Chapter 234 Challenge, Encounter with a Fellow

"What's going on? It's so lively!"

"I don't understand at all, can someone translate it for me?"

"Why is everyone rushing into the circle? What does that sign say?!"

The seven Portuguese street urchins managed to squeeze to the front row with their agile skills and positioning, while several domestic fans who had been following them eagerly were blocked outside by the crowd.

A huge circular area was marked out in the center of the venue. People kept rushing into the circle, and the outer area was surrounded by people watching the excitement.

There was a conspicuous signboard erected at the edge of the venue, and a girl holding a loudspeaker was explaining the rules in the circle. However, the scene was too noisy, so they could only communicate by shouting.

Xie Qingyu quickly glanced at the signboard, which said something like "Challenge", but none of that mattered.

The most important thing is: the top ten who persevere to the end will receive rewards, and the champion will directly receive... a bonus of 200,000 Corey coins!

Xie Qingyu and Gu Qi exchanged glances, and without saying a word, they pulled their teammates into the circle.

There's no threshold to it, it's just dancing, right? Anyone with hands can do it.

You’d be a fool not to make money!

Money is tight right now, so this is a good opportunity to fill your wallet.

The few people moved too quickly, and the cameraman who was left behind was so anxious that he stomped his feet on the spot. The rules clearly stated that those who didn't dance were not allowed to enter the circle, so those who were carrying the equipment could only worry from a distance.

What’s even worse is that the director said that all income must be obtained through song promotion... What should I do now?

Director, please come quickly! These guys are so broke, there's no stopping them from pursuing money!

Just as the camera crew was getting anxious, Xie Qingyu in the circle had already started explaining the rules to his teammates, and Gu Qiong would occasionally fill in any missed details.

The rules are actually very simple, it's just an upgraded version of random dancing: you have to dance to the entire song, one after another.

It not only tests dancing skills, but also requires a rich music library and extraordinary physical strength.

Those who can't jump, make mistakes in their movements, or are too weak to jump will all be eliminated and retreat outside the circle.

We are not afraid that you will not be honest. There are so many eyes watching you around, there is no way you can cheat.

This random dance challenge, which is local to Coria, naturally consists mainly of local popular songs, which is not very friendly to Xie Qingyu and others.

But then again, this is not a professional dance competition, and entertainment is still the main focus.

The idol group’s dance moves mostly follow certain patterns, so if you react quickly enough, it won’t be a problem.

What's more, they are not isolated from the world. Xie Qingyu has learned some of the popular songs here, not to mention Gu Yan and Bai Yan who have been trainees in large companies for several years.

Covering dances of well-known domestic and international groups is a compulsory course for trainees. At present, it seems that these two people have the greatest hope of winning the grand prize.

As for Xie Qingyu and the other teammates, it might sound a bit harsh to say they were just making up the numbers, but we can only say that their goals were different.

At least I should win a bag of fruit to take back!

God knows the prices of fruits here make their scalps tingle, and just looking at them seems like a luxury!

"As expected of a nation of trainees, the number of participants is ridiculous."

Wei Liangchen looked at the increasing number of people gathering in the circle and couldn't help but sigh in amazement.

You Jinzhao reminded him at the right time: "Don't just watch the fun, stretch your muscles first, or you'll get cramps in the middle of the dance."

"I don't think it's necessary?" Ding Zai rubbed his sore legs and shook his head in objection. "We've already walked several kilometers today. We've already exceeded our warm-up requirements."

As the oldest member of the group (although he was only a few years older than the others), he had to admit that he really couldn't compete with the younger members of the team in terms of resilience.

These words immediately resonated with everyone, including Xie Qingyu, and everyone nodded in agreement. Today's exercise was indeed enough.

"Huh? Brother, Brother Zhang and the others seem particularly anxious outside the circle. Do they want to say something?"

At his age, Leo loves the hustle and bustle the most. He was looking around curiously when he suddenly noticed the anxious gazes of several cameramen not far away.

Xie Qingyu glanced at them calmly without changing his expression, and said calmly: "Oh, they are cheering us on~"

Judging from the expressions on their faces, they had obviously discovered that they were exploiting a loophole in the rules.

