DYUTVOBGA Chapter 82

Compared to the first stage, the production team put more thought into the second performance.

While the trainees were busy creating, the staff also wanted to innovate a bit and live up to the overwhelming popularity online.

The expanded venue, increased number of live audience tickets, and the allocation of additional project employees… These were all things hidden behind the scenes. To win the affection of the online audience, it still relied on the solid strength of the stage performance.

The increased budget for stage design, the integration of the host’s script with the stage, and the addition of mini-game PKs during the voting segments to enhance the show’s effect…these three elements were what truly elevated the quality of the main program.

With the groundwork laid by the previous two groups, the audience accepted Quentin’s team’s grand spectacle quite well, even feeling a bit excited.

Themes like wasteland, apocalypse, and world destruction are not uncommon in literary creations, but they are rare as large-scale productions on idol stages. The key was that this wasn’t an MV with post-production editing, but a live, face-to-face stage performance.

Compared to the previous two groups’ “Graduation Party” and “First Love Stories,” the third group’s stage presence was different from the moment they stepped on stage. This strong contrast brought a fresh feeling to the audience.

The original song created by Quentin’s team was called “Fire Seed,” which had the same meaning as “a single spark”.

During the composition stage, Quentin’s initial draft for the song’s intro was a whistled melody with a reverb effect, coincidentally something several members of his team could whistle.

But after careful consideration, combined with the wasteland apocalypse background, it might be more important to establish a distinctly wasteland-style tone from the beginning.

For example, the blaring roar of an air-raid siren.

For example, the crackling sound of mechanical malfunction.

Or the AI warning of dwindling energy, weakly yet stubbornly delivering the warning of the impending apocalypse to humanity.

The host’s script was based on Quentin’s initial draft of the AI warning. It was discarded because it was too long, but after he learned that the production team wanted to integrate the live host with the stage, this discarded draft coincidentally came in handy.

Judging from the current situation, the audience feedback was not bad.

As the mechanical female voice faded away, the “beep…” sound of a heart monitor, symbolizing death, lasted for three seconds.

“Beep beep…beep beep…”

The electrocardiogram began to fluctuate again, and the dimly lit stage, which originally had only a single cold spotlight from above, was now illuminated by evenly spaced PAR lights placed around the edges.

Brilliant, snow-white scattered light, like the faint hint of dawn on the horizon before sunrise.

A harp sound rang out, the Phrygian mode prelude sounding mysterious and melancholy.

Like the ebb and flow of the tide, the seawater repeatedly soaking the sand, that cold, damp sensation slowly spread into the listeners’ hearts.

Quentin, crouching on one knee beneath the ruins of a destroyed building, reached out to pick up an oil lamp. Following the heartbeat sample in the prelude’s rhythm, he, along with the other six teammates, moved in a semicircle around the satellite receiver at the center of the stage.

The first verse was sung by Yang Siyi and Zhuang Nao. The first line of a song often bears the responsibility of setting the tone from the very start.

Quentin chose Yang Siyi to sing the first line because his voice sounded the youngest among everyone, with a strong sense of boyishness. If he strained his voice a bit, it would sound like a child’s…though he didn’t need to strain it while singing the verse.

The collision of a young voice with the tragic apocalypse, the song’s rhythm growing faster and more impassioned, was not a lament mourning humanity’s fate but a sonata symbolizing hope.

After the first verse, representing the cry of youth, came the youthful voices declaring their fate and unwillingness to perish.

This section was handled by Qiao Xue and Sheng Yuanxu.

Qiao Xue looked young but had a strong voice, and Sheng Yuanxu was even more so…this person had done group livestreams, beauty livestreams, and singing livestreams.

One had started from being an extra actor and delved deep into the entertainment industry; the other had repeatedly crossed fields and strived tirelessly for his career. Both were outstanding youths of the younger generation.

Neither of them were professional singers, but the quality of their voices was decent, with a slightly magnetic baritone.

Generally, a song’s chorus is more memorable than the verses, with the essence of the melody and the climax found here.

“Fire Seed” was the same, with the melody composed by Quentin being exceptionally pleasing to the ear.

As soon as the chorus came out, regardless of the singers’ skill levels, the live audience’s ears were instantly conquered by this segment of the melody.

A naturally gifted creator like Quentin was already beyond comparison with the other teams’ either inexperienced or averagely talented young people.

The appearance of “Fire Seed” on the second public performance stage was like “La liberté” appearing in the initial stage ratings…it was undoubtedly a dimensional reduction strike within the entire survival show.

“La liberté” was the only song that forcefully broke out of the circle and went viral solely on its own quality, with its popularity even spreading overseas at one point.

And “Fire Seed” was also the only song that made the production team question their lives, deeply feeling the terror of a 17-year-old boy.

Writing such a complete and high-quality song in just two days was unbelievable, even if Quentin said he used previously written but unreleased demos for the melody.

At the beginning of the performance, the host had already introduced that all the songs for this performance were created by the trainees from each group based on the demos provided by the production team, equivalent to ten original songs.

But the audience below didn’t pay much attention. No one knew what the demos provided by the production team were like, nor did they know if there was external assistance during the creative process.

