Chapter 72 Reference Ranking
When Wei received the call, he thought he was hallucinating. Meng Fanxi's voice, which was supposed to be recorded in a closed room, suddenly appeared on the other end of the phone.
An unfamiliar Beijing number.
Wei Ye's first reaction was that it was a prank. Only after repeatedly confirming did he dare to believe that Meng Fanxi had actually contacted him with the permission of the production team. After hearing what he said, his eyes gradually turned cold.
"...In short, please keep a close eye on any related developments." Meng Fanxi finished the call under the gazes of Jiang Xunzhen and Cen Qi.
From both a moral and logical standpoint, this matter is not as simple as just using a mobile phone. After discussion, Jiang and Cen agreed that Meng Fanxi, as the person involved, should inform her company about the incident, and the program team would also inform Baihe Company of the situation.
With limited time, Meng Fanxi briefly explained Jin Ziran's private connections with outsiders, and without any attempt to hide it from the production team, he gave Wei Ye the phone number of the person Jin Ziran referred to as "uncle," which he had memorized, to warn him to be vigilant.
He knew the company would protect them from malicious public opinion and controversy, but apart from that, they still disapproved of their partnership and offered limited support.
The only way to deal with the forces behind Jin Ziran is through Wei Ye's connections.
Jiang Xunzhen silently observed Meng Fanxi's tone and expression. His clear and stable demeanor impressed her once again. She and Cen Qi exchanged a glance and both noticed the surprise in each other's eyes.
At such a young age, to have such a calm mind.
Meng Fanxi was constantly redefining her understanding.
...
In the A-level trainee apartment, Zhong Lifu discovered that their ACE member Jin Ziran not only came back late last night, but also didn't eat breakfast or lunch today, and stayed in his room the whole time.
He knocked on the door with some concern, but the other person simply told him to leave him alone.
He sounded like he was in a bad mood. Zhong Lifu frowned slightly, but then he thought that he had already done his duty as captain to care for his teammates, so he wouldn't bother him.
He turned around gracefully and caught sight of another figure.
Han Jia seemed to be in a bad mood as well, huddled on the balcony gazing into the distance, lost in thought. Zhong Lifu, intending to fulfill his duties as captain once again, had just opened his mouth when he said, "You..."
Han Jia: "Leave me alone."
"..."
Zhongli Fu flung his sleeves and left.
That evening, the TV screens in each dormitory suddenly lit up. Everyone thought that the rules for the second competition had been released, but the first thing they saw was a notice.
The notice listed the total number of trainees found to have used their phones without permission, along with the punishments already imposed.
Although the names were not specified, the sheer scale of the phone search had already spread those names among the trainees.
Trainees gradually noticed something strange about the notice.
After the penalty of "yellow card warning" and "the song selection for the next competition is last", there is a mark (1).
The item above, "Benefits reduced to the minimum," does not have a numerical label.
Some people began to speculate: "Does this mean that only one person will be punished?"
"One person? What terrible thing must they have done with their phone?" someone laughed gleefully.
"We'll find out on the day the song is chosen, hahaha."
Zhongli Fu was also speculating with great interest: "If only one person suffers the latter two punishments, that would be too unlucky. I'll have to see who it is then."
Zhang Ruizheng chimed in, "That's right, I'm also curious about who it is."
They never expected that one of the roommates also had a cell phone, and unlike usual when he was the center of attention, he was now sitting on the side, his face growing increasingly gloomy.
Han Jia noticed Jin Ziran's unusual behavior out of the corner of his eye and sneered inwardly.
This topic didn't last long before everyone's attention was drawn to the next message that popped up on the screen.
"After the second round of competition, the real-time individual overall rankings will be announced, and eliminations will be implemented."
The individual rankings for the first public performance will be released exclusively before 24:00 tonight. These rankings are based on a combination of votes from the live audience and invited judges (showing the voting percentages). Trainees who wish to view them are encouraged to do so.
The show's producers previously stated that the individual rankings that determine the debut positions will be determined by a combination of online voting on the Starlight Video APP and scores from a panel of 100 specially invited judges.
Although the judging panel may change slightly each time, their aesthetic sense and preferences tend to converge.
This ranking, though lacking online voting data, still holds some reference value.
A new section for viewing rankings immediately appeared on the screen, with each team's screen displaying only the names of its members.
Click on the name to view.
The WONE group voted to allow each member to view their own ranking individually.
Many teams also chose to check the data individually.
Meng Fanxi and the others chose to investigate together without any hesitation.
...
The trainees in the recording camp were free from the distraction of cell phones, and all their schedules were clearly arranged by the production team.
While they were still focusing all their energy on deciding whether to check the rankings individually or together, they had no idea that the lingering effect of their first performance would be unforgettable for all the audience members present.
In the forum for the program "Team-Based Camp"
Many audience members went straight to the forum to post after watching the performance.
"Exhilarating!! YTWY's first performance was consistently high quality!!"
"Six stars for Eternal! Completely on a different level."
