Chapter 66: Third Performance (4)
Each member of Heaven group had a black stationary microphone placed in front of them.
While the stage was still dark, they had already adjusted the mics to match their individual heights.
Since the members of Heaven were arranged in order of height—symmetrical from left to right—the microphones, from the audience’s perspective, formed a shape reminiscent of the Chinese character for “umbrella” (伞).
Combined with their matching color schemes in clothing—excluding differences in accessories and makeup—the stage appeared orderly and visually pleasing overall.
In the center of the stage, the spotlight illuminated each member facing the audience.
Those who were not yet singing maintained a uniform pose: eyes lowered, gazing at the mic in front of them, completely motionless.
Shen Xiu’s single sapphire earring and silver ring, Song Chengwang’s lip piercing, Shang Yu’s single fine-chain glasses, Zhuang Yi’s skull face design, and Lu Fei’s tear mole accented with a black gemstone at the corner of his eye…
Although the song had not started yet, the accessories worn by Team Heaven held the audience’s gaze captive.
As the soft and graceful prelude began, Shen Xiu’s long, jointed fingers gently tightened around the microphone. The silver ring set with a blue gemstone lightly clinked against it, leaving a faint red mark on his slender ring finger.
A deep, rich, magnetic voice poured from Shen Xiu’s throat: “Maybe flying high…”
His low voice carried a unique, cool clarity—an enchanting power that pierced the eardrums and reached straight to the soul.
Like a single drop falling into a still pond, that momentary “drip” of the hypnotic prelude instantly captured the audience’s ears.
His slightly lowered gaze rose slowly with the rhythm, and as the final note lingered and faded, Shen Xiu’s eyes locked forward in a melancholy, unwavering stare.
Zhuang Yi immediately followed the emotional cue Shen Xiu had set. As he slowly raised his gaze, he picked up the next line of the lyrics, just as they had practiced during training…
When Shang Yu’s voice faded out, the first verse came to an end, and the first chorus was about to begin.
With the emotions of the verse building steadily, Shen Xiu’s grip on the microphone tightened.
As his part arrived, all the emotion Shen Xiu had been holding in erupted in an instant.
After a fleeting moment of clarity amidst the illusion of beauty, the unwillingness to accept this illusory Eden—his desire to shatter it—was conveyed perfectly through his voice.
His ten fingers clenched tightly around the microphone. At the peak of his vocal intensity, the single blue earring on his left ear caught the stage light, flashing with a dazzling, vivid blue glow.
That glow echoed the blue gemstone on the ring of his right hand. Combined with the raw, rebellious emotion on Shen Xiu’s face—brought out by the explosion of feelings in the song—it made him utterly mesmerizing, impossible to look away from.
As Shen Xiu finished the chorus, Song Chengwang picked up the thread of his emotion and began singing his part…
At the 3 minute and 12 second mark, with a heart full of anxiety, Ke Zi’an finally finished his part of the song.
In the final two lines, Shen Xiu sang with a numb, detached emotion—his voice light, almost fading—his eyes filled with despair at the hand fate had dealt him. His gaze was shattered, broken.
As the outro faded, Heaven came to an end.
From the gentle healing of the beginning, to the brief burst of awakening, and finally to the cold calm of surrender—choosing to drown in the illusory beauty—the song unfolded seamlessly.
Guided by Shen Xiu’s performance, the entire piece carried a silent, creeping sense of emotional erosion. Each layer of feeling was delivered with clarity and depth, leaving listeners with a haunting sense of emptiness—like being briefly awakened, only to return to a tranquil void.
It clearly began as a healing song… but ended as one that wounds.
If Collapse was pure madness, then Heaven was about slowly drowning in infinite gentleness—calmly and with restraint.
The audience, drawn deeply into Heaven, fell into an involuntary, stunned silence.
After a brief moment of stillness, the live comment feed exploded like a wave crashing in.
[Who else felt it? After President Shang’s gentle, seductive crooning, Boss Shen followed with that cold, raspy voice laced with resistance—it perfectly captured that feeling of defying fate!]
