Time is a sharp weapon that erodes dreams. When you were young, you might have dreamed of becoming a Pokémon Master, giving up everything to travel and meet various Pokémon, but as you grew up, you no longer dared to let go of everything and step out of your home.
In this world, it’s common to see teenagers leaving their parents and families to embark on solo journeys, but you never see young, middle-aged, or old people abandoning their partners and children to embark on a journey to become a Pokémon Master.
It’s not that they no longer have dreams; it’s just that they know to do the right thing at the right time, and once they miss that opportunity, they will never do it in their lifetime.
People can hesitate, but time will not stop.
The theme has been decided; all that’s left is how to perform it.
Mu Li chose not to collaborate with any singer this time; he planned to sing the song himself.
However, his vocal skills were not enough to carry the entire performance.
“It seems I’ll have to bring out my trump card this time,” Mu Li thought to himself.
Six hours passed quickly, and the program recording was about to officially begin.
The program invited 200 audience members and 4 ‘Sound Creation Conveners’: Li Xingyang, a powerful mid-generation singer-songwriter; Lan Yaning, a female singer-songwriter; Zhang Jialiang, a new-generation singer-songwriter; and Elite singer Liu Zhengqing.
In addition, the production team also recruited 16 professional musicians.
After each original musician performs their song, the live audience, the 16 professional musicians, and the 4 ‘Sound Creation Conveners’ will vote, with each person having 1 vote, for a total of 220 votes.
The top 4 original musicians with the highest scores will advance to the official list of 16.
This program recording would involve listening to 20 songs, which inevitably meant that if the songs weren’t captivating enough, they wouldn’t even make it into the main show.
The performance order was determined by drawing lots; Mu Li drew number 12, a decent position, so his luck wasn’t bad.
The guy who was first to perform was already extremely nervous, and he had chosen to perform by himself.
As a result, he sang the lyrics incorrectly.
Although this was a variety show primarily focused on originality, the stage effect presented to the audience was still important.
With such a major blunder, the first guy to perform turned pale and ultimately received an encouraging score of 110.
Mu Li felt that this was still an encouraging score given by the audience, considering that guy was the first to perform.
The production team probably estimated that this guy would be eliminated, so they didn’t even bother to give him screen time; Xu Wei simply interviewed him briefly before the second performance began.
The second original musician to perform chose to collaborate with a female singer.
The song, titled “Missed,” was a very typical love song about love lost due to not cherishing it in youth.
The female singer’s performance was significantly more stable than the first performer, and the overall song effect was good, earning 160 points in the end.
Subsequent singers’ performances were relatively more stable, with scores mostly fluctuating around 160-170.
By the time half of the performances were over, many audience members were already feeling a bit confused.
Clearly, this performance was not as good as the previous two, and more importantly, the types of songs from these original musicians were too similar.
Seven or eight out of ten people were singing about love, and as Liu Zhengqing commented, “Can’t they write songs without love?”
It wasn’t until the 11th original musician performed that something seemed different.
The song, titled “Once Upon a Time,” was a male-female duet composed by the creator and another female singer.
Just by the title, Mu Li initially thought it was another song about lost love, and so did everyone else.
But when this person performed the song, everyone realized that it was a song mourning the passage of time; past moments were gone and could never return.
Just as the song sang, “Though memories have frozen into ice, time still passes.”
The intertwining of male and female voices in the song, the entanglement of regret and pain, made the regret in those memories seem even more moving.
Many experienced audience members even shed tears because of this song.
Mu Li also remembered the musician’s name — Qiao Bo.
After the performance, the public gave their ratings.
The four ‘Sound Creation Conveners’ also gave positive reviews.
Li Xingyang: “Qiao Bo, you are a person with a story.”
Lan Yaning: “This song is very good, and choosing a male-female duet is even better; you successfully interpreted this work.”
Zhang Jialiang: “Compared to the last song, this one moved me.”
Liu Zhengqing: “This is the only song so far today that has been able to move me.”
Qiao Bo’s song also earned him 188 points.
However, Mu Li at this point had no time to worry about others; it was almost his turn to perform.
It was just that his performance seemed different from everyone else’s.
After Qiao Bo left the stage, staff immediately brought out a drum set and three microphones.
Li Xingyang immediately became interested and called out to Lan Yaning beside him, “Is it a band?”
Lan Yaning nodded and replied, “It seems so.” But her eyes remained fixed on the stage.
The commotion on stage naturally attracted everyone’s attention; a band performance was a method no other creator had attempted before.
After all, a band performance requires synergy, and it was already very difficult to create and perform a qualified original song within a mere six hours; if they also had to conduct band rehearsals, there certainly wouldn’t be enough time.
Many original musicians in the audience showed disdain, as if mocking Mu Li’s overestimation of his own abilities.
“Who is this guy? How dare he form a band?”
“He’s probably just trying to make a splash; if the song isn’t good, he’ll try some gimmick.”
“Don’t say that, it’s quite effective; all 4 teachers are attracted to him.”
“Just a clown; he’ll reveal his true colors once he performs.”
…
Xu Wei took the opportunity to introduce Mu Li’s identity: “A previous contestant in the program withdrew due to certain reasons, and this is a temporary substitute musician chosen.”
