Chapter 81.1: Finals (1)
11:00 PM.
As usual, the fans of Shen Xiu—who had bought virtual homes online—were refreshing their Weibo browser page.
Suddenly, two videos appeared unexpectedly, posted just seconds apart.
The first video had a caption with only the letters “vlog.” The second video tagged the username of the fan artist who had drawn for Shen Xiu before.
Fans who had watched the livestream already knew that the trainees would be releasing vlogs today.
Out of the nine trainees, by this time, the only one who hadn’t posted a vlog yet was Shen Xiu.
After waiting so long, the fans—“Xiuologists”—finally saw it appear. They were overwhelmed with excitement and clicked on the videos before even having time to comment.
The first vlog wasn’t long—only five minutes.
In those five minutes, apart from the beginning where scenes outside the car window were filmed, the remaining four minutes and thirty seconds were filled entirely with beautiful sceneries, one after another.
Shen Xiu didn’t dare film someone else’s home without permission. The system had given him the go-ahead, so he chose to film the system’s house.
In Shen Xiu’s major courses, there were two classes that required students to film a short video assignment each week. Shen Xiu had never made a vlog before, so he approached it like filming a landscape video.
Although he didn’t use a professional camera, Shen Xiu was well-versed in filming and editing techniques. The final result was very impressive—pleasing to watch and aesthetically satisfying.
— If I hadn’t seen the other trainees’ videos and known that the scenery in this one is from Xiu-baby’s house, I’d have thought this was a promo video for some scenic park.
— Are we sure Xiu-baby filmed this with a phone? How is it so steady and so well-shot? You could pause at any frame and set it as your wallpaper! Is it a trend now that a good idol also has to be a filming expert?
— Honestly, with this level of filming, even if Xiu-baby didn’t become an idol, he’d definitely make it as a videographer. But wait… according to what Brother Wang and the others said in their vlogs, all the scenery Shen Xiu filmed is from his own home? With a house like that, who needs to work as a videographer anyway? (collapses in defeat)
After watching the first video, the Xiuologists liked and commented, then quickly moved on to the second video.
If the first video was a visual treat, then the second one was pure adrenaline.
In the video, Shen Xiu’s entire body was painted a bronze tan, and he wore ancient Egyptian attire.
Around his long neck and shoulders was a golden neckpiece resembling radiant sunbeams. His exposed arms and bare ankles were adorned with ornate, intricate bracelets and anklets in the same color scheme.
A jet-black giant serpent coiled around Shen Xiu’s bare body.
Its tail wound around his left calf, spiraling upward. The snake wrapped around his waist, its head slithering out from beside his cheek, flicking a black tongue.
Shen Xiu had golden eyes with vertical pupils, faint scales on the side of his face, pressed close to the black king snake. In his hand, he held a gemstone-encrusted scepter. His gaze was sharp and cold…
This second vlog was even shorter—just two minutes in total. Every second was carefully chosen by Shen Xiu for its perfect composition and visual impact.
The Xiuologists were completely glued to their screens.
— That’s the biggest black king snake I’ve ever seen—ahhh! It’s wrapped around our King Xiu! The underside of the snake shimmers with a multicolored black sheen, and even its tongue is black! It fits so perfectly with Shen Xiu’s cold, calculating kingly aura! Is this what they mean by a rainbow-like black?!
— Holy crap—A video?! We were just hoping for some pictures, but our wish-granting Xiu-baby went ahead and gave us a whole video upgrade. I don’t care—Xiu-baby loves us!!!
— Who understands this kind of dangerous entanglement?! The tension is maxed out!! (passes out) Who wouldn’t fall for this smoldering King Xiu and his serpent? King Xiu is the dangerous snake in disguise, right? (hiss~ gasp~)
— My rational brain is telling me: humans shouldn’t… at least they can’t… ahhh whatever! I’m not being rational today! King Xiu slays me in every single frame!
