The Martial Artist Turned Movie Mogul-Chapter 721 - 720. Line up, line up--

"Right, right, I even made it to the top 100 nationwide, but I was stopped in the third round—"

When the boy started the first half of the sentence, his face beamed with pride. Unfortunately, by the end of it, he deflated like a balloon running out of air.

The staff member wearing a work badge on their chest couldn’t help but snicker at his words, prompting a friendly smile from the people queuing around them, waiting to enter.

"So that’s how it is, then this young student is really amazing!"

"Yeah, making it to the top 100 means they’re the best of the best from each province."

The young man in question appeared to be in his early twenties, his clean and neat demeanor indicating he hadn’t yet faced the harsh beatings of society; presumably, he was still a student. Making it to the top 100 in the competition was quite an impressive feat.

Others might spend their entire lives without reaching the heights he had already achieved. Given time, he would surely become a standout in the world of painting and calligraphy.

"If you have registered an account on our association’s official website, you can get a voting device."

The staff member dutifully introduced the final competition rules to everyone and conveniently picked up a few printed flyers from the table to hand out.

"Here’s our flyer, which includes detailed information about the competition. Just go over there, provide your official website account and level, and you’ll receive a voting device. Then you can vote for your favorite contestant."

"No way! We can do that?"

"Ahhhh—I have a favorite contestant, can I really vote for him???"

The staff member said, "Certainly, but we must ensure fairness in the competition. The voting devices can only be used to vote after all contestants have revealed their work."

"Oh, we get that. We won’t let personal feelings interfere with the principle of fairness." frёewebηovel.cѳm

"Goodness gracious, when did the association’s competition get upgraded? They never let us participate before!"

"Exactly, wasn’t it always just the judges giving out scores? They said it was more professional that way, and now it’s changed all of a sudden!"

The staff member laughed awkwardly, "Well... our president said that we should keep up with what’s popular among you young people, to stay modern!"

"Ssss—"

"Unbelievable!"

"A wonder of the world!"

The rules that had been in place for over a decade changed this year? What on earth had happened?

"By the way, I heard that President Bai didn’t use to like young people’s stuff; could it be that your association has had a change of leadership?"

"..."

The ever-diligent staff member suddenly stiffened, looking somewhat displeased.

I’m going to your place then!

Your leadership is the one that’s changed!

Though Master Bai had indeed been labeled by many behind his back as old-fashioned, these days he had become quite trendy, ordering takeout every day— and not just anything, but hamburgers and fries!

"Forget it, forget it, I’m going to get a voting device. I want to cast my vote for my idol!"

The group didn’t bother to question whether the association’s leader had really changed or not, grabbing the flyer and heading towards the issuing area not far away.

***

As contestants and spectators gradually entered the venue, backstage, Master Bai, who was the talk of the town, found himself surrounded by a group of elders, unable to find a way out.

"Master Bai, it’s already the final day today, so that Tang Shu fellow will finally show himself, right?"

"Yeah, how long do you intend to keep him under wraps?"

"From the beginning of the competition until now, it’s been such a long time and we haven’t even seen him. It’s all quite mysterious!"

Judge Li tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing an appropriate smile:

"We’ve been curious about him for a long time, all of us judges, and we still don’t know what he looks like?"

Pshaw! They couldn’t care less about what Shi Yu might look like. They just wanted to know who this person was, someone so revered that, without showing his face, he managed to captivate the hearts of all the students!

Clearly, they were not even a blip on these "colleagues’" radar.

This was indeed the collective sentiment of the judges, as Shi Yu had become so mysteriously compelling in the recent months that their curiosity had reached its peak.

Master Bai chuckled in a mirthful manner, the image of a sage, "Well, we’ll find out when the time comes, won’t we?"

Nonsense, he wanted to know what the other looked like as well!

Alas, he hadn’t seen him either, not even a photograph.

Of course, in contrast to these old timers, he at least knew the gender and approximate age range of the person, so he wouldn’t be utterly shocked when he met him.

With this thought in mind, Master Bai said to the young boy beside him:

"Chenxi, go ahead and ask at the front if Judge Shi has arrived yet."

"Alright! Grandpa, I’m going now!"

The teenage boy who followed Master Bai suddenly lit up, bounding towards the association’s entrance with his newly assigned task.

Good heavens, finally, he didn’t have to stick by grandpa’s side any longer!

Although he had indeed gained quite a lot from chatting with the old gentlemen, the atmosphere was undeniably stifling. Better not to join that conversation.

***

At the association’s entrance.

Tang Shu, wearing a black mask, had been queuing for half an hour and arrived at the security check area, where the staff member across had already handed over a flyer as a matter of course.

"Hello, participants please take the right-hand path, and viewers the left-hand path. If you have a registered account on the association’s website, you can go and get a voting device to vote for your favorite student."

Tang Shu took the flyer, paused for a moment, no... a path for judges?

"Okay, thank you."

Nodding to the staff member, Tang Shu hesitated, then took the right path for participants, drawing envious glances from many.

"Hey hey dude, look, that lady just went to the right side!"

"Wow, so she’s a participant, all of them are elites filtered from across the country, real-life big shots!"

"I’m so jealous, oh~ when can I also take the participant’s path?"

"Dream on, rather than fantasizing, let’s be practical and think about what to have for lunch today."

"Tsk tsk, you could tell from the figure that the one who just left was a beauty, since she’s a participant she must have made it into the national top 25, so impressive!"

"Wonder how she compares to our Qingyuan?"

"That... hard to say, but I have faith in our dorm’s little genius, it’s just, I wonder what the beauty looks like?"

"The finals are coming up soon, we’ll definitely get to see her, let’s go find a place to sit first."

"Let’s go, let’s go—line up—"

Meanwhile, Tang Shu smoothly followed the arrows into the participants’ rest area, encountering several contestants along the way who were introducing themselves to others, a mix of all ages. It is worth noting that most of the participants were between the ages of twenty and thirty, with only a few seeming more composed, their appearance alone indicating they were not at all young.

Beneath the brim of a baseball cap, her gaze swept toward a lightweight steel door at the end of the participant area, around which several staff members shuttled back and forth.