Chapter Seventy-Six: Rules for Two
On the way to the recording venue after finishing his makeup, Xu You belatedly realized that the second performance was a position evaluation, and he asked, "If it's an individual battle, can we still be together? Should we both choose vocals?"
Gu Huailang glanced at Meng Fanxi but didn't say anything.
Lin Ruohe adjusted the cuffs of her uniform and said, "If possible, choosing the same location for the evaluation carries less risk. Vocal has a better chance of winning."
They are all all-rounders in singing and dancing. In terms of vocals alone, they have worked together very well. Their timbres blend perfectly, and their cooperation and harmony are so beautiful that the mentors have praised them repeatedly.
In terms of dance, many teams in the show have been trained in dance since childhood, and there are several champions of various dance competitions. They have always given the impression of being somewhat unbalanced, but they may be very successful when it comes to the position evaluation.
Eternal Six Stars also trained in dance from a young age, so they might lack some wildness compared to others. Although their chances of winning are not small, the risks are greater, and they cannot completely take the initiative.
If we follow this line of thinking, their performance this time will basically consist of choosing a vocal song and delivering a smooth performance.
Meng Fanxi, who was originally walking in front, slowed down and looked back at her teammates. "This time I want to take on the Dance assessment."
Xu You was surprised for a moment and said, "That works too, we have a chance of winning with our dance."
Meng Fanxi lowered his eyes and remained silent, not responding immediately, as he pondered how to organize his thoughts.
Ren Yuchen immediately noticed Meng Fanxi's hesitation. "Fanxi, do you mean we should each choose our own this time?"
All eyes were now focused on Meng Fanxi.
Meng Fanxi nodded solemnly, "Do you remember what I said before? I want to be number one, and you all have to be too. This individual battle is a rare opportunity, so we have to seize it, even if we might not be in the same song."
He paused for a moment and said, "Vocal or Dance evaluations will definitely involve more than one song. If we choose the same song, each of us will have to make some concessions to ensure a perfect performance. This is a winning strategy for a team, but it is very disadvantageous in individual battles, especially in position evaluations."
The rules are still unclear, but the hint about individual competition is very clear, and there might even be competition within the team.
Therefore, in this competition, the important thing is for everyone to choose the song that best suits them and shine.
After he finished speaking, everyone fell silent, lost in thought.
Walking silently to the recording venue, when they were about fifty meters away from the main group, Meng Fanxi suddenly said calmly, "We went through so much trouble to form this group and fight for this opportunity, so I hope everyone will seize this opportunity and improve their individual rankings."
Even though this performance wasn't broadcast early enough to have much impact on the upcoming first official ranking announcement, he was still focused on the final rankings on the final night.
A hint of concern flashed in Lin Ruohe's eyes, "The competition in the dance field is fierce, especially with several dance competition champions. What if..."
Meng Fanxi smiled slightly, "If I fail, the worst that can happen is that I'll fall out of the team like some of the others in the first round. But you guys will still be there to save me. It's because of you that I have the courage to make this decision."
"We might not even be able to get it back." Xu You said arrogantly, "At worst, we can start over together. The second round doesn't represent the final result."
Zhang Yang walked over and patted Meng Fanxi on the shoulder. "You're right, we have no other choice but to win."
Seeing that his teammates accepted and supported his ideas, Meng Fanxi felt an immense surge of power.
They had overcome many obstacles to get here. When he saw that it was an individual competition, he was actually very conflicted. He didn't want to be separated from the team. Even though he vaguely guessed that it was a position evaluation, he hadn't made up his mind.
However, the ranking in the first round still dampened his spirits. The scores from the invited judges were an uncertain factor, and there might have been some shady dealings involved. But the strong don't make excuses; they only strive to become stronger.
He hopes to take this opportunity to show everyone that they are not only strong in the same team, but also capable of standing on their own when they are dispersed into different groups.
Meng Fanxi glanced at Gu Huailang, who was looking away and seemingly lost in thought. Gu Huailang had no competitive spirit on the show and his only goal was to get into the top 9.
He hopes that Gu Huailang can also take this opportunity to strive for a higher ranking.
Upon arriving at the venue, Yun Mengtao specifically asked the staff to call them over and apologize for what had happened last time, which involved her and Xu Cangyan, but ultimately affected these trainees who had not yet debuted.
In fact, Yun Mengtao was the one who was unjustly implicated, yet she still thoughtfully came over to comfort them. Meng Fanxi and Xu You both sincerely thanked Yun Mengtao, and the group chatted and laughed for a few more minutes, thus completely putting the matter behind them.
The recording took place outdoors. The production team set up a spacious stage on a flat area near the lawn in Mushroom Park. A large LED screen, comparable to that used indoors, was installed on the stage. The trainees sat on the lawn, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of an outdoor lawn concert.
Wooden stools were neatly arranged below the stage. The production team called out the trainees' names one by one and had them sit on the stools in order.
This order is based on the individual rankings of the trainees in the winning team after the first public performance, so even if there are top-ranked trainees in the losing team, they can only sit at the back.