— King Xiu and the snake keep staring at me through the lens. I swear they want to wrap around me—I suggest they express-deliver themselves over here for a full inspection. (puts on glasses, serious face)
— Forget the sea of love (points around), today is all about the cold, ruthless King Xiu!
…
Tang Yiling, who was planning to scroll on her phone before bed, opened the Weibo app.
When she saw she’d been mentioned, she rubbed her eyes in disbelief. By the third rub, she was sure—
The ultra-cool Demon King Xiu she stanned had actually mentioned her!
With her heart racing, Tang Yiling tapped the notification…
One minute later, she was clutching her chest, slumped in her chair, letting out an excited scream: “Ahhhhhh!!!”
Tang Yiling had never expected that the fanart she drew would actually get a follow-up.
And not just any follow-up—a follow-up personally posted by the idol himself!
In the current entertainment scene, that kind of thing was explosive, no matter which fandom it happened in.
After all, so many celebrities are put on a pedestal by their fans—what kind of “master” would go out of their way to please a “maid”?
Tang Yiling still remembered that after her drawing went viral and made it to the trending topics, she had reposted it, sighing in her caption that she wished Demon King Xiu would cosplay the character she drew.
Naturally, the comments underneath were full of fans echoing her wish.
But she never dared to really believe it would come true.
Now, overwhelmed with emotion, Tang Yiling passionately hit repost.
@Lan Yue Qing Feng: Aaaaahhhhh King Xiu, I’m completely in love!! (Only screaming can express how happy I am right now!)
//@Shen Xiu: Thank you for the amazing drawing, madam.
— King Xiu +1, I’m totally under his spell! So cold and dangerous… King Xiu must be a black king snake in disguise!
— What do I do, sisters? The colder King Xiu looks at me, the more thrilled I get—the more I want to rip off his—BEEP BEEP BEEP…
— Sister, I get you. Who wouldn’t want to drive the ascetic and icy King Xiu crazy? What is this?! This is literally custom fan service straight from King Xiu himself—@VideoEditorSisters, come get this material!
Earlier in the day, the vlogs posted by the other trainees had already trended on several hot topic lists.
Then at night, Shen Xiu’s two vlogs—boosted by his own fanbase and that of Lanyue Qingfeng—skyrocketed in popularity, hitting several more trending keywords before midnight.
The production team, for the first time in a long while, got to experience the absolute thrill of being carried to success by their own trainees.
Naturally, they seized the opportunity and launched a heavy round of promotional posts while the buzz was hot.
Of course, the snide comments were inevitable.
The trainees were highly skilled, humble, hardworking, and genuinely kind to their fans—traits that made them incredibly attractive to a growing audience. Though they hadn’t officially debuted yet, their fanbases were already substantial and rapidly expanding.
Targeting such popular trainees was obviously unwise. So those with bitter comments picked an easier target—leaving sarcastic, passive-aggressive remarks under the program team’s official posts instead.
Traditionally, not a single talent show production team escaped criticism—nobody ever really cared how they were doing.
But those people clearly hadn’t watched Youth Unstoppable.
While this program team had certainly pulled some tricks that viewers wouldn’t forget, they’d also earned the audience’s trust in moments when they actually did right by people.
So when sour remarks started targeting the production team, the fanbases of all the trainees were more than happy to step up and fight back.
— Oh? You might not know this, but I’m not just a Xiuologist—I’m also a fan of the production team. You think you can b*lly them while I’m here?
— Who dares—(rushes in with a knife) WHO dares mess with my evil little piggy… I mean, the team!
— (searches around) Ah, found it! (points accusingly) Turns out it’s Ming-fans… tsk tsk. (tosses them aside in disgust)
Today, Duan Mingfei was not in a good mood.
No, in fact, “not in a good mood” was putting it far too mildly—he felt downright cursed.
After finishing his photoshoot, he rushed to buy a trending spot and had his fans flood VG with private messages.
