In order to grab the spotlight and not be modest, the blue team, originally supposed to be in second place, had no intention of being humble from the beginning. They immediately had their lead vocalist come out to perform.
Huo Ren signaled Chi Ji to go backstage and get ready for a costume change, leading the others to the adjacent rest area to clear the stage.
The lead vocalist of Rim purposely sat next to the grand piano and smiled, blowing kisses towards the audience when he started playing. People in the audience began to vote for him one after another, impressed by his initial performance.
Huo Ren and Bo Jue silently looked at his wrist for a few seconds.
His finger positioning was wrong, and his posture was off.
The two of them exchanged a knowing glance and smiled without saying a word.
The other side sang really well, although the program advertised it as a dolphin voice, it was actually a demonstration of falsetto using vocal fry. However, non-experts wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
After he finished singing, both the male and female hosts exclaimed and praised, “Lolu is truly amazing. Singing at such a stable level as a newcomer must have taken a lot of practice, right?”
The lead vocalist nodded with a smile and winked at the audience and the camera while introducing his background and experience.
“It seems like tonight will become a battle for the crown,” the female host said with anticipation. “Now, let’s welcome our lead vocalist from corona, Noah!”
Three movable stage backdrops slid into place, and the lights dimmed.
As a starry blue enveloped the entire venue, the vintage Ford car in the center of the rotating platform slowly ascended.
A blond boy with hair cascading down to his waist stood atop the car, bathed in deep twilight. The bass guitar and electronic sound rocked the scene with a blend of rock and jazz.
“I'”
“I love sweets so much, like licorice candy and jelly rolls.”
“——”
“Hey, baby, my bowl is still missing some candy——”
He wore graffiti-cut denim with the sleeves removed, and his slim legs were prominently displayed in black boots.
The spotlight followed closely, illuminating his silver-blue eyes and faint blush on his cheeks.
As he made his stylish appearance, everyone in the audience gasped and rose to their feet.
The camp-style glamorous makeup that was popular in 1970s America made a retro comeback, and it harmonized perfectly with this boy. There was no sense of disharmony whatsoever.
His demeanor was pure, and his makeup was flamboyant.
His voice was lazy, and his smile was sweet.
Dozens of professional backing vocals on both sides supported the bass, while his high notes fluttered like butterfly wings, perfectly capturing the translucent bubble texture.
His joyful swaying dance moves awakened smiles from everyone. Both hosts instinctively swayed to the beat.
Bo Jue confirmed that the microphone was turned off and whispered, “Did they change the choreography for this dance?”
The original version featured a more exaggerated combination of a denim skirt, black stockings, and high heels, which had an even stronger impact.
“Hmm,” Huo Ren gazed at Xiao Chi and said, “Uncle Jiang mentioned that some Broadway performances… the audience here may not understand, so we made some adjustments.”
After watching “Spring Awakening,” the second performance he and Chi Ji watched was “Rock Barbie.”
Heather unexpectedly fell in love with the same sex but failed in her transformation, becoming a seductive and unrestrained drag queen, searching for herself in rock music and an upside-down life.
The original provocative and wild elements were harmonized into a sweet and cute portrayal. As the boy danced, his pale golden hair flowed in the wind, accentuating his fair skin and slender limbs, resembling a water nymph stepping out of a painting in Roman mythology.
“You’re my orange blossom, my adorable bear.”
The joy of control trembled intensely, like a powerful rock melody.
He smiled innocently, his voice sweet and gentle. Rock and jazz music consumed all singing techniques, and the next moment, it heated up the atmosphere around the venue and swayed everyone in motion.
The stage extended from his feet to the audience, spreading the elusive scent of cotton candy through the air.
Chi Ji smiled again, touching his lips with her fingertips, as the bass and electric guitar soared to high notes as if pouring out their admiration for him.
The boy swayed and danced while holding the microphone stand, blowing a kiss to the crown ring on his finger from a distance.
Screams erupted from the audience, as if witnessing a large-scale live transformation.
“I’ll be your Venus on a chocolate clamshell.”
“I’ll rise on a sea of marshmallow foam.”
The red team’s real-time voting screen caught Mei Shengyao’s attention, and he poked Huo Ren, indicating that he should take a look.
They had completely overtaken the blue team.
The audience in the venue generously cast their votes, and the red team’s bar graph skyrocketed at a visible speed, already leaving Rim behind by nearly 300 votes.
Who could resist such a beautiful boy?
As the final high note soared, the forced smile on the opposing lead vocalist’s face could no longer be maintained.
