I Became the Top Competitor in a Talent Show Novel - Chapter 28.1

June 23rd, 8:00 AM.

One hundred and twenty-six trainees, dressed in their class uniforms, stood in the main hall of Mingyi Building, a mix of nervousness and excitement on their faces.

Host Xie Tongyue smiled and stood at the front, delivering the standard opening remarks to the camera. Chi Meng noticed that today’s opening had significantly more commercial brand placements than before.

“Today is the last time you will stand here with your current rankings,” Xie Tongyue announced. “The ranking assessment this morning will determine your standing for tonight’s theme song recording!”

Many trainees looked excited, while many others showed signs of unease.

“In the past five days, the mentors and the production crew have witnessed everyone’s efforts. We hope that the results of today’s assessment will be worthy of your hard work. Now, I will announce the assessment rules,” Xie Tongyue said.

She opened her cue card. “Star Journey Theme Song Assessment: All trainees will be assessed together, in order from F-Class to A-Class.”

As Xie Tongyue spoke, staff members wearing masks pushed forward dividers and placed them in the open space in front of the viewing stands. Each divider was spaced apart and could accommodate four people on stage at the same time.

Su Mengyao, standing in the back row, strained to look forward. Seeing clearly, she exclaimed in surprise, “Four people performing together?”

“Probably. After all, we have 126 people. The song is three and a half minutes long. Performing one by one would take a long time,” said Jing Ming, who was standing next to Su Mengyao.

Chi Meng nodded and casually said, “7.35 hours.”

The moment her words fell, the surroundings went silent. Everyone, including Su Mengyao and Jing Ming, whipped their heads around to look at Chi Meng, their eyes filled with surprise and doubt.

“Really?” Su Mengyao was incredulous and immediately started counting on her fingers.

“One song is three and a half minutes. Twenty people in three minutes is one hour. 120 people is six hours. Half a minute is two people in one minute. 120 people is exactly one hour. Plus the remaining six times three and a half minutes is 21 minutes…” Su Mengyao frowned.

Chi Meng chuckled, “Isn’t 21 minutes 0.35 hours?”

Su Mengyao: “Is it!”

Others: “Is it?”

“Oh! Yes, it is!” Su Mengyao understood. She turned to look at Song Jiaqi, who always fell silent during recordings, and asked with a smile, “Do you get it?”

Song Jiaqi lifted her eyes, her brow raised. Since the first stage performance, she and Su Mengyao had not had any interaction, even though they currently lived in the same dorm. Was this person bored and trying to talk to her?

So Song Jiaqi said coldly, “Elementary school multiplication and division, do you still need to count on your fingers?”

Su Mengyao pressed on, “Then calculate it once for me to see!”

“Calculate how long it would take for 250 trainees to perform the theme song, and calculate it as quickly as Chi Meng did!”

She looked at Song Jiaqi with an expression of “go on, calculate it, calculate it quickly” in provocation. Song Jiaqi stared back at her coldly. Chi Meng raised her hand and cut off their line of sight, turning Su Mengyao’s head back.

Su Mengyao huffed, unconvinced.

Song Jiaqi also gave a cold laugh.

Teacher Chi said gently, “Kindergarten children shouldn’t fight. The teacher will tell you the answer is 14.6 hours. Since everyone wants to compete in their studies, the college entrance exam results should be out in another week, right?”

As soon as she finished, Song Jiaqi and Su Mengyao froze simultaneously. Several trainees who were also taking the exam this year were stunned and clutched their little hearts.

Collateral damage! This was collateral damage!

Song Jiaqi looked away, letting out a small ‘humph,’ “I’m an art student.”

Su Mengyao immediately said, “I’m a liberal arts student!”

Chi Meng, a science student, smiled and touched her chin. “At least everyone took Chinese, Math, and English, right? Let’s compete with our math scores.”

As soon as she proposed this friendly suggestion, Song Jiaqi and Su Mengyao stopped talking altogether, staring at the air in front of them and treating Chi Meng’s words as air.

