Chapter 183: How can people be so malicious?

"It has appeared! It has finally appeared!"

"The true 1,000-point maximum score contestant on the show 'Tomorrow's Star' has been born!"

"He is none other than our contestant Su Chen!!!"

Host Liu Shao's final tally of Su Chen's score felt both entirely logical and yet completely unexpected.

It was logical because of Su Chen's formidable strength, and given how down-to-earth he was, earning the maximum score from the professional panel and capturing the audience's affection was a predictable outcome to everyone.

Yet, the score given by Cai Xukun took everyone by complete surprise.

Cai Xukun had actually given contestant Su Chen a full 100 points!

One had to bear in mind that during the critique segment just moments ago, Cai Xukun had practically looked down on Su Chen through and through.

Anyone could see the tit-for-tat friction between the two of them!

Not to mention, Cai Xukun had been left utterly speechless by Su Chen's retort, even triggering a program mishap and joke where his social anxiety flared up!

Given all that, why on earth would Cai Xukun still give Su Chen the maximum score?!

Hearing the score summarized by Liu Shao, every audience member at the venue looked toward Cai Xukun at the mentor's desk with sheer astonishment.

And the broadcast director, ever perceptive, immediately cut the camera straight to him, flashing a close-up of Cai Xukun's face onto the live stream!

"...What the actual f***?! What kind of stunt is Cai Xukun pulling here?! For the once, I am completely lost!"

"Damn it, why does watching a variety show make me feel like my brain cells aren't enough? If you're going to give a full score, why target Su Chen in the first place? This makes zero scientific sense!"

"Did Liu Shao misread something? This jerk Cai Xukun actually gave Su Chen a full score? Did the sun rise from the west today?"

"Fascinating. Spouting words Zheng Huayu should say, and handing out the score Yan Mi should give—this operation is utterly absurd!"

......

Just as the audience in the live stream chat was arguing heatedly, taking advantage of the brief pause before Liu Shao spoke again, Cai Xukun smiled and said, "It looks like everyone is very confused about my scoring?"

Hearing Cai Xukun's question, the audience and even the other judges and mentors instinctively nodded in agreement.

To be frank, who the hell could have anticipated this?

It felt just like watching a suspense movie together, where a murderer kills his mortal enemy and then immediately commits suicide.

The murderer even leaves a suicide note saying he loved his victim so much that he wanted to go to heaven together with him!

It was an absolute mind-blown moment, wasn't it?!

Utterly illogical, completely counterintuitive, more nonsensical than pure nonsense itself!

If a movie plot like this were put on screen, the audience would tear it to shreds with curses!

Yet this cinematic plot had actually manifested in real life, right before their very eyes!

At that moment, everyone wanted to say something, yet no one knew where to begin.

All they could say was that art comes from life and falls short of reality.

It was simply too magical and surreal!!!

Just as everyone was feeling somewhat at a loss, Cai Xukun continued, "Actually, even before I critiqued contestant Su Chen's performance, I had already given him the maximum score—that is, 100 points."

"The reason I critiqued Su Chen the way I did later on was, on one hand, because I felt that in an era where the entire Mandopop music market is chasing after Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea, he managed to steadfastly uphold Chinese musical styles. That is truly no small feat."

"I also had a probing intent in mind. Perhaps my approach was rather extreme, and terribly wrong, but it felt to me like witnessing the purest form of romance—loyal and steadfast, so beautiful that I couldn't dare to believe it."

"Therefore, I wanted to see if this romance was truly unbreakable, and wanted to witness the efforts and determination contestant Su Chen put in behind the scenes, which is why I targeted him."

"Here, for my extreme and erroneous approach, I want to first apologize to contestant Su Chen. I am sorry."

With those words, Cai Xukun stood up from the mentor's seat and bowed deeply to Su Chen.

Watching this scene unfold, the entire venue erupted in commotion, and the bullet comments in the live stream drifted past in a dense blur.

"What the f***?! So that was the reason... Although Cai Xukun's method felt extremely problematic, somehow I unexpectedly can't bring myself to be angry at him anymore..."

"Holy crap, me too! Not believing in love and therefore testing love... This behavior is so typical of someone who has been hurt before, and this sort of thing is actually very common in real life."

"Yeah, when this happens between men and women, it's usually the women who pull stunts like this. It shows his sense of security is really low... What on earth has Cai Xukun been through? Suddenly I feel kind of sorry for him!"

"Our Kun Kun has always been such a gentle person, which is why I said earlier that there was a reason behind all this, but you guys refused to believe me! Do you believe it now!"

"Kun Kun is truly so kind-hearted. Even though he only tested Su Chen for our sake, he still apologized to Su Chen. He's honestly making me cry my eyes out!"

"Right, right! Looking back at how Su Chen spoke to Kun Kun just now, I honestly feel a deep sense of disgust toward that guy from the bottom of my heart!"

"An ingrate biting the hand that feeds them! A wolf with ungratefully un-earnable eyes!"

......

The public opinion on the live stream always shifted in waves, and at this moment, with his head deeply bowed and waist level with his hips, Cai Xukun listened to the roaring crowd and nearly laughed out tears!

The feeling of hurling insults at someone and still winning cheers—was it really this exhilarating?

Was this what it felt like to stand on the moral high ground and point fingers at others at will?

This was simply too damn cool!

That's right!

Everything Cai Xukun had just said was not what he truly felt in his heart; it was coached by his manager and corporate team behind the scenes!

In the less than half an hour he had spent returning backstage, apart from the initial scolding, the rest of the time was spent by his manager drilling Cai Xukun on how to salvage his reputation upon returning to the stage!

One had to hand it to that middle-aged female manager; she certainly knew her tricks, and this script was remarkably effective.

To achieve this goal, the company backing Cai Xukun had even paid a certain price to alter his score!

The score Cai Xukun had originally given Su Chen was zero points!

Therefore, entering from the audience's perspective with preconceived notions, it was hard for them to imagine that Cai Xukun had tampered with his score.

Even now, if anyone on the internet dared to speculate that Cai Xukun had changed his score, they would be ruthlessly attacked by others.

For instance:

What possible benefit could altering his score bring to Cai Xukun?

How could people's hearts be so venomous?

If it were as you claimed, Cai Xukun should have just given Su Chen 0 points!

Are you saying our Kun Kun gave the maximum score and somehow was still in the wrong?

Why are Su Chen's fans so foul? They refuse to apologize and yet they keep biting at our heels!

......

Meanwhile, a ferocious grin spread across Cai Xukun's face. To ensure no one could see this expression, he bent his waist even lower.

After a long while, he finally calmed his emotions. When he straightened back up, Cai Xukun's eyes were already reddened with manufactured tears!

With moistened eyes, Cai Xukun continued, "As for the second reason, it was actually because of my own selfishness..."