He was in college, but his songs were at the Grammys.

classroom.

Tang Yuan and Zhou Xu were already sitting there.

Tang Yuan buried his head in his hands and lay face down on the table; Zhou Xu stared intently at Chen Ming, his gaze as complex as if he were looking at some alien creature.

Chen Ming sat down next to the two of them.

As soon as he sat down, Tang Yuan abruptly looked up, grabbed his arm, and said in a low voice that couldn't hide his panic, "Brother! Don't scare me! You're not really going to get into the Grammys, are you?!"

As soon as the question was asked, the students in the front row who were eavesdropping craned their necks even further.

Chen Ming turned his head and looked at Tang Yuan's face, which was filled with the thought, "Has my brother been possessed?" and suddenly laughed.

"Didn't you not believe it?"

Tang Yuan opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't utter a single word.

He released Chen Ming's arm, slowly leaned back in his chair, his eyes vacant, and muttered to himself, "I believe it, I believe in everything now. Beating a top songwriter in half a month, a Grammy doesn't seem impossible..."

Zhou Xu chimed in quietly from the side, "Ming-ge, you definitely turned it on! If it wasn't on, it just wasn't turned off!"

Chen Ming smiled but didn't reply. He simply opened his notebook and prepared to start class.

He actually opened it!

Just then, a loud voice came from the back row:

"Unfortunately, my brother is uncultured; all he can do is say 'awesome,' Chen Ming is awesome!"

He was a straightforward boy in the class; after shouting, he slammed his hand on the table.

A burst of laughter erupted in the classroom.

Squad leader Zhang Wei sat in the row behind Chen Ming and the others. He pushed up his black-rimmed glasses, his face showing undisguised shock.

"Going head-to-head with a top-tier creator! Chen Ming, your move is absolutely terrifying!"

When he said the words "terrifyingly so," he emphasized them with particular force, as if only in this way could he express the shock he felt.

As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Haoran leaned over, looking curious: "Who is Si?"

Zhang Wei was taken aback: "Huh?"

"You said it's terrifyingly so?" Wang Haoran said seriously, "Who is 'so terrifying'? Which 'so'?"

The classroom fell silent for a moment.

Then, several quick-witted students burst out laughing.

Zhang Wei was taken aback, scratched his head, and said, "No, this is a word I recently learned from reading a novel. The protagonist likes to say 'terrifyingly powerful,' which means something is extremely powerful or frightening."

Wang Haoran said "Oh," but his eyes lit up: "What novel?"

Zhang Wei gets excited whenever this is mentioned.

He leaned forward, lowering his voice but unable to suppress his excitement:

"Battle Through the Heavens! The new book by Zheng Wen, the king of Xianxia novels at Thousand Realms Library! Wow, it's so enjoyable to read! Have you read it yet?"

Wang Haoran shook his head: "No, I'm currently reading another martial arts novel."

"Then look at this!" Zhang Wei took out his phone, opened the Thousand Realms Library app, found the page for "Battle Through the Heavens," and handed it over. "Let me tell you, this book is amazing! The opening is 'Battle Qi, Level Three,' and the protagonist is a genius who becomes a useless person. His fiancée comes to his door and breaks off the engagement, so he writes a letter of divorce on the spot, saying, 'Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, never underestimate a young man's potential.' When I read that part that night, I was so excited I almost jumped out of bed!"

He spoke with great enthusiasm, and his voice unconsciously grew louder.

Several classmates who also enjoy reading novels nearby were drawn over and gathered around.

"Is it really that good-looking?"

"What's the setting? Wuxia or Xianxia?"

"Is the update speed fast?"

Zhang Wei became even more excited when he saw that someone was interested:

"The setting is incredibly novel! It's not about internal energy in traditional martial arts, nor is it about cultivation in fantasy novels. The author created a 'battle qi' system with clear levels like Dou Zhe, Dou Shi, and Da Dou Shi, and the fight scenes are incredibly exciting! Plus, the protagonist is always vengeful, which is very satisfying to watch!"

At this point, he added:

"I feel that this author, 'Suiyi,' must be a fallen genius! He must be an alt account of some great Xianxia (fantasy/martial arts) author! Otherwise, he couldn't write this quality! Just think, to create his own system and write it so smoothly, how profound must his online novel writing skills be?"

Wang Haoran listened with great interest and immediately took out his phone to search: "Thousand Realms Library, right? I'll bookmark it now and read it when I get back to my dorm after class."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Zhang Wei nodded repeatedly. "It's only up to a little over 100,000 words now, but it's already keeping me so engrossed that I can't eat or sleep. I wait for the update every day. The author is updating really fast, 10,000 words a day, and sometimes even extra chapters!"

Several classmates also took out their phones and searched for "Battle Through the Heavens".

A soft tapping sound echoed in the classroom.

Chen Ming sat in the front row, with his back to them.

Every word of those conversations reached his ears.

He silently thought to himself, "That's not true."

There are no fallen geniuses, and no alternate accounts of legendary immortals.

He's just a college student who sits in a classroom, attends classes on time every day, sings songs occasionally, and "reminisces" about his past life's works.

No one could have imagined that the author "Suiyi," whom they had been discussing so enthusiastically and who was being speculated to be "some great author," was sitting right in front of them.

......

The third period in the morning had just ended, and the relaxed atmosphere in the classroom hadn't even settled in when someone exclaimed "Holy crap!"

The sound wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the relatively quiet classroom.

Immediately following, like a chain reaction, a second and a third "Holy crap!" rang out from different corners, accompanied by the "thud" of a phone slipping from its screen and a hissing sound of gasping for breath.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Tang Yuan had just stretched when he saw this and immediately leaned over to his neighbor. "What's going on?"

The boy next to him didn't say anything, but just shoved his phone screen in front of him.

Tang Yuan squinted and then his eyes widened.

The teachers on the podium, who were preparing to pack up their lesson plans and leave, stopped what they were doing and looked at the students below who had suddenly become agitated.

Chen Ming noticed something was wrong and looked up.

More than half the students in the classroom had their heads down, their eyes glued to their phone screens, their expressions varied—shock, excitement, disbelief, and eagerness.

Zhou Xu had quickly finished browsing the messages and whispered to Chen Ming, "Brother Ming, check the top trending topic on Weibo."

Chen Ming unlocked his phone and opened Weibo.

At the top of the trending search list, a deep red "Explosive" character followed by six other words:

[Official announcement of "China's Top Singers"]

He clicked on it.

The pinned Weibo post is from the officially verified account "Huaxia Singing Show Team" and was posted ten minutes ago.

The copywriting is concise and powerful:

[#ChineseSingingMasters# use their voices as swords and music as their soul.]

This is the starting point of dreams, and also the touchstone of strength.

The preliminary rounds of "China's Top Singers" officially began on May 11, 2023!

A poster was attached below.

The poster design is not flashy; the deep blue background resembles the night sky, with a badge in the center composed of gold musical notes, surrounded by several lines of striking white text:

Organized by: China Media Group

Jointly produced by: Huaxia Conservatory of Music, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Huaxia Opera and Dance Theatre...