Chapter 487: Chapter 485: Late-life Disgrace

Soon, subtitles appeared on the stage: "Please welcome the guest singer for Composer No. 18."

At the same time, the door to Capsule Cabin No. 18 opened.

[Huh? Why is Qin Bao going up there?]

[Is she going to sing it herself this time?]

[No, no, no, Cang Hong went up too. It must be a duet.]

...

Although the netizens had seen Jiang Qin record the song, none of them knew she was singing a duet version.

They thought she was just recording a version herself to send to the singer as a reference.

Who would have thought she would be singing it herself!!

This got the Jiang Fan beyond excited. No wonder Jiang Qin was wearing such a beautiful dress today.

For the past two days, she had been wearing very casual, everyday clothes in her Capsule Cabin—just a simple top and shorts.

On stage, Cang Hong’s gaze never left Jiang Qin; he only had eyes for her.

Having not seen her for a few days, his longing was practically overflowing.

Jiang Qin gave him a reassuring smile.

After the two readied themselves, the instrumental music began:

"Both: Love, however you do it, it’s wrong

However you look at it, it’s hard

How does it teach one to follow another through life and death

...

Male: Love is a daze

From when the heavens and earth first parted

...

Female: Love is breaking through the mortal world, gazing with endless longing~~"

Their voices rose and fell, weaving together with an unspoken chemistry. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

It felt to everyone as if their left and right ears were locked in a spectacular duel.

Without a doubt, this song was about to take the Interstellar world by storm.

[After listening, only two words come to mind: Immortal Couple!!]

[That Cang Hong... he makes me so jealous. His life has been a straight path to success.]

[Ahhh, I wish the competition would end already! I can’t wait for all of today’s songs to be uploaded to the platform so I can put them on repeat.]

[How did they do it? They haven’t even seen each other, yet their coordination is perfect.]

[This is probably what they mean when they say the husband follows his wife’s lead...]

The song received a high score of 83 points, second only to Composer No. 1.

Combined with her score from three days ago, her total score shot her to first place on the leaderboard.

However, with more than ten contestants yet to perform, it was uncertain how long she could hold on to that rank.

After returning to her Capsule Cabin, Jiang Qin listened attentively to all the subsequent songs.

She now had a better understanding of her competitors’ abilities.

Then again, this newfound understanding wasn’t particularly useful, since the competition wasn’t a head-to-head battle.

Perhaps everyone was trying to figure out the key to a high score, as many of this round’s songs were in the same genre as the high-scoring ones from the first round.

For example, following Jiang Qin’s "Ambitionist," there was now a song called "Heart of a Hero."

The melodies were different, but somewhat similar, and the lyrics were more or less the same.

Unfortunately for him, the composer’s final score was only 17 points, which completely broke him.

He was now relentlessly demanding an explanation.

"I don’t think my song is the least bit inferior to ’Ambitionist’! Why did I only get 17 points while that song got 78?

It’s not fair!!

Is it because of her status as an S-level female? Did she get bonus points just for being a noble, High-level female???"

"Sir, this is a music competition. It has nothing to do with whether someone is male or female.

As for your score, we of the Mechanical Clan have no power to interfere. Everything is based on the instrument’s judgment."

"Then how do you explain such a huge score difference between two songs with similar styles??"

The staff member really wanted to curse: ’Damn it, if you know you’re a musical hack, then just shut your mouth!!’

He couldn’t understand how this person had clawed his way to his current fame and status.

’By altering other people’s songs?’

But these were just his inner thoughts; on the surface, he maintained a smile and did his best to explain.

Fortunately, there were people who understood his exasperation—for example... the netizens.

[Holy shit, this is why I say the Federation’s music scene is doomed. Look at this piece of work.]

[This is the first time I’ve ever seen a composer be so "brave" as to basically admit he plagiarized someone’s song on a live broadcast.]

[LMAO. Low EQ: I plagiarized.

High EQ: Two songs with similar styles.

Is this guy a clown sent by the circus?]

[The staff member is even funnier. He was one step away from saying it out loud: ’You’re a hack who just stitches songs together, isn’t getting 17 points normal for you??’]

[Original: 78 points. The knockoff: 17 points. I bet the 17 points were for the parts he actually copied.]

...

No one had expected that among the invited composers, there would be a "tailor."

The members of the Mechanical Clan waiting backstage fell silent.

"Who invited this person??"

A female member of the Mechanical Clan next to him said with a look of shame, "I’m sorry, I was the one who invited him. Perhaps my brain has really degenerated severely."

Hearing this, the Mechanical Clan member, who had been about to chew out his fellow clan member, found he couldn’t say a word and could only reveal a helpless expression.

"Forget it. You’re not to blame. We can only blame his reputation for being too good."

"I really thought the Federation’s music scene was finally good enough to compare with the Empire’s, but to think there are still composers who drag it down like this."

"Just pretend he doesn’t exist. He’s not getting the prize anyway. Just ignore him."

"Yes, I’ll have the staff give a few polite explanations. No need to get entangled with him."

The worst-case scenario was just that he would withdraw from the competition, which was exactly what they were hoping for, as it would save them from wasting resources on him.

Even though the amount of resources was so trivial they wouldn’t bother to pick it up if it fell on the ground, they were still unwilling to waste it on someone useless.

However, Composer No. 26 was oblivious to the Mechanical Clan’s thoughts. His attitude was extremely arrogant, and he insisted that the staff member give him an explanation.

The staff member, who was already annoyed with being pestered and wanted to leave, received the instructions through his earpiece and departed without the slightest hesitation.

"Sir, if you have issues with the organizers or doubts about the fairness of the competition, we suggest you withdraw.

I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll be leaving now."

"??? What is this attitude?? What do you mean ’suggest I withdraw’?? Get back here!!!"

The shattered Composer No. 26 roared. He wanted to withdraw in a fit of rage, but then other considerations came to mind.

In the end, all his fit of rage amounted to was... being angry for a moment.

He was filled with regret now. He knew he never should have waded into these muddy waters. When he returned to the Federation, his female master might even divorce him.

His performance this time had been utterly disgraceful.

And his female master was someone who cared about face more than anything.

She had only been willing to marry him because he could bring her glory. But now, that was all ruined.

If he had known, he wouldn’t have been so greedy as to accept the invitation from the high-ranking Federation officials.

He could have been enjoying a peaceful retirement, but now his reputation was in tatters in his final years.

His guess was correct. The live chat was currently filled with comments denouncing him and fans declaring they were done with him.

His viewer count had plummeted.