This top-tier academic genius

Wucheng.

After a morning of tutoring, Xiao Hui was finally able to catch her breath during lunch.

She took out her phone and opened dilidili. The dense red dots in the upper right corner immediately caught her attention; there were more than a dozen unread messages.

When she checked the backend, she was stunned to find that a video she had posted yesterday had gone viral.

Xiao Hui is a loyal user of dilidili. She is not only a high-level LV6 user, but also a small UP master with more than 2 followers. She occasionally posts videos, mostly about her studies and daily life, but her viewership has always been lukewarm.

Yesterday, during Lin Yan's live-streamed learning session, the song he sang at the end was very beautiful. Xiao Hui casually cut out the clip, edited it into a video, and posted it online.

Unexpectedly, this video went viral.

37 views and thousands of comments.

It's only been a little over 12 hours since it was released, yet it already has such a high number of views, and it's still rising.

It's worth noting that Xiao Hui's previous videos only garnered a maximum of less than 100,000 views.

Open the comments section, and you'll find it's all about the singing and the good looks.

"The song is so good, can you tell me the title?"

"This guy is so handsome! His profile is killer!"

"Is this your boyfriend, OP? He's so amazing!"

One comment caught Xiao Hui's attention: "The boy in the video looks a bit like Lin Yan, a former member of the boy band Teens in Time."

She remembered that someone in the live stream last night had indeed called out "Lin Yan" to the streamer.

So, Xiao Hui used her phone to search for "Lin Yan of Time Youth Group".

The search results popped up, with all sorts of information, pictures, and videos.

The information at the top of the list is mostly negative.

[Lin Yan, a member of the boy band Time Boys, has had his "academic genius" image shattered, leading to his contract termination by his company.]

[Lin Yan's public image collapse has drawn criticism from state media, who emphasized that underage artists must balance their entertainment careers with their cultural education, and cannot put the cart before the horse!]

"Has her 'top student' persona crumbled?"

Xiao Hui expressed her doubts.

Last night in the live broadcast room, Lin Yan's problem-solving speed was frighteningly fast, and his thinking was so clear that it didn't seem like he was faking it. He didn't seem to have anything to do with being a "fake academic genius" at all.

After that, she opened Huibo and searched for Lin Yan's name. She quickly found his Huibo account and slowly browsed the comments section.

The latest comments are all from viewers who watched the live stream last night:

Lin Yan, we misunderstood you.

I don't know if he's a top student or not, but he's incredibly fast at solving problems.

What's the name of the last song?

Are you still going to do a live learning session tonight?

Scrolling further down, you see a deluge of negative comments, all accusing him of creating a fake academic persona and deceiving his fans.

In the time it takes to eat a meal, Xiao Hui had roughly figured out the whole story.

When Lin Yan was in the boy band Time Youth, his management company marketed him with a "genius student" persona. However, his live stream went wrong, and he was labeled as a fake genius, which led to backlash from fans and discussion in some media outlets. Even official media commented on the topic. Seeing the situation was turning sour, the management company quickly distanced themselves and terminated his contract, kicking him out of the group shortly after he joined.

But based on her intuitive feeling from last night, Xiao Hui felt that something was not quite right.

Lin Yan is focused and serious in her studies, with a solid foundation in mathematics; she doesn't seem like the kind of hypocritical or pretentious person at all.

She tapped her finger lightly and silently followed Lin Yan on Huibo.

She didn't care what others thought; she believed what she saw with her own eyes.

Afterwards, she switched back to the dilidili backend and replied to all the comments on the videos she posted:

The singer is Lin Yan, a former member of the boy band Time Youth. This is a screenshot of him singing and playing an instrument at the end of his live-streamed study session last night. I don't know the song title either; it might be an original composition. If you want to know, you can go to his Douyin live-stream room, ID: Yanyan Loves Studying.

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In a small restaurant next to the library.

Lin Yan ordered a braised pork rice, a fish ball soup, and a braised chicken leg.

Perhaps because I use my brain more, I always feel hungry more easily than before.

While waiting for my food, my gaze fell on the virtual panel.

[Mathematics] Experience points +3.

Indeed, experience only grows when you truly learn something new.

The next second, he suddenly stopped.

Points: 3948

He remembered clearly that there were only 358 views when the broadcast ended last night, so how could it have increased so much overnight? It couldn't have increased that much during the morning's study session.

Just as I was wondering, the numbers on the panel jumped again.

Points: 3958

It rose another 10 points.

He wasn't studying at all right now; the only source of his skyrocketing points was his fans.

Why did I suddenly gain so many followers?

Lin Yan was secretly delighted; it seemed there was plenty of money to be made from gaining points from fans.

"lottery."

After three consecutive draws, white, blue, and purple lights flashed in turn, and I actually got a small stroke of luck again.

White, [Acting Experience +10]

Blue, [Focus Experience Card I (1 hour)]: A one-time item that temporarily grants 0.2 points of "Focus" attribute for 1 hour.

Purple, [Thoracoabdominal Breathing Method]: Professional Singing Breathing Technique

The purple reward caught Lin Yan's eye.

Lin Yan knew about the diaphragmatic breathing method; it was a professional singing breathing technique.

When I was a trainee, my vocal coach mentioned this breathing method. Once you master it, your breath will be more stable and have a longer endurance. It's a real and solid singing skill.

This will be of great use to him, who also wants to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.

The only downside is that it would have been better if it were a learning skill.

In contrast, Lin Yan preferred the pleasure that learning brought her.

He directly learned the breathing technique, and the panel refreshed instantly:

[Vocal Performance: LV1 (423/1000)]

He gained 300 experience points in one go, a significant improvement.

After lunch, Lin Yan returned to the library, took a short nap on the table, and then continued working on math until 4 p.m. before packing up to go home, borrowing several books along the way.

On the way back, he stopped reading and started checking the control panel.

My experience level in Mathematics has increased again.

Most importantly, the points have exceeded one thousand again, which means that the number of fans is still growing.

Although she wasn't quite sure why, Lin Yan didn't dwell on it; it was a good thing anyway.

Then he took out his phone and opened Huibo.

As Lin Yan scrolled through the latest comments on his account, a rare, faint smile appeared on his lips.

Public opinion is improving!

It seems that the increase in fans may be related to this.

Since he wants to pursue the route of a top-tier academic star, he needs to address the issue of his fake academic persona collapsing in the entertainment industry and turn his reputation around.

His method was simple: live-stream his learning, laying his most authentic self out in front of everyone.

You all said I was a fake academic genius, so let's see if it's true or not.

Fortunately, the effect is good. Some people have changed their impression of him, and some have even become fans.

Lin Yan tapped the screen with her fingertips and posted a new update:

[Live learning session continues tonight at 8 PM.]

Xiao Hui, who was scrolling through her phone, suddenly saw a notification pop up: Hui Bo's followed account has a new update.

Upon clicking, I saw that Lin Yan had updated her status, indicating that there would still be a live learning session at 8 PM.

"Great! There's a math problem I didn't understand today. I'll see if I can ask it in the live stream later."

Xiao Hui's mood improved immediately, and most of the frustration from the long day disappeared instantly.