But who would have thought? All nine trainees from Youth Unstoppable took over the trending lists one after another throughout the entire day, as if they’d coordinated it in advance.
Even the program team itself had more trending traction than the spot he paid for.
Duan Mingfei had no choice but to instruct his assistant to try again and buy another trending topic the next day.
As long as his photo set gained enough popularity, there was still a chance Kaiser might see it.
—
Completely unaware of any of this, Shen Xiu returned to the training center, handed his phone over to Shi Buwen, and went back to the dormitory.
Shi Buwen placed Shen Xiu’s phone into a clear plastic bag handed to him by the staff, sealed it, and returned it to them.
Just as the staff member was about to leave with the phones, they suddenly heard Shi Buwen call out from behind:
“Xiao Lu, do you find doing homework fun?”
The staffer immediately remembered the terror of being ruled by endless homework during student days. A pained expression overtook their face instantly.
“Director Shi, are you joking? You have no idea how happy I was the day I graduated from university and finally escaped homework!”
Shi Buwen muttered to himself, trying to reassure himself: “So I am normal…”
“Oh, by the way, I have a friend… He offended Shen Xiu and now he’s too scared to apologize. Is that weird?”
Thinking of Shen Xiu’s piercing, icy stare, the staffer didn’t even hesitate for a second: “Not weird at all!”
Shi Buwen touched his own chest, then waved goodbye to the staff member.
“It’s late—after you put the phones away, go get some rest.”
He’d apologize… when he had the courage.
At the very least… he’d wait until Kaiser officially announced Shen Xiu as the summer collection’s brand ambassador. If Shen Xiu was in a good mood then, maybe he wouldn’t take that privacy breach so seriously?
“Okay,” the staffer replied.
After walking a few steps, Xiao Lu suddenly muttered to himself in realization, “Wait… that ‘friend’ Director Shi mentioned—he meant himself, didn’t he?”
—
Dormitory.
The moment he opened the door, Shen Xiu saw all eight of the others were already in the room. His hand paused on the doorknob, frozen in place.
As soon as he appeared, Xiang Yueting—who had been sprawled lazily on a chair—immediately sat up straight, eyes sparkling as he looked at Shen Xiu.
“Ah! You’re finally back!”
“Where were you?”
“Didn’t you say you’d be in the practice room today? After you got back, I went looking for you. I checked every single room but couldn’t find you anywhere.”
“Were you lying to me?”
“Seriously, what’s going—”
Song Chengwang interrupted the barrage of questions: “Xiang Yueting, tone it down. You’re giving me a headache.”
Shang Yu added calmly, “At least give Shen Xiu a chance to talk.”
“Oh,” Xiang Yueting made a little sound, then looked at Shen Xiu and mimed zipping his lips shut, blinking innocently as if to say, ‘Okay, I’m quiet now. Your turn.’
The once-quiet dorm suddenly became lively again.
But Shen Xiu didn’t find it noisy—he found it vibrant. The hidden weight in his chest vanished in an instant.
“It’s okay,” he said softly. He liked hearing their voices. His heart felt warm.
As he finished speaking, he realized his voice was hoarse with emotion, strained by a lump in his throat. Embarrassed, he stopped abruptly.
After a few seconds, Shen Xiu subtly shifted his Adam’s apple, making sure his voice had returned to normal—only then did he dare to speak again.
Xiang Yueting lowered his hand from his mouth and said, “Got it—you like my voice because it sounds good!”
Shen Xiu: “…As long as you’re happy.”
After awkwardly finishing that line, Shen Xiu began answering the questions.
“I wasn’t lying. I was originally planning to stay at the training camp, but later Director Shi took me to visit teacher’s home.”
“Teacher?” Song Chengwang asked, puzzled.
“Director Shi?” Xia Wenhao echoed curiously.
“So the director of our program is actually surnamed Shi!” Ning Sinian exclaimed in surprise.
