Chapter 104: Stage-bursting Live! 《light Years Away》
Yang Zi: “?”
“Peng Chen is just popular now, but in the future, the one who will be popular is definitely Chi Ye, Asia’s superstar!”
He was quite indignant… but in his heart, he was thinking, damn, why am I not close to Peng Chen…
It seems he needs to go back and inquire, see what program Peng Chen has joined recently, and squeeze in to get familiar…
Rubbing off a top streamer is definitely more satisfying than Chi Ye!
Thinking this way, Yang Zi kept a calm face, took the balloon and sat in his seat, nose in the air.
“Certain Ye Fan’s resin is so low.”
Chicken Feet Sister-in-law curled her lip; she wasn’t targeting Chi Ye, just… seeing Chicken Feet Zhang wearing Chi Ye’s support outfit made her very unhappy.
Chicken Feet Zhang gave a cold sidelong glance: “That old sprayer also deserves to compare with the captain? The captain’s height crushes him!”
“Brainless Fan pharmacy beilian!”
“Admirer of the strong only knows edge rubbing!”
“……”
Ex-girlfriend, ex-boyfriend, ex-ex-boyfriend, ex-ex-girlfriend… Rise’s internal relationships are quite chaotic, and at this moment, all were fighting for their respective main idols, drawing sidelong glances from the surrounding crowd.
The assistant director who had been closely watching the situation here was terrified: “……No, still carry them out… Why do I always have this ominous premonition…”
“Prepare to go live.”
The chief director had entered work mode—due to various major incidents and public opinion online recently, this episode of 《Voice of Nature》’s popularity and attention were simply off the charts.
He felt a bit stirred up and confirmed the broadcast.
The live broadcast screen connected, directly cutting to the rear studio.
At this moment, the first group to take the stage, Teacher Han + Teacher Sun’s king bomb combo, were taking deep breaths; it was obvious that even they felt a bit nervous about today’s scene.
The live broadcast room’s bullet comments exploded.
「Aaaah!! Teacher Han!」
「Came specifically to see Hu Ye’s jokes.」
「Came specifically for jokes +1, if Hu Ye doesn’t come last today, it’s program team black curtain.」
「Just came back from several UP masters, laughed me to death, they roast so well, saying Hu Ye’s singing is like mosquito humming, hahaha.」
「Black fans enough already, your main idol couldn’t write 《Confession Balloon》 in this lifetime!」
「Still on about Confession Balloon? Someone already exposed that the program team pre-arranged the script, did you write it yourself?」
“These people… these people, too brainless, all paid commenters, right?!”
In the villa.
Global Warming and her girlfriend sat in the movie viewing room, the tens-of-millions-level audiovisual-integrated viewing room they spent a fortune to build, connected to the tablet.
She was outputting back and forth with those black fans in the bullet comments, but found there were too many, couldn’t fight them, and got angry.
“These must be black fans! I just saw several of Little Ye Zi’s bullet comments get deleted!”
The girlfriend beside her: “……”
Bored: “Sigh, what’s the point of chasing stars, really don’t know what meaning there is in being busy with this all day.”
“You don’t understand.”
Global Warming shook her head; her girlfriend never chased stars, only liked going to bars to hook up with handsome guys, um… she thought it was too meaningless, really not as fulfilling as watching her idol climb higher and higher, getting better and better under “their” support.
“Yes, I don’t understand, so can I go?”
“No, today Chi Ye is singing, you must stay and listen with me, then I’ll go out with you.”
“……Fine fine… By the way, maybe Chi Ye should do a bar residency, he looks so good, then there’d be a chance to hit on him.”
“Stop dreaming, my brother is a popular singer now, how could he go to a bar.”
Global Warming scoffed, adding: “And Teacher Chi forever belongs to Xia Xia, you’re dreaming of eating shit.”
Girlfriend: “?”
“Huh.”
Here, Global Warming had already surprisingly noticed that many of the bullet comments blacking Chi Ye from earlier had disappeared.
What was going on?
Platform grew a conscience?
……
On the other side, United States.
