I'm Really a Superstar

It was almost time for the voting segment.

This was the most anticipated part of the show.

Dong Shanshan's hosting style was improving. She could take control of a situation and her hosting had become very good as well. After all, she was someone whose grades were much higher than Zhang Ye's during their Media College days among their entire class. A lot of people constantly focused on Dong Shanshan's looks, her figure, and her long legs, but neglected to consider her skills as a professional host. On the stage of King of Masked Singers, she knew quite well that she was just a supporting role and acted as a link between the event proceedings and flow of the show. As a result, she neither had to steal the show nor the lines. But when it came time for her to speak, she would definitely not allow others to ignore her.

Dong Shanshan smiled and said, "I can see that a few of our judges are confused."

The audience laughed. In reality, they were confused too!

Wang Zhuishu said, "Yeah, I have no clue at all!"

Chen Yidong said, "It's the same for Petal Shower. I can't figure out who she is!"

Yao Jiancai gloomily said, "Is this a singing show or a game show? I'm not good at using my brain and my head is already swelling from all that thinking."

Dong Shanshan told them, "To improve your concentration and refresh your mind, please drink Bright Fruit Cocoa." Then she winked at the camera and emphasized, "It's free of preservatives too!"

With the title sponsor of the show being Bright Fruit Cocoa, she promoted it very naturally and seamlessly. The judges and audience found it funny.

It was time for the judges to vote.

Chen Guang declared, "I'll not vote. There's no way to make a choice."

Zhang Xia also found it very difficult. She said, "Both of them sang in falsetto and had flawless performances. It is indeed hard to choose. I won't be surprised no matter who wins today."

Amy immediately said, "I like The Clown's performance more. I became his fan last episode, and I really like him so much. Even though The Clown's song did not contain any lyrics, I imagined a lot of images because of it. His voice and the song were so vivid that it brought all those images to mind. From the difficulty of the performance and song, The Clown's 'Opera' is undoubtedly the more stunning performance for me."

The Clown said, "Thank you."

Wang Zhuishu thought for a long time before saying, "I'll still give my support to Petal Shower. Although The Clown has moved me as well, I still prefer the way that Petal Shower expressed herself with her singing."

Petal Shower's mask concealed her face quite closely, with her entire head covered up so well that no one could even tell what hairstyle she wore. It was the same for her expression too. They could only see from her eyes that she was probably smiling. "Thank you, Teacher Wang."

Yao Jiancai expressed, "I think that The Clown is a little bit better."

Chen Yidong said, "Petal Shower is good too. Hai, it's so difficult to choose from between the two of them."

Dong Shanshan smiled and said, "Then let's leave the final voting to the 500 audience members and let them decide the winner." Looking into the audience, she said, "Everyone, please pick up your voting devices to cast a vote for your favorite performance today."

The audience immediately got down to action.

Some of them voted without any hesitation at all.

Some of them were hesitating and couldn't come to a decision for a very long while.

"It's too difficult to choose!"

"Yeah, the two of them were incredible today!"

"If the two of them had gone against any of the other singers, I would definitely have voted for them. Why did these two big names have to compete against each other so early in the first round! How am I supposed to vote?"

"They both sang so great!"

"Agreed. Their ability to sing in falsetto is too close to call. Both of them are wonderful!"

"Then we can only judge based on the songs that they sang."

"Hai, I suppose I have to go with my gut then!"

"I still think that The Clown's singing was more breathtaking!"

"I think so too. A song with no lyrics? There's really no one else who can sing like this!"

"Petal Shower's singing was so full of emotion. Personally, I still prefer her."

All competitions were like this. Everyone had their personal preferences. Even for the best singer or song, it was impossible that everyone would like it due to everyone being different. For example, age, gender, and experiences would all create differences in the personality and perception of a person. This is very commonplace.

Backstage.

Several of the masked singers who hadn't appeared on stage yet took a vote as well.

The producer who was accompanying them asked for their opinions. "Who do you all think will win?"

Sunset Glow pondered the question for a moment. "The Clown."

Sunflower in the Starlight shook his head. "It could be either one of them since they're both so equally matched."

God of War did not hesitate. "The Clown."

The other new replacement masked singer called Lord Peacock said, "I'm optimistic about Petal Shower."

