I Became the Top Competitor in a Talent Show Novel - Chapter 45.2

Training immediately began after entering the camp.

Then, the opening scene reappeared.

It was the first night of the camp. All was quiet. The girls, exhausted from staying up late to film and then practicing hard all day, had fallen asleep. However, despite the two days of hard work, some trainees still decided to go practice.

When the girl’s scream pierced the night sky, when the sleeping girls in the dorm were startled awake, and when the atmosphere of fear permeated the entire dorm building, forcing the staff to explain, the clock turned forward. The camera landed on the dorm doorway. A girl cautiously looked at the dark campus, tentatively extended one foot, and before it could land, a ruthless hand reached out to her from behind.

The scream tore through the sky.

Hua Xiaowei, watching the show: Ahhh, how embarrassing!

The audience, watching the show: Hahaha, what the heck!

“I’m dying of laughter. Because she was afraid of the dark, she didn’t dare walk at night and almost caused a horror story?”

“Horror story × Horror incident, yes!”

“It’s like seeing my cat circle the water bowl, then tentatively poke the water with a paw, only to get scared and jump three feet high, almost flying to the ceiling! Such a tragedy!”

“Hahaha! OMG! I can totally picture it!”

“The owner of the ruthless hand must be Yuan Sike from Xinghuo, hahaha. The way she hugged Hua Xiaowei, dragged her back, and then rubbed her ears in annoyance is hilarious.”

“Yuan Sike: Hello, I’m deaf now.”

“Yuan Sike: How could I not be deaf?”

In the footage, Yuan Sike rubbed her ears and went to the practice room with Hua Xiaowei. The screen then turned to the practice room, showing all the trainees who were there at the time in a split-screen format. There weren’t many, and the audience quickly recognized who was who, but—

“Xue Weiran, Chi Meng, Qi Yan? How did these three get together? They don’t know each other at all!”

“While we’re at it, Chi Meng?”

In the footage, Chi Meng, who had appeared earlier as the number one in singing during the F-class group practice, looked as if she’d been pulled out of water. She stood earnestly behind Xue Weiran and Qi Yan. Compared to the two in front, her movements were very imperfect, some were even comical, and they carried the awkwardness of a complete novice.

Watching her movements in the mirror and seeing the footage broadcast on the big screen felt completely different. At least, Chi Meng had never felt so silly before.

Song Jiaqi immediately said, “Not silly!”

Chi Meng pursed her lips, “Say that after you get rid of that smile on your face!”

Song Jiaqi: “Pffft.”

Not just Song Jiaqi, the audience watching the show now burst into laughter, saying things like “Chi Meng is acting out my life,” “Chi Meng is performing my dancing,” and “Chi Meng is so cute.” No one paid close attention to the fact that Chi Meng was in the practice room at this hour.

It wasn’t until Su Mengyao and Jing Ming appeared to replace Xue Weiran that the four of them formed a mutual help group and started practicing.

Then, Chi Meng uttered the sentence that resonated deeply with countless people.

“At your age, how can you sleep?” The girl, whose clothes were soaked with sweat, had bright eyes. She gently held Su Mengyao’s shoulder. If the sight of the curly-haired Su Mengyao, who looked pitiful and absent-minded, still made them laugh, what came next did not. As the one week of training was condensed into a two-hour show, and as Chi Meng appeared first to clock in time and time again, and was the last to leave every day, the numbers on the clock, specifically filmed by the cameraman, made the audience outside the screen shudder.

Even Song Jiaqi, who was watching the show, couldn’t help but clench her hands, let alone the “Star Creators” (fans) who liked Chi Meng and had promised to support her regardless of her performance.

Song Jiaqi looked at Chi Meng, whose expression was still calm, next to her. Chi Meng looked back in confusion, curving her lips, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m wondering, how did you keep that up?” Song Jiaqi murmured. She at least had a dance foundation from childhood, and the theme song training wasn’t difficult for her. Moreover, the theme song choreography wasn’t overly complicated, considering its promotional nature and the average skill level of the trainees in the camp. But for someone with no dance foundation, reaching the level required by the mentors was genuinely difficult.

Learning and mastering are two completely different concepts.

