Chapter 110: Everyone Was Stunned!

More and more netizens learned from all kinds of channels that "Light Years Away" had pulled off a stunning upset.

When they saw the news, most people could hardly believe it.

No way. Had there really been a reversal?

A reversal was one thing, but such a huge one that the media was actually calling it an upset?

After a brief daze, the netizens who had not had time to follow the matter all rushed to open Everyday Music and find "Light Years Away."

After quietly listening to it, they too were left staring in shock, their expressions a masterpiece of disbelief.

"What the hell! Can someone tell me what is going on here? Wasn't this supposed to be a trash song?"

"So this is the legendary trash song? I really swallowed all your nonsense!"

"Seriously, is Ninety-Nine Music really this arrogant? They looked down on a song like this? Are you people out of your minds?"

"Now I finally understand why the music world has fallen into such decline. These so-called musicians have lost even the most basic sense of taste! Just look at your own platform. What garbage is at the top of those charts?"

"Don't even get me started on those charts you can buy your way onto. Who still looks for songs on those platforms' rankings these days?"

"Now I finally understand why Xu Man insisted on releasing this new song!"

"She was probably simmering with anger after being scolded like that a few days ago, right? This slap in the face is so satisfying to watch!"

This utterly unexpected reversal gave the netizens a tremendous surprise.

The comment section under the song on Everyday Music exploded on the spot.

All kinds of praise and shocked exclamations surged out like bamboo shoots after spring rain.

Not only the netizens; the musicians in the industry who had been paying attention to the matter were also stunned wide-eyed after listening to the song.

They were just as dumbfounded.

To put it bluntly, they almost started questioning reality itself.

How could Ninety-Nine Music reject a song like this?

Are you people insane?

Was there something wrong with your taste, or with ours? If a song like this gets rejected, then what kind of song do you even want us to write?

In that instant, these musicians were all cursing Ninety-Nine Music to the heavens in their hearts.

As fellow musicians, they all felt that Ninety-Nine Music had gone too far.

How could they miss such a good song? Who would dare cooperate with them again after this?

After the shock passed, many of them also felt a strange sense of lingering fear and relief. They were relieved that when the media had interviewed them, they had stayed true to themselves and not kicked someone when they were down. Otherwise, there would have been no way to clean up the mess.

Once they had finally breathed a sigh of relief, they suddenly thought of something and could not help checking the netizens' comments online.

As expected, while the netizens were mocking Ninety-Nine Music mercilessly, they had also not forgotten Lin Xiangyang and the musicians who had previously posted on social media to attack Xu Man.

Curious, they opened those posts as well.

Truth be told, watching those shameless clowns get publicly slapped in the face was indeed a deeply satisfying thing.

Sure enough, they wasted no time deleting the posts where they had mocked Xu Man.

But even so, the netizens, who never feared a little chaos, had no intention of letting them off.

Seeing the gleeful comments from the crowd, those people could not help laughing too.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't delete your posts!"

"Come on, bring back that earth-shaking confidence you had before!"

"Keep cursing her. I will support you spiritually, absolutely."

"Seasoned musician, huh? Tsk tsk tsk tsk..."

"Hahahaha, this is killing me!"

Although they had deleted the posts, some mischievous netizens enthusiastically posted screenshots they had already prepared into the comment sections.

What made it even worse was that these screenshot posts were manually pinned by the netizens themselves.

Among all the musicians who had crashed and burned, one female singer was causing the most noise on her social feed, so much that it had become ridiculous.

It started when one veteran netizen saw so many people mocking her and, in a burst of righteous indignation, stepped forward to say something fair.

"Why do you keep slapping her face? If anything, her boyfriend should be the one spanking her!"

The instant those words were posted, the whole platform boiled over, and for some reason it suddenly turned into a full-blown parade of filthy jokes. The scene became chaotic beyond belief.

Watching themselves being publicly ridiculed by the entire internet, those musicians felt like dying.

Their hatred for Ninety-Nine Music had risen straight to the heavens.

Just like everyone else in the field, they could not understand why Ninety-Nine Music had rejected even a song like this.

Was there a hole in their brains or what?

To say they regretted it would not be an exaggeration. Their intestines were practically turning green with remorse.

It was over.

This black mark on their record would probably never be washed away for the rest of their lives.

Among those who were being mocked, Lin Xiangyang took the harshest beating of all.

...

At the backstage area of a commercial event, Lin Xiangyang stood waiting to go on, staring blankly at his manager.

