Chapter 49: The Flop Star Goes Wild! The Internet's Ultimate Voice! Roasting the Heavens, the Earth, and the Air! [Monthly Votes Requested]

[This bro has so much entertainment value!]
[Please forgive me for laughing ungratefully.]
[Wait, the vibe is so hyped up and you drop a plot twist like this?! Also, having convulsions while singing on stage—this suddenly reminds me of an old acquaintance. Is it just my imagination?]
[Teacher Hua officially endorses this!]
[Damn it! You guys are too ridiculous, I laughed so hard I'm having spasms!]
[A washed-up star's singing is as fatal as ever. It used to kill the audience, now it's killing himself!]
[Confirmed: the high notes earlier were lip-synced by a ghostwriter, his soul was temporarily possessed, and now this is the real owner logging into the account.]
[If you put it that way, this deranged move actually hits the right spot.]
[Even like this, he's still keeping up with the lyrics. This is what you call true dedication!]
[Is seriously no one concerned about the contestant's life or death? Such a massive live broadcast accident has happened, yet not only are you apathetic, you're also mocking him here. Doesn't your conscience hurt?!]
[Asking that question just shows you haven't watched his show enough.]
[……]

The scene instantly descended into chaos.
"Are you alright?!" Sister Zheng rushed onto the stage to check on him at the very first moment.
When she locked eyes with Lü Ming, the guy suddenly acted as if he had recovered, flashing a row of pristine white teeth: "Not dead yet!"
"Are you out of your mind?!" Sister Zheng's expression dropped in a second.
She stamped her foot in anger, then fiercely kicked Lü Ming in the leg before walking away, looking somewhat satisfied.

By this time, the entire studio had fallen into complete disorder. The moment the audience saw Lü Ming interacting with Sister Zheng and then immediately popping back up as if nothing had happened, an eruption of laughter filled the entire hall.

Teacher Yang and Teacher Hua couldn't laugh. At this moment, one of them had a face as red as a purple-skinned garlic, while the other furrowed his brow, his entire face turning blackish-green.
"What the fuck! Using my singing style, adopting my persona, and now putting on a whole act right here in front of all the viewers? Damn it, you really have quite the pretentious arrogance!" Teacher Yang felt as though his lungs were about to explode from anger.
He suddenly felt a crushing sense of violation, as if something he cherished most had been trampled upon. Thinking of this, Teacher Yang was so disgusted that he clenched his fists so tightly his fingernails dug deep into his flesh.
If this washed-up hack doesn't die, will there even be any place left for him in the Chinese Mandopop music scene in the future?
When the time comes, if a washed-up hack becomes the representative artist of this genre, he, the founding pioneer, might end up being labeled as a "knock-off beggar-edition washed-up hack."
The mere thought of this filled Teacher Yang's heart with a thick, heavy sense of crisis.
The washed-up hack must die!

Listening to the laughter rolling in from the audience and seeing quite a few people pointing fingers in his direction, Teacher Hua managed to maintain his composure on the surface, but internally he was already cursing up a storm: "What the hell is he implying? What are those convulsions supposed to mean? He must be taking a dig at me. This bastard did this absolutely on purpose!"

……

Not long after.
Lü Ming strode radiant and refreshed to the front of the stage.
The host Zhang Dada also walked up holding a microphone: "Not bad, not bad. I'm quite satisfied with Xiaoming's performance today. I really didn't expect you to actually get turned around by a full three mentors. Achieving such an outstanding result on your very first time participating in a music reality show, your heart must be pounding with excitement right now, right?"
His tone was dripping with condescension, and even the casual onlookers could sense the arrogant undertone in this rising-star host's voice.

"Did you just call me Xiaoming?" Lü Ming cast a disdainful glance at Zhang Dada: "Call me Brother Ming!"
Zhang Dada: "?"
Do you have any fucking idea who you're talking to?
In all his time as a host, which death-seeking contestant had ever dared to disrespect him like this?
Zhang Dada's face darkened instantly: "Wait a minute..."
"Wait a minute what? Did you enjoy feeding on my negative internet traffic these past couple of days?" Lü Ming looked at Zhang Dada with contempt: "And you're 'quite satisfied'? Who the hell do you think you are? Do I need your satisfaction to do my job? Landing an interview with your Brother Ming on your first gig as a host, your heart must be pounding with excitement right now, right? After all, given your caliber, being able to participate in the same show as me really counts as climbing up to a high branch."
"I..." Zhang Dada choked with rage, his expression twisting instantly.
"You what? Just hearing your effeminate voice makes me feel disgusted. Let me ask you, with your professional competence and vocal conditions, how on earth did you secure the position of host? Did your family members have to sneakily kneel and kowtow to the show's producers just to shoehorn you into this program?"
"I'm just saying, as a host who got in through the back door, wouldn't it be better to honestly keep your tail tucked between your legs? Putting on such a high and mighty act for who to see? Are you putting on a show for those parents of yours who had to beg everyone everywhere just to squeeze you onto this show?"
"I think you must have gone completely out of your mind trying to get a piece of your Brother Ming's traffic, haven't you?"
"Since you love attention so much, I'll give you all the screen time you want right now. Are you satisfied now? Are you thrilled now?!"