[I don’t even know why, but after listening, I felt like I was being pushed forward by destiny—my heart unwilling, but after a brief struggle for clarity, I surrendered to it with a deep, helpless acceptance.]
[My god, aside from a few members hitting slightly off notes due to the full-English lyrics and some minor awkward transitions, the emotional delivery of this song was flawless. Everyone was amazing!]
[Don’t be fooled by the title. This song may be called Heaven, but it’s actually a silent, invisible dagger of melancholy. When President Shen sang that final line, the shattered look in his eyes broke me.]
[That soft, seductive beginning, the brief resistance, and finally the peaceful drowning in a deep pool named Eden—becoming a thoughtless, unthinking part of it… The whole emotional arc was led completely by Shen, and it was stunning. I got chills all over!]
[An-baby’s voice actually became lower! Totally different from before, but it fit this heavy, oppressive song perfectly. It didn’t feel out of place at all. His English pronunciation still needs work, but overall, this was a real breakthrough for him. So proud!]
The live audience slowly came back to themselves, and a wave of thunderous applause broke out, followed by uncontrollable shouts from the crowd:
“Team Heaven—forever legendary!!”
“Even though it felt so emotionally heavy to listen to, you guys sang so incredibly!”
“Xiu-baby, your voice and that earring absolutely bewitched me. I declare it—today is Melancholy Xiu!”
“No one does elegance like my President Shang! So refined—truly elegant!”
“Everything—from the styling to the song—was insanely cool. That all-black shirt showing just a hint of collarbone, plus all those eye-catching little accessories… You guys really know what you’re doing. I’m obsessed!”
“Who gets it? That shattered look in Xiu-baby’s eyes at the end was too much. It gave me so many scandalous thoughts. Cold, aloof Xiu-baby turning into a pitiful little thing, looking up at me with pleading eyes like he’s asking for… aaah, I’ve got tonight’s dream material right here. It’s over. If I keep imagining this, my CPU’s gonna fry!”
“Brother Wang, you seriously nailed it—that lip ring, where did you even get that idea?!”
…
After finishing their performance, Team Heaven didn’t leave the stage—they had to stay for the upcoming dual voting session alongside Team Collapse.
Hearing the cheers and confessions from the crowd, the members of Heaven finally relaxed their tightly wound bodies.
Judging from the audience’s reaction, even if there were some flaws in the performance, the overall reception was overwhelmingly positive.
Host He Ting walked onto the stage, stood before Team Heaven, and addressed the trainees from Team Collapse:
“Would all members of Team Collapse please come on stage? We will now begin our two rounds of voting.”
Having watched Heaven’s performance, Xiang Yueting sighed at the sound of the host’s voice.
Even without the audience votes, he was already 100% certain: in terms of both stage impact and emotional delivery, Team Collapse had completely lost.
Who would’ve thought—of all people—he, the one usually seen as the most unreliable, turned out to be the most dependable member of his group this time?
Thinking back to how he had once fought tooth and nail with Xia Wenhao over the center position, Xiang Yueting now could only sigh—he had fought for absolutely nothing.
On the Collapse stage, in a way, aside from him and Xia Wenhao performing as expected, everyone else had become a complete mess.
After calming down in the trainee area, Xiang Yueting quickly realized why things had gone the way they did.
On one hand, their emotions had already been stirred up by the earlier Delusion team’s performance. On top of that, they were facing the powerhouse lineup of Heaven, stacked with high-ranking trainees. Their mindset had crumbled.
On the other hand, everyone knew in their hearts—this was very likely their last performance on Youth Unstoppable. The more they thought about it, the more unstable their emotions became. And the more unstable they were, the more they just wanted to let loose one final time.
After all, they were going to lose anyway, weren’t they?
With that kind of attitude, aside from him and Xia Wenhao, the entire Collapse team really had… collapsed.
Letting out a quiet sigh, Xiang Yueting walked toward the stage with the rest of Collapse.
“Xiang Yueting, Xia Wenhao… we’re sorry…”
“We got carried away… we didn’t think it through in the moment.”
