A band, or a battleground?

Among the five members of Titans, the keyboardist, who was always wearing sunglasses, suddenly said, "He just likes young people, the younger the better."

Sun Man asked in a cold voice, "Have you given them any leverage?"

Li Qiye muttered, "I don't think so..."

"Should?" Sun Man ground her molars. "What about the chat history?"

Seeing Sun Man's increasingly hostile gaze, Zhao Xukun quickly recounted in detail what had happened at the elevator entrance that night, emphasizing that it was just a brief verbal altercation and there were no chat logs. Although Qi Yuan claimed to have recorded it on his phone, those few words alone wouldn't have much impact even if posted online.

"Besides, they're also going to participate in the competition," Zhao Xukun concluded. "Unless they don't want to continue, there's no reason for them to expose this kind of mess."

Sun Man tapped the sofa armrest and pondered for a moment.

Then she said, "This is indeed a small matter, but you guys better tighten your belts and make sure nothing like this happens again. I don't care if the band is involved in slutsy stuff; it's a common occurrence in your circle. But these are contestants, your competitors. Wake up and don't put your brains in your crotch!"

"Understood!" Zhao Xukun quickly replied, "There will absolutely be no next time, Sister Man, please rest assured!"

Sun Man nodded, then suddenly a meaningful smile appeared on her lips: "Since you already have a grudge, would you be willing to have a chance to eliminate Chun Riying?"

Zhao Xukun was stunned.

Li Qiye quickly replied, "Of course we'd love to! Sister Man, what kind of opportunity?"

Sun Man first asked, "That kid Qi Yuan said he wants to write an original sci-fi song. Do you think he can write it?"

Zhao Xukun answered without hesitation: "If he really wanted to write it, he could definitely do it, but if he rushed it, the quality of the work would definitely not be as good as his normal level. And just writing it wouldn't be enough; there would also be arrangement and rehearsal. With only two days, it would be good enough if... uh, it would be good enough if it was even listenable."

He originally wanted to say, "It's good enough if we don't end up in a car accident," but the words made him feel uneasy, so he changed his mind.

Sun Man nodded: "Okay, then this time we'll schedule your performance time before Chunri Ying's, right next to theirs. The better you perform, the worse they'll look in comparison, how about that?"

Zhao Xukun beamed with delight: "Of course it's great!"

Sun Man finally stopped having a stern face and revealed a cheerful smile: "Then perform well. You already used your mentor's connections in the last round, and you already got preferential treatment in the draw. In this second round, the company won't do anything more. If you want to advance and handle any troubles, you'll have to rely on yourselves."

Zhao Xukun immediately stood at attention: "We will definitely crush the shadow of spring in an upright and honorable way!"

Sun Man: "Okay, remember what you said, don't embarrass yourself."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Episode 055, "The Band of Tomorrow," has premiered!

At nine o'clock in the evening, one by one the lights in the office building went out.

In the office, most of the workstations around Lin Yan were dark, with only a few screens still lit, and the sound of keyboards echoing in the empty environment.

Lin Yan pressed the shortcut key to save the UI design draft she had just revised and breathed a sigh of relief.

As is her usual practice, after completing this final version, she would grab her canvas bag as quickly as possible, get into the elevator, and go downstairs.

But today, instead of moving from her chair, she put on her headphones and clicked on a link to a video website.

Tomorrow's Band: Round 1 Group Stage (Part 1)

The 90-second commercial break ended, and the program began.

Lin Yan wasn't interested in the conversation between the host and the mentor, so she directly set the playback speed to three times.

She wasn't interested in the musicians wearing leather jackets, smoky makeup, and various lip and eyebrow piercings; all she wanted were four clean and youthful faces.

She fast-forwarded to 14 minutes and 20 seconds, then abruptly pressed pause, dragged the progress bar back a little, then switched back to the original speed and clicked play again.

The camera cuts from a heavy metal lead singer spraying hairspray to the set of the costume photo shoot.

Lin Yan's eyes lit up.

It's a spring day!

Among this group of strangely dressed adult musicians, these four people exude a student-like aura that practically overflows the screen.