Lü Ming, radiating alcoholic bravado, pointed straight at the oily-faced young man standing before him and rebuked him severely.
Over the past few days, Teacher Yang and Teacher Hua had been the most aggressive in feeding off his negative traffic, and right after them was this host who had no connection to him whatsoever.
Before the show started, Zhang Dada had maintained a schedule of updating his social media three times a day, either harshly reviewing him for seeking attention through shocking stunts or accusing him of using backdoor connections to participate in this music show.
Moreover, every single time, he would actively tag Lü Ming's personal account, demanding a response in absolute terms.
His thirst for traffic had reached an almost extreme level.
Lü Ming couldn't even be bothered to give such a clown any screen time, which was why he hadn't responded until now. But not responding didn't mean he didn't care. Now that they were face-to-face and this sissy still dared to act so arrogant, Lü Ming naturally wasn't going to give him any pleasant expressions.

Zhang Dada was left utterly speechless by the verbal beatdown, his face rapidly flushing red as a look of total bewilderment filled his eyes.
Although he really *had* obtained the position through connections, weren't these exact words the ones he himself had posted on Weibo a few days ago to question Lü Ming about backdoor entries?
He's using all my lines!!

At that very moment, he could practically feel the audience staring at him with mocking gazes. Fueled by raging fury, he dropped his facade completely and glared with wide eyes: "Washed-up hack!!"
"Wait, as a host, do you have any basic manners left? On the internet you call me a washed-up hack and I let it slide, but now in broad daylight you publicly use a derogatory term against me. Isn't that a bit presumptuous?"
"How can someone like you lack even the most basic etiquette? How do you even have the face to be a host?"
"Why is your face as red as a monkey's ass? Did you achieve your goal and get so happy you lost it?"
Zhang Dada: "???"
I have no manners? I'm presumptuous?!
To be able to utter such shameless words with a straight face, have you washed-up hacks completely thrown away your shame?

Realizing the washed-up hack was starting his antics again, and knowing Zhang Dada was used to bullying others—always making people cater to him in the industry while even seniors mostly treated him with kid gloves—the production crew grew somewhat anxious. To suddenly be treated with such utter ruthlessness by a contestant, being chewed out right to his face, inevitably caused him to lose emotional control.
They were actually quite terrified that these two might start throwing punches right there on stage. Zhang Dada might not have the guts, but the washed-up hack definitely did!
Under the director's rapid instructions, a staff member hurried onto the stage to salvage the situation, quickly pulling the humiliated Zhang Dada away and dragging him to the backstage area, thereby averting a live broadcast disaster.

Just at that moment, a staff member came over holding a steaming cup of tea: "Da-ge, that washed-up hack is just a lunatic. Don't lower yourself to his level. Have a cup of tea to calm your anger."
"Drink your mother! Are you trying to die? Tell me, are you trying to die?!" Zhang Dada snatched the tea and splashed it directly into the young woman's face, immediately following up with a barrage of punches and kicks against her: "Is he a lunatic? Do I fucking need you to remind me?"
"No, can't you see how annoyed I am? The moment I walked over you rushed right up within a second. Are you fucking intentionally coming over here to watch me make a fool of myself?!"
"Kneel down for me! Did you hear me? Kneel down and kowtow!"

Meanwhile, quite a heated controversy was unfolding in the live-streaming chat room.
[This guy has zero manners. How can he treat a host like that?]
[Disrespecting people like this, isn't he afraid of his fanbase collapsing?!]
[Are upstairs folks new here? His career is already a wasteland of ruins, how much more can it collapse?]
[Even so, at least consider the viewing experience of the audience. And the host didn't even provoke him, where did all that anger come from?]
[Washed-up hack, get ready to be blasted by Dalíyuan!]
[Oh, give me a break. If you went and checked that Zhang Dada's recent posts, you wouldn't be saying that. Zhang Dada has been frantically feeding on the washed-up hack's tragedy for views, doing nothing all day except leeching traffic off him.]
[I won't say anything if the washed-up hack scolds others, but for scolding this Zhang Dada, I'm applauding!]

