Transmigrated into the Villainous Scummy Alpha in a Talent Show Novel - Chapter 79

Hearing this, the host paused for a moment, the playful smile on their face fading slightly. “Qin Wei, you’re quite protective of contestant Lin Qi, aren’t you?”

Biting her lower lip and considering the audience below, Qin Wei suppressed her displeased expression. “No, it’s just that there are other segments coming up. The self-introductions were taking too long.”

“Alright then, let’s welcome our third-place contestant.”

To Lin Qi’s surprise, during the time she hadn’t been paying attention to the rankings, the top nine had almost completely reshuffled. She and Jiang Ming had stabilized in first and second place, while the previous perpetual runner-up, Qi Kelu, had been pushed to third. The fourth to seventh spots were now occupied by Qin Wei, Wei Xuanyue, Tan Yi, and Yuan Li, respectively. The eighth spot went to an unfamiliar contestant who looked adorably youthful, named Su Su.

Even more astonishingly, the ninth spot was taken by Jing Sha, the young lady who had been pushed into participating in this talent show. Perhaps because she always wore an expression of wanting to leave as soon as possible, the audience developed a rebellious desire to see her forced to sing and dance with tears in her eyes.

After all, the chance to torment a young lady like her might come only once.

One by one, the contestants finished their self-introductions, and it was time for the activity segment. The first game they had arranged required drawing lots to divide into groups, four people in one group and four in another, with the remaining person pairing up with the host to serve as the game referee.

Unfortunately, Lin Qi drew the short straw and ended up in a group with Tan Yi, Jing Sha, and Wei Xuanyue none of whom could be considered reliable.

Looking at the opposing team Jiang Ming, Qi Kelu, Qin Wei, and Su Su, just their expressions alone made them seem like the obvious winners.

Yuan Li, the shy and reserved one, paired up with the host. Holding the microphone, she looked quite pleased with the arrangement.

The first game was a “charm contest.” Each team’s captain would decide the order of participants. Two opposing contestants would wear heart rate monitors, and after three minutes, the one with the higher peak heart rate would lose. If the score was tied 2-2, an additional round would be played.

The captains were determined by ranking, with Lin Qi and Jiang Ming leading their respective teams.

Surveying her own team of misfits, Wei Xuanyue might be slightly better, at least sweetly obedient when given orders, but Tan Yi and Jing Sha were both brimming with confidence, each eager to go first.

If only Wei Xuanyue and Tan Yi, the bickering duo, weren’t on the same team otherwise, Lin Qi, the self-proclaimed matchmaker, could have played cupid for them.

Deep down, Lin Qi wanted to face Jiang Ming directly. After all, it would give her a chance to openly flirt with the girl in front of everyone. For some inexplicable reason, she was confident she could keep her heart rate lower than that of the easily flustered “little white rabbit.”

After speculating about Jiang Ming’s strategy, given her reserved nature, she’d likely choose to go last, with the similarly carefree Qi Kelu going first, followed by Qin Wei, then Su Su, and finally herself, Lin Qi took the notepad handed to her by Yuan Li and confidently wrote down her team’s order: Wei Xuanyue, Tan Yi, Jing Sha, and herself.

“Alright, since both captains have finalized their orders, I’ll now announce the first pair to face off in the charm contest!”

With a mischievous grin, Yuan Li announced, “Xuanyue and Jiang Jiang it’s you two!”

Her heart felt like it was about to split open. Thanks to her excellent idol-level composure, Lin Qi managed not to show her disappointment. What the heck? Why did Jiang Ming choose to go first?

That shouldn’t have happened!

Little did she know, both of them had been guessing each other’s thoughts. Jiang Ming assumed that someone as confident as Lin Qi would step up first, so she wrote her own name in the first slot.

And the result…

As she walked to the center, Jiang Ming exchanged a helpless glance with Wei Xuanyue, who was equally resigned. The two extended their wrists for the staff to attach heart rate monitors, then unexpectedly burst into laughter at the same time.

They were just too familiar with each other pure bestie vibes. Their heart rates remained extremely steady, hovering around the 80s and 90s.

Still determined to win, Wei Xuanyue first glanced cautiously at Lin Qi before slipping a hand around Jiang Ming’s neck, pulling her close. The sudden proximity, however, didn’t faze Jiang Ming at all. Instead, she suppressed a smile, her lips curling higher. Her heart rate did rise slightly, but only because she was holding back laughter, her chest trembling with amusement.

Talk about a failed attempt. Once up close, Wei Xuanyue got her first real look at Jiang Ming’s face, features so perfect she’d always joked they were Nuwa’s magnum opus. Her oval face had smooth contours, framed by pink hair and dark eyes. Her brows and lashes were like strokes from a painting, shimmering with mirth. Her lips, glossed with a mirror-finish peach tint, looked irresistibly plump and dewy, enhancing her already radiant, youthful charm.

Faced with such beauty, the aggressor’s heart rate skyrocketed instead.

Lin Qi, already sour about their closeness, now saw her own team at a disadvantage. Her expression turned utterly resigned, what a double loss.

The other three, however, were thrilled. On Wei Xuanyue’s screen, the numbers had climbed close to 130, while Jiang Ming’s remained steady at 90. Wasn’t victory practically guaranteed?

Pretending to check Wei Xuanyue’s expression, Lin Qi moved to the side near the audience, turning her back to ensure the cameras wouldn’t catch her face. Then, she winked at Jiang Ming, who happened to glance her way curiously.

“Wow, Contestant Jiang Ming’s heart rate is rising, approaching 110 now! Wei Xuanyue, step it up!”

