Wu Jin was stunned. He quickly put on his baseball cap and prepared to squeeze in. A little girl nearby murmured in surprise, “Eh, I seem to be able to smell the sweet scent of a little duckling, and this person’s profile seems like my son, Little Witch, ah––ahhhhhh it really is him ahhhhhh!”
“!!” Wu Jin sprang up in fear and ran around.
The crowd roared, “Ahhhhh it’s a wild Little Witch!”, “If you can catch it, you can take it home to play with!”, “Wuwuwu Little Witch is so cute when climbing up a tree!”, “Ahhhhh, there’s a Little Witch growing on a tree! Hey, I’m the cult leader for the Ming cult. If the Little Witch on the tree trusts me, you can just jump down. I’ll catch you as best I can…”
“How come Little Witch jumped over the wall again?! It turns out that Little Witch’s original form was a checkers piece!”
“He’s running towards the program group––wait a minute, do they have some sort of racing task? It looks like there’s a lot of people running!”, “Ahhhh, everyone make way, let my son hand in his task first!!!”
Wu Jin finally breathed a sigh of relief and bowed to his fans before entering the studio.
Zhuang Fan gripped his wrist watch and waited for Wu Jin to arrive, giving him a thumbs up, “Not bad, fourth place!”
Half an hour later.
By the time all the teams came back, only 10 of the original 16 had finished the task.
The studio suddenly lit up.
Hudi was given a scare.
Nearly a thousand spectators were seated beneath the stage, including the fans who had just been outside, trainees who’d failed to participate in <Popular Youth>, and 70 Crosson Show trainees…
The BGM started playing. The final battle had finally begun.
Zhuang Fan glanced around quickly and spoke to his teammates in a low voice, “The first and second teams will choose their opponents. If they win, they can stay. If they lose, they’ll have to go.”
Wu Jin nodded. The big boss’s team was still first, and the second place had gone to Lin Ke, who was part of the fastest runner group in the competition just now. The big boss picked people at random, and based on Lin Ke’s team’s situation––
“They’ll pick the team that they have the most confidence in winning against.” Zhuang Fan knew the strengths of the trainees in that team and said, “In order to ensure that they’re promoted.”
On the stage, Wei Shi’s team repeated their old style and relied on their advantage of having three vocalists in the same group to eliminate the 10th place team.
Lin Ke’s team selected the 9th place team to come up against them and barely ensured their promotion.
Another round began. Wei Shi eliminated the 8th team.
The seventh team––Ming Yao’s team. Lin Ke quickly switched strategies, using solo dancing instead. His team held two dancers, one vocalist, and a rapper. They should have been promoted with a 3:0 advantage, but they nearly lost when the vocalist came up against Ming Yao. Ming Yao was able to perform a decent sword dance… Fortunately, the rapper was able to win the last game, and Lin Ke’s team won by a narrow margin.
“If it’s us, we should choose to solo with hip-hop rather than just going for ‘dance’.” Wu Jin whispered his thoughts, and Zhuang Fan agreed.
Then, Wei Shi cut down the 6th team.
Lin Ke’s team hesitated for too long before selecting ‘5’, causing their team to enter a heated discussion. Finally, he went ahead and chose the 4th team.
It was Wu Jin and Zhuang Fan’s team.
Both people paused for a second.
News about Wu Jin and Eagle Blade’s battle had already spread out the day before. In team 12, there were at least four people, including Wu Jin, Hudi, Zhuang Fan, and Chen Shao, who could participate in a dance battle. The vocal strength of the group wasn’t bad either, and there was no reason for Lin Ke to pick them, unless there was an obvious disadvantage somewhere.
Hudi spoke quietly, “We’re shorter than they are!”
Zhuang Fan suddenly realized something. The players in the opposite team were all tall and strong, especially Lin Ke, who looked like a survival show trainee––
On the other side. Lin Ke finally communicated with his teammates one last time. Due to the limitations imposed by the rules, he could only remind them vaguely, “There’s a special player on the other side. You guys all know about it, right!”
His teammates all nodded, “We know! Don’t worry!”
Lin Ke: “Alright. We’ll lose to him, and then take down the other three matches!”
There were five solo matches, and the first to win three of them won. Lin Ke’s group had two good fighters, two with scattered fighting experience, and one geek. 10 minutes later, when the geek who only had a fighting power of 5/10 chose to fight Zhuang Fan, Lin Ke was instantly anxious, “Why are you guys purposely losing to Zhuang Fan?!”
His teammate slapped his chest in guarantee, “Didn’t you say? Brother Fan is really good at fighting. We only have to take down three people from the other side, especially that one who is particularly good looking––”
Lin Ke: “Holy shit, the one who can really fight isn’t Zhuang Fan, it’s the good looking one!”
On the stage, it was 2:2. Hudi and Zhuang Fan had both obtained wins, while Lin Ke and another rapper had won on the other side.
Wu Jin was finally let out to fight.
Sky-shaking, shrill screams, and whistles resounded from beneath the stage. The 70 survival show trainees acted like referees and reminded Wu Jin, “Little Witch, don’t be too fierce!”, “You can’t bully the artists. Otherwise, PD will have to use you as compensation to their entertainment companies!”
