46: Chapter 46 The Night of the Finals

7:00 PM.

One hour until the Grand Finale of "Tomorrows Star."

On the TV screen in the backstage dressing room, the number of real-time viewers had already surpassed ten million and was still rising.

Jiang Fan sat in front of the mirror while the stylist busied themselves behind him.

In the mirror, the stylist stepped back.

He wore a black shirt layered under a suit jacket, with no extra accessories.

His entire presence exuded a sharp, cold aura.

"Teacher Jiang, you are all set." The stylist said in a respectful tone.

Jiang Fan stood up and straightened his cuffs.

The sound of the production team urging everyone to the stage echoed in the corridor.

"Contestants from all tracks, get ready! The Grand Finale recording starts in fifteen minutes!"

Inside the Studio, the lights were dazzling.

The cheers of the five hundred live audience members were deafening.

On the judges' panel, Xue Zhiheng, Xu Qingya, and Su Yuyan were lined up.

Xue Zhiheng, dressed in a black suit, waved at the camera with a chuckle.

Xu Qingya wore a long blue dress with her hair up, still maintaining that cold, unapproachable demeanor.

Only when the camera swept past did her gaze linger for an extra half-second on the passageway behind the side of the stage.

Su Yuyan sat on the far right, wearing a wine-red deep-V haute couture gown, with large wavy hair draped over her shoulders.

She blew a devastatingly charming wink at the camera, sparking a wave of screams from the audience.

Teacher He walked onto the stage holding his cue cards, his voice penetrating the entire venue.

"Welcome to the live broadcast of the 'Tomorrows Star' National Grand Finale! Tonight, we will witness the birth of the ultimate idol! The competition format has been upgraded with real-time voting across the entire network! Every vote in your hands will determine the champion!"

The applause from the audience was like a tidal wave.

The number of viewers in the Livestream Room jumped past fifteen million.

"The first contestant to take the stage—from the Visual Track, Lu Ming!"

The lights went out suddenly.

In the center of the stage, a beam of white light struck down from the dome.

Lu Ming stood in the center of the beam.

He wore a white velvet suit over a black high-neck base layer, with a silver cross brooch pinned to his chest.

He was singing a dynamic dance track.

On the first eight-count, he was half a beat behind.

During the chorus's vocal run, he took too much breath, causing his high note to crack, which was faithfully amplified to the entire venue by the microphone.

He noticed it himself.

He tightened his fingers, regained control of the rhythm, and gradually stabilized during the second half.

But that stutter had already made it into the live broadcast.

When the song ended, Lu Ming knelt on one knee, pointing his right hand toward the audience.

The comments scrolled by—

"Is Lu Ming a bit off today?"

"With the situation at Shenghai Entertainment blowing up like this, anyone would be flustered."

"He's still handsome, it's just... sigh."

Su Yuyan was the first to pick up the microphone.

"Lu Ming, the emotional progression was very well done."

The tear mole at the corner of her eye shimmered under the lights, "I personally liked it very much."

Xue Zhiheng nodded: "Your comprehensive ability in singing and dancing is indeed top-tier, and your stage presence is very strong."

"There were some flaws in the chorus's vocal run, but overall it was not bad."

Xu Qingya's expression remained indifferent from beginning to end, her critique brief and impartial.

On the big screen, Lu Ming's real-time vote count began to jump.

Within thirty seconds, it broke through 8.2 million votes.

The next three contestants took the stage one by one, giving performances that were standard and acceptable.

Although their skills weren't bad, on the stage of the Grand Finale, they could only be considered passing.

"Next up, from the Solo Track—Zhao Tianyu!"

As soon as Teacher He's voice fell, the stage lighting changed.

Warm yellow tones covered the entire stage, and four spotlights spread out in a fan shape.

Zhao Tianyu walked to the center of the stage carrying a guitar.

He first adjusted the height of the microphone, then looked up and scanned the entire venue.

Zhao Tianyu struck the strings with his right hand.

