Chapter 186
Xie Qingxuan extinguished the strange light in her eyes. She showed no sign of defeat, but instead reached out and patted Chu Wangshu's head, saying earnestly:
"Xiao Shu, now that you've secured the Center position, don't slack off on training!"
These words effectively shut down any thought Chu Wangshu might have of backing out.
The young girl could only vaguely accept this generous gift, her feelings extremely complicated.
It included the surprise of his Dad seeing him standing in the Center position, the inferiority complex of feeling unworthy of the position, and the guilt and unease he felt towards Xie Qingxuan and Chu Yuanqing, who were more capable.
The Green Eyed Cat first questioned the meaning of life, then sneered inwardly, becoming even more arrogant.
What a useless, Stupid Dog! She was so confident, but she still lost! It seems she only beat me by luck before. I'll trick her into playing rock-paper-scissors and betting on the bedtime story Qing Mom told me tonight, and I'll get everything back!
Xie Qingxuan had no idea what the cat on the side was imagining. She only felt that it was a close call. She had used her strongest methods to avoid all the correct answers, but she was too lucky and almost won.
Little Sakura saw right through this and couldn't help but grind her teeth inwardly. Was she using the Center position to curry favor with Xiao Shu, indirectly trying to please Qing Bao? Did this person truly treat Qing Bao like a young widow and Xiao Shu like her daughter?
No, this is just too... too much!
Kiriwake Yayoi felt like she had been overtaken by a sharp curve. The feeling of watching her rival give a gift to her sweetheart's daughter, yet being unable to say anything to stop it and forced to get caught up in the situation, made her a little anxious. She even wanted to pinch the Golden Haired Doggy's face until it was swollen.
Chu Yuanqing found the scene heartwarming, feeling gratified that the Little Idol got along so well and that the team environment was harmonious. She was also happy for her Little Cotton-padded Jacket, so she patted her head and encouraged her:
"Keep up the good work! I believe Xiao Shu can do it!"
Chu Wangshu's anxiety vanished the moment the small hand stroked her. She snuggled into the Pure White Witch's arms, squeezing the lantern's space, and said with a mixture of shyness and joy:
"Yes, yes, I will try my best! So... Xiao Qing, can you touch my hair?"
Chu Yuanqing responded to her Little Cotton-padded Jacket's coquettishness, her slender fingers gently brushing through the girl's dark blue hair. Her cool fingertips pressed against the scalp as if combing hair, like tickling a cat's chin, gently stroking it, bringing a wonderful sense of security, making one unable to help but become more and more attached.
Chu Wangshu was unaware that her embarrassing moment was being watched by countless viewers in the Live Broadcast Room. She was happily enjoying her mother's cooking, her fan-like eyelashes drooping, her eyes closing as she sniffed, and she smelled a fragrance she had never experienced before.
It was still a complex floral fragrance, but it had become more delicate and hazy, like wisps of mist in a rainstorm, carrying the liveliness of the marketplace, swaying and drifting into the nostrils, inexplicably conjuring up a touch of lonely sadness.
The Little Cotton-padded Jacket didn't imagine anything strange; she only felt that she missed her mother terribly. She pursed her lips, feeling a sharp pang in her chest. She nestled closer to the Pure White Witch's chest, hiding her expression, and couldn't help but murmur in her heart:
"What does my mother look like, and what is her name?"
"If I ask Dad for help now, will he remain silent as before, or will he tell me everything about Mom?"
These thoughts flashed through my mind and were quickly suppressed by reason.
Chu Wangshu understood that this question must involve the most painful thing in her Dad's life. She was no longer the little girl she used to be, and she didn't want to see that man's weathered and thin face tinged with confusion and sorrow again.
So, if you don't know, you don't know.
As long as Dad is by my side, that's enough.
Chu Wangshu cheered up again. She realized that what is most precious is precisely the things in life that we take for granted and are more likely to overlook. She had never understood these things before, which was why she had so many arguments and long periods of cold war with her Dad.
But things are different now. She reconciled with her Dad after the first Public Performance and invited him to watch her performance at the second Public Performance.
