Ch67 - First Ranking Release

After the first round of released rankings, the top 55 could continue to be in the competition. Liang Da first announced the 54th to 41st ranks.

“The following names of trainees are the new D-rank members. The previous F-rank will be dissolved.”

“Ah, there’s no more F-rank?”

“Definitely, 45 people were eliminated in one round, isn’t this coincidentally wiping away the F-rank?”

All the trainees whose names were called were undoubtedly viewed as very strong contestants by everyone, it was just that their positions were a bit lower based on the audience’s rankings. Even so, the names that were called would continue on in the competition. The more average the constants were, the more they hoped their names would be called.

After all, A, B and C-ranks were all very strong, and they were popular. The more the names went on, the less hope there was.

After Liang Da finished announcing the F-rank names, it was time for them to have a moment to express their feelings of having survived.

The previous C-rank effort team captain Yao Yulong was already crying. “I’m really not the kind of contestant who is particularly gifted, my looks and abilities are also average, I can only depend on my effort to do my best to improve my abilities. Actually, I already made preparations to be eliminated. I never thought that I would be able to stay. I’m not sure how far I can still go, but as long as there’s a chance, I’ll continue to do my best, and treasure every day that I had the chance to be in the competition…”

When Yao Yulong spoke, his eyes were already brimming with tears. It was quite moving to watch.

Xu Haoming saw this and couldn’t help but think of someone. He mumbled quietly to Lu Xu, “Xu ge, don’t you think he’s a bit similar to Lan Gaojie?”

Lu Xu raised his brow, not saying anything. He watched Yao Yulong, who was sitting on the opposite section, thoughtfully.

It had to be said, what Xu Haoming had said did make sense.

Yao Yulong was similar to Lan Gaojie. Their looks were very clean, but when put into a group of handsome trainees they really didn’t stand out. Their dancing was so-so, their singing was average, but their effort was real.

They had the same conditions. Yao Yulong relied on his effort, and Lan Gaojie chose to take a shortcut.

Even if the price was his life, he still didn’t look back in the end.

Lu Xu shook his head lightly, but he didn’t know who he was feeling pity for.

Below, Liang Da continued speaking. “Next up, I’m going to announce the new list for C-rank… The trainee in the 40th rank is Sun Cheyuan…”

“Aaah, if C-rank still doesn’t have me, then I’m definitely eliminated.”

“Sun Cheyuan is considered a sneak attack, he was F-rank in the first evaluation, then after that he was D-rank and now he’s in C-rank, it really is a steady improvement.”

“I’m admiring him to the point of crying, I don’t know if I’ll be in the next ones…”

Lu Xu and the others were sitting in the very front A-rank section, their faces still calm.

The trainees that had the ability also had attitudes that were way calmer than those of the other ranks.

Seeing that Liang Da had already started to announce the B-rank names, but Xu Lele still hadn’t heard his own name, he couldn’t help feeling a little worried. “Aaah, could it be I’ve been eliminated?”

“Nothing like that, brother, you’re in A-rank!” There were coincidentally a few empty seats beside Xu Lele. He Xinghua sat next to Xu Lele and thought about how he had gone up himself to have a look at the results, so he couldn’t help but say that.

It was just that Xu Lele couldn’t hear the words of ghosts, so he naturally continued to watch in suspense.

Very soon, the B-rank section was finished. There was only the A-rank section which hadn’t been announced yet. Liang Da passed the mic to Ji Xiunian, and it was up to him to announce the A-rank trainee’s list.

Xu Lele was sniffling, almost about to cry. “It’s over it’s over, I’ve definitely been eliminated…”

Before he had even finished speaking, he heard Ji Xiunian calling out his name from on-stage. “There are nine people in A-rank. In ninth place, Xu Lele.”

“Aaaah, did I hear that right, it’s really me?”

Xu Lele shot up from his seat with a swoosh, excited to the point that he didn’t even know what to say.