They had no way of knowing that “Fire Seed” was composed and arranged entirely by Quentin alone, with the other teammates only participating in the lyrics for their individual parts.

Halfway through the first chorus, whispers broke out in the audience.

“What song is this? I haven’t heard of it before. Do you know the name?”

“No, I don’t. The host didn’t say. Maybe they’ll introduce it later? But I haven’t heard it either. Such an infectious melody should have been popular already…”

“It’s really good. It feels like the kind of song you can get into quickly on the first listen.”

“Another hidden gem, I guess. There are actually quite a few good songs among niche music, but the songwriters and singers aren’t popular, so the songs don’t get traffic, can’t break out of the circle, and only spread within small communities.”

“But… this song doesn’t sound like the typical niche style? Niche should be like Cupid ‘s songs, unique in a way that only specific groups can appreciate.”

“But among Cupid’s songs, only ‘Greed’ is niche… the earlier ‘Leal’ and the recently popular ‘Lust’ are quite mainstream.”

“Is this group singing live with no backing track? Their choreography is quite clever…whoever is singing gets easier moves.”

“But the choreography suits them well. There aren’t many good dancers in their team, yet the overall impression is surprisingly great.”

Considering Qiao Xue and Xue Mingzhu weren’t good at dancing, and Sheng Yuanxu, Tang Heng, and Zhuang Nao’s dance levels were also average, within the team, those who could both sing and dance were basically only Quentin and Yang Siyi.

So during the choreography stage, they didn’t plan to challenge high difficulty but instead used set design, styling, and formations to enrich the stage.

Whose part it was, that person would stand in the middle and pose…a very simple and straightforward strategy that, combined with the live lighting, could still create brilliant effects.

The last line of the first chorus was finished by Sheng Yuanxu.

The young man standing under the central spotlight lowered his gaze, put down his hand that had been held level as if holding a flame, and stepped back into the darkness with his head down.

The next second, Quentin and Xue Mingzhu, who had been standing to his left and right, simultaneously stepped forward. Two spotlights, burning like fire, illuminated them abruptly.

A cameraman with a Steadicam stood to Xue Mingzhu’s side. The latter pulled out a microphone from somewhere, pressed it to his lips, and perfectly entered the beat on the first drum hit of the variation.

Intense fast-paced rap exploded like machine-gun fire.

The demo provided by the production team, after Quentin’s adaptation, was vastly different from the original. To the human ear, they were almost unrecognizably similar; only by transcribing the score would one realize it was the same melody repeating.

And the fast-paced rap riding on this explosive flow was like gunpowder, flawlessly carrying on from the chorus and pushing the climax even higher!

The hardworking wind machines and dry ice spray created a sandstorm on stage. The dry ice, tinted by the lights into sandy mist, spread out to both sides. The strong, howling wind blew fiercely, making the thick cotton cloth either draped or wrapped around the seven trainees billow backward.

The cotton and linen fabric, with its torn edges and burnt, charred marks, carried the scent of explosions, warfare, and death. Yet the seven youths standing on the wasteland were vibrant fire seeds.

The hooded boy faced the hurricane head-on, the cotton cloth hanging on his chest fluttering wildly, the chest tightly bound by crisscrossing straps fully visible.

The black semi-high-neck tight-fitting tank top didn’t serve to cover up but rather concentrated and attracted the audience’s attention.

“…Ahem ahem ahem!!!”

“Oh my god, Quentin, what are you doing? What are you wearing? You’re only 17 years old, ahhh!!”

“I can’t take it anymore, I’m about to have a nosebleed. This chest, this waist, these legs… so hot, ugh.”

“Damn it, why didn’t I get front-row tickets? I really want to sit in the front row and watch Quentin dance right in front of my face qaq.”

The audience, dazzled by Quentin’s powerful stage presence under the spotlight, hadn’t yet realized what an unexpectedly stunning performance he would deliver after Xue Mingzhu’s fast-paced rap.

After fast rap, of course, comes more fast rap to truly blow the roof off.

Quentin pulled the microphone from the small of his back, flipped it in his left hand and spun it around flexibly twice, looking effortlessly cool.

In just those two seconds, the cameraman responsible for stage tracking had already moved beside him, focusing the lens on his face.

The boy’s expression was cold and resolute, his eyes sharp as a blade’s gleam, illuminated brightly by the lights.

The light green seemed to have been replaced by a dazzling gold, like the hottest outer flame of a fire, burning fiercely.

Rap not inferior to Xue Mingzhu’s speed spilled from Quentin’s mouth, yet it carried a stronger sense of rhythm than Xue Mingzhu’s.

Two lines continuing the previous fast rap moved into a variation, smoothly transitioning into melodic rap. His pace naturally slowed down, and his unique vocal tone began to cast a spell at that moment.

Just as Qin Miao’s host script said, the audience’s breathing was silenced, held in as they stared fixedly at the boy on stage. Even the fans holding light sticks were stunned.

“Wait, did my bias secretly evolve without telling the fans?”

“Rap? Quentin can rap too??”

“Singing,dancing, rapping…is he all-rounder? This is a bit too exaggerated…”

“How many more hidden skills does he have!!!”