His face was clouded with unprecedented panic and unease.

No one knew what he had endured in those ten-odd minutes.

Like many others, he had opened Xu Man's new song at once. At that very moment, his face still carried a sneering look of contempt.

He had already prepared the next round of attacks.

But after listening for only a short while, the smile on his face slowly froze. Even his manager beside him sensed that something was wrong.

A little over half a minute later, when the chorus reached its climactic peak, Lin Xiangyang looked as though he had been struck by lightning. His face went white as snow.

Two minutes later, he whipped around to look at his manager.

His manager was staring back at him, eyes widened even more frighteningly than his.

In each other's eyes they saw unmistakable horror.

The air seemed to freeze in that instant.

A moment later, Lin Xiangyang abruptly came to himself and cried out in a broken voice, "How can this be?"

Even his voice had changed.

"Delete the post! Hurry! Hurry!" The manager snapped awake too, his voice trembling.

Lin Xiangyang fumbled frantically to log into his social feed, his hands already barely obeying him.

But it was too late.

His page was already swarmed by netizens who loved nothing more than watching a spectacle.

"Hahahahaha..."

"Weren't you the one saying Xu Man was bringing shame on the music world?"

"Weren't you the one explaining how the music industry was ruined?"

"Promise me you won't delete this post, okay?"

"Can we interview you for a moment? How do you feel right now?"

In just a few minutes, his page was flooded with hundreds of mocking, sarcastic comments.

Seeing those remarks, Lin Xiangyang felt cold all over and trapped between a rock and a hard place.

For a time, those posts could neither be deleted nor left alone.

What he had never expected was that a few minutes later, the event organizer's representative would come to inform him that his later performance had been canceled.

"Why?" he screamed in shock.

"Why? You should know that very well," the organizer's representative said coldly. "Your image is no longer suitable for our stage. Get ready. Finish this song and then get out."

With that icy line thrown at him, the man turned and left.

If the event had not already been signed for, if the event had not already been promoted, they would have canceled the whole thing.

What a disaster.

Watching the representative's merciless back recede, Lin Xiangyang was dumbstruck.

...

At the same time, the other major music platforms had all fallen into a dazed silence.

Their minds were blank as well.

The executives' faces were all filled with utter disbelief.

To say they looked like walking question marks would not be an exaggeration.

At that moment, it felt as though their brains could no longer keep up. They desperately wanted someone to tell them what on earth had happened.

Wasn't this supposed to be a trash song nobody wanted? Then how had it turned into something that shook the entire music world?

Before they could fully process it, they received calls from their superiors.

On the phone, their bosses asked in a grave tone why they had missed this song, and why they had let it fall into Everyday Music's hands.

Why?

Still in a fog, they tried hard to think it back through.

They remembered that Xu Man had indeed called them, but that was not quite how the matter had gone.

What had happened back then?

Ah, yes. Xu Man said that their new song had been rejected by Ninety-Nine Music, and then she asked whether they were interested in collaborating.

Right, exactly.

Given Xu Man's fame, a song rejected by Ninety-Nine Music had to be bad to the point of being unbearable. Since it had already been rejected, there was naturally no need for them to waste any more effort on it.

That was perfectly normal logic, wasn't it?

Who could have guessed that such a song would become a sensation?

If they had not already seen Ninety-Nine Music being mocked into stupidity by the internet, they would almost have suspected that the other side had dug a pit for them.

Had Xiao Hang been kicked in the head by a donkey or something?

A song like this and they turned it down?

Thinking about the quality of the song and looking at the current online frenzy, the executives at those music platforms felt their hearts tighten and ache one after another.

It hurt. It really hurt.

But what the hell had happened with Ninety-Nine Music?

Just as they were considering whether to call Ninety-Nine Music and ask what was going on, their secretaries informed them that the official Ninety-Nine Music account had already posted an explanation.

They opened it at once.

After reading Ninety-Nine Music's explanation, those executives nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Madness.

They were on the verge of going mad.

After all this, that idiot Xiao Hang had actually rejected the song without even listening to it?

Was he sick?

Was he sick or what?

In that instant, these executives all wanted to kill Xiao Hang.

At the very least, he was a content director. How could he make such a low-level mistake? Did he have any idea how many innocent people he had dragged down with such a capricious decision?

Thinking that Xu Man had been rejected for exactly this reason, they all found it inconceivable.

Then, remembering that she had even called them first to seek cooperation, they all felt a little ashamed toward her.

She must have been very disappointed at the time, mustn't she?