Chi Meng understood. She smiled and patted Song Jiaqi’s shoulder. Song Jiaqi was a little annoyed. She hadn’t provoked Su Mengyao, so what was the female lead up to? She frowned, suddenly recalling the scene Su Mengyao had witnessed last night. She turned her head, her dark eyes landing on Chi Meng’s profile.

Could it be… Su Mengyao was sticking up for Chi Meng?

Never mind whether her relationship with Chi Meng was good or not, what did that have to do with Su Mengyao? Judging by Su Mengyao’s method of retaliation, it was too childish.

Song Jiaqi looked at the back of Su Mengyao’s head with a mocking expression.

Chi Meng talked to 019.

“Do these two children add up to ten years old?” Chi Meng sighed. “So childish.”

019 was quite happy. “If the host spends time with them, maybe you can rediscover the feeling of your youth!”

Chi Meng’s face darkened. “I am very young right now.”

She emphasized, “From body to soul.”

019 quickly nodded and set off a heart-shaped firework for Chi Meng.

While the other trainees were discussing the assessment, they were here calculating. When the staff finished setting up the dividers and cameras, Xie Tongyue pressed her hands down to quiet everyone.

“As you can see, the assessment will take place in the partitioned spaces. D-Class and F-Class trainees will be assessed four people per group simultaneously. B-Class and C-Class will be three people per group. And A-Class trainees have the privilege of a separate, solo assessment!” Xie Tongyue announced loudly.

A-Class trainees immediately showed happy expressions. Dancing alone versus dancing with four others meant different levels of attention. The more people there were, the more opportunities the most captivating trainee had to achieve a higher rank. A-Class didn’t have this worry.

“Please take this assessment seriously. Whether it’s your first stage performance or your theme song individual assessment, they will appear on each trainee’s profile card when the show airs. The star-makers who want to learn about you can click on your avatar to see all your stages in the show,” Xie Tongyue said.

The trainees nodded eagerly, cheering each other on.

The host finished announcing the rules and went to the mentor’s room to prepare for the evaluation. The 126 trainees remained in place, drawing lots starting from F-Class to determine the order of appearance, and then lining up according to that order.

This time, the F-Class stood at the very front.

The first three groups of trainees who were about to go on stage couldn’t help but turn their heads and say, “Is this what it feels like to stand in the front row?”

The people behind them patted their shoulders and encouraged them, “Good luck, perform well, and stand here next time!”

In the last row, Chi Meng raised her hand and rested it on Song Jiaqi’s shoulder, slowly asking, “Is this fate?”

Song Jiaqi’s face was a little dark. Su Mengyao, to Chi Meng’s left, leaned over, eyes downcast, and deliberately asked, “Song Jiaqi, why are you unhappy? Are you unhappy because you have to be assessed with Sister Chi Meng?”

“I’m different. I’m super happy to be assessed with Mengmeng~” She said, reaching out to hug Chi Meng’s waist.

Chi Meng was nudged by her force toward Song Jiaqi. Seeing Song Jiaqi’s dark face, she imitated Su Mengyao’s tone: “Yeah, why aren’t you happy, Qi-mei?”

She reached out and poked Song Jiaqi’s cheek.

Song Jiaqi looked sideways, grabbed her fingers, and poked them back at Chi Meng’s face.

“There’s an inside story,” she said gloomily.

“This is called meant to be,” Chi Meng curved her lips into a smile.

Su Mengyao leaned her head out again and said “ominously,” “Every cause has its effect, and your retribution is me.”

Song Jiaqi froze, her eye color instantly deepening.

Truly… a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Chi Meng noticed Song Jiaqi’s expression and looked at her in surprise. Song Jiaqi released her fingers and silently turned to look at the front. Su Mengyao was pulling her and talking, but she was listening distractedly, her peripheral vision constantly glancing at Song Jiaqi.

After a while, she asked 019, “Little Nine, can I confirm something with you?”

019 promptly replied, “Please, Host.”

“Everything currently happening in this world is normal, right? I mean, it aligns with the plot you told me,” she asked.

