Chapter 30 First Round of Performances
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"Holy crap! The opening was absolutely stunning!"
"Who understands! The sheer value of that first shot—the facade! A visual feast!"
"Waaaaah, Xiaoxiao's voice isn't the most technically skilled, but it's the most story-telling, especially her humming, which can make your heart tremble! Thank you for preserving this quality in the arrangement!"
"I've heard the original version of 'Noah,' it's incredibly depressing. What about their stage performance?"
Some doubts floated across the live stream chat. The original song "Noah" is a lament permeated with the despair of the end times, and the melody contains a melancholy feeling that makes people want to lock themselves in their room and drown in the sound of rain.
At this moment, Ling Wei extracted the iconic chorus lyric from the original song and lowered the key to turn it into a broken murmur.
Then, "Buzz—"
A deep, powerful electronic pulse sound exploded, like a dormant beast being awakened.
A dense, mechanical electronic beat suddenly cuts in, like precision gears starting to mesh and operate.
Several cold blue lights swept across the stage like a laser grid, and all the members moved into the center of the stage with precise, millimeter-level timing.
Their dance is full of industrial aesthetics. The rotation of joints, the extension of arms, and the tilting of the head all have an inhuman, programmed stiffness and precision, perfectly replicating the state of a robot when it is activated.
The comments section immediately erupted:
Wow! This choreography! Is it based on AI?
"Headphones! Costumes! The details are impeccable! So they're playing the spaceship's AI system?"
"This idea is brilliant!"
Ye Zhen, in the center position, is undoubtedly the focus of attention at this moment.
Her cold, beautiful face was expressionless, and her eyes were empty, like two beautiful glass beads.
Her dance moves are full of power, and every pause is clean and crisp; she is an absolutely perfect executor.
However, as the lyrics progress, describing the observed fragments of human emotions and chaotic logic, the camera zooms in on her close-up, revealing her tightly pursed lips that seemed somewhat inhuman, awkwardly curving upwards into a smile.
A trace of genuine human warmth was infused into those empty eyes.
The faint smile that appeared on the cold-faced queen's face was like the first flower blooming on an icy plain, instantly igniting the entire scene!
"Aaaaaah! Zhenzhen smiled! She smiled!!"
"I'm dead! The destructive power of melting icebergs is too great!"
"Is AI starting to understand emotions? This performance detail really touched me!"
The music tempo quickened, and the drumbeats became more frequent.
Zhao Xiaohe slid in and took center stage, her rap section carrying a raw, unyielding energy:
"Broken code is being reassembled / Chaotic instructions are conflicting / "
A weak but repeated distress signal was detected.
I will lead you away from this wasteland, no matter what lies ahead, whether it be the unknown or a dead end!
Her voice was full of power and rhythm, and her dance moves were more exaggerated and explosive, as if she wanted to use her body to forcefully break through the shackles of the program.
After Zhao Xiaohe's passionate rap, the song enters a transitional section with a slightly somber mood.
The melody becomes somber, carrying the lingering sense of decadence and confusion of the original song, while the lyrics question where hope lies.
"The glimmer of light has faded, the ark is adrift... Where is home...?"
Switching to Sha Jing in the center position.
Her steady voice carried the ebb and flow of emotions. As the main dancer, her dance moves were precise and powerful, full of crispness and control. A clean and beautiful spin followed by a leap was graceful and powerful, eliciting another scream from the audience.
Li Jinzhao subconsciously held his breath, his inner monologue: This is considered handsome? Is he as handsome as him?
But he had to admit that his gaze was completely drawn to the stage, and he couldn't even bear to turn his head to complain to his sister.
Just as this somber and oppressive atmosphere was about to reach its climax, all the accompanying sound effects, including the continuous bass, suddenly ceased, leaving only a long electronic note suspended in the air, creating a sense of silence and waiting.
Ling Wei was now in the center of the stage.
A pure platinum beam of light descended from the dome, completely enveloping her.
The mechanical earpiece beside her ear, which had been flashing a steady blue light, began to blink rapidly, and then gradually transformed into a golden-orange color, like the first rays of dawn.
She raised her head, her gaze no longer the empty imitation of AI, but a burning emotion born from a profound understanding.
Under the light, even her few loose strands of hair seemed to glow.
Then, she sang the first word.
That wasn't singing; it was more like a gentle sigh from the soul, carrying a strange, soothing power, its vocal range abruptly transitioning from a deep, resonant tone to a clear, high-mid register.
"Did you hear that... that heartbeat..."
Her voice was as clear as a mountain stream, yet it contained a powerful sense of strength.
She took a step forward and extended her hand—not as a procedural action, but as an invitation filled with a sense of redemption.
Immediately afterwards, a clear and penetrating high note, like the first ray of dawn, suddenly tore through the gloom on the entire stage.
That voice contained incredible warmth and power, instantly supporting a world on the verge of collapse.
Ling Wei discarded the line "Take me away" from the original song, which conveyed a sense of helplessness and dependence.
Instead, she cried out, filled with all her faith, hope, and redemption:
"Follow me! Go! Towards the light!!!"
"boom--!"
Li Jinzhao felt a surge of electricity rush from his tailbone to the top of his head, making his scalp tingle and causing goosebumps to instantly rise all over his body.
He instinctively sat up straight, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open, completely forgetting all his previous complaints.
This kind of thrill, this feeling of being struck directly at the soul, is indescribable.
Following this sound, a grand string ensemble and a hopeful piano melody burst forth, weaving together with electronic sound effects to create a magnificent and hopeful interstellar map.
Ling Wei's dance also changed accordingly, with fluid and powerful movements. It was no longer a mechanical imitation, but a full expression of emotion.
She moved among the team members, her high notes soaring and rising steadily, incredibly stable.
Don't be afraid/Hold my hand tightly—
Dawn is coming/Let's walk together—
The final chorus features a full chorus, with harmonious and powerful vocals.
Ling Wei stood in the center, and after a magnificent and effortless trill, her sustained high notes soared like a bird, steady and brilliant, leading the entire ark toward the radiant shore.
The music stopped abruptly at its climax.
The lights freeze.
The five members struck an ending pose, slightly out of breath, their faces radiating the vibrancy and pride of human beings after breaking free from constraints.
After a moment of deathly silence, the entire venue erupted in applause and screams that seemed to lift the dome.
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