Lu Xu was happy for him, his applause and smile warm.

Xu Lele went over and happened to pass by Lu Xu. He couldn’t help winking at Lu Xu, his smile bright as he said, “Xu ge, I’ll go over and wait for you.”

“Okay.”

Lu Xu couldn’t help but smile and nodded gently.

Ji Xiunian glanced over and continued to announce the remaining trainee names on the list.

In 8th place was Chai Siyuan. After the first demotion, he had relied on his vocal skills to return to A-rank once again. To say that he wasn’t happy would be a lie.

Very soon, Ji Xiunian was announcing the one in 4th position. “In 4th place, the trainee is…”

He purposely spoke slower, and the people below were guessing who it could be.

Han Tianyu immediately said, “Is it me?”

Who could’ve known that Ji Xiunian’s hearing was very good, and he immediately looked at him and smiled. That’s right, it’s you. In 4th place, Han Tianyu.”

“Hahaha, it really is me.” Han Tianyu smiled as he got up, and tossed some words to his dorm mates. “The three of you keep fighting for the top three then. I’ll go over first and wait for you all to come over.”

There were still the top three which had yet to be announced, but just by thinking about it they knew that it would be between Xu Haoming, Song Zhe and Lu Xu.

As expected, Ji Xiunian proceeded to call the three of them onto the stage.

“Haoming, what place do you think you’re in?”

Xu Haoming didn’t have to think about it and just said, “Third.”

Ji Xiunian asked again, “Then what position do you hope you’ll be in?”

“Third.” Between the other two, one was his captain, the other one was his dage, Xu Haoming really didn’t have the desire to climb higher.

Ji Xiunian nodded, then said, “Then congratulations, you’re in third place.”

And now, only Lu Xu and Song Zhe were left on stage, and there was basically no suspense.

By looking at the number of votes for the last two people one would discover that Lu Xu’s votes exceeded Song Zhe’s by five million or so. It was basically a landslide victory.

Song Zhe looked at the votes and shook his head, pretending to sigh. “With Lu Xu here, I never thought about getting first place.”

Everyone below laughed, thinking that it really was that way. Ever since the beginning, Lu Xu had had a brilliant existence that stunned everyone. Even though his position had been temporarily suppressed by Lan Gaojie, he very quickly caught up.

When they thought about it, a lot of people couldn’t help but think about Lan Gaojie.

If they recalled it right, Lan Gaojie’s votes had been pretty high. Even though its increase had slowed, there was no problem with being in the top five. No one knew why this person withdrew from the competition, he had just lost one competition, it wouldn’t affect his debut at all.

Zhou Yu, who was ranked last among the trainees sighed and said something about how risky it had been. “If it weren’t for Lan Gaojie withdrawing, then my competition journey would have ended right here.”

“No, it’s because you’re amazing.”

“Right, it’s because of your strong abilities, you can’t forget about that either.”

The other trainees immediately comforted him, validating Zhou Yu’s ability. But even though they said that Zhou Yu wasn’t all that wrong.

If it weren’t for Lan Gaojie withdrawing, then the one who was ranked last would definitely have been displaced.

But saying all that now was meaningless. The ones who remained were the ones who had the chance to take part in future filming.

After the fifty-five contestants were announced, it meant that the remaining trainees faced elimination.

Although many of them had already predicted this outcome and were ready to leave, they couldn’t help but feel upset when it was actually time to leave.

Ji Xiunian stood on the stage, facing the camera to announce the rules for rejoining. “If you want to save the contestant you like, then please vote for him right now. We will choose the top three from the list of contestants to rejoin the competition. They will then have the chance to be a part of the contestants and continue on with the next performance.

The recording ended and Ji Xiunian slowly stepped off the stage.

He wanted to tell Lu Xu congratulations but saw him surrounded by others, so didn’t even have a chance to go forward.

