Chapter 48: Ascending to Stardom in One Stroke! Singing Everyone to Fainting Live! The Show's Impact Explodes Again! [Requesting Monthly Tickets]

Neither of them could understand what kind of madness had suddenly possessed Teacher Yang. Could it be that he was conquered simply because the guy impersonated a fan and imitated his voice?

Although it sounded rather abstract, it shouldn't be enough to secure a promotion for a third-rate celebrity.

At this very moment.

Lu Ming had already reached the chorus of the song. With a wild and unrestrained posture, his pitch climbed higher and higher. His skillful vocal performance seemed to imbue almost every single word with immense power as his voice soared step by step:

"Many miracles, only when we believe, will they exis~t~!"

Like a show-off, he meticulously achieved continuous pitch elevation within this segment of lyrics while also incorporating chest resonance techniques. This not only made his voice more three-dimensional, but further amplified its expressive power!

Although it was very brief and the reference sample consisted of only a single line of lyrics, Teacher Yang was, after all, a seasoned veteran who had weathered decades of struggles in the music industry to reach his current height. How could he possibly fail to appreciate the sheer technical skill embedded within?

As the accompaniment swelled higher and higher, all the netizens were unconsciously and firmly captivated by the youth on the live broadcast screen, who was currently radiating intense stage presence. In a trance, people completely overlooked the issue of "lip-syncing." On the big screen, Lu Ming's nearly crazed expression firmly gripped everyone's attention.

That desperate, all-out emotion practically overflowed the screen, touching and resonating with every single netizen.

Just as the audience's emotions were peaking and they were anticipating the upcoming chorus in the next second, the accompaniment abruptly cut out, plunging the entire studio into sudden silence.

Originally, everyone had been deeply engrossed in Lu Ming's passionate performance. With the sudden cessation of the accompaniment, the emotions that had just been elevated were awkwardly left hanging.

However, the pause lasted for only three seconds before a melodious guitar strum suddenly broke the tranquility, seamlessly bridging the abruptly halted accompaniment.

Immediately afterward, the audience saw that Lu Ming, standing beneath the spotlight, had somehow already placed his microphone on a stand. Bending forward, he began playing the guitar while singing at the top of his lungs, delivering the most singable chorus of this classic hit—the high-pitched section whose sheer difficulty was enough to bar 99% of singers from attempting it!

"Even if we die, we must lo~ve~!"

"Without living it to the absolute fullest, it's not truly sati~sfying~!"

"No matter how deep the feelings, only this way is enough for a confe~ssion~!"

At this moment, Lu Ming's fully live, unedited raw vocals echoed throughout the entire studio and rang in the ears of every viewer in the live broadcast room.

That extreme high note caused almost every listener to involuntarily cast aside all distracting thoughts in their minds, even temporarily halting their thinking. Their ears were left with only Lu Ming's purest signature high notes!

Teacher Yang dropped his jaw in shock.

He hit the note!

This third-rate celebrity, using his own distinctive style, had highlighted the essence of the song's climax to absolute perfection, pushing every single word to the theoretically highest possible pitch!

What on earth is he doing?!

What the hell is this guy doing?!

If he asked himself honestly, even if he were to perform it personally, he wouldn't necessarily achieve results as good as Lu Ming's. Especially since the opponent had incorporated a seamless back-and-forth switch between chest voice and head voice; such refined technique was difficult even for him to wield with such proficiency. Yet the guy was currently detonating the entire studio using a singing style deeply imbued with his own personal characteristics.

Equally shocked were Sister Zheng and Teacher Hua, who had yet to turn their chairs around.

Earlier, they had subjectively assumed that the production team was planning to help Lu Ming lip-sync and had simply messed up. But now, listening to the melodious guitar sounds and Lu Ming's wild, heroic, and extreme high notes, the two looked at each other in blank dismay, expressions of sheer terror on their faces as if they had witnessed something unimaginably terrifying.

"How is that possible?!"

"A fully live, unedited vocal performance!"

"He's playing the guitar himself during such high-register sections? Is he out of his mind?!"

The two of them cried out in deeply shaken disbelief.

The next second.

Bang! Bang!

Two consecutive sound effects of steam jets echoed through the surroundings. Sister Zheng and Teacher Hua, both still in disbelief, finally turned their chairs around, staring in utter astonishment at the passionate youth performing on stage.

Lu Ming kept outputting without a single moment of rest!