“We’re really, truly sorry…”
Walking in front, Xiang Yueting and Xia Wenhao suddenly heard the low voices of their teammates apologizing behind them. The two paused, stunned, and turned to look.
Their teammates had their heads bowed even lower now, whispering more apologies.
Xiang Yueting, overwhelmed, quickly said, “Don’t do this. I know you guys didn’t mean it.”
“And besides, even if we’d kept it together… facing Heaven—you all saw it—even if we’d been in our best shape from training, there’s no way we could’ve beaten them.”
Xia Wenhao added bluntly, “I’m not exactly thrilled about it, but Xiang Yueting’s right.”
Even if none of them had lost their composure, the result would have been the same—Heaven would win, and Collapse would lose.
Xia Wenhao wasn’t someone who liked to beat around the bush. Blunt by nature, he didn’t wait for anyone else to speak before saying,
“Besides, you’re the ones who worked for it, and you’re also the ones whose mindsets collapsed. Right now, knowing full well we’ve lost, your apologies mean nothing to me.”
“The people you’ve really let down… are yourselves.”
With that, Xia Wenhao, who had been walking in front, resumed his steps.
Xiang Yueting: “…”
Though he had already experienced Xia Wenhao’s sharp tongue firsthand during their center position battle, it was only now that he realized Wenhao had actually gone easy on him back then.
But if he had to compare Xia Wenhao with Song Chengwang, Xiang Yueting still preferred Song Chengwang—if only for one reason: Sure, Song Chengwang was sarcastic too, but at least he did it with passive-aggressive flair. It always took Xiang Yueting a while after the fact to even realize he’d been roasted.
“Ahem…” Seeing the awkward expressions on his teammates’ faces, Xiang Yueting let out a dry cough. “Well… uh, let’s go. No point standing around like this.”
“It doesn’t look good going up to the stage in scattered layers.”
No one objected. After just a brief pause, they quickly followed after Xia Wenhao.
Xiang Yueting, who disliked conflict, caught up and then leaned back slightly to quietly reassure the others: “Don’t overthink it. Xia Wenhao just talks tough, but he’s soft inside.”
“You guys should’ve seen it during our battle or even just in training.”
Hearing that, Xia Wenhao’s ears turned slightly red. He barked in a low voice, “Xiang Yueting, can you shut up already? You’re so damn noisy.”
Xiang Yueting grinned cheekily. “Nope. My mouth’s on my face—I’ll say what I want. You got a problem with that? Come shut me up yourself.”
Amid Xia Wenhao and Xiang Yueting’s bickering, the oppressive atmosphere within the Collapse group—caused by earlier apologies—was unknowingly diffused.
Hearing the two in front constantly tearing each other down with their banter, the other members of Collapse felt even more guilty toward the pair.
If only they had a chance to do it all over again…
But the moment they imagined having to face Heaven again, a wave of pressure returned. Truthfully, they couldn’t guarantee that even with a second chance, their mindsets wouldn’t crumble all over again.
The trainees’ area was far from both the stage and the audience. Now that everyone had removed their in-ear monitors after performing, the audience couldn’t hear what they were saying to each other.
All they saw was Collapse pausing on their way to the stage, Xia Wenhao walking forward alone, followed quickly by the rest. Then Xia Wenhao and Xiang Yueting started moving their mouths as if they were arguing.
[Clearly, the Collapse group knows they’ve lost for sure. They’re already fighting among themselves before even reaching the stage to receive votes.]
[If it were anyone else arguing, I might believe it was an internal fallout—but come on, it’s Xia Wenhao and Xiang Yueting. One’s a straight-shooter, the other’s a golden retriever in human form. No way those two are really fighting. More like trading jabs, that I’d believe.]
[If you ask me, they should argue. Anyone with eyes can see Xia Wenhao and Xiang Yueting were dragged down by the rest… Wait, but that doesn’t make sense—shouldn’t the ones who got dragged down be mad together? Why are they the ones arguing with each other?]
[Poor Brother Ha and Xia Wenhao.]
