Chapter 977: Is it really okay for us to be so sneaky