What I'm most grateful for is that Sister Xie gave her the Center position. That way... maybe I can learn from Liuli and express my feelings and everything I want to say as a Father's Day gift that I didn't give her today, through the stage.
Will their family be happier by then?
.
.
.
.
P. S.: Hello everyone, this is the author who's been up all night and still incredibly down-to-earth! Thank you for the golden treasure chest, Lotus Terrace Usami! I currently owe 44,000 words, which is really unlucky, so please throw more of the free blades at the beginning of the month, and more blades at Qing Bao and Yue Bao (just kidding)!
Volume 1: 179. The Budding Crisis, the Arrival of the Calamity Beasts, and the Captain-Class Witch. (5K)
The scene in the Live Broadcast Room was heartwarming.
The Green Eyed Cat stopped secretly rubbing her thigh against Qing Bao. She looked at the Little Cotton-padded Jacket's cheek.
Tang Liuli's lips curled up, inexplicably radiating a maternal glow.
Xie Qingxuan thought for a moment, then leaned over and touched the Little Cotton-padded Jacket's hair, trying her best to act like an older sister.
Kiriwake Yayoi felt something was very wrong. How did she inexplicably become the last one to fall behind? When did this strange sticker contest start?
The girl gritted her teeth, forced a perfect smile, and walked over defiantly, wanting to offer her share of maternal love.
Subsequently, Little Sakura successfully filled the last gap, causing the Little Cotton-padded Jacket lying in Chu Yuanqing's arms to be surrounded by three girls who wanted to be her stepmother without her knowledge, making the scene quite chaotic for a moment.
Of course, the audience was even more confused:
"Okay, okay, no backstabbing and fighting, just unity and friendship, right???"
"It's beautiful, I love it, please post more???"
"So this is a game of house, right? Qingbao is the Qing Bao, and Yue Bao. Then what roles do Liuli, Yayoi, and Qingxuan play?"
"What old question? I've said it so many times: monogamy. Xie Bao is Qing Bao's husband, Yayoi is Qing Bao's wife, Liuli... Liuli is Qing Bao's pet???"
"Pet? Hehe, Qing Bao's pet, hehe, I want to be Qing Bao's pet too, and snuggle up in her arms and be spoiled!!!"
"Ridiculous! Does anyone think they can be the Qing God's pet? Not just anyone can receive divine favor. Don't believe me? Ask Xiaoxiao, who hasn't appeared before the Qing God in ages!"
There were clearly Liang Xiaoxiao's fans in the live chat.
Although this contestant's popularity is far behind that of the top players, he had accumulated some audience goodwill in the early stages and was pulled out of the abyss by Chen Yining, joining the second most popular team in the Sea Capital division. He currently has over a million followers on Weibo.
The Potato Cult, which had been dormant for an unknown period, has suddenly resurfaced, seemingly provoked by external forces.
"Waaaaah, Xiaoxiao, my Xiaoxiao, after the second episode, there weren't any scenes of her and Qing Bao together anymore???"
"I'm still not reconciled. Clearly... clearly Xiaoxiao and Chu Yuanqing are both so resilient, living in this world like weeds. Shouldn't they have been good friends???"
"At this moment, I suddenly understand what Dream Weaver Rabbit meant by 'the stage determines destiny.' So only the strong can approach Qing Bao, successfully team up with her, and obtain the qualification to 'stick together'? I'm crying my eyes out???"
"Crying? What's with that expression? What's with your tears? Will your tears help Xiaoxiao win the stage? Will they allow Xiaoxiao to reach the Qing God in the clouds?!"
"Yes, the stage determines destiny. I hope Xiaoxiao can perform even better in the second Public Performance."
In the practice room,
Chu Wangshu finally realized something was wrong. She opened her eyes and found three idol seniors blinking and observing her lying in Xiao Qing's arms. Embarrassed, she quickly sat up, her face flushed, and said:
"Now that the Center position has been assigned, shall we continue training?"
"Um, I'll work hard and not let everyone's hard work go to waste! So please stop pinching my cheeks!"
The Green Eyed Cat withdrew its little hand with some regret. Xie Qingxuan got up to change into his training clothes, Kiriwake Yayoi resumed her serious captain demeanor.
