I'm Really a Superstar

The music stopped!

Applause rang out from everywhere!

Many of the audience members were fired up!

"That song's unbeatable!"

"It's too damn nice to listen to!"

"Could that participant be Chen Guang?"

"Pfft, Old Chen is sitting right there at the judges' panel!"

"Then how can his singing be this good! And that song was so amazing. It sounded like it was specially written for the condition that he's currently in! Which entertainment company is this big shot from?"

"I don't know!"

However, there were also those who were not convinced by his performance.

"The song was alright, but his voice is terrible."

"Yeah, his singing wasn't good."

"In any case, I don't feel it."

"Was his singing good? I don't think so."

"Maybe it's because it's my first time listening to the song, but I didn't feel anything special. I still think that the previous singers sang much better, and that this guy's singing isn't good enough."

No single work could appeal to everyone.

The audience had many differing opinions regarding The Clown's performance.

But there were only cheers from the judge panel.

Chen Guang shouted, "Great!"

Amy clapped with all her might. "Fantastic!"

"Is there such a person in the music scene?" Zhang Xia was also getting very excited.

Yao Jiancai liked the song very much as well. "Who is it!"

Chen Yidong glanced to his side. "Even if Chen Guang went onstage with a serious cold, he wouldn't necessarily sing better than him, right? He was already greatly disadvantaged by losing his voice due to the cold, but The Clown has infused that greatest flaw in his singing into the song. I must admit that it made the entire performance just spectacular!"

Chen Guang said frankly, "I definitely can't sing as well as him. At a concert three years ago, I sang while I was down with a cold and it turned into a hell of a mess!"

Wang Zhuishu nodded and said, "Still being able to sing this well even after the voice has been affected by a cold, there shouldn't be too many people in the music industry who can achieve something like this!"

They were all left guessing!

Yet they didn't even know where to start guessing from!

...

Backstage.

In King of Oddity's waiting room.

King of Oddity looked at the producer in the room and pointed at the TV. He said, "Are you sure this guy was the one who sang that 'as a fifty-year-old pro driver, I am all smiles' song?"

The producer gave a wry smile and nodded.

King of Oddity was floored!

Damn!

I really believed that you were a bel canto singer!

How did I fall for your nonsense!

...

In Sunset Glow's waiting room.

Sunset Glow got the goosebumps listening to the performance. "That was a really good song!"

So this was who the real Clown was!

So this was what his true style of singing was!

This fellow had indeed just been putting on an act back then!

...

Onstage.

The man in the clown mask lowered the microphone, bowed slightly, and turned around before walking slowly offstage. Before he could leave the stage, Han Qi and two Beijing Television employees were already running over to support him. But The Clown waved them off by gesturing that he did not need any help.

He had finished singing.

This song was called " Wolf 1 " and was performed by Chyi Chin 2 in his previous world.

Zhang Ye felt very good and mustered up an exhausted smile. He felt that even if his voice was at its best, it wasn't likely that he could have performed the song better than he had. He did not know how the judges felt or how the audience would judge him, but he was very satisfied with it himself.

In the wings.

Han Qi was going crazy. "Teacher, you sang so well! It was so good!"

Zhang Ye said, "Thanks."

Dafei also came over after being astonished by what he heard. He even said with some disbelief, "You could still sing that well even with your voice in that state? If there weren't any problems with your voice, how well would you have sung?"

Onstage.

Dong Shanshan spoke, "Next, let's invite today's last contestant, who has a very tough‑sounding name. Let's welcome—The Yak!"

Zhang Ye had seated himself near the stage.

As he still needed to go onstage in a little while, he did not return to the waiting room.

The Yak appeared from the other side of the stage.

The Yak wore a cow mask, with horns, and looked very cute.

This was Zhang Ye's opponent this round.

The audience applauded!

Awhile back, Zhang Ye had listened to The Yak's performance on some video clips. His evaluation of him was that his singing was not bad, but it was only at an average level. He should be considered the one with a weakest singing among all the others in the first round. But since this was a competition, nothing was decided until the very end. No one knew who might suddenly decide to show their prowess and light up the venue. In the music industry, singing did not mean everything as it was only a foundation for success.

The stage lights shut off.

The performance began.

"Deep emotions, as water, like smoke.

"Bring me before your very eyes.

"You are drifting between the clouds."

Although the Yak was named The Yak, the song he performed was rather emotional and did not match the mask, which had a wild look with a hint of cuteness.

"I don't know where you came from.

"Nor am I clear 'bout where you're headed.

"The flames of passions.

"Whoosh. Extinguished."

The song he was singing wasn't incredibly mainstream, but it was still very nice to listen to and a treat to hear. An adult man in a yak mask singing a love song was a stark contrast and also quite eye-catching.

All of the people's attention was on The Yak.

Even Han Qi and the program team staff watched with interest.

Meanwhile, no one noticed that Zhang Ye was sweating even more profusely now. Even though he was sitting in a chair, he was already struggling hard to hold it together. He wasn't listening to The Yak's performance anymore. He had opened up the game ring's inventory to retrieve a Stamina Potion instead. This was an item he had received a long time ago. There were still over a dozen bottles left in the inventory. Back when he was working overnight to help Beijing Television with their Quit Smoking PSA, he had depended on this potion to help him pull through the night. Now that Zhang Ye was unable to hold himself together for much longer, he had no choice but to chug a bottle of it.

