After Being Bound to the Scummy Alpha System, I Became Famous Thanks to My Face Blindness - Chapter 35

As soon as the host finished speaking, the trainees immediately broke into a noisy discussion.

A girl raised her hand with a frown. “That doesn’t make sense. We don’t even know the rules of the next round—how are we supposed to choose our team members?”

The host chuckled. “You can take a guess. The competition gets more challenging with each round. You’ve already passed the instrumental stage—what do you think the next one will be?”

The girls erupted into a wave of speculation.

“We’ve done the singing and dancing assessments, the self-chosen songs, the guest duet round, and even the instrumental performance. What else could there be?”

“Don’t tell me they’re going to make us write our own songs and lyrics—I can’t do that!”

“Or maybe it’s like those other shows where they send contestants out to street-perform for money?”

Cheng Qingyan nudged Tang Ling with her elbow. “What do you think it’ll be?”

Tang Ling thought for a moment. “Probably something songwriting-related. Beidou Star’s always emphasized the trainees’ creative independence.”

Cheng Qingyan nodded. “Yeah, that sounds right.”

The host called the room to order. “Everyone, please quiet down. We’ll now begin team formation. This time, you’ll be divided into six groups of six. As usual, the top six in popularity ranking will serve as team captains.”

The big screen lit up, displaying the names of the six captains.

Tan Shiyi’s name was still on the list—now ranked third.

Tang Ling, on the other hand, remained at seventh place, meaning she’d be a free member again.

“Captains, please step forward into the selection area and begin choosing—or being chosen.”

Cheng Qingyan leaned closer. “You planning to join Shiyi’s team?”

Tang Ling hesitated. “I haven’t decided. I don’t even know if she’ll pick me.”

It was a tricky situation for her. At this stage of the competition, every captain already had preferred teammates—people they’d practiced and meshed well with. Tang Ling’s popularity could bring visibility to any group, but with her injury, she might not be able to perform on stage. Few would want to take that risk.

And as for her own choice—she didn’t really know any of the contestants well enough. No matter which group she joined, it would be starting from scratch.

She scanned the six captains in the selection area, and her gaze met Tan Shiyi’s.

Tan Shiyi was already looking around for potential members.

Noticing Tang Ling’s eyes on her, she blinked playfully, pointed to herself, and gave a questioning look.

Tang Ling frowned slightly, lifted her injured arm, and gestured at it.

Tan Shiyi looked confused. She glanced around, then pointed to herself again.

Tang Ling hesitated a second longer before giving a small nod.

Tan Shiyi pressed a hand to her chest and flashed an “OK” sign.

Cheng Qingyan, who had watched the whole silent exchange, was baffled. “What kind of secret code was that?”

Tang Ling smirked. “If I understood her right, I’m about to be in her group.”

Sure enough, Tan Shiyi’s first pick was Tang Ling.

The other girls immediately burst into teasing cheers.

“I knew Tang Shi would end up in the same team again!”

“Love wins on live television!”

“Together! Together! Together!”

Tang Ling sat down behind Tan Shiyi and joked, “There, see? We’re together now.”

That sent another wave of laughter through the room, full of “oohs” and “oh-la-las,” leaving Tan Shiyi’s cheeks flushed pink.

She tried to explain, flustered. “We just work well together, that’s all.”

Tang Ling leaned closer, whispering by her ear, “Ignore them. The more you explain, the more they’ll tease.”

In the end, Tan Shiyi chose Tang Ling, He Junnian, Fu Xin, Xiao Rong, and Su Mengzhi—members she’d previously collaborated with and had good chemistry with.

When team formation ended, the host continued, “Captains, please open the envelopes on your tables to reveal your song assignment for this round.”

The captains tore open their envelopes. The girls crowded around to take a look.

“‘Heart of the Sea Breeze.’” Tan Shiyi read aloud, flipping through the paper. “It’s just the lyrics—no sheet music.”

The girls behind her gasped.

“Our group got ‘Heart of the Sea Breeze’ too!”

“Same here!”

“Us too—what’s going on? Are we all performing the same song again?”

The host smiled knowingly. “Did anyone notice what’s different about your song sheets this time?”

“Yeah—there’s no score, only lyrics!”

“Wait, don’t tell me we actually have to compose the music ourselves?”

The host nodded. “That’s right. We’re already at the fifth stage performance. This time, your mission is to compose the melody for ‘Heart of the Sea Breeze’—the song that will be performed in your final stage, the debut night. Each team will present their version on stage. The version that receives the highest number of audience votes will become the official final track, and that team will earn an automatic advancement spot.”

A collective groan filled the room.

“I’m just a dancer! I don’t know the first thing about composing!”

“Not gonna lie—I can’t even read sheet music. I just follow the teacher!”

“Does anyone in our group have perfect pitch? Because honestly, I’m already doing well if I don’t go off-key.”

“Writing the score isn’t enough, right? We’ll have to actually arrange and synthesize it using software. Who on earth can pull that off?”

