Lu Zhixian walked onto the stage with his long legs.

The camera followed him closely as nearly three thousand people stood in unison, their applause crashing from all directions like a tsunami, making eardrums tingle from the vibration.

He walked to the center of the stage and took the trophy with his left hand.

It was heavy.

The stage lights shone on him, outlining his sharp silhouette.

His face was reflected in the trophy's metallic surface, slightly distorted, but his eyes were strikingly bright.

He slowly raised his head, his gaze sweeping across the entire venue from left to right.

The applause receded layer by layer, and the breathing of three thousand people converged into a low hum.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for him to speak.

Lu Zhixian brought the microphone to his lips.

"This trophy carries a lot of weight," he said, his voice steady and every word articulated clearly.

"Enough to summarize everything I've done behind the scenes during this past period."

He paused.

"Best Lyrics, Best Composition, Best Arrangement, Best New Producer. Including this one, that's five awards."

He tilted his head slightly, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"To be honest, coming up on stage so many times is making even me feel a bit embarrassed."

Good-natured laughter erupted throughout the venue. An veteran musician in the front row laughed while covering his eyes, as the person next to him patted his shoulder; the atmosphere instantly lightened.

But the expression on Lu Zhixian's face changed.

His smile gradually faded, as if he had made a certain decision.

The entire audience felt this shift. The laughter vanished completely within two seconds.

"I'm grateful for these awards," he said, his speaking pace slowing down.

"They are recognition of the past, and also a full stop."

For two whole seconds, the venue was so quiet that only the faint sound of the air conditioning vents could be heard.

Someone in the back row couldn't help but lean forward, for fear of missing something.

"From today onwards..."

His gaze left the audience and turned directly toward the live broadcast camera in front of him.

The red indicator light on top of the camera was on, its tiny red dot reflected in his pupils.

In the nationwide live broadcast, the number of real-time online viewers had already surpassed twenty million.

"I'd like everyone to get to know me anew."

The corners of his mouth curled up, not in his previous lazy, roguish smirk, but in a clean, sharp, youthful smile.

A twenty-eight-year-old man, smiling like he was eighteen.

"Hello, everyone."

"I am a singer, Lu Zhixian."

Three seconds.

All three thousand people in the venue seemed to have their throats gripped by the same hand, collectively losing their voices.

Then—

It exploded!

The live audio equipment emitted a brief burst of overload noise at that moment, and even the broadcast footage shook.

The bullet chat? The bullet chat had completely crashed; the screen was covered in dense exclamation marks and "Ahhhhhs," and the server lagged so badly it became a slideshow.

The cameras were switching frantically.

Jiang Cheng covered his mouth with both hands, his eyes bulging wide; he half-sprang from his chair, and the people next to him could barely hold him down.

Su Qing was stunned for a full two seconds before coming to her senses, then she began to applaud frantically.

In the award presenters' waiting area, Shi Lei stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

He stared at the monitor screen and threw his head back with a laugh.

"This kid is truly ruthless," he murmured softly, his voice instantly drowned out by the deafening cheers.

The reactions of the superstar singers in the front row varied.

Someone slapped their thigh and stood up; another turned and shouted something to the person next to them—judging by the lip movements, it was likely, "I told you he wouldn't just be a producer!"

The host stood at the side of the stage, not even noticing when the cue cards in his hand fell to the floor.

Having hosted for twelve years, he had seen countless legendary moments, but he had never seen anyone publicly announce a career transition at a nationwide broadcast of the Golden Song Awards.

This kind of move was something even textbooks wouldn't dare to write!

The camera finally cut to Lin Shiya.

She stood up.

Her hands were clapping, and her eyes were bright.

Below her beauty mark, the corner of her lips curled into a tiny arc. It was small, but genuine.

She gave a slight nod toward the camera.

---

Lu Zhixian raised the trophy and gestured for the audience to quiet down.

The cheers quieted down slightly—just a tiny bit.

He turned and walked off the stage.

The spotlight followed him all the way, stretching his shadow long and narrow until it reached the entrance to the side wings.

Upon entering the backstage corridor, the heavy soundproof doors turned the cheers into muffled thuds.

The corridor was long, with white walls and cool-toned fluorescent lights on both sides.

Just as he rounded the first corner, that mechanical voice exploded in his head right on time.

[Task "From Behind the Scenes to the Forefront" complete!]

[Core condition met: The host has explicitly declared their identity as a singer during a nationwide live broadcast of a top-tier industry gala.]

[Task Evaluation: S]

[Issuing rewards—]

The next second.

A stream of information instantly flooded his body, more than ten times more intense than when he unlocked "God-level Arrangement."

Lu Zhixian's footsteps faltered, and his shoulder bumped against the corridor wall.

