Zombie Bodyguard-Chapter 1614 - 1611: Competition Results (Part 2)

"Junior, what did you say, lip-syncing? Impossible, a grand celebrity would lip-sync?" Yang Lin asked strangely, and Xiao Manxuan also looked at Lin Tian with surprise.

Lin Tian calmly said, "Whether it’s true or not, you’ll see from her lip movements soon. She’s very good at disguising it; the microphone blocks her from the front, so you can’t tell. You have to watch from our angle to notice it."

Yang Lin and Xiao Manxuan exchanged glances, both seeing the doubt in each other’s eyes, but soon they focused their attention on Bitong’s mouth.

After a few melodies and several continuous high notes, the two women were shocked to find that Bitong’s mouth movements were half a beat slower than the lyrics, not keeping up with the fast parts.

But since she was singing and dancing, the audience didn’t notice this issue.

"This is so disappointing," Yang Lin said, utterly disappointed.

"Haha, that’s just how the entertainment industry is. What’s there to be so hung up about? Even professional singers lip-sync, let alone Bitong, who’s a performance major." Lin Tian was much more open-minded.

Xiao Manxuan also said, "Live singing relies heavily on vocal skills. Some celebrities don’t have strong vocal abilities, so to make sure their stage image isn’t too bad, they have to lip-sync. After all, a professional recording can cover up a lot of vocal deficiencies."

"Whatever her reasons are, I can’t stand such a celebrity with no professional ethics. Xuanxuan, I support you to take first place tonight." Yang Lin, being straightforward, clearly expressed her stance.

Lin Tian didn’t say anything, just recalled the scene when the Second Miss played the piano, mesmerizing everyone, like birds flocking to a court. If that performance couldn’t win first place, where’s the justice in the world?

With a long final note, the performance on stage ended, and Bitong took a bow and then interacted with the host, exchanging some routine remarks before leaving the stage.

"Students, the performances have come to an end, but the event isn’t over yet. The most exciting moment is just arriving. Who among you and Miss Bitong will win depends entirely on your precious support votes."

"Please look at the screen behind me." The host turned slightly, pointing to the curtain behind him, where an image appeared. The host continued, "Here, you see the names of all programs, with bar graphs over them representing vote counts. Right now, all counts are zero. Once voting starts, each program’s votes will be displayed in real-time on the screen."

"And..." The host paused for emphasis, "The higher the vote count, the taller the bar graph for that program. It’s a real-time dynamic process, fair and clear. If those in the back can’t see the vote numbers, just look at the bar graph; the tallest one is first place."

After explaining the rules, the host whispered a few questions into a tiny earpiece, likely asking about the preparation status of the backstage voting system. Receiving a positive response, the host turned back to face the audience.

"Alright, I’ve just received the news that our backstage staff is ready with the voting system. Let me ask you, are you ready? Raise your voting devices, let me see..." the host shouted loudly.

"Ready!" The hall erupted with students’ responses, a unified wave, all raising their voting devices.

"Alright, I’ll count down from ten, and the voting channel will open. Ten, nine, eight, seven... three, two, one, start!" As the host shouted "start," the audience got busy.

Yang Lin also brought two voting devices to Lin Tian and Xiao Manxuan. The devices had a small number keypad; enter the program number and then press the vote button to complete the vote.

Without hesitation, Lin Tian cast his vote for Xiao Manxuan, with the rest going to Qiao Xiaoyi. Though he hadn’t heard his performance, judging by his honest demeanor, he likely wouldn’t deceive the audience.

As voting began, the bar graphs on the screen kept rising, with Bitong’s rising the fastest, leading all programs. Clearly, she had a lot of fans present.

Following closely was Xiao Manxuan’s solo on the guqin, both programs vying closely for the lead.

"It’s really tense now. Xiao Manxuan’s guqin solo and Bitong’s song and dance routine are neck and neck. Who will take first place, I wonder?" The host added fuel to the fire on stage.

"Why is Xuanxuan’s program falling behind Bitong’s?" Yang Lin asked, unimpressed.

"Her fans would surely vote for her first, so she had a strong start. Once her fans have mostly voted, it’ll come down to actual abilities." Lin Tian remained unworried, unfazed by Bitong’s lead.

"You sure seem relaxed. Let’s see how you feel if your little girlfriend loses to a lip-syncer," Yang Lin glanced at Lin Tian and Xiao Manxuan, this senior sister more anxious than the two of them, truly a person of extreme emotions.

Xiao Manxuan glanced at Lin Tian, her face slightly flushed, softly defending, "Senior sister, don’t say that..."

Just as their conversation ended, there was a sudden change on the screen. Xiao Manxuan’s vote count shot up dramatically and continued to increase rapidly. In just a minute, she surpassed Bitong.

After overtaking her, her growth didn’t slow down but instead skyrocketed, leading Bitong by a significant margin in a few minutes, like a single outstanding performance overlooking Bitong.

The host on stage was stunned by this scene and began to panic a bit.

"This... this is a bit unexpected..." The host wiped the imaginary sweat off his forehead, speaking a bit stammeringly, not as articulate as usual.

The host’s tension didn’t change the outcome; Bitong’s vote growth slowed down while Xiao Manxuan’s maintained strength. It was clear to everyone that the guqin solo was going to triumph.

Pa...!

With a soft sound, the stage lights suddenly went out, and the projection on the curtain was cut off; the vote data became invisible.

"What’s going on...?"

"Why is the projection off...?"

The auditorium was in a stir, and Lin Tian frowned, looking at Yang Lin, sneering, "Senior sister, is this what you call fairness?"

If Lin Tian couldn’t see what’s going on by now, he might as well hit his head on a piece of tofu. Clearly, the voting results weren’t going as planned, and there were emergency backstage operations to alter the data.

Yang Lin’s face looked unsettled, a bit uncertain, "Maybe just a circuit breaker tripped."

"Lin Tian, don’t look at senior sister like that. It doesn’t matter what the result is; everyone is just here to enjoy the event," Xiao Manxuan, seeing Yang Lin’s embarrassment, consoled her.

Lin Tian gave a helpless smile, thinking, little girl, you’re just too kind.

"Students, don’t panic..." The host finally stabilized, smiling, "It was just a circuit branch tripping, which doesn’t affect the voting. Your votes are still being fairly recorded and accumulated by the computer. The backstage staff will soon fix the circuit." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

As the host said this, the smile on his face was rather unnatural, as if he’d just uttered a lie.