Chapter 103 Defense

Paradox consisted of only four people, yet their voices filled the entire studio. They excitedly hugged each other, exclaiming things like "I can't believe it" and "It's like a dream," drowning out the surrounding chatter.

The first-place team Paradox each received a bonus of 200,000 votes, the second-place team Eternal Six Stars each received a bonus of 100,000 votes, the third-place team WONE received a bonus of 50,000 votes, and the other teams did not receive any additional votes.

The recording ended very late, and the cafeteria was a long way away. Some trainees chose to go straight back to their dorms and eat bread, while Meng Fanxi and his group didn't consider the distance. The six of them would chat and arrive at any place together without even noticing that they were tired.

They planned to go to the cafeteria to find some food.

A bountiful harvest followed behind them.

Wu Jianian and Meng Fanxi had a good relationship, and by extension, they were also very familiar with the six stars of Eternity. All five members of the Five Grains Abundance team were from the same community. As they walked, the group of ten or so naturally came together, like a team, chatting as they headed towards the cafeteria.

As they talked, the topic turned to the live stream.

Wu Jianian put his hand on Meng Fanxi's shoulder, leaned close to his ear, and asked seriously, "Do you know why Paradox was able to get first place this time?"

Meng Fanxi had naturally made a guess and frankly said, "I guess Teacher Tan played some role. The offline voting was basically close, so the live broadcast must have been the most popular."

“Oh right, weren’t you also in Teacher Tan’s group?” Meng Fanxi then remembered that Teacher Tan had led two groups, one Paradox and the other Five Grains Harvest. “You were fourth place, right? That means you were quite popular. Teacher Tan is really amazing.”

Tan Yi's two teams achieved first place and fourth place, which is quite an impressive result.

It's worth noting that even the mentors Yun Mengtao and Zhu Lou, whose strength and reputation are no less impressive, only managed to secure the bottom four spots for their four teams.

Meng Fanxi became even more curious, "Tell me, how popular are your live streams?"

Wu Jianian sighed deeply, "Teacher Tan really has a knack for this," his expression a mix of wry smile and hesitation, a subtle feeling creeping over him, "He made us..."

Before Wu Jianian could finish speaking, the air suddenly fell silent. Everyone who had been chatting about all sorts of things stopped talking as if they had agreed beforehand, so that the next few words Wu Jianian said could be clearly heard by everyone.

"...creating a romantic pairing."

"Pfft—" Xu You was drinking water when he spat it out. Luckily, there was no one in front of him.

Meng Fanxi smiled. He immediately understood what had caused the live stream's popularity to surge. It was this! A powerful tool for generating buzz through marketing!

He asked Wu Jianian, who looked a little embarrassed, "Then why is your popularity a bit lower than theirs? Are you embarrassed?"

The two teams led by Tan Yi are among the older teams on the show, mostly around eighteen or nineteen years old. Although they can be more childish and energetic than the youngest trainees on the show, they should be used to this kind of promotional method and even adept at it.

In his past life, he had witnessed many creative ways of creating a couple's image for the sake of popularity.

Meng Fanxi looked at him with clear eyes full of curiosity, her teasing without any malice making Wu Jianian uncharacteristically at a loss for words.

Xian Yiran, who was standing next to her, had a lot of complaints to vent and spoke up first: "We worked really hard. Under Teacher Tan's guidance, we added a lot of physical contact to the dance choreography. We took master-level acting classes every day, which was more tiring than exam week!"

He let out a long sigh: "But unfortunately, our weakness is too great!"

Lin Ruohe asked, "What do you mean?"

Xian Yiran: "In the show, we give the audience the impression of being comedians and funny people. No matter how much we create a CP (couple pairing), in the eyes of the audience, it's like performing a skit. According to the staff, when we perform, the live comments are either laughing or saying it's cringeworthy."

"Hahahaha..." Meng Fanxi and the others laughed without restraint. Even the members of Five Grains Abundance couldn't help but laugh. How could this be so absurd? They couldn't even make a CP (couple pairing) work.

They all walked into the cafeteria with smiles on their faces, got their meals, and only managed to stop laughing when the eleven of them reached the long table at the back of the cafeteria.

The fragrant fried noodles were so delicious that everyone exclaimed in delight, especially when they were hungry.

Gu Huailang looked at Wu Jianian and asked the question he hadn't had a chance to ask earlier: "Is Paradox good at creating couple pairings?"

Wu Jianian nodded first, then shook his head. "They were also very stiff at first, but under Teacher Tan's guidance, the effect was good. Moreover, they had obviously planned it out. During the performance, they mainly highlighted the interaction between An Yi and Gao Xinyi. There were a lot of screams in the audience, and it's not hard to imagine it online."

Speaking of this, Xian Yiran looked annoyed, "Why were we so greedy back then? Teacher Tan clearly reminded us to distinguish between primary and secondary tasks, but we thought that everyone's share should be more equal. In the end, it turned out to be a hodgepodge."

Xu You complained: "So you guys don't regret creating a CP (couple pairing), you regret not doing it well?"

