Chapter 49: Second Performance (4)
Shen Xiu, who had finally managed to dry his tears with his head lowered, heard the host’s question. Shen Xiu didn’t want to say too much, afraid he would start crying again on stage and embarrass himself x3.
So, Shen Xiu lifted his gaze and looked at his teammates standing beside him.
“This question should be answered by them,” he said.
Madness was the result of everyone’s joint effort; he had only been responsible for integrating and refining the details. Since the host hadn’t asked specifically where the story behind the lyrics came from, his answer was perfectly fine.
The teammates, who were suddenly called out by their captain, all looked bewildered: “Ah…”
He Ting glanced in surprise at Shen Xiu’s team members. With so many people, opinions usually wouldn’t align. Based on how Shen Xiu had performed behind the scenes during the first performance, He Ting had assumed that to avoid trouble, Shen Xiu would just take over everything — writing, composing, and arranging the music himself.
He had thought “teamwork” was just a perfunctory answer, but to his surprise, Shen Xiu truly meant it, not even bothering with pretenses.
After Shen Xiu spoke, no one — neither the host nor the teammates — said a word. Thinking they hadn’t heard clearly, Shen Xiu looked at his teammates and repeated patiently: “You guys should be the ones to speak.”
The teammates were moved, their gazes towards Shen Xiu full of gratitude.
Although they had participated in the songwriting, composing, and choreography, anyone could see that Shen Xiu had put in tremendous effort refining and restructuring everything into the final product.
Yet in this situation, Shen Xiu was now giving them the major share of the credit, directly cueing them to speak on stage — helping them grab some spotlight, leaving a stronger impression on the audience.
As expected, even though Captain Xiu looked cold and acted ruthless, his heart was genuinely kind!
Shen Xiu: “?”
Wait a minute…
Why is everyone just staring at me? Say something!
“Captain Xiu, love you!”
“We’ll always support Captain Xiu!”
“Our Captain Xiu is the best!”
“Thank you, Captain Xiu!”
Shen Xiu was full of question marks — he didn’t quite understand how a moment that was supposed to be the team explaining the origins of Madness had somehow turned into a spontaneous confession session from the members.
The level of horror was no less than waking up in the middle of the night and seeing a ghost.
Trying to steer things back on track, Shen Xiu weakly reminded them, “Right now, you’re supposed to be answering the host’s question.”
Not saying weird things to him and drawing all the audience’s attention back to him.
Shen Xiu was going numb. Heaven knows, to avoid the audience noticing he had cried, he didn’t even dare open his eyes fully — he kept his eyelids slightly lowered the entire time, afraid the red veins lingering from the tears would give him away.
The team members, meanwhile, were inwardly touched — Shen Xiu really didn’t treat helping them as a big deal. He wasn’t the least bit concerned about taking credit for it.
Yuan Jiafei nervously reached up and adjusted the mic near his mouth. “When we wrote it, there wasn’t anything particularly special — we just read the story summary and got straight to work.”
Ke Zi’an nodded earnestly. “Yeah, that’s about it.”
Zhou Tong thought for a moment and also said, “There really wasn’t anything too unusual, come to think of it.”
Xia Wenhao seemed to recall something. “Actually, now that I think about it, the lyrics were based on the little story Shen Xiu gave us. So technically, Madness was built off of his idea.”
Just as Shen Xiu had let out a sigh of relief in his heart, Xia Wenhao’s words landed like a hammer.
Shen Xiu: “……”
A boomerang, thrown around in a circle, came right back and stabbed him in the back.
Xia Wenhao, thank you so much!
Once again, all eyes in the audience turned to Shen Xiu.
“Oh?” He Ting’s tone rose slightly as he looked at Shen Xiu. “Shen Xiu, what kind of story was it?”
Shen Xiu recalled the bitter sting at the tip of his nose when he had written that little story — and firmly refused to repeat it on stage.
Under everyone’s gaze, Shen Xiu felt immense pressure. His mind spun rapidly until he quickly came up with a way to stall for time:
“When the behind-the-scenes training footage is released, everyone will find out.”
By then, people would probably have forgotten.
And even if they hadn’t, there wouldn’t be a host around to press him for an answer in public.
Avoidance might be shameful, but it works!
The audience instantly caught on to Shen Xiu’s intention, whispering to their friends beside them in low voices:
“I get it now—Xiu deliberately left a cliffhanger to get us to watch the behind-the-scenes footage and boost its popularity!”
