Chapter 254 Turbulence Erupts on the Competition Field
The early stages of the competition were not suspenseful for Jiang Xingyao; she advanced as the top seed in her group in almost every round.
The intense qualifying rounds lasted for three days, culminating in the final four-to-two competition.
To be fair, the betting channel that Fila mentioned was closed before the competition started.
Watching Jiang Xingyao, who was almost an underdog and at the bottom of the rankings, fight her way to the semifinals, countless people must be filled with regret.
Fila has been quite happy these past few days. She bet all her savings of 100,000, and now that it has grown to a million, she is so happy that she can't stop smiling in her sleep. She has already started planning to treat Jiang Xingyao to a celebration after the competition ends.
In the semi-finals, Jiang Xingyao's opponent was Tai'er, who performed on stage before Jiang Xingyao.
The competition is nearing its end, and this is the first time Jiang Xingyao has been grouped with Tyr. Compared to when they were in Nelia's studio, Tyr's skill level has improved significantly, so it's not surprising that he made it to this round.
After Tai'er's performance, the judges gave her a high score of 92 points, which made the two other contestants in the same group waiting in the audience with Jiang Xingyao nervous.
Jiang Xingyao's attitude was relatively calm. After hearing her number called on stage, she strode onto the stage. She brushed past Tai'er, who had returned. Tai'er gently said "good luck" to her, his attitude completely different from his private demeanor.
In round after round of competition, Jiang Xingyao's mentality had been worn down to a calm and composed state. The piece she had prepared in advance had been practiced countless times, and her fingers had almost developed muscle memory when they touched the piano.
Jiang Xingyao played with fluid grace, quickly reaching the climax of the performance. She increased the pressure on her fingers, and just then, she felt a slight stinging pain at her fingertips. Her fingers instinctively wanted to pull back, but Jiang Xingyao reacted quickly. She gritted her teeth and forcibly suppressed the strange sensation.
Her hand movements were perfectly coordinated, but blood had already begun to seep from her fingers. At first, it was just her index finger, but later it spread to her middle finger, ring finger, and every finger of hers was bleeding.
Blood dripped onto the white piano keys, leaving a shocking red stain.
As Jiang Xingyao pressed down on the piano keys, under the incandescent light, a cold glint would occasionally flash through the gaps in the center of the keys.
When she first felt the pain, Jiang Xingyao noticed that someone had hidden a razor blade in the gap between the black and white keys.
The blade is like something stuck to a piano key with transparent tape. When you play to the climax and use more force, the blade will pop out and cut your finger.
Moreover, the person who tied the razor blades to the piano clearly did it on purpose, placing the blades on the piano keys she frequently pressed.
The other party's malicious intent was clearly to ruin her.
Before the competition began, Madam Rongyue reminded her many times that once the competition started, stopping it for any reason would be tantamount to automatically admitting defeat.
The person who rigged the game probably figured out this point: either she would stop playing because of the pain and give up the competition, or she would grit her teeth and play until the end. In this way, being affected by the pain would inevitably lead to mistakes.
The competition has reached the top four, and everyone's skill level is quite similar. Under these circumstances, even the slightest mistake can determine the outcome.
Jiang Xingyao knew very well that if she focused too much on those sharp points and avoided them, then no matter how well she practiced the piece, mistakes would definitely happen.
All she could do now was clear her mind and ignore the sharp edges of those blades. She thought about all her hard work over the years and how Madam Rongyue had nurtured her. She had come this far and was about to prove herself. She couldn't let such a setback ruin everything.
Keeping herself energized, Jiang Xingyao's mindset became increasingly stable. Even though she could feel a clear stinging pain with each stroke of her fingers, it couldn't stop her nimble fingers from moving even slightly.
On the stands, as Tyr listened to Jiang Xingyao's flawless piano playing, his expression gradually grew serious, and a hint of worry flashed in his eyes. His hands were in his pockets, and a dark stain, like water, had seeped into his trouser pockets.
As Jiang Xingyao finished playing her piece, thunderous applause erupted from the judges' panel.
After a brief discussion, the judges awarded her a high score of 95, three points higher than Thiel. This meant that she advanced to the next round and was one step closer to the championship.
The host said, "Congratulations to contestant number 75 for advancing to the final two. Now, let's welcome the next contestant."
"Wait!" Jiang Xingyao said. She stood up and showed the audience her two blood-soaked hands, with blood dripping from all ten fingers. The bright red blood was glaring, and a gasp immediately came from the audience.