The camera only lingered on them for a brief four or five seconds, without even capturing a single line of dialogue, before quickly cutting to the next social band that was playfully fighting with each other.

"Just a few seconds..."

Lin Yan muttered something. However, being able to confirm that they had indeed made it to the main competition recording still brought her a sense of relief.

The camera fast-forwards to the studio stage, where He Dong announces the official start of the first round of group matches.

The screen was instantly filled with dazzling lights, panoramic aerial views of the venue, host He Dong's inspiring opening remarks, and a massive lineup of one hundred bands.

Lin Yan stopped playing the program at double speed and listened carefully to the introduction of the competition format.

Soon, the first band was ready to take the stage: the Titans.

The lights dimmed, and the curtain rose.

A burst of rapid drumbeats pounded into our eardrums, followed by a frenzied strumming of electric guitars. Titans' lead singer, gripping the microphone stand, roared out the first line of lyrics.

Lin Yan frowned.

Although the sound in her headphones had been edited by the production team, she could still tell that the show was using technical skill to cover up the weak melody.

The lead singer was belting out songs on stage, the guitarist was showing off his skills by shaking his head, and the other musicians in the audience were nodding along, whether they were genuinely moved by the music or just being polite...

Lin Yan listened patiently for about ten seconds, then muttered, "They're so noisy."

Then the mouse pointer landed on the progress bar again, and I dragged the progress bar to the right, skipping the entire performance of the Titans, without even watching the judges' comments, and went straight to the next band.

In the time that followed, Lin Yan completely transformed into an emotionless fast-forwarding machine.

One band after another took the stage, performed, received feedback, and left the stage. If she heard a slightly catchy intro, she would let it sit still for a while, but most of the time, she was just looking for those four familiar figures.

Some bands were playing nonsensical psychedelic rock, some looked like they were about to smash their guitars on stage, and three guys even sang and danced to a song that looked like a boy band audition, which drew boos from the audience...

The progress bar is steadily moving to the right.

Even with only three minutes left until the video ended, as indicated by the timer in the bottom right corner of the screen, Lin Yan still hadn't seen the Spring Shadow Band's debut performance.

At the end of the video, host He Dong stood on the stage and announced that the recording of this episode had come to an end.

The list of sponsors begins to scroll across the screen.

Lin Yan took off her headphones, leaned back in her chair, and felt a little empty inside.

Thinking back to those pitifully short four or five seconds, Lin Yan couldn't help but worry that they might be eliminated in the first round.

Without a signed company or any background, just a few high school students, they were eliminated in a cruel adult game, and in the end, even their stage scenes were cut from the main film.

Lin Yan clasped her hands together: "Please don't eliminate people like this..."

The video automatically played to the final "next episode preview" segment.

The rapid drumbeats began as background music, and the screen started flashing fast-paced edits: a close-up of mentor Chen Jiashu frowning, Liang Fei's surprised expression with her mouth wide open, the musicians whispering among themselves in the audience, and several unknown bands shedding tears on stage.

Subconsciously, Lin Yan's gaze returned to the screen.

Suddenly, the boy in the white overalls vest appeared on stage. He didn't act hysterically, nor did he do any stage maneuvering. He simply held the microphone with both hands and tilted his head slightly back.

A clean and clear high-pitched sound came from the headphones:

"Blue Lotus—"

Along with these three words, the scene cuts to the moment when the short-haired girl suddenly slams down the drum kit, then the screen goes completely black, displaying the words "More exciting content next time".

Lin Yan stood frozen in her office chair.

A few seconds later, a crisp clapping sound rang out in the empty office.

She clapped her hands happily, the worry in her eyes vanished, and a bright smile appeared on her lips.

She knew that once this song was performed on stage, it would never be eliminated. No matter how harsh the production team was or how much capital intervened, its power to touch people's hearts could not be hidden.

Lin Yan closed her laptop and stuffed her earphones into her canvas bag.

After tidying up her desk, she stood up and turned off the desk lamp.

As Lin Yan stepped out of the office building, the summer night breeze was still sultry, but her steps were lighter than usual.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Quick, quick, the show's started! Let's watch it together!"