“Of course, Baby Xiu definitely doesn’t care about those view counts. He left the cliffhanger so that his teammates who helped him would draw attention instead.”
“I think you’re right. Didn’t expect the offline ‘Shen Scholars’ to be so sharp.”
“Obviously! No one understands what’s going on in Xiu Xiu’s heart better than us ‘Shen Scholars’!”
[Wuwuwu, whether it’s onstage or behind the scenes, it’s all so moving. I used to think they were cringe, but now look at me—I’m the one crying like a mess!]
[It’s not even our fault for mocking them before lol. Now that they’re doing great, of course we’ll hype them up like crazy. But seriously, the change is huge! Every dance move stands out on its own, and their camera presence hasn’t changed—but somehow their gaze feels cleaner now, leaving only the sadness and repression from the song, and later the calm release.]
[How did they manage to look that cool in both movement and expression, while also resisting the urge to “look cool” and instead come across as refreshing?]
[Our curiosity’s officially piqued—we have to see that second performance’s behind-the-scenes video! Even if Captain Xiu didn’t bait us with a cliffhanger, I’d still go watch it!]
He Ting and the audience all reached the same conclusion in an instant — Shen Xiu might look like he doesn’t care about anything, showing the same distant attitude to all the trainees.
But it was clear — Shen Xiu might have a cold exterior, but he was warm-hearted inside and understood the nuances of interpersonal relationships… provided those relationships were with hardworking trainees.
He Ting didn’t press further. He glanced at the cue card in his hand and continued with the program flow.
“With two rounds of voting completed, the fourth round’s competing teams — Ning Sinian’s team and Shen Xiu’s team — may now head to the trainee area to rest. Next, let’s welcome the ninth group of trainees, the audit team, to the stage for their second performance.”
Because there was no debut-seat-level center to lead them, the audit team of six performed Just, which was almost entirely in English. The choreography and lyrics weren’t particularly difficult, but since all of them had once been in the elimination pool, their overall skill levels weren’t very high. Their English pronunciation was off, and their articulation was unclear.
The final stage presentation fell short — especially when compared to the performance that came before it: Shen Xiu’s team’s Madness, which had god-tier execution in concept, choreography, and lyrics.
After enjoying a perfect visual, auditory, and emotional experience with Madness, the audience found ‘Just’ bland in comparison — like plain water, failing to stir the senses.
To make matters worse, the showrunners had deliberately added a bold-font caption both on the venue’s projection screen and on the livestream voting link: “Does his hard work matter? If it does, please cast your precious vote in support.”
With this kind of pointed reminder, many audience members chose not to vote for any of the audit team trainees at all.
Unlike the other eight teams, the audit team’s stage had only one round of voting, which ended quickly.
When the voting closed and the audit team sat down in the trainee area, all six of them looked visibly upset.
It was obvious they were aware of the problems in their team — everyone came from the elimination pool and no one respected anyone else. There wasn’t a strong leader to make decisions, and their fundamentals weren’t up to par. The result was a stage performance that was neither here nor there.
After the audit team sat down in the trainee area, He Ting stood at the center of the stage and excitedly announced:
“I declare that the ‘Popularity King’ of the second performance round, as voted by the live audience, is…”
As He Ting glanced toward Shang Yu, the camera also panned over to him.
“Let’s congratulate Shang Yu!”
Hearing this, Shang Yu looked slightly stunned, but quickly reasoned it out — considering the production team had already given Shen Xiu a “ban seat”, and given how eye-catching his own styling and stage persona had been, it made sense for the Popularity King title to land on him.
Thinking this through, Shang Yu stood up and smiled, thanking the audience: “Thank you all for your support.”
“And of course…” Shang Yu turned toward Shen Xiu, “Thank you, Shen Xiu.”
If Shen Xiu had been in the running, given how much the audience adored him, there was no way Shang Yu would have won the title.
As soon as Shang Yu finished speaking, the audience burst into good-natured laughter and applause, and the atmosphere turned lively.
“Hahaha, as CEO Shang’s fans, let’s all thank Shen Xiu together!”
“Shen says: ‘I’m quietly watching you all from my ban seat.'”
Shen Xiu: “…”
Why was he being brought up again out of nowhere?
Luckily, Shang Yu sat down right after his speech — there was no rule saying Shen Xiu had to respond. Otherwise, he genuinely wouldn’t know how to reply.