Jin Xia looked at a room full of team members + temporary hires, hands on hips, very angry: “All of you keep reporting, 100 extra bonus per successful report! 1500 for ten successful!”
“Got it, boss!”
The many employees operating AI very proficiently all nodded, full of energy.
Jin Xia said nothing, just went to her computer, hunched over, head down, single-mindedly reporting!
But not long after, many employees not paying attention to the program lifted their heads, one by one drawn by the singing on stage.
“Damn, too awesome…”
“Sounds so good.”
“Teacher Han and Teacher Sun’s combo is simply invincible!”
Jin Xia puzzled, lifted her head, perky little ears perked up, suspiciously listened to two lines, then said: “Not good, not as good as Teacher Chi!”
Everyone: “……”
“Keep reporting!”
“……Okay.”
Everyone inexplicably lost energy.
……
Teacher Han and Teacher Sun were the first duo to take the stage and sing this episode.
After last episode’s “defeat,” this time, the two teachers were clearly serious, their mutual singing styles, song choices, even high notes, stage effects, all reached perfection.
The live performance atmosphere was once exploded by the singing, Teacher Han’s clear voice seemed to purify all stray thoughts and thoughts in everyone’s hearts.
The song ended, applause at the live performance lasted a long time.
The many singer duos in the backstage studio all looked at each other.
“Wow… what’s going on, why does it feel like everyone in this program is a monster.”
Professional cannon fodder Huang Yixiao half-acted, half-sincerely covered his mouth and shook his head, desperately looking at his partner: “This… how do we compete?”
“Too strong, excessively strong.”
Teacher Na’s face also grew serious—their group was the second to take the stage today, but with Teacher Han and Teacher Sun’s first group singing so well… a lot of pressure.
Sister Qianzi had already started closing her eyes and deep breathing, adjusting her unconsciously racing heart.
Not nervous, not nervous…
Hm?
She suddenly noticed that Chi Ye was also listening to the song with a serious face, but his expression wasn’t as “panicked” as hers.
“?”
Acting what!
She turned her head away.
“?”
Chi Ye didn’t notice Sister Qianzi’s emotions that were as inexplicable as a woman’s big auntie, turned his head, puzzledly looked at her twice, then leaned toward Teacher Shi whose hands and feet were ice-cold: “I know your level, especially this song fits you almost perfectly, everyone has different song choices, can’t really play to strengths, but we can this time… so, don’t be nervous.”
Teacher Shi was stunned.
This was the first time Chi Ye had seriously comforted her like this.
Um… without that honey-smeared little mouth, she was a bit unaccustomed.
“Okay.”
She nodded softly and weakly, her mood inexplicably settling.
—Because Chi Ye really didn’t know how to write the words “nervous”!
When Teacher Han and Teacher Sun returned backstage, he cheerfully stood up to shake hands: “Too strong, Teacher Han, Teacher Sun.”
“Hey, don’t say that, good luck, you guys good luck too later.”
Teacher Han waved his hand, actually very happy inside.
Because they themselves were very satisfied with this performance.
But this satisfaction soon turned into regret and sigh.
—Teacher Na and Shi Jinwei’s group took the stage.
“Alright, our turn.”
Teacher Na called to Shi Jinwei; one a music industry senior, one a popular top streamer, last episode’s performance wasn’t great.
But this episode, both were clearly holding in a breath.
Although due to Shi Jinwei’s natural voice style, Teacher Na couldn’t use her signature butterfly resonance, precisely because of that, the clash of their different voice styles sparked intense fireworks on this episode’s stage.
Sister Qianzi could rely on strength to reach this position; she had real stuff.
That signature “smoky voice” explosiveness was shockingly powerful, several high notes directly shaking the live performance with adrenaline surging.
Compared to Teacher Han and Teacher Sun’s “soft,” Teacher Na and Shi Jinwei’s group was “explosive.”
The song ended, the hall fell silent.
Teacher Na and Shi Jinwei returned backstage; the other singers in the studio were dumbfounded, slamming tables in acclaim.
