After finishing her last school monthly exam, Lin Muci entered the intensive training room at the television station. She spent more than half a month there, as the next public performance was drawing near. She immersed herself in practice daily but never saw Ling Qianhe. The other girls were quite dejected, wondering why their mentor Ling wasn't coming to see them or visit their training. Lin Muci found it strange too, but later learned he had entered Zhao Lan's film crew early for role-specific training, which explained his absence.
The system enlightened Lin Muci. Ling Qianhe was an "experiential" actor, meaning he had to fully immerse himself in a role to achieve perfect integration with it. Many famous actors who had won Best Actor awards in history employed this method, and he was a genius, so it wasn't surprising he leaned towards the experiential approach. Compared to method actors or performative actors, experiential actors were more emotionally invested; those roles would linger with him for a long time. Therefore, the system warned, when Lin Muci saw him again, he might have become the cruel and cold-blooded warlord's young master from the script, and she should be very careful.
Lin Muci felt a headache coming on. She herself used the third method: performative acting. This allowed her to detach from a role at any time. However, judging by what the system said, Ling Qianhe couldn't easily step out of his characters. Once he entered a role, he became the character itself.
The system was extremely excited, almost gloating. Moreover, it added, he had been doing something recently that caused his life value to decline again, now dropping below twenty percent. If the host couldn't win this performance and enter his dreams as his "Sister Mu Ci" to comfort him and give him a shot of strength, the system believed he was in grave danger, pushed to the brink.
There was no other way; she had to give it her all.
For the fourth public performance, five thousand audience members were recruited from the fans and support groups of each contestant. Ms. Lin Cuiping managed to secure two tickets through connections and happily went to the performance with her childhood sweetheart. She sat on the stadium platform as program staff handed her a remote control and explained its use, pointing to four smaller stages built on the main stage.
These four stages had eight buttons, with individual voting for each stage. There were two options: support or oppose. If you liked a stage, you pressed support; if you disliked it, you pressed oppose. You could only choose one. The more support votes a stage received, the higher it would rise. However, if opposition votes accumulated to a certain degree, the stage would plummet, sinking beneath the main stage of the stadium. This meant the entire group of trainees performing on that stage would be eliminated and unable to continue.
When opposition votes reached one thousand, the stage would begin to descend. At three thousand opposition votes, the stage would sink to its lowest point. At four thousand opposition votes, the entire group would be immediately eliminated. Conversely, at one thousand support votes, the stage would rise. At three thousand support votes, the stage would ascend dramatically, bathed in a million lights. At four thousand support votes, the entire group would directly advance to the next round, earning an immunity ticket in the next elimination round. This was a new innovation by the program team. Ms. Lin Cuiping was quite pleased upon hearing the rules. Little Ci was so capable, she was sure she'd get an immunity ticket!
However, as the audience gradually filled the stadium, Ms. Lin Cuiping noticed a problem. Strangely, why were there so few people holding Little Ci's light signs? She was stunned, sensing something was amiss. But the program was about to start recording, and she couldn't possibly stop people one by one to ask whose fans they were.
Meanwhile, the president of Lin Muci's fan support group was frantic. "Why does it feel like they're all fans of other groups?" she thought. The program team had only allocated one hundred spots to Lin Muci's support group. While not a small number, calculating an average, with five thousand fans and thirty-three girls remaining in this round, each group would have a little over a hundred votes on average. But the crucial problem was that Lin Muci had too many anti-fans, and other groups would surely band together to make her stage fall. No matter how well Little Ci performed, she wouldn't be able to turn the tide. The president was close to tears, unable to think of a solution. These seating tickets were allocated by the television station according to the fan support group quotas; they couldn't be bought even with money.
Lin Muci, along with the other girls, rode in a car to the stadium for the performance. The five thousand audience members outside had already taken their seats. The large screen broadcasted the scene outside, and just as she had expected, her fans waving her support sticks were few, lost in the crowd. Yang Weiyang trembled with nervousness, saying to Lin Muci with a tearful voice, "Little Ci, I'm so afraid I'll mess up the steps."
Lin Muci replied, "Follow me, and you won't go wrong." She was the core, the backbone, the source of calm. She had practiced all five songs until they were ingrained in her memory.
The system sighed, "Host, aren't you afraid of failure? This is a battle of no return. Hmm, let me think, who can help you? Ling Qianhe is still in seclusion in the film crew, and the dance instructor is acting as the host today. Feng Yuting has been overseas discussing business and can't fly back. Your psychologist is visiting Mrs. Ling today. Zhou Yuan'an coming wouldn't help either. Look, I can count on my fingers, and I can't think of anyone who can save you."
