Chapter 82: Zero Points

After Liu Shao finished listening to Director Wu Tong’s instructions, he carefully chose his words and announced the decision.

“...After careful consideration by the director’s team, the upcoming battle between Mentor Yan Mi’s team and Mentor Zheng Huayu’s team will be changed from head-to-head duels to a sixteen-person melee!”

“The sixteen contestants will take the stage one by one to perform, and their scores will be determined by the four mentors and the audience below. Each mentor may award up to one hundred points to each contestant, while the six hundred members of the audience each have one point to grant according to their preference.”

“The maximum score is one thousand points. After all contestants have performed, we will rank them from highest to lowest, and the eight lowest-ranked contestants will unfortunately have to bid farewell to the stage.”

Liu Shao’s words not only provoked cheers and screams from the six hundred spectators present, but also shocked the three mentors aside from Zheng Huayu!

The show had already begun, and the contestants were about to perform—changing the rules at this point?! Such a move had never been seen before in the history of music talent shows!

“Damn?! They really changed it?! This is just outrageous!”

“Haha, this is how it should be! This will make things much more exciting!”

“Enough chatter, I can’t wait to watch the competition!!!”

...

On the mentor’s table, the three mentors’ expressions shifted, but since the essence of the new rule remained fair, they could only acquiesce.

The only thing Yan Mi could do was arrange for Su Chen to be the last in the singing order, giving him the maximum time to compose.

But whether Su Chen could actually finish composing, Yan Mi herself didn’t know…

She glanced at the spot among the top thirty-two, where Su Chen was scribbling absentmindedly with pen and paper, feeling somewhat pessimistic.

Su Chen had never been so slow to write a song before. It seemed…

Of course, Su Chen’s state did not escape the notice of Meng Xiaotian and Zheng Huayu. Watching him, they couldn’t help but smirk!

So you’ve finally hit a wall and can’t write a song, huh? Hahaha!

They watched Su Chen twirl his pen and mutter under his breath. Although they couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying, it was nothing more than complaints.

Only Xu Jiajia, sitting next to Su Chen, could faintly hear his words.

“The last to go on stage? That’s way too long… I’ll write it later…”

Looking at the time, Su Chen had never fought such a leisurely battle in his life!

On stage, Liu Shao paused, letting the heated atmosphere ferment before continuing, “Alright, next we’ll follow the performance order written by the two mentors.”

“Let’s first welcome the contestant from Yan Mi’s team, Liu Ying!”

“Oh oh oh!!!”

Amidst cheers and applause, Liu Ying rose from her seat, pale-faced and trembling, and walked to the center of the stage.

She hadn’t expected to be the first to perform.

Her legs had never been this weak, not even when she ran through every executive’s office overnight to earn a spot on ‘Tomorrow’s Star,’ were they this shaky.

Facing the dual challenge of a tragic love song and a wedding theme, Liu Ying simply couldn’t think of a song that fit both!

In other words, she didn’t even have a song she could perform—her mind was a complete blank!

But as the spotlight shone and all eyes focused on her, Liu Ying had no choice but to sing!

She approached the band teacher, told them her chosen song, then braced herself at the center of the stage, waiting for the intro to begin.

About ten seconds later, the intro started, and Liu Ying’s trembling voice rang out.

“We didn’t have time to say goodbye, didn’t have time to say, properly, that we’d still be friends…”

To be honest, while Liu Ying’s nerves made her performance unstable, overall the song was pleasant enough.

But the four mentors all frowned, because they knew this song well—it was indeed a tragic love song, but it had nothing to do with the wedding theme!

If graded strictly, all four mentors could only give her zero points!

With a deficit of four hundred points from the start, Liu Ying’s fate was essentially sealed.

“...friends, in the end, we couldn’t remain friends…”

After she finished singing, Liu Ying nearly collapsed on stage.

She looked helplessly at the four mentors, pleading with her eyes.

“Alright, Liu Ying has finished her performance. Now, I ask the four mentors and the six hundred audience members to pick up your voting devices and cast your precious votes for Liu Ying!” Liu Shao said, facing the audience.

“The voting channel will close in three seconds, so please make your choices quickly!”

“Three…”

“Two…”

“…One! Voting is closed!”

“Before revealing the scores, let’s first hear the mentors’ evaluations.” Liu Shao said, signaling the mentors to speak.

Following the seating order from left to right, Zhou Zhiqian could only give a wry smile, “Liu Ying’s voice is very suited to tragic love songs, but her performance was average. Most importantly… this song doesn’t connect to the wedding theme at all.”

After Zhou Zhiqian, it was Han Hong and Yan Mi’s turn. Their comments were similar, acknowledging Liu Ying’s strengths but expressing regret about her song choice.

Soon, it was Zheng Huayu’s turn.

“The previous three mentors might have spared your feelings, but I can tell you quite responsibly—your performance was garbage!”

Zheng Huayu spoke with a stern expression, like a strict teacher.

“Trembling voice, shallow emotion—you didn’t even grasp the basics of singing!”

“Moreover, your song choice is completely unrelated to the theme! Do you think this competition is a math test? That you can just pick any solution and the teacher will give you points? Dream on!”

“This is blatant disrespect—to the show, to the mentors, and to the audience!”

Ignoring Liu Ying, he finished his critique, and on stage, Liu Ying broke down, covering her face and sobbing as she fled.

Liu Shao didn’t stop her. Faced with this scene, he could only have the livestream switch to the big screen.

“Alright… the mentors have given their evaluations. Let’s see Liu Ying’s score!”

“First, Mentor Zhou Zhiqian… 30 points!”

“Mentor Han Hong… 30 points!”

“Mentor Yan Mi… 45 points!”

“And Mentor Zheng Huayu… 0 points!”

“Adding the votes from our 600 audience members, Liu Ying’s final score is 387!”

At these words, the contestants’ faces grew notably grim.