She debuted after having a child with a celestial being.

"Please look at the big screen."

The lights in the entire venue suddenly dimmed to their lowest setting, leaving only two spotlights shining on Xiao He and Cai Kunkun respectively.

Behind them, a huge LED screen slowly lit up, and two pillars engraved with their names appeared on the screen, with light pillars below the pillars representing the real-time vote count.

The blue beam of light represents Xiao He, and the gold beam of light represents Cai Kunkun.

The numbers started jumping, rising wildly from zero.

Less than a minute into the show, Cai Kunkun's votes began to surge at an astonishing rate.

The golden pillar of light climbed higher and higher, and the barrage of comments was instantly flooded with IKUN's golden support slogans.

"Cai Kunkun debuts in center position"

"IKUN will always be here"

Xiao He's blue beam of light was also rising, but the gap had widened from the beginning, and he was stuck at one-third of the position, unable to catch up no matter what.

In the back-end data monitoring room, the staff member responsible for real-time vote counting stared at the screen and couldn't help but mutter, "Cai Kunkun's fans are too fierce. He's in first place in all four rounds of voting, and this time the gap is widening even faster."

Another staff member chimed in, "Xiao He's side definitely can't win."

He was looking at another screen when he suddenly stopped.

"Wait, Xiao He's votes are coming in fast. Someone is campaigning for him."

A series of unfamiliar IDs began appearing in the live chat on the big screen: "Yang Zi's army has parachuted in!"

"Support Xiao He, Zimi reporting for duty!"

"A fan of Zhang Yishan passing by, supporting my old classmate!"

The live chat exploded—"Yang Zi? Which Yang Zi?"

"Zhang Yishan?"

Someone quickly posted a Weibo link: "Yang Zi just posted this 18 minutes ago!"

At the same time, the entire audience looked down and took out their phones.

On the screen, Yang Zi's Weibo homepage prominently displayed a post that had been published less than twenty minutes ago: "My college classmate Xiao He is participating in Idol Producer. He is the most talented original musician in our 2014 class of the Performance Department at Beijing Film Academy. Please support him! Pick Xiao He, you won't regret it! @XiaoHe"

The accompanying photo is a group photo taken at the entrance of the Beijing Film Academy—Yang Zi is wearing a white T-shirt in the photo, and the boy standing next to her is Xiao He.

A dozen minutes later, Zhang Yishan retweeted Yang Zi's Weibo post, adding the caption: "This is my brother, I have to support him. Don't embarrass our class, you're from the 2014 class at Beijing Film Academy."

Shu Chang then joined in the repost, saying, "Keep it up, old classmate!"

The screen was instantly flooded with comments like a tsunami: "Holy crap! Beijing Film Academy's 2014 class!"

"He's in the same class as Yang Zi?! And he's Zhang Yishan's buddy?"

"Yang Zi's army has arrived! Xiao He is saved!"

"Is Shu Chang also from Beijing Film Academy?"

Yang Zi's fans, the "Purple Rice" (a nickname for Yang Zi's fans), began flooding into the voting channel.

Xiao He's blue beam of light suddenly rose a notch, and his speed in pursuit noticeably increased.

The live chat began scrolling with exclamations: "The treasure of Beijing Film Academy has finally been unearthed!"

Yang Zi's campaign for votes was incredibly effective.

"Purple Rice fans are here! Xiao Hechong!"

But IKUN's golden beam of light is still rising.

Every time Xiao He's blue beam of light got a little closer, the golden beam of light would suddenly surge upwards again, and the gap was never closed. Anxious comments began flooding the screen: "The difference is still too great."

"Cai Kunkun's fan base is too solid."

"It's too late."

The votes were neck and neck, and blue and gold beams of light rose alternately on the screen.

Fifteen minutes, ten minutes, eight minutes... the gap was narrowing, but the golden beam of light remained firmly pressing down on it.

"The passage will be closed in five minutes."

Zhang Yixing's voice came from the other side of the stage.

The live chat was silent for less than half a second, then exploded—"Five minutes!"

"It's too late."

"Xiao Hechong!"

"The last minute".

倒计时的数字在大屏幕上亮起来，4分59秒、4分58秒、4分57秒……

Just as the timer ticked past "1 minute 00 seconds", the blue beam of light suddenly seemed to be pushed by something and shot upwards at an almost vertical angle.

The numbers in the blue beam of light jumped faster than those in the golden beam of light in an instant, and continued to climb as the entire audience held their breath.

The live chat went wild: "What's going on?!"

"Who?"

The answer became clear in each pop-up comment: "Hyperion fans on the rooftop are reporting that a large number of capes have just flooded into the voting channel!"

"It's not just Zimi (a fan of Xiao He), it's not just Beijing Film Academy—there's a whole group of people who don't even watch talent shows, but they're all voting for Xiao He!"

The instant the timer reached zero, a blue beam of light shot into the sky, breaking through the suppression of the golden beam of light in an almost vertical arc, and exploding into a blue sea of ​​light at the top of the big screen.

The entire room was silent for a full three seconds.

Then it exploded.

Some people screamed, some stood up and applauded, and some raised both hands above their heads and waved them frantically.

The live chat went completely out of control: "They've overtaken them!"

"A last-second comeback!"

What the hell kind of script is this?!

"Holy crap!!!"

"Xiao He is in the center!"

Two terms lit up simultaneously on the real-time trending search list: "Xiao He overtakes" and "Cai Kunkun".

On the big screen, the final vote count was displayed.

Zhang Yixing opened the envelope, glanced at the result, looked up, and said in a low voice that could be heard clearly throughout the live broadcast studio: "Congratulations, Xiao He, an individual trainee."

The blue spotlight suddenly contracted, enveloping Xiao He in a nearly transparent halo.

The room fell silent again, and Zhang Yixing, following procedure, had Cai Kunkun give his acceptance speech.

Then Cai Kunkun spoke into the microphone, his voice trembling slightly, but every word was steady and clear: "A hundred days ago, when I asked him in the hallway about forming a team, I knew this day would come. If it wasn't him, it would be me. Today, he's in the center. Thank you to my past self for making this decision to come here four months ago. Thank you IKUN, I love you all. Keep going, brothers."

He bowed at a ninety-degree angle, and when he turned and walked to the side of the stage, his steps were not fast, but each step was steady and resonant.

When he reached the entrance of the passage, he stopped and looked back at the person in the blue halo on the stage. His lips twitched slightly, and then he disappeared into the shadows of the side curtain.

The live chat was flooded with golden comments: "Cai Kunkun, don't cry."

"IKUN will always be here"

"You've already won by making it to the finals as a candidate for the center position all by yourself."

The lights in the entire venue came on.

Xiao He stood in the center of the stage, with blue spotlights pouring down from above.

He held the microphone, remained silent for a long time, and then spoke: "Thank you for every vote. Thank you to everyone who campaigned for me. Thank you for letting me know that even starting from scratch, I can get here."

He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the lights and screams, lingering for two seconds at the boundary between light and shadow.

Xiao He hadn't actually planned to debut as the most popular vote winner. His plan was to finish the trainee program as the most talented member of his team and then develop into a singer-songwriter.

How did they get the lead in popularity votes?

How did it go from debuting as a talent to debuting as an idol?