During Corona’s initial test performance, all members received an “A” grade, and their stage presence was incredibly strong.
Not to mention the reactions of the audience and hosts, all eight of them could sense the difference.
The lights came back on, and the three backdrop panels silently disappeared along the tracks.
“Stay a little longer,” the female host smiled and gestured for Chi Ji to step into the red zone. She looked at the scoreboard and exclaimed, “The gap has suddenly widened! Noah was indeed too adorable just now. Let’s take a shot at the camera!”
Mechanical camera number 3, upon hearing this, swung its arm forward and Chi Ji leaned down then made a heart-shaped gesture in a three-beat rhythm. Each frame was so beautiful that it could be used as a mobile wallpaper directly.
Several girls in the front row couldn’t speak, their hands covering their hearts.
“Now, let’s have Noah change and take a rest. Next, we will bring out the second round of the PK.” The male host signaled for the captain of Rim to step forward. “I would like to interview the captain. What are your thoughts on the score?”
The program would be officially broadcast on February 10th, after its production was completed. Although there were no large-scale audience votes from outside the venue, the gap inside already indicated the difference in popularity.
Glancing once again at the clearly visible live score difference, the captain forced a calm expression and said, “Our ace player hasn’t come out yet. We are only temporarily behind.”
To enhance the live atmosphere, the show director allowed the audience to change their votes up to three times before locking them in.
They still had a trump card up their sleeves and could definitely make a comeback.
“For the second round, it will be a regular doubles match. Both team members, please take the stage.”
Bo Jue and Xie Lianyun exchanged glances and walked to the side of the hosts, while on the opposing side, a pair of twins appeared.
The twin brothers were both wearing silver punk-style jackets, and their hairstyle and eye makeup were identical, as if they were a striking copy-and-paste combination.
“It seems that this match will also be quite intense,” the male host asked, “As the winners of the previous round, do you have confidence?”
Bo Jue nodded with a smile, “Certainly.”
Most of the audience was still captivated by the silver twins, while a minority gazed at Bo Jue’s black long hair.
The female host clapped her hands, and a flowing light wall descended from above.
The wall was embedded with thirty-six different types of musical instruments, half in Eastern style and half in Western style.
Guqin, sheng, dizi, pipa, erhu, guitar, bass, violin, harp, and various other materials such as gold, jade, silver, and bronze were displayed in rows, creating a breathtaking scene.
Everyone’s attention, both in the venue and through the camera lenses, was instantly captivated by this stunning scene before the performance even began, leading to applause.
“The double battle performance for Corona is… a musical duel.”
Although Huo Ren had already seen this during the rehearsals, he still found the sight of this towering wall astonishing.
In comparison, the performance they played together in the mall hallway, “Flight of the Bumblebee,” was insignificant.
Bo Jue and Xie Lianyun positioned themselves in the conch-like performance area, and the hostesses orderly took off and arranged the instruments, making it convenient for them to switch as needed.
Most of the audience were long-time fans who had followed “I Am the New King” and hadn’t seen such a spectacle in these past few years.
The entire venue fell silent.
Both of them donned their armguards and nodded at each other from a distance.
—They exuded a kind of calmness reminiscent of the melody of “High Mountains and Flowing Water,” as if recognizing each other’s talent.
Xie Lianyun sat on a high stool and effortlessly picked up a rosewood sanxian. With his right hand, he held an ivory plectrum in the shape of a ginkgo leaf and started playing the prelude.
Surprisingly, they began with a modified version of “Your Crown.” The fast-paced main melody, played on the sanxian, immediately took on a Kabuki-style elegance, with a few casual notes exuding a clear and ancient charm. It was catchy and pleasing to the ear.
Bo Jue, with a bamboo flute in his hand, played a counterpoint, chasing after the lead, undulating like geese soaring in the southern sky.
They would present the theme song in a canon-like arrangement, repeating the prelude as the antecedent and the coda as the consequent.
The sanxian set the tone like a boat in the clouds, and the bamboo flute responded like a bird in the wind.
The bamboo flute’s conclusion descended like a winged duck landing on the water, while the erhu accompanied with a lingering harmony, imitating the sound of wind in the mountains.
One played slowly, the other played briskly; one accelerated, and the other followed suit. The music remained continuous, yet propelled forward like a raging torrent, swirling, colliding, and bursting forth like a rainbow.
Even the audience members with no knowledge of music theory could perceive their musical confrontation, as if playing a game of chess in front of an army, using melodies to control and subdue the opponent, who responded with increasingly intricate variations, refusing to admit defeat.
