Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

The theme song audition is the first hurdle for every talent show.

The contestants were fully aware of this.

At 8:00 a.m., all the contestants gathered in the studio.

Shen Yiheng stood on the stage, holding an envelope in his hand, with a standard PD-style serious expression.

He Xu stood in the corner of Class A's line and yawned.

He didn't sleep well last night.

Wang Yijun, who sleeps in the upper bunk, is so quiet that it's as if no one is there, which makes people feel uneasy.

"The theme song assessment." Shen Yiheng opened the envelope, his voice carrying throughout the studio through the speakers. "This is your first elimination round in 'Absolute Debut'."

There was a moment of silence in the players' stands, followed by a low commotion.

"I know some of you have gone through similar assessments before, while others have absolutely no experience."

Shen Yiheng's gaze swept across the entire contestants' seating area without changing its expression, pausing for a few seconds at one spot before quickly moving away: "But this time, everyone starts from the same point. Because this time, no one is teaching you."

The cruelty of this large-scale program was fully revealed at this moment.

The entire room fell silent.

"No one's teaching us???" someone questioned. "Then how are we supposed to learn? Teach the dance ourselves?"

Shen Yiheng glanced at him, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Yes, you'll have to figure out the dance and sing on your own. The mentors will walk around and observe you during practice, giving you scores for your daily performance—but they won't teach you step by step."

He paused, then added, "After all, this is a competition, not a dance training class."

"Forty-eight hours later, I will watch your individual performance videos with the five mentors and give you a rating—those who receive an F rating will be disqualified from the first performance."

The players' cries of pain rose and fell from the stands.

Shen Yiheng waited a few seconds, then raised his hand to signal for quiet.

"Now, let's reveal the theme song."

The giant screen behind him lit up, and the song title slowly appeared—

Uncharted.

Then, the music blasted.

The powerful drumbeats surged from the speakers like a heartbeat, and the first eight beats immediately captivated everyone's attention on the screen.

He Xu stopped yawning.

A demo video was playing on the giant screen, led by a professional dancer invited by the production team. The dancers' movements were clean, crisp, and perfectly timed.

His eyes followed every movement on the screen, his brain working at lightning speed—

The chorus has an offbeat rhythm, and the core beat should remain tight throughout.

The floor work in the second verse requires extremely high precision.

The movement patterns on the bridge section are complex and require a high level of spatial awareness...

He Xu's lips curved slightly.

interesting.

The choreographer of this dance is quite skilled; at least in terms of choreography, they considered the skill differences between the dancers—the basic movements are not difficult, but there is a lot of room for improvement in the details, and the difference between a good dancer and an average dancer will be magnified infinitely in the same movement.

Who has real talent and who is just slacking off? In one continuous shot, no one can hide it.

The music ended.

The audience was already bursting with excitement.

"I didn't understand the rhythm in the chorus, is it off-beat?"

"Did anyone see the floor movement clearly? Did his feet slip a few times?"

"That choreography on the bridge was insane! He ran back and forth three times diagonally across the entire stage?"

"Are you only focused on the dance? Listen to those high notes! Who can hit that key shift in the final chorus?"

Shen Yiheng stood on the stage, looking at the contestants below in complete chaos. A slight smile appeared on his lips, but he quickly suppressed it.

"Quiet."

The commotion subsided somewhat, but it didn't completely stop.

"I'll emphasize this again," Shen Yiheng's expression turned serious again, "In forty-eight hours, everyone must submit a complete singing and dancing performance video. The dance moves cannot be simplified, and the lyrics cannot be lip-synced. Any attempt to cheat will result in an F grade."

These words were like a bucket of ice water, extinguishing even the last shred of hope.

The contestants exchanged glances, their eyes conveying the same message—

Are you serious?

"Now, the timer begins."

After Shen Yiheng finished speaking, he turned around and walked off the stage.

At the same time, the contestants seemed to be fast-forwarded, instantly pouring out of the studio and sprinting towards the practice building.

He Xu walked at the very back at a leisurely pace.

Lu Yiming jogged up to catch up, his round face etched with anxiety, his glasses askew: "Brother He Xu, aren't you worried? There are only forty-eight hours left!"