But it doesn't matter. As the team's money-manager, Xie Xiaoyu has already made a plan: as soon as he gets the bonus, he will take the members out for a big meal and spend it all. He guarantees that even the director will be confused when they return.

In this way, the amount in your wallet when you leave and when you return will be exactly the same. How can this be considered breaking the rules?

Leo scratched his head in confusion, feeling that this was not what the older brothers meant.

But everyone knows that his brother Xie Qingyu never lies to others - and certainly not to him!

So the truth must be just as his brother said, he was cheering them on!

Thinking of this, Leo waved vigorously towards the camera crew with emotion.

As expected, the older brothers became even more excited when they saw this.

Don't worry! They won't let down their friends and family and will definitely win the grand prize!

"Challengers, please prepare yourself, 5-4-3-2..."

"1—The game begins!"

As the countdown ended, the fierce competition officially began.

Xie Qingyu took a deep breath and concentrated on adjusting his breathing rhythm.

Their positions were carefully arranged. Bai Lang and Gu Qiong, who knew the most about the local repertoire of Coria, took the lead, while the other members moved slightly behind, so that they could gain precious reaction time when encountering unfamiliar repertoire.

The first one is a new song by a girl group that has been very popular recently. It has a light melody and is not very difficult.

Xie Qingyu happened to have heard this song before and passed the test easily.

This round served as a warm-up session, and only a few contestants were eliminated after the entire song was performed.

Then came the second, the third...

Xie Qingyu doesn't know every song perfectly, but his years of idol career have allowed him to develop a set of tricks to quickly master the dance.

In the MYST7 team, he is one of the fastest learners of new dances.

Now there are two more "standard answers" leading the dance in front, so keeping up with the rhythm is naturally no problem.

Moreover, the whole song has repeated sections, and when all he needs to do is dance without singing, it is like a fish in water for Xie Qingyu.

As long as he can follow it the first time, he can dance with his own style and charm when encountering repeated parts, and he can attract the audience's attention even if he is standing in the back row.

As the competition progressed, the difficulty of the repertoire gradually increased, and the selections became less and less popular.

Wei Liangchen, Ding Zai and You Jinzhao, who had weaker dance skills in the team, gradually became overwhelmed and took the initiative to step out of the circle to cheer for the remaining four teammates.

Even they, as active idols, are in this situation, and even more other amateur challengers were eliminated.

When it came to the 17th song, there were only 11 challengers left in the circle, including Xie Qingyu and the other four.

The smaller the number of people, the more focused the onlookers' attention will be, and the more passers-by will gather.

Xie Qingyu is not a person who sweats easily, but even in this deep winter, his forehead is covered with fine beads of sweat.

The enthusiastic audience spontaneously organized a rally to cheer for the top ten contestants.

“Fighting!!!”

Xie Qingyu could no longer hear clearly what was shouted.

Although his physical strength has improved a lot after this period of special training, he still feels a little tired under such high-intensity continuous dance rhythm.

It's funny, at this moment, all he could think about was: the reward of the basket of fruit was getting closer and closer.

˙˙

Halfway through the song, another challenger made a mistake.

Under the identification of many sharp-eyed onlookers, the contestant who tried to cheat and get away with it finally left the stage in disgrace amid boos.

After all, being just one step away from the top ten, anyone would be unwilling to give up - it can't be just for that basket of fruit~

At this point, the top ten list of the challenge has been finalized.

Xie Qingyu, Leo, Gu Yan and Bai Lang all successfully entered the final round, and MYST7 alone occupied nearly half of the top ten seats.

Xie Qingyu thought happily: I can bring at least four fruit baskets back to the hotel, so I don’t have to worry about my vitamin intake in the next few days.

Those who have survived until now are all tough guys. The next few rounds of competition were extremely fierce, and no one was eliminated after several consecutive songs.

It wasn't until a high-intensity dance music came on that two or three people were finally eliminated one after another.

According to the rules, eliminated contestants can receive fruit baskets corresponding to their rankings on the spot. Although they are all fruits, the variety and value increase as the ranking increases.

After another challenger was unfortunately eliminated, the competition came to the... Xie Qingyu could no longer remember which song it was.

His body was the first to sound the alarm, his brain clouded by oxygen deprivation, and a clear misstep caused him to stop dancing. Ever the honest man, he consciously stepped outside the circle, ultimately securing a respectable fifth place finish.

