Chapter 97: Chapter 97: Believe in Yourself

After they finished practicing their instruments.

The five of them resumed practicing their songs day and night, honing their coordination and sleeping only three hours at a time to restore their physical and mental energy.

Seeing how utterly drained they looked, Jiang Qin stepped forward, took the guitar, and said, “You guys take a break. I’ll soothe you for a bit.”

Chu Rou, in particular, was at her limit.

The others may have gotten three hours of sleep, but aside from a few hours on the night the last broadcast ended, she hadn’t slept at all.

She was running purely on potions.

Jiang Qin instantly redeemed the instrumental track for a song called “Believe in Yourself” from her system and played it.

At this moment, this was the only song she wanted to sing.

Strumming the electric guitar, the music immediately soared with an electrifying energy.

“Countless times I’ve sweat like pouring rain,

My memories were once filled up with pain.

But I always held onto my belief,

That only through struggle comes victory…”

The director, who was conducting the surprise livestream…

’Should I stop the livestream?’ he wondered, hesitating.

But seeing the viewer count soaring, he decided against it.

Since he’d decided to do a surprise livestream, it was inevitable that the contestants’ songs would be revealed.

Besides, the contestants couldn’t get online or watch the stream, so there was no chance of plagiarism.

As for the risk of someone else snatching the copyright, that wasn’t a concern either.

After each composer finished a song, they submitted a copy to the production team, who would then file for copyright on their behalf.

To protect the composers’ interests, the copyright office had even granted the show’s production team a special fast track for their applications.

As long as there weren’t any issues like a high degree of similarity to existing works or inappropriate lyrics, the copyright could be secured in under an hour.

“Always pushing myself onward,

To succeed, you have to work hard.

My passion burns on the competition field…”

Even though Jiang Qin was dressed in casual clothes, she radiated an inexplicable, handsome coolness.

Perhaps it was the song that empowered her.

Or perhaps it was the innate charisma of someone completely absorbed in their craft.

Whatever the reason, the audience in the livestream chat was screaming with excitement, captivated by both her and the passionate, blood-pumping song.

Even Jiang Qin’s Spiritual Body had come out and was working diligently.

The entire recording studio was enveloped in her Calming Power.

If someone were to open the door at that moment, they would probably think they had stumbled into some kind of grand soothing festival.

But there were only eight people in the studio.

Besides Jiang Qin, there were the five singers, the director, and his assistant.

“When all of this is over,

You will be number one!

Believe in yourself,

Oh~~”

[Give the director a bonus!]

[Is this Jiang Qin’s song for the next round? It’s so hype!]

[Ahhh, I can’t wait! It sounds amazing.]

[The director is so wicked, doing a surprise livestream and exposing the contestants’ songs. But I love it, please keep it up!]

[Thank you, production team, for giving us this bonus performance from Qin Bao!]

As viewers shared clips, more and more people flooded into the livestream.

The people of the Federation were once again shocked by this rookie.

On Tianwen Entertainment’s social media pages, many of the harsh comments were deleted by their original authors, who then posted sincere apologies:

[I admit, I might have been a little too loud before.]

[Can you really blame me, though? I just didn’t know who Jiang Qin was before.]

[I think that little bar was holding Jiang Qin back. If she had debuted from the very beginning, with the kinds of songs she sings, she would’ve become the pillar of an entertainment company ages ago.]

[Fun fact: Jiang Qin was the pillar of that little bar too, because she was their only soothing master.]

[I actually admire her for sticking with the bar and paying them back, even when faced with such huge opportunities.]

[Qin Bao already said she wouldn’t leave the bar for at least a year.]

[Anyway, Tianwen Entertainment, you guys are amazing! What a great eye for talent!]

…

By now, almost no one was attacking Tianwen Entertainment anymore.

No one was speculating about whether Jiang Qin got the spot through connections either.

Instead, everyone was praising Tianwen Entertainment, viewing them as a company that genuinely strived for the Federation’s honor.

They had withstood immense pressure to resolutely choose the person with the best chance of winning.

It was, without a doubt, a high-stakes gamble.

Any other company, when faced with such doubts, attacks, and a plummeting stock price and reputation, would have certainly issued an apology and thrown out a scapegoat to take the fall.

But Tianwen Entertainment hadn’t.

They let the critics rage; they wouldn’t change their chosen candidate for anything.

Lan Yuyan accepted all the praise with a clear conscience, but Tianwen Entertainment’s shareholders felt the sting of embarrassment.

It was especially awkward when some of their old business partners called to congratulate them.

***

After being soothed for a full ten minutes, everyone in the recording studio felt completely refreshed.

No one thought too much about it, simply assuming that because they were so exhausted, the feeling of relief was especially profound.

Normally, drinking water is just drinking water. But when you’ve been dehydrated for a long time, that first sip feels like the fountain of life itself!

The two females present, Chu Rou and Yina, didn’t notice anything unusual either. Chu Rou was only a D-level female Beastman.

She had originally become a singer just to find a path for herself.

Yina, on the other hand, was of the Elf Clan. They didn’t have spiritual power; their abilities were based on racial talents and bloodline purity.

None of the Myriad Races possessed spiritual power, but that didn’t make them weak. Each race had its own unique innate abilities.

The Elf Clan, for instance, had a great talent for cultivation.

Most of the natural plants on the market were produced by them, and they commanded extremely high prices.

As a result, they were arguably the wealthiest race in the Interstellar era.

The Mechanical Clan was similarly wealthy; if there was something that couldn’t be built with conventional technology, you could count on them to make it.

In short, each race had its own unique strengths.

But since they didn’t have spiritual power, they also didn’t suffer from spiritual power-related ailments.

They did, however, still suffer from symptoms of Gene Collapse.

Using their innate talents took a physical toll, consuming their very life force.

Therefore, they avoided using their abilities unless absolutely necessary. No one dared to get caught up in a competitive spiral; for them, it could be fatal.

Otherwise, the power balance in the Interstellar era would likely be very different.

Logically, the Calming Power should have had no effect on Yina, yet she still felt her spirits lift considerably.

She simply attributed it to the power’s refreshing, mind-clearing effect.

Seeing that everyone no longer looked so drained, Jiang Qin finally felt satisfied.

Before they resumed practice, however, she kicked the director out.

’If you reveal the answer ahead of time, what’s the surprise in that?!’

So, she refused to let the director continue observing and gave a vague, non-committal answer when he asked if the song she just played was her new song for the next round.

Left with no choice, the director had to leave to go “raid” the next contestant.

Once the outsiders were gone, Jiang Qin said, “Let’s continue.”

The five of them resumed their rehearsal.

They practiced straight through until eight o’clock on the final night, at which point Jiang Qin finally persuaded them to go home and get some proper rest.

Chu Rou hadn’t wanted to leave; she even wanted to practice until the next morning before going back to rest.

It wasn’t out of the question, but Jiang Qin advised against it.

“You can go home, rest until the morning, then come back and practice for two hours. After that, take a break until it’s time for makeup in the afternoon.”

“Only two hours, no more. We’re in the final stretch, so our top priority now is protecting your voices.”

Chu Rou understood the logic and could only nod in agreement. “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”

—

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep