularity even showing signs of surpassing Ye Xing's.

Admiring strength is instinctive, so when Gao Xiayu and Pei Luming demonstrated their impressive abilities compared to others, Pei Luming, with his better looks, became the center of attention.

He was like a puppy playing in the morning sunlight, not needing supervision when taken out by its owner, happily frolicking on the lawn, occasionally picking up a small stick to show off to its owner. His cuteness made many people fall for him.

The Galexy World app had exclusive behind-the-scenes content, including one episode that compiled clips of Pei Luming's water bottles. He loved drinking water, taking a sip to cool down after every ten minutes or so of dancing. Over time, the staff noticed that his cups were different every day, sometimes even changing from morning to evening.

Most of his cups featured Sanrio characters, followed by Disney character designs, completely different from the sporty water bottles used by the other contestants.

They edited a five-minute compilation of him drinking water, and despite being so ordinary, it surpassed the view count of all other trainees' behind-the-scenes videos combined.

This led to the revelation that content from Galexy World couldn't be screenshot or screen-recorded.

"Title: Gossip discussion / I feel like Galexy has something sketchy, not being able to screenshot or screen-record is one thing, but how come even third-party devices can't capture it?"

"I wanted to share Pei Luming's behind-the-scenes video on YouTube for everyone, but it's impossible to export. You can't screenshot or screen-record, and even when I tried to record with a spare phone, it was blocked. The app just went white, scaring me into thinking my phone was broken."

"Where on earth did their company dig up such bizarre technology? Those small cards were already outrageous, why do they have to control screen recording too?"

Comments section:

"Why do you need to reupload it? Can't you just watch it on the app?"

"College student: There's something sketchy!"

"It's not difficult technology, right? There are sensors for when the camera is on."

"It's actually quite difficult, no one else is doing this currently."

"Yeah, why can't we share it on other platforms? I want to show the behind-the-scenes to others too. Not everyone has Galexy World, do they expect people to download an app just for one video?"

"Then go vote! Don't they upload the top seven most voted behind-the-scenes videos to YouTube?"

"Inviting everyone to watch Pei Luming's water-drinking compilation on Galexy World, it's super cute!"

"Oh, I see, so that's why we can't share it on other platforms. They're waiting for us here. One vote costs one yuan!"

"Let's be friendly, everyone. It's just behind-the-scenes footage, no need for internal competition."

"By the way, is this talent show any good? I keep seeing it pop up, and there's a lot of discussion in the group."

"Can't you guys open a separate group? We don't care about this."

"Everyone in our group knows about this. We came out to share this sketchy stuff with you guys, didn't we?"

People who spend money on behind-the-scenes content are usually those who have become real fans and are already invested. Otherwise, they wouldn't spend money on this. Where there's competition, there's internal strife, especially when each trainee has several versions of behind-the-scenes content. The popular trainees basically dominated the rankings, with the top seven spots alternating between Pei Luming and Ye Xing, while Yao Shuo and Gao Xiayu fought for the last spots.

While the internet was buzzing, the trainees also felt the concrete impact of their popularity after the second episode aired.

Sang Mo was from Tianjin, and because he was in his first year of high school, he only came for training on weekends.

Last week, after finishing practice and returning to Tianjin, he went to school as usual. However, from the moment he got on the bus, people around him kept glancing at him from the corners of their eyes, whispering something while looking at him. This made Sang Mo think there was something on his school uniform, and he spent quite a while checking.

At this time of day, the bus was mostly filled with students and elderly people. Those riding with him were either from his school or nearby schools. Just as Sang Mo was pondering, suddenly a girl poked his arm with her finger.

He looked over and heard the girl say softly, "...I voted for your behind-the-scenes video."

The class monitor of Class 6, who had come out to prepare for duty, glanced at the few students at the entrance and urged them again, "Hurry up and get in. You too, don't linger here."

The class monitor probably feared drawing more attention, so she didn't even call Gao Xiayu by name.

Scolded by the monitor, the boys made faces and then quickly pulled Gao Xiayu towards the teaching building. All the way up the stairs, people recognized Gao Xiayu and kept turning to look.

The boys who had deliberately called out his name earlier now surrounded him protectively and said, "Next time, wear a hat!"

"Exactly!"

"I told you guys he did it on purpose."

"Haha, let's spread out and let the big star experience it!"

Gao Xiayu laughed despite feeling annoyed, and gave them each a light punch, "That's enough, you talk too much!"

Several students were already in the classroom. When Gao Xiayu entered, a few people in the back rows immediately started teasing him, mimicking his dance moves in the empty space behind. Some girls saw this and scolded them for being immature. The students by the windows stood up to close the curtains, preventing students from other classes from peeking in.

Gao Xiayu was practically escorted to his seat. As soon as he sat down, girls came over asking for spoilers.

"What spoilers? The first public performance hasn't even started yet!"

"We asked you to come with us last time, but you refused. Now look what's happened!"

"Bro, is Ye Xing even more handsome in person?"

"Does Ye Xing smell good?"

Some boys also gathered around:

"You two are perverts!"

"Quick, call me daddy. I spent money to vote for your behind-the-scenes clips twice."

"Get lost! You're trying to impress who with just two bucks? I voted three times, call me daddy first."

"You get lost!"

Surrounded by his classmates, Gao Xiayu looked at them while his hand searched in his desk drawer, finding a warm breakfast. He ate while listening to their animated debate.

He obviously couldn't reveal anything about the other trainees, as they had all signed contracts before the show started filming.

This semi-open format expanded the scope of discussions, delving even deeper. Since all the trainees were middle and high school students in the same city, it only took a few inquiries to get relevant information. This feeling was incomparable to following celebrities through a screen.

The situation wasn't as intense for Ye Xing. He attended a key middle school where students lived on campus and had little contact with the outside world. Moreover, his grade was in their final year of middle school, so no one paid much attention to him. Only a few close classmates would mention it during casual chats, while the rest of the time everyone maintained a mutual non-interference state.

In stark contrast was Pei Luming, whose information exposure could be described as a disaster area.

Pei Luming attended an international school with lax rules, where many students used phones. As a result, his photos and videos were spreading all over the internet, which significantly boosted his popularity.

After the second episode aired, there was much discussion among the trainees, but they talked even more about the pre-check a week later. Even though there was no elimination system, they still felt nervous.

In fact, they started getting nervous a week in advance.

Pei Luming saw a classmate raise their phone: Hi~ Hi hi hi!

ENFP happy puppy!

-