Chapter 131
The wave is a basic branch of jazz dance, referring to the movement of the whole body as flexible as a wave, alternating between sections with the same amplitude of motion from top to bottom and from left to right.
Actually, Kiriwake Yayoi had taught her some basic training on this before.
After all, waves have a wide range of uses, from the physical rhythms of breaking to popping, locking, and other dance styles, all of which use waves to connect rhythms.
But it's still the same old problem.
--time.
Chu Yuanqing's training time was too short. Even if she continued to replicate the training intensity she received from Xie Qingxuan, it would be impossible for her to master Pandora to perfection.
Therefore, how to cheat becomes a question that must be considered.
The solo dance on stage that resembled figure skating, and even the graceful leap that amazed the mentors at the end, all boiled down to the initial application of magic.
As Chu Yuanqing memorized the passages from <Pandora>, he pondered in his mind:
"My concentration is too poor right now. It's impossible for me to control my body like a puppet by creating threads with magic."
"Therefore, we can only focus on two directions: one is to enhance explosive power, like what we do on stage; the other is to enhance precision, using magic to fix several circuits in the body, similar to stimulating neurons to enhance the sense of rhythm."
Time slipped away quietly amidst continuous reflection and training.
Chu Yuanqing finished his initial training and returned to his detached dormitory to cook dinner for his Little Cotton-padded Jacket.
Xie Qingxuan and Ji Shuzhu, this A-Class bandit duo, wreaked havoc in area C1, demonstrating their tyrannical dominance.
Meanwhile, more than a dozen teams, under increasing pressure as the deadline approached, had no choice but to engage in a series of stage battles, resulting in a dense array of victories and defeats that would later become material for the show.
The next day at noon.
Countless viewers eagerly awaited the release of the third episode of "Flash Dance," refreshing the screens on various video platforms precisely at the last minute!
Volume 1: 131. The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Candy, Xie Qingxuan's Advance. (5K1)
Sea Capital, apartment.
Xu Ling tossed aside the dinosaur-shaped pillow, picked up her ragdoll cat, and petted the adorable pet that her friend had temporarily fostered, all the while watching the TV with anticipation.
The third episode is a whopping 121 minutes long, comparable to the length of a movie.
Although it was longer than the previous two episodes, it condensed the time of 168 contestants over a full half month.
It's easy to imagine that the allocation of camera time will only become more brutal.
Xu Ling didn't seem to care much.
While the eliminations in "Flash Dance" were undoubtedly cruel, the buzz they generated was unprecedented. Even if the eliminated contestants couldn't become idols, they could leverage this momentum to transition to other areas and remain artists within the industry.
--Risks and opportunities coexist.
Life is just like that, and Flashdance simply amplifies that to an extreme.
Those girls who truly have talent, even if they unfortunately lose, will surely shine brightly in their future lives, and at some point, the world will witness their unique moment of brilliance.
To put it simply, being an idol is both a big and a narrow dream. It's big enough to encompass a person's entire life, yet narrow enough that after leaving it, one can embrace a wider world.
The program officially began airing.
Because in this episode, the only plot points that were spoiled in advance during the live broadcast were Chu Yuanqing's two Stage Battle, which together totaled no more than 15 minutes. The remaining 100-plus minutes were a blank, unknown territory for the audience.
Therefore, this time almost no one was frantically pressing the fast-forward button like before.
Xu Ling is the same. As the founder of "Wu Zhong Jian Qing" and a loyal defender of the Iron-Blooded Cherry Blossom Party, she has transformed into a ruthless sugar-collecting machine, determined to find all the cherry blossom sugar on the first viewing of the third episode!
Unfortunately, Chu Yuanqing and Kiriwake Yayoi did not meet at all in the first 30 minutes.
Forget cherry blossom candy, it's full of daily life scenes with Golden Haired Doggy and Qing Bao. Worst of all, due to the inclusion of numerous practice details from "Dangerous Party," it's extremely high in copper content, eliciting cheers from the "Qing Cheng Qing Guo" (a fictionalized version of the novel).
"Damn, that's so horny! You just love seeing pretty girls cuddling every day???"
"Hehehe, I didn't expect Cricket Dream Weaver Rabbit to be so sensible, knowing that just that one stage performance wasn't enough, haha, now we can see Qing Bao's shy and innocent version of <Dangerous Party>???"
"Waaaaah, Xie Qingxuan's figure is amazing! Such long legs, such a slim waist, such beautiful hands, he's so hot! And Qing Bao's occasional expressions of disdain, yet his earnest efforts to overcome his inner turmoil, are just too cute! I'm going to lick him up!!!"
"Waaaaah?! I knew 'Qing Cheng Qing Guo' was the coolest! That despicable Sakura Girl dared to steal Xie Bao's love! This is defiling the pure love between Xie Bao and Qing Bao?!"
