Chapter 18 Welcome Party (Thanks to the alliance reward from Watermelon Cat Cat!)

After leaving Professor He's office, Lu Zhixing returned to Dorm Room 404.

These past few days, he hardly ever went back to his dorm room; he was either out incognito in a wheelchair or holed up in a rental room furiously drafting design plans.

Inside the dorm room, the other three guys were doing the usual, gaming or homework, creating a harmonious atmosphere.

As soon as Lu Zhixing entered, he heard Liu Bo exclaiming to the ceiling, "Damn it! I've beaten 'Zen' several times over, but Professor He really hasn't asked another question about it! Was all my preparation for nothing?

"Boss Lv, you've led me astray!"

The look he gave Lv Yixiao was full of blame. If Lv Yixiao hadn't said at the cafeteria that Professor He might pull a fast one, he wouldn't have crammed that annoying game 'Zen' again.

But Lv Yixiao completely ignored his resentful stare and explained, "Ah, you just don't get it.

"This is what's known as 'Schrödinger's Q&A.' If you're not prepared, then there's a very high chance Professor He will put you on the spot, and if you're still unprepared then, the consequences are unthinkable; but if you did prepare, then the chances of him not asking are high.

"Now think about it, would you rather be prepared and he asks nothing, or unprepared and he does ask?"

Liu Bo was lost for words for a moment, "…I guess it's better to have prepared for nothing."

Lv Yixiao shrugged, "See?"

Liu Bo felt something was off but, looking at Zhao Haoyan, realized that Old Zhao had none of these worries. He was happily engrossed in his game at Black Iron Bureau, seemingly having forgotten all about the agony of dropping ranks.

Liu Bo was the first to notice Lu Zhixing's return and hurriedly asked, "Hey, Lu, I heard Professor He selected you? How did it go?"

Lv Yixiao also chimed in, "Looks like you can't count on the three of our design drafts, so your draft better make it into the top third, Lu. We'll then come to back you up. If all of us in Room 404 go down, we'll have no choice but to work for other students."

Lu Zhixing sat down in a chair, "Getting into the top third shouldn't be a problem. But don't sell yourselves short, keep pushing."

Liu Bo gestured dismissively, "No more effort from us, we three each have our things to deal with."

He glanced at Zhao Haoyan and Lv Yixiao, "You know Old Zhao's state; he wasn't much hopeful to begin with, and now he's hopelessly addicted to Black Iron Bureau.

"Boss Lv recently took on some more wedding gigs and is completely blinded by cash.

"As for me, I still have to get ready for the orientation party. Whether I can charm a senior and secure my priority in the coming four years' dating pool relies on this one shot."

Lu Zhixing was silent for a moment, "I see now, each of you has your own ace up the sleeve. My hats off to you."

Although academics are crucial in university, many feel it's fine to cram in their junior year and that it's best to enjoy life during the freshman and sophomore years.

If putting in more effort's unlikely to get them into the top three, it's better to spend time on things they enjoy.

"By the way, Lu, since your game design draft is almost done, why don't you sign up for the academy's orientation party with me? It's a great chance to woo senior girls!" Liu Bo suddenly lit up, his eyes twinkling in anticipation at Lu Zhixing.

Lv Yixiao was somewhat speechless, "Can't you think of something else?"

Liu Bo sighed quietly, "No choice, I'm not as handsome as you guys. For something as important as a lifetime commitment, naturally, I have to try harder."

All three fell silent, unable to retort.

"Orientation party..."

Lu Zhixing suddenly remembered something: didn't he still have to play the role of a modest, righteous, campus superstar?

Since he was a campus superstar, would participating in the orientation party count as acting?

It surely would, right?

With that thought, Lu Zhixing decisively nodded, "Sure, then sign me up while you're at it."

Liu Bo was thrilled, "No need for sign-ups, lately the academies have been poaching people at the auditorium. Let's just go!"

...

Half an hour later, Lu Zhixing and Liu Bo arrived at Jinghai University's small auditorium.

To Lu Zhixing's surprise, the place was bustling, with streams of students getting onstage to perform.

They sang, danced, and performed comedy sketches or cross-talk.

It was clear that people from various academies were present.

Liu Bo led Lu Zhixing to register with the students at the front row, writing down their names, academy, and the category of performance, before finding seats to settle down in.

Lu Zhixing was perplexed, "What's this about?"

Liu Bo explained, "Don't you know? This is the battle of the academies for recruits!"

"The battle for recruits?" Lu Zhixing was even more puzzled, "Isn't the orientation party supposed to be individually organized by each academy?"

For freshmen, the orientation party is an important event, usually comprising two parts:

One is the campus-wide orientation party organized by the school, mostly featuring performances from senior students of performing arts, dance, and related majors, with little opportunity for freshmen to participate;

The other is the orientation party held by each academy, mainly targeting first and second-year students, which is more engaging and garners more attention from freshmen.

In Lu Zhixing's memory, the faculty's welcome party generally selected performers from within the same academy, and it was rare to see cross-academy participation.

Liu Bo explained, "You don't understand, do you? That's other schools. Our Jinghai University is different.