When Su Mengyao came to participate in the survival show, 019 had checked with the main system and confirmed there were no issues. Hearing Chi Meng ask again, it didn’t answer immediately. Instead, it said, “019 can apply for confirmation again!”

019: “Does the Host feel that something is wrong?”

019 trusted Chi Meng very much.

Chi Meng smiled and said, “I just feel that the atmosphere between Jiaqi and Mengyao is subtle. I always feel like they know each other, but Mengyao doesn’t know Jiaqi at all.”

“When you confirm, don’t mention the two of them,” Chi Meng told 019 gently. “Just confirm that the plot of this world is proceeding according to the book you referred to.”

019 quickly followed Chi Meng’s instructions.

The assessment was about to begin. The trainees sat down on the steps, and the four trainees from Class F who were first up nervously lined up in the center of the partition. The partition space was large, covered with the Star Journey logo.

One of the first to go on stage was Lin Xueyang, who shared a dorm with Chi Meng. Chi Meng was out early and back late every day and didn’t have much interaction with her dormmates except for Su Mengyao and Song Jiaqi, but living together was a kind of fate. Chi Meng held Su Mengyao with her left hand and Song Jiaqi with her right, raising her hands to cheer for Lin Xueyang.

Lin Xueyang’s face was pale with nervousness. Her company had only sent her alone to the show. Seeing her dormmates cheering for her at this moment filled her with deep emotion.

Soon, the instrumental music with no vocals began. The four girls started dancing. From Chi Meng’s perspective, she noticed their movements were clearly out of sync. When it was time to move to the beat, some were fast and some were slow, which made their singing off-rhythm.

The four trainees obviously started to panic, and the more they panicked, the more chaotic they became.

In the mentors’ room, Luan Xiu sighed deeply.

Teng Jia pointed at one of the girls and said, “She doesn’t dare to sing anymore.”

“The movements are incomplete, and many steps haven’t been executed properly,” said Shi Xinxin, another dance mentor. “The overall level of Class F is very different from the other classes. They still need a lot more practice.”

Luan Xiu tilted her head but said nothing.

Teng Jia suddenly looked at Luan Xiu and asked, “Chi Meng is in your class, right?”

Xie Tongyue’s mind suddenly conjured a beautiful face with a clean smile. She said, “The Chi classmate with the great singing voice, I heard from the production team that she’s very hardworking.”

“Yes,” Luan Xiu said. “She’s very serious and put in a lot of effort in practice, but don’t expect too much. I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed if your expectations are too high.”

Teng Jia laughed and said, “No way. I remember she had absolutely no dance foundation. I’ll be satisfied if she can just follow the music and dance when it’s her turn!”

The first group of four trainees came down in tears. Lin Xueyang was shaking as she cried, nervously saying, “I… I was too scared. Everyone was watching me. I practiced for so long…”

Su Mengyao hugged Lin Xueyang, comforting her, “You were great! You were super great! It’s okay!”

Lin Xueyang went to the back row dispiritedly. She sat down behind the Class A trainees, silently keeping her head down. The other three trainees were in a similar mood.

Because of the first group’s poor performance, the next group to go on stage felt immense pressure. Only when they stood in the assessment area did they understand what the first group of trainees meant.

Below the stage, over a hundred trainees sat close together, staring directly at them. It wasn’t the blurry, pyramid-like atmosphere of the initial stage; at this distance, the expressions of the trainees in the front rows were clearly visible.

In front of them was also a black camera. The surrounding staff members were quietly watching, either with their arms crossed or hands behind their backs. The cameraman carrying the camera walked around nearby, filming everyone’s reactions.

“Gulp.”

Someone swallowed. As the music began, an arm subconsciously moved, and they opened their mouths to sing at the same time.

The mentors backstage and the trainees in the audience simultaneously let out a surprised, “Oh?”

“This group is not bad,” Teng Jia said, watching the four trainees sing and dance. “It seems nervousness can not only become stress but also a motivation.”

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