Dawei Tianlong

Lin Mu followed the assistant director backstage.

"Once you're up there, go into the tent on the right. It's stocked with all kinds of instruments for original singers."

The assistant director told him.

"Okay, thank you."

Lin Mu nodded his thanks.

"Oh, right. Draw a code-name card here. Remember, if you make it through, this will be your name on the show from then on. Don't lose it."

The assistant director pointed to a table nearby. Two large cardboard boxes sat on it, one labeled "Female Contestants" and the other "Male Contestants."

To prevent contestants who were already famous, or relatives and friends of the judges and mentors, from competing unfairly, none of the contestants on Pure Voice were allowed to use their real names onstage.

Instead, they drew a random name from one of the boxes prepared by the production team.

As the labels suggested, the box marked "Female Contestants" was filled with names that sounded feminine, for the female singers to draw from.

The "Male Contestants" box was naturally for the male singers.

Lin Mu thought for a moment, then pointed to the box for female contestants and asked the director on site, "May I draw from this one?"

The director on site was taken aback. He looked at Lin Mu's face, which could outshine most women even when he was dressed as one, and a strange smile appeared on his face.

"Sure. Go ahead."

The corner of Lin Mu's mouth twitched. He'd meant to draw a woman's name so people would be less likely to recognize him.

In his previous life, he'd been a top student in the composition department at Central Conservatory of Music. Sight-singing and ear training were basic skills for him.

The singing problems of this body—going off-key—were no problem at all.

He could even change his voice while singing, making it impossible for people who knew him to recognize him.

Drawing a feminine pseudonym would make it even harder to expose his identity.

But what did that "I get it" look on the director's face mean?

That wasn't what he thought at all, okay?!

Forget it. Better to keep things normal and avoid unnecessary complications.

Lin Mu reached into the "Male Contestants" box and pulled out a small name badge. It read:

Dawei Tianlong.

Lin Mu froze for a moment. Why did that name sound familiar?

Seeing the bewildered look on Lin Mu's face, the director couldn't help laughing. "You mean you've never heard of Tale of the White Tiger?"

"Tale of the White Tiger?"

"A legendary tale everyone knows. There was a pair of white tigers who'd cultivated for years. The older sister was called Xiao Bai, and the younger sister was called Xiao Qing. The older sister married a human named Xu Xian.

"Later, a mage named Dawei Tianlong tried to capture Xiao Bai. To save her older sister, Xiao Qing seduced the mage and made him break his vow of chastity.

"She then persuaded him to kill Xu Xian. When the mage Dawei Tianlong came to his senses, he was filled with remorse and resolved to spend the rest of his life atoning for his sins.

"And so, the mage, Xiao Bai, and Xiao Qing lived happily together."

"Wow, what a story!" Lin Mu gave a thumbs-up after hearing the director's version of Tale of the White Tiger.

Just then, a woman ran out of the backstage exit, covering her face and sobbing as she hurried away.

Lin Mu jumped and stared at her retreating figure, confused.

The director sighed and muttered under his breath, "Teacher Zhou made another one cry. Sigh."

A staff member poked his head out from the stage entrance. "Next contestant, get ready!"

The director patted Lin Mu on the shoulder. "Go on."

Lin Mu climbed the steps onto the stage, where he discovered that the production team had divided Jiangrong Drama Center's stage into three sections.

Each section was enclosed by a tent of a different color.

A sign hung on the green tent to the left. It read: "Band Area."

The blue tent in the middle was the "Solo Cover Area," while the red tent on the right was the "Original Song Area."

The staff member glanced at the information in his hand and asked, "You're singing an original?"

Lin Mu nodded.

"Hang on, I'll write down the name you drew."

The staff member looked at Lin Mu's badge, ready to record his "name" for the show.

"Dawei Tianlong?" The staff member paused, then gave him a thumbs-up. "That's a great name. Works for all kinds of people!"

Lin Mu: "..."

"Go to the right, to the original song area. Pick your own instrument. You'll have one minute to get used to it.

"There's a speaker inside connected to the judges' microphones, so you'll hear their comments.

"But you can't speak. You can only sing. If you speak, you'll be disqualified immediately."

After recording the name, the staff member explained the rules.

Actually, Lin Mu already knew them without being told.

The main reason the first season of Pure Voice had been such a hit was its gimmick: you could hear the singing but not see the contestants.

From the preliminaries all the way to the national competition, every contestant performed with their face covered. This season went even further, hiding them completely inside a huge tent.

The rules were even stricter in the preliminaries. Contestants could only sing and weren't allowed to communicate with the judges in any other way. Otherwise, they'd be eliminated.

It was a competition in which contestants could only rely on the purity of their voices to win.

The rules were strict and harsh, but the concept was genuinely excellent.

The first season had been hugely popular when it aired last year, propelling Jiangrong Satellite TV to the top spot in variety-show ratings.

For the second season, Jiangrong Satellite TV had invested heavily, hoping to reach even greater heights.

The sheer number of instruments prepared at the preliminary venue showed how much more carefully and thoroughly the network had prepared this season.

Perhaps to build anticipation, Jiangrong Satellite TV still hadn't announced who the four mentors would be for this season's national top-100 competition.

But none of that mattered to Lin Mu.

He just wanted to use the show to establish himself as a promising new lyricist and composer, then sell the songs in his head for a high price.

Who cared who the mentors were, as long as they didn't get in the way of him making money?

Following the staff member's instructions, Lin Mu headed for the red tent on the far right, the original song area.

The tent was huge, six or seven meters long and wide. It held all sorts of instruments, and original singers could pick whichever ones they needed to perform.

As Lin Mu walked toward the piano in the middle, he glanced at the audience seats across the stage.

The tent had only a few tiny, hollowed-out patterns for ventilation. Contestants inside could barely see outside through the gaps.

And because the audience sat so far away, they couldn't see what was happening inside the tent at all.

That ensured the judges couldn't see what the contestants looked like.

Lin Mu pressed himself against one of the gaps and peered outside. He saw three judges seated across from him in the audience, with plenty of spectators sitting behind them.

Lin Mu sat down at the piano and played a couple of notes to get a feel for it.

Soon, the speaker in the corner of the tent crackled to life with the judges' voices.

"Contestant Dawei Tianlong, hello. I'm judge Liu Qiang."

"Heh heh heh, I'm Zhang Wanteng."

"Zhou Li."

The three judges introduced themselves in turn.

Hearing Liu Qiang's name reminded Lin Mu of how the guy had been a mentor last year, only for his wife to cheat on him. Lin Mu couldn't help feeling like laughing.

Lin Mu also knew the second judge, Zhang Wanteng. He'd once been a popular A-lister, but his fame had gradually faded over the past few years.

Now, he wasn't even qualified to mentor the national competition and could only serve as a judge in a local division.

As for the last judge, hearing her name immediately made Lin Mu understand why the female singer before him had run off the stage in tears.