I Became the Top Competitor in a Talent Show Novel - Chapter 25.1

Chi Meng took a few steps up the stairs, stopping in front of Song Jiaqi.

The person looked up, glanced at her lazily, and remained calm. She had a baseball cap pulled down over her head, her black, curly hair falling onto her shoulders, with one earphone dangling, the white cord resting on her grey clothes.

“You look so carefree,” Chi Meng said, then asked, “Have you eaten?”

Song Jiaqi shook her head, paused the movie, and took the bag Chi Meng offered. Chi Meng curved her lips into a smile, not mentioning that the food was brought by Su Mengyao from the cafeteria. She sat down two steps below Song Jiaqi to eat.

Just around the corner of this staircase was the platform where she practiced. The sounds of trainees being noisy in the dorms made this little corner feel even quieter.

Song Jiaqi slowly unwrapped the contents of the bag and looked at Chi Meng. Chi Meng was sitting with her back against the wall, her toes just touching the railing. Noticing Song Jiaqi’s gaze, she explained, “I was jumping around all afternoon, worked up a lot of sweat.”

Thinking of the moves Chi Meng had just been doing, Song Jiaqi felt Chi Meng’s description was quite apt.

Out of kindness, she decided not to comment.

Chi Meng had intended to ask Song Jiaqi about sneaking away, but the words stopped at her lips. She quickly finished her dinner, picked up the trash, and turned to ask Song Jiaqi, “I’m going back to the practice room. Want to come?”

“No,” Song Jiaqi said flatly.

Chi Meng smiled and said, “Alright, I’ll go ahead then.”

She waved at Song Jiaqi and went downstairs, her high ponytail swaying gently in the air.

As she turned the corner, Chi Meng suddenly turned back, looked up at Song Jiaqi, and grinned, “Friend, the stairs are cold and hard. Doesn’t your butt hurt from sitting there for so long? Next time, you’re welcome to lie down on the floor of the dance studio, it’s much more comfortable.”

Song Jiaqi watched her retreating figure until Chi Meng disappeared onto the next flight of stairs. She stared at the empty air for a long time before tapping the movie screen, though her eyes weren’t really focused on the picture.

On the first floor, Chen Zhu and Lin Yuxin, who lived in the same class dorm, were standing face to face analyzing a dance when they suddenly heard a knock on the door.

“Coming,” Chen Zhu opened the door, a little surprised to see Chi Meng. A faint smile appeared on her cool face. “What’s up?”

Chi Meng’s eyes were smiling, and she quietly asked, “Xiangxiang, Jiaqi didn’t practice with us this afternoon. Does she not like being a trainee?”

Chen Zhu was momentarily stunned; Song Jiaqi’s question immediately overshadowed her confusion about how Chi Meng knew her nickname. She softly said, “I’m not sure either, but she was very serious when she trained with us before.”

“More serious than anyone else, which is why our first stage performance was so good,” Chen Zhu said gently. “Before coming to the training camp, our manager told me to keep an eye on Jiaqi. Since you got to know her, you’ve probably noticed she’s been down most of the time?”

Chi Meng nodded.

“Actually, we haven’t known each other for very long, so I don’t know why she’s down, but I believe that if Song Jiaqi wants to, she is definitely the one most likely to debut out of all the trainees. So, if you can, please try to talk to her,” Chen Zhu said. “I can tell you two have a good relationship.”

She gave Chi Meng a gentle smile.

Chi Meng felt reassured. She patted Chen Zhu on the shoulder and chuckled, “You’re the one most likely to debut. Keep up the good work, Xiangxiang, I’m rooting for you.”

Chen Zhu gave her a wry smile and watched her leave.

When she closed the door, Lin Yuxin didn’t ask what they talked about. She glanced out the window and curiously asked, “She wasn’t going back to the dorm. Where’s she going?”

Chen Zhu shook her head.

Chi Meng returned to the practice room, turned on the lights, closed the window she had opened for ventilation before leaving, and switched on the air conditioning.