Although he wasn't proficient in guitar playing, his [Arranging Basics] had already reached Level 3, and his knowledge of music theory was crystal clear. These disciplines were all interconnected; even though he had never eaten pork, with the sheet music firmly etched in his mind, he could play the song's accompaniment as soon as his fingers touched the strings. At this very moment, he skillfully controlled the switch between chest and head voices, continuing to belt out the song!

"Even if we die, we must lo~ve~!"

"Without crying until we smile, it's not truly sati~sfying~!"

"Even if the universe is destroyed, the heart rema~ins~!"

In this tightly paced, emotionally charged section where he belted out high notes, he flashed his skills by repeatedly alternating between real and fake vocal cords.

While maintaining those scalp-tingling high notes, advanced techniques that were extremely difficult for singers to master—such as oral resonance, nasal resonance, and head resonance—were handled by Lu Ming like a series of intricate procedures. They were processed, arranged, and interwoven almost to perfection, flowing as smoothly as moving clouds and flowing water.

You could hear a pin drop in the entire studio.

Every single spectator in the audience sat with wide-open mouths, staring at Lu Ming on stage in utter shock.

The bullet comments on the live stream instantly boiled over!

[Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap!]

[I'm too uncultured, so a single 'holy crap' is all I need to conquer the world!]

[Is this a third-rate celebrity?!]

[It's actually not lip-synced? You dare believe this isn't lip-synced?!]

[I'm blind, may I ask if Teacher Yang is holding a concert outside? I haven't heard such fierce high notes in ages. Teacher Yang has struggled in the Mandopop scene for so many years; this can truly be considered late-blooming success. He's really going to be deified this time.]

[Hahaha, stop messing around!]

[Closing your eyes, there really is zero sense of discord. His vocal style sounds like he's twenty years younger, instantly returning to his peak period, don't you think?]

[Did he ever have a peak?]

[Anyway, fans of Teacher Yang are in for a treat. Even if you asked the master himself to sing it, he couldn't hit such high notes! The third-rate celebrity's technical level is at least three stories higher than Teacher Yang's!]

[Teacher Yang: Oh no, I've become the body double!]

[Didn't they say his singing was fatal and ear-piercing? Do you call this not knowing how to sing?]

[Haters, say something!]

[The haters are stunned. This is nothing like the auditory disaster we anticipated.]

[Not just the haters, even the fans who have supported this third-rate celebrity for a year are stunned. I'd rather believe I'm dreaming than believe the person on stage right now is my big brother.]

[These high notes are way too high!]

The bullet comments boiled over completely.

Countless netizens stared in disbelief at Lu Ming, whose stage presence was maxed out on stage. Some were pleasantly surprised, some shocked, and others incredulous. The scene unfolding before their eyes had thoroughly shattered their perception of the third-rate celebrity.

"How could this happen!" Sister Zheng said in disbelief, "Others might not be clear about his singing skills, but how could I not? Has South Korea's plastic surgery technology really advanced to the point where even vocal cords can be altered?"

Gazing at her dazzling, vocally astonishing ex-boyfriend on stage, and recalling her past interactions with Lu Ming, she instantly experienced an unprecedented sense of cognitive dissonance.

Because she was still holding an egg she had prepared to throw onto the stage, her extreme shock caused it to accidentally roll onto the floor with a 'thud.' The shattered egg liquid splattered onto her ankles, prompting her to let out a shriek.

Lu Ming, who was singing the second verse on stage, noticed how shocked his old friend was. Taking advantage of the gap between lyrics, he smiled and waved at Sister Zheng: "Surprised? Amazed? Tell me loudly, is your brother Ming awesome or not!"

"..." Sister Zheng stared at the youth on stage with wide, almond-shaped eyes. The moment he opened his mouth with the microphone in hand, that jarring sense of cognitive dissonance was instantly cast aside, replaced by blazing annoyance.

What the hell are you acting cool for?!

...

"How is it possible? He was just a third-rate celebrity, how did he transform into a powerhouse singer?!" Huang Teacher stared at the dazzling youth on the live broadcast screen, his teeth itching with anger.

Wu Qian, who had tuned into the live stream specifically to watch Lu Ming make a fool of himself, also stared with wide, startled eyes: "Is this a third-rate celebrity? He couldn't even sing in tune a moment ago, and now he's suddenly had all his acupuncture points unblocked? I don't get it!!"