"Nonsense! Little Sakura and Qing Bao are the true lovers. Don't you understand the value of the limited-edition wedding dress skins featuring them together???"
"Hilarious! Don't bring up these government-owned entities. Xie Bao will snatch Qing Bao back sooner or later. Just wait and see if Little Sakura will cry and bang her head on the ground!"
The two sides' CP (couple) fans immediately started fighting.
Meanwhile, many more fans are busy going crazy, indiscriminately adoring all the pretty girls.
Xu Ling did not join the battle; the task of leading the charge was naturally left to the soldiers. As a general of the Iron-Blooded Cherry Blossom Party, she had a more important mission.
That means extracting the sugar to boost the morale of one's own faction and strengthen the legitimacy of the pairing!
At the same time, the program didn't show much footage of Chu Yuanqing's training.
The training sessions for "Dangerous Party" totaled over 70 hours, but only two minutes of footage was edited down, interspersed with training videos of various A-Class athletes.
During the event, all 84 teams were given some footage of their training and daily routines, ranging from a maximum of two minutes to a minimum of two or three seconds.
These teams appear to get along very well on the surface, but a storm is brewing beneath the surface.
The starting point of this storm was the Stage Battle first launched by Kiriwake Yayoi.
Because Chu Yuanqing's performance was broadcast live, the audience had already guessed the outcome of this stage battle, so they shouldn't have had much anticipation for it.
What's truly absurd is that just before this scene unfolded, a certain Green Eyed Cat was happily filling out a PK application form, targeting Chu Yuanqing and Xie Qingxuan's team, completely oblivious to the life or death of Lin Bao'er, whose pupils were trembling in shock.
The video's comments section was filled with "hahahaha," with viewers unable to resist making sarcastic remarks.
"Hilarious! Liuli clearly went into the challenge with a 'give it away' attitude, so Little Sakura just snatched Qing Bao away, right? What a cuckold."
"Lin Bao'er's expression is hilarious. She's probably thinking about how this team should play. There's a kind of detached, detached beauty to it."
"We've found the reason for Qing Bao's second stage PK defeat in Bengbu: Little Sakura is truly a master of stealing development."
"That's ridiculous! So how did Liuli agree to the battle later? What a cunning Sakura Girl!"
The camera then cuts to another scene in the program.
Kiriwake Yayoi, along with Chu Wangshu, blocked Tang Liuli and Lin Bao'er's path. She gave a polite smile and, with just a few words, successfully made the cat furious, securing the stage PK for noon the next day.
The screen of the third episode was filled with a barrage of ellipses, which eventually coalesced into three sentences in silence:
"How helpless Lin Bao'er."
"What a cunning Little Sakura!"
"That Green Eyed Cat is so easy to provoke."
Xu Ling couldn't help but admire Kiriwake Yayoi's tactics; having gained a futuristic perspective, she understood just how brilliant this decision was.
This hijacking maneuver, from a macro perspective, is a necessary step to complete the double [Flow State] synergy; from a micro perspective, it achieves a trade-off, depriving the enemy of a main vocalist while giving your side an A-Class character—it's practically a divine move!
For a moment, the cherry blossom fans in the group were overjoyed. With such a perfect combination of luck and wisdom, how could they not have any sweet moments?
Haha, this makes the third episode a sure thing! There's bound to be some sweet moments to enjoy!
Not long after this scene, Flash Dance announced the first stage PK to the entire audience.
What followed was a barrage of PK announcements, like mushrooms after rain. Nearly ten teams, representing one-eighth of the contestants in the entire region, chose to compete on stage that night.
Xu Ling was somewhat surprised; she vaguely sensed that something was amiss.
"So fast? Yayoi is taking the challenge because she just happened to draw that particular dance, and her opponents are a duo with two lead vocalists, so her chances of winning are very high. What about the others?"
The answer to this question came almost immediately.
The official <FlashDance> team didn't release all of these performances. They only edited together the most disappointing moments from each team's performance, along with the mentors' sharp comments, the series of low scores, and the high-rated contestants who were all selected without exception.
The barrage of comments exploded:
"Is this a deliberate attempt to throw the game? To quickly weed out low-rated teammates???"
"Damn it, isn't the Program Group doing anything? Is this fair to the other teams who seriously prepared their performances?"
"It's hard to say. I suspect that Dream Weaver Rabbit just wants to see this kind of development. Isn't the high-pressure environment in the show something it created?"
Amidst a flurry of comments, the program continued playing, seemingly establishing a storyline. Just as the match-fixing alliance had hoped, it recorded scenes of them negotiating, devising plans, pursuing their self-interest, and displaying remorse and awareness.