After the laughter died down, He Ting spoke again:
“As for what the Popularity King’s prize will be — stay tuned!”
The audience was used to the production team dangling bait, so after some playful teasing that lasted over ten seconds, they didn’t push the issue.
He Ting continued: “Tomorrow morning at nine o’clock, the second round of ranking announcements will take place. We warmly invite all our dear viewers to tune in.”
“What about the bad news?”
“Yeah, you forgot the bad news you promised!”
The production team had dropped so many teasers that the audience was worried they might forget — they loudly reminded them.
He Ting smiled and said, “Don’t worry, dear audience, there’s no way we’d forget. And even if we did, just go find Teacher Xue Yi — he’s the one responsible for that.”
The host’s playful comment made the audience burst into laughter.
“Teacher Xue, did you hear that? Don’t just focus on disciplining the trainees — come discipline the host too!”
“Teacher Xue, the host just set you up!”
Amid the cheerful atmosphere, all the trainees went back up on stage to once again thank both the live and online audiences for their support. With that, the second performance round officially came to a close.
Shen Xiu, not used to walking at the front, waited until the other teams had left before standing up from his seat.
Seeing that Shen Xiu hadn’t moved, the members of his team also stayed put, making them the last group to leave the stage — neat and orderly.
For a while now, Shen Xiu’s team had been under a cloud of pressure, but now that their second performance was finally over — and their last performance was something they could be proud of — the atmosphere noticeably lightened.
They still had their stage makeup on, including fake injuries, and when they got backstage, they realized that with a bit of imagination, the look was basically “battle-damage aesthetic,” which set off a round of playful antics.
Zhao Mingwei jogged a few steps forward, leaned casually against a doorframe, and while stroking his chin, shot a look back at the team:
“Am I handsome or what? Full-on tough guy vibes, right?”
“What are you talking about? Watch this!” Gao Yongshi copied the chin-stroking pose, then smirked coldly and let out a low “Heh.”
Just try and resist this charm!
Ye Cheng tossed his hair back dramatically as he lifted his head: “Come on, the real handsome one here is me.”
At the very back, Shen Xiu stood frozen in place.
He didn’t get it.
Why… why were they being cringey again?
Watching his teammates let loose like this, Shen Xiu felt only one small consolation —
At least the second performance was finally over!
Deep down, Shen Xiu realized something: So all that previous restraint — the mature, non-cringey behavior — had all been acted out!
Such great acting!
Shen Xiu looked at his teammates with genuine admiration in his eyes.
With acting skills this good, if he ever got the chance to be a director in the future, he’d definitely invite them to join his projects.
The team members, who were still busy striking cool poses, quickly noticed a cold, icy gaze fall upon them.
They turned their heads — only to meet Shen Xiu’s frosty stare. Instantly, memories of being ruled by the “Demon King Xiu” flashed through their minds, and they subconsciously straightened up and stopped fooling around.
Xia Wenhao couldn’t bear to look: “Alright, that’s enough. Sure, the second performance is over, but the livestream is still going! The audience can see everything you’re doing right now, crystal clear.”
The livestream chat exploded into rows of “……”
[So the success in getting rid of their cringey behavior… was only limited to the stage, huh.]
[Ugh, my eyebrows have scrunched up into two caterpillars. Gotta quickly go stare at my cool guy Xiu to cleanse my eyes.]
[Shen Xiu’s current expressionless face feels completely different from how he was on stage. It’s like… wait, I got it — he’s literally giving off “battle-damaged assassin Xiu” vibes!]
[Picture this: ruthless, heartless assassin Xiu catches someone spying on him through a camera. The very next second after he lifts his cold gaze toward the lens — boom, he’s already in the surveillance room, stone-faced, taking down the person monitoring him. That’s how he got blood sprayed across his face (claps) — it all connects!]
[Your explanation’s long, but I’m with you all the way (nods firmly) (also gently shoving away the attention-seeking goofballs next to us).]
Hearing Xia Wenhao’s reminder, the others looked up at the camera and, still confused, asked him:
“What’s the big deal about the camera? Isn’t my fierce look and the bloodstains showing my fighting spirit super cool?”
“Exactly! You just don’t know how to appreciate it!”
“Dear audience friends, we don’t have phones in the training camp and can’t take selfies — could you please screenshot a few shots for us so we can save them once we leave?”
