CHAPTER 66: CHAPTER 62: DID I ASK YOU TO PRAISE THE OPPONENT?

"Was this song’s data boosted? How could it rise so quickly?"

"Xu Qingqiu? On what merit? Wasn’t it said that the popularity of her previous songs was all due to ’The Sound of Nature’? Why does this single still have such a high play count?"

"Damn! Eight hours, over six hundred thousand plays, number one on both charts! Are they even human?!"

「Visha Center, Baise Entertainment.」

"Director Zhang, have you listened to this song? What do you think of it?" Qin Xiao asked, frowning as she leaned back on the couch. She wore a one-piece lounge outfit, and her skin looked exceptionally pale against her black wide-leg pants. She crossed her legs, her gaze fixed gloomily on the laptop on the coffee table beside her.

"Not yet," Director Zhang replied. "But Lin has, and he rated it very highly."

"Rated it highly?" Qin Xiao mused.

Lin is a veteran first-class composer in the company, just one step away from becoming a top composer—a ’Song Daddy.’ If he rated it highly, the song must be exceptional. But where is she getting so many good songs?

From the initial ’The Original Dream’ to the subsequent on-show performances of ’In the World’ and ’Morning Bound for Midnight,’ and now this ’So Proud’—everyone in the company had given them high praise. Apart from some who pointed out minor lyrical flaws in ’In the World,’ no other significant issues were found with the others.

What did this imply? That the songwriter was highly skilled—not just in lyricism, but also in composition and even arrangement.

Why were lyric writing, composing, and even arranging typically separate roles? As music evolved, the amount to learn became overwhelming. Not everyone was a polymath with limitless energy; with limited time and abilities, excelling in even one area was already admirable.

But this Youmeng? They seemed like a prodigy, skilled in lyrics, composition, and arrangement. Since this name first appeared, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call every piece they’d produced a masterpiece.

Youmeng? Who exactly are they? Qin Xiao wondered.

"Teacher Qin, should we listen to it?" Director Zhang suggested.

"Let’s listen," Qin Xiao agreed. "We need to know what level our opponent is at, don’t we?"

Opponent? Director Zhang wondered. He didn’t know if Qin Xiao meant Xu Qingqiu or this Youmeng. He was indifferent to Xu Qingqiu. After all, he was unfamiliar with her, having joined the company later and never interacted with her. For him, the job was just about earning money. But Youmeng was different. By all indications, this was a top-tier talent. A serious contender? To be honest, Director Zhang felt unsettled.

The music started playing, and Director Zhang’s eyes immediately lit up.

"Thinking wildly all night under the charming night sky"

"Keeps me from sleeping"

"Why do you always want to run away?"

"This voice," he murmured, "so clean, so ethereal, so steady."

"The lyrics are good too."

Perhaps it was professional excitement, but Director Zhang listened on with great anticipation.

"Don’t be so proud"

"I might walk away at any moment"

"You’ve yet to hold my hand"

"The night is too long; the moonlight will surely grow cold"

When the chorus hit, Director Zhang’s eyebrows playfully jumped twice.

"Wow, this arrangement is brilliant! The emotional transition is smooth, not abrupt at all. It was probably a live performance, not edited."

"The emotional progression is very harmonious, and the lyrics are great!"

When the song ended, Director Zhang was still immersed in it, almost unable to resist playing it again.

"The overall feel is excellent. It must have been sung in a single take, or the sound engineer’s skills are top-notch; you can’t hear any edits or flaws."

"Director Zhang!" Qin Xiao finally snapped, her voice sharp. "We’re here to find our opponent’s weaknesses, not for you to sing their praises!"

Qin Xiao, already disheartened by the song’s perfection, grew even more agitated hearing Director Zhang’s incessant praise. Finally, she couldn’t stand it any longer. If Director Zhang hadn’t been such a veteran, she would have cursed him outright.

"Sorry," Director Zhang said, his tone cool. "But Xu Qingqiu’s performance is indeed perfect, and this piece is outstanding. An opponent like this won’t be easy to deal with."

Director Zhang wasn’t one to be trifled with. She’s just an artificially promoted pretty face; who is she to yell at me? he thought. Even musical Kings and Queens have to address me as ’Teacher.’ Who does she think she is in comparison? If it weren’t for the considerable sum the boss was paying him, he would have walked out long ago. He couldn’t openly show his anger, but subtly making a few pointed remarks wasn’t an issue.

Qin Xiao’s face had visibly darkened.

What does he mean, "not so easy to deal with"? she fumed internally. Is the opponent too strong, or am I just too weak? What’s he implying with those words?

While they were at each other’s throats, things weren’t peaceful elsewhere either.

"Damn it, this is bad!"

Chu Tian had initially thought he could finally get some rest. Xu Qingqiu was recording a program, and he was just sitting in the audience, watching the show and relaxing. But when he heard what the host on stage said, he almost jumped out of his seat. He’d been busy all day and had completely forgotten that today was the new song’s release date! Those damn Reputation Points!

He hurriedly opened the system and saw that his Reputation Points had already capped at ten million.

Don’t be fooled if a single music platform only showed a few hundred thousand plays; the Reputation Points had already exceeded ten million. Remember, that was just one platform. There were also other music platforms, search engine queries, Weibo discussions, downloads for derivative content, and so on. Across the entire internet, the number of people who had heard the song far exceeded mere hundreds of thousands or even a million. A short video with just tens of thousands of likes could garner upwards of one or two hundred thousand views, let alone the ones that went viral. Coupled with the trending discussions on Weibo, ten million Reputation Points were quickly accumulated.

"Lottery draw! One hundred draws!"

What was he waiting for? Hurry up and draw!

Actually, he could now directly exchange points for a novel or a few songs. But was he short on songs? He couldn’t sing them himself, nor did he plan to—at least not for now. Even if he wanted to sing, he didn’t need the system. In his past life, he was a Singer. Producing a few songs without the system would have been easy; he just didn’t need to. As for giving them to others? Occasionally releasing a few songs to earn Reputation Points was enough. There was no urgency, so there was no need to exchange them.

He used the lottery because he’d realized it was more cost-effective than a direct exchange. If there was an urgent need, exchanging might be better. But if not, the lottery was the way to go. Another reason was the sheer variety and randomness of items in the system. Each lottery draw was like opening a blind box; sometimes, a novel item would pop up, like the one he had just gotten.

[Ding, you have won a prize: Camera Detector]

...

[Ding, you have won a prize: song "Thousands of Songs"]

"Thousands of Songs" was incredibly popular. The fact it had supported half the music scene in Hong Kong and Taiwan back in the day was no small claim. This classic old song could still hold its own even now. He had loved it dearly in his previous life, and his affection for it only grew with age. But right now, his attention wasn’t on the song, but on the small item he had just extracted.

A Camera Detector?

He examined the item in his hand. It was about the size of an egg—a pure white oval with small, evenly distributed holes and a little switch on top. He pressed it casually.

Instantly, the detector emitted a dense web of green lines as fine as spider silk. A second later, most of the green lines retracted, leaving several dozen red lines pointing in various directions.

"Wait a second, Director, the camera’s broken!" a crew member shouted.

"Mine too!" another exclaimed.

...