Wu Jin nodded, waved, and then jumped up onto the stage.
“!!!” Lin Ke’s teammates were shocked, “We all have to climb up. His physical strength––”
The youth’s smile beneath the spotlights appeared apologetic––
The fight was resolved in three seconds.
Wu Jin quickly pulled his opponent back up, tidied up, patted the dust off his body, then turned around.
The venue was full of cheers, and the entire group of trainees all showed incredulous expressions.
Lin Ke laughed bitterly, “Ah, you guys understand nothing about physical strength.”
Lin Ke’s team was eliminated, and team 12 entered 2nd place, gaining the right to pick their opponent.
There were only four teams left on the stage. Eagle Blade’s expression shifted dramatically. However, after Wei Shi eliminated another team, team 12 directly went to pick Eagle Blade’s team.
Zhuang Fan was first to win a point, followed by Chen Shao. Before Hudi could go up to finish them off, Wu Jin came out and picked Eagle Blade.
Unsurprisingly, Wu Jin was defeated by the all-rounder S-class trainee.
In the backstage resting area, Eagle Blade spoke slowly, “You clearly could’ve chosen a dance battle or even vocals. Why challenge me with your weakest skill, rapping?”
Wu Jin smiled broadly, “Because you said you wanted to solo. Also,” Wu Jin’s eyes sparkled, “You’re going to debut.”
Eagle Blade paused.
Wu Jin was very clear about the entertainment industry. His management company and the Crosson Show were both making use of it for their own benefit, but the Crosson Show was using it to build up momentum for the upcoming elimination matches, while Eagle Blade’s company was using it to help him, Zhuang Fan, and Ah Yuan make their debuts.
The entertainment circle was far removed from the survival circle, and there was almost no intersection between them. If an up and coming S-level trainee was crushed by a survival show trainee in all aspects, it would likely become a weakness that would be attacked by the haters.
Wu Jin was willing to sacrifice one battle match in order to help him pave the way.
As soon as the bell rang, the two teams went back up onto the stage again. Hudi went out to fight and won them a clean 3:1 victory, maintaining their second place position.
When the two teams shook hands, Eagle Blade bumped shoulders with Wu Jin, “Give me your terminal number. You have to come when I have my debut.”
The noise from the audience beneath the stage grew even louder.
On the stage.
After the remaining eight teams were eliminated, Wei Shi and Wu Jin’s two teams had to battle each other.
Wei Shi had the right to choose.
The audience was very excited. The Scarf fangirls could barely wait to print out tens of thousands of CP support signs, and they were pushing their CP everywhere, their hands shaking with excitement as they took pictures––
The host smiled and asked Wei Shi, “What do you want to battle with for this round?”
Wei Shi: “Vocals.”
He looked at Wu Jin across the distance between them, speaking with his eyes.
“……” Wu Jin understood instantly.
This wasn’t a battle at all––!
The big boss was requesting a song––
He still wanted to listen to that particular one.
6:30 PM.
<Go! Popular Youth> finally finished recording.
The players could connect their terminals to the network again. According to Hudi, it was like returning back to the world! The guests exchanged contact information amongst themselves backstage, and some even went to find Wei Shi, Wu Jin, and Eagle Blade for autographs––
The Crosson program producer who hadn’t been seen in a long time finally appeared. The little director beside him held up a pile of frosted paper, “Attention, everyone, we’ll be giving out handshake tickets to everyone who buys fan merchandise…”
The survival show trainees: “……”
Ming Yao wailed, “My little hands! Program producer, you’re finally starting to sell our bodies––”
The program producer knocked on the table, “What do you mean, selling your bodies? Ah? Everyone, come get some sandpaper and smooth out your calluses. Don’t scratch your fans’ hands!”
Caesar: “Holy shit, this is so inhuman!”
A few minutes later, the 90 trainees from the Crosson Show were still pushed out to the entrance of Snow Leopard Entertainment and put up for sale.
The A-level and S-level trainees were soon lined up in front of the table. Wei Yan, who hadn’t been seen for a while, also showed up, standing there expressionlessly. This human-shaped weapon had wandered around like a ghost in Warehouse 225 for a long time. After seriously rejecting a little sister who’d wanted to ‘take the cool big brother home’, he was finally only able to earn 230 credits, causing him to be eliminated.
Wu Jin was very sympathetic.
However, the tables were arranged in a row, and he was too far away from Wei Yan. The big boss wasn’t at this hand shaking activity, and it was said that he’d directly refused to participate…
Wu Jin’s attitude was very serious as he signed the posters.
The fans: “Wuwuah, Little Witch’s words are so round and cute! Little Witch, come, stretch out your hand for mama––”
Wu Jin’s ears were red as he stretched out a hand. This little sister, who was only two years older than he was, happily pinched it before floating away like she was in a dream.
Wu Jin continued to sign.
Fans: “Little Witch, go––I’ll be waiting for you at the group performance after your debut!”
Wu Jin quickly expressed his thanks.
His paw was held again.
Wu Jin continued to sign.
Fans––
From beneath the shadow that covered him, Wu Jin suddenly raised up his head.
Standing in front of him was a man in a suit and leather shoes. His eyes made people tremble, and a pure black rose was inserted into the upper pocket of his suit jacket.