Jiang Xingyao said, "This piano has been tampered with. I would appreciate it if the organizers could come up and inspect it and give me an explanation."
The host's face was filled with obvious shock. She quickly came over to check the condition of Jiang Xingyao's fingers. The organizers also stepped forward and questioned loudly, "What exactly happened? The instrument was perfectly fine before. When was it tampered with?"
This statement was somewhat ambiguous from the beginning. Jiang Xingyao was the second person to perform on stage. Tai'er had just finished performing and there were no problems.
Now that Jiang Xingyao's hand has been injured, Tai'er is naturally the prime suspect.
Before anyone could point it out, Tyler stepped forward and walked straight onto the stage. He showed his hand, with blood dripping from his fingers, and said loudly, "Since contestant number 75 has brought it up, I can no longer hide it. Everyone has come all this way to compete, and now that such a mistake has occurred, we ask the organizers to give us an explanation."
He stood beside Jiang Xingyao, looking righteous and indignant. Jiang Xingyao frowned slightly. If she remembered correctly, she hadn't seen any injury on Tyr's hand when he came down from the stage.
The host was even more surprised and said, "Contestant number 43, you noticed the problem with this piano a long time ago, why didn't you say so earlier?"
"I came to compete because I just wanted a fair game," Thiel said.
I was forced to perform while injured, and it would be unfair to me if others performed as usual. I originally intended to wait until after the competition to clarify all of this.
Someone brought it up first, so I have to speak up to avoid anyone thinking I did it.
Tyre spoke with conviction, and even though his own thoughts were not exactly honest, everyone has their own selfish motives, and it was really not right for others to blame him for his scheming.
The situation became somewhat confusing, with both contestants injured by a piano. The organizers panicked and quickly ordered people to check the surveillance footage and go on stage to investigate.
Tyre held his hand high the whole time, as if to prove his grievances to everyone.
The audience was in complete chaos. Many spectators who had come from the United States were cursing the organizers for being irresponsible and for the competition being unfair. Some even felt that it was inappropriate for their country's athlete to only get 92 points while competing with an injury.
While everyone else was filled with righteous indignation, Tyre's expression remained relatively mild, almost unlike his usual demeanor.
As it was not possible to find out the cause immediately, the organizers first called a doctor to bandage the two people.
A staff member whispered something in the ear of the person in charge of the event, which caused the other party's expression to change. Tyr immediately said loudly, "I wonder if you have already found the results? As we all know, the Jinle Cup competition has always been the most authoritative competition in the world. Both contestant number 75 and I are victims. Now, whatever you have found, you should say it in front of everyone and give us a fair answer, instead of giving a result that is not so truthful after considering it in private."
What everyone wants when they participate in a competition is fairness and impartiality, right?
If even a competition like the Jinle Cup can't be fair, what's the point of everyone wasting their time participating in future competitions?
Tyler spoke with force and seemed even more anxious than Jiang Xingyao. Jiang Xingyao always felt that Tyler's state was a bit strange.
He seems so confident; could it be that this matter really has nothing to do with him?
Jiang Xingyao thought about it carefully again and still felt that she did not see Tair injured when she brushed past him.
The audience below was stirred up by Thiel's words, and everyone shouted loudly, demanding a fair result from the organizers.
The organizer glanced in a certain direction from the audience area and finally had his staff project the backstage monitoring footage onto the big screen.
Surveillance footage showed that a figure entered the backstage area after 10 p.m. last night, but it was not captured on camera what he did.
That person was none other than Cindy, the apprentice of the F country's master, Rieslia. No wonder the organizers hesitated.
After all, these are their own country's athletes, and it's understandable that they would want to cover it up as soon as possible when they got involved in this matter.
"Cindy, what's going on?" Master Rieslia had already stood up in the section of the audience that the organizers had been looking over, and asked anxiously.
Cindy, who was waiting in the waiting area, quickly denied it, saying, "It wasn't me, teacher. I didn't touch the piano yesterday. I only went backstage to find a hair clip."
"Teacher, the hair clip you know about was left to me by my mother. It's my lucky charm, and I always carry it with me. Yesterday, I suddenly couldn't find it, and I was so anxious that I..."
Cindy was a somewhat shy girl, but she was now so frantic that she was denying it in a flustered manner, almost to the point of tears.
"It really wasn't me, teacher. Please believe me. I wouldn't do such a thing."
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