“It is fine, it is all in the past.” Obviously unaccustomed to comforting others, Mo Yunyu merely patted the other’s back stiffly before pulling away.
The warmth in his arms vanished, leaving Zhou Xingyu with a lingering sense of reluctance, though he managed to suppress the urge to yank the youth back into his embrace.
“You are up in two groups, do you need a touch-up?” the makeup artist reminded them promptly.
Catching his reflection in the mirror, Mo Yunyu immediately cast the recent incident to the back of his mind. Some things could simply be forgotten the moment they passed; after all, the other person had probably just been looking for a listening ear.
“The diamond near my eye seems to have fallen off.”
The makeup artist rushed forward to replace it.
Looking at the sparkling accents spreading out beside his eye, Mo Yunyu nodded with satisfaction.
This round’s styling did not allow for too many glittering accessories, leaving them to rely entirely on facial cosmetics for embellishment, and the final result was remarkably striking.
“Alright, let us head backstage.” Mo Yunyu stood up, glancing at the small black box. “What about this camera?”
With a casual toss, Zhou Xingyu lobbed the tiny black box straight into a trash can. “Just leave it.”
Those people had clearly planned this well in advance; tracing that camera would lead nowhere useful.
Mo Yunyu nodded, and the two walked together toward the backstage area.
Little did they know, the moment they left, someone immediately retrieved the camera from the trash can.
The atmosphere on stage was bustling, and the backstage crew moved about in a flurry of activity. The moment the two arrived, staff members swarmed them to double-check their hair, makeup, and in-ear monitors.
The makeup artist even attempted to apply another layer of base foundation.
True to form, Mo Yunyu resisted the effort, feeling that his skin could no longer breathe and that an extra layer would suffocate his pores entirely.
With a regretful sigh, the makeup artist withdrew her hands.
Their turn arrived quickly. Exchanging words of mutual encouragement, the two stepped onto the stage the moment the lights plunged into darkness.
Before the illumination returned, while the audience still murmured quietly, a brisk guitar melody leaped out from the gloom, instantly capturing every spectator’s attention.
The next second, the first spotlight flared to life, illuminating a solitary figure.
Slinging a guitar over his shoulder, the young man sat upon a high stool, clad in a white shirt and white trousers, resembling an absolute apparition of a first love stepping straight out of campus memories.
“What kind of feeling is this.”
“The day I first met you.”
“So strange it throws me into a panic.”
“Is it an illusion or something more.”
The final syllable drifted away as a second spotlight snapped on, illuminating a contrasting black-clad figure with his back to the audience. When the massive screen projected his profile, he spun around with sharp, decisive grace. In that split second, an arresting, dangerously alluring face sliced through all pristine innocence, his gaze carrying a haughty, mesmerizing disdain.
The gentle guitar strumming vanished instantly, swallowed whole by the heavy, rhythmic thud of drums resembling a frantic heartbeat, pounding one after another.
“Were you pierced by beauty.”
“Pierced to the depths of the soul.”
“Pierced straight through your heart.”
“Yet you relish the agony.”
His outfit was accented with flowing black sheer fabric that rippled with his choreography, resembling the wings of a dark angel descending right beside the believer.
Only then did the audience realize the two were not performing a youthful campus love ballad at all, but rather a dark angel striving to stain a pure white believer in obsidian.
They held their screams fast in their throats, terrified of disrupting the pair, resorting to pinching their own thighs and widening their eyes in futile desperation to etch this visual feast into their memories.
“I am willingly captured by you.”
“O beautiful entity, come to my side.”
The believer continued strumming his guitar from the high stool for the deity, yet his gaze followed every movement of the dark angel, his expression a mix of anguish and confusion as his lyrics reflected the truth of his inner turmoil.
“Cast aside your reason and your ties.”
“My dearest, I am already beside you.”
The dark angel circled the believer, black chiffon fluttering in the air. The person on the high stool finally halted his strumming, reaching out a hand toward the very existence pulling him away from his faith, only to brush against cold, dark fabric.
The song surged toward its climax. Abandoning his guitar, the believer sang a prayerful refrain, never once pausing his pursuit of that fleeting shadow.
Seeming moved by his persistence, the dark angel halted his steps. The stage beneath them began to rotate, carrying him directly to the believer’s side.
Just as the believer moved to pull him into an embrace, the dark angel flashed a wicked, teasing grin and ruthlessly shoved the pleading believer away, letting the revolving stage sweep him away without a shred of hesitation.
“This is so sweet and painful.”
At that moment, the human toyed with by the dark angel completely surrendered his faith, stepping willingly into the dark angel’s domain to dance with him.
Black and white intertwined. Their lyrics diverged, one sounding like a plea for salvation intertwined with damnation, the other reeking of pure malice and temptation.
“Are you watching me.”
“I am watching you.”
“This sweet pain is bestowed by you.”
“This sweet pain is bestowed by me.”
Finally, the human stepped down from the revolving stage. Watching the human left standing alone and motionless in the center, the dark angel turned to leave, shedding a single tear the moment he spun away.
“I hope we meet again.”
The final drumbeat echoed. The song came to a close. The audience remained suspended in a daze, trapped deep within the lingering resonance of the performance.
Nobody knew who initiated the applause, but it rippled outward swiftly, refusing to die down for a long time.
After an extended period of blank screen, the live commentary exploded into a frenzy.
“Mom, why is my daughter kneeling to watch television?” “Holy crap! That final tear gave me goosebumps all over!” “Their chemistry is unreal!” “It felt like watching a complete story, the aesthetics made me cry!” “Shipping Xingyun makes this performance worth it for a lifetime.” “Yunbao’s smile, oh lord, that is lethal.” “Which genius designed this rotating stage? Absolutely insane!” “The star who couldn’t have what he wanted looks heartbreakingly pitiful.”