The cool air and a large screen descended. Chi Meng sat cross-legged on the floor and opened her laptop.

There was no internet connection, but there was a video file on the desktop. When she clicked on it, a dancer wearing a cap and mask appeared on the screen, and music played from the speakers.

Chi Meng quickly stood up.

In the dorms, staff from the production team went from floor to floor, knocking on doors to collect cell phones. When they reached the fifth floor, the assistant director smiled, took down the large “Genius Watch” hanging on the doorknob, and knocked, “Open up, hand over the goods!”

A chorus of wails erupted from the dorm.

After the staff left, the trainees chatted in the dorms. Some tired, sleep-deprived trainees washed up and went to bed, falling asleep, while others held lyric sheets and sang softly.

The trainee on the opposite bunk asked in surprise, “Xiaowei, aren’t you going to rest?”

Hua Xiaowei looked up and gave her a sweet smile, “I’ll practice a little more.”

The girl opposite nodded and lay down. After a while, she vaguely heard Hua Xiaowei call out softly, “Menghan, are you going to the practice room?”

The girl opposite hummed a couple of times, her mind cloudy. She wasn’t sure if she answered, thinking she was dreaming.

Down below, Hua Xiaowei scratched her head and walked over to another bed, quietly asking, “Yunyue, I want to go to the practice room. Are you coming?”

The girl in this bed was also fast asleep and didn’t move.

It seemed everyone was very tired. Hua Xiaowei thought for a moment, then quietly tiptoed to the door. She slowly opened the door a crack. The motion-sensor light automatically turned on, illuminating the dark hallway with bright, white light. Hua Xiaowei instantly felt relieved, pushed the door open, and stepped out.

The dorm, which had been noisy moments ago, suddenly fell silent. Hua Xiaowei climbed the stairs to the C and F class dorms to find her two teammates from her company, but found the lights in their rooms were off. She dejectedly went back downstairs.

The late summer night cast a pall of darkness over the world. Only the streetlights leading to the Mingyi Building were on across the wide campus. The beautiful campus looked suddenly eerie at night; ancient trees swayed in the wind, their branches like spiderwebs.

Hua Xiaowei swallowed hard and tentatively stepped down, as if the next step wasn’t a staircase but a dark beach covered in crushed shells.

“Going?” a low voice came from behind her. Hua Xiaowei’s hair stood on end, and she jumped up, screaming as she turned around.

The girl behind her was also startled. Reacting instantly, she grabbed Hua Xiaowei and pulled her back, covering her mouth with her other hand.

The scream echoing in the air abruptly stopped.

The two girls stared wide-eyed at each other.

Inside the dorm, the startled trainees exchanged confused glances.

What happened?

A hallucination?

A dream?

After a long moment, the trainees looked at the person in the opposite bunk. Finally, someone spoke, hesitatingly asking, “…Did you hear a scream?”

“You too…”

“Did you all hear it?”

Everyone in the dorm trembled, afraid to get out of bed for a long time.

On the fifth floor, in the F-class dorm, Su Mengyao, who was also woken up, gripped her thin blanket and sat frozen for a minute. She swallowed and asked, terrified, “What happened? Who was shouting?!”

The dorm room was deadly silent. Pale light streamed in through the window, making the face of the girl opposite look ghostly white with a touch of green. Her dark hair hung down, and her eyes were filled with terror.

Su Mengyao felt the scene was too familiar. She mumbled, “‘Ghost School Legends,’ ‘Campus Horror Incidents,’ ‘School Rules’…”

Every one was a famous campus horror movie. Every time she named one, the two girls sleeping opposite her trembled. Just as they were both completely buried under their blankets, the room light suddenly snapped on.

The world was as bright as day.

Su Mengyao and the two girls on the opposite bed screamed simultaneously, “AAAHH!!!”

The girl standing at the door who had turned on the light flinched and said, “I just turned on the light!”

The three stopped screaming and stared at each other foolishly.

In the dead-silent dorm, one person stood below, and three people sat on the beds. All four were silent. Su Mengyao mumbled, “Hey… where are the other two? Where’s Mengmeng?”