A brand-new original K-pop adapted track—《Burning》.

The intro was a fast fingerstyle piece; his left hand danced rapidly across the frets, while his right hand simultaneously managed strumming and percussion.

In his hands, the guitar didn't look like an instrument; it looked more like a weapon.

The moment he opened his mouth, his voice soared from a deep chest resonance.

"Ignite all the unwillingness—"

"Before they are burned to ashes—"

"Shine one more time—"

During the chorus, Zhao Tianyu stood straight up.

He ripped off his earpiece and roared into the microphone with pure, raw live energy.

For the final high note, he bent over while holding the guitar, his forehead almost touching the microphone.

The applause surged over like a mountain-toppling sea.

Su Yuyan was the first to pick up the microphone.

She flicked her hair and looked at Zhao Tianyu on stage.

"Tianyu, this is the standard that the Grand Finale should have." Su Yuyan's voice was magnetic, filling the entire venue through the speakers.

"Your high notes have incredible penetration, and your stage control is impeccable. What's most rare is that you have maintained such a high competitive state in such an intense competition. In my heart, your performance tonight is perfect."

This evaluation was extremely high, directly setting the tone for Zhao Tianyu.

Xue Zhiheng frowned; Su Yuyan's critique was starting to show clear bias.

He picked up the microphone: "The high notes were indeed good, but there was a section in the middle where your breath control was unstable, and the pitch was off by half a note. As a Grand Finale, such flaws should not happen."

Su Yuyan chuckled and interrupted Xue Zhiheng: "Teacher Xue is being too harsh. Singing and dancing live with full mics, having some flaws is what makes it real. We cannot use Recording Studio standards to judge a live performance."

Xu Qingya picked up the microphone.

"The completion was good."

She paused.

"But there are too many of these K-pop adapted tracks on the market. From the choreography to the vocal run routines, I've heard them at least twenty times on talent show stages over the past three years."

She put down the microphone and didn't say another word.

Zhao Tianyu stood on stage, his smile freezing for a moment.

The comments exploded again—

"Xu Qingya has a sharp tongue, but she's not wrong."

"Indeed, I'm tired of hearing K-pop adaptations."

"Don't panic, Zhao Tianyu fans, Sister Qingya is like this with everyone."

Su Yuyan turned to look at Xu Qingya.

This time, she didn't hold back her emotions and added faintly into the microphone beside her: "Qingya, aren't you being too stingy with good work?"

Xu Qingya didn't look at her.

"Whether it's good or not, the audience decides."

The voting data on the big screen began to update.

Zhao Tianyu's vote count broke through ten million within forty seconds.

It surpassed Lu Ming.

Temporarily ranked first.

But the growth didn't stop.

The vote count looked like someone had slammed on the gas pedal; the rate of increase every second was abnormally large.

11 million.

12 million.

13 million.

Different voices began to appear in the comments—

"Tianyu is awesome! This is a real singer-songwriter!"

"Su Yuyan is right, this is a genius!"

"Wait... this rate of vote increase isn't right, is it?"

"I just clicked on the voting page, it showed a network error, and after refreshing, there were two million more votes?"

"Has anyone noticed that many of the voting accounts were registered just today?"

"Must be paid shills; it's the old trick of Times Media."

...

"The championship is locked in, locked in! It doesn't matter who comes!"

The skeptical comments had barely appeared before they were quickly drowned out by uniform, controlled comments.

Zhao Tianyu walked off the stage holding his guitar.

When passing the entrance to the waiting area, he stopped.

Jiang Fan was leaning against the wall, his hands in his suit jacket pockets, eyes closed.

Zhao Tianyu happened to meet Jiang Fan's eyes as he opened them.

In those eyes, there was no anger, nor was there any nervousness.

On stage, Teacher He's voice rang out across the venue.

"The final contestant! From the Solo Track—Jiang Fan!"

The lights in the entire venue went out suddenly.

In the darkness, a grand piano was slowly pushed toward the center of the stage.