As the eighteen traditional instruments with their ancient charm concluded their rotation, Xie Lianyun picked up a violin, smiled, and smoothly played a gentle and soothing melody, disguising it as a reprise.
Bo Jue glanced at him and continued playing the clarinet without losing his breath.
The two musical voices intertwined and rose, changing the trajectory of the music simultaneously, transitioning in an instant from a falling ink painting into a modern atmosphere of indulgence and revelry—
Several people on the opposing side were already sitting rigidly.
Long Jia whistled with a smile.
When the lights came on again, the audience, as if awakening from a dream, hurriedly applauded. Many people had dazed expressions, their minds still filled with the catchy main melody of the hit song. Some even wanted to hear it again.
The twin brothers were taken aback by the complete reversal of the situation. As they finished their robotic dance and stepped off the stage, they forced smiles.
Although the audience’s eyes were fixated on the mirrored mechanical dance, their legs were secretly trembling to the beat from moments ago.
It was incredible. What was the name of the song they sang? Were there any lyrics?
The red team’s vote count had already surged past 45.5% in the second round of the first phase, while the blue team was stuck at 20.8%.
—The difference had already exceeded twice the votes!
“Both captains, please come on stage,” the male host wiped off some sweat, feeling that his heartbeat was still resonating forcibly with the violin melody in his mind. “The final round of the competition is about to begin. Is there anything you’d like to say at this moment?”
Incredible, absolutely incredible.
From the previous Broadway performance to the musical duel, even standing on the blue team’s side, he wanted to vote for Corona.
He could never have imagined what surprises the Crown Group still had in store. Just this musical duel tonight was enough to be a special feature in entertainment news!
Huo Ren didn’t let him speak first this time, smiling elegantly, he said, “Perhaps we need another ten minutes?”
Rim’s Captain stared at him and said, “I’ll take this one.”
“We’ll compete with something beyond the basic skills of entertainers.”
Implicitly, they were implying that their display of professional abilities was nothing to be concerned about.
The male host remembered the information card and smiled, saying, “As far as I know, Captain Petro won the first prize in the national magic performance competition at the age of fifteen?”
Petro smirked, and sparks bloomed and shimmered in his hand, exuding a camera-friendly charm.
“Today, I will perform for you… a large-scale magic escape show!”
-2-
The six members of the Crown Group sat together, savoring their iced tea, watching the tall, handsome guy disappear from what seemed like a transparent iron cage, only to reappear running from the audience seats, causing the girls in the crowd to scream again.
Mei Shengyao had just reached 1.75 meters this year, sitting beside Long Jia, who was 1.9 meters tall, and he seemed a bit shorter. Leaning on his chin, he leisurely said, “He almost couldn’t keep up with the rhythm.”
“He’s already very serious,” Long Jia calmly remarked, “Maintaining composure throughout the entire performance is not easy.”
The camera once again focused on the six of them, and the boys maintained their professional smiles, clapping sincerely.
Indeed, magic was able to liven up the atmosphere. As soon as two doves flew out of the frame, a staff member swiftly intercepted them with a net and carried them away, not even allowing a single cry to be heard.
Many people had heard about this and changed their votes accordingly, but some of the spectators who hadn’t moved their votes were gradually falling into hesitation, waiting for Corona’s final performance.
Huo Ren shook hands with Petro in a friendly manner and took the microphone, saying, “Since we’re competing with something beyond the basic skills of entertainers, I’ll take this round.”
The other five teammates clapped enthusiastically, as if they already knew the final score and had completely relaxed.
The props team immediately set up a long table and placed two each of the 2×2 through 6×6 Rubik’s cubes on it.
The eight people on the opposing side had mixed expressions upon realizing the props were Rubik’s cubes.
These things had algorithms, and even if they were solved, it wasn’t a big deal. Moreover, the performance aspect wasn’t particularly strong—-so it shouldn’t pose much of a threat.
The audience also seemed to have average enthusiasm. Several young girls volunteered to participate, deliberately scrambling the colors of ten Rubik’s cubes in front of the camera and the audience.
Huo Ren politely thanked them and, under the gaze of the camera, inspected each of the ten Rubik’s cubes.
Then he turned around, facing away from the stage and the audience, and with a reverse grip, he held the first 2×2 Rubik’s cube.
His voice was clear and resonant as always.
“I’m going to begin.”
