Three seconds.

Five seconds.

There was no movement on the stage.

Whispers began to ripple through the massive venue.

At first, it was just a few voices of doubt from the front rows, but they quickly spread to the surrounding areas.

"Is the equipment broken?"

"Where is he? Why isn't he making a sound?"

In Penguin Video's official livestream room, the direction of the bullet chat began to shift.

Shen Yihang's top fans from his Super Topic immediately sent out instructions on social media apps.

Within just half a minute, tens of thousands of paid troll accounts flooded the livestream room, spamming the screen with synchronized talking points.

"This is what happens with corporate packaging!"

"Without a million-dollar auto-tune engineer, he doesn't even dare to open his mouth?"

"Wasn't he acting all arrogant on the red carpet? As soon as it's time for a live performance, he gets stage fright!"

"Strip away that packaging, and he doesn't have the guts to make a sound!"

The edge of the second row.

Shen Yihang stared at the pitch-black stage, a cruel smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

He picked up the glass of red wine he hadn't managed to give away earlier and downed it in one gulp.

He was waiting for the man on stage to become the laughingstock of the entire internet.

In the darkness.

At the very center of the stage.

An incredibly crisp snap of fingers rang out without warning through the top-tier microphones.

*Snap.*

A beam of cold white spotlight pierced straight down.

The pillar of light enveloped the center of the stage.

Lu Zhixian stood within the circle of light.

He wore a pure black haute couture suit, one hand tucked in his pocket.

A solitary metal microphone stand stood before him.

Lu Zhixian's eyes were closed.

He ignored the tens of thousands of inquisitive eyes below the stage and the scrutiny of the various corporate bigwigs in the front rows.

He raised his right hand and gripped the microphone stand.

He tilted his head back slightly.

"Forgive me for this song."

"A song written for no one."

The piercing power of his voice resonated throughout the entire venue.

"Dreams watered the efforts."

"Love pushed from behind."

There were no flaws in Lu Zhixian's voice.

Only absolute stability.

"Only when I looked up did I realize."

"If I had forgotten someone."

Four short phrases.

Four incredibly smooth transitions between chest voice and falsetto.

The first row of the main tables.

The hand of the Chairman of the Chinese Music Association, holding a teacup, froze mid-air. He didn't even notice the tea spilling onto the back of his hand.

Sitting to the right, Zhou Yaoting's cloudy eyes instantly widened. He gripped the wooden armrests of his chair tightly. This godfather of the previous generation's music scene felt his chest heave violently.

The core seats of Area A.

Lin Shiya's breathing was completely thrown into disarray.

She tightly clutched the hem of her evening gown.

As a Diva who built her career on top-tier vocal skills, she was fully aware of the terrifying technical difficulty of these four a cappella lines.

Lu Zhixian's breath control had the precision of a robot.

Furthermore, it contained an emotional tension that was both incredibly relaxed and soul-stirring.

This was a dimensionality reduction strike.

Lin Shiya turned her head, her gaze sweeping toward the artist section in the back rows.

The idol stars who had been gossiping behind his back were now all frozen in their seats.

Shen Yihang's face was whiter than paper.

The empty wine glass in his hand slipped, hitting the carpet with a thud.

He stared at the stage in terror. He knew very well that even if he practiced for a lifetime, he would never reach this level of vocal prowess.

On the stage.

Lu Zhixian opened his eyes.

He suddenly pulled the microphone from its stand.

At the control console, the chief sound engineer, Old Li, slammed the slider up.

The accompaniment, which had been suppressed for two minutes, crashed in at that moment.

Heavy strings intertwined with intense drum beats.

Lu Zhixian gripped the mic with one hand and leaned forward.

"Perhaps only when truly facing oneself does one disregard everything!"

"To explore what I was once afraid to face!"

Without a long transition, he directly raised the pitch, charging into the highest vocal range of the entire song.

His voice swept across the entire venue.

In the extremely high range of C5, there was no cracking or screeching; he demonstrated a metallic thickness and vocal explosiveness.

In Penguin Music's official livestream room.

The hateful comments in the input boxes of twenty thousand troll accounts were never sent.

Bullet chats from real users densely covered the entire screen.

"God!"

"Is this even human?"

"If anyone else says this is corporate packaging, I'll go over and slap them right now!"

"Capital can buy this kind of divine vocal skill? If you can find a single singer on the entire internet who can replicate this live performance, I'll call them 'Daddy'!"

"This song, written for no one, just slapped the faces of those conspiracy theorists raw!"

"Invincible! Absolutely invincible!"

A certain courtyard house in Jingzhou.

The guitar titan, Li Zhong, held a purple clay teapot and stared at his tablet.

The moment the chorus soared.

He immediately picked up his phone and switched to Weibo.

Sent.

Just two words: "Badass."

Within a minute, tens of thousands of comments flooded the post's comment section. Hundreds of professional producers in the industry were liking it like crazy.

Penguin Headquarters Data Center.

"Director! We can't hold on!" a data analyst shouted at the top of his lungs. "The concurrent online users have surpassed thirty million! In the three seconds after that high note, five million new active users joined! The main line bandwidth is overloaded!"

The Data Director ripped off his tie, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at the console.

"Shut down all servers for the gaming section! Divert all computing power to the video channel!"

"But Director, the gaming department will report this directly to the President..."

"Let them!" The Data Director slammed his palm onto the metal desktop.

"Don't you see?! Every word that man on stage sings is rewriting the history of the entire entertainment industry! Even if the Penguin Building loses power tonight, we must ensure the quality of this livestream!"

Inside the Jingzhou Sports Center.

The song ended.

The final accompaniment came to an abrupt halt.

Lu Zhixian held the final note of the high register for a full fifteen seconds.

That incredibly piercing male voice echoed through the venue.

The pillar of light gradually contracted, fixing itself above his head.

He plugged the microphone back into the metal stand.

He didn't speak. He didn't give an acceptance speech.

A live audience of tens of thousands.

For five whole seconds.

Not a single person spoke.

The sixth second.

At the very center of the main table.

Zhou Yaoting stood up. He raised his hands and clapped loudly.

"Bravo!"

This single word, captured by the amplifiers, resounded throughout the venue.

The cinema moguls and corporate captains at the main table suddenly snapped out of it, all rising to their feet to applaud.

Lin Shiya stood up.

All the artists in Area A and Area B stood up.

The tens of thousands of spectators in the stands shot up from their seats.

Applause. Shouts. Screams.

A massive wave of sound converged, threatening to blow the roof off the Jingzhou Sports Center's night sky.

Standing in the spotlight, Lu Zhixian faced the audience, bowed slightly, and performed a bow.

The moment he straightened his body again.

No one needed to grant it. No institution needed to certify it.

The "Godfather" crown, representing the industry's highest authority, was firmly placed upon his head through sheer strength.

The entrance to the backstage VIP passage.

Old Zhao leaned against the wall, his body sliding down weakly.

He gripped his phone tightly; the screen showed that the top ten trending topics on every major social media platform had all become "Lu Zhixian."