Just How Fast Was She?

Tan Song felt an unprecedented sense of peace with Qi Wu's calm eyes on him.

He did not understand why.

When people looked at him with anticipation and awe, he would feel like he was going to be pushed off the face of a cliff as breathing became too hard for him.

However, the woman standing before him had dragged him back from the deep sea he had been drowning in.

His voice softened as he replied, "Yes, I can."

He had spoken with a confidence he had never felt before.

Meanwhile, Song Qi had been observing Tan Song the entire time from off-stage. He smiled and turned off the headset connected to the stadium's audio and picked up the team's internal radio.

"It looks like Tan Song is still as capable as ever, even if he has not completely moved on from his trauma."

"This is what he's good at, after all. I don't understand why he can't move beyond classical music since he knows so much," Qu Man responded over the radio.

His music was stale, lifeless, and empty.

That was what many music critics said six months after Tan Song's debut. At that time, the prodigy Tang Liuhua, the Queen of Music, had admired was nowhere to be seen.

Something flashed in Song Qi's eyes as he gazed at the young man on the stage whose confidence slowly returned to him. He smiled. "He may have been asking that very same question as well."

Now, Tan Song knew where to find the answer.

The next few songs being played were all classics from the seventies and eighties, songs that few of the contestants had ever heard. Hence, Tan Song instantly stood out from the crowd.

Then, the next song played sounded very familiar to many contestants.

Finally, it was time for them to shine. Contestants had their hands eagerly hovered over their buttons.

The song ended. It was time for them to fight to name it.

Uncontrollable excitement was painted all over the contestants' faces as they hurriedly tried to win the right to answer the question.

However, someone else was faster than all of them.

The loud beep echoing through the air caused everyone to stare at Qi Wu in shock, for she had calmly slammed her hand on the button.

Confusion filled the air.

Just how fast was she?

Now that Qi Wu had won the right for her team to answer the question, she turned to look at Tan Song with eyes that practically screamed "I did my job, so answer it already.'"

Silence fell.

Tan Song's lips twitched in speechlessness.

A few seconds later, he sighed and called out, "'Love in the City' by Bai Huiyun."

The word "correct" flashed on the LED screen as soon as he finished speaking.

The contestants on stage immediately started whispering among themselves.

"I thought it was 'Love Without Limits.' I didn't expect it to be 'Love in the City.'"

"Bai Huiyun… If I remember correctly, she debuted at the same time Tan Song did, right?"

"Yup. Back then, he was always in first place while she would always be in second place. No one back then could've imagined Tan Song to start over again."

At the end of the game, Qi Wu's team had won first place among their group even though Qi Wu did nothing. However, everyone was so busy gossiping about Tan Song and Bai Huiyun that no one paid her any attention at all.

"You were amazing, sweetie!"

During the break, Jiang Xuxu instantly ran over. She had felt so proud when she saw Qi Wu at the top of the leaderboard.

"Tan Song answered the questions though," Qi Wu replied. "Not me."

Jiang Xuxu flapped her hands in a way that spoke of her firm belief in her idol being the best all the time.

"Luck is also a talent. Your luck in finding an amazing partner is proof that you're amazing!"

The way she explained it made her weird logic actually sound rational.

Qi Wu tilted her head and thought about it. Eventually, she patiently nodded and said, "You're right."

Jiang Xuxu grinned brightly at her. "Right?"

Tong Luo and Ke Lu watched, speechless.

Just then, Tan Song walked over to them.

Qi Wu was standing in the middle of the group, a clear sign of how the other three women had intentionally formed a protective circle around her.

Tan Song had to stop and stand at a safe distance. "Qi Wu."

Upon hearing someone call out to her, she turned around.

Tan Song smiled. "Mr. Song said the teams formed today have to go around together."

The moment he said that, he felt a hostile glare directed at him.

When he looked over, he was surprised to see that the person glaring at him was Tong Luo who was standing behind Qi Wu.

Silence fell.

What was going on?

He froze in confusion.

However, before he could think any further about it, Qi Wu was walking toward him. "Let's go. Break is nearly over."

Tan Song subconsciously nodded, and the hostile glare in Tong Luo's eyes immediately vanished.

That rendered him speechless.

However, Tan Song did not have great social skills. The person he was most familiar with was his manager, so he did not understand what Tong Luo meant by that glare.

By the time Qi Wu and Tan Song got back to their seats, filming had started up again.

Coincidentally, this round included Jiang Xuxu and Qiu Yan.

The two women did not forget about their hostile relationship just because they were now teammates. The entire time, they coldly looked away from each other, pretending as though the other did not exist.

That meant they lost out on quite a few chances to answer the question at the start of the game.

Qiu Yan darkly glared at Jiang Xuxu. "Can you even do this? Aren't you always singing in your streams? Why don't you know any songs here?"

Jiang Xuxu did not have a great memory. Hence, she only vaguely knew the songs and could never remember the song's entire name.

Qiu Yan's criticism pushed her into letting out a bark of derisive laughter. "I'm still better than you, Ms. Forever Number Two."

"Remember those words well because I'll make you eat them one day!"

After that retort, Qiu Yan decided to stop arguing with Jiang Xuxu and focused on the game.

However, she could not answer a single question correctly.

There was something off about Qiu Yan's behavior. In the past, she would always insist on arguing with Jiang Xuxu until someone won the argument.

Jiang Xuxu had been rivals with Qiu Yan for so long that she naturally noticed that.

Once the game was over, Jiang Xuxu immediately asked Qiu Yan with a frown on her face, "What's wrong with you?"

Qiu Yan froze before looking away and coldly stating, "I'm fine."

At that moment, one of the crew members walked over to them. "Qiu Yan, someone's asking for you."

Jiang Xuxu watched as Qiu Yan's face immediately turned stark white.

She was about to grab Qiu Yan by the arm but was too late as Qiu Yan and the crew member were already gone.

As she pursed her lips and watched Qiu Yan walk away, she felt a mysterious sense of foreboding rising in her.

*

During the lunch break, Jiang Xuxu told the group about Qiu Yan's abnormal behavior.

"I've been fighting with her for years. While I don't like her, I don't want anything bad to happen to her."

Jiang Xuxu frowned and let out a heavy sigh.

When Qi Wu saw how worried Jiang Xuxu was, she said, "You can't stop it."

As the most talented high priestess of the millennium, Qi Wu had known the fates of many people ahead of time, but all she could was watch as they traveled down the path destiny wrote for them.

All of them did that, except for one.

The man who died before her very eyes had thoroughly escaped fate's design.