Chapter Sixty: Instant Annihilation Upon Showing Yourself?

Lin Xinyou stepped onto the stage with a smile, the kind of signature smile that had long since been engraved in her very bones as a consummate entertainer. Upon reaching the stage, her first glance was instinctively directed at the three judges.

But at that very first glance, she was dumbfounded.

She widened her eyes, just to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.

Yet after a closer look, she found she had not been mistaken—Chen Nian. It was actually Chen Nian. Why was he sitting on the judges’ panel?

In that instant, Lin Xinyou stood frozen, her emotions a tangled knot of anger and confusion.

Chen Nian was actually here as a judge? What the hell was going on? How could Chen Nian possibly qualify as a judge? With him as a judge and her as a contestant?

Despite her professional poise, Lin Xinyou’s smile had grown stiff, her heart a whirlwind of complex feelings.

What was this? Riding her wave of popularity, only to become a judge on some other show?

“Haha! Chen Nian as a judge and Lin Xinyou as a contestant—now this is going to be fun!”

“The imitation meets the real thing—this show really knows how to pick its cast.”

“A live battlefield—‘Creation Camp’ truly understands us, the ever-curious onlookers.”

After all, the crowd thrives on drama.

No one expected a sequel to the scandal from “Who is the Singer.” As the live broadcast screen flickered, the viewers erupted, filling the comment feed with a torrent of opinions.

“Ms. Lin Xinyou, shall we begin?” Seeing Lin Xinyou frozen on stage, the host called out to her from the wings.

Only then did Lin Xinyou snap abruptly back to herself.

Forcing her smile back into place, she strode to the front of the stage.

“Greetings, mentors. My name is Lin Xinyou, and today I’ll be performing an original song of mine, ‘Love Unattainable.’ I hope you all enjoy it.”

Lin Xinyou did her utmost to remain calm, uncertain how Chen Nian would respond to her. The confidence she usually felt was now tinged with anxiety.

Yet, with her wealth of experience on variety shows, she knew that with her abilities, Chen Nian would never dare eliminate her at this stage.

Even if he did try, the producers likely wouldn’t allow it. After all, her popularity now was not much less than his.

The difference, though, was that her popularity was now all negative traffic.

“Very well, please begin your performance,” said Hua Chengyu from the side.

At that moment, Chen Nian finally understood why Ye Hao had insisted on spending nearly a million to bring him onto this show.

It was all for this very moment.

The plagiarism scandal with Lin Xinyou had been a storm that shook the entire music industry, dominating trending topics for over a week.

Now Ye Hao had brought their feud out from the shadows and onto the screen—this was the kind of explosive publicity that couldn't be missed.

A wry, meaningful smile flickered across Chen Nian’s lips. He had never been the forgiving type.

Though he was no longer the original, he remembered well how Lin Xinyou had persecuted his predecessor. Avenging the original owner in a simple, straightforward manner—surely that wasn’t too much to ask?

Lin Xinyou drew a deep breath as the music’s prelude began.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

She raised the microphone to her lips.

She was convinced that, with her remarkable talent, standing out among these amateurs would be effortless.

Don!

Before she could utter a word, a jarring, abrupt buzzer blared through the hall.

Startled, Lin Xinyou looked up in disbelief. On the screen behind Chen Nian, a glaring X shone bright.

She’d been eliminated?

The background music cut off abruptly. Not only Lin Xinyou, but the audience and the other three judges were all utterly stunned.

Hundreds of faces in the room, all watching Chen Nian, eyes wide with anticipation.

“Mr. Chen Nian, she hadn’t even begun singing yet,” the host reminded him after a long, awkward silence.

“Oh, my mistake, I pressed the wrong button,” Chen Nian replied with an apologetic smile.

“Let’s start again, then,” the host said, though he felt awkward himself. Still, Chen Nian clearly had a knack for variety television. Even if this act might earn him some negative attention, it would certainly create a talking point for “Creation Camp”—eliminating a contestant before she’d even sung? What could be more dramatic?

And the contestant was none other than Lin Xinyou, who’d had a very public conflict with him not long ago.

But wasn’t this exactly what the show wanted? The more they fought, the more entertained the viewers would be.

Lin Xinyou’s brows drew together in irritation.

Once again, the music started up. Lin Xinyou closed her eyes, drew a deep breath, and tried to regain her composure.

Yet, just at that critical moment, she suddenly remembered her first performance of this song at Ai Ting’s concert. She’d missed a beat then, and Chen Nian had fanned the flames online, leading to all that followed.

And in the next instant, distracted by that fleeting memory, she missed another beat.

This time, however, she recovered almost instantly, snatching up the microphone before anyone could notice.

“We…”

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

A glaring, oversized red X flashed across the large screen behind Lin Xinyou.

The X on the screen behind Chen Nian lit up as well.

The music stopped dead.

Eliminated once again.

The whole room was frozen in disbelief. Even the host and director were at a loss—what on earth was happening?

“Holy—this is intense!”

“Eliminated before she even gets started? That’s savage!”

“Love it—plagiarist dog meets her nemesis.”

Fury surged within Lin Xinyou as she prepared to speak, but Chen Nian turned to Hua Chengyu.

“Mr. Hua, she sang that time, didn’t she?”

Hua Chengyu was completely bewildered, momentarily unsure if this was all a part of the show’s plan with Chen Nian.

“She did, yes,” Hua Chengyu managed to nod.

“She was off-beat, wasn’t she? You heard it as well, didn’t you?”

“That’s right.” Hua Chengyu nodded again.

At this, Chen Nian turned back to Lin Xinyou on stage, a faint, mocking smile on his lips.

“Ms. Lin Xinyou, I have the utmost respect for you. As a senior in the music industry, you’re still willing to humble yourself and compete alongside amateurs—that’s truly admirable.

“However, as a senior, our expectations are naturally higher for you than for the others. You missed a beat just now. I don’t think it’s unfair for me to eliminate you, is it?”

At this moment, Lin Xinyou’s expression had grown stormy.

What was this? First, a round of insincere flattery, and then, from the moral high ground, a public condemnation?

Making it so that, even in being eliminated, she had no grounds for complaint—only her own lack of skill to blame.

Backstage, seeing the situation teeter on the edge of chaos, the chief director was about to order his team to halt the recording and cool things down.

But just then, Ye Hao—having rushed to the scene—spoke up: “Leave them be. This is exactly the scene the fans and viewers want to see.”

With the show’s biggest backer giving his blessing, the chief director had no choice but to let the show go on…