I Became the Top Competitor in a Talent Show Novel - Chapter 33.3

Surprise Performance at the Music Festival

At four in the afternoon, one hundred and twenty-six uniformly dressed trainees stood beneath the flag-raising platform of Mingde School. The director and two assistant directors bustled about, dividing the one hundred and twenty-six trainees into three groups. Chi Meng stood in the first row of the third group, with Song Jiaqi on her left and Su Mengyao on her right.

The three of them felt a strange sense of being manipulated or “black-boxed” into their positions.

“Remember all your positions, front, back, left, and right. Get on the bus in this exact formation! Don’t mess up!” Director Cen Hongjie looked slightly nervous. He smiled and waved to everyone, saying, “Alright, everyone on the bus!”

Everyone was confused, wondering where they were going. The production team was being very secretive. It wasn’t until the bus had driven for half an hour and reached their destination that they heard deafening music drifting in through the window.

A trainee who pulled back the curtain exclaimed in surprise, “It’s the sea!”

A local trainee among them suddenly realized, jumping up in excitement, “Ah! It’s the Dongjiang Seaside Music Festival! It happens every year!”

“Music Festival?” the trainees shouted.

Someone asked in disbelief, trembling, “What?! Are we going on stage to perform?”

The distant sound of music and singing floated in, and everyone felt a surge of unutterable excitement mixed with confusion. The feeling intensified until the staff shouted for them to get off the bus and walk forward according to their previous formation.

The singing grew closer, and the stage grew nearer. Tens of thousands of people were yelling along with the singer on stage. At this moment, the trainees forgot their astonishment, and goosebumps spread rapidly up their arms.

Behind them, the vast, azure sea stretched out, boundless. In front of them, the ribbons of the Dongjiang Seaside Music Festival fluttered in the wind. The trainees, trembling with shock, were led by staff to the backstage area and lined up. The staff told them how to stand on stage, what icons to look for on the floor… The trainees felt bewildered and somewhat fearful.

Chi Meng quietly raised her head.

019 sucked in a breath, shivering, “Host… so, so many people!”

The Dongjiang Seaside Music Festival was a summer-exclusive event in Dongjiang. It had become very famous, with a huge scale, comparable to a concert by a well-known singer. This year, it even featured three stages, each with a massive screen behind it for distant audience members to watch the performance.

The person currently performing on stage was Luan Xiu, a mentor from Star Journey. As the opening act for the seaside music festival, her entrance instantly ignited the entire venue. After one song, the three large screens showed Luan Xiu’s refined face. She smiled at the crowd and said, “I’m very happy to be invited by the Dongjiang Seaside Music Festival, and very happy to meet everyone here. But today, I didn’t come to Dongjiang alone. I’d like to introduce a group of people to you—yes, a group—a group of young, beautiful, lovely, and energetic girls!”

Just then, the screens behind her were instantly filled with gold and pink. The Star Journey (星啓程) logo appeared, the golden star rotating, facing the people and the sea.

“Tomorrow night at eight, tune in to Dongjiang TV and the Dongjiang App for Star Journey. Let’s welcome the Star Journey Trainees!” Luan Xiu shouted.

Although the audience below didn’t know what Star Journey was, they were very supportive and applauded and cheered out of respect for Luan Xiu.

The staff below immediately signaled, and the girls, whose shock and confusion were replaced by instinct, immediately ran forward, looking down for the icons the staff had mentioned.

Fortunately, the star icons were very obvious, and everyone quickly found their positions and stood firm, raising their heads to face the cheers.

One hundred and twenty-six young, beautiful faces smiled toward the crowd, the sea, and the sky. The audience below was stunned, especially those right in front of each stage who were face-to-face with the girls. So many pretty girls?

The Star Journey theme song instantly began. The moment the theme song sounded, the memory ingrained in the trainees’ muscles made them instinctively raise their arms.

The voices of one hundred and twenty-six girls opened up simultaneously, blending with the live backing track: “This time, I’ll give it my all, don’t say I’m flying into the fire like a moth.”

Chi Meng curled her lips and sang loudly: “I’ve made all my preparations, this meeting is no mere coincidence.”

In the audience, a student from Dongjiang No. 1 High School, who had just finished his college entrance exams and vowed to reclaim all the fun he had missed, saw the girl’s face flash across the big screen and completely froze. He gripped his companion’s arm.

“Holy cow! Chi Meng? Chi Meng is on stage!!”

The person who was nearly strangled was about to raise his palm to hit him but paused at the words: “What?!”

Who?

“It really is Chi Meng!!”

“Senior Chi Meng?”

In front of the side stage, a row of students holding light sticks for their favorite singer looked at the girl in the center of the front row and completely erupted.

“Senior Chi Meng???”

Chi Meng lowered her eyes, meeting the gaze of the girls holding up their phones. She didn’t flinch, winking her left eye at the camera.

“Just look at me, go be an idol! Watch me become the one star in ten thousand!”

“I’ll shining, shining”

“Aahhh—”

The girls screamed, shouting Chi Meng’s name. The people around them looked at each other. Who was Chi Meng? A new star? Is she that popular? These kids are shouting more passionately than they did for Luan Xiu!

They couldn’t help but remember the name Chi Meng.

Even after the performance ended, the girls whose voices were hoarse continued to wave their arms frantically at Chi Meng and shout her name. As she walked off stage, Chi Meng put her hand on Song Jiaqi’s shoulder, turned her back, raised her right hand with her index and middle fingers together, and lightly tapped her forehead, saluting them from afar.

Yes, it’s me. Vote for me, underclassmen.

Chi Meng: wink~

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