Ren Yuchen was in fourth place, and Meng Fanxi, who was in sixth place, was directly behind him, skipping fifth place.
Meng Fanxi looked back at WONE, who were sitting in the back row. Their team members were ranked relatively high among the losing teams. They were only six people. Jin Ziran was punished by being made to sit at the back because he was hiding his phone.
Many trainees looked at Jin Ziran sitting at the back in surprise, huddling together and whispering, "So it really is him."
"What did he do to deserve such extra punishment?"
"Last time we specifically investigated him for a long time but couldn't find anything, so where did he hide his phone?"
"How embarrassing! Sitting there, with Zhong Chu, who was kicked out by them, right in front of him in line, hahaha."
"I've always thought he was hypocritical. When he was recruiting Zhong Chu, he acted so exaggeratedly, as if he wanted to do something amazing. I guess he knew from his phone that doing so would win him favor."
...
Jin Ziran seemed oblivious to the outside world's discussions, calmly talking to the person next to him as if he were engrossed in the conversation, but the clenched, livid fist beside him betrayed his true feelings.
Once all the equipment was set up, the recording began.
All five mentors appeared on the stage. The stage was very large, and it still felt quite empty when the mentors stood on it.
Yun Mengtao gave a brief opening speech and carefully read out the names of all the sponsors.
After reading a long list, Meng Fanxi heard about several new sponsors, indicating that more brands had added sponsorships.
The show's growing popularity isn't necessarily a bad thing for them.
"Now, let me introduce the rules for the second performance," Yun Mengtao said, getting to the point.
"The second performance is a position evaluation, which will evaluate three positions: Vocal, Dance, and Rap. Each position corresponds to 4 songs, and the number of people for each song is different. The songs within each position will be paired up for a battle. The winning team will receive bonus votes, while the losing team will not receive any bonus votes. Please carefully choose the corresponding song for the position you want to be evaluated for. Each person can only choose once."
"This performance is an individual battle, and it's also the last stage for us to showcase ourselves before the first ranking announcement. The extra votes for this performance are substantial and will have a significant impact on the official ranking. Please let mentor Ye Ni give us a detailed introduction."
“Okay.” Ye Ni smiled and explained, “In the second round of evaluation, each team will be ranked based on the number of votes they receive after their performance. The last member of the winning team will receive an extra 180,000 votes…”
Before she could finish her sentence, she had already caused a huge stir in the audience. The trainees all exclaimed in surprise. Ye Ni stopped speaking at the right moment, giving the trainees time to react.
"180,000 votes? That's double the 90,000 votes the winning team got in the first round! What if they win the first round but lose the second round? Wouldn't that be a huge loss?"
"Teacher Ye said that the last place got 180,000 votes. Could it be that the people in front got more than that?"
"Wow, that's an incredibly generous number of votes! We'd better choose carefully later!"
"It's over. Look at how eager they are to get started. Do you think they'll even give us a share of the profits?"
Meng Fanxi was also surprised. 180,000 votes. It seems that the online vote pool has expanded a lot. Even with a calm analysis, he knew that the bonus votes given here would not be able to reverse the ranking trend too much. But he had to admit that the number of votes was still very tempting.
After everyone calmed down, Ye Ni continued, "The votes will increase according to the ranking, with each additional ranking adding 20,000 votes."
This time, before everyone was still speechless with shock, she continued, "For example, if a team of nine wins, the team's first-place winner can receive a bonus of up to 340,000 votes."
"Are you crazy?"
"The competition will be fierce, so be prepared, everyone!"
"The team with fewer people is at a disadvantage. If there is a team with 4 people, the first place can only get 240,000 votes, which is 100,000 votes less than the first place of the team with 9 people!"
"The lines with the most people have definitely been filled, and our disadvantage at the back of the line is too obvious."
...
When Yun Mengtao heard people discussing team size, she explained, "Among the 12 performances in the second round of the competition, the largest group has 9 members and the smallest has 6 members. The difference in votes for the winner is 140,000 votes."
"A difference of 140,000 votes is quite a lot..."
"I wonder if our team of 9 can make it into the 9-person group." The speaker was Yin Lerong, a member of the group Swamp Light Imprint. Their group is currently the only 9-person group remaining in the show.
Yun Mengtao said, "Now there is a very important point that I would like everyone to pay attention to."
Upon hearing this, the chatter among the audience gradually subsided, and everyone looked up, intently awaiting Yun Mengtao's next words.
"This performance is an individual battle. Your team will be frozen. You can choose your own song according to your own wishes. The choice will not have any impact on the team. Of course, you can also choose the same song with your teammates."
After exchanging glances, Meng Fanxi and his teammates all came to the same conclusion.
Although there are 6 songs, and based on their rankings they could all choose the same song, considering the previous discussions and the current rules, having them all sing the same song doesn't actually offer any advantage.
It would be more interesting if each member could get first place in several songs within the team.
Yun Mengtao didn't say much and went straight to the next step: "Now, I'll announce the 12 songs for this position evaluation. Please look at the big screen."
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