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

The screams lingered for a long time, and the entire venue was still immersed in the afterglow of "I am both inside and out".

Yu Lan walked onto the stage from the side, her expression equally amazed: "Thank you to this group for bringing us such a stunning performance."

She looked at the group, who were still catching their breath, smiled, and continued, "Do any of the mentors and guests have anything to say?"

Wu Xiangyang's tone was filled with surprise: "It felt even better than during rehearsals. The melody rap after the transition to night was really great, it really lifted the mood of the whole song, it was very good. The arrangement was very reasonable, the flow was smooth, the pronunciation was clear, the melody rap and the pure vocal parts were connected naturally, the hook was very memorable, and it was able to blend rap, ballads, and stage narrative together without feeling out of place. The songwriting skills and stage understanding far exceeded my expectations for trainees' performances."

Yu Qizhen was generous with her praise: "The choreography was very creative, and Lin Sen's performance as the chief choreographer surprised me. I really liked the entire stage, from the rhythmic changes to the content."

Lin Sen was overjoyed to receive his senior's approval and couldn't help but chuckle twice, appearing somewhat naive.

"I was deeply moved after watching it. Jiang Zhiyu's singing style has such a strong narrative quality. Your solo part and the overall emotional control have a quiet yet powerful sense of clarity, which draws the whole team and the audience into your story." Tang Zhuo said, nodding as he spoke, clearly very satisfied with their performance.

Guan Liu, who had been waiting for a long time, eagerly raised the microphone after Tang Zhuo finished his comments: "From a professional technical point of view, you have contributed a flawless stage performance. The most brilliant part is the use of masks and props, which runs through the entire stage and supports the changes between day and night and the emotional transitions. This is a very good finishing touch. The concept, choreography, singing and dancing, and the use of props are highly unified. It is a textbook-level original stage choreography."

As the only mentor with a professional singing and dancing background, Guan Liu's evaluation of Jiang Zhiyu's group was extremely high. As soon as he finished speaking, the whole audience cheered and applauded again.

Amidst the cheers, Yu Lan naturally turned her gaze to the side of the mentors' seats, where Su Gaoming seemed to still be in shock, his eyes wide open, unable to come to his senses for a long time.

Feeling Yu Lan's intense gaze, Su Gaoming slowly sat up straight, exhaled, and then spoke: "To be honest, this is a stage that completely exceeded my expectations."

He paused for a moment, his gaze lingering on Jiang Zhiyu in the center of the stage, before continuing, "A very mature and excellent stage performance. It can be said that it has overturned my understanding of idol talent show stages. In particular, this contestant Jiang Zhiyu has excellent performance skills. As the center, he has carried the entire stage very well. Your lyrics, music, choreography, and concept were the most eye-catching of the whole night. I really like it."

Holy crap, Su Gaoming is speaking human language!

[It's really not easy; there's actually a stage that can earn Su Gaoming's approval?]

[This stage deserves it, right? If someone can still criticize a stage of legendary status, then I'll question whether they're just being deliberately malicious.]

[Jiangjiang, you're so amazing! My hands are shaking.]

[My heart is finally at ease! I was so worried that Jiang Zhiyu's group would get attacked too! Thankfully, my Jiang Jiang showed us what it means to shine as a top-tier star tonight.]

Yan Zuo, who hadn't said much all evening and was truly treating himself as an audience member at the performance, couldn't help but turn on his microphone and eagerly peek out: "I want to say something too!"

Yu Lan turned to look at him and gave him an encouraging smile: "What does Contestant Yan Zuo want to say?"

Yan Zuo held the microphone in her left hand and gave Jiang Zhiyu on stage a thumbs-up with her right: "Absolutely amazing! I was speechless the whole time. I saw a stage that completely exceeded my expectations, but as I expected, Jiang is indeed someone who can create miracles."

Music critic Tang Yinan nodded in agreement: "A very excellent stage, with a strong core message."

[Does Yan Zuo know Jiang Zhiyu?]

[Not necessarily. Perhaps she did her research before coming to the show? So it's not surprising that she knows Jiang Zhiyu, who's the most popular contestant.]

[The mentors and guests all gave it such high praise; it was probably the only performance tonight with unanimous positive reviews and the highest ratings, right?]

[Yan Zuo hadn't said much all night, but this time he spoke more words than he had all night. You can tell he really likes it, haha.]

"Okay, thank you to all the mentors and guests for their comments. Jiang Zhiyu's team, please step down and rest for now. Next, let's move on to the final voting round for the second performance!"

"The voting rules are as follows: Each person has five votes. The voting machine will display the names of the members from each group one by one. Please, all viewers, select your five favorite performers from all the trainees for tonight's performance!"

As Yu Lan finished speaking, the large screen behind her flashed a five-second countdown.

Five, four, three, two, one—

Voting begins.

The audience suddenly erupted in commotion, with some asking each other about their voting choices, while others pressed their vote buttons with unwavering resolve.

There were a total of 800 audience members, each holding five votes, with a total pool of 4,000 votes. When distributed among the 61 trainees, the average number of votes per person was only about 65.

But from the moment the vote began, the situation was destined to be unbalanced.

Jiang Zhiyu's group's performance was absolutely stunning. Their concept, singing and dancing, choreography, and emotional delivery were all flawless, leaving a lasting impression on every audience member.

In addition to his already high popularity, almost all of the audience's five votes were reserved for Jiang Zhiyu, and the remaining spots were mostly reserved for his teammates.

The voting period was over in the blink of an eye, and the words "Voting Ended" suddenly popped up on the big screen.

The lights in the entire venue instantly turned on, everyone held their breath, and their eyes were fixed on the central screen, waiting for the vote count to be published in real time.

First, the individual votes of the 61 trainees were rolled over from low to high. Most of the mid-range trainees had between 50 and 70 votes, which was close to the average level and did not fluctuate much.

The further down the list the contestants went, the larger the range of votes became. The popular contestants in the front row all managed to get over 100 votes and then over 150, which drew gasps from the audience.

The moment the top three spots appeared on the list, the entire venue fell silent for a moment, then erupted into a deafening roar of screams.

First place in the rankings, Jiang Zhiyu – 789 votes.

In other words, out of 800 audience members, only 11 people did not cast one of their five votes for Jiang Zhiyu.

This is an incredibly high level of popularity and public appeal. While Jiang Zhiyu's fans make up the majority of the audience, a large portion of them are fans of other contestants. Jiang Zhiyu's ability to garner such a unified number of votes is closely related to his likable personality and impressive skills.