[Look at it this way: even without being dragged down, after watching both performances, Heaven was bound to win. Xia Wenhao and Xiang Yueting wouldn’t have gotten the extra votes anyway. The best thing we fans can do now is vote like crazy for those two and try to keep them on the stage without the bonus votes.]
[But… isn’t this a kind of emotional torment for fans in disguise? There must be so many people heartbroken over these two right now. So, I’m placing a blind bet—they’re staying.]
[By the way… how many people make it through in the third elimination round?]
The Collapse group, bickering all the way between Xia Wenhao and Xiang Yueting, finally made it onto the stage, standing face-to-face with the Heaven group.
As the center position for their respective groups, Shen Xiu naturally stood directly opposite Xiang Yueting.
Xiang Yueting’s gaze swept over Shen Xiu’s slender neck, collarbones, rings—finally lingering on the sparkling glimmer of his earring under the lights. He gave a small nod.
Not daring to meet Shen Xiu’s sharp gaze, he quickly shifted his eyes away and moved on to the next “victim.”
Shen Xiu: “…”
He didn’t really get what kind of weird habit Xiang Yueting had going on.
Feeling thoroughly creeped out by Xiang Yueting’s stare, Shen Xiu silently made a mental note: Xiang Yueting assassination attempts +1 +1…
Xiang Yueting looked toward Shang Yu and Song Chengwang standing beside Shen Xiu. When he noticed Song Chengwang’s lip piercing and Shang Yu’s monocle-style chain glasses, he even smiled at Song Chengwang and gave him a nod.
Once Shen Xiu noticed Xiang Yueting’s gaze had moved on from him, he subtly let out a sigh of relief.
Phew… stare at whoever you want—just not me!
Shang Yu: “…”
All he could say was, a husky is truly a husky—no matter the situation, they exude an aura of pure chaos.
Song Chengwang: “…”
‘What’s with that smile? Are you trying to provoke me?’
Right now, Song Chengwang really wanted to settle things with Xiang Yueting using fists.
But Xiang Yueting seemed oblivious to the death glares from across the stage and calmly looked over every member of the Heaven group.
Every time Xiang Yueting finished sizing someone up, he even gave a little nod, leaving the Heaven group members thoroughly baffled. They all had just one thought in their minds:
“Did Xiang Yueting realize he’s about to lose and suffer such a huge blow that he’s mentally spiraling?”
Having finished his full scan of the Heaven group, Xiang Yueting thought to himself: ‘Perfect. It’s confirmed—everyone in the Heaven group is full of schemes!’
With that, Xiang Yueting felt even more justified in losing. No matter what the outcome of the vote was now, he could accept it with peace of mind.
[Oh no, what’s going on with Brother Ha?!]
[Wuwuwu Brother Ha please no, calm down! Sure, you’re not as cool as Boss Xiu, not as sharp-tongued as Brother Wang, not as elegant as President Shang, not as fierce as Xia Wenhao, not as cute as Yanxi, and not as steady as Brother Zhuang … but you’re more delightfully chaotic than all of them! (dog head emoji)]
[Confirmed through the text—sister, you’re really wild for this, going full all-in on the entire cast.]
[Can’t help it. My dear mommy gave me a heart like a durian—so many little spiky tips, it’d be a shame not to let each of them hold someone. (dog head holding a rose)]
He Ting: “Audience members in the venue and everyone watching the livestream, please get ready—our first round of voting is about to begin!”
Finally, the audience members shifted their attention away from the two groups on stage and looked nervously down at their voting devices.
Three minutes later, the results of the first round were revealed.
Just as everyone had expected, the Heaven group won by a landslide. In the third ranking round, all members of the Heaven group automatically received bonus votes.
“The second round of voting is about to begin. Your choices will determine the fate of every trainee on this stage. Please choose carefully.”
As the host’s voice fell, a countdown appeared on the big screen—the second round of voting had begun.
Whether in the livestream chat or among the live audience, as they stared at the familiar phrase “Does he really deserve to debut?”, after some thought, everyone pressed their choices just before the countdown reached zero.
On the big screen, the countdown hit zero—signaling the end of the second round of voting.