It was already bad enough being pranked by a third-rate celebrity all the time, but now the guy had even surpassed him in his own domain. How could the ever-competitive Qian-bao possibly endure this?

"F*** my life! Seeing this third-rate celebrity living it up is harder to stomach than killing me!"

"Why is this happening?!"

"Wait, the way he's belting these high notes is practically ten stories high! Just half a year ago, when he released a single, he couldn't even grasp basic music theory. How on earth does he have such powerful singing skills now? Did this bastard hack the system?!" Li昌封 felt it was utterly bizarre, muttering in utter shock, "It's impossible. Things shouldn't be like this."

A short while ago, a thoroughly useless third-rate celebrity was now shining brightly in the music arena. This caused Li昌封, who looked down on Lu Ming from the bottom of his heart, to nearly grind his teeth to dust at this moment.

Not for any other reason.

It was because he was also a contestant on *Who Is the King of Singers*, and prior to the competition, he had long regarded the ten-million-yuan prize for the champion of this musical variety show as being safely in his pocket.

With such a massive twist suddenly occurring—and the person threatening his status turning out to be a mere third-rate celebrity—the mere thought that the guy might become his direct competitor in the near future made him inexplicably sick to his stomach!

...

At this moment.

Even Pei Siqian, the CEO of Huayue, wore an expression of sheer disbelief: "His vocal condition right now... is he really the same person who released a single before and caused public outrage?"

"This third-rate celebrity has spent most of his year running errands and making appearances ever since he signed with Huayue; when would he ever have time to polish his singing skills? How could this happen..."

Unable to accept the reality, CEO Pei immediately dialed Song Zhe's number.

"Tell me, what on earth is going on here!"

"Boss... I'm completely baffled too! He really just became awesome all of a sudden!" Song Zhe said in panic. "But I suspect... I suspect this kid might have played all of us. Not long ago, he brought up terminating his contract with me more than once. I didn't pay much attention to it then, but comparing it to now, I think he might have intentionally caused all those troubles just to find a way out and run away!"

"Boss? Boss, are you still there?"

After a moment of silence on the other end of the line, Pei Siqian suddenly blew up like a mini-supernova, roaring: "Such an important matter, why are you only telling me now?!"

"Why didn't you say so earlier?! Why didn't you mention it sooner?! Why the f*** didn't you tell me earlier?!"

"Do you have any idea how much loss you've brought to the company, you jerk?! F***! Get your ass to the company right this second, or I swear I'll punch you straight to heaven and kill you myself!!"

Song Zhe: "..."

After the call was hung up, one was a company CEO plagued by lawsuits because Lu Ming had stirred up trouble on *Keep Running*, and the other was Huayue's top-tier manager who had been mentally exhausted by having to endure nine rounds of scolding over the past three days. Looking at Lu Ming on the live stream igniting the entire audience who were excitedly singing along, the two of them instantly felt their lungs were about to explode from fury!

They had been thoroughly and miserably conned by this damn kid!

...

"So... everything he told me before about being amazing at singing was actually true!" In front of her mobile phone screen, Dilraba stared at the youth on the live broadcast who was setting the entire stage on fire. Her exotic and charming face was filled with utter astonishment. "But if he's this talented, why did he always love acting so abstract before?"

Dilraba recalled the process of recording shows with Lu Ming, and a strong sense of cognitive dissonance suddenly washed over her.

This man was simply too baffling.

However, listening to Lu Ming's one-to-one recreation of Teacher Yang's voice—and yet surpassing the original—she temporarily had no heart to ponder such things, completely mesmerized on the spot.

...

"Damn brother, is this third-rate celebrity even human?!" The CEO of Kiwi Video was completely frozen in front of his computer. "You turned a bloody talent-variety show into a full-blown concert! And you call this 'just going out to see the world'?"

"You're the world everyone needs to see!"

Thinking of his previous fixed impression of Lu Ming and comparing it to the present, Gangzi was momentarily stimulated by the stark contrast to the point of his scalp tingling.

While pleasantly surprised and shocked, a plan that made it hard for him to suppress his excitement instantly popped into his head.

The previous live broadcast of *Keep Running* and its escalating programmatic highlights had certainly drawn a lot of new users for Kiwi Video and generated massive revenue. Tencent had also been affected to a certain extent, but in truth, this slight ripple was completely acceptable to Tencent, the undisputed big brother of the industry with its vast foundations.

