Chapter 1: Returning to the Demon City

Hao Yifang had been having a terribly rough time lately, to the point where the hair on his forehead was falling out in clumps.

He had managed to get through the preliminary rounds of The Voice through the production team's vetting, and he even managed to get a coach to turn their chair. But he had brought this upon himself—singing Su Tong’s song was one thing, but he had also tried to hit on Su Tong’s companion, Lin Yin, and intentionally caused trouble for him.

The most terrifying part was that he had chosen Na Jie as his coach, putting himself in the same team as Su Tong.

And yet, that wasn't even the most terrifying part. The absolute worst part was that the coach had paired him and Su Tong together for the battle round.

Of all people to go head-to-head with in a battle, why did it have to be a freak of nature like Su Tong? Not only could the audience foresee the outcome, but he himself knew it too.

Su Tong was a massive favorite to win the championship. Although looking back at the first three seasons, the ultimate favorites never ended up in a great place, at least they all made it to the finals.

If not the runner-up, then the second runner-up; if not the second runner-up, then fourth place.

In short, they never did too badly.

Hao Yifang came from a slightly better background and had a bit of money to fund his music hobby, but whether it was in terms of hardware or software, he fell far too short compared to Su Tong.

The recording result was obvious: Hao Yifang was eliminated.

His luck was simply out; trying to pick up girls had completely ruined his prospects.

Hao Yifang slunk back home dejectedly. The further one advanced in the competition, the higher their appearance fee for bars and similar venues would be later on. But if you were eliminated early, you just went back to whatever you were doing before.

"Xiaotong, after The Voice ends, you can release your own album. Have you made plans yet?" Following the first round of battles, A Lin and a few other coaches invited Su Tong out for dinner and drinks. As Su Tong's companion, Lin Yin naturally tagged along.

The two of them had already received complimentary accommodation at the sponsor's hotel for The Voice, with both room and board completely covered.

Of course, if they went shopping or treated people to meals on their own, they had to pay out of their own pockets.

"I don't plan to release an album. That's just tricking fans out of their money. Who even listens to physical albums these days? You buy them just to stash them away in a drawer, they're completely useless," Su Tong replied.

The four major coaches were taken aback. Without releasing a new album, songs were ineligible for awards like the Golden Eagle Awards and other Daqin music festivals.

If they weren't eligible, titles like Best Newcomer, Best Lyricist, and Best Composer would all have nothing to do with him.

After explaining this to Su Tong, Na Jie asked, "Aren't you interested in these awards? With your ability, winning a few of them wouldn't be a problem at all."

"Is that so? Then I'll reconsider." Su Tong genuinely had no idea the Daqin music industry had such a rule. Was the world of his past life the same way?

"What's there to reconsider? Fans love buying albums because they like you—money can't buy happiness. The whole point of making money is to spend it on things you love. Even if it has no practical use, the spiritual enjoyment it brings is something money can't buy." Na Jie was a bit drunk again, throwing an arm around Su Tong's shoulders, looking like a couple of bros.

Su Tong deeply resisted such a blatant act of bleeding the fans dry, and for a moment, he couldn't accept it.

Many singers released albums at a loss just to gain popularity, while also milking their hardcore fans to cover the production costs.

A-Jiu’s eyes were alluring as she batted her eyelashes at Su Tong: "Xiaotong, you've already written songs for Sister Na and Brother A Lin, you can't play favorites. What about mine and Teacher Liu's?"

Su Tong laughed heartily: "I'm just afraid the two teachers might look down on my work. But setting other things aside, songwriting is my specialty."

The coaches felt that Su Tong was being both modest and arrogant at the same time.

In truth, besides songwriting, his singing prowess and his ability to tell stories during live streams were enough to make people pale.

Over twenty different voices, completely distinct from one another with no trace of imitation—how could one not be amazed?

Some impressionists could mimic a few people's voices, but that was already the limit, and noticeable flaws always remained.