The netizens' debate didn't last very long.
With the combat-level-five host forced to flee in defeat, Teacher Yang, who had been holding back for a long time, could no longer contain himself. With an ungracious look on his face, he interrogated the stage: "Why did you copy my voice!"
"Nonsense, this is clearly my own voice. How is it copying you?" Lü Ming said dismissively.
Teacher Yang: "???"
Such a brazen display of talking nonsense with eyes wide open from a washed-up hack.
Teacher Yang's face turned beet red, looking as though he had been thoroughly cooked. He stood up directly and accused:
"You casually pervert my signature style, twisting and spoofing it on top of that. You are adding legs to a snake—it's a severe infringement on my copyright and an assault on my personal dignity!!"
"Especially at the end, pulling off some kind of fainting stunt for comedic effect. Do you think this is funny? This is a music reality show, a competition to select a king of singers, not some variety show meant to amuse the audience!"
"Come on, please show some basic respect for human decency, okay?"
"Seeing you like this just makes my blood boil!"

Seeing that Lü Ming was still standing on stage with a grinning face, picking his ear with his pinky finger despite his serious inquiry, Teacher Yang rolled up his sleeves, displaying the impulse to rush onto the stage and punch Lü Ming. It was obvious he had truly turned bright red with rage, and though Teacher Hua held him back from the side, he still looked utterly aggrieved.

"Teacher Yang, look at what you're saying. Do I need to submit a formal application letter to you just to decide what style of singing I should use?"
"Family in the live chat, I'm so scared. I feel like Teacher Yang, acting so unreasonable right now, might rush onto the stage and punch me at any second!"
"..." Teacher Yang was fuming so hard smoke was practically coming out of his seven orifices: "I am trying to reason with you, talk to me properly!"
"Oh, then let me talk properly. May I ask, Teacher Yang, when you casually review me online, launching a series of actions including spreading rumors, smearing, criticizing, and even inciting fans to cyber-bully and hurl abuse at me—don't you find yourself unable to sleep at night because you've done too many malicious things during the day? Pressuring a child like this, doesn't your conscience hurt?"
"Leeching off human tragedy to attract eyeballs, building your happiness on my suffering, and calling upon fans to cyber-bully me—you're no musician at all, you're clearly a 'gloomy fiend'! You don't have a single drop of human decency in you. Do you have to drive me to my death before you're satisfied?!"
"Wuu wuu wuu... My life is so miserable!!"

Teacher Yang: "???"
Teacher Yang, who had originally been furious beyond belief, froze as he listened to Lü Ming's vivid and exaggerated accusations. The next second, thick veins bulged across his forehead in pure rage.
How old are you to call yourself a child?
Wuu wuu wuu? Wuu your grandma!
Facing Lü Ming's sarcastic and infuriating attitude, why was he finding it so deeply disgusting?
If he could really drive this washed-up hack to his death back then, what a wonderful blessing that would have been!
"How did I cyber-bully you? This is a live broadcast, and all the netizens are watching. I'm warning you, you'd better not talk nonsense, or else I'll sue you for defamation!" Teacher Yang's expression turned solemn.

Lü Ming snorted with laughter: "Then please tell me, why have you repeatedly reviewed me on social media platforms since half a year ago, organizing your fans to hurl abuse at me, and then frequently speaking out these past few days? If that isn't cyber-bullying, what is?"
"Freedom of speech." Teacher Yang felt as though his brain was about to short-circuit before he managed to come up with a retort:
"Everyone has the right to speak out on the internet and the obligation to supervise the behavior of public figures. As a public figure, if one performs poorly, one should actively accept criticism. I was merely doing it out of a duty to maintain the internet environment. If you hold a grudge against me because of these matters, then I am very sorry, but I had to do it!"
"Are you the one feeling aggrieved now?" Lü Ming sneered: "I think you were just driven by a thirst for traffic."

Teacher Yang stared at Lü Ming with an unkind look.
His statement had been airtight; what kind of fault could a young man with little worldly experience possibly pick?
To his absolute shock, Lü Ming exploded the very next second:
"Since you love supervising so much, why didn't you go supervise those Heavenly Kings, Heavenly Queens, Best Actors, and Best Actresses? Wasn't there an acquaintance of yours who got busted for prostitution not long ago? On Baidu Encyclopedia, that person's relationship with you is listed as 'close friend.' When you held your concert last time, that person even came to make a cameo appearance as your guest singer. May I ask, since you love maintaining the internet environment so much, and that incident caused such a massive uproar a while ago, how come we didn't see you step up to voice your opinion?"
"Is it because you both did it, but the police only caught him and didn't catch you?"

