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

"Holy crap! Chen Ming!!!"

The shout caused a moment of silence in the surroundings.

Then, as if propelled by some force, the crowd surged in that direction in unison.

"Where? Chen Ming is participating? Really?!"

"Is that even a question? It's written in black and white!"

"Holy crap, he really participated! It's him from the 2022 Composition Department, Class 3!"

"Didn't he already have a company promoting him? Why is he still going through the school channel?"

"Who knows! But he did sign up!"

The area in front of the notice board erupted in chaos.

Those squeezed to the back were tiptoeing desperately, while those who had already seen the scene began frantically taking photos and sending them to group chats. Phone notifications went off one after another, like the chirping of cicadas in summer.

The four words "Chen Ming participated in the competition" were displayed.

Like a bomb, it blasted Jiang Yi, who was already quite enthusiastic, into a frenzy.

Someone stared blankly at the name, muttering to themselves, "Isn't this just reserving a spot? Who else can compare to him?"

This was a blunt statement, but no one refuted it.

Among the crowd, the expressions of several contestants who had also registered became subtle.

A boy in a black T-shirt stared at the name for several seconds, then silently put his phone back in his pocket and turned to leave.

A friend nearby chased after him, asking, "Hey, where are you going?"

"Go back to practicing your singing." The boy didn't even turn his head. "I was thinking of giving it my all, but now at least I shouldn't lose too badly."

Another girl who had signed up stood there, her expression as complicated as if she had swallowed half a lemon.

She is Xia Die, the senior student many of her classmates talk about.

She looked at the name on the list, then at where her own name was, and suddenly sighed.

"What do you call this? This is called..." She was speechless for a moment.

Her roommate chimed in, "She died before she could even begin."

Xia Die: "Can't you wish me something good?"

My roommate shrugged: "I'm telling the truth. You're comparing yourself to Chen Ming? He's a ruthless guy who just defeated a top-rated songwriter."

Xia Die opened her mouth, wanting to refute, but found that she couldn't utter a single word.

She could only sigh again and nod resignedly, "Fine, I'll try for second place."

Several other students who had also signed up around him heard this and all showed expressions of sympathy.

The phrase "strive for second place" has inexplicably become the most accurate reflection of everyone's current state of mind.

The news spread faster than the wind.

Within minutes, the school walls were covered with related posts.

[Shocking! Chen Ming confirmed to participate in the school selection!]

[Rational Analysis: Do others still have a chance?]

[Poll: Who do you think can snatch this spot from Chen Ming?]

[Go, Xia Die! Go, Fu Yunchong! -- But Chen Ming is just too strong, what should I do? Waiting for an answer online!]

The comments section was incredibly lively:

"This isn't fair!!! What are we supposed to do now that Chen Ming is here!!!"

"Don't cry upstairs, you can try for second place."

"Hahaha, striving for second place is so true, I would call it the 'Chen Ming effect'."

"To be honest, Chen Ming's participation is a huge blow to the other contestants, but it's a real treat for the audience! They get to hear him sing live!"

"Yes, yes, yes! I'm already looking forward to the selection competition!"

"Wait a minute, do you guys think it's possible for someone to pull off an upset and beat Chen Ming?"

After this comment was posted, there was a few seconds of silence below.

Then, someone replied:

"Yes!! In music competitions, it's not impossible for a newcomer to beat a senior; there's even a recent example of that."

"Who?"

"It's Chen Ming himself! He just beat Qiu Xuan. Isn't Qiu Xuan a senior? Isn't he a gold medalist?"

"..."

"So you mean, to beat Chen Ming, one must first beat Chen Ming who beat Qiu Xuan?"

"No nesting dolls!!!"

"Hilarious, a nested doll-like crushing defeat."

Conclusion: With Chen Ming in the game, everyone else can only compete for second place.

"Not necessarily. What if someone even more formidable than Chen Ming suddenly appears out of nowhere?"

"Even more powerful than Chen Ming? What kind of monster would that be?"

"Stop thinking about it, just wash up and go to bed."

Just then, a new post appeared, with its title highlighted in bold:

[Insider information: The entire campus selection competition will be streamed live!]

The poster claimed to be a student council member, and the post was written in a very detailed and convincing manner.

"I just received a notification that this school-wide selection process isn't just an internal matter for our school. The school has decided to stream the entire process live! It will be broadcast simultaneously on Douyin, Bilibili, and Weibo, with all faculty and students voting live and the results being made public in real time!"

The area below instantly erupted in chaos:

"Live stream?! Are you going all in?!"

"Holy crap, that means the whole country can see that?"

"The tension just built up instantly!"

"The contestants are under immense pressure!"

"Go, Xia Die! Go, Fu Yun! Chen Ming... just sing whatever you want!"

"The discrimination upstairs is so obvious, hahaha."

"Who told him to be so strong? He can sing casually enough."

As the post gained popularity, another piece of news quietly spread.

Not only Jiangxi University of Arts, but also major art colleges across the country are conducting live-streamed selections.

Some well-meaning individuals compiled the livestream schedules for various schools and posted them on the forum:

[Schedule for the Campus Auditions of "China's Top Singers"]

Shanghai Conservatory of Music: May 15th (this Friday)

Kyoto Academy of Performing Arts: May 16th (this Saturday)

Jianghai International Art Academy: May 18th (next Monday)

Sichuan Sound: May 19

Xinghai: May 20

Ocean Butterflies Music Academy: May 21st

……

Below the post, someone astutely noticed a detail:

"Wait a minute, look! The Magic Arts, Peking Opera, and Jiangxi Arts—these three top-tier institutions—have all scheduled their performances at different times!"

"That's really true! Magic Art on Friday, Peking Opera on Saturday, and Jiang Yi on Monday—perfectly avoiding the same day!"

"This teamwork... is pretty impressive."

"Nonsense, they're all top-tier universities. Who wants to clash with each other? If they do, all the traffic will be split up."

"What about the other schools? I think Sichuan Conservatory of Music and Xinghai Conservatory of Music also avoided these three."

"Of course, it's not unreasonable for us to have a sip of soup while they eat the meat, is it?"

"I understand, I understand. This is the tacit understanding among art colleges across the country: the top three will not interfere with each other, and the others will avoid the top three."

"It's so curly, it's too curly."

Meanwhile, in another dimension.

The atmosphere in Chen Ming's fan group has completely ignited.

This is a self-organized fan group with only a little over two hundred members, but its activity level is astonishing.

The group is called "Did Chen Ming release a song today?" and has more than 100,000 chat records in less than a week.

The message notification sound kept popping up:

[Group Owner Xiao Ran]: "Family members, family members!!! Big news!!! Chen Ming is going to participate in 'China's Got Talent'!!!"

[Administrator]: "??? Really? Where did this news come from?"

[Group Owner Xiao Ran]: "It was posted on the Jiangxi Arts University campus wall! The list has been published! Chen Ming's name is on it!"

[Group Owner Xiao Ran]: "Screenshot.jpg"