The host, oblivious to Lin Qi’s little maneuver, simply commented on the match. He seemed to enjoy watching Jiang Ming and Wei Xuanyue flirt with each other.

Three minutes flew by. Even with Lin Qi’s last-minute interference, Jiang Ming’s heart rate stayed lower than Wei Xuanyue’s, securing their team’s victory in the first round.

For the second round, the host announced, “Next up, Contestants Qi Kelu and Tan Yi!”

Two striking alpha beauties stood face-to-face, equal in height. Qi Kelu exuded mature elegance, her uniform buttoned up to the top, revealing only a slender neck. Tan Yi, on the other hand, sported a sporty-casual look, her uniform unbuttoned, the shirt beneath barely covering her collarbones.

Now, their sharp noses were nearly touching, much to the delight of fans who adored alpha-alpha dynamics.

Lin Qi had assumed Tan Yi would lose after all, she was usually so carefree and unreliable. Yet, after three minutes, her heart rate remained remarkably steady, likely due to regular exercise. Surprisingly, it was even lower than Jiang Ming’s, barely in the 80s.

As for Qi Kelu, it was quite strange. She clearly appeared to be a stunning and valiant older sister, her aura subtly overpowering Tan Yi’s, yet she actually blushed during their close-up eye contact, seemingly a bit embarrassed, her heart rate soaring straight to 110.

No way, she couldn’t possibly like alphas, could she??

The person she thought would win lost, and the one she expected to lose won. Lin Qi decided then and there to never jinx anything again.

“Team Xiaoqi has evened the score, it’s now one to one. Next up is the third group: Susu and Xiao Jing.”

The third group was hosted by Yuan Li. After watching two lively matches, her initially shy smile gradually widened. It was genuinely amusing, one pair was pure bestie vibes, the other was a double-alpha power struggle. She felt quite lucky to have drawn the hosting role, as the face-to-face flirting was just too awkward.

Looking at the two equally flustered participants, Lin Qi thought their group might actually win? Susu was the cute type, while Jing Sha preferred gentle older sisters like Pei Zhirong.

In reality, they weren’t very familiar with each other. The two stood awkwardly face-to-face, Jing Sha pursing her lips, uncharacteristically shy.

Susu, however, handled it better. She even had the spare mental bandwidth to tease the person who was already squirming from mere eye contact. Leaning close to Jing Sha’s ear, she blew a soft breath, the warmth instantly spreading from her earlobes down to her neck. The effect was immediate the numbers on the opposite screen shot straight up to 120.

Unsurprisingly, Jing Sha lost.

Utterly perplexed, Lin Qi pulled the defeated young lady aside, curiosity getting the better of her. She removed her own earpiece and moved the microphone away from Jing Sha’s lips before asking, “What’s going on? Did you stop liking Sister Pei and switch to Susu?”

“No,” Jing Sha admitted, her voice low. “Yesterday, I told Sister Pei I had a fan meet today. She said she’d come watch me. I acted shy earlier just to see if she’d react.”

So even the straightforward young lady had her moments of playing love games. Lin Qi nodded, still puzzled. “Then why was your heart rate so high? Do you have some superpower to control it?”

“Of course not!”

Blushing again, Jing Sha lowered her head, as if wishing she could vanish into the ground. “I, I just couldn’t help my heart racing at the thought of Sister Pei watching me.”

Lin Qi was speechless, realizing how off-base her earlier assumption had been. How could someone this timid and devoted ever switch affections to Susu? She patted Jing Sha’s shoulder, her eyes conveying a silent “Good luck,” especially since those three minutes with Susu had undeniably been a little ambiguous.

Reattaching her earpiece and keeping her heartbeat as steady as possible, Lin Qi noticed the host hadn’t announced the next round yet. She glanced at him curiously, only to find his expression unreadable.

It was Qin Wei who stepped forward, her expression oddly resolute, as if facing her doom. “Lin Qi, it’s just you and me left. Let’s go.”

Standing at the center of the stage, Qin Wei extended her wrist for the staff to attach the heart rate monitor, meeting the host’s concerned gaze with a slight shake of her head a silent reassurance.

Lin Qi suddenly sensed something, this host seemed to hold some animosity toward her but doted on Qin Wei. Could it be…?

This conjecture was rather bold. Lin Qi was also wearing a heart rate monitor, and when the host shouted “Time starts now,” she clearly saw the reluctant look in the male omega’s eyes. Did this person not want her and Qin Wei to flirt with each other?

A rebellious impulse surged within her. The displeasure she had accumulated from the host’s sarcastic remarks earlier finally found an outlet. Lin Qi carefully controlled the distance, suddenly leaning in toward Qin Wei, though not too close, with their noses still a few centimeters apart. But once their eyes met, she deliberately fixed her amorous gaze on the evasive eyes before her.

The audience erupted in screams. Without even looking, Lin Qi knew Qin Wei’s heart must be racing now. After all, the girl’s face had turned completely red, and she couldn’t even bring herself to meet Lin Qi’s gaze.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lin Qi noticed the host furrowing his brows, and a hint of satisfaction flickered in her heart. She took the initiative to pull back, her peach-blossom eyes curving into crescent moons, charming and captivating. “Sorry about that, just playing to win,” she said.

Less than half of the three-minute timer had passed. Qin Wei, her face flushed, glanced back at her own large screen, which displayed a glaring “130” the highest heart rate among all eight participants. She shot a pleading look at the host, her voice trembling slightly, “I surrender, okay?”

The host Qin Han, shook his head silently, mouthing, “Is this how you want to embarrass yourself?”