If the online viewers reacted this intensely, the live audience was doubly so. Orange repeated herself numerous times, yet failed to quiet the applause and cheering.
With no other choice, Orange handed the stage control back to the two performers who had sparked the chaos.
True to form, the moment Mo Yunyu lifted the microphone, the noise gradually subsided.
“Thank you all for your support. Please calm down a bit and listen carefully to Sister Orange.”
The haughty dark angel offered a playful wink, successfully bringing the audience to heel.
The program finally resumed its normal flow.
“This is the most brilliant duet I have ever witnessed. Combining each other’s strengths with absolute synchronicity produced this masterpiece. I look forward to even greater performances from you both down the line.” Mentor Yin wore a gratified smile, looking as though he could already envision two rising stars ascending.
Mia’s eyes remained red-rimmed. Being the more emotional of the panel, she grasped the narrative woven into the song far more deeply.
“So in the end, did one party leave forever?”
As the original songwriter, Zhou Xingyu held the authority to answer that question.
“Yes. The song portrays a demon tempting a human devoted to a deity. In the end, the human perishes, leaving the demon alone to seek out his next target.”
“So that final tear signifies that the demon was moved by the human after all? Yet he is doomed to wander the world in solitude.” Mia’s eyes grew even redder, her inspiration surging violently to the point where she wanted to walk out right now and write a song.
“A tear?” Zhou Xingyu blinked in momentary confusion; that detail had not been scripted.
Mo Yunyu caught on first, reaching up to touch the decorative rhinestone beside his eye and finding one missing.
“It is one of the face crystals. I did not get a touch-up before going on stage, so it must have fallen off from the sweat.”
Mia gasped in wonder. “What a wonderfully perfect coincidence.”
When it finally came to Shi Jingchi’s turn, the usually glib top-tier star experienced a rare moment of verbal paralysis.
After all, he counted himself among those tempted by the demon.
“I felt like I was being seduced by a demon myself,” Shi Jingchi commented. “Actually, come to think of it, he was not a demon at all. He was a dark angel. Even his outfit matched, making it look like he sprouted wings while dancing.”
Following Shi Jingchi’s remarks, countless online creators and artists immediately flooded the internet with fan fiction and illustrations of the dark angel and his believer, turning cyberspace into an absolute carnival, albeit one where shipping fans had to mine for sugar amidst endless shards of glass.
Given their performance, voting felt entirely redundant since they completely dominated the arena. Still, token votes were cast, yielding a nearly unanimous score.
The lone point missed stemmed from a temporary voting machine glitch, which successfully netted a few complaints and negative ratings from viewers.
Watching the skyrocketing live-streaming traffic figures, the director grinned from ear to ear, eyeing Mo Yunyu as though he were a blooming money tree. Who would not consider themselves blessed to partner with an investor who brought his own funds, effortlessly picking up both cash and a prized treasure?
Amidst the cheers and tearful farewells of the trainees, the first half of the semi-finals concluded successfully. Mo Yunyu and Zhou Xingyu stepped down from the dazzling stage, returning to their routine trainee life.
“Those rhinestones are going to be a pain to remove.”
Listening to Mo Yunyu’s soft grumble, Zhou Xingyu scanned their surroundings before replying, “I can help you take them off.”
Perhaps because the contestant count had dwindled to eighteen, the usually bustling corridor felt unusually desolate. An abrupt twitch in Zhou Xingyu’s right eyelid sent a fresh wave of unease rippling through his chest.
He reached out to loop a hand around Mo Yunyu’s wrist, attempting to insulate him from any unexpected hazards.
The next second, two staff members lugging heavy boxes materialized around the corner of the corridor.
Zhou Xingyu pulled Mo Yunyu aside to let them pass. However, the exact moment the two workers crossed paths with them, the boxes tipped sideways, spilling stage smoke canisters across the floor that promptly ignited on their own.
Within seconds, thick smoke flooded the entire hallway.
Cursing under his breath, Zhou Xingyu tightened his grip on Mo Yunyu’s wrist and tried to pull him away.
Yet the anesthetic-laced smoke bogged down his limbs with alarming speed. Striving to shield Mo Yunyu, who had already collapsed into unconsciousness against his chest, Zhou Xingyu glared fixedly at the figures advancing toward him before finally succumbing to blackness with bitter resentment.
When Zhou Xingyu regained consciousness, white hospital walls filled his vision. Recalling the final image burned into his memory, he sat bolt upright, ripping the IV needle straight out of the back of his hand without a second thought, and staggered toward the door.
The nurse assigned to monitor him was making a phone call outside. Catching sight of Zhou Xingyu stumbling out, she rushed to block him.
“What are you doing out of bed? Get back inside, the doctor said you need at least three days to clear out the inhaled smoke!”
“Where is Mo Yunyu?” Zhou Xingyu seized her shoulders, forcing himself to maintain stability.
Startled into temporary speechlessness, the staff member answered his question with a trembling voice.
“He has not been found yet. The police have been notified and are reviewing the surveillance footage. Oh, and a police officer is already at the hospital and should be here any second.”
“Do you have Shi Jingchi’s contact information?” Within moments, the side effects of inhaling toxic smoke rushed over him, causing his vision to swim dangerously.
Instinctively, the staff member fished out her phone, scrolled to Shi Jingchi’s number, and thrust it toward Zhou Xingyu.
Without a second’s hesitation, Zhou Xingyu dialed the number.