diymy Chapter 15 was sent.
Chapter 15 was sent.
The backstage area was noisier than Chu Sheng had imagined, while faint music and the host's announcements could be heard from the front.
The passageway was crowded with all sorts of magical girls. One of them was carrying a huge scythe, but got stuck in the door frame when she tried to enter, and several staff members rushed over to help her out.
There was also a magical girl in pajamas, hugging a pillow, sitting in the corner yawning and muttering, "My sword and shield?"
Chu Sheng stood at the edge of the crowd, clutching his number tag, and secretly glanced at Gluttony next to him.
Bing Shi was applying lip gloss, holding a small round mirror in one hand and a lip brush in the other. Her lips looked full and alluring, with her canine tooth faintly visible.
"Don't look at me like that." Gluttony closed his lip gloss, turned his face to the side, and said innocently, "Is there something on my face?"
Chu Sheng's small face remained expressionless: "Yes."
"What?"
"conspiracy."
Binge eating paused for a moment, then burst out laughing.
She bent slightly at the waist, and the heart-shaped badge on her chest trembled slightly. Her figure was so alluring, like a freshly peeled peach, full and voluptuous.
Chu Sheng was reluctant to admit it, but this woman was indeed beautiful.
She was so beautiful that even though Chu Sheng knew she had just lied to him, he found it hard to truly regard her as a bad person.
Beautiful women are the most deceitful!
"I really didn't mean to lie to you." Gluttony stuffed the lip gloss back into his bag. "It's just that if I had said I had practiced before, you would have been nervous."
Chu Sheng said with a straight face, "Do you think I won't be nervous if you tell me now?"
"Well, it got found out."
"You can confess beforehand."
"Will you still come up with me after I confess?"
Chu Sheng thought about it carefully and realized it wasn't necessarily true. She would most likely feel inferior, put away her makeup bag, and quietly hide in a corner, covering her face.
Gluttony looked at her and blinked: "Look."
Chu Sheng felt uneasy under her gaze and quickly turned his head away: "Come on, I'm not falling for that!"
"oh--"
The gluttonous sound trailed off, and he obediently shut his mouth.
What is this woman after?
If it really came down to competition, she could have easily crushed Chu Sheng with her superior skills, so why was she pretending to be a D-level newbie in front of him?
Why does she elevate herself while belittling herself along the way?
So that she'd float up and then crash down hard? Or just to see her make a fool of herself?
Chu Sheng felt increasingly uneasy and even began to suspect that there was something fishy going on behind the scenes of the talent show.
For example, the propaganda department had already decided on Gluttony, but fearing that Chu Sheng might suddenly appear, they arranged for her to get close to them, a potential newcomer, to conduct psychological warfare.
For example, binge eating is actually a stress tester sent by the management bureau, specifically responsible for testing whether newcomers will lose their judgment under the close praise of beautiful girls.
"Number 37, get ready!"
A staff member pushed open the backstage door, peeked out, and called out.
Chu Sheng trembled. It's here, it's really here!
She instinctively gripped the small parasol, her palms sweating. Gluttony, standing beside her, clenched his fist and whispered, "Good luck."
"Number 37, hurry up!" the staff member urged again. "The previous ones are already finished."
Chu Sheng took a deep breath and patted his cheeks.
Calm down! Ignore the binge eating! And ignore all this talk about B-grade, trainees, and conspiracy theories!
who are you?
Lilith, the Dark Side of the Moon!
What is your goal?
Win the draft!
You've come this far. The small town has no stage, but Haicheng has given you one!
Chu Sheng gripped the small parasol tightly and followed the staff towards the passageway.
At the end of the passageway stood a black curtain. Outside the curtain, stage lights swept across the floor, and the host's voice came from ahead.
"Thank you for the performance, contestant number 36, [Lime Strike]. Judges, please take notes. Next up, contestant number 37."
Chu Sheng's heart began to pound wildly.
"From Haicheng Branch, codename—"
Don't panic. First, use your umbrella to cover your face. After hearing your name, slowly walk out and stop in the center of the stage. Press the umbrella down so that only one eye is visible. Then turn around, swish your skirt, and start introducing yourself.
The music, the movement, the gestures, the glance back—wow, perfect!
"[The Dark Side of the Moon], Lilith!"
The curtain was pulled back by the staff, and a spotlight shone directly on her.
Chu Sheng's mind went completely blank.