In the studio.

The voting had already begun!

The judges were all staring at the screen.

Han Qi, who was standing in the wings, was getting extremely anxious as she clenched her fists so tightly that her nails cut into her flesh. She was shouting in her head, The Clown! The Clown! It has to be The Clown!

However, The Clown did not turn to look at the screen. He did not seem like he cared.

It was the same for Petal Shower. She gazed forward and did not turn around.

Their mental fortitude and stage presence were very strong. Just by their attitude, people would not believe it even if they were told that the two of them were not big shots. They indeed had the demeanor of a big shot, unlike those new singers who would often try to show off their talent or make a commotion when they became too focused on the result.

The audience was shouting the names of the singer they supported!

"Petal Shower!"

"The Clown!"

"The Clown!"

"Petal Shower!"

"The Clown!"

5 votes!

10 votes!

100 votes!

Their two tallies were very close and evenly distributed!

Without a doubt, this was definitely the most intense pair of contestants for this episode's matchup. The two of them had given a near perfect performance for everyone!

Finally, the voting ended!

The results were displayed on the big screen!

When the audience saw the result, they exclaimed in surprise!

The judges were astonished too!

Petal Shower's tally: 241 votes!

The Clown's tally: 259 votes!

Everyone thought that their tallies would probably be quite close or even separated by only one or two votes. But towards the end of the voting, The Clown's tally gradually pulled away from Petal Shower. In the end, he led Petal Shower by 18 votes!

The Clown won!

Petal Shower immediately applauded. She looked at The Clown and gave him a gentle hug with open arms.

Zhang Ye hugged her back for courtesy's sake.

Suddenly, he heard Petal Shower whisper to him, "I won't lose next time."

Zhang Ye was stunned.

Eh?

This voice?

When the masked singers spoke into the microphone, the signal sent back would be transformed by a voice transformer before getting transmitted over the speakers. But of course, their voices would not be changed during the performance as that would sound very strange. But when they spoke, the program team staff would make some adjustments to their microphones. That was why Zhang Xia kept saying that she had not heard Petal Shower's real voice before. However, when Petal Shower whispered into Zhang Ye's ear, it was not said through the microphone. It was just her voice coming from directly underneath her mask and not transformed through the voice transformer. Perhaps she had completely forgotten about disguising her voice.

It sounded familiar!

This voice sounded really familiar!

Zhang Ye had felt that there was a very high chance that Sunset Glow was probably someone he knew. But when he heard Petal Shower's real voice, he was sure that he definitely knew this woman!

Who was it?

Which friend was she?

His mind went blank all at once!

When he realized that they definitely knew each other, Zhang Ye was afraid to speak. He just nodded and smiled to express his understanding. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth, Petal Shower would instantly recognize him, although he was confident that nearly no one could guess who he was on this stage as almost no one would think to link him to this character.

This felt extremely nice!

Offstage.

The moment Zhang Ye came off the stage, he saw a dark figure rushing toward him!

"We won! We really won!" Han Qi was exclaiming incoherently in her excitement!

Zhang Ye felt his heart warm. "You're more excited than I am?"

Han Qi said, "But of course! The singer you won against is Petal Shower! She had the highest fanbase among all the masked singers! Nobody in the media and audience thought that you would get through to the next round! Everyone was doubting you! So how can I not be excited! How could I not be excited! This, this is so unreal!"

When the program team staff saw The Clown, they gave him a thumbs up raised high in the air!

Music Director Bai Yuanfei looked at Zhang Ye, and smiled and nodded at him.

The Clown was astonishing today!

The audience's understanding of The Clown had been flipped on its head!

This was The Clown after his voice had recovered?

This was his true skill?

No, that was not it. He still had not fully recovered yet. As someone who came down with a bad cold, fever, and inflammation of the tonsils and even took three cortisone shots, how could he possibly recover so quickly? If he had really recovered, then why did he not sing during the rehearsals? Instead, he saved his energy so that he could use it onstage? From that, it could be assumed that The Clown's voice was still not in the best shape!

With this thought, a lot of people were stunned by this conclusion they had arrived at.

Damn!

Could he perhaps be even more amazing than that?

Could he perhaps still sing better than that?