The host continued reading the rules:

“This round’s elimination system is particularly harsh. The six teams will be ranked based on audience votes. The first-place team will have all members retained and receive one guaranteed debut spot. The second-place team keeps five members, and so on. The team ranked sixth will only keep one person.”

The girls were stunned, counting on their fingers to calculate how many would be eliminated.

Tan Shiyi quickly did the math. “Thirty-six down to twenty-one. That means fifteen people will be eliminated after this stage.”

Tang Ling thought of Jiang Manli, who had just been sent home, and her heart grew heavy. “If we want to keep everyone, we have to win first place.”

The host went on, “Considering that many contestants have little to no experience with composition, the production team has decided that, starting now, you may each keep your phones to study basic music theory. In addition, every team will receive one day off. During that day, you can leave the training camp to find inspiration or even seek outside help for composition guidance—it’s entirely up to you. Of course, the final work must still be your original creation. No ghostwriting.”

The announcement did not have the intended encouraging effect—it only drew more complaints.

“What’s the point of ‘finding inspiration’? If you can’t compose, you can’t compose. You can’t magically find talent out there!”

“Isn’t getting outside help kind of unfair? We small-company trainees don’t have any connections. The big-company girls have all the advantages!”

“I give up. Guess I’ll just wait to be eliminated.”

Tan Shiyi turned to her group. “So, does anyone here have a field they’re good at?”

Tang Ling said, “Writing the melody isn’t too hard, I think. The tricky part is arranging it. I’ve never used those programs before, so I’ll have to start from scratch.”

Tan Shiyi nodded. “Same here. Anyone here know how to arrange music?”

He Junnian shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t even understand what you’re talking about.”

Fu Xin chimed in, “Don’t we all have laptops in our dorms? Let’s start learning tonight. There are tons of self-taught composers online—it can’t be that hard, right?”

The team agreed to start by exploring arrangement software that night before discussing anything else.

When Tang Ling returned to the dorm, Jiang Manli was still there. She’d already bounced back from her earlier sadness, lounging on her bed with one leg crossed over the other, happily munching on an ice pop.

Seeing Tang Ling return, she sat up. “You guys sure took your time recording. What’s the next performance about?”

“It’s called Heart of the Sea Breeze. They only gave us the lyrics. We have to compose the melody ourselves.”

Jiang Manli gasped. “Wow, the production team’s ruthless. Lucky for me, I got eliminated already.”

Tang Ling opened her laptop and found that it did, indeed, have a music production program installed.

She launched it—only to be greeted by a completely English interface filled with unfamiliar technical terms. She had no idea where to begin.

To make matters worse, moving the mouse kept brushing against the wound on her right arm, making it hard to work.

Standing behind her chair, Jiang Manli frowned. “We have to use this complicated software? What are all these buttons? I can’t even read half of them!”

Tang Ling stood up and nudged her toward the seat. “Here, you sit.”

Jiang Manli looked confused. “Why am I sitting down?”

Tang Ling replied matter-of-factly, “Didn’t you say you never got a chance to shine? Well, here’s your time to glow. My arm’s inconvenient right now, so you handle the mouse while I get a feel for how this software works.”

Jiang Manli blinked. “Wait a sec, are you just using me as your assistant?”

Tang Ling put on a straight face. “Manli-jie, be confident. You’re not my assistant—you’re my future music producer.”

Jiang Manli burst out laughing. “I like that title! All right then—let’s make some music!”

Being a bit of a gamer and tech nerd, Jiang Manli picked things up quickly. Before long, the two of them managed to piece together a short melody and even layered in a few sound effects.

“I swear, I’m a genius,” Jiang Manli said proudly. “Ling-jie, I might actually have a future in this. I couldn’t even read sheet music this morning, and now I’ve written a song!”

Tang Ling exhaled in relief. It turned out composing wasn’t as terrifying as she’d imagined. “Let’s write another segment, just to get more practice.”

Jiang Manli rolled up her sleeves. “You got it!”

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Outside, a familiar voice called, “Tang Ling, are you in there?”

Jiang Manli raised an eyebrow, smirking. “Ooh, your girlfriend’s here.”

Tang Ling shot her a look. “Keep working. I’ll get the door.”

She opened it and stepped aside to let Tan Shiyi in. “What brings you here so suddenly?”

Tan Shiyi followed her inside. “I wanted to talk about the composition. I messaged you earlier, but you didn’t reply.”

“You did? I didn’t get any notification.” Tang Ling unlocked her phone and opened Weibo.

Tan Shiyi leaned closer. “I sent you several messages. Didn’t you get any of them?”

Tang Ling opened her messages and saw a few unread ones marked in red. “Oh—my bad. I was busy learning the software with Jiang Manli and didn’t notice.”

But Tan Shiyi’s gaze froze on something. Her eyes widened slowly. “You.”

Tang Ling blinked. “Me?”

Tan Shiyi’s face turned pink. “Your note for me, the one in your contacts.”

Tang Ling’s heart gave a nervous thump. She suddenly remembered—she had saved Tan Shiyi’s contact name as Bunny.