Chapter 39

Chapter 39

In the back rows of the audience and outside the stadium, every employee of the Information Department who received the group message was jolted.

An employee stationed outside abruptly stood up, exclaiming with admiration, "As expected of our young master! Such a magnanimous spirit is truly worth emulating!"

After saying this, the employee seemed to recall something, casting a cautious glance towards a corner of the room and lowering the volume of the words he had yet to finish.

Another employee, who had also sprung up, ready to shower praise, was immediately reminded by this. Their entire demeanor became subdued, and they quietly returned to their tasks.

Thanks to the young master, these ordinary department employees, who rarely had a chance to see the boss, had not only made an appearance before him in just a few days but had also gained a general understanding of the boss's family situation.

It seemed the boss had three younger brothers.

The department head had met the young master inside the stadium today and even chatted with him for quite a while.

They, on the other hand, had the honor of serving as a temporary base for the third young master.

However, as is widely known, family relationships in this world manifest in many forms, and truly harmonious ones are exceedingly rare.

Without first understanding the third young master's attitude towards the young master, it was better for these subordinates to maintain a low profile.

After all, they had no idea about the young master's strength or personality, but the third young master, whom they had met just an hour ago, had exuded such overwhelming power that they almost thought they would die on duty today.

Realizing this, the employees exchanged knowing glances. For a moment, the only sound in the entire office was the clatter of keyboards.

At that moment, a man in black, lying on an office chair, completely out of sync with the office atmosphere, removed the baseball cap covering his face and, after a moment, asked, "What are you all doing here?"

Under the baseball cap was Su Jianglou's face, no longer shrouded in black mist, with features now clearly discernible.

Su Jianglou recalled hearing someone mention the young master earlier. Wasn't that referring to Xi Bao?

The third young master had been lying on the recliner for over an hour but had no idea what they had been busy with.

The employees present, however, dared not voice any objections.

The employee closest to Su Jianglou immediately explained, "After the behind-the-scenes footage of 'Tonight’s Big Star' was released, the young master faced some attacks from netizens online. The boss couldn’t bear to see the young master suffer such grievances, so he had us use our expertise to scrub the negative comments online."

"After resolving that matter, the third assistant from the executive office notified us to keep a close eye on online public opinion. We’re here today because the 'Tonight’s Big Star' trainees are performing live. If the young master has any needs, we can address them on the spot."

Although they weren’t clear about the exact relationships within the boss’s family, since the third young master had asked, he still had to answer truthfully.

Employee No. 7421, who had spoken, initially thought that the third young master’s reaction, if he favored the young master, would at most involve expressing shared indignation with them. After all, judging by the third young master’s immediate reclining behavior, he seemed to have a rather laid-back personality.

To his surprise, the seemingly lazy third young master suddenly asked in an ominous, pressuring tone after hearing the explanation, "Who?"

"Who are these 'some netizens' you mentioned?"

Huh?

Faced with the third young master’s demeanor, which suggested he could track down and eliminate anyone named, 7421 was at a loss for words.

It wasn't that he felt sorry for the trolls, but during those days, to meet their targets, they had caught so many that he couldn't immediately recall a specific one under such sudden pressure.

Sweating profusely under the stress, 7421 grew more nervous and forgetful. As for the other entities present, there was no camaraderie to speak of—they only played dead, silently recalling the trolls they had caught, just in case the third young master asked them next.

Fortunately, at that moment, a ping from the work group chat saved the sweating 7421.

Su Jianglou glanced casually at the phone screen and immediately noticed the words "the young master’s wish" and the mention of insufficient staff in the message.

"How do you plan to proceed?"

The action plan had just been drafted, so 7421 naturally remembered it clearly. As if granted a reprieve, he replied without hesitation, "Reporting to the third young master! It's like this: through our department head’s conversation with the young master, we learned that over the past five days, the young master has voted for every trainee in the program."

"Given this, no matter which trainee is eliminated today, the young master will be upset."

Especially if over half are eliminated at once.

Hearing this, Su Jianglou didn’t need to hear the action plan again and said matter-of-factly, "Then keep them all."

7421 immediately straightened up and replied, "Reporting to the third young master! That’s exactly what we thought!"

The specific action plan was quite simple.

The central stadium had 20,000 audience seats, but the "Tonight’s Big Star" program team, being profit-driven, had only installed voting devices for the front 1,000 seats.

In other words, only the 1,000 VIP audience members in the front rows had voting rights.

They only needed to control these 1,000 voting devices to manipulate the trainees’ votes.

Of course, besides controlling the 1,000 voting devices, they had an even simpler plan.

For example, they could directly hack most of the voting devices, treating the votes as abstentions, then cast only one or two votes for each trainee.

But if they did that, the trainees’ vote totals would look pathetic, which would indirectly insult their young master’s judgment.

So, this plan was decisively rejected.

As employees of the Su Financial Group, they had to do things to the highest standard!

Su Jianglou nodded to show he understood.

He would join them in their actions.

