Chapter 91: 091

Chapter 91

The final ranking of today's performance was so significant that even passing ants would have to crawl in to take a look.

Previously, only snippets of the stage performances would be shared across various platforms. Now, whenever Jiang Juyou picks up the microphone to say a few words, everyone has to click in to watch. Even those who haven't seen the show have understood its progress clearly from the clips circulating during this period.

Today was even more so. Even those who didn't watch the live broadcast knew exactly what was being played.

The opening performance was replayed repeatedly. You could see it every time you switched apps, showing just how large the fan base for this show had become.

Random Entertainment, known for surprising the public with its "magic," didn't disappoint this time either. The show started right on time. When everyone was expecting the opening stage, the first image wasn't a close-up of the stage or the trainees, but a close-up of the audience.

The camera was at the top of the hill, where twinkling light sticks gathered together, looking as beautiful as a fairyland. Seeing this shot broadcast on the big screen, the fans at the venue cheered and waved their light sticks.

In the next second, a small object emerged from under each person's seat. Golden, glowing little balls with bamboo dragonfly propellers slowly flew out. Some were stuck in fans' bags and came out a step late.

"Ah ah ah wow--"

Even those watching the live stream could hear the amazed exclamations of the fans at the venue, each cry louder than the last.

The little golden balls also had glowing wings. Their appearance was just like fireflies emerging in a green jungle. Startled by the cheers from the venue, they popped out one by one.

Some moved slowly and fell behind, some were still in eye-catching packages, flying around in circles above the audience seats. Others obediently followed the planned route and flew towards the airspace above the inner field.

All the fans at the venue took out their phones to capture this magical moment.

The viewers watching the live stream might have had a clearer view. They saw these little golden balls fly out and slowly gather in the air, gradually changing color from golden yellow to white. The shape they formed when gathered together also changed into Moonle.

Due to different viewing angles, the Moonle seen by the live audience also looked different. The 3D Moonle could only be seen most clearly on the big screen. The audience in the inner field could only see green foliage when they looked up.

Moonle slowly changed from a budding flower to a blooming one. As the petals fully opened, golden particles were revealed inside, like a stream. The golden particles slid down the petals and fell onto the inner field audience seats.

"Eh?"

"Is this for me?"

The first golden particle that fell stopped in front of a person, the bamboo dragonfly on top gradually slowing down. Just as that fan was about to reach out and take it, the little ball lost its glow and separated from the bamboo dragonfly, falling onto her lap.

The other little balls did the same, turning into flower stamens after falling and floating in all directions.

The audience watching the live stream couldn't quite grasp the situation. Although they didn't know what those little balls were for, they still envied those who got them.

Just as the word [Envy] was typed out, someone online explained what those golden balls were.

"Ah ah ah ah ah the little balls contain selfies!!! Selfie cards given according to the fan registration filled out on Galeshi!!!"

"?"

"Not getting a ticket was humiliating enough, what is this now?!"

"...Jealousy renders me speechless."

"I went to check on Weibo, so far there are no duplicate cards ah ah ah ah ah 80,000 cards and no duplicates!!!"

"Can't watch anymore, just end this show quickly, I can't take it."

In the video, the little balls were still falling, and the image of Moonle gradually became unclear. But the stage also lit up at the same time, with the prelude growing louder like a whisper in the ear.

The intro part with guitar and bass playing together brought a touch of winter desolation. If you listened carefully, you could even hear the crunch of stepping on snow, immediately bringing a winter atmosphere.

The big screen also lit up with the opening scene. The sound of crunching snow was indeed coming from the screen. The scene changed from vast white snow to a close-up of footsteps, one after another. The camera slowly moved upwards, corduroy pants carrying memories unique to winter, the puffed-up down jacket making a "swish swish" sound as the sleeves moved.

The camera finally reached the face. The moment the chin appeared, the fans at the venue recognized who it was.

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah--"

Light sticks waved in the fan seats, the screams even drowning out the music.

The person on the screen was Pei Luming, also the center for this opening song. He was the center chosen through a month of competition, with fans voting with real money.

The deer keepers (fans) at the venue were overjoyed, especially when they saw Ye Xing appearing after Pei Luming, their smiles growing even wider.

This opening song was voted for by the fans, and it was also the most obvious ranking of all twenty-one people in history. Compared to the pop-up store rankings, this was more intuitive, because the pop-up store rankings were affected by purchasing agents and scalpers, making it impossible to see the true number of fans for each trainee.