"It wasn't enough! Before watching, there were so many teams that I was afraid I'd fall asleep, but after watching, how did it end so quickly!?"
The posts kept refreshing on the forum. The audience who watched the first performance were so excited that they turned the forum into a chat room. Users who were watching but couldn't attend were itching to know what to do, and kept asking questions in some of the on-site report posts to satisfy their curiosity.
A user named "Yuan Gu Hong Hong" posted: "[Eating melon] Front row report from the scene, with good editing, the first performance will definitely be a hit."
Many users flooded the post.
"Front row."
"I would like to ask Meng Fanxi."
"Squatting on the Eternal Six-Star Stage"
What format will the event take?
"Squat Squat WONE"
"Squatting format"
"OP, please show up soon! I'm getting impatient!"
When the posts by Motoya Honghong and others gained some popularity, I briefly reported some content in the post.
"Let me state in advance that, without giving away too many spoilers, what I say is far less than one ten-thousandth of their performance, so raise your expectations high."
"The competition is a battle-style format, with the two most exciting groups facing off in one group. The production team is really amazing; they've already created a clash of titans in just the first performance!"
“Every team performed very well. Except for one team’s performance that really touched me and I was biased towards them, the gap between the other teams was really close. It would have been reasonable for anyone to win. The results were announced on the spot, but we signed a confidentiality agreement and cannot reveal the results.”
"The recording process was fast-paced and not boring at all."
The original poster also replied to some people.
"Meng Fanxi was outstanding! It felt like he was involved in the choreography for that stage performance, and the content resonated well with everyone in the team (this is just my guess, it wasn't officially announced at the event)."
"Five Grains Harvest Powder may need to accept this sudden change."
"Their performances all revolve around Jin Ziran, who is very eye-catching."
"The Eternal Stage is undeniably amazing; the moment she appeared in period costume, she was absolutely stunning (I mean, she captured my heart instantly)."
Amidst the series of effusive praise, there are also plenty of unethical and sarcastic reports.
"Jin Ziran's high notes are slightly off-key."
"The 'Five Grains Abundant Harvest' and 'Young Man from Jiang Town,' both teams, please turn left to debut in this skit."
"Fanner seems to think he looks cool with his poker face."
"There are too many people at Swamp Light Imprint. There were originally 9 people, and they added 1 more. I don't know what they were thinking. Even such a big stage feels cramped."
"At first they said YTWY didn't have any thick stuff, but upon closer inspection there is some, so I won't go into details."
Someone in the thread also asked, "OP, why didn't you comment 'Eternal' with six stars?"
The original poster replied: "Their greatest tragedy is having nothing to complain about."
This reply was instantly screenshotted and shared across various forum groups. Some users were excited that Eternal Six Stars' performance received widespread praise, while others questioned whether it was exaggerated.
As more and more people gathered to watch, the number of participants in the discussion propelled the "Team-Based Campaign" group to the top of the entire forum in terms of popularity.
Marketing accounts, sensing the opportunity, immediately reposted this content to platforms such as Weibo and Douyin.
In a short time, topics such as "Eternal Six-Star Stage Receives Universal Praise", "Report on the First Performance of 'The Group'", and "When Will the First Performance of 'The Group' Air?" trended on social media and garnered considerable attention.
Wei also kept a close eye on public opinion. Seeing that his team's performance had received so much praise, he was happy on the one hand, but on the other hand, he was suspicious and worried that someone was deliberately trying to use a strategy of praising someone to their detriment.
If the public's expectations are raised to a certain level, and the actual broadcast results do not meet expectations, then public opinion will backfire, and Meng Fanxi and his team will face even more criticism.
With this in mind, Wei decided to be on the safe side and put his alt accounts, which he had cultivated in some forums, to use to post some rational posts and slightly control the hype surrounding the Eternal Six Stars.
Many fans of Will and Eternal Six Stars realized this and spontaneously joined in, which gradually calmed the situation on the forum.
...
Meng Fanxi and the others sat in front of the sofa, holding remote controls, and directly clicked on everyone's rankings.
The rankings and voting percentages of the six individuals were all displayed on the screen.
Lin Ruohe saw his name at the top of the list, composed himself, and then looked at the overall rankings. "Overall, it's an improvement over last time; everyone is within the debut positions."
He looked at Meng Fanxi and Gu Huailang, "Fanxi, you've made great progress this time, and Huailang, you need to work even harder."
Looking at the rankings on the screen, Meng Fanxi felt a little complicated. Overall, he had improved, but he was still not satisfied.
That's right, all six of them made it into the debut group, but Gu Huailang was in a more precarious position, having improved from tenth to ninth.
He went from eleventh to sixth, just making it into the top six.
Their goal is for all members to be in the top six, but they are still a little short.
Meng Fanxi's eyes were fixed intently on the screen, without moving.
But his goal is not just to finish in the top six.
The voting ratio was clear; he had a significant advantage in audience votes, but the votes from the invited judges dragged down the overall score.
Meng Fanxi's lips pursed unconsciously, and a light suddenly flashed in her clear eyes.
There is one more competition before the official rankings are announced.
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