Lin Muci sneered, "Do I have to wait for someone else to save me? Am I that weak?" The system really wanted to say "Yes, yes, Host, you are weak," but Lin Muci had already stepped onto the stage.
"There are so many people, five thousand," she asked the system, "Where is Ms. Lin Cuiping?" The system specially highlighted her in red within the crowd. Lin Muci stood on the stage, and as the music began, she started dancing. The audience voting channel opened.
It was supposed to be five songs, but halfway through the first song, her stage began to descend. Her group had already reached one thousand opposition votes. Out of the five thousand audience members, one thousand were voting against her stage. The other girls in her group were close to tears. Ms. Lin Cuiping's eyes widened as she searched for Lin Muci. Lin Muci's figure was falling, and amidst the chaotic stage, her high notes could be heard. Despite her perfect performance, no one was paying attention; everyone was desperately pressing the oppose button, just wanting her to be eliminated.
The president of Lin Muci's support group stood in the stands, heartbroken for her. "Please, don't vote against her. Let her finish singing, okay? Why can't they let her finish her performance? What did Little Ci do wrong? Just because she's the strongest, other fans are voting her out. How shameless!"
Their stage plummeted violently, and the other girls' movements started to become chaotic. If Lin Muci hadn't been leading the dance, they wouldn't have known where to place their limbs. But even in such circumstances, she remained steady, her breath even, singing and dancing with a strong high note. Yet, this still couldn't stop her stage from slowly descending. The audience could no longer see her stage.
The system reminded Lin Muci in her mind, "Opposition votes have reached three thousand seven. At four thousand opposition votes, your entire group will be eliminated. Three thousand seven hundred fifty, three thousand eight hundred... Host, aren't you going to do something?" Lin Muci continued to sing and dance silently. She had noticed earlier that there was a huge projection screen on the main stage, but it wasn't lit. Perhaps for fairness, they didn't intend to use it for any of the side stages. But now, at this critical moment, the main screen suddenly projected her stage. Lin Muci had exchanged points for the projection on the stadium's main screen. Everyone could clearly see their movements. In the pitch-black underground, the girls danced with tears on their cheeks, their tears shining like brilliant diamonds. Even while crying, the girls didn't stop; they hadn't given up. Lin Muci was the one leading them. She was also the only one not crying. At the bottom of the dark main stage, the girl in her performance outfit and short skirt danced with all her might in the dim underground. The large screen focused on her face, revealing her radiant beauty. Despite being on the verge of elimination, her expression was firm and composed. She exuded a desperate strength!
The audience slowly quieted down. The opposition votes temporarily stopped increasing, and instead, support votes began to rise. Their stage started to ascend! However, the opposition votes climbed to three thousand nine hundred. With only a hundred votes left out of five thousand audience members, the situation was incredibly critical. If the last hundred votes were opposition votes, their entire group would be eliminated. At a crucial moment, the entire audience suddenly gasped collectively, and hushed exclamations rippled through the venue. On the stadium's main stage, a handsome young man emerged. He stood on a high platform and announced emotionlessly, "System malfunction. Voting channels closed, all votes cleared."
It was Ling Qianhe. He stood there, looking at the four side stages. The other three brightly lit stages contrasted sharply with Lin Muci's dim stage. The girls beside her were crying, but she gritted her teeth and held on. Ling Qianhe lowered his gaze, his thoughts unreadable. Then, his voice echoed from the platform: "The rules for this performance have been changed. Live audience votes have been added, and the vote pool has been expanded. The current number of online viewers is five million. Five million people voting online will determine the fate of you girls. Continue your performance."
He had changed the rules, giving Lin Muci a fair voting environment. The girl gritted her teeth and resentfully grumbled in her mind, "Why did he have to interfere? I could have won! With the last hundred votes, it's impossible that all one hundred would be heartless and want our group to lose, right? As long as we're not eliminated this time, I'll definitely be able to make a comeback later!"
The system truly couldn't predict if the host could have won without Ling Qianhe's intervention. The host was gambling on the audience's conscience. However, now that the rules had changed and they were re-recording with an expanded vote pool, the host was bound to win. She was the strongest, and the general audience had eyes. With five million people, any anti-fans would be like a single wave that couldn't even create a ripple. Little Ci was destined to win. However, Ling Qianhe coming all the way from the film crew to change the rules was clearly for the host.