The potion took effect very quickly.

Part of his stamina was immediately restored. He could sit straight at least.

The Yak was coming to the chorus of the song when a mistake was suddenly occurred. His falsetto cracked but he recovered from it very quickly.

What kind of singing performance was the most difficult?

A live performance was the most difficult! Because you never knew what might happen, and you could never redo things. Be it good or bad, you only had one chance!

The song ended.

The performance finished.

The audience members were still very absorbed in the performance and were applauding enthusiastically!

"Great!"

"That was so touching!"

"This guy has a very identifiable voice!"

"Great song! It was really nice!"

Of course, there were also some in the audience who thought that it just an average performance.

Dong Shanshan reappeared onstage. "Alright, let's invite The Clown back onstage."

A moment later, The Clown returned to the stage and stood with The Yak, each on either side of Dong Shanshan.

Dong Shanshan smiled and said, "Judges? If you were to vote, who would you vote for?"

Zhang Xia grabbed the opportunity. "Let me speak first. Needless to say, The Yak sang quite well even though his falsetto cracked, right? But his overall performance was very good."

The Yak nodded. "Thank you, Teacher."

Zhang Xia said, "Onto The Clown next. I don't really know what to say about him. I'm sure that he has a very high artistic level, and he's definitely a big shot judging from the way he moves, as well as his posture and onstage presence—"

"That might not be the case. I feel that he could be a newcomer," interrupted Wang Zhuishu.

Zhang Xia asked, "Can a newcomer sing that well?"

Wang Zhuishu replied, "The newcomers these days are all really amazing."

Chen Guang added, "I think that he might not be a part of the music scene and could be a movie star instead? Because the other contestants have clues that we can make our guesses from, and there are still some possible candidates that come to mind. But as for this guy here, I simply have no memory of anyone like him!"

Famous variety show host Chen Yidong spoke up, "If I voted, I would vote for The Yak."

The Yak bowed ever so slightly to express his gratitude.

The Clown just stood there calmly.

Chen Guang stayed silent for a second. "From an artistic point of view, The Clown's performance was absolutely wonderful and I would evaluate his rendition of the song to be perfect. On a personal level, I'm also fully in support of The Clown. But from a professional point of view, my vote must still go to The Yak even though there were some minor mistakes in his performance too."

The Yak bowed to show his thanks.

Wang Zhuishu gave it some thought. "I'd vote for The Yak."

The Yak bowed again. "Thank you, Teacher."

Yao Jiancai declared, "I don't understand what being professional or unprofessional is. All I know is that The Clown's song touched me, so I'd certainly give him my vote!"

Zhang Xia hesitated for a bit and sighed. "I guess I'd vote for The Yak."

Han Qi was getting anxious in the wings. "Have the judges gone blind?"

One of her colleagues said, "Yeah, I also think that The Clown sang very well!"

A different colleague said, "They're analyzing it from their professional point of view. The Clown sang well and the song is good too, but there were too many mistakes in every line that he sang."

Han Qi said angrily, "But Teacher Clown has a cold!"

The colleague sighed, "Hai, but this is a competition."

Han Qi could not accept this, she really could not accept it!

Meanwhile, Zhang Ye, onstage, did not say anything.

Dong Shanshan said, "Well then! Audience members, please pick up your voting devices and vote for the singer you like."

The critical voting round began!

But what made Han Qi's blood run even colder was that The Clown's vote count immediately fell behind the moment the voting started!

The Yak: 20 votes!

The Clown: 11 votes!

Their vote count kept rising!

The audience members were exchanging words among themselves.

"Who should I vote for?"

"The Clown for sure!"

"The Clown's song was so touching!"

"But he made singing mistakes—the judges said so."

"Yeah, the judges are still the professionals at the end of the day."

"I should just vote for The Yak then."

"Although The Yak's singing did not move me as much, his singing was still very good. At least there weren't as many issues with his singing."

"I don't think that The Clown made any mistakes. I believe he used what's called 'artistic license'!"

The Yak: 70 votes!

The Clown: 61 votes!

The Yak was leading all the way!

Han Qi urged, "Go up! Go up!"

Perhaps someone heard her pleas. The Clown's tally actually started catching up bit by bit.

The difference was only eight votes.

Then it became five.

Then one.

At the final moment, the voting ended.

The Yak: 217 votes!

The Clown: 219 votes!

The remaining voters abstained from voting; several dozen votes had not been cast. That made it the biggest group of audience members to abstain from voting today.

The Clown won!

A narrow victory of two votes!

Han Qi was thrilled and heaved a sigh of relief!

He won!

He really won!

At least there wouldn't be any more worry that he would get eliminated today, but as for becoming the Masked King of this first episode? Judging from the audience's enthusiasm and the judges' emphasis on the professionalism of one's singing, Han Qi and the program team staff knew that The Clown would definitely not be able to compete for the position of the Masked King in the first episode. Since the judges valued voice quality greatly and the audience also placed a great deal of importance on having a flawless voice, even if The Clown still had stamina left to take the stage for his next song, it was impossible that he would clinch the round with his already badly strained voice!