Chapter Seventy-Eight: The Second Duke's Team is Complete...
The jeers grew louder and louder, and Fan Na stammered out, "Don't provoke me." He was completely devoid of his previous arrogance.
“This song is too difficult,” he said, his eyes showing hesitation and doubt. “I need to think about it.”
One of the trainees jokingly exclaimed, "Hey, what's wrong with Fan Na? She's like a completely different person."
Fan Na remained silent.
Meng Fanxi could tell that he really didn't want to choose this song, so he didn't want to force him. After all, it was Fan Na who had taken the initiative to say that he wanted to compete with him again, and he had said at the time that he would wait until the second public performance.
Now that the opportunity to compete is right in front of him, Fan Na no longer has the impulsiveness he had before.
Meng Fanxi gave him a way out, "It's okay, choose whatever you want. I was just joking."
Fan Na was also an eccentric; if asked to go, he wouldn't want to. Now that Meng Fanxi had regressed, he felt itchy to try. Caught in this dilemma, he suddenly mustered his courage and took a step directly into the queue behind Meng Fanxi.
The trainees erupted in cheers of "wow" again, confirming that the two of them were indeed in the same team; they were just enjoying the drama.
Among the trainees who chose songs later, there were quite a few who were interested in "Wings" but hesitated. They looked at their team in front of the song list, then looked at other teams, and finally made a difficult struggle to choose another team.
What frustrated Meng Fanxi was that their eyes revealed a deep distrust of the song's existing members.
With two top nine finishers and a strong dancer, they seem to have a good chance of winning, right?
It must be because Fan Na looks too fierce.
Fan Na, sitting in the back in a daze: ...
After all the trainees who won in the previous round were selected, their team "Wings" still only had 3 people.
They are one of the teams with the fewest members among the 12 songs.
In fact, Meng Fanxi wasn't too surprised. This song was difficult, and with only 7 people, the number of votes that could be obtained was much less than that of a song with 9 people. For some trainees, it was a thankless task.
It was the team captains' turn to select trainees from those who had failed in the previous round.
The order is Vocal—Dance—Rap.
Meng Fanxi's team was the first in the Dance group, which is considered quite high.
Among the candidates, the members of WONE were the most sought-after. Meng Fanxi glanced at the WONE members sitting in front, and there was only one person he wanted to bring into the team.
But he seems to be better suited to vocals.
The captain of "Platinum Age" called out that person's name.
"Han Jia".
The boy who was called seemed to have no idea what to do. He looked up dejectedly and then prepared to get up and go on stage.
Give it a try.
"Han Jia," Meng Fanxi called his name as well.
The man was clearly taken aback, his lips parted slightly, and the look of surprise finally brought a ripple to his otherwise calm face.
Two more teams called Han Jia's name, but he remained staring blankly in Meng Fanxi's direction.
Yun Mengtao interrupted Han Jia's daze and said, "Alright, now please make your choice, trainee Han Jia."
Han Jia was directed to a convenient angle for taking pictures, and the four teams awaited his reply.
He looked at Meng Fanxi and asked again, "You chose me?"
Meng Fanxi was confused by his reaction and said affirmatively, "Yes."
Han Jia spread his hands, looking like he was saying, "What else is there to say?" and walked towards Meng Fanxi.
Finally, a new member joined the team after a long absence. Meng Fanxi excitedly took a few steps forward to welcome Han Jia in.
The rap group filled up their pool of members first. The people they could choose from were mostly the rappers in their respective groups, and they were all of different types, so the selection process was actually quite peaceful.
In contrast, the selection process for the Vocal and Dance groups was extremely competitive, especially among the top-ranked trainees, who were almost all vying for the spots.
Even sitting in the last row, Jin Ziran was being fought over by several teams. Jin Ziran's expression finally improved, and he kept shifting his gaze between "Platinum Era" and "Night Dance".
In the end, he chose "Platinum Age," but after making the choice, he couldn't help but secretly glare at Meng Fanxi.
Meng Fan, dressed in a suit, didn't see it and turned back to chat with his teammates.
After joining the team, Han Jia completely shook off his previous disconnections and became extremely attentive, constantly telling Meng Fanxi to choose this or that.
Because it was too outrageous, Meng Fanxi chose to ignore it.
Next, Meng Fanxi chose Wu Jianian.
As soon as Wu Jianian joined the team, the team immediately became lively. Although he was chattering, he was very articulate, so everyone listened to him attentively.
There were still two spots left, and Meng Fanxi already had a plan in mind, plus there was practically no one competing with him for those two spots.
Meng Fanxi chose Lu Ning and Zhong Chu in turn.
The two chosen individuals were at a loss for words, feeling as if they had been hit by a gift from heaven.
When Zhong Chu was only one meter away from going on stage, he said to Meng Fanxi, "Don't take one of your spots out of pity for me."
Meng Fanxi: "It's not that you're taking up our spots, it's that we need you."
Zhong Chu clearly didn't believe him. "What use could I be?"
Meng Fanxi didn't argue with him, only saying, "You'll know what use you are when you get here."
And so, as Zhong Chu walked into the queue with hesitant steps, Meng Fanxi's group "Wings" was finally formed.
