I Am A Prodigy

The crowd boiled over with excitement and the live stream went into a frenzy.

[Ahhh, Taotao! I love you!]

[My Taotao is still the best! Singing, dancing, and rapping. He’s good at all of it!]

[My Taotao is the king of singers! I love you to death!]

[Quick, go vote for Taotao! He’s actually taking part in King of Masked Singers. What a surprise!]

[I’ll go campaign for him on Weibo!]

Very quickly, Zhang Tao’s fans appeared on all the major social media platforms like QQ groups, WeChat Moments, and Weibo. Of course, there were plenty of people with a clear mind as well who retorted straight away on the live stream.

[What the heck is that singing? Are your ears working?]

[Why did Zhang Tao come here to sing? Is this a joke?]

[Little fresh meats are really troublemakers!]

[Those posts above are just jealous.]

[Such jealousy. You’re just jealous of our Taotao. Scum!]

[I don’t think you understand the profoundness of my Taotao. Just go away if you don’t like it!]

…

In the lounge, Su Mo stared at the TV as she muttered a complaint, “What is this? It’s too much! That’s just exposing his own identity on purpose!”

Participants of the King of Masked Singers should mind their own behavior and try to limit their habitual movements. Some would even use a fake voice. However, Zhang Tao had exposed himself on purpose on the stage. He did not bother to alter his signature moves and alter his sound, displaying them fully in front of everyone as though trying his best to be identified.

To be honest, based on the previous song’s performance, he should face serious backlash even if he did not expose his identity. Just what the heck was he singing?

Ye Lingchen shook his head calmly and asked, “You’re not a fan of this little fresh meat?”

“Tch, I’ll have to be crazy to like him.” Su Mo pouted. “I respect those with actual talent and put in the effort. However, the existence of these little fresh meat is the cause of the crooked trends.”

“That Yu Hui is most likely a goner,” Ye Lingchen stated.

“That might not be the case. Ability is more important!” Su Mo replied defiantly with her lips pursed.

On the TV, Zhang Tao completed his song. Nevertheless, he then took off his own mask to reveal a tender and fair face. The atmosphere in the hall immediately rose to new heights.

“I didn’t plan to reveal myself so soon. Since I’m identified so quickly, I hope for your support,” Zhang Tao announced.

“Yes! We will definitely support you!”

“Taotao, I want to bear your child!”

“Ahhh, so handsome!”

Yu Hui stepped on the stage with a long face.

From a third person’s perspective, one could obviously feel Zhang Tao’s arrogance as he never once looked directly at Yu Hui. Normally, with Yu Hui being his senior, Zhang Tao should at least offer a greeting or extend a handshake. However, he never acknowledged him in the slightest.

Behind them, the voting results were displayed.

Finally, Zhang Tao’s votes reached a surprising 88% while Yu Hui’s vote was only at 12%.

Although Yu Hui had his mask on, one could still feel his disappointment upon seeing those results.

The judges and special guests remained quiet, not knowing what to say.

‘This generation…changed this much?’

They naturally knew who was the better singer, but the results were not determined by them. It was instead determined by the audience!

Who would have known that a little fresh meat whose singing was only mediocre would defeat an old timer by such a big margin!?

Was ability no longer important? Was appearance the way to go?

On one side, Zhang Tao stood there in a victorious pose. He was unsurprised with the result as a smile formed at the edge of his lips.

Luo Sisi smiled politely and asked the slightly dejected Yu Hui, “Sensei Yu Hui, would you like to take off your mask?”

After a moment’s silence, Yu Hui forced a laugh and lamented, “I’m afraid not many would remember me.”

While saying that, he slowly took off his mask to reveal a face worn by the passage of time.

“Sensei Teng!” Andy Lau and Jay Chou immediately stood up.

The other judges and special guests seemed surprised as well as they quickly stood up.

Sensei Teng was already nearly 60 years old. He was considered the most senior member in the hall. 15 years ago, he grew to fame with the song—Heaven. He was one of the most liked celebrities by the older generation. Even Andy Lau and Jay Chou dared not behave loftily before him and had to respect his seniority!

Online, quite a number of people were shooting off in the comments.

[F*ck, it’s Sensei Teng! My dad loves his songs the most.]

[Sensei Teng lost to a little fresh meat? F*ck!]

[Damn it, I can’t accept this. It must be rigged!]

[What a f*cking joke!]

[Wow, Taotao is the best! Taotao is the king of singers!]

[What’s Sensei Teng? How can he compare to Taotao?]

[Hahaha, Taotao is unbeatable. He’s the coolest! Support Taotao!]

[Those who dares stand up against Taotao are fated to lose. Sensei Teng is nothing.]

…

Watching the comments flooding in, a lot of people felt their hearts grow cold. Age was unforgiving!

Apart from them, the special guests on the stage and other celebrities watching the program felt it even stronger. A sense of helplessness, sorrow, and anger gripped their hearts.

Little fresh meat!

“The times are changing and I can’t keep up with it any longer. This loss…is understandable,” Sensei Teng said with a hoarse voice before walking off the stage dejectedly.

Many viewers were also lamenting silently. ‘We can’t keep up with this generation as well!’

“Sob sob sob…”

Ye Lingchen could not resist turning around just to find Su Mo crying.

The competition continued.

On the third round, it was Feather’s turn. She was the self proclaimed 18 years old student back during their sound test. Her opponent’s nickname was Starlight.

Starlight went up first. His voice was very mundane, almost the same as Zhang Tao. It was far different from that of a professional singer.

However, he seemed to have gotten too ‘caught up’ with his singing as he raised his left hand in the air for a while before placing it on his head.

The next instant, the audience went wild once more.

“Ahhh, it’s Huang Xing! It must be Huang Xing!”

“This is Huang Xing’s signature move. Sob sob sob…I’m so touched.”

“Just what day is this? I actually got to see Huang Xing and Zhang Tao. I must’ve saved the entire milky way galaxy in my past life!”

“He’s too handsome, so much so that I’m going to pass out!”

“I love you Huang Xing! I’ll always support you!”

“Buying the tickets for King of Masked Singers is definitely worth it. Ahhh, I can’t stop shaking.”

…

Ye Lingchen touched his lips. ‘Huang Xing? Zhang Tao?’

He finally remembered who they were. They were the main characters for Relentless Swordsman and Best Time. It was very likely that they would premier at the same time as his Drawing Sword.

He never expected to run into them here. They should be here trying to hype up their popularity by advertising for their soon to premier TV series…