"Due to the varying quality of each academy's welcome party, the disparity is too large, so a few years ago, our school introduced an important initiative: allowing cross-academy selection of performers for the welcome party!

"Moreover, there are plenty of prodigiously talented individuals at Jinghai University, so this battle for talent also serves as a great opportunity for them to show their faces across the entire campus. Even scouts from variety show talent searches make appearances at these events!

"It is said that a couple of sessions ago, an upperclassman caught the attention of all the academies and talent scouts in a fierce bidding war, leading to a direct signing with Changteng Entertainment and skyrocketing to stardom, becoming a legendary campus myth!"

Lu Zhixing suddenly realized, "There's actually something like that? I've certainly learned something new."

In these respects, he certainly knew far less than Liu Bo did.

"Right, Lu, what kind of act do you plan on performing?" Liu Bo asked curiously.

"I don't know yet."

Lu Zhixing spoke the truth.

He looked at the game panel in his field of view, where there was a "Random Artistic Work" lottery feature.

After clicking, there were selectable options such as "Songs," "Dances," "Cross-talk," "Sketches," and other categories, and he could also enter keywords into the search bar to filter the results.

In other words, this so-called "Random Artistic Work" lottery wasn't completely random, as Lu Zhixing could specify filter conditions before making a random selection.

However, after selecting the "Song" option, Lu Zhixing couldn't think of what keyword he should enter for the filter right away.

...

The first two rows of the small auditorium were occupied by the student union arts department heads from various academies, all of them here to scout for talent.

In the second row towards the center sat two representatives from the Game Design Academy, a male and a female, both from their academy's student union arts department.

The male was named Zhang Yiyang, whose main responsibility was musical performances.

The female was named Yan Wei, who was mainly responsible for dance performances.

As for language-based acts like cross-talk or sketches, they decided together; after all, for college student performances, being funny was the only standard, and there wasn't much professionalism to discuss.

Although Zhang Yiyang and Yan Wei were there to select participants, they were also under immense pressure.

For several years in a row, the Game Design Academy's welcome party had ranked at the bottom of the entire university!

Being able to pick talent from other academies meant that not only could they scout talent from other places, but their own promising students might also be poached. For an academy like the Game Design Academy which was already stretched thin, losing a promising student could be a devastating blow, so vigilance was crucial.

Zhang Yiyang complained, "But really, Professor He is just messing things up!

"School has just started, and he's already assigning absurd homework to the freshmen. Completing a game design concept independently? Even us sophomores would be skinned alive trying to do that...

"Originally, our academy already has a lot of gaming nerds who don't like group activities or performing onstage. Now, with Professor He's homework piling up, they're too overwhelmed to breathe, let alone participate in the welcome party!

"And on top of that, the student union's teacher has issued a strict order that this year our welcome party has to be in the top five for popularity across all the academies—this is literally killing us!

Yan Wei also sighed softly, "There's no way around it. After all, at our school, the welcome party's popularity is also an important indicator of the student union's performance. The teachers just have to give the orders, and we have to run our legs off."

...

Lu Zhixing and Liu Bo sat in a corner, watching one student after another go on stage, wondering how long it would be before their turn came.

Suddenly, Liu Bo spoke in a hushed voice, "Crap, Li Zihan has actually shown up!"

Following Liu Bo's gaze, Lu Zhixing saw a flashily dressed guy walk into the auditorium. Completely ignoring everyone else, the guy strutted confidently to the front row, exchanged a few warm greetings with a sophomore responsible for selecting talent from the music academy, and then found a place to sit down.

Lu Zhixing asked, "Who's Li Zihan?"

Liu Bo replied, "He's the guy who ousted me from my spot in the Campus Talent Show preliminaries by splurging on votes! I didn't expect he was from our school's music academy."

Lu Zhixing was slightly surprised, "If he's already made it through the preliminaries of the Campus Talent Show, why is he participating in the welcome party?"

Liu Bo explained, "Obviously he wants 'everything'. Even though the Campus Talent Show competition and the welcome party rehearsals completely clash, since he's so close with the upperclassmen in the music academy, he can skip all the rehearsals and just perform on the night."

As they were talking, they heard someone calling from the front.

"Next up, student Li Zihan!"

The students sitting and waiting in the small auditorium began to stir—everyone was in line, so how come this guy just arrived and was suddenly cutting in?

The music academy's representative selecting talent stood up and announced, "Li Zihan just passed the preliminaries of 'Campus Talent Show' recently and will soon enter the next round, so he needs a lot of time to practice. Time is precious, the situation is special, please try to understand, everyone."

Most of the students in line were unhappy, but Li Zihan's status as someone who "passed the 'Campus Talent Show' preliminaries" did secure him some convenience. Since the teachers present agreed, the students' complaints soon subsided.

Li Zihan got on stage, feeling triumphant, without sensing anything amiss.

In his view, he was different from those in the audience who were just there to make up the numbers. After all, he was going to be on a talent show and become a star. What was such a trivial privilege to him?

You might even have to pay to hear me sing in the future!