Meng Fanxi could directly feel the disdain from the teams on both sides.
So what? He is confident that he can interpret this song in a way that is completely different from his previous life.
After all the teams were formed, Meng Fanxi focused on the individual pieces his teammates were playing.
Zhang Yang and Lin Ruohe's team has nine members, which is a lot of people and difficult to manage. There are quite a few rebellious members among them, but they have run into Zhang and Lin.
Ren Yuchen's team was the quietest, consisting of people who didn't talk much. Ren Yuchen also had experience as a class monitor, so managing them shouldn't be a problem.
Xu You's group is a bit troublesome. He became the captain directly, but he is the member with the least rap experience in the team. His only formal performance was not long ago. However, judging from Xu You's stern and intimidating look, it's not a big problem.
His team, needless to say, was already quite well-formed in his eyes, all of them good kids he could arrange at will. He glanced at Fan Na, who was already engrossed in chatting with Wu Jianian, without making a sound. The most troublesome one had been dealt with.
After Meng Fanxi and his friends had chosen their songs, they headed straight to the practice room to learn the new songs and prepare to record them in the studio. It was a peaceful and idyllic time.
The internet outside the city is already buzzing with arguments.
After the second episode aired, Jin Ziran from the Clear Alliance and Gao Xinyi, the captain of Paradox, caused controversy during the theme song evaluation segment.
The scene of the two of them leading the ostracization of the six eternal stars was broadcast without any editing. When Will's fans saw it, they were immediately furious and opened several posts on the forum to analyze their micro-expressions and the reactions of the trainees watching.
After a series of analyses, the conclusion was reached: they did it on purpose. They exchanged glances beforehand and then found the opportunity to raise the issue of unfairness. They may have even secretly mobilized other trainees to stir up trouble.
Fans of Bai He and Paradox's company, Xiling Bird Film and Television, were not to be outdone. They also used micro-expression analysis, but from a different angle, to analyze that they had a close relationship with Ying Zhuo, who was in charge of the hosting process. They also dug up from the behind-the-scenes footage and spin-off variety shows that Ying Zhuo might be working with their director and was even assigned to be in charge of this segment.
It's obvious that the six-star eternal star has a powerful backer on the show; they're royalty.
However, these attacks had no effect on the fans of Eternal Six Stars. After all, their idols were exceptionally talented and backed by a large company, so even if they only appeared on screen for two seconds, they were still the most eye-catching.
Therefore, they have a unique way of thinking and special public relations skills. Instead of falling into the trap of self-proof, they unified their story: "The emperor of Yong 6 is the emperor of the Crown of Will. Our six-star Crown will debut as a whole group under the watchful eyes of your brother."
The opposing fans were so angry that they launched personal attacks, leading to a major online battle between several groups. The commotion was so great that the program's official team had to intervene to control the argument in the group forum.
In the midst of the argument, each fan became determined to dig deep into everyone's past experiences, determined to uncover all the dirt on them.
Amidst this chaos, Wei also realized that someone wanted to release information about Zhang Yang to smear the Eternal Six Stars.
The article concerning Zhang Yang is rich in content, with a clear timeline and screenshots. It uses aggressive language and accuses Zhang Yang of abandoning his bandmates, breaking his contract, and currying favor with a large company.
As the post gained popularity, Wei quickly contacted people to manipulate some forum accounts to bump other posts and cool down the hype.
He cannot easily report it, otherwise he will fall into the poster's trap. Once the post disappears, the poster will post another one accusing Zhang Yangfang of being guilty.
However, he was not unprepared. Wei had been silently watching Zhang Yang ever since he left the company, so he knew what Zhang Yang had gone through. Later, when Zhang Yang returned to the company, Wei talked to him several times and left relevant records and evidence.
He handed it over to the experts on the forum, and with just a few words, along with screenshots of the unfair terms in the contract and everything Zhang Yang had done at his own expense during the account operation, public opinion instantly reversed, and Zhang Yang once again garnered a lot of sympathy.
As the storm subsided, Wei began investigating the people behind the scenes. To his surprise, it wasn't Baihe Company. From Jin Ziran's private contact with outsiders to expose Gu Huailang's secrets to the current smear campaign against Zhang Yang on the forum, all the clues pointed to one place.
Kaidi Entertainment.
What could possibly motivate a company to go to such lengths for a trainee who has already left, even going so far as to smear his competitors?
What exactly is the relationship between Jin Ziran and Kaidi Entertainment?
He had also specifically investigated the 'uncle' that Meng Fanxi mentioned on the phone, but the results clearly showed that Jin Ziran had no family relationship with the executives of Kaidi Company.
Where exactly does the connection appear?
...
The trainees, oblivious to the outside disturbances during practice, were instead jolted into disarray by a sudden piece of news.
Once the participants for each song are finalized, the dormitories will need to be changed again.
The dormitory ranking is based on the overall performance of each individual in the public quiz.
The production team has its own calculation system. For some teams that lose in the first round of competition, only half of their score is counted, and for others, no score is counted at all.
In Meng Fanxi's team, Lu Ning and Zhong Chu were both players whose performance was not considered important.
This means that their accommodation standards will drop drastically, and Meng Fanxi will undoubtedly have to move out of the villa, his future destination unknown...
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