Chapter 7: The Online Love Rival Becomes a Charmer (7)

Chapter 7: The Web Novel Side Character Becomes a Heartthrob (7)

Tang Qing quickly prepared her competition song, titled *A Person Like Me*.

"A person like me,

Stumbling, staggering,

Letters from home—no words of care, no asking after me,

They say: A person like you, don’t deserve a next life, don’t deserve remembrance,

They say: A person like you, deserves to be wretched, it’s only right.

..."

To fully convey the sorrow in the song, Tang Qing slightly lowered her voice while recording, adding depth to her sweet tone and enhancing its richness with a touch of melancholy.

The background music also featured a looping vocal riff, incredibly catchy and distinctive, leaving a deep impression after just one listen.

"So fast?" The system was stunned. From Tang Qing joining the competition to uploading her work, the preparation time was incredibly short, yet the final recording was anything but amateur.

Even after just hearing Tang Qing sing it a few times, the system could tell—it was good. The system had assumed Tang Qing was only participating for attention, never expecting her to genuinely aim for first place.

"You think I’m as foolish as Gu Xiaoman?" Tang Qing said. "This is the rigor of a top actress. I don’t have Gu Xiaoman’s luck—she could’ve coasted to fame with your help. Mine comes from blood, sweat, and practice."

"A person like me? Damn right I’ll be famous."

After filling in the credits, Tang Qing uploaded her work directly.

The university’s campus original singer competition also blew up online due to Tang Qing’s participation. However, her Weibo went dark afterward, leaving everyone curious about what she had sung.

Following the blind selection rules, the organizers didn’t disclose the authors of the entries, relying solely on audience votes based on listening experience.

Among them, one song shot to #1 at an astonishing speed!

Within just two days of being uploaded, it had already claimed the top spot on the new song trending chart!

"Holy crap, that voice—chills! That opening—once you hear it, you can’t stop!"

"What a sweet-but-smoky voice! This voice kink is fed!"

"The song is so sad… it made me think of my own heartbreaks."

"Who hurt the artist? Asking for a friend."

...

The comments piled higher and higher, proving the song’s top ranking was no bots here—just genuine reactions from real, verified listeners.

Meanwhile.

"Li Chengyou! You’re killing me! Turn that music off!" In the B University lab, Kuang Zhun couldn’t take it anymore and hurled a pillow at Li Chengyou. "Shut it off now!"

Li Chengyou dodged nimbly, avoiding his teammate’s attack. "Debugging’s a slog—music helps! What’s wrong with some tunes?"

"Have you guys not heard about that campus original singer competition? It’s blowing up!" Ignoring Kuang Zhun’s outburst, Li Chengyou turned the volume up even higher. "Back when I ruled the mic, I had groupies on tap. Ah, if I’d joined this competition, I’d definitely have a spot! Missed my shot!"

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting? You’re frying my circuits!" Kuang Zhun could feel a headache coming on. Since that afternoon, Li Chengyou had been playing some obscure website’s tracks—every single one unfamiliar, screechy, and all equally godawful!

This auditory torture went on for three hours, and Li Chengyou was still listening! "Boss, rein this guy in!" Kuang Zhun exclaimed. "This bug's had me stuck forever, and I can't think straight anymore!"

The "boss" Kuang Zhun referred to was none other than Si Yuechen, seated in the corner.

Living up to his name, Si Yuechen possessed intelligence far beyond that of ordinary humans. His college entrance exam score was only 17 points shy of a perfect score, with 15 of those points deducted from his Chinese essay—which was downright insane!

At B University, Si Yuechen was a legendary figure in the computer science department. As a freshman, he successfully sold a small program he developed, which is now commercially used in the most advanced car navigation systems on the market. Word was that this one small program reportedly bagged him a villa.

In university programming competitions, he had no competition—he swept first place without breaking a sweat. The last time he competed internationally in the World Collegiate Programming Contest, he landed the gold medal.

Not only was his mind exceptional, but Si Yuechen's looks also defied normal human genetics. Kuang Zhun wasn’t great at describing male attractiveness, but he remembered the first time he saw Si Yuechen—his brain blue-screened for a moment.

His first thought was: *Damn, in our sea of coding zombies in checkered shirts, there’s actually someone who looks like this?*

Unfairly hot! And so pale, with eyelashes longer than his own goddess’s. How could someone be so unfairly perfect?

Si Yuechen seemed deeply engrossed in thought, silent. His expression was cold and focused, his fingers flying across the keyboard. His hands were pale and slender, and under the sunlight, they looked like they belonged in a Renaissance painting.

"Boss! Shut this maniac down!" Seeing that Si Yuechen wasn’t responding, Kuang Zhun raised his voice again. "You told me to finish the task by tomorrow afternoon, but if I have to endure this audio assault any longer, forget tomorrow—I won’t even make it by the day after!"

"Turn it off." The human glacier finally spoke. "Li Chengyou, you really are too loud."

"I…" The usually playful Li Chengyou didn’t dare disobey Si Yuechen. After all, he had groveled shamelessly to join this project.

He had already failed three courses this semester. Si Yuechen’s research group was a national-level project with high prestige. Participating in it not only meant a bonus but also extra credits. If Si Yuechen got angry and kicked him out, Li Chengyou could practically see his mom's disappointed face already…

"Geez, can't even set the vibe," Li Chengyou muttered, not daring to meet Si Yuechen’s gaze. Just as he was about to turn off the music, a spine-tingling melody cut through from the speakers. The female voice was mesmerizing—so much so that Li Chengyou froze for a second.

*"Someone like me, stumbling, staggering…"*

"Wait, don’t turn it off!" Kuang Zhun was also wrecked by that voice and couldn’t help but want to hear more. "What song is this? It’s actually good."

The contrast was stark. For the past three hours, Li Chengyou had been blasting what sounded like sonic garbage. But this female voice was like a gentle stream, instantly soothing Kuang Zhun’s fried nerves from the afternoon. "Is this also from that so-called competition of yours?"

Because it was so good, Kuang Zhun’s voice softened noticeably.

"Yeah, the university original singer competition. It’s called *‘Someone Like Me’*?" Kuang Zhun wanted to check more details, but aside from the title and lyrics, there was nothing. "Damn, the juniors these days are amazing—out-singing actual pop stars!"

It really was that good. Li Chengyou had a bit of musical knowledge, and he couldn’t find a single flaw in the vocal technique. Most importantly, the voice itself was divine—the kind of pipes record labels wage wars over.

"Boss, what do you think of this song?"

"After three hours of audio torture, I finally found something decent. No idea who’s singing, but it sounds like someone from a professional music school." Li Chengyou rambled on, pestering Si Yuechen for his opinion. "Right? I told you there had to be good songs in there!"

"You’re being noisy." Si Yuechen was sparing with his words, his fingers still flying across the keyboard.

"...You really hate me that much?" Li Chengyou was about to say more when Si Yuechen shot him an icy glare. "Shut up."

Catching the hint, Kuang Zhun smirked. "Stop yapping. He told you to shut up—you’re interrupting the boss’s music time."

As the song continued playing, on a screen only he could see, Si Yuechen was quietly writing a new download program. He wanted to save this song…

Kuang Zhun wasn’t wrong—it *was* good.

From the very first note, Si Yuechen had noticed it. A unique voice… For the first time, the always unshakably calm Si Yuechen felt his carefully constructed walls crack.