No matter what purpose everyone had when they came to the competition, after spending so much time together, they would definitely feel reluctant to part.

Lu Xu also didn’t know how he had become the Charisma King.

Not only did many netizen fans vote for him, even the number of trainees who came by to say goodbye to him was extraordinarily numerous.

Seeing the people in tears, Lu Xu comforted them. “Competition is only one part of your lives. There’s not much to regret if you’ve already put in the effort. Living and dying are the only big events. You will always be able to find your place. Cherish each day, so when you leave this world, you won’t leave behind any regrets…”

The trainees who had originally been upset because they were eliminated were dumbstruck, not sure whether to laugh or cry. “Xu ge, you’re thinking too far ahead. Even thinking of what happens after death is too amazing.”

The others laughed. “Xu ge, did you think of this after reading ‘How the Steel was Tempered’, suddenly talking about leaving this world when we’re all fine makes us a little scared hahaha.”

“Yes yes, I was originally pretty upset. But now that you say it like this, I now feel like compared to leaving this world, leaving this stage is a little easier to accept…”

In this way, Lu Xu used his stunning deep thoughts about death to comfort the group of eliminated contestants.

Everyone chatted and laughed together. Although they felt the pain of having lost, their moods weren’t as hurt as they were before.

They said goodbye to each other and went back to pack their things up and got ready to leave.

“Competition is too cruel, ah.” He Xinghua stood at the entrance of the stairs, watching the eliminated trainees leave with tearstained faces.

They also had once come to the studio with hopes, hoping to use the survival show as a chance to go on stage and shine under the light of the stars.

But their ideals were far off from reality; they had come here with dreams but left with disappointment and reluctance. Some of them would continue to struggle on this path, but some would give up directly.

No matter what, it would be their own decisions regarding their own lives. Other than wishing them well, He Xinghua didn’t know what else to say.

Probably due to the fact that they had been a part of a boy group, the three younger ghosts in the F4 sympathized more easily.

Just as they were absorbed in their emotions over the other trainees, Tao Yingbo suddenly said, “Look at the ghost circle moments, not long after Lan Gaojie went to the underworld, he signed up to participate in ‘Netherworld 101’.”

The others’ attentions were not on Lan Gaojie and only chased after Tao Yingbo to ask, “What the hell is Netherworld 101?”

“It’s the idol survival activity the underworld bureau recently came up with…”

The rebirth rate these days was low and many ghosts waited in the underworld for their reincarnation number to be called. But everyone’s luck was different; many ghosts had to wait for a very long time before they could receive their numbers.

The underworld originally wanted to do something more to service the ghosts. When they saw the ghosts’ strong support for Lu Xu’s participation in the competition, they also thought of emulating the mortal realm and creating a ghost realm idol show.

The ghostly spirits could vote for their favoured contestants through the ghost network, and give out tokens for their support. The service, so to speak, was very oriented towards ghosts.

He Xinghua became excited the moment he heard this. “Then who’s the judge?”

Tao Yingbo hid it on purpose to make them guess, but everyone immediately guessed correctly that it was Zhang Jiemu.

“I heard that our Netherworld 101’s theme song is ‘The Ballad of Death’. It’s a good idea when you think about it.”

“Fuck, I suddenly feel moved. I kind of want to sign up, what to do.”

“The registration ends in half a month, I don’t know if we’ll be able to make it in time.” They looked at each other, suddenly wondering if there was even any point in remaining in the mortal realm.

He Xinghua even muttered, “I suddenly feel envious of Lan Gaojie, he died at a good time.”

Dai Zijin said also, “Right right, that person died well and got what he wanted.”

The F4 discussed passionately, completely unaware of the Ji Xiunian coming from behind them.

“Did you guys just say, Lan Gaojie passed away?”

“Ai? Nian ge.”

At this moment, Ji Xiunian’s feelings were very complicated. He asked again, “Did Lan Gaojie actually die?”