Chapter 134: Intracranial Orgasm

Song Baining felt a lingering sense of shock.

It was not until she stood before the microphone's pop filter, preparing to record, that she finally regained her composure. "How many songs have you prepared for me?"

Liao Yuan replied, "Seven."

Song Baining’s mouth fell open. "What about the others? Weren't there more than ten?"

Liao Yuan laughed. "Good things shouldn't all be revealed at once. Let's save the rest for the next album."

Song Baining offered a kind smile.

Liao Yuan looked at her and hesitated for a moment. "Could you please not smile? Seriously, one smile ruins everything."

"You!" Song Baining gritted her teeth, a frost-like chill appearing on her face. "I wasn't smiling at all!"

Just then, Lou Wenxing returned from outside.

Liao Yuan coughed and gestured, "Alright, let's begin the recording."

By noon, the male-female duet version of "By the Shore of Lake Baikal" had been completed. Now, all Liao Yuan had to do was sing "The Bandit's Journey," "Big Fish," and "Run Wild" a cappella to record them, so that Song Baining, who lacked a musical foundation, could learn the melodies by humming along.

During the breaks in Song Baining’s practice, Liao Yuan worked with Lou Wenxing to arrange the music for the three songs based on the scores.

It was during this time that Song Baining finally saw the lyrics to the two folk-style songs she liked. She favored "The Bandit's Journey" the most. The lyrics were deeply emotional, and through them, she could vividly imagine the story: Long, long ago, a bandit emerged from a raided city, having lifted a young woman’s skirt, only to be captivated by her smile. He tossed and turned, longing to marry her, but knowing his status was unworthy, he resolved to turn over a new leaf. Years later, the bandit became a general, but the young woman had long since passed away. The pearl he had intended to gift her lost all meaning, and he fired it into the mountains. He declined the Emperor’s honors and planted a loquat tree before his courtyard to commemorate her...

At that moment, Song Baining was so immersed in her imagination that she couldn't pull herself away. After coming back to reality, she asked Liao Yuan for the origin of the lyrics. Liao Yuan didn't hold back and recounted the story behind "The Bandit's Journey" in detail. The general plot was not much different from the lyrics, but the added details left Song Baining deeply saddened. Even Lou Wenxing, who was working at the mixing console, listened in stunned silence.

"Does such a thing really happen in this world?" Lou Wenxing couldn't help but ask.

Liao Yuan smiled and waved his hand. "Of course not. It’s all fake, just a flight of fancy."

Song Baining pursed her lips and asked, "Is this song a duet?"

Liao Yuan nodded. "Yes, I will be singing it with you."

Song Baining flashed another kind smile, but upon remembering that her smile might frighten others, she immediately stiffened her pretty face again.

Two days later, Song Baining had mastered "The Bandit's Journey," "Big Fish," and "Run Wild" note-perfect, and official recording began.

Meanwhile, after two days of fermentation, the popularity of "Fairytale Town" continued to skyrocket. On the Weibo 24-hour trending list, three of the top ten keywords were related to the song. Song Baining's personal Weibo follower count surged from 70,000 to 420,000. Additionally, the song’s ranking on the three major music platforms climbed steadily. On the new song charts, it consistently held a top-three position. Specifically, on Caiyun Music, "Fairytale Town" maintained a surge index of around 1000%, dominating the top of the soaring chart for three consecutive days and attracting significant industry attention. On the new song chart, it rose from fifth to first place, with the number of comments on its page exceeding 30,000. With this, "Fairytale Town" achieved true fame.

News regarding Song Baining also saw constant exposure. Labels like "Top Student" and "Voice of Nature" became her signature. However, as Song Baining’s popularity rose, the incident involving Liao Yuan assaulting Han Yu escalated as well. On Weibo alone, Liao Yuan’s follower count briefly spiked to nearly five million. Of these five million, at least three million were anti-fans. Every day, these anti-fans, using both main and burner accounts, flooded Liao Yuan's comment section. They not only spewed various obscenities but also posted photoshopped, unflattering images and screenshots of him, which were too unsightly for passersby to witness. One could say Liao Yuan's Weibo had been completely paralyzed by these people. Any comment praising him was met with a barrage of abuse. No one could withstand such pressure from toxic fans. Even when searching for "Liao Yuan," any casual user who left a comment criticizing him would get at least a hundred likes, while those who spoke up for him would be subjected to intense verbal attacks. Many bystanders found this repulsive, but since Liao Yuan wasn't a major celebrity with a large fan base, even those who tried to defend him were quickly drowned out by the onslaught.

The situation grew quite large, remaining high on the trending lists every day with no sign of cooling down. After all, for many anti-fans, the first thing they did upon logging into Weibo was to smear Liao Yuan. Because of this trending status, his name became known to many.

It was precisely at this time that the new episode of "Produce 101" aired. This episode featured the second public performance of the girls.

When Liao Yuan, who was being relentlessly attacked by netizens everywhere, appeared on stage, the audience—regardless of whether they knew who he was—felt what could only be described as a cerebral orgasm.

On the bullet-screen comments of the three major video platforms, the moment Liao Yuan and the others began performing "NONONO," a dazzling array of comments flooded the screen, layer upon layer.

"Great, I'm back again!"
"Third watch!"
"Tenth watch!"
"Wait, what did I miss? Who is this?"
"Is he that Liao Yuan everyone is attacking?"
"Oh my god! He’s so handsome!"
"I thought he was a middle-aged uncle, but... wow, I never expected this!!"
"I'm swooning! This physique, this face, these dance moves, aww! I'm blushing!"
"Hey, stop that, I'm going to punch every one of you 'cute-talkers'!"
"What a gorgeous guy and beautiful girls!"
"Go crazy for Big Brother Shan!"
"Alright, I’m a fan now!"
"I want to apologize to Liao Yuan. I listened to the rumors... drool, my mouth is watering, wow, I can't handle this smile!"
"What a cute boy! I'm a fan!"
"So many beautiful legs... I'm glued to the screen."
"This man is really handsome! Isn't he just a streamer? How can he be this good-looking?"
"I'm going crazy! My heart can't take it every time I see Teacher Liao smile..."
"This group absolutely kills the previous ones. This Liao Meiqi and Zheng Min'er are my type!"
"I love this song! The male center has such strong stage presence; he completely controls the dance rhythm!"
"First time knowing who Liao Yuan is. He's really handsome, especially when he smiles."
"Terrifyingly good. This group is simply invincible."