At the same time, Dream Weaver Rabbit also gave a corresponding shot to all the low-rated players who were deceived, abandoned, and fooled. Almost all of them were incredulous and gloomy, which was in stark contrast to the harmonious team atmosphere before.
Public opinion quickly became polarized, and people began arguing amongst themselves.
The match-fixing alliance consists entirely of B-Class players, and their combined fanbase is enormous.
Their arguments were: "They didn't violate the competition rules," "The Program Group's tacit approval is equivalent to being reasonable," "It's inherently unfair to have a high-rated team and a low-rated team in the same group," and "If they didn't want to be idols, why would they risk being criticized to increase their chances of winning by even a little bit?"
These combined punches left the bystanders dazed and confused, but only made the deceived contestant's fans even angrier.
To sum it up, my overall feeling can be summed up in one sentence.
--Damn it, isn't this bullying honest people?
This group began to fight back:
"Your favorite wants to be an idol, but our favorite doesn't? Who would support someone who has no respect for the stage, deceives teammates to achieve their goals, is completely selfish, and has no warmth whatsoever?"
"Hilarious! You guys can keep barking like dogs. You can climb to the top by stepping on your teammates now, and you'll be able to leech off your fans later. Let's see who regrets it then."
"That's enough. Not violating the competition rules doesn't mean not violating universal morality. Everyone who is eliminated will face the same fate. Some B-Class contestants didn't choose to throw the match. According to your logic, does that mean they don't want to be idols?"
The two sides' opinions are increasingly clashing and escalating.
Another group believes that it's all the fault of Flash Dance and Dream Weaver Rabbit. The environment shapes behavior, and no one can maintain their original intentions in such a deliberately inducing and high-pressure atmosphere.
It is foreseeable that this topic will become the main theme of discussion surrounding the third episode.
Of course, there are still people who are not interested in this.
For example, the fans of the various A-Class players who were not affected.
The program continued playing, and soon switched to a CG animation showing Tang Liuli's defeat.
Looking at the cat with its fur standing on end, Little Sakura publicly revealed a statement packed with information, followed by a series of witty remarks from the two of them, which greatly shocked their respective fan groups.
"Can you compare to Xie Qingxuan?"
"Put aside your pointless sulking and join my ranks."
"In the next round, let's work together to recruit Xiao Qing into our team and get her on stage for the second Public Performance!"
What's most absurd is that, faced with such weighty and self-serving words, Tang Liuli's response was:
"I will take back Chu Yuanqing in my own way."
This caused an uproar among both the Solo Fan stans and the dedicated solo stans on both sides.
Damn, what's the difference between this and their own idols openly coming out as gay? Pure friendship doesn't involve this kind of possessiveness! Are their Little Idol really female-male? So, it turns out that only CP (couple) fans are the true believers?
"Aaaaaah, I'm so angry! What kind of ultimate succubus is Chu Yuanqing? How could he have bewitched my Little Liuli like this?!"
"Waaaaah, Yayoi, don't let yourself be fooled by bad women! No matter how pretty they are, it's no good!!!"
"No, what's the rush? Liuli and the Sakura Girl at most treat Qing Bao as a friend. As for Nvtong and all that, it's just a marketing ploy!"
"Take off your sunglasses. Does Little Liuli even need to promote herself? If she really wanted to, she could just post something on her Weibo, and she wouldn't have ended up in such a low ranking during the Center position voting competition."
At the same time, CP fans started a frenzy:
"In ancient times, the six states formed an alliance between the north and south to resist Qin, a feat known as the 'Horizontal Alliance'! Now, Little Sakura cleverly persuades Liuli to join forces with Yue Bao to fight against the Great Demon King, a move called 'Stealing the Lord'???"
"Hilarious! Trying to steal the bride, huh? Really???"
"Alliance and counter-alliances? Wrong, it's a humiliating treaty! Didn't anyone notice Little Liuli's humiliated expression? It's so adorable???"
At this point in the broadcast, only half of the third episode has aired.
What followed consisted of dozens of condensed, fast-forwarded stage battles.
It includes the distorted stage where Chu Yuanqing is fought over like a prize, the development status of childhood sweethearts who break up and are separated into different teams, and Xiao Yan in the show circle who wins three battles against Ruan Wutong, only to have his cultivation path ended by the vengeful Chen Yining...
What's most astonishing is the infighting and deception within the match-fixing alliance. They put on a dazzling display of talent on stage, using every possible means within the rules, leaving the audience in awe, as if they were watching a talent show version of "Empresses in the Palace".
Abstractly speaking, the match-fixing alliance actually produced several high-quality teams, even surpassing other A-Class players and reaching the A1 zone at the fastest speed, proving the benefits of following the <FlashDance> atmosphere.
Overall, the third episode was packed with information and highlights, and the stage design, which captured the essence of the episode, satisfied a large number of viewers who had been waiting for the next episode.