The audience and the host simultaneously exclaimed in surprise, and even two or three rows of people stood up in anticipation, only to be forced back into their seats by the assistant director’s glare.
What was he going to do?!
Solving the Rubik’s cube blindfolded?? Solving all ten, from 2×2 to 6×6, in one go?!!
If they were simply blindfolded, there would still be room for imagination, as people might think the blindfold could allow light to pass through or there could be some element of cheating involved in successfully solving the Rubik’s cube.
But Corona’s Captain not only turned his back to the Rubik’s cubes and looked at the large screen but also solved them with a reverse grip at the same time??
—How is that even possible?!!!
The male host was practically speechless at this point and confirmed before the timing started, “Cain, approximately how many times will you turn your head while switching these ten Rubik’s cubes?”
Huo Ren smiled and shook his head.
“No need.”
As the buzzer sounded, his 2×2 Rubik’s cube bounced twice in his hand, and before the colors could be captured clearly, it was already solved.
Exclamations of surprise and awe resounded one after another as two 3×3 Rubik’s cubes were solved on all sides.
The 4×4 Rubik’s cube had a more complex structure, but he swiftly manipulated it with his slender fingers while smiling at the camera in front.
It took him only forty-five seconds.
Every time he completed solving a Rubik’s cube, waves of astonished cries rose from the audience.
The female host, holding the microphone, was also greatly shocked and kept exclaiming, “How is this even possible?! How did he do it?!”
Huo Ren closed his eyes and continued to recall the scrambled colors of the 6×6 Rubik’s cube.
He possessed exceptional spatial memory, so while inspecting each cube earlier, corresponding models were floating and hovering in his mind, simulating exact replicas of the cubes.
As his fingertips slid and manipulated the cubes, the faint clicking sounds indicated the synchronization between his mental and physical manipulation of the Rubik’s cubes.
Even with his eyes closed, he could see the real-time dynamic changes of the 216 colored blocks.
On the screen, the boy closed his eyes, smiling as if he wasn’t facing an impossible challenge but rather stroking the tail of a wagging dog.
With his defined eyebrows, thin lips, long lashes, he was incredibly handsome.
“He did it—-the tenth Rubik’s cube is also solved!” The female host immediately raised his hand and the solved Rubik’s cube, her voice filled with excitement to the point of distortion, while the cheers from the audience erupted like a boiling ocean.
“Ladies and gentlemen, our show is absolutely real, with no possibility of cheating.” The female host hadn’t seen such an amazing display of skills in a long time. She signaled for a close-up on the camera as she and her male partner simultaneously dismantled the internal structure of the Rubik’s cube, answering questions for the audience and themselves.
It was just an ordinary Rubik’s cube, with no special mechanisms or markings!
“It’s incredible!”
Huo Ren bowed to the audience with a smile, signaling for the other team members to join him.
Hundreds of people in the audience simultaneously picked up their voting devices, and the progress bar for the red team surged forward like a runaway train—
73.20 : 16.80
The blue team was excellent, but the red team was simply stunning, unbelievable, and absolutely perfect.
After the recording of the show, they took a few days off and went home to see their parents, cats, and dogs before celebrating the New Year together. After all, it would be difficult to find such an opportunity again after their debut.
February 10th was the official broadcast date of the show, which happened to be the third day of the Lunar New Year.
They would debut four days later, ending their three-year-long wait.
“I Am the King of Newcomers: Chinese New Year Special” started at exactly 8 o’clock. Uncle Jiang rushed to the 17th floor at 6:30, holding his phone and making various WeChat calls while checking if the program had started every five minutes.
The co-production and production teams were both closely monitoring the voting situation tonight. If they broke Fifi’s record, the blue-blood endorsement would not only be officially announced Corona’s debut but also a string of collaborations waiting to be signed—
“Uncle Jiang?” Huo Ren came over and handed him a glass of water. “Why don’t you go out and smoke to calm down?”
Uncle Jiang snatched the cup and gulped down the water, then sat on the couch and bounced up again. “Has it started yet?”
Mei Shengyao leaned against Xie Lianyun, playing with the remote control. “You’ve circled the coffee table nearly 400 times.”
“Fifi is incredibly popular this year. I heard tickets for their concert are being resold at sky-high prices.” Bo Jue wiped the grand piano with a blue satin ribbon loosely tied around his long hair. “How many votes did they get back then?”
“One million two hundred fifty thousand votes,” Huo Ren answered. “It happened to be during the time when voting text messages were free. Previously, each vote cost 20 cents.”
