With a grand gesture, he waved his hand and threw money around with abandon!

They were all somewhat well-known entertainers, and their presence in this talent show was meant to be overwhelming. How could such a mere contestant receive so much praise? Especially Lu Yi, who had been publicly called out for “borrowing” from "Slow Song." His face burned with humiliation. The emotion he’d felt while listening to "Melancholy" had long since faded; now, when he looked at Ji Fanxing, his eyes brimmed with resentment.

During the vote for the lead position, Ji Shengxue, hearing Fang Zhijing’s evaluation of Ji Fanxing, grew tense, a strong sense of crisis overwhelming her. At that moment, the camera on the big screen focused on Fang Zhijing. Everyone could see his fingers gently rubbing the envelope containing the invitation letter, as though he was hesitating.

Both the guests and contestants vying for the invitation felt their hearts leap into their throats; they held their breath, eyes fixed on his every move. The live comments scrolled in a frenzy.

Fang Zhijing did want to hand the invitation letter to Ji Fanxing. After some reflection, his heart had calmed considerably. The competition was still ongoing, and one contestant had yet to perform. It was rumored this final contestant was also an outstanding singer. Fang Zhijing knew he should wait until he’d heard all the performances before making his decision.

He withdrew his hand from the invitation and placed it on the scoring device. With a crisp “Duang!” the screen revealed his score.

“Ten points!” A perfect score!

Host Brother Du exclaimed in surprise—this was an endorsement from a legend in the country’s pop music industry!

The entire venue erupted, thunderous applause breaking out.

“Duang!” Another sound—the score from Xie Huai.

“Ten points!” Brother Du’s voice grew even more animated.

Seeing this, the other two guest mentors, even if they harbored resentment toward Ji Fanxing, dared not act out. The example of Ren Feichang was a sobering warning; it was said he’d already been blacklisted by all major talent shows.

Besides, a song like "Melancholy" was something they could never write in their lives, and even with the sheet music in hand, they could never sing it as stunningly as Ji Fanxing.

“Duang!” “Duang!” Two more sounds.

“Ten points!” “Ten points!”

“Congratulations to Ji Fanxing for receiving perfect scores from all four mentors this round!

Now let’s invite the live audience to cast their votes!”

The audience, already won over by Ji Fanxing’s voice, gave her nearly all perfect scores. Yet, for some reason, there were unexpected results in the online voting.

“Damn, this money is hard to earn. It pains my conscience to rate such a wonderful song poorly!”

“Ji Fanxing is my favorite singer right now—this has to cost extra!”

This rising star, Ji Fanxing, inevitably blocked the paths of many. Although the rules of "King of All Singers" were fair and left no room for cheating, people still found ways to exploit loopholes.

Online scoring.

Anyone watching the livestream for a certain amount of time could earn voting rights, and the final score was calculated by dividing the total points by the number of online voters, then presented proportionally.

All it took was hiring some paid voters to spam the stream and skew the results.

However, the proportion of online votes in the total score was limited. And if too many people watched the livestream simultaneously, the effect of these paid voters would be minimal.

It was a costly method with little payoff, yet there were always those with more money than sense, willing to spend heavily just to lower Ji Fanxing’s score.

“Young Master, your devotion to Miss Shengxue moves heaven and earth. If she knew, she would surely be even more enamored with you.”

In a hillside villa, Zhao Jinyu, heir to Tianhe Group, was enjoying a poolside party at home.

He lounged languidly on a recliner, admiring the various bikini-clad beauties in the pool while basking in the flattery of his cronies.

Zhao Jinyu took a sip of the expertly mixed cocktail, already slightly tipsy.

“Well said! Call Old Song and add another million! Today, for my dear Axue, I’ll teach that vicious sister of hers a lesson!”

Next to Zhao Jinyu sat a delicate-featured young man, frowning as he studied the numbers on his device. “Jin, with so many people watching the livestream now, I’m afraid our paid voters won’t have much effect…”

“Lu Feng, what’s the matter with you?”