After Wang Ziqiang and Meng Yan warmed up the audience, they briefly mentioned Ye Huanqiu's absence before moving on to the main event: the performances.
The song battle began with Chen Yihan and Liu Ning. Their challenge was to incorporate flower names into their lyrics, and both appeared confident in their compositions.
For this competition, Chen Yihan had co-written her song with her team of creators. A grand piano was wheeled onto the stage.
As she sat down and flipped open the piano lid, her slender, pale fingers, like fresh spring shoots, began to coax a mesmerizing melody from the keys.
Her song, "Narcissus," was undoubtedly a polished and well-crafted piece, poised to achieve "Rising Fame" status and become widely popular.
The personal creative effort she had poured into the song elevated the entire performance to a new level.
"She sang so well! Did the credits just show Chen Yihan as a co-writer?"
"What a talented woman! She's beautiful, apparently from a powerful family, and she can sing and write songs. It's almost unfair!"
"Yihan, you're the best!"
The live stream chat surged with praise for Chen Yihan's performance.
As the song concluded, she remained seated at the piano, her emotions lingering long after the final note. Having poured her heart into the piece, she struggled to regain her composure.
The audience erupted in applause.
Liu Ning's expression under the camera was one of wry resignation. He had initially believed that with the support of Zhao Ziyun and Sui Gu, the mentor-protégé duo, he would at least secure a minor victory, if not a resounding one.
Now, it seemed all hope was lost.
His own performance, a grandiose ode to the peony, had been delivered with bombastic flair, but the composition itself fell short, and the lyrics were plagued by clichés.
The song barely hovered at the level of "moderately known."
With both performances concluded, Wang Ziqiang and Meng Yan stepped forward. "Both performances were exceptionally captivating," Wang Ziqiang announced. "Viewers at home, it's time to cast your precious votes! Mobile users, simply tap the pop-up window on your screen to vote directly. Television viewers, use your remote's left arrow to vote for Chen Yihan and the right arrow for Liu Ning."
The entertainment industry in this world was unremarkable, but its programming skills were top-notch. This eliminated the hassle of sending messages; participants could simply join in directly.
"Voting is only open for five minutes, so please cast your votes quickly," Meng Yan announced.
Chen Yihan and Liu Ning stood on opposite sides of the stage, with a live bar graph behind them displaying the vote counts. Initially, Liu Ning held a slight lead, thanks to the larger fan base male celebrities typically enjoy.
However, as time passed, the limitations of fan power became evident.
This wasn't like those social media platforms flooded with fake metrics, where posts often racked up hundreds of millions of likes and shares generated by automated bots.
The voting system here used point-to-point IP authentication. Each voter could only cast one vote, preventing manipulation through multiple accounts. While changing IPs was possible, re-authentication was required for each new IP, making it impractical within the five-minute voting window. By the time anyone figured out how to bypass the system, the voting period would be nearly over.
In the final tally, Chen Yihan secured 3.37 million votes, decisively crushing Liu Ning's 2.21 million.
The overwhelming margin of victory earned Chen Yihan thunderous applause from the audience.
Next up was the showdown between Cheng Xiao and Wang Lingkai. Cheng Xiao's collaboration with Li Yuanjie was built around an electrifying, high-energy track, promising an explosive opening. Cheng Xiao's exceptional dance skills were the perfect complement to the music.
The pulse-pounding dance anthem was further enhanced by Cheng Xiao's rare choice of a "male-targeted equipment set": a figure-hugging pencil skirt, sheer stockings, and stiletto heels.
Even before the performance began, the live audience erupted into unison chants of "Cheng Xiao!" their voices ringing with fervent support.
In stark contrast, Wang Lingkai's performance seemed utterly lackluster. While his vocals possessed a certain electric edge, they paled in comparison.
"Holy crap, my phone's fully charged now! This is more electrifying than an electric eel in a maximum-security prison! I hereby crown you the new Queen of Electronic Music!"
"What the hell kind of G2 garbage is this? I'm wearing headphones, and it's shaking out my ancient earwax!"
"Thumbs down! Not even remotely hype. My feverish body temperature is hotter than this song!"
The audience's reactions spoke volumes. In the final vote, Cheng Xiao secured 3.71 million votes, while Wang Lingkai managed only 1.75 million.
The difference in popularity was glaring. Li Yuanjie and Gou Bing couldn't hide their pride. If Cheng Xiao hadn't immediately returned to the singers' area after her performance, they might have rushed onto the stage to congratulate her with a hug. Gou Bing felt a pang of regret.
Behind the scenes, Shen Tao reviewed the preliminary ratings. The average viewership hadn't yet broken 0.6%, hovering around 0.59%. The highest rating so far, 0.73%, was for Cheng Xiao's floorwork segment.
Yet even that fell short of the previous episode's peak of 0.81%.
Moreover, based on the live voting trends, at least 30-40% of the audience hadn't yet cast their votes. Despite the streamlined voting system, their continued silence suggested that the performances simply hadn't resonated deeply enough with them.
The upcoming showdown between "The Great Demon King" Tan Weiwei and powerhouse vocalist Sun Nan promised to be another highlight. Both artists were exceptionally talented, and their song choices were comparable in quality to those in the previous episode.
In the end, Tan Weiwei received 4,170,000 votes, while Sun Nan trailed closely with 4,080,000.
Tan Weiwei emerged victorious, but Sun Nan also performed admirably, currently holding second place in the live vote count.
Thanks to their performances, the average viewership rating finally surpassed 0.6%.
As established singers with years of experience, they naturally had a solid base of support. While their fans might not be as fanatical as those in idol group fandoms, those who cared would still show their support.
With six singers already having performed, the highlight of the evening was about to begin: the showdown between Yang Chaoyue and Mirei Mei.
The theme, "Songs for a Rainy Day Mood," had been chosen by Ye Huanqiu, but he was absent from the studio.
Yang Chaoyue glanced at Mirei Mei, who ultimately took the stage first.
Gao Jin cheered her on: "Ganbatte!"
Having collaborated for several days, it was one of the few Japanese phrases he had learned. Mirei Mei responded with an OK gesture.
Her Mandarin pronunciation was still developing, so Gao Jin opted for a bilingual approach: the intro would be sung in Japanese, while the chorus would be in Mandarin.
Titled "Sad Song," Mirei Mei delivered a remarkable performance, conveying the song's poignant sorrow with genuine emotion.
If one had to nitpick, her Chinese pronunciation wasn't quite standard, and the song's style was a stark departure from her usual repertoire, resulting in a noticeable drop in her performance.
But honestly, the song itself was still quite impressive!