“Teacher Na, Teacher Na!”
“Weiwei, your condition today was too good.”
“With this strength, you could switch to full-time singer.”
Teacher Na and Shi Jinwei smiled, especially Shi Jinwei; after the perfect performance, shedding the burden, she relaxed completely, her pair of treasure-blue eyes occasionally glancing at Chi Ye.
No words, but the meaning clear: Little brother, you can’t do it.
How will you win this time?
Chi Ye didn’t notice her gaze at all, because right after Teacher Na’s group finished, it was his and Shi Daifu’s turn.
“Let’s go.”
He stood up, Teacher Shi followed and stood, her fingers accidentally brushing Chi Ye’s arm, ice-cold to the extreme.
Chi Ye was stunned.
“Really no need to be nervous, this song will become your most explosive representative work, believe me.”
He lowered his voice, pointing at Shi Jinwei: “See, she’s an actor and sang so well, you’re a little diva, what are you afraid of?”
Teacher Shi’s pretty face flushed red; she was very embarrassed now… she really couldn’t control her nervousness, not just this time, before too, especially closer to taking the stage, severe cases even a bit suffocating.
But all that, the instant she took the stage and opened her mouth, would cease to exist.
—Chi Ye was absolutely certain of this.
“Good luck.”
“Xiao Chi, Xiao Shi, good luck.”
Teacher Han and Teacher Wang cheered them on; the others were quiet.
Seemingly eyes closed adjusting overly nervous breathing, actually just didn’t want to acknowledge, didn’t want to acknowledge Chi Ye.
Chi Ye said nothing, made an okay gesture, and with a smiling face led Shi Daifu onto the stage.
……
「Weiwei! Weiwei!!」
「So explosive! Weiwei and Teacher Na’s teacher-student CP, I’m hooked to death!」
「This third one Hu Ye is gonna bomb hahaha.」
「What? Hu Ye is third to perform?」
「Lmao, fast forward fast forward! I wanna see if Hu Ye is as bad as others say.」
“Paid commenters decreased a lot, but still some!”
Global Warming finished outputting, angrily put down the tablet.
“Sigh, these aren’t paid commenters, they’re normal netizen comments.”
The girlfriend had listened with great interest just now, got a bit interested in the program, but not much.
“Chi Ye is third to perform? Then hurry up and finish, we can go out.”
“……Though the first two combos sang really well today… don’t know if Teacher Chi and Teacher Shi can do it…”
Global Warming originally had confidence in Chi Ye, but Teacher Han’s group and Teacher Na’s group’s performances today were much better than last episode.
Then Teacher Chi’s ranking today…
Thinking this, the top-tier stereo in the viewing room suddenly went thump.
The program team’s lavishly built exquisite stage suddenly dimmed, then suddenly lit up bright as day.
At center stage, Chi Ye wore a tailored black slim-fit suit, the silver accessories at his collar shining under the lights like brilliant stars in a distant galaxy.
Teacher Shi stood beside him, in a flowing white off-shoulder long dress, the skirt hem flowing with fine shimmering light like a galaxy, displaying her gentle and graceful temperament to the fullest.
The program team’s live shot showed their song choice for this episode, the niche theme everyone knew—“time space.”
“This stage effect, is it 《Star River Brilliant》?”
Below stage, Yang Zi, Chicken Feet Zhang, Jiang Mou, and the sister-in-law group guessed.
On stage, Chi Ye didn’t see his “good brothers” and “sisters-in-law”; his emotions calm, he held hands with Teacher Shi and walked to the center.
The gorgeous stage began to change, like a mysterious cosmic space with floating irregular glowing star props.
Soft blue and purple lights intertwined, simulating the profundity of vast starry sky and time vortex.
The program team subtitles changed; the shot showed the name of their sung work.
—《Light Years Away》
—Lyric Writing: Chi Ye.
—Composition: Chi Ye.
—Singing: Shi Daifu, Chi Ye.
“Another original new song?!”
Uninformed singers like Huang Yixiao were surprised.
Teacher Na and Shi Jinwei etc. raised eyebrows.