Chi Meng, full and satisfied, leaned against the sofa, supporting her head with one hand. She slowly said, “Because I wanted to see how far I could push myself.”

“And since I’m going to do something, isn’t it perfectly normal to want to do it best?” Chi Meng asked, looking puzzled. She felt embarrassed by the highly emotional comments on the screen, lowered her long eyelashes, and laughed softly, a little shy.

“Wuwuwu my Meng-zai is working so hard! Sleeping only three hours a day??”

“I was wrong. How could I ever doubt the diligence of a top student?”

“All my disclaimers have turned into flags planted right back on me. Hiss—that’s too scary!”

“In the post-interview, Chi Meng said she’s naturally energetic. Instead of forcing herself to sleep less and then being too tired to study or work, it’s better to sleep well, be well-rested, and fully pursue efficiency. I love her attitude!”

“She’s too amazing… Chi Meng. I wasn’t interested in her initially, I prefer the cute type, but how can I not take my eyes off this girl! She could easily make things easier for herself, yet she chooses the hardest path.”

“Meng-zai: The easy path is not the right path. Please choose carefully and drive safely. Hahahaha is Meng-zai talking to the comments?”

“So young, so hardworking, so clear-headed, so terrifying, she’s practically a devil!”

“Sister Mengmeng is a devil!” On the screen, Su Mengyao was crawling on the floor, lifting her head and roaring, “Chi Meng is a devil!”

Qi Yan, holding the lyrics next to her, muttered, “How are you any better?”

How can someone change the tune every time they sing a song, making every one an original, and still feel good about themselves?

Chi Meng, with the word ‘Devil’ edited onto her head by the post-production team, flashed a smile of white teeth. She could cosplay a little angel with wings on. She raised her hand to cheer them on, “You can do it! Go for it!”

Qi Yan was spiritually out of her body, her eyes vacant, her mouth open, devoid of her usual cool demeanor. The culprit was still sprawled on the floor, hoping to rest for two more minutes.

Standing nearby, Chi Meng shook a piece of paper and smiled, “Five minutes are up. Practice begins.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the three individuals collapsed in different directions instantly trembled and shakily stood up. The comments laughed, “Is this Chi Meng’s power? They’ve already lost the will to resist.”

“What is resistance? I just want one more minute of rest.”

“Speaking of which, Qi Yan’s dancing is so beautiful. It’s better than some of the A-class trainees’. It’s powerful and rhythmic. Controlling her muscles is as easy as drinking water for her. Am I wrong to say that her dancing ability is one of the best in the training camp?”

“Too bad she won’t open her mouth.”

“Did Qi Yan have a bad experience with singing or her voice before? It might develop that way…”

“I’m dying of laughter. Getting ready to tell a sob story?”

But the subsequent development made people laugh and cry at the same time: the reason Qi Yan didn’t want to sing was because she really disliked her own voice. Imagine a cool girl having a sweet voice—who could handle that!

But even more unbearable was Su Mengyao’s “demonic sound” throughout the night. The woman, with her delicate, pitiful face, whined in a soft voice, “Yan-yan, please sing~ Is it because you don’t like me that you don’t want to learn singing with me, wuwuwu?”

The cool girl really wanted to die!

Go away!

Don’t come near me!

Su Mengyao: “Wuwuwu, Yan-yan doesn’t like me.”

She cried so loudly and miserably that anyone passing by would look at Qi Yan with the gaze reserved for a heartbreaker.

Qi Yan suffered a crushing defeat.

The audience was practically in hysterics. There are so many stories in the camp, why are your stories so funny!

The week of training across the five classes, filled with laughter and tears, quickly passed. The assessment was approaching. Chi Meng already knew the assessment results. She stretched and stood up, telling Song Jiaqi, “I’m going to take care of something. The food is on the table; I’ll clean up when I’m done.”

“You won’t have to,” Song Jiaqi said, looking at Chi Meng with curiosity.

Chi Meng paused her steps and explained, “It’s nothing major. I was thinking that as an individual trainee like me, I don’t have a company or proper promotion. There are many more episodes to come, and the current popularity is only temporary. I want to set up accounts on various platforms myself, pretending to be a fan who edits and posts videos of my good performances from the show.”