Ye Yuan, who was enjoying a bountiful harvest, didn't hide anything and admitted, "Of course, look at Paradox, they've even surpassed you guys after a bit of hype, and I guess other teams will start to follow suit."

Wu Jianian said, "That's true." He recalled something, "Teacher Ye often called Teacher Tan before the live broadcast of the third public performance. Teacher Tan didn't hide it from us, and he also told Teacher Ye about this method."

Ren Yuchen asked, "WONE is also promoting couples now?"

Meng Fanxi believes that it should not have been successful, or at least not very successful, otherwise the final rankings would have changed.

Xian Yiran said, "They don't seem to be cooperating. He whispered, "It seems that Han Jia doesn't want to be paired up with Jin Ziran."

Wow! We've gotten caught up in the gossip about these two.

It's easy to understand why Han Jia, who wanted to stay as far away from Jin Ziran as possible, would agree to cooperate.

Based on Meng Fanxi's understanding of Jin Ziran, Jin Ziran might not be interested in the other members of WONE.

After a meal filled with gossip and juicy chatter, everyone was a little reluctant to leave. The members of Five Grains Abundant Harvest went to the villa of Eternal Six Stars for a while before heading back.

The third round of competition has ended, and the grand final is about to begin.

As usual, the production team gave everyone a few days off to rest and adjust. However, the six of them shared an unspoken understanding: as long as they hadn't secured a debut spot, they absolutely couldn't relax. They agreed to continue practicing during their break before returning to their rooms.

In the morning, Lin Ruohe seemed to have not slept well, as his eyes were somewhat bluish. He gathered everyone in the storage room on the second floor, his expression solemn.

Lin Ruohe: "We analyzed this before. The later it goes, the more intense the competition becomes. Some teams may abandon the goal of the whole group debuting and instead focus on highlighting the top members of the group to try to debut more members. Now it is very clear that creating CP (couple pairing) is a quick and effective way. Paradox is an example."

Everyone remained silent, deep in thought, and listened attentively to what he would say next.

Lin Ruohe: "Perhaps the popular contestants in those groups will form CPs with their own team members, or perhaps they will form CPs with other teams. I think we need to take precautions in advance. If any of our members are squeezed out of the debut positions because of this, our plan will fail."

Paradox managed to turn the tide and surpass them in live stream popularity simply by creating a romantic pairing. The only uncertainty now is the vote counting method for the finals. The production team has too much room for manipulation; if they suddenly add other vote counting rules, there's nothing they can do to stop it.

Meng Fanxi understood Lin Ruohe's feelings; as the team leader, he was under immense pressure.

Gu Huailang suggested, "How about we create a CP (couple pairing) too?"

Lin Ruohe: "I've thought about it too, but is it too deliberate?"

Next, we will inevitably see a wave of CP (couple pairing) hype. Each team will bounce back from rock bottom and use all sorts of tricks. If they follow the trend and don't handle it well, will they lose some popularity instead?

Xu You said nonchalantly, "So what? We'll do anything to win."

Everyone fell into deep thought, seemingly agreeing with Xu You's statement.

Based on his experience, Meng Fanxi thought for a moment and then spoke up: "I don't think we need to be too deliberate, otherwise we'll be putting the cart before the horse."

He has a general idea of ​​the current public opinion trend: "How do you know we don't have any CP (couple pairings)? Maybe the various CP topics have already been established by fans. If we try too hard, it will be like what happened to Five Grains Abundance, and we will be criticized for being cringeworthy."

Based on the cheers from fans that Meng Fanxi had experienced on his way to work and during live performances, their CP pairing didn't need any hype; many fans were already happily shipping them.

Their greatest strength lies in their naturalness. The friendship and natural interactions they share every day attract the most imaginative and talented fans to create content. Trying to be too deliberate only makes them seem opportunistic.

But we still need to be on guard.

Meng Fanxi continued, "The only people we need to be wary of are Jin Ziran and a few people in WONE. I saw Jin Ziran's eyes yesterday, and they were very unsettling. I had a feeling that he was plotting something again."

Given Jin Ziran's personality, he will definitely prioritize his own debut in the finals, and he also wouldn't want all six of them to debut. During this period, Jin Ziran's actions are the most important thing for them to pay attention to.

Ren Yuchen said, "After the third performance, Teacher Ye Ni led them to perform in the city. Do you think it's possible that he took this opportunity to reconnect with the outside world?"

Xu You frowned and said excitedly, "Yes, definitely. With his and the people behind him being so elusive, they must have made contact this time. I wonder what tricks they're up to. He's the kind of person who can suddenly appear and disappear from Kai Di to Bai He. Don't underestimate him!"

All they can do at Mushroom Park right now is keep an eye on Jin Ziran's movements, as for what's happening outside...

After reaching an agreement, they contacted the production team that Wei had mentioned at the beginning of the program.

Somewhere outside the program, a post with roughly the same meaning but different wording is being prepared to be uploaded to various platforms, and its content is sure to spark heated discussions among the public.