At Ning Qianyu's call, the three girls rushed into Qi Yuan's room and turned on the TV. This TV was connected to the internet and could watch online variety shows, including the first episode of "Tomorrow's Band," which had just premiered that day.

Qi Yuan looked at the three of them occupying the empty bed, then glanced at the TV screen and asked, "Isn't Teacher Su coming to take a look?"

Qiu Mengxue pouted: "Do you want to call my mom over?"

Ning Qianyu quickly said, "No, the atmosphere changes when Teacher Su comes. It's too formal, and I feel embarrassed to speak."

Qi Yuan shrugged, closed the door, then sat on the other bed and looked at the television screen…

A full hour later.

As the list of sponsors rolled across the TV screen, Ning Qianyu wailed, "No way, we've only been on screen for a few seconds?"

Qi Yuan said calmly, "It's the first episode, so it's normal. We only went on stage on the second day of the competition, so we have to wait until the second episode."

Jiang Yi looked worried: "But, will we really appear in the final cut?"

"Wait, let me check the preview for the next episode." Qiu Mengxue picked up the remote and pressed the fast-forward button.

Then the scene fast-forwarded to the part where Qi Yuan was singing Blue Lotus.

Qiu Mengxue smiled and said, "Jufeng Music isn't that all-powerful. Or maybe they didn't even have time to contact the production team before the first two episodes were already edited out?"

Qi Yuan snapped his fingers: "It's settled. The fact that this shot means that at least our stage performance won't be completely cut."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

056 I chatted and laughed with him.

Now that they were certain they wouldn't disappear from the main film, the girls relaxed. They then started talking about the lottery draw that afternoon.

"Giving us a sci-fi theme, isn't that Jufeng's little trick? Haha, they thought they had stumped us, just thinking about it makes me laugh..." Qiu Mengxue said.

Qi Yuan: "You really can't hold back anymore, can you? Your lips are twitching like crazy."

Qiu Mengxue argued, "But at least I managed to hold back. It was Qianyu who couldn't hold back at all; she could only cover her face."

Ning Qianyu: "I'm already being very polite by not laughing out loud."

Jiang Yi laughed and said, "They thought the sci-fi theme would stump us, but they never expected that Qi Yuan had already written a sci-fi song, and even sang it in the square before we came. There was no need for rehearsal!"

Qi Yuan said seriously, "Rehearsals are still necessary. We're going to perform the day after tomorrow, and I haven't practiced guitar much for days."

“Let’s go rehearse now!” Qiu Mengxue stood up. “There’s a rehearsal room in this hotel. I heard it was temporarily converted from a gym. Let’s go see if anyone’s there.”

Jiang Yi was taken aback: "Now? It's already past ten o'clock..."

Qi Yuan also stood up and said, "Anyway, there's nothing to do tomorrow, and besides, can you guys sleep now?"

The girls all shook their heads.

Jiang Yi frankly admitted, "I'm too excited, I definitely won't be able to sleep."

Ning Qianyu pulled her up: "Then let's go!"

The four of them took their instruments and went to the rehearsal room, only to find that the original gym had been partitioned into five rehearsal rooms. Two of them were empty.

However, as soon as Qi Yuan picked up his guitar in the rehearsal room, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

He took it out and saw that it was an unfamiliar number.

"Hello, who is it?"

The voice coming from the phone was completely unexpected.

"Qi Yuan, right? I am Zhou Taishan."

He took a moment to process it.

This is the godfather-level figure of domestic rock music in this world, the mentor he chose a couple of days ago!

Qi Yuan quickly said, "Hello, Teacher Zhou. Uh, is there something you need so late?"

"Is it late? Oh, it's almost 10:30..." Zhou Taishan's speech was a little slurred, but thankfully it wasn't so unclear that it was unintelligible. "I just want to ask you, did you offend someone?"

"me?"

"Yeah, I heard. The theme you drew was science fiction. That's strange; there shouldn't be a theme like that. And you were the last to draw, which makes it easy to tamper with the paper. I can guess what they'll do. For example, after the second-to-last band draws, when it's your turn, they can switch the slips of paper inside. Just one slip will do; there's only one left..."

Zhou Taishan rambled on and on, sounding more like a teacher giving a lecture than a rock godfather.