While Su Yang was pondering, the campus singing competition semi-finals began.
Maybe because it was already the semi-finals, all the contestants were even better than before. Even though most of them were not professional singers, they were a lot better than normal folks.
Su Yang even found a few whose singing were on par with his.
University had always been the place where raw talents and hidden potentials were discovered. A random student on campus might be the next Jacky Ma or Bill Gates.
Maybe because of the [Guitar-playing Ability] that he got from the system, it awakened Su Yang’s melodious side, and he actually found the competition pleasant and enjoyable. It even gave him the thought of coming back for the semi-finals or the finals.
On the other hand, Chu Xia was paying attention to Su Yang instead of the competition. She pouted strongly, so strongly that her mouth almost drew downward as long as Pinocchio’s nose. ‘This idiot, he really came here to watch the competition!’
When the competition was at its end, Li Xianhe finally went up on stage. He was among the last three contestants. His bearded face plus his bulky physique made him look like a human tank. Dressed in a sequined coat coupled with ripped jeans, he strutted on stage with the microphone.
After some trivial questions from the judges, he started to sing.
The song he chose was Ordinary DISCO[1] from the Chinese virtual idol, Luo Tianyi[2]. It was famous for its rhythmic beat, but Li Xianhe rearranged it and tipped it towards the rock genre. His voice granted the song a new life, and it was the perfect collision of rock and anime culture!
When the intro started, the keyboard’s swift and melodious rhythm followed by the powerful violin blasted throughout the gymnasium through the high-end sound system. The powerful and lively melody lit the entire gymnasium up.
The energetic atmosphere told everyone that this song was not the usual anime tune.
After 10 seconds of intro, Li Xianhe put the microphone in front of his face. He lifted his head up and without any build-up to the song, he sang with his loud and powerful voice.
“Ordinary Disco, and we are ordinarily shaking!
“The ordinary people are ordinarily watching! My ordinary soul is ordinarily leaving!
“Together with the ordinary beat, it is ordinarily lit!”
The moment Li Xianhe’s powerful voice entered Su Yang’s ears, goosebumps exploded all over his body.
‘Wild! Powerful! Astonishing!’
Li Xianhe was like a different person on stage! The wildness, the power! He was like a bloodthirsty beast baring its teeth and gazing down at everyone like it was gazing at its prey!
The atmosphere in the gymnasium got extremely high following his performance.
The students from all three schools were all youngsters, so they naturally lacked restraint when it came to this kind of rocky anime song, especially with its lively rhythm!
Each beat struck their hearts like war drums. It made their blood boil and they got to their feet, waving their hands to the song.
Li Xianhe was getting wilder and wilder as the crowd got rowdier. His slightly rough voice coupled with the high pitch sounded orgasmic in everyone’s ears, giving everyone an adrenaline rush.
After his performance ended, thunderous applause burst from the floor together with frantic cheers.
Li Xianhe was like a king on stage as he pointed his microphone at the audience like an emperor greeting his subjects. Without a doubt, his powerful performance had won the judges’ and even the audience’s hearts. He breezed through the semi-finals and got into the finals.
The host then went up the stage and announced that the finals would be held next Friday night with Han Yi and Lin Jia there as guest judges.
The crowd in the gymnasium exploded once again. The competition was already the hottest topic among the students, and Han Yi and Lin Jia’s appearance was like adding fuel to the flames.
Even Chu Xia grabbed Su Yang’s arm and jumped up and down excitedly, saying that she would come and support Han Yi.
Of course, Su Yang rejected her without a second thought. If Lin Jiali found out that her most loyal fan was the president of Han Yi’s fan club, she would probably lose her mind.
Su Yang was fine with her losing her mind, but what about the Bronze Mission?
Would he just let it fail like this? Never!
After he sent Chu Xia back to her dorm, he sent a congratulatory message to Li Xianhe on the way back and even praised his performance.
A moment later, Li Xianhe replied with a voice message although it was not very long and was only a few seconds.
Su Yang tapped on it and heard Li Xianhe’s shy voice from his phone. “Thank you! Thank you for coming to watch me perform! I’m really thrilled!”
Truth be told, Su Yang really could not link Li Xianhe’s bashful side with his powerful performance on stage. He also could not relate his rugged looks with his delicate name together.
‘This 190-cm-tall rugged hunk really seems weird at times...’
‘There’s the powerful singer that dominates people’s hearts on-stage and the bashful young man off-stage; the rugged looks versus the delicate heart. It feels like God simply pieced him together with two entirely different elements...’
...
The weekend was quiet. Su Yang’s employees did not go to work on the weekend, but he did. He grabbed the flyers and continued promoting on campus.
With the effect of the [Ally Halo], his promotion went smoothly. Although the user count was growing, the pressure was increasing on Wang Dong’s side. Due to the increase in user count, the jobs were running low.
He told Su Yang to give him some time to expand his side. Otherwise, the balance would tip and become one-sided.
Fortunately, Su Yang basically completed his mission when Wang Dong told him to stop, so he took the rest of the day off and headed home.
On Sunday night, Su Yang checked his Gold Mission and saw the number 997/1,000 on his mission progression bar. He went to bed with a smile.
He even had a dream of completing the Gold Mission and earning a Gold Point. In his dream, he became the CEO of his company (which he already was anyway), married a wife, and reached the peak of his life.
When he opened his eyes, he realized that it was just a dream except for the Gold Mission!
[Beep! Gold Mission: Road to Zenith (1) completed. Please check your rewards.]
Su Yang bolted up from his bed and tapped on the system. He then saw the mission tab glowing in gold. He rubbed his hands, gulped nervously, and tapped on [Receive rewards].
[Beep. Gold Point +1]
Su Yang waited for a little longer, but nothing happened.
‘Wait, that’s it?’
He was stupefied.
‘The Bronze Mission allows me to draw rewards, but the Gold Mission only gives me a Gold Point?!’
While Su Yang was criticizing the system for being stingy, he tapped on the [?] beside the Gold Point and was astonished when he saw the description.
[Gold Point: Can be added to the system to increase the point limit and open access to new functions.]
‘Someone once told me as a human being, I shouldn’t be arrogant. Who would have thought that I can get a system that can add points to myself!? Isn’t this cool or what?’
He tapped the Gold Point without a second thought, and this time around, the system had a [+] sign on the top, so he tapped on it.
A soft gleam later, the Gold Point was added.
‘What the hell? It’s fine if the Random Points don’t have any effect since it’s a normal point, but this is a Gold Point that I’m adding! How can you be this lame, system?! A simple glimmer? Not even the lousiest CGI or whatever? Are you on a budget or what? Even the local movies are on the rise! COME ON!’
After the lame point-addition, the system itself had a description similar to all the other items.
[System+1: Point limit of all items and abilities increased by 1. Elementary Shop opened.]
‘Finally! I can add more points to a single item! Dammit, I’m crying! I’ve been through so much just to get here! I can finally add a point to the hourglass!
‘Does it mean I can also add another point to Gru, Deeny, Little Hus, Sanque, Pool, and Little Lady Knife? What kind of bizarre changes will happen?
‘[Fruit-loving Pen], [Lucky Disfiguring Brick], [Master Sommelier Faucet], [Ace 2B Pencil], [Lethe’s Porcelain Bowl (False)], [Memory Master Special Wasabi Cookies], and the new [Devil’s Angel Halo], can I add another point to all of them too?’
‘Will the special items change?
‘I still have three Random Points. Which one should I add first?’
Su Yang was more than a little bit!
[1] The performance that this chapter is based on. Quite nice, I must say!
[2] The Chinese Hatsune Miku, a virtual idol with a synthetic voice.