This was one of the main reasons she bought the computer.

But Song Jiaqi, hearing her idea: …?

“You… forget it,” Song Jiaqi had originally wanted to say that Chi Meng might be underestimating the fans’ capabilities, but then remembering Chi Meng had no experience in the entertainment industry, she suggested, “Why don’t you find a professional editor to do the post-production? Once the holiday ends, you won’t have time for these things, and a video account that isn’t updated regularly will quickly lose its momentum.”

Popularity is fleeting; maintaining it requires management, which a professional management team should handle.

Chi Meng stood by the sofa, listening intently to Song Jiaqi. After she finished, Chi Meng nodded, “Yes, I considered that. That’s why I browsed some video editing part-time jobs this afternoon. Considering the cost, I thought better of it.”

This was the only promotional method she had to increase her exposure during these few months. First, she’d set up a small Weibo account, pretend to be her junior schoolmate, and reply to her main Weibo with the edited videos. She’d use her main account, whose fan base was constantly growing, to like the posts. That should attract some initial fan support. After that, it would be regular video updates and a few more likes from the main account. Once more people supported it, the video’s popularity would rise, and more passersby would see it, creating a positive cycle.

Song Jiaqi’s head was again full of question marks. This afternoon? Weren’t you practicing dancing all afternoon? When did you look for part-time jobs? Was it during the ten-minute breaks between each class?

She was shocked and murmured, “You can edit, too?”

“Just a little,” Chi Meng said. “I can only splice and stitch videos, the kind that can be done with just editing software.”

But in Song Jiaqi’s eyes, Chi Meng was like a bottomless ocean; you never knew what skills she was hiding or what she was capable of. Song Jiaqi didn’t believe her when she said “just a little.”

However, Chi Meng’s “just a little” was truly just a little.

She returned to the guest room and opened her computer, downloading a highly-rated video editing software. In the meantime, she searched for popular video media software in this world. She unintentionally clicked into a program called “Meow-Woo Video” and was about to click away when her finger paused at a video on the homepage.

[Star Voyage Trainee Chi Meng × Dongjiang Music Festival Fancam: You Must Work Hard, You Are the Brightest Star]

Views: 129,000

Chi Meng: “?!”

019, who had returned from vacation and was about to greet Chi Meng, also saw it: “Wow!”

“So many people are watching the host’s stage!” it said excitedly.

Chi Meng’s lips parted slightly. She clicked into the account named “A Grand Dream.” This blogger had over three thousand followers. Chi Meng scanned the videos; they were all posted in the last two weeks and were entirely related to Chi Meng, with her photos on every video cover.

The account bio read: Fan-made videos by brothers and sisters who like Chi Meng.

Chi Meng pursed her lips and randomly clicked into one video. To cute music, the short thirty-second video slowly played smiling screenshots of her from the first episode. Every photo had various stickers of stars, hearts, and flowers, showing the producer’s affection.

019: “Hehe.”

“Thank you,” Chi Meng whispered, once again feeling the emotion of receiving a bouquet and sticky notes. She watched the video seriously, liked it, and then exited. At that moment, the number of followers next to the account suddenly became over five thousand, and the views for the Dongjiang Music Festival video changed to 156,000.

Twenty-seven thousand in thirty seconds.

Chi Meng was stunned, thinking she had seen wrong. She immediately exited and refreshed the page.

The brand-new computer and the ultimate internet speed instantly refreshed the page, and all the videos were replaced by a new batch. The position where Chi Meng’s mouse hovered showed the first photo she took after buying her new phone today.

Title: Meeting You, Jiaqi is Like a Dream

Description: Chi Meng × Song Jiaqi CP-themed video! Behind-the-scenes stories you don’t know, affection concealed by the main show, hidden within a promise.

If I call you my Jie-Jie (older sister), will you like me?

Chi Meng: …

Chi Meng: “…Huh?”

Song Jiaqi: Chi Meng understands too little about fans.

Chi Meng blankly: I’ve done a lot, but I understand too little.

Chi Meng: Did I buy the computer for nothing?

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