***

On the large screen on the stadium stage, the clock’s hour hand pointed to the number 8.

By now, the sky had completely darkened, and the stage lights became the sole focal point of the entire stadium.

The mentors took the stage one by one.

Dance mentor Jason, vocal mentor Emily, creative mentor Zhao Yiming, and resident mentor Bai Bo.

Just like during the initial evaluations, Bai Bo stood on stage with a microphone, again serving as host.

After a long list of sponsor advertisements, Bai Bo’s opening remarks finally drew to a close. His voice rose with unmistakable excitement as he addressed the audience, "Today! You are the masters here!"

"You will decide the future of every trainee on this stage, as well as what punishment awaits those who are eliminated."

"Even we, as mentors, only have the right to comment and suggest punishments."

"Enjoy this joyous celebration~"

Below the stage, Su Ximu listened to this eerie tone, unconsciously rubbing his arms, his delicate brows furrowing.

Until another hand rested on his arm.

He heard a very gentle voice beside him, assuring him with certainty, "Don’t be afraid. Nothing will happen tonight."

Strangely, hearing Group Leader Lan242 say this, the restlessness he felt gradually eased.

After that, whether intentionally or not, their arms remained pressed together.

As the mentors left the stage, the first group of trainees got ready backstage.

Wang Xingxing, who had earned a B grade in the initial evaluation, was the first in line among the trainees to go onstage.

The dance he and the other 18 trainees were about to perform was called *Ballet of Love*.

The stage was vast, spacious enough for each trainee to stand at the edge and fully showcase themselves to the audience below.

To be safe, Rao Fei didn't have Director Lin stand next to Wang Xingxing.

With Wang Xingxing’s professional skills as a contrast, it would make Director Lin look amateurish.

The four-support-one team, consisting of five members in total, were scattered across the stage in all directions.

The stage lights suddenly dimmed, and the 19 trainees quickly struck their starting poses.

When the lights came back on, nineteen beams illuminated each trainee.

They were not wearing traditional ballet attire but rather dark, theatrical-style costumes.

As the passionate cello music began, they started performing the moves they had practiced countless times.

Even players who had never danced before, under the pressure of survival, quickly picked up every movement.

The music surged relentlessly, with only fast and even faster rhythms.

The trainees on stage constantly shifted, leaped, and spun...

Below the stage, it was the first time Su Ximu had seen the complete version of this dance.

Accompanying the music, he was inexplicably reminded of a fairy tale he had heard as a child.

In the tale, to punish the wicked witch queen, people forced her to wear the Red Shoes.

Once the queen put them on, she was forced to dance endlessly—without stopping—until her feet were worn raw, until blood seeped through the soles, until she died.

As if to match his imagination, sure enough, red stains began to seep from the feet of the trainees on stage, seeping through their thin shoes and leaving marks on the stage.

Soon, the stage was covered with a mess of bloody footprints.

But this time, Su Ximu wasn't surprised, because he knew it was just the blood packs inside the trainees’ shoes bursting.

Finally, with one last resonant note from the cello, the dancers on stage all collapsed at once.

From a purely artistic perspective, the dance was really well done.

Perhaps some trainees’ movements were a bit imprecise, but any art form is ultimately a way to express emotion.

In their performance, the urgency, fear, and unease were powerfully conveyed.

By the final pose, Su Ximu couldn’t help but widen his eyes and lean forward slightly, as if wanting to catch the trainees who looked as though they were about to die.

However, the rest of the audience below didn't seem drawn in by the intense performance.

They sniffed in disapproval and frowned with dissatisfaction.

When the screens on some audience members’ voting devices lit up, they snorted angrily, almost eager to mark a large, blood-red "X" on all nineteen glowing portraits.

Some viewers grumbled, feeling the dance wasn’t worth the ticket price, and considered abstaining from voting as a form of protest.

Others cast malicious glances toward the trainees on stage.

*Cutting corners now is fine, but once they’re eliminated...*

Just as one audience member was having such thoughts, a hand suddenly shot out from the voting screen and, with lightning speed, cast a vote on their behalf.

Some less capable spectators watched in stunned silence as their voting devices seemed to grow hands, too intimidated to react—they could tell the entity manipulating the device was stronger than them.

Of course, there were also overconfident audience members who, upon noticing the hand emerging from the screen, tried to intervene. But the moment their hands touched, their wrists were seized, and they were dragged into the screen themselves.

Thanks to the dim lighting in the audience stands, the commotion went largely unnoticed for the time being.

The audience members pulled into the screen were swiftly brought out through another computer screen on the other side.

Confronted by a circle of eerie figures, each with eight arms, and the most intimidating one at the center, the once-arrogant spectator dropped to the ground, clutching the nearest eight-armed entity. "Spare me, heroes! Just tell me which trainee you want to debut, and I’ll vote for them!"

He never expected that a mere talent show would involve such a sinister group rigging the votes.

The world is a dangerous place.

Truly, dangerously unpredictable!