Initial Evaluation (Continued)

Liu Qichu muttered, "It's not like I haven't practiced..."

"I'm not lying to you."

"I know, I know. Of course you have to practice dancing, but it's not as easy as you make it sound." Liu Qichu pulled a long face. "I'm not cut out for dancing. People with talent can get twice the results with half the effort, but no matter how much I practice, I get half the results with twice the effort. Otherwise, why would I be in Class F?"

Lai Yudong glanced at him in surprise. He'd thought Liu Qichu didn't care about the class assignment, just as he appeared to.

"But Class F is pretty good too." Liu Qichu changed tack, breaking into a brilliant smile. "When your starting point is low, it's easier to improve, and it's easier for people to notice your improvement! At my level, as long as I improve, I'm sure to get showered with praise!"

Liang Zhisheng: "...You're really optimistic."

Lai Yudong nodded in agreement inwardly.

Just as Liang Zhisheng had guessed, Yu Yizhen's additional performance wasn't a dance, but it wasn't the vocal performance they'd imagined, either.

"I've brought an original rap, a piece I wrote especially for this competition. It's called 'Dream.'" Holding the microphone, Yu Yizhen calmly described his additional performance, his dark eyes showing no sign of stage fright.

[Whoa! Finally, another rap!]

[I don't want to listen to idols rap for a second longer than I have to. They're nowhere near the level of real rappers.]

[Chu Tianyi's pretty good.]

[Chu Tianyi? Seriously? He takes shortcuts with melodic rap.]

[Yu Yizhen is so good at dancing, so his rap should be decent too, right? Any normal person knows to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses.]

[Li Ke: Doesn't matter, I'll step in.]

Few contestants could write music, and few could rap. Those with original rap pieces were rarer still, but that didn't mean it was a shortcut.

As a form of music that had only become popular in China in recent years, rap wasn't widely accepted by the general public. Even highly skilled professional rappers were mocked for "shouting into a mic," "chanting scriptures," or "reciting poetry," let alone idols rapping.

Audience reception aside, a hell-difficulty heavyweight also sat on the mentors' panel: Li Ke, a rapper of the new generation.

Though Li Ke was young—even younger than some of the contestants—he'd already made a name for himself in the rap scene at sixteen. His professional credentials were beyond question.

Not only did he have high standards for the contestants' rap, but he also upheld the rap scene's "keep real" attitude. He spoke his mind in his critiques and knew nothing of tact.

Simply put, he had a

venomous tongue.

"The articulation was far too muddy. Your diction was unclear, and it sounded like you were chanting scriptures."

"You didn't write your lyrics with a rhyme generator, did you? They made no sense. You were rhyming for the sake of rhyming."

"You were seriously offbeat. Your rap and the beat were like a married couple who look united on the surface but are divided at heart."

"Melodic rap. A pretty safe choice, but this song was far too conventional. About a passing grade."

"Your delivery and flow need more work. Stop putting on airs. Even the evening news at four times speed sounds more like rap than you do."

Those were excerpts from Li Ke's critiques. Very few trainees had managed to earn his praise.

Even Lai Yudong, whose knowledge of rap was a desert and who couldn't understand a single technical term, could feel the damage packed into every sentence. The trainees on the receiving end had taken tons of damage, every one of them wearing an expression of utter despair.

He couldn't help feeling relieved that the system hadn't assigned him a rap for his additional performance.

But he vaguely remembered that Li Ke's critique of him hadn't been much better...

Oh well, it didn't matter. He'd deserved it.

Lai Yudong watched Yu Yizhen onstage with undivided attention, his heart involuntarily beating faster. He easily put himself in other people's shoes, as if he were the one undergoing the ordeal.

The moment Fu Hanyu signaled for the performance to begin, the atmosphere fell silent. A psychedelic, eerie beat sounded through the studio, where not even a bird could be heard. It was a highly characteristic trap style, with a distinctive 808 bass that was heavy and powerful. The drumbeats nearly overlapped with the sound of heartbeats.

The moment the vocals came in, Li Ke's eyes lit up. He leaned forward slightly, abandoning his earlier, careless posture.

Yu Yizhen's vocal tone was not only extremely ear-catching but also highly distinctive. The moment he opened his mouth, he left listeners with something memorable. That kind of heaven-given voice was something many rappers couldn't obtain no matter how much harder they worked after the fact.

Talent aside, his delivery was spot-on. You could tell just by listening that he had the right sound, unlike those who sounded as though they were just playing around with "

campus

rap."

His silky flow was like a fish swimming freely through unobstructed water, complementing the intoxicating arrangement with its sense of fluidity. Hi-hats, snares, 808 bass, and other instruments created rhythmic variations, pushing the emotion higher and higher, layer by layer, until it erupted with astonishing force at the peak like a firework bursting open.

His stage presence was undoubtedly the icing on the cake. His confident, flamboyant aura carried his music, and he blew the place up.

[Awesome awesome awesome!]

[Rap is a man's best plastic surgery clinic /lights a cigarette]

[I don't know rap, but judging by Li Ke's expression, he must be pretty amazing.]

[Even someone like me who doesn't listen to rap is hyped!]

When the song ended, thunderous applause filled the studio. Every contestant rose to applaud Yu Yizhen's brilliant performance.

That was exhilarating!

The web drama team's performance completely shattered Lai Yudong's image of idol boy groups, especially Yu Yizhen. Among the three, he was merely a decent-looking guy who danced well, but the instant the beat sounded, he seemed to become a different person. Every ray of light focused on him, making him like the brightest star in the night sky!

Lai Yudong could dimly understand the longing to debut in a group. Surrounded by the ceaseless cheers in an environment like this, he too felt his blood boil beyond his control, unwilling to be merely an audience member shouting encouragement from below the stage.

But he wasn't about to get carried away so easily. He'd already experienced it himself just now, and the result had been worlds apart from Yu Yizhen's.

"That was so cool!!!" Liu Qichu had the biggest reaction, of course. The kid looked as though he'd never seen the world, jumping up and down in excitement. "Yu Yizhen has to have a spot in the debut lineup!"