After all, which platform hasn't produced one or two breakout hits?

The impact of a breakout work was destined to be temporary. Even if users went to Kiwi Video, they wouldn't completely uninstall Tencent Video. During the high-traffic window period of *Keep Running*, many users would mostly be in a coexistence period where they watched both platforms simultaneously. Once *Keep Running* ended, or if the third-rate celebrity's show effects declined, and this wave passed, a massive number of users would inevitably return to Tencent's embrace.

Gangzi knew this very well. Acquiring new users could only generate temporary revenue; whether users could be retained long-term was the key.

After all, an annual SVIP membership extracted four hundred bucks from a user's pocket in one go; how could that possibly compare to a monthly 40-yuan subscription?

Right now, Lu Ming had gone to Tencent's music variety show and displayed a level of vocal prowess that exceeded everyone's expectations. As a result, he was bound to spark unprecedented attention over at Tencent.

A music variety show didn't revolve around just one contestant, and how long does a single song take to perform anyway?

Many gossip-loving onlookers might just tune out after watching the third-rate celebrity.

But after singing over there, wouldn't the third-rate celebrity have to come back and continue broadcasting *Keep Running*?

At that time, the gossip-loving audience who had been firmly captivated by Lu Ming's stunning performance on the music show would inevitably follow him back. Thinking of this, Gangzi couldn't suppress his excitement anymore, his face flushing red on the spot.

"Pushing him onto Tencent's show this wave isn't helping the enemy; it's channeling traffic from the inside!"

"No wonder he insisted on picking a music show gig at the time. It turns out this little third-rate celebrity was hiding his true depth—he was aiming straight for the championship and the prize money all along!"

"No wonder he was willing to cause such a huge mess just to force Huayue to fire him!"

"With this kind of skill, Huayue deserved to get the boot!"

"It all makes sense now. It's all crystal clear!"

Gangzi wore an expression of sudden enlightenment, bursting with wild joy: "Third-rate celebrity, oh third-rate celebrity, you've really given me a heaven-sent surprise!"

"Doesn't this mean Tencent's moat is about to be pierced through from the inside?!"

Although, as a spectator watching the fun, he didn't understand too many professional music techniques, he still had some superficial understanding. Looking at the explosive response from the scene, he firmly believed that as long as Lu Ming could maintain this standard moving forward, winning the championship was simply a matter of time.

After all, no matter how much the production team could rig behind the scenes, with tens of millions of netizens aggressively casting votes online, who could possibly suppress a third-rate celebrity who had suddenly transformed into a powerhouse vocalist?!

...

Inside the packed-to-the-brim studio.

As Lu Ming strummed and sang, the song once again reached the chorus. The crowd in the audience seats all stood up, singing along in sync with Lu Ming's voice!

"Even if we die, we must lo~ve~!"

"Without living it to the absolute fullest, it's not truly sati~sfying~!"

"No matter how deep the feelings, only this way is enough for a confe~ssion~!"

"Even if we die, we must lo~ve~!"

"Without crying until we smile, it's not truly sati~sfying~!"

"Even if the universe is destroyed, the heart rema~ins~!"

Teacher Yang, sitting in the mentor's chair, watched Lu Ming detonate the entire audience, his old face instantly turning pitch black.

That was his damn exclusive vocal style, his personal signature style upon which his livelihood depended!

You mimic my vocal style, and yet you sing it better than me?!

Isn't this bullying an honest man?!

The atmosphere both online and offline was pushed to a climax. Lu Ming himself was infected by the audience's enthusiasm. Heaven and earth as witness, for so long after his transmigration, he had neither sung so heartily nor been so positively recognized by so many viewers at once.

As the alcohol buzz surged further and his emotions peaked, Lu Ming stood on his tiptoes. His high notes went even higher than before, and adopting Teacher Yang's signature vocal style, he roared at the top of his lungs, sounding almost desperate: "Even if we die!——"

The next second.

Under the scalp-tingling gazes of countless viewers, Lu Ming—who was practically standing on his tiptoes—instantly stiffened board-rigid. Then, with a loud 'thump,' he fell straight to the ground. After rolling around in place, he lay flat on the floor with a stiff body, his limbs rigid, twitching violently while muttering 'must love' under his breath.

[???]

[Holy crap!]

[He sang... himself... to fainting!]

[Quick, someone get my third-rate celebrity brother an oxygen mask!]

...

Seeking monthly votes.