"Forty-eight hours is quite a long time," He Xu said.

"Long???" Lu Yiming's voice changed tone. "That dance has at least forty eight-counts to learn, not counting the time spent memorizing the positions, not counting singing practice—"

"You've calculated things quite clearly," He Xu said, glancing at him.

Lu Yiming choked for a moment, then scratched his head sheepishly, "I... I'm better at math..."

"Then you should calculate how much time you've wasted on anxiety could have been used to learn several eight-beat rhythms."

After saying that, He Xu quickened his pace, leaving Lu Yiming, who was still counting on his fingers, behind.

The practice building has three floors.

When He Xu pushed open the door to Class A's practice room, there were already people inside.

The three members of Banxing Entertainment were already in place.

He Xu glanced at them, said nothing, walked over and took Yang Sheng's phone, dragging the demo progress bar a few times.

"Don't start by dissecting it from the beginning. Look at the structure first—the chorus repeats three times, and the two verses are mirror images. Learn the repetitions first, then work on the details."

He handed the phone back and turned to walk towards the mirror.

"Save your time and don't do useless work."

The three boys exchanged a glance and immediately huddled together to start practicing the dance.

He Xu ignored them and walked to the other side of the practice room to start learning the dance on his own.

Calling it "teaching a dance" isn't quite accurate.

He can memorize the general framework of the movements after watching it once, fill in the details on the second watch, and match it with the music on the third watch.

This is not some kind of extraordinary talent.

It's muscle memory.

He started dancing at the age of fifteen and has practiced for nearly 30,000 hours over nine years. Dance has long become his second language.

He Xu roughly went through the motions twice in front of the mirror, mentally reviewing all the movements in the demo video, and then began to work on the details.

The angle of the shoulders, the curve of the fingers, the speed at which the head swings out, the timing of core engagement...

These dances, which might take others several hours or even a day to learn, he accomplished in less than two hours.

When He Xu was dancing for the third time, the door to the practice room was pushed open.

Li Bufan poked his dirty orange head in, and his eyes lit up instantly when he saw He Xu.

"Brother He Xu!! I knew you'd be here!!"

He rushed in, followed by a boy wearing a pink hoodie—He Xu remembered that he was from Class C and his name was something like Lin Xiao.

"What are you doing here?" He Xu stopped, picked up the bottled water on the ground, and took a sip.

"I came all the way from downstairs to learn dance from you!" Li Bufan exaggeratedly pounded his thigh. "Brother He Xu, can you teach me? I just can't do the floor moves in the chorus, my ankle feels like it's going to break—"

As he spoke, he sat down on the ground and began to perform his clumsy floor moves.

He Xu looked at it for three seconds, then said expressionlessly, "Your ankle strength isn't enough; you can't do this move."

"What should we do then?"

"Tighten your core, shift your weight forward, and transfer the power from your ankles to your palms."

Li Bufan did as instructed, but it was still crooked and distorted, like a boneless octopus.

He Xu sighed.

"Get up, I'll show you how."

For the next hour, Class A's practice room was transformed into a free dance training class.

First came Li Bufan and his little follower Lin Xiao, then two B-class contestants from the next practice room came running after hearing the noise, and then several C-class and F-class contestants ran up from the second floor.

He Xu stood in front of the mirror, breaking down the movements eight beats at a time, his tone still that irritatingly calm, but every point he made was spot on.

"For the first four beats of the chorus, pay attention to the shift in your center of gravity. Keep your feet flat on the ground, knees slightly bent, and back straight—Wang Yijun, your waist is too loose, tighten your core."

Wang Yijun, whose name was called, stood in the corner, a hint of unease appearing on her usually indifferent face.

He was just passing by, glanced at the door, and was then dragged inside by Li Bufan.

"I didn't say I wanted to learn it." Wang Yijun's voice wasn't loud, but her tone was firm.

"You're standing in Class A's practice room. Either you learn, or you get out." He Xu didn't even turn his head and continued to break down the next eight beats.

Wang Yijun remained silent for three seconds.

Then he silently walked to the mirror.

The atmosphere in the practice room became subtle.