《Light Years Away》…
This was the “time space” theme original new song Chi Ye tinkered with for a week?
Can it be good…
Teacher Na sneered inwardly.
But the next moment, her smile stiffened.
Crisp piano notes lightly leaped out.
Just like morning dew sliding off grass tips, crystal clear yet brimming with vitality, pure and bright.
And led by the piano melody, the string section gradually surged in like tides.
The violin’s lingering and winding timbre like twinkling stars in the night sky, gentle and bright; the viola and cello’s deep rich resonance like steadily flowing nebulae in the boundless universe.
This… this prelude, this piece…
Teacher Na sat straight up, mouth agape.
Chi Ye turned, looked at Shi Daifu, his magnetic voice easily piercing the entire venue:
“Feel the fingertips at my hair ends”
“How they freeze time in an instant”
Shi Daifu turned her head, almond eyes looking at Chi Ye; as he expected, all anxiety and unease vanished in this moment, Little Diva Shi’s exquisite singing style rang out like heavenly sound:
“Remember the firm gaze in my eyes”
“Maybe there is no tomorrow”
At the live performance, backstage, all audience and singers hearing these two unfamiliar yet exceptionally good verse segments were all stunned for a second.
Immediately after—
“wow~! This……?!”
Huang Yixiao without acting skills purely emotionally covered his mouth: “There’s a bomb?!”
Teacher Na turned back to look at Peng Chen; Teacher Yang this moment also turned back to Peng Chen.
Peng Chen: “?”
No, how can he sing this well?!
And… this melody and lyrics… which ghostwriter wrote it for him?!
On stage, this was just a simple beginning.
Chi Ye and Teacher Shi finished the opening duet, turned to face the audience; their heavenly voices, boosted by world-class stereo, pierced the entire venue, rising step by step like climbing a mountain with the rhythm:
“Fate let us meet beyond the chaos”
“Destiny wants us to love amid peril”
“Maybe the future is distant light years away”
“I will wait for you in the unknown”
Whoa!
The dense audience below stage instantly exploded, reacting.
“What song?! What’s this song?!”
“So good so good so good!”
“My god, immortal duet…”
“This verse comes so early?”
Some audience thought this was the chorus.
The next moment, the real chorus rang out.
Shi Daifu’s pitch instantly peaked: “I didn’t expect”
“For you I can go crazy to”
“Mountain collapse tsunami”
“Without you I don’t wanna escape”
“My brain”
“For you already crazy to”
“Pulse heartbeat”
“Without you fundamentally unimportant”
“OMG…!”
Below stage, Chicken Feet Zhang, Jiang Mou, Yang Zi sister-in-law group etc. whose attention wasn’t on this originally, all gaped, dumbfounded “watching” the two on stage.
Backstage, Shi Jinwei leaned on the sofa, finally understanding why Chi Ye wouldn’t let her “eavesdrop” back then.
This song… had to be heard for the first time on such a stage to not waste her participating in this music variety.
At stage edges, transparent columnar crystals arranged in tiers, built-in laser lights flashing intermittently, like particles leaping in a time cave.
The audience seats enveloped in dreamy halos, illuminating every face below—mouth agape, shocked, screaming.
Chi Ye’s voice instantly pulled everyone’s ears back.
“A pair of arms around my chest”
“Enough to withstand world spinning”
“A stubborn refusal to let go”
“Enough to ignite all hope”
Shi Daifu’s white dress flowing, hair accessories exquisite, as if traversing time floods, looping.
“Universe vast and cold”
“Our love tiny yet flickering”
“Bumpy yet so selfless”
Buzz.
The transparent columnar crystals on stage suddenly all converged toward the central two, like a time cage; nebulae flipping, constantly repeating, looping, trapping the two, unable to walk out, unable to escape.