[We’ll do it for you — but don’t come crying later!]
[Heehee, I love helping out these cringey troublemakers.]
—
The second round of performances had ended, but the trending topics about Youth Unstoppable kept coming one after another.
The eerie and chilling plot twist at the end of Puppeteer, the emotional crescendo and cathartic release of Madness after a dramatic fall from the high platform, the silent, elegant temptation in the rain, the adrenaline-pumping One and Only King… countless iconic moments broke out of the circle and went viral.
Curious onlookers, after seeing fans posting these famous scenes, left comments under the trending topics asking for fancam footage.
— That scene where the eyeball rolled out was so creepy! I thought it was a horror movie scene!
— While no one’s looking, I’m claiming the battle-damaged assassin Xiu for myself!
— Stop right there and put my Xiu Xiu down!
—LMAO, my bag is big enough, I want Assassin Xiu, the puppet merchant, and Temptation Wang all together! Xiang Yueting is such a clown, I can’t handle it.
— Where are the fancams? Hurry up, I can’t wait! @Youth Unstoppable official account
— Wuwuwu, sisters, if you’re feeling down you must listen to Madness and watch Madness — you’ll feel so much better afterward!
To meet the wishes of the netizens and viewers, the production team worked overtime. Less than an hour after the second round ended, the official Youth Unstoppable account released the direct cams for all nine groups’ stages.
With the official direct cams boosting visibility, the buzz around Youth Unstoppable’s second round stage performances stayed at a high.
—
Inside a luxuriously decorated apartment—
Duan Mingfei, having just wrapped filming for the That Summer drama crew, was lying on the apartment sofa, sliding his finger down his phone, refreshing the trending topics.
#All Youth Unstoppable direct cams released#
#Madness goes berserk#
#Creepy Puppets#
#Click to watch the battle-damaged Assassin Xiu#
#Fall from the high platform#
#Brother Wang you’re so good at this#
#Brother Ming is the ultimate school badboy#
#Happy to help: Madness members’ cringey behavior evidence#
#What the heck is Group 9 doing#
After scrolling down a few times, Duan Mingfei finally found the trending topic about his own drama wrap-up buried near the bottom.
While sliding through his phone, Duan Mingfei naturally saw the countless trending topics related to Youth Unstoppable.
Seeing the program’s popularity continuously climbing on the trending charts made Duan Mingfei both envious and irritable.
If the production team had accepted the olive branch he had extended back then and invited him to participate in the second performance stage, he could have had a share of Youth Unstoppable’s success right now.
Who would have thought that blind production team would actually reject him — and even block his agent.
Absolutely insane!
“Bunch of lunatics!” Duan Mingfei cursed, opening the trending topic about himself, only to find that its discussion volume couldn’t even compete with something as random as #What the heck is Group 9 doing#. Infuriated, he let out a roar and smashed his phone to the ground.
Du Heng, used to this kind of scene, calmly got up, pulled a new phone from the drawer, picked up the broken one from the floor, removed the SIM card, inserted it into the new phone, booted it up, and placed it quietly on the table in front of Duan Mingfei.
Trying to both comfort and flatter him, he said, “Brother Ming, no need to get so worked up. After all, it’s just a talent show. What really matters is Crossing the Primeval Forest that we’re about to join.”
Crossing the Primeval Forest was the hottest extreme survival show on Digua TV at the moment — and it wasn’t something you could just join if you wanted to.
In order to get on that show, Duan Mingfei had shot two commercials for free and attended one event without charging a cent. You could say he practically paid out of pocket for the opportunity.
Hearing his agent’s words, Duan Mingfei’s expression softened considerably. “Hmph, exactly. How could a low-tier show like Youth Unstoppable ever compare to Crossing the Primeval Forest?”
Du Heng quickly chimed in, flattering him: “Exactly, exactly. Even if they begged to throw money at us, without the right connections, it’s worthless!”
“By the way,” Duan Mingfei asked, “who are the guests for the episode I’m joining?”
For Crossing the Primeval Forest, aside from two permanent instructors and two team leaders, the rest of the guest lineup changed with each episode.
Du Heng shook his head and replied, “It’s strange this time — the production team has kept all the guest information under wraps. They said it’ll only be revealed once the next episode airs.”
“Hmm,” Duan Mingfei responded lazily. He had just asked casually — whoever it was, it couldn’t possibly be that crazy bunch from Youth Unstoppable anyway.