After hearing Xu Wei’s introduction, everyone seemed even more interested in Mu Li.
They had at least heard the works of the other contestants once, but Mu Li was a newcomer, and everyone hoped that the newcomer could bring new expectations.
However, despite these hopes, most people were not optimistic about Mu Li.
Besides a portion of people who thought Mu Li was using a band as a gimmick, a large portion also believed that Mu Li’s performance came after Qiao Bo’s, and having just heard such a melancholic song, it would probably be difficult to stir up emotions now.
Before everyone could react, a mist suddenly rose on the stage, and at that moment, a giant clock appeared in the center of the mist.
“Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock…” With each movement of the second hand, the ticking sound seemed to echo in people’s hearts.
As the fifth tick-tock sounded, a rapid drumbeat suddenly emerged, followed by guitar and bass accompaniment.
The mist instantly dispersed, revealing Mu Li and his three Pokémon: Sylveon on drums, Gardevoir on bass, and Ditto on guitar.
The moment Gardevoir appeared, a faint blue light spread from Mu Li, engulfing the entire venue.
This was a special application of Psychic, using the characteristic of reversing telepathy to directly spread Mu Li’s emotions to the entire audience.
Almost at the instant the music started, the audience below let out gasps of surprise.
Accompanied by the drumbeats and accompaniment, the emotions throughout the venue immediately soared to their peak, and almost all the audience members stood up.
The four teachers did the same.
When the drumbeat rapidly began, Liu Zhengqing instantly got excited, jumping up from his chair.
The other three mentors quickly followed suit, also excitedly standing up.
“Wow! It’s a Pokémon band!”
“Ah, the drummer is Sylveon! I feel like every beat she plays hits right at my heart!”
“Who understands the value of Gardevoir, the bassist!”
“Gardevoir! Ah! I’m going to die!”
…
The intro was the climax, and after the climax, Mu Li’s voice naturally flowed in.
“There’s a clock in the tree rings, a clock in the wrinkles, even if all the clocks in the world stop, it won’t stop for a minute…”
Nothing can set the mood better than a band.
Although none of the audience members had ever heard this song before, it didn’t stop them from tapping their feet to the beat.
But as they listened, they gradually realized that the song’s content wasn’t just about excitement; it had a deeper meaning.
“If all human faces looked the same, then your difference from others depends on how you live.”
When Mu Li sang this line, Liu Zhengqing’s expression stiffened, as if he had been electrocuted, and the next second, he felt goosebumps all over.
However, by the time he reacted, the song had already entered the chorus.
At this moment, pink and blue fireworks instantly flashed on the stage, exploding in the air, making the atmosphere of the entire studio even more fervent.
And when Mu Li sang the lyrics, “What’s left from every impulse is different, but one day you will understand, it is those things that make you different,” Liu Zhengqing felt a strange sense of emotion.
This emotion was not sadness or grief, but a kind of inexplicable impulse, an impulse as if wanting to cast aside everything and do what he wanted to do.
It was this impulse that transformed into excitement, making Liu Zhengqing’s hands and feet tremble uncontrollably.
Until Mu Li sang the final lyric.
“Every tiny reason traps freedom, if you still don’t do some things, what will be your reason?”
Yes, what will be my reason?
What reason exactly is holding back my freedom, keeping me tied down, preventing me from doing what I want to do?
As the last note fell, blue flames once again erupted from the stage in front of Mu Li, reigniting the passion that was about to fade from the venue.
The audience cheered incessantly.
By the time Xu Wei walked onto the stage, he hadn’t even spoken when Li Xingyang interjected, “May I quietly ask a question, did contestant Mu Li come through the back door?”
Xu Wei was stunned: “Teacher Li, what makes you say that?”
Li Xingyang replied exasperatedly, “I won’t mention anything else, just the stage effects alone are not on the same level as the other contestants!”
“That’s right!” Lan Yaning echoed, “Teacher Li, I didn’t notice until you mentioned it, but look at these stage effects, compared to Qiao Bo’s just now, are they even on the same level?”
“Exactly! Exactly!”
…
Seeing such a strong public outcry, Xu Wei couldn’t help but sigh: “Regarding this question, I just asked the directing team, and guess how they answered me?”
Without waiting for an answer, Xu Wei continued, “The directing team told me that those are the Pokémon’s Own skill effects , and they can’t control them.”
“This…” Everyone was at a loss for words.
Xu Wei continued, “If these Pokémon were an extra special effects team, then we could still restrict them, after all, other musicians haven’t used such extravagant effects. But, these Pokémon are just part of the performance members, so we have no choice! We can’t just tell them not to go on stage, right?”
Seeing that Xu Wei still wanted to say something, Li Xingyang directly interrupted, “We get it, we’re no longer interested in you, quickly let the creator speak.”
Xu Wei almost couldn’t catch his breath: “Is this how you abandon the mill after the donkey is used? Alright, alright!”
Seeing Xu Wei’s exaggerated expression, everyone burst into friendly laughter.
Xu Wei also knew that everyone’s attention was on Mu Li at the moment, so he didn’t try to stop them further and directly invited Mu Li onto the stage.
“Hello everyone, I’m Mu Li.”