“Oh, that’s not many.”
Although the six of them appeared calm on the surface, they all clutched pillows and crowded around Uncle Jiang, unable to take their eyes off the screen throughout the entire program.
From the moment the trailer played, the real-time off-site voting numbers for both teams were displayed at the top left and right corners, starting at five thousand.
“It’s starting, it’s starting—”
Uncle Jiang took a deep breath. “I’m going out for a smoke.”
All six boys pressed the uncle back onto the couch at the same time. “Don’t go!”
Just as Xiao Chi finished dancing, the red team’s vote count skyrocketed to over fifty thousand, and the speed was increasing.
While Chi Ji was completely immersed in the performance on stage, he looked embarrassed when he saw himself on the screen and covered his face with a pillow. “You guys don’t look…”
Bo Jue laughed and pinched his waist. “You’re super cute, what are you afraid of?”
When it reached the musical instrument duel stage, even before the program officially started, the vote count soared like it was on steroids as the massive illuminated instrument wall descended. It quickly climbed to two hundred thousand votes.
“Damn, Uncle Jiang,” Long Jia held his phone and said, “There are people betting online that our vote count will exceed two million!”
Uncle Jiang’s hand trembled as he lit his cigarette. “I’ve been in retirement for so many years, and I’ve caused such a big commotion…”
His phone was already ringing non-stop, so he abruptly silenced it.
While Huo Ren solved the Rubik’s cube with his back to the audience, the official Corona fan account had already surpassed 500,000 followers, and his personal account had exceeded 300,000.
The red team had just surpassed 1.2 million votes, with seven digits shining in golden light on the TV screen.
The blue team sluggishly reached 340,000 votes, mostly from a show of support.
…The contrast was glaringly obvious.
The first segment was a showcase of the group members’ talents, followed by a collective stage performance in the second segment. The third segment featured a game that required everyone’s cooperation.
The final segment, as usual, was the team’s sponsored building blocks sponsored by the largest block manufacturer, Tomo. Corona’s assigned set was a magical castle, which took an average of thirty minutes to complete.
Although the audience watched the edited and accelerated version, the live audience witnessed their hands-on assembly, piece by piece, from dots to surfaces, and the final creation might even be displayed in the exhibition hall on the ground floor of the TV station for visitors to admire.
This task tested their patience and attention to detail, while showcasing their personalities and various abilities.
The neighboring group had already lost their fighting spirit. Although they tried to encourage and cheer each other on, three or four members were exhausted halfway through and had to find time to answer the host’s tricky questions.
Corona took twenty-five minutes.
Huo Ren organized the division of labor in the process. Chi Ji and Bo Jue assembled the smaller doors, windows, and steps, while Xie Lianyun and Mei Shengyao worked on the larger roof, chimneys, and clock tower.
Long Jia took charge of standing beside them and controlling the host.
His eloquence was excellent, not only skillfully answering the host’s different questions about the six members but also diverting attention, allowing the other members to focus on their work. Furthermore, he skillfully took control of the situation, avoiding the host’s traps and promoting Corona in various ways.
“When we were creating this album…”
“We have a battle song that we made after visiting a master, and the mysterious thing about it is…”
His proficiency in rhetoric indicated a background in a business family, and he had mastered the art of persuasive speech.
While the six of them focused on managing their own image during the program playback, they frequently checked the vote count in the top left corner.
“It’s two million, Uncle Jiang!! Two million!!”
“Three million, three million—-It’s here!!!”
At the moment the numbers skyrocketed with diamond effects, all six of them nearly jumped to the ceiling, and their cheers could be heard throughout the building.
The final result was 4.3 million votes.
There was no organized effort, no behind-the-scenes manipulation—-it was the spontaneous result of the nationwide audience.
Their official account was handed over to the company for unified management, and the topic square was flooded with screenshots and reaction memes.
Huo Ren logged into Corona’s official Weibo account again and saw that the number of followers had exceeded three million in just two and a half hours.
The trending tags had also reached the second and fifth positions early on:
#CoronaBreaksNewcomerKingRecord#
#CoronaTheStrongestBoyGroupInTheHistory#
Uncle Jiang hurriedly took two blood pressure pills, holding his chest as he answered a call from his secretary.
“Yes, yes, okay, I understand.”
He hung up the phone and looked at the six boys, mumbling.
“The pre-sale of the album is already sold out.”
They had opened a channel to purchase 500,000 copies and had prepared one million copies in stock, estimating the maximum sales for the first three days.
It was. Not. Enough.