Clearly, the second verse handled by Quentin and Xue Mingzhu was a pure rap section, with the climax running throughout. But the most pleasant, essential part undoubtedly fell on Quentin’s segment of melodic rap.

Because this flow was so catchy, repeating the same lyric line throughout, you could sing along after hearing it just once or twice. It was addictively earworm-y yet exceptionally pleasant, and the lyrics and melody were bright and hopeful as fire.

When Quentin sang it for the third time, he raised his right hand, counting numbers with his fingers.

“3…”

“2…”

“1…”

Then, without any warning or rehearsal, he turned the microphone around, pointing it toward the audience.

His raised right hand lowered slightly, level with the microphone.

He gave a slight nod, beckoning forward with his hand.

A miraculous tacit understanding occurred at that moment. Regardless of whose fans they were in the audience, they were involuntarily bewitched by that hand, and those calm yet focused eyes.

Many had already been silently singing along in their hearts. Now, drawn in by Quentin like this, their vocal cords unconsciously opened. Though they were hearing it for the first time, the lyrics that felt as if they’d known them forever were instantly uttered.

One-third followed immediately, one-half were led to sing along, and the rest also involuntarily opened their mouths.

A full audience chorus, not in the rehearsals nor in the production team’s plan, arrived suddenly and just like that.

Everyone shouted and called out together.

Countless pairs of eyes reflected the stage lights, like clusters of ignited flames under the camera lens.

The seed of fire centered on Quentin ignited in all directions, and the atmosphere reached its peak at that moment.

Those whose eyes widened in shock weren’t just the director team behind the cameras, but also the trainees in the backstage lounge watching the live stage simultaneously, and the next group backstage, ready and waiting.

…Wait, what just happened???
This isn’t right!

As for the four mentors seated at the judges’ table, occupying the best viewing angle in the venue, they had already started singing along the moment Quentin turned the microphone. Chen Shiyu even smiled and clapped to the beat.

Quentin’s voice was not being picked up by his mic as it was turned to the audience, Xue Mingzhu beside him reacted quickly and began harmonizing with the audience.

As a rapper who had participated in national competitions and won a championship, Xue Mingzhu’s ability to adapt on stage was unquestionable.

And coincidentally, he also liked interacting with the audience this way.

Their excellent tacit understanding didn’t let this segment of audio fall flat. Live, Xue Mingzhu was the audience’s harmony. But when the show officially aired, the relatively weaker audience audio would become Xue Mingzhu’s harmony.

Director Wang in the main control room was stunned for a moment, thinking, “This stage performance might be the best of the entire season…”

After Quentin retracted the microphone, the audience still felt a bit unsatisfied.

The atmosphere in the audience was already as passionate as a military camp after a victory, the excited and high-spirited emotions all reflected on their faces.

Fans were even more excited. They had a lot of things they wanted to say, and wished they could stand up, wave banners, and scream declarations of love.

At this point, what kind of singing segment could follow their second verse without making the audience feel disappointed?

Thus, the bridge arrived.

The so-called bridge refers to the transitional passage connecting the verse and chorus. It can build steadily to a climax or bring a climax back down to steadiness.

The bridge Quentin created for this song was also the result of careful consideration.

After falling asleep late at night, he went into the system recording studio to research and understand the several nursery rhymes with the widest reach in this world, household names in China. Then he matched and combined them with the existing composition, screening out three.

The next morning, he got up and went to discuss copyright issues with the production team, finally confirming one of them.

What use was this nursery rhyme?

One could imagine, in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, what is as fragile and scarce as a fire seed, yet represents humanity’s future hope.

…It is young life, newborn children.

Therefore, the bridge of “Fire Seed” is a children’s chorus singing a nursery rhyme that Chinese people have heard since childhood, almost engraved into their DNA.

When the young, tender and delicate voices of children sing a nursery rhyme from long ago, one that has accompanied generations growing up, it is enough to prove that…

In the wasteland after the apocalypse descends, human civilization will be imprinted deep in the memory of the next generation like this nursery rhyme, the torch will be passed on, never extinguished.

The vigorously burning fire, baptized by the children’s chorus, became steady and firm. The heartbeat, accelerated by the explosive rap, also stabilized yet pounded heavily, thumping so hard it hurt the ribs.

The audience’s minds buzzed. They pressed their chests hard, taking deep breaths, their heads full of…

“Oh my God, is this a stage I can see without paying?”

Countless chaotic thoughts flashed through their minds.

“Calm down, calm down, calm down…”

“It’s over, it’s over, how can these people be so charming? Is it too late to switch biases now!”

“They’re simply not fit to be human sons! So abnormally strong, are they trying to kill off the other trainees?! My bias hasn’t even gone on stage yet, what should we do later!!!”

The second chorus was sung by the group together, the third verse was wrapped up by Tang Heng, the melodious and brilliant harp melody in the outro…

Dawn had arrived, the light of sunrise enveloped the earth.

The youths holding oil lamps looked up at the rising sun on the background screen.

The past of destruction and death remained etched in their bones, but the light and fire ahead were fiercely grand and mighty, living on and on without end.