Not bad, not only did he test the limits of his physical strength, but he also realized that compared to the three teammates who were still fighting in the circle, his endurance still had a lot of room for improvement.

It seems that concert-level sustained training must be put on the agenda, otherwise I might be in trouble when I go on stage.

Interestingly, when Xie Qingyu stopped and walked out of the circle, the onlookers collectively protested, insisting that he had not made any mistakes and should not have been eliminated.

Those local fans who learned his name through the scattered fans at the scene were even more enthusiastic:

"Oppa Yu, fighting!"

"So what if there are mistakes? This face is the pass!"

"Cheong...Oppa Yu should be directly recommended for the championship!"

The most exaggerated thing is that someone openly demanded a separate revival match for Xie Qingyu in front of other challengers outside the circle who were eliminated due to mistakes in their movements.

The boldness of the Koreans is indeed well-deserved!

The key point is that there are still many people who hold this idea, which shows how outstanding Xie Qingyu's previous performance was.

In Correa, which is famous for its petition culture, the organizers were almost persuaded by the public's dissatisfaction, but ultimately declined the proposal on the grounds that "the challenger has taken the initiative to leave the circle." However, they also said that if Xie Qingyu was still in the circle, they could indeed consider "resurrection," but if he had left, they would not, which was quite tolerant.

This unexpected incident caused Xie Qingyu to invisibly attract a lot of hatred from other eliminated contestants, but he didn't care.

At this moment, Xie Qingyu was concentrating on watching the fierce championship battle between four people in the circle. More importantly, he got the trophy!

The fruit basket for the fifth place winner was big and full, and the plump and juicy orange inside was tempting him all the time. The first thing he would do when he got home was to eat it!

Shortly after Xie Qingyu was eliminated, Leo and Gu Qi also finished 4th and 3rd respectively.

When the two of them returned to their teammates, each carrying a heavy fruit basket, Gu Qi also received an envelope containing a bonus of 50,000 Cori coins.

Xie Qingyu just glanced at it casually when handing him the tissue, and Gu Yan understood what she meant and took the initiative to hand over the envelope.

"That's right~"

Xie Qingyu opened the envelope with a smile on her face. She said, "Yu will protect the members' dinner money, so don't worry."

After counting the money carefully, he hid it safely in his personal bag which was covered with three layers of cloth, and then continued to watch the game with satisfaction.

At this time, only Bai Lang and a trend-setter wearing a baseball cap and ripped jeans were left competing for the championship.

As the team's leading dancer, Bai Lang's strength is unquestionable. He can easily handle even the most complicated dance steps, and his professional level is top-notch.

And the mysterious opponent was no less impressive. Each of his moves had a unique personal style, and it was obvious that he was also a professional.

Xie Qingyu keenly noticed that even though the baseball cap was pulled down very low, the other party was still able to accurately find the best camera angle. This was clearly a professional instinct formed through long-term stage training.

"It seems I've met someone in the same field," Xie Qingyu thought to himself, "and he's probably a member of a popular group."

Although his overall strength is slightly inferior to Bai Lang's, his unyielding spirit is particularly eye-catching.

The confrontation between the two has entered a white-hot stage, with large beads of sweat constantly falling to the ground.

The booing and cheering sounds from all around were overwhelming, pushing the atmosphere to a climax.

In the end, the challenger who Xie Qingyu initially judged to be a popular male idol was unable to keep up with the rhythm due to physical exhaustion and raised his hand to signal his withdrawal. He was a proud but rule-abiding person.

When the organizer was presenting the two with bonuses and gift fruit baskets, the mysterious man suddenly took off his baseball cap, looked at Bai Lang with burning eyes, and then glanced in the direction of Xie Qingyu and others, with a provocative smile on his lips, which was very evil.

"Oh, you're still not convinced~"

Wei Liangchen's teasing was drowned out by the screams all around.

Even Xie Qingyu, who had limited knowledge of overseas idols, recognized the face.

Let’s put it this way, the person who makes him familiar overseas is definitely the top of the top.

Even if you don't know him, you can tell from the reactions of the local Coria passersby that this fellow traveler you bumped into today is quite someone important.