Chapter 152: I Want to Debut

The young ladies' joint chorus of "Stargazing" brought tears to the eyes of everyone following the program.

It felt as though a pampered, carefree girl had finally grown up into a superhero, filling the hearts of the audience with a bittersweet cocktail of emotions.

As the song came to an end, a massive roar erupted from the fifty-six-thousand-seat stadium.

The contestants' names rolled off the fans' lips like surging waves, igniting the atmosphere throughout the entire venue.

Hosts Huang Wensong and Chen Ke'er stepped back onto the stage, both overflowing with enthusiastic praise for the girls' stunning medley.

After a moment, Huang Wensong smiled and said, "The girls' journey to this day has been inseparable from the guidance of their mentors. Now, let us welcome the five talent-spotting mentors to the stage one by one with the warmest applause!"

Amidst deafening cheers, Chen Xiuyuan, Yu Lianzhou, Zheng Yongxu, Yan Niannan, and Jiang Lingshu walked onto the stage together.

"Thank you, mentors, for taking time out of your busy schedules to help these girls grow. On tonight's debut night, right before the final competition, do you mentors have any secret tips to offer the girls of Produce 101?" Chen Ke'er asked with a smile.

Zheng Yongxu was the first to speak. "Tonight is the grand finale. I only want to say to the girls finally standing on this stage: you are already the highest standard of Produce 101. So tonight, please learn to enjoy the entire stage, and then fully reap the applause you've earned with every drop of sweat you've shed before!"

"You must let go of the mindset of winning or losing and enjoy the sense of achievement in the present moment!"

"I hope the girls of Produce 101 can create the most perfect stage for our fans tonight! Go for it!"

"You've come this far. I hope all the viewers can make one final effort for the girls. What are you waiting for? Where are the screams?"

"I know that every girl standing on the stage tonight will find the best possible destination! As I always say: stay true to your original aspiration, and you will achieve a successful outcome!"

After the mentors offered their words of encouragement, Produce 101 officially entered the final performance phase of the grand finale.

However, before the performances began, the hosts had some vote ranking information to reveal to the audience.

Huang Wensong glanced at his hosting card, and after confirming the pacing was correct, he said in a loud voice, "The performances are about to begin. We can see that the twenty-two girls have assembled and are ready to go, but ultimately only the top eleven girls on the vote leaderboard will make the final debut group. Their final rankings will be entirely determined by your votes."

Chen Ke'er smiled and said, "That's right. Before the competition starts, what I am about to release now is the latest real-time vote ranking!"

The audience in the stadium instantly rippled with excitement!

"As of July 28th, which is today at 12:00 PM, the contestant ranked number one on the vote leaderboard is... Liao Meiqi!"

Chen Ke'er congratulated her, saying, "Therefore, Liao Meiqi will receive an additional ten thousand votes!"

"Next, I will announce the list of contestants who have held onto their spots in the top eleven. As of the start of the Produce 101 grand finale global live broadcast tonight at 6:00 PM, compared to the voting results at 12:00 PM today, the contestants within the top eleven whose rankings remained unchanged are..."

Huang Wensong deliberately paused, then threw the question back to the crowd: "Are you nervous?"

"Crap!"

"What the heck!"

The audience immediately broke into curses.

Seeing this, Huang Wensong quickly added, "Alright, I'm going to announce it now. Among the top eleven contestants, the total number of those whose rankings have remained completely unchanged is three..."

"The first one, whose rank remains unchanged... is Xie Yuxun!"

Xie Yuxun's expression did not change in the slightest; she simply bowed slightly to express her gratitude.

"The second one, whose rank remains unchanged... is Ju Nianzhi!"

Ju Nianzhi went wild with joy, continuously blowing kisses to the audience seating area.

"The third one, whose rank remains unchanged... is who could it be?"

Huang Wensong once again put on a mysterious facade, but the next second, a roar came through his earpiece from the director's team: "Stop keeping them in suspense, or you'll get beaten up by the audience later!"

Startled, Huang Wensong shuddered and hurriedly shouted, "Dou Jiajia!! The third and final contestant whose rank remained unchanged is Dou Jiajia!"

Chen Ke'er laughed so hard she bent backward. Of course, she had also heard the message from the director's team. "You girls need to keep working hard! But I still can't congratulate you yet, because until the very end, none of us knows who will ultimately stay on this stage!"

"Now, I have another set of real-time voting data in my hand. This data shows the contestants whose real-time rankings rose by the start of the live broadcast at 6:00 PM tonight compared to the results at 12:00 PM today..."

"In these short six hours, who are the contestants whose rankings rose?"

"Yes, it is Zhu Xiyu!"

Hearing the name called by the host, Zhu Xiyu let out a long sigh of relief, a smile bloomed on her face, and she bowed to the entire audience to express her gratitude.

She had consistently been in fourth place.

Now, with Liao Meiqi and Xie Yuxun holding steady, her own ranking had climbed. This meant that at the most critical moment, she had overtaken someone else, moving up from fourth place to third.

Yu Xiaoxi obviously realized this as well, and her complexion noticeably darkened.

She had always been the eternal third place on the vote leaderboard.

Never had she expected that right on the brink of the grand finale, the rankings would shift...

"At this stage, climbing up is no easy feat! Thank you to the fans for doing everything in your power to vote for our favorite contestants in such a short amount of time!"

Amidst a wave of emotional reflections, Huang Wensong continued reading out the names of the rising contestants.

In this tense atmosphere, every time the host announced the name of a rising contestant, it was met with a massive wave of cheers.

Out of the twenty-two contestants, a total of nine had successfully improved their rankings at this critical juncture!

"Among the twenty-two contestants, since some are rising, it means others are falling. As cruel as it is, that is the reality."

Chen Ke'er solemnly reminded the thoroughly hyped-up fans at the scene. Then, lowering her gaze to her hosting card, she read aloud, "There is one more piece of data I need to announce here. Currently, among these nine rising contestants, the one with the largest surge in ranking is—Fang Yiren!"

Fang Yiren covered her mouth, crying tears of joy.

Those words carried a multitude of meanings.

One had to remember that she had always hovered around the twentieth place range; simply maintaining or slightly improving her vote ranking would have been a blessing.

She never imagined she would become the contestant with the largest upward leap in rankings.

She had already given up any extravagant hopes of making the debut group!

Because, much like Liao Meiqi, she hailed from a small agency, and the backing behind her simply lacked the capital to fiercely compete with other companies at the crucial moment.

Yet now, a sudden, powerful hope ignited within her!

I want to debut!

I must debut right here!