Clips of all twenty-one people flashed by, all winter scenes.

As the center, Pei Luming had the most screen time, and the main storyline was focused on him.

He was pulling a snowboard, walking through the snow with alternating deep and shallow footprints. All around were tall, bare trees reaching into the clouds. He looked around as if lost, his tired, heavy breathing transmitted through the screen. The cold feeling made the fans at the venue empathize.

Just as he stopped, threw down the snowboard, and was about to give up, he suddenly saw a light ahead. The other twenty people also discovered the magical light circle.

Pei Luming slowly walked over, and suddenly his clothes changed. The snowy scene in front of him turned into a lush green forest. The scene lingered on the forest, gradually merging with the live audience view. Everyone quickly realized what the concept of this short film was.

The prelude had grown louder at some point, and Pei Luming's voice came through--

"You shine like star, you are not alone, the dark clouds are about to leave, winter will pass too, endure this gray mood, tomorrow is our meeting date."

The guitar and bass overlapped, with a unique drum rhythm beating in the ear, immediately captivating people with this melody.

Cold winter day, outdoor performance, there was no need for extra makeup to create a pitiful pink complexion.

The trainees on stage wore custom stage outfits, not missing a single sweater. To highlight individual colors, everyone on stage wore uniform white clothing, with other colors as accents.

Pei Luming held the microphone, wearing a white shirt with a cream-colored sweater over it, khaki dress pants, and white and gray baseball shoes. His nose tip and knuckles, reddened by the wind, were even more noticeable on the big screen.

This opening stage had no dance. The twenty-one people who came up on the rising stage walked to the front of the main stage, singing this healing winter song for the fans at the venue.

"Random Entertainment's song selection is unparalleled. Choosing a ballad as the theme song among a bunch of electronic dance music, going against the trend, such a smart move."

"It sounds so good ah ah ah ah ah when will it be released?"

"Pei Luming and his two guardians on either side probably won't be eliminated."

"My goodness, you dare to be so certain. Given Jiang Juyou's selection last year, I wouldn't even be 100% sure about Pei Luming."

"Please, don't give me another shock. Last year was enough, let me have a good year."

"So satisfying, who understands, Pei Luming big center position hahahahaha!"

The fresh music style immediately captured everyone's ears. The opening intro part was soul-catching from the first second. The gloomy winter atmosphere was maximized. Although the melody was depressing, the lyrics were healing, like a hot spring in the cold winter, steaming, making people feel warm.

The show had only been on air for half an hour, but soon Douyin was full of this prelude. The single released simultaneously with the show already had hundreds of thousands of purchases, with favorites breaking a hundred thousand.

Jiang Juyou's judge position this time was set up in a private box. Several screens were placed in front of her, showing the live scenes with danmu feedback. She wore headphones, watching each performance seriously. During the short film playback, she would review and watch the stage performance again.

For this final performance, she was more cautious than anyone else.

Compared to previous scattered stages, this final performance was a continuous broadcast. Based on the content of previous episodes, it was thought to be a concert tour combined with travel, but in reality, there were also a few mini-games to determine the order of performances.

Both the opening and closing slots were good, as long as they avoided the middle one. Unfortunately, Group C lost the competition and came in third, leaving them without a choice. They could only take what was left by the other two groups.

Which was the middle slot.

After Group B's stage ended, it was Group C's turn. Now during the commercial break, the seven of them were backstage relaxing their voices. Ye Xing and Pei Luming were stretching on the spot to prevent their bodies from stiffening.

With thirty seconds left before going live, Gao Xiayu gathered everyone together, put his arms around them and said, "Forget about winning or losing, the stage is the most important thing. Like Jiang Juyou said, enjoy the stage, it's okay if we make mistakes."

After speaking, he extended his hand, and the others placed their hands on top.

"Go ahead."

"Show them!"

Don't think about winning or losing, don't think about the top 5 out of 7, don't think about possibly being eliminated, just think about how to enjoy the stage.

Enjoy what might be their last stage together.

Group C's performances were concentrated in the middle, with four original stages and two covers. How to arrange the order and how to adapt the songs were all up to them. Through the short clips, it could be seen that during the preparation period, all three groups were trying to scout each other out, everyone laughing it off and being evasive, no one telling the truth.

On the screen, Group A was being interviewed, asked if they knew how the other two groups were preparing. To this, Group A's leader said, "We heard a little about Group B, but Group C really—" he shook his head as he spoke.