She had completely forgotten the entrance moves she had rehearsed. She stood there holding her small parasol, her feet seemingly glued to the floor. It took her five or six seconds to realize that she should move forward.
So she left, like a child with polio.
The little leather shoes stomped on the stage, tap, tap, tap, each step like a zombie preparing to devour the judges' brains.
It was dark in the audience, and Chu Sheng couldn't see the judges' faces. He could only see a few rows of seats and a few small lights, with a woman sitting alone in the middle.
The woman leaned back in the high-backed chair of the judges' panel, her figure mostly obscured by shadows, with only her chest and shoulders illuminated by the light, revealing her striking silhouette.
Even just sitting there, you could tell how exaggerated her figure was. Her waistline was cinched by a dark dress, her full chest cast heavy shadows, and below that were her waist and hips hidden by the edge of the table, revealing only a small section of her crossed, snow-white calves and a red patent leather stiletto heel that twirled on her toes.
She held a pen between her fingers, her fingertips slowly tapping the evaluation sheet.
A judge next to him whispered, "Chairman, number 37 is a newly registered D-level student from a few days ago."
The woman didn't answer, her gaze fixed on Chu Sheng: "Let's begin."
Chu Sheng swallowed hard and nodded stiffly.
The music started playing; it was the accompaniment she had repeatedly edited last night.
First beat: Raise the umbrella.
Chu Sheng raised his hand.
Buhao, you've misplaced your hand!
She was supposed to hold the umbrella with her right hand and make a heart shape with her left hand under the handle. But in her nervousness, she gripped the umbrella with her left hand, and her right hand only made a half-circle, the movement stopping halfway, as if she had a wrist cramp.
Someone in the audience coughed softly.
Chu Sheng immediately made amends and repeated the posture.
The second beat: turn to the side.
She turned to the side.
Buhao, you're going in the wrong direction!
She was supposed to show her beautiful right profile, but instead she turned to her left, and even stumbled slightly because her little leather shoes stepped on the hem of her skirt.
It's okay, it's a minor mistake. The audience won't notice it, and the judges might not notice it either!
Chu Sheng tried to force a smile. She raised her small hand, making a cat paw shape next to her cheek, then pressed the umbrella down rhythmically, her waist twisting slightly, her skirt swaying, and the edge of her black stockings flashing under the light.
This was originally her most confident attempt at skirting the line, cute with a touch of darkness, and dark with a hint of clumsiness.
But today her hands seemed to belong to someone else; her cat paws were too high, blocking her face; she was a beat too slow when turning the umbrella, and the tip of the umbrella poked her twin ponytails; and she pressed the umbrella down too low, hiding her completely behind the umbrella, so the judges couldn't see her at all.
She had originally planned a move of "pretending to bite her lip and then looking back," but for some reason she bit too hard, causing her eye to twitch in pain and her expression to become ferocious.
Finally, someone in the audience let out a very soft laugh.
Chu Sheng's mind went blank for a moment.
It’s over.
broken.
Sent.
The more she tried to salvage the situation, the more chaotic her movements became. She had practiced quite well in her room last night; even with the limited space beside the bed, she could still spin the umbrella fairly well.
But today, as soon as I stepped onto the stage, everything changed.
She had no choice but to grit her teeth and continue.
Twenty seconds left, the last twenty seconds are the highlight! As long as I can pull off that final turn and hip sway, inadvertently lifting my skirt, everything is still salvageable!
Chu Sheng gritted his teeth, kept in rhythm, and raised the small parasol.
Turn around! Bend over! Twist...
"stop."
A cold voice rang out from below the stage, and the music stopped abruptly.
Chu Sheng's drum was half-twisted, and he stubbornly refused to utter the "yo~" from his mouth.
The stage lights were still on, and she remained in that awkward pose, like a doll in a shopping mall window being posed haphazardly by a mischievous child.
In the very center of the judges' panel, the chairman put down his pen.
The light swept across her face, revealing a mature woman with strikingly beautiful features and exquisite eyes. Her dress was stretched taut across her chest, creating a full, curvaceous silhouette, while her waist was cinched at an extremely narrow level.
She looked at Chu Sheng, her eyes showing no anger, not even disappointment.
Chu Sheng had seen this look before; it was quite similar to the way she looked at [Muse], but without the jealousy, only disdain.
"Not approved." The chairman bowed his head, made a mark on the form, and said, "Next!"