Standing between the two teams, He Ting smoothly followed the protocol and announced, “The results of the second round of voting will be revealed tomorrow at 9 a.m.”
“The popularity king of the third performance round is trainee Song Chengwang. As for the specific reward—stay tuned!”
With both voting rounds complete, and after the Heaven and Collapse groups returned to the trainee area and took their seats, He Ting continued with the program: “Next, please enjoy an exciting performance from our panel of mentors!”
The audience, already familiar with the show’s format, gladly accepted the treat—after all, getting to enjoy a concert-level performance for free was always welcome.
At 5:30 p.m., the third public performance officially came to a close.
The 36 trainees said goodbye to the audience together on stage, then walked off and left the front of the house for backstage. In the middle of the crowd, someone suddenly said:
“It’s still early—why don’t we all go out for a meal together?”
There was a moment of silence in the backstage hallway, and then more and more voices chimed in:
“Yeah, we really should have a meal together.”
“I’m in.”
“Where should we eat? The cafeteria?”
“I’m so sick of the cafeteria. Let’s go out somewhere.”
“Will the production team allow it?”
“Who’s going to go ask?”
Everyone understood in their hearts—this might be their last meal together. Once tomorrow’s third ranking announcement was made, their paths in life might completely diverge. They might never meet again.
Those who had been through the struggle together, regardless of the outcome, were all willing to have one last meal before parting ways.
When the suggestion was made, Shen Xiu didn’t say anything, but he didn’t resist the idea either.
Shang Yu took the initiative, saying, “I’ll go ask.”
Since the third public performance had already concluded, and there wasn’t anything else to do before the third ranking announcement, going out for a meal seemed fine.
The others, worried that Shang Yu might be rejected by the production team if he asked alone, quickly raised their hands.
“I’ll go too.”
“Take me with you.”
“And me. If the production team doesn’t agree, I’ll cling to the assistant director’s leg and cry until they say yes.”
“Add me to the list. When you cling to the assistant director’s left leg and cry, I’ll grab his right leg.”
Song Chengwang said, “If the production team doesn’t agree, I can exchange my ‘popularity king’ reward for a meal out.” After all, whether they ran one more advertisement or one less didn’t matter to him.
Originally, Song Chengwang had come with a playful attitude, but he had long since decided that this dinner was the most important thing.
Seeing this scene, Shen Xiu felt a sense of happiness in his heart, though his nose tingled with emotion. He hadn’t said anything, but he quietly stepped behind Shang Yu, planning to join everyone in asking the production team.
If the production team rejected them, maybe… he could cling to the assistant director’s arm and cry?
For the sake of a meal together, Shen Xiu decided he could endure the embarrassment of crying in front of everyone.
Shang Yu: “…Okay, let’s go together.”
…
As they approached Shen Xiu, they heard the trainees discussing how they would cling to the assistant director’s legs and cry. The assistant director, overhearing this, silently lowered his head, looked at his own legs, and shuddered.
[Just thinking about how, right now, we’re still a big group of people, but after tomorrow’s third ranking announcement, it’ll be all empty, makes my heart feel hollow too.]
[Ugh, I’m tearing up just reading this.]
[Although… but… you know, when you turn the corner, you’ll see the assistant director!]
In order to avoid his pants getting soaked in tears, the assistant director, for the first time, didn’t consult the chief director and decided this on his own.
The assistant director appeared around the corner, stepping in front of the trainees: “Ahem…”
Hearing the familiar cough, the trainees turned around and saw the assistant director.
“Assistant director!”
“Assistant director, you…?”
The trainees’ eyes lit up, ready to rush over and surround the assistant director. But before they could move, the assistant director quickly spoke: “You can go out for a meal.”
“The production team will cover the meal costs.”
“What?!”
“The production team is so generous!”
“The assistant director is amazing!”
The surprise came out of nowhere, and the hallway was filled with compliments for the assistant director.
Amid the trainees’ excited voices, the assistant director didn’t forget the reason he was there. He looked at Shen Xiu and said, “Shen Xiu, come with me. Someone’s looking for you.”