Chu Yuanqing's eyes were clear and sparkling. Looking at her daughter, who was still a little shy and didn't want to be treated like a child, a smile curved her lips, and she clapped her hands, saying:
"Okay, let's train then."
After speaking, the magic power generated within the lantern suddenly surged, then rapidly declined after a dozen seconds, returning to its normal upward curve. It was as if the Live Broadcast Room had just been hit by the beauty of the Pure White Witch, only to have the channel cut off by the hateful Dream Weaver Rabbit.
Chu Yuanqing realized this as well. She took a break to go to the restroom, took out the pendant, poked the silly lantern that was spinning in the air because it was angry with its fingertip, said some nice words gently, and easily coaxed the little guy back to his training.
The training process is not worth mentioning.
Since she started using magic to cheat, the difficulty of the dance has dropped sharply for her. Not to mention, during the week of magical transformation, her physical fitness and strength, which originally matched this appearance, have been passively increased and enhanced. Her limbs have become more and more agile and flexible, surpassing the results of the previous month's flexibility training.
Simply put, she is already a genius in this field, and it won't be difficult for her to keep up with the team's pace.
Moreover, Chu Yuanqing recently realized that, if 100% power is not required, the Magic Armor is actually not limited by form.
In theory, she could completely transform her Magic Armor into stage costumes. Even if she could only utilize less than 50% of its power, with the boost to her base attributes, she could still achieve a state of complete control over her movements.
Therefore, these worries are no longer worries, and it seems that the same will be true for future Little Idol.
When Chu Yuanqing thought of this, he could always picture everyone dressed in Magic Armor, dancing openly on stage like Magical Girl.
Although the image was too surreal, it fit the current direction of Flashdance's development. Maybe it will actually come true one day. Just thinking about it makes it seem very abstract.
After training, everyone returned to their dormitories and began their rest period.
Well, Chu Yuanqing's team's training schedule is: from 7 a. m. to 12 p. m., with a lunch break until 1:30 p. m., then training continues until 5:30 p. m.
After that, it's completely free time.
If we set aside the schemes between neodymium and copper, the Green Eyed Cat plays video games, Little Sakura practices guitar and folds origami cranes, and the Golden Haired Doggy is either meditating or using the base's think tank to find some unorthodox knowledge.
Needless to say, Chu Wangshu spent 50% of his time self-studying university courses and 50% self-studying music theory.
Chu Yuanqing's situation is rather complicated. She has a special case. Whenever she is alone, she spends most of her time in a daze. Occasionally, she will listen to the vinyl records that her Little Cotton-padded Jacket gave her, and she will also practice magic control and spell development.
Time slipped away little by little.
During this time, Tang Liuli challenged a certain Great Demon King by betting a week's worth of bedtime stories. In the end, she suffered a miserable defeat in disbelief and sorrow, so much so that when it was her turn to Magic Replenishment, she couldn't help but cry in the Pure White Witch's bed.
These days, the Little Idol haven't changed their training schedule and are proceeding step by step.
Well, if you do the math, training for 9 hours a day, even without taking out the necessary rest periods, is still an incredibly intense amount of exercise.
Compared to the top performers in previous talent shows, or even the trainees in Chao Nation who train like their lives depend on it, 9 hours a day is really just "ordinary".
In the context of recent competitions, this can be described as even more leisurely.
The current version of "Flash Dance" has officially entered the era of intense practice. The Program Group has provided a bunch of high-tech products, which truly provide contestants with the conditions to practice like crazy.
Whether it's a sleep chamber, a massage chamber, high-efficiency nutritional supplements, exercise capsules to prevent rhabdomyolysis, a weekly special meal provided to the team... or even a bunch of other miscellaneous things, they can all help trainees sleep only three hours a day and still be full of energy and in good health to complete more than ten hours of training.
These benefits, which should rightfully be reserved for the military, naturally aroused speculation among the trainees when placed in a small talent show, and further fueled intense competition on the eve of the second Public Performance.
Since you can't train to death, why not train to the point of exhaustion?