Besides Su Mengyao, the three other people in the dorm were all sleeping on the opposite side. One of the trainees, named Lin Xueyang, rubbed her arms and suddenly realized something. “There are supposed to be six of us in this dorm! Chi Meng went out to eat and never came back! So who is the last person! Why have we never seen her!!”

“Hiss—”

The three people on the beds wanted to scream again. The trainee below scratched her head, walked to the bed next to Chi Meng’s, and gathered her courage. She moved to the cupboard of the missing trainee, swallowed hard, first gave a loud “Ah!” herself, and then opened the cupboard.

On the opposite bed, the two girls instinctively jumped over the railing and hugged each other.

Nothing happened.

Trainee clothes were hanging in the cupboard, and a sticker with the name “Song Jiaqi” was at the bottom.

“Huh? Song Jiaqi is in our dorm?” Su Mengyao’s eyes widened. She just realized she hadn’t seen Song Jiaqi all day. Song Jiaqi had a strange attitude toward her, seeming to dislike her, and she never expected them to be dorm-mates.

This must be the real ghost story!

Su Mengyao’s cowlick stood up straight.

Just then, sounds were heard outside the dorm. A staff member came to tell everyone not to worry, that a trainee had almost fallen when going out and shouted, and that everyone should be careful when walking at night.

The trainees in all the dorms finally sighed in relief, looked at each other, and suddenly found it a little funny, pointing to the person next to them and describing how she looked when she was scared.

“It’s already 10 PM. Is someone still going out?” someone asked.

“Is it for extra practice?”

This question made those who were about to lie down and rest sit up, looking at each other in indecision, wondering whether to go for extra practice. Some looked at the dark night outside the window and quietly said, “I… I’ll practice early tomorrow. I really can’t today.”

“Hmm…”

Some of the startled trainees lay down to rest, planning to train early tomorrow, while others, having lost all drowsiness from the fright, simply got up to practice in the hallway—avoiding the practice rooms for now.

Su Mengyao scratched her head, looked at Chi Meng’s empty bed, thought for a moment, and said, “I’ll go find Mengmeng.”

If Chi Meng was in the practice room, she could ask her to help her with the theme song. When she sang it for Teacher Luan Xiu today, the teacher held back for a long time before just saying, “Practice more.”

Sigh.

In the dorm, only the trainee who turned on the light, named Jing Ming, was bold enough to accompany Su Mengyao to the Mingyi Building. The remaining two lay down for a bit, then sat up, scratching their heads.

The thought of others practicing while they were sleeping… well, it didn’t feel right.

“Should we just practice in the dorm?” one whispered.

The other nodded and said, “Fine!”

The path to the Mingyi Building gradually filled with people. Hua Xiaowei, the main character of the “dorm incident,” was the first to arrive at the Mingyi Building. She blushed as she thanked the girl opposite her, saying, “Thank you for pulling me back, for explaining to the production team, and for… coming to the practice room with me.”

The girl smiled and said, “I’m sorry, I startled you by speaking suddenly.”

She showed Hua Xiaowei the name on her clothes and said, “I’m Yuan Sike from Xinghuo. You can call me up for evening training in the future, and we can go together.”

Hua Xiaowei quickly thanked her. She glanced at Yuan Sike’s rank and suddenly said, “Why don’t we practice together! We can check each other, and go back together tonight!”

Her eyes were bright as she looked at Yuan Sike.

Yuan Sike tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re not just afraid of the dark and don’t dare to go back alone?”

Hua Xiaowei’s face got even redder. She just stared at her and smiled without speaking. Yuan Sike scratched her head and said, “Alright, alright, let’s go, together.”

The two went upstairs, planning to go to Yuan Sike’s C-class practice room. But when they passed the F-class room, they saw the light on inside. Yuan Sike vaguely heard a somewhat familiar voice. She signaled to Hua Xiaowei, walked to the F-class door, knocked, and pushed the door open, sticking half her body inside.

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