Theme song

The cafeteria was deserted, and the people who had come for breakfast could be counted on one hand.

Running short on sleep yet still fighting off drowsiness to carve out ten precious minutes for breakfast made them standouts among their peers, in a sense.

[There are more people in the cafeteria than I expected]

[So disciplined]

[Maybe they're just too hungry]

The breakfast selection was fairly plentiful. Its only flaw was that it was too bland.

Lai Yudong served himself a small bowl of oatmeal porridge and took a vegetable pancake and a tea egg.

He had originally planned to take two vegetable pancakes, but the content and rules of the Theme Song Assessment were about to be announced. If they started jumping straight into practice afterward, exercising on a full stomach would be bad for him, so he could only reluctantly give up the second pancake.

For an ordinary adult man, that was a small breakfast, but in the nearly empty cafeteria, his portion was actually among the larger ones.

Jiang Yangfan of the Web Drama Team had a chicken breast and a plate of fruit salad for breakfast.

An unfamiliar Class C member had a bowl of plain rice porridge and a boiled egg.

The most extreme was Su Junzhe from the neighboring dorm, who had taken only a banana and an iced Americano.

If they hadn't shown up here at this hour, one could easily have said they were craving a snack and had come for afternoon tea.

Of course, there were also kids with big appetites like Yin Zizhen, who had taken two steamed buns, two flower rolls, a bowl of small wontons and a glass of milk. He was young and still growing.

Lai Yudong couldn't help glancing over. He had never expected Su Junzhe not only to have his makeup and hair fully done, but also to have attended to every little detail, from his headband and colored contacts to his earrings and rings. And he had arrived at the cafeteria even earlier than Lai Yudong.

No wonder he could say so calmly, "Five hours is quite a long time."

No, he hadn't even had five hours, had he?

[As expected of a Korean trainee, Su Junzhe has evolved past needing sleep]

[What's with Korean trainees?]

[I heard the training over there is extremely, extremely, extremely hellish]

[I suggest the domestic entertainment industry learn from them.]

Lai Yudong kept his head down as he drank his porridge, silently watching the information revealed by the bullet comments and catching up on what he had missed during the initial stage.

Although facing the bullet comments was a little embarrassing, they were quite useful in some respects.

Come to think of it, could he turn them off?

By normal logic, the bullet comment mode provided by the system should be like a phone's built-in photos, calendar and camera functions, which couldn't be deleted like other apps, so—

System: [Yes, but certain conditions apply.]

Lai Yudong: [...]

System: [Here's a little-known fact: a phone's built-in photos, calendar and camera functions can also be deleted. Host, you've been held back by rigid thinking.]

Lai Yudong: [This is obviously your fault, isn't it!?]

If he had known earlier, he would have turned off the bullet comments during the initial evaluation. Running away was shameful but effective; at least he wouldn't have had to face a screen full of merciless ridicule in grief.

Wasn't it far too late to find out now?

Besides, who could have expected the system not to play by the rules!?

The system felt deeply innocent about this: [You never asked.]

Lai Yudong: [Then you could have told me!]

System: [Would you like to turn them off, then?]

Lai Yudong: [...No, not for now.]

As a transmigrator who had suddenly been bundled up and sent over, Lai Yudong was at a natural disadvantage.

In an entirely new field he had never ventured into before, he had neither a rehearsal nor a script. His every word and action was exposed to the cameras, and the slightest slip could make him a laughingstock.

The bullet comments were not only a good source of information but also real-time feedback from the audience. As long as he reacted quickly enough on the spot, he could stop himself in time if he said or did something wrong, and cater to popular tastes when necessary.

All things considered, the benefits of keeping the bullet comments on far outweighed the drawbacks.

"—It's five minutes to eleven. Don't be late."

A clear voice broke his train of thought.

Lai Yudong looked up in surprise. While he had been drinking porridge and letting his mind wander, everyone else had left the cafeteria.

He instinctively looked for the owner of the voice, but the kind stranger didn't linger for a moment. He hurried toward the door with quick strides, leaving only the sight of his back in a Class C uniform before disappearing from view.

It was the unnamed trainee who had taken only plain porridge and a boiled egg.

[You Shu gets along well with people, huh hhhhh]

[I want to strike up a conversation with the cool guy too]

[Who's that Class C younger brother? He's pretty good-looking]

[It's Zhou Rui! Could you vote for him? The handsome guy isn't doing too well in popularity, sob sob sob]

[What a coincidence, I voted for both You Shu and Zhou Rui]

All right, now he knew his name.

Lai Yudong wiped his mouth with a tissue and couldn't help reflecting on how different people could be. Some hurled insults, some said one thing but did another, some were thoughtful in every detail, and some did good deeds without leaving their names.

The next time he ran into Zhou Rui, he would have to thank him.

But before that, he had to hurry to the hall.

Chapter 14: Theme song

The moment Lai Yudong stepped into the hall, it was three minutes to eleven.

The closer it got to the gathering time, the more trainees came rushing in. Four people had arrived just before or after him alone.

He estimated by eye that roughly two-thirds of the 101 trainees had arrived. Most wore no makeup or only foundation; some hadn't even combed their hair, standing listlessly in the crowd with messy bird's-nest hair, looking no different from people who had just been dragged out of bed.

This time, their positions were divided by class. The four classes, A, B, C and F, wore red, yellow, blue and black uniforms respectively, forming large blocks of color at a glance.

Visually, blue and black occupied the most space, indicating that those classes had the most people.

[So many of them look no different from ordinary passersby after taking off their makeup]

[I only just noticed the class uniforms are the three primary colors plus black]

[What does that mean? Is it official confirmation that Class F is a mixed bag of fish and dragons?]