[???]
[Holy crap!]
[This is way too explosive!]
[Isn't this supposed to be a music show? Why are they tearing into each other right on stage?]
[If you're going to broadcast it like this, then I'm definitely sitting up straight to watch.]
[Such a huge piece of gossip!]

The live stream chat instantly blew up.
Oh no.
I forgot to edit the Encyclopedia!
At that moment, Teacher Yang's brain was working so hard it was practically smoking. He never dreamed that this damn washed-up hack would dare to drop a bombshell on him right at the recording site of the show—has he lost his mind?!

pummeled by Lü Ming's barrage of questions, Teacher Yang's voice turned shrill: "Washed-up hack! I'm warning you, as a public figure, you must bear legal responsibility for the words you speak!"
"No problem, so please answer my question directly. Don't you like reviewing things? Why didn't you evaluate that incident?" Lü Ming pressed on.
Teacher Yang stubbornly argued: "What's there to evaluate? So many things happen on the internet every day, my energy is limited, how could I possibly know about everything?"
"Is all your energy spent on how to leech traffic off me?" Lü Ming scoffed: "Besides, you only finished holding your concert a month ago. With Teacher Yang's terrible memory, who would ever dare to make friends with you? One minute it's 'brother this, brother that, call your brother whenever you need,' and the next minute it's 'brother is busy, brother is far away, brother's phone number cannot be reached.'"
"You really are something else!"

Teacher Yang: "..."
He was choked so badly by Lü Ming that he couldn't utter a single word in response. With a loud plop, he slumped limply into his chair, deflation instantly replacing his aggressive stance from just a second ago.
Every single word this bastard uttered had multiple traps buried in it; no matter how he responded, there would be a problem!

Seeing Teacher Yang being driven to a speechless and even sweat-drenched state by the washed-up hack, Teacher Hua stepped in to back him up: "Don't try to change the subject. Please answer the question directly about spoofing Teacher Yang. Don't you think what you did was unethical?!"
"Alright, Teacher Hua." Lü Ming responded with an obedient, honest demeanor:
"Just as Teacher Yang said, creative freedom—everyone has the right to create, and likewise the obligation to contribute bricks and tiles to the Chinese Mandopop music scene!"

Teacher Yang: "???"
Aren't those my exact lines from just a moment ago?
He stared suspiciously at the young man speaking eloquently on stage, wanting to see just what kind of reasoning this bastard washed-up hack could pull out.

"To be honest, I'm actually a fan of Teacher Yang. In my childhood, I quite liked his constipation-like musical style. It was precisely because I was influenced by Teacher Yang back then that I ended up accomplishing nothing in the field of music all these years."
"Some time ago, bro fired that heartless company Huayue. Coincidentally, this music show was in preparation. After deep reflection and a thorough review, I finally identified the root cause of my failures over the years. Therefore, while retaining my basic foundation, I added just a tiny little bit of singing technique sensed from Teacher Yang, which resulted in today's outcome."
"Yet never in my wildest dreams did I expect that Teacher Yang would react so intensely, even rolling up his sleeves to come up on stage and punch me!"
"I believe anyone with eyes can see that Teacher Yang, this tumor growing on the body of the Chinese Mandopop music scene, feels that I sing better than he does, and thus jealousy has flared in his heart, making him want to destroy me publicly. Brothers, the sky of the Chinese Mandopop music scene is dark! There are warlords here, don't sing! To protect their status, the big shots take suppressing the younger generation as their mission!!"

[God damn you firing Huayue.]
[Saying his musical style is like constipation right to Teacher Yang's face—are you being polite?]
[Someone finally helped me say the thoughts I've harbored in my heart all these years right in front of Teacher Yang. So cathartic!]
[Because of Teacher Yang's influence, you accomplished nothing in music all these years—are you even listening to yourself speak?]
[I'm dying of laughter, damn it! How can this washed-up hack have so many jokes up his sleeve?]
[I recognize every single character, but strung together into sentences from his mouth, they immediately turn completely unhinged!]
[One must admit, in this genre which we shall temporarily call the constipation-singing track, the washed-up hack is truly the master of the craft. Even Teacher Yang didn't have this kind of vocal penetration when he was young.]
[Though I'm a hater of Ming, I approve of this point.]

I'll definitely make it three updates today. I've gradually gotten into the rhythm these past two days, so don't worry everyone. If I can't finish writing the next chapter, I won't go to sleep. The author is going back to type.