The VCR played for a long time but no one knew how Group C was going to perform. Even the production team didn't know. The interviewed cameramen and PDs all shook their heads, saying Gao Xiayu wouldn't let them film. Those who did know shook their heads and said they had signed confidentiality agreements with Gao Xiayu and couldn't disclose anything.

With the suspense at its peak, the audience at the venue became even more curious. Fans in the comments section all turned into King Julien, shouting and yelling in the comments about why they couldn't fast forward.

The audience at the venue knew a bit more than those watching the livestream, because the stage was being set up during the VCR playback. While short clips were playing on the screen, staff at the venue were arranging instruments. Just as everyone was guessing they would play themselves, the musicians came on stage.

The VCR ended at this moment—

The familiar synthesizer music started, instantly pulling everyone's memories back to that winter last year. This song was the theme song of "21 Heartbeats of Youth".

Different from what everyone usually heard, this song had obviously been rearranged. The rough band arrangement added many burrs to the musical melody. This unrefined feeling was key to igniting the atmosphere at music festivals. Without the distracting arrangement details, only the most hyped-up accompaniment remained.

This theme song was already very explosive, and after the band's rearrangement, it sounded even more energetic. The audience at the venue simply couldn't suppress the urge to move their legs, but out of politeness, everyone remained very reserved.

As a result, Gao Xiayu, who had just appeared, directly shouted: "Get up and dance—"

This introduction had been said for months, and finally came to the last sentence. Just this one sentence was enough to devastate everyone.

After the commotion in the audience died down, Jiang Juyou picked up the microphone again, stepping out of the concept and sincerely addressing everyone: "In the last season, public feedback only accounted for a small part of the selection. It was mostly my personal subjective choice that selected these twenty-one young men on stage..."

"We first went overseas for training, then took them to various music festivals to experience how mature musicians control the stage. It took a year to reach this stage."

Jiang Juyou said from the bottom of her heart: "How much they've grown, you probably know better than we do."

This was the truth. Jiang Juyou hadn't watched every episode, but the audience had. The process of producing a song, designing a stage, all of these were shown. The final results were also made public for everyone to judge.

"Now, let's look at the results of the three previous performances―"

The image on the big screen changed, switching to the performance data of the three groups. As Jiang Juyou read them out, they appeared on screen: domestic data, international data, music platform data, short video platform data, critics' reviews, and public feedback. Each item was their score.

As previously estimated by the outside world, the three groups were tied, but in terms of total data, Group C was winning. However, they weren't judging based on total data.

So the key was today.

Just as everyone was curious about how today would be evaluated, Jiang Juyou picked up the microphone again, "The fourth performance―"

The big screen began to show data for the fourth performance. The audience was filled with questioning voices, curious about where this data came from.

This data was different from the previous performances. It was based on the spread rate across various social media platforms, combining the thirty minutes of the performance and the ten minutes after it ended. At this point, it was no longer about whether the song was pleasing to the ear, whether the stage was beautiful, or how the members were distributed. It was about who the public was more curious about, more concerned with.

The data for the three groups was changing on the screen. The fans in the audience suddenly realized―

Once this is announced, it will determine which group can debut!

The previously noisy venue suddenly fell silent. Everyone held their breath to hear Jiang Juyou announce the data, their eyes fixed on the screen, not daring to blink.

The fans in the bullet comments were about to suffocate from anxiety, scratching their heads in frustration.

"And the final winner is―"

After Jiang Juyou said this, the data for Groups A and B had already stopped increasing, while Group C's data was still rolling.

"Circlecenter!"

The audience immediately erupted in screams: "Ahhhhhhhhh―"

The bullet comments also went wild, everyone going crazy. The news of Group C's victory was immediately spread across the internet.

The trainees behind Jiang Juyou hugged each other, showing neither the joy of victory nor the disappointment of elimination, just cherishing each other in that embrace.

She gave everyone some time to react. When the venue was almost quiet again, she said: "Congratulations to Circlecenter."

The boys behind finally separated, each returning to their positions with reddened eyes.

Everyone knew what they were about to face. The two eliminated groups actually felt relieved, because the next stage was truly cruel, like cutting flesh from one's own body - who wouldn't feel the pain?

Gao Xiayu stood in the middle of Group C, with others huddling around him, eyes tightly shut, afraid to face what was coming.

"Next, would the seven members of Circlecenter please move to the second sub-stage," Jiang Juyou said. All eyes in the venue turned to the sub-stage.

The venue was very large, with many extended stages. The main stage extended outward to a sub-stage, and beyond that was an even smaller stage. Even before Jiang Juyou began, they could already imagine the scene.

