Esports world champion, debuted as the center of a talent show

The next day was the announcement of the three winners' rankings.

Jiang Zhiyu got up very early, changed into his trainee uniform early, and sat on the edge of the bed waiting for Lin Sen and Mi Lan to get ready.

Perhaps because of Yao Wei's words last night, Jiang Zhiyu also felt a little depressed.

He silently looked down at the toes of the shoes, pondering the other person's question.

"Let's go."

Mi Lan stood at the door of 310, peeked into the corridor, and then turned around to call Jiang Zhiyu and Lin Sen.

Jiang Zhiyu raised his head, straightened the buttons on his collar, and walked forward alongside Lin Sen and Mi Lan.

Several suitcases were scattered along the corridor, close to the wall.

They chatted quietly along the way. After several days of intense training and performance recordings, all three of them had a slight weariness in their eyes.

Turning the corner of the corridor, I ran into Ahn Joon-young, who was traveling alone.

He had also changed into a trainee uniform and walked at a leisurely pace. When he saw the three people walking towards him, he stopped and greeted them.

When his gaze fell on Jiang Zhiyu, he took the opportunity to speak: "Good morning! Jiang Jiang, did you see the message your club posted? About Foru."

"Foru?" Jiang Zhiyu repeated in confusion.

He knew Foru and knew that Foru was a substitute youth trainee who was temporarily promoted to the first team after the Soul incident, but he didn't know what had happened.

"Yeah," Ahn Joon-young said, scratching his head. "RXG Club issued a statement last night saying that Foru fell and injured himself in the base bathroom and he won't be able to play in the next match."

"Huh?" Lin Sen's reaction was much greater than Jiang Zhiyu's.

He clutched his head and wailed, "How could this happen? What do I do?"

Jiang Zhiyu frowned upon hearing An Junying's words, then asked, "Did he say anything about him?"

Ahn Joon-young tried hard to recall the blog posts he had read, then shook his head: "They didn't say anything specific, so it shouldn't be anything serious, otherwise they wouldn't only miss one game."

Jiang Zhiyu nodded thoughtfully and didn't ask any more questions.

They drove straight ahead and soon arrived at the ranking announcement studio.

The seating arrangement remains a pyramid with tiers, but the venue is now much emptier than when the second-place announcement was made, with only 20 seats remaining.

The center features a giant ranking display screen, bright lights, neatly arranged camera positions, and all live streaming equipment is ready.

The trainees who arrived one after another stood in the waiting area, talking to each other in hushed tones.

Before long, all the trainees were in place, the stage lights were slightly adjusted, and the chatter gradually subsided.

Yu Lan stood to the side of the large display screen and nodded towards the main control panel.

Hong Liu received Yu Lan's signal, picked up the walkie-talkie, and pressed the button: "Ready—Equipment on."

"Welcome everyone to the ranking announcement for the third performance of 'Shining Project'. After last night's exciting third performance and the distribution of two million ranking votes, we have finally compiled the latest overall ranking."

Holding the microphone, Yu Lan looked directly at the camera in front of her, a faint smile playing on her lips.

【Ahhhhh, the door's finally open!——】

Come witness Emperor Jiang's third ascension to the throne!

[I'm just curious how many votes Jiang Zhiyu will get in total; it must be a terrifying number.]

Sigh, so many people are being eliminated again. Several of my favorites are leaving soon.

[And so I continued my exhilarating early morning viewing of the Jiangzhiyu Fault. (Couldn't they have released it this afternoon? I'm so sleepy!)]

Yu Lan paused briefly before announcing the rules for the order of the three winners:

"This ranking announcement will eliminate sixteen contestants, leaving twenty to advance to the final night. We will now announce the rankings one by one."

The voting format for the third round has changed to one pick, which is completely different from the previous multi-vote format. The influence of the contestant's personal popularity and stage performance has been amplified infinitely.

This means that the amount of votes based on personal connections will drop sharply.

Only those who can truly retain fans can carve out a path to victory in the one-pick mode.

The large screen began scrolling through basic data, and Yu Lan, following the procedure, announced the rankings one by one, starting from the nineteenth place.

"Nineteenth place, Lu Renjia. Congratulations on advancing!"

When his name was called, Lu Renjia breathed a sigh of relief and stood up to bow towards the stage.

His expression relaxed considerably. After saying a few brief words of reflection, he walked to the pyramid seating area and sat down in the 19th seat at the end of the row.

Then, the names of the 18th to 11th place winners were announced one by one. Yu Jin and Shen Fengyu were called out in turn, and both of them successfully advanced.

Like Lu Renjia, although they advanced, their vote counts were in the lower middle range, and their rankings were not high.

But as the last elimination before the final night, it was already a remarkable achievement to remain, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Immediately, it was Wang Yan who became anxious and worried.

Looking at the ranking list in her hand, Yu Lan slowed her speech: "The competition for ninth place is very fierce. The two contestants are very close in votes, namely Qi Sixian and Wang Yan."

Qi Sixian, who was eagerly anticipating whether he would be twentieth, was caught off guard when he heard his own name called. He couldn't help but be stunned and stared stiffly at Yu Lan.

Wang Yan also stiffened, unable to adapt to the dramatic drop in popularity from its peak at the beginning of the show to its current predicament.

The screen splits into two at the right moment, showing close-ups of Qi Sixian and Wang Yan respectively.

On camera, the two reacted in stark contrast.

Qi Sixian stared wide-eyed at Yu Lan, his pupils gleaming with excitement.

Wang Yan lowered his head slightly, his bangs covering his eyes, looking somewhat dejected; nothing else could be seen clearly.

[It's ironic. I remember when the show first aired everyone was saying Wang Yan would definitely be in the top half of the debut rankings, but now he's competing with Qi Sixian, who almost got eliminated in the first performance, for the last debut spot.]

Serves you right!

Serves you right! x99

[Whatever happened to Wang Yan, it was all his own doing. Losing fans, losing followers, and having a bad public image are all blessings in disguise. What's there to regret?]

[Yan Yan... that's enough, it hurts me to see you like this... don't be sad...]

Yu Lan looked at the cue cards in her hand and smiled, "Let's congratulate Qi Sixian!"

"With the two million votes added to the first place in the third performance category, they've entered the debut rankings for the first time!"

This result caused many trainees present to gasp in surprise, unsure whether to be astonished by the speed of Wang Yan's downfall or shocked by the speed of Qi Sixian's rise.

"Whoosh!" Qi Sixian excitedly pumped his fist, his face flushed, and rushed to Jiang Zhiyu's side. He opened his arms and gave Jiang a tight hug while the latter looked on in bewilderment, before happily running towards the pyramid-shaped seating area.

Wang Yan kept his eyes closed for a long time before finally accepting the result in silence.

[May Qi Sixian's career be blessed, and may God grant me a teammate named Jiang Zhiyu!]

[It all started when Jiang Jiang remembered his creative abilities, which brought him to the public's attention for the first time, but it was also because he had the talent to capitalize on this wave of popularity.]

[It's highly likely that Wang Yan will not debut; his company has terminated his contract, and he'll probably disappear from the public eye after the show ends.]

[Here it comes, Jiang's signature move every time the rankings are announced—getting hugs from different friends.]

I want to be Qi Sixian right now so I can hug him too...