Normally, there aren't many players with this kind of awareness. In any team, there will always be one fool who realizes there's no hope of advancing, gives up on their Idol Career, and chooses to tank and drag the team down, causing the plan to fail.
What makes Flash Dance unique is that the show is insured. If you get injured while practicing, even if you don't become an idol, you can at least get a year's salary as an idol. If the accident happens while using those high-tech products, the compensation can be doubled.
Therefore, many trainees who felt their chances of advancing were slim, but had a high chance of improving themselves, found a reason to become the "King of the Hill" and began to work incredibly hard.
This is exactly the situation that Dream Weaver Rabbit wants to see.
The more a person gives, the more they crave a corresponding reward, which in turn fuels their desire for victory and deepens their inner obsession.
On the other hand, the few breaths when you're training to your limit and so tired that your mind is completely clear are the best moments to experience "Flow State".
As a result, [fuel] sprang up like mushrooms after rain in three days.
The next day, there were still two days until the official Public Performance.
The Dream Weaver Rabbit sat upright in the central room, glancing at the encouraging data on [fuel] growth. It didn't show much joy. It silently switched the data on the projection screen, as if surveying all the mountains and observing the movements of the whole world. Some secret data that was not disclosed to the outside world then popped up one after another.
This Super AI filtered out the messy and invalid information, and using a world map as a background, linked together all the seemingly normal clues from various countries and regions to form a deep and mysterious giant jigsaw puzzle.
Then, the map was zoomed in, anchored to the Donghuang Federation, and zoomed in to show only the Great Xia.
The two top-tier cities of Capital and Sea Capital were almost entirely covered with red circles and dots, with information about various events leaping out and intertwining into a dense, dark cloud.
Dream Weaver Rabbit clicked on Sea Capital, casually zoomed in, and dozens of pop-up windows appeared.
Following a tip-off from a concerned citizen, officials found several shed human skins in a trash can at the corner of an alleyway near an Ajisen Ramen restaurant at 611 Nanjing Road. After big data analysis and comparison, DNA extracted from the skins belonged to an employee of a company Sea Capital.
[In apartment 301, building 17 of Sijing Residential Complex, residents complained of an excessive odor. After the property management broke down the door, they discovered numerous dead stray cats and dogs, as well as footprints of other large animals.]
[The Sixth People's Hospital of Sea Capital has lost a large quantity of anesthetic and psychotropic drugs. Currently, despite using bloodstains and genetic material found at the scene, Dream Weaver are still unable to locate any relevant information.]
This information, piled up on the projector screen, along with a series of real-life photographs and more detailed reports, certainly gave the impression that a storm was brewing.
Dream Weaver Rabbit turned to look at the projections and said:
"Gentlemen, what are your thoughts on this?"
Although it possesses the ability to instantly formulate correct decisions, Super AI is ultimately just a tool. No matter how human-like its intelligent modules may be, it cannot make decisions on its own.
Therefore, how to view this information and how to deal with these emerging trends is a matter that only the decision-makers attending the meeting can decide.
The atmosphere inside was heavy, and everyone took turns speaking:
"Calamity Beasts that can change skins? They were right, they were trying to sneak into the Public Performance venue using this?"
"The Aether Satellite— [Fuxi]—possesses the ability to monitor apocalyptic energy. As one of the venues for the <Flash Dance> competition, Sea Capital has an extremely high monitoring density; there's no reason why it couldn't have detected any traces before."
"Don't forget, [Fuxi] is ultimately a prototype. Its ability to identify the form of calamities is like an infrared thermometer—it's still a rudimentary version. Low- to medium-risk calamities do have a chance of escaping [Fuxi]'s detection."
"It's highly likely that members of the Cult of Disaster Gods brought an unknown number of [Calamity Species] to the Sea Capital, incubated them with flesh and blood, and are preparing to wreak havoc."
Those involved in the decision-making process remained remarkably calm, seemingly unsurprised by the turn of events. Firstly, Chu Yuanqing's identity served as a precaution, and secondly, with the decline of [Pure White], the rise of various shady characters was entirely predictable.
Finally, the base where <Flash Dance> was located was impregnable; none of the staff members, including the mentors, had the right to freely enter or leave during the recording period.