Two people would be left behind.

"Kill me! Just kill me! I'm telling you to kill me outright!"

"...My heart can't take it, I don't want to watch anymore."

"Save me, I'm suffocating."

After the seven stood in place, Jiang Juyou opened the envelope and took out an iPad.

"I'm sure everyone is very curious about my selection criteria," Jiang Juyou said, then operated the iPad. The large screen behind her quickly displayed what was on her iPad.

Under everyone's gaze, she typed out the words.

"Irreplaceable"

"My criterion is irreplaceability," Jiang Juyou said, looking straight ahead and enunciating each word. "These five members must be irreplaceable by others, and must be unique existences in the current entertainment industry."

"We have prepared to fully support the future activities of these five members. After tonight, we will begin album production, and they will meet everyone in their new identity before the winter break ends."

"The music, film and television, and variety show departments of Random Entertainment will escort Timetrain and grow together with them."

As Jiang Juyou introduced this, the large screens on both sides flashed introductions to Random Entertainment's current resources, stirring excitement in the audience below.

Just as the blood was boiling, Jiang Juyou said into the microphone: "Now, I will announce the first selected member."

With these words, everyone's hearts tightened, especially the seven on stage who gripped each other's hands tightly.

"He has grown rapidly, going from knowing nothing about singing and dancing to being called an ACE in just two years. Let's congratulate Timetrain's first member -"

"Pei Luming."

The fans praying below breathed a sigh of relief when they heard Pei Luming's name, and also shouted with all their might to support him.

Pei Luming looked on the verge of tears. Gao Xiayu released his hand, and the other brothers surrounded him in a group hug.

He slowly walked towards the front sub-stage, waiting for others to join him. When giving his acceptance speech, tears streamed down uncontrollably, and he sobbed for a long time.

The first selected was Pei Luming, and the second was Ye Xing.

These two had the highest popularity, able to go back and forth without a clear winner. Since Pei Luming could get in, so could Ye Xing.

No one was more suitable for the "irreplaceable" label than Ye Xing.

The third was Yao Shuo, a well-deserved main vocalist who also fit the "irreplaceable" label perfectly.

With two positions left, four people remained on stage.

In the stands, Jiang Liuxing was laughing and crying, entering a state of frenzy, her hair messed up into a bird's nest.

"...The last two will be Sang Mo and Gao Xiayu, right? Right?" She could only keep asking Liu Yue for reassurance.

Jiang Juyou picked up the microphone to announce the fourth member, "He has studied dance since childhood -"

Sang Mo, Chi Qiao, and Gao Xiayu all fit this description.

"He has led the choreography for all stage performances."

Sang Mo and Chi Qiao...

Jiang Liuxing's heart was in her throat. She was nearly kneeling on the ground, watching devoutly, when she heard Jiang Juyou say: "Let's congratulate Timetrain's fourth member - Chi Qiao."

All of Sang Mo's fans went blank for a moment, truly panicking now.

Chi Qiao, who thought he would be eliminated, also had his brain freeze when he heard his name, his expression becoming dazed.

The three left behind hugged Chi Qiao before watching him walk forward.

Jiang Juyou looked at the remaining three, her gaze lingering on Gao Xiayu.

She didn't hear a word of Chi Qiao's acceptance speech in front, lost in her own world.

The last position.

Would it be the popular member Sang Mo, the leader figure Gao Xiayu, or the musically talented Chen Wu? No one could be sure.

At this moment, even Jiang Juyou's movements seemed to slow down.

She took a deep breath, raised her head, and picked up the microphone: "Let's congratulate Timetrain's fifth member -"

"..."

"Gao Xiayu."

Gao Xiayu, whose name was called, went weak all over and almost fell to his knees. When he straightened up, he was already in tears. Gao Xiayu turned to hug Sang Mo and Chen Wu, refusing to let go.

After the screaming subsided, the audience below turned into an ocean of sobs and cries. The four in front also ran back, and all seven embraced each other.

At this moment, Jiang Juyou also announced the formation of the group, "Congratulations to... Pei Luming, Ye Xing, Yao Shuo, Chi Qiao, and Gao Xiayu for becoming members of Timetrain."

As if she had used up all her strength, she lowered her arm, putting down the microphone she had been holding.

Jiang Liuxing: Wuwuwuwu I'm going to kill you wuwuwuwu don't come home wuwuwuwu

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To the fans of Sang Mo and Chen Wu, I'm sorry... I apologize.

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