He leaned against the wall with his eyes closed, his entire body frozen for about ten seconds.

It was a feeling hard to describe.

It didn't hurt, but it caused him to briefly lose control over his body.

Ten seconds passed.

He opened his eyes and instinctively cleared his throat.

A very soft syllable slipped out from deep within his chest.

Just one word. "Mm."

It echoed briefly in the empty backstage corridor.

Lu Zhixian was stunned.

This wasn't his original voice.

To be precise, the base tone was still his, but the texture was completely different. When that "Mm" came out, the low frequencies were full and the mid frequencies were warm.

As the sound traveled from his throat to the outside world, not a single frequency range was muddy; it was incredibly clean.

He clenched his fists, his Adam's apple bobbing.

He wanted to test his upper vocal range further, but staff members could pass through the corridor at any time; this wasn't the place to test his voice.

No rush.

There's plenty of time.

---

He handed the trophy to a staff member for safekeeping, straightened his suit, and re-entered the audience seating through a side door.

Before he could take three steps, a hand reached out to offer a business card.

"Teacher Lu! I'm from OO Music—"

"Thank you, but I'm not discussing work tonight."

He walked another five steps.

A gray-haired senior singer approached him, patted his shoulder, and said nothing, only giving a firm nod.

Lu Zhixian bowed slightly to the other man.

A few more steps, and two reporters blocked the aisle, shoving microphones in front of his face.

"Teacher Lu! Can we talk for a moment? You just announced—"

"I'm not the protagonist tonight. Thank you." He sidestepped them without stopping his pace.

By the time he returned to his seat, the award ceremony had entered the final speech phase. Lin Shiya was sitting next to him, looking down at her phone.

She tilted the screen slightly toward him.

The Weibo trending list.

The top three entries:

#Lu Zhixian Announces He Is Becoming a Singer# [Explosive]

#Producer of the Year Pentakill# [Hot]

#Lu Zhixian From Behind the Scenes to the Forefront# [Hot]

She didn't speak.

She pulled the phone back and glanced at him.

That glance was calm, but her eyes held a lot—scrutiny, confirmation, and some hard-to-define emotion.

Lu Zhixian smiled at her.

Lin Shiya withdrew her gaze.

Three seconds later, she spoke.

"What you said before, about talking in detail when there's an opportunity..."

"Mm."

"I suppose now counts as an opportunity."

Lu Zhixian turned to look at her.

Lin Shiya faced forward, her expression showing no ripples, but her words were very direct.

"My new album is still missing a producer. Since you're really going to be a singer, we can talk about both together."

"Can I have your contact info?"

Lu Zhixian pulled out his phone.

The two of them quietly exchanged contact information.

---

The award ceremony drew to a close.

The group photo session for all guests began.

Dozens of people crowded onto the stage, arranging themselves based on that night's awards and their seniority.

Lu Zhixian was placed in the front row, slightly to the right of the center.

This spot was usually reserved for the person who won the most awards that night.

When he stood there, the seniors on either side moved over voluntarily to give him enough space. Someone patted his back, and someone else gave him a thumbs-up.

Lin Shiya stood three spots to his left.

The two of them made eye contact across several heads, neither showing any extra expression.

The sound of shutters clicking crackled for over a minute.

"Last one, look at the camera!" the photographer shouted.

Just as everyone relaxed their expressions and prepared to disperse, the phone in Lu Zhixian's inner suit pocket vibrated.

He didn't move.

The group photo ended, and the crowd dispersed.

Lu Zhixian shook hands with several seniors and met with Jiang Cheng and Su Qing. Jiang Cheng was so excited his face was flushed; his mouth opened five or six times, but he couldn't squeeze out a single complete sentence.

Su Qing was calmer than him; she walked over, patted Lu Zhixian's arm gently, smiled, and said nothing.

Back in the backstage dressing room, once the door closed, it became quiet.

Lu Zhixian took out his phone.

A new system notification sat quietly on the virtual panel.

[New task generated—"Debut Stage".]

[Task Content: Complete your first official stage performance as a singer in a public show.]

[Requirement: Live audience of no fewer than 5,000 people.]

[Time Limit: 30 days.]

[Task Reward: Master-level Singing Technique.]

He stared at the words "Master-level Singing Technique."

An exquisite vocal timbre plus Master-level Singing Technique.

If he had both at the same time, what would that mean?

It meant that in this world, there was basically no song he couldn't sing.

He tucked his phone back into his pocket and pushed open the backstage exit.

The night wind rushed in, blowing the hair on his forehead.

Outside, the parking lot streetlights cast a dim yellow glow on the ground. Far off, the city's neon lights blurred into a colorful ribbon on the horizon.

Standing at the door, he took a deep breath of the night air.

It was cool.

He smiled.

Outside, it was already a different world.