Chi Ye’s singing style with sorrow:
“Maybe beyond the loop is a dream from which we can’t wake”
“Beyond the chaos is pure embrace”
The picture froze, voices stopped; the two faced the audience again, pitch raised to the 《Light Years Away》 live extreme, up 6 keys:
“I didn’t expect for you I can go crazy to”
“Mountain collapse tsunami without you I don’t wanna escape”
“My brain for you already crazy to”
“Pulse heartbeat without you fundamentally unimportant”
The live performance instantly went mad!
“Aaaah!!”
“Teacher Chi! Teacher Chi!”
“My god, eardrums gonna shatter!”
“What virtue did I accumulate last life to hear this immortal live?!”
Audience went mad, everyone backstage also dumbfounded, mouths agape, incredulous.
“This… this is his current live level?”
Teacher Na incredulous; this was completely different from last episode’s 《Rose in the Palm》, full firepower.
‘This time true live no lip sync without doubt…’
‘Can’t black this point anymore.’
Shi Jinwei thought, her treasure-blue eyes fixed on the shot’s Shi Daifu who had completely transformed, utmost confident and beautiful.
—This song would become her career’s representative work, perhaps unmatched.
—This song would become my career’s representative work, perhaps unmatched…
With one.
This was Chi Ye’s thought at the moment.
Their gazes met, then faced the audience, finale:
“Meet beyond chaos love amid peril”
“Meet beyond chaos love amid peril”
“I didn’t expect”
Paused, lights dimmed, the time loop cave gradually faded from audience sight.
Lights brightened again; the just-boiling live performance went silent for a second—then applause and screams thundered, more exaggerated than the previous two.
“Aaaah!!”
“Perfect! Perfect!”
“Immortal! Immortal!!”
“One more, one more!!”
Bullet comments full screen question marks, silent for long.
“……Thank you, thank you everyone.”
Chi Ye and Shi Daifu only picked up mics after the live performance voices quieted a bit.
But just two sentences, the live performance exploded again.
“One more! One more!!”
“What song! What song!!”
“I can’t take it, I’m dying aaa!!”
The two could only stop; Teacher Shi’s face regained some unease and slight tension.
The host took a while to come on stage, still stunned: “Wow… my god, really too amazing… hiss… both teachers, thank you for putting this song’s stage on 《Voice of Nature》.”
Whoa.
Applause rose for the third time now.
“Too much hype.”
Backstage crowd heard, Hua Yichen who hadn’t come back to his senses for long snapped out, cursing inwardly.
But his heart at this moment, with Chi Ye and Shi Daifu’s performance end—cooled.
Today… seems… possibly… he was gonna be stepped on again?
“Thank you.”
On stage, Chi Ye and Shi Daifu thanked.
The host aptly cued the topic: “Wanna ask, why did both teachers choose the “time space” theme? And how… in such short time, create this song?”
Teacher Shi looked at Chi Ye, said nothing.
Chi Ye naturally took the topic: “Um… choosing the time space theme was mainly because of a drama I lead-acted in, 《Loop》, it’s called 《Loop》, hope everyone pays attention, should meet everyone in this summer slot.”
“Then… 《Light Years Away》 is its theme song; because I acted in this drama, when I saw this theme, I got inspiration, and this song.”
“Wow… must be a very exciting story.”
The host nodded, even cuing audience: “Please everyone follow Teacher Chi’s new drama 《Loop》.”
Response below stage, bullet comments surged.
「Follow! Follow!」
「After this song, hard not to follow 《Loop》.」
「Director Zhang send money!」
Director Zhang, nervously following the program today, saw the bullet comments, grinned to his molars.
Chi Ye, you are fucking awesome!
You really promoted it for me!!
Damn, this money well spent!
“So… next wanna ask Teacher Shi, your performance and outbreak today……”
On stage host started cuing Shi Daifu.
After 《Rose in the Palm》, Teacher Shi had gained popularity, but subsequent various major incidents and controversies made her reputation bad again.
But after today… Little Diva, revived.
6K big chapter, making up the last 2K words owed for alliance leader update.
Evening also monthly ticket additional update
Also, thanks to 【Baihua Family’s Mo】 for making the 《Light Years Away》 duet version easter egg chapter, I put it at the end, not exactly like in the book, but interested babies can listen.