Su Tong, however, directly pioneered entirely new vocal cords. It was terrifying.

If he were asked to imitate the voices of certain celebrities, he wouldn't be any worse than top-tier impersonators.

Teacher Liu Fan was relatively quiet. In his heart, he somewhat disdained asking Su Tong for a song, so he hadn't spoken up. But since A-Jiu dragged him into it, he didn't voice any objections either.

"Spit it out, what's the price?" Having secured Su Tong's agreement, A-Jiu smiled and batted her eyelashes at him again.

Su Tong didn't stand on ceremony: "I'm doing a live stream at eight o'clock tonight. Would Sister A-Jiu be interested in dropping by to have some fun?"

Su Tong had announced yesterday that he would be live-streaming tonight.

If it weren't for entertaining these guests, he would have bolted straight back to Yandu the moment recording wrapped today.

That place was closer to home, closer to Xiaoyu and Xiaoxiao.

The knockout round to determine the top four in the group battles was just one recording session, but after performing the same song in the battle, contestants actually had two days to practice and pick a song to continue fighting with.

This season's format for The Voice was set up such that each group would pick their top three, followed a massive melee among all twelve contestants across the four groups.

The group champion received a slight bonus: an extra five-point handicap in the twelve-way melee.

In other words, if the champion of A Lin's group battled the third-place finisher of Na Jie's group, once the live judges, coaches, and online votes were tallied at the end, A Lin's group champion would receive an additional five points.

During the four-group melee, the live judges' score accounted for 80 points, online audience votes accounted for a maximum of 10 points, and the coaches' votes accounted for 10 points.

"Deal, I'll go check it out too," A-Jiu agreed readily.

A-Jiu had already thoroughly researched the streamer Nian Nujiao during this period. Watching the three siblings weather storms and support each other was truly inspiring.

The production team had constantly tried to get Su Tong to bring Xiaoyu and Xiaoxiao to the set, but Su Tong refused.

In fact, getting to see Xiaoyu and Xiaoxiao had always been a shared wish of the netizens.

After hearing Nian Nujiao's story, who wouldn't want to meet those two sensible and well-behaved little sisters?

"If I can make it to the finals, I'll bring Xiaoyu and Xiaoxiao over," Su Tong had replied to Director Li Guowei.

Li Guowei had smiled bitterly. If the format hadn't changed, Su Tong wouldn't even have been qualified to enter the four-group melee, let alone make it to the finals.

Since Su Tong was an independent artist who refused to sign with the three major entertainment conglomerates or the TV station hosting the show, getting him into the finals was simply out of the question.

By saying that, Su Tong was essentially declining the wishes of both the production team and the netizens.

The previous format dictated that each group would crown a champion, and then the four group champions would battle it out in a massive melee to decide the season's champion of The Voice.

"I'll go take a look too," Teacher Liu Fan laughed. Prior to this season of The Voice, aside from A Lin and Na Jie, the other coaches generally maintained a lukewarm relationship. But after recording so many episodes, the four of them had grown much closer, and Liu Fan didn't want to isolate himself.

"Haha, let's grab a few bottles of wine, order some takeout, and head over to my suite. My streaming equipment is already all set up," Na Jie said with utmost enthusiasm. Her penchant for younger handsome guys was always put into action.

Meanwhile, the fans of League of Legends were already growing impatient because, according to Su Tong's announcement, a mysterious guest would be joining him on his stream tonight.

"I bet this time it's a contestant from The Voice, one of the ones who advanced."

"I'll wager Teacher A Lin is going to show up again. Haha, I love watching Teacher A Lin get scolded by his teammate, it's so hilarious."

"I think the other two coaches might make an appearance."

"Stop guessing wildly. Getting two coaches to show up would already be amazing—do you really think he can drag all four major coaches onto a stream? Is that even possible?"

"Gege is just a rather outstanding contestant, how could he possibly win the pampering of all four major coaches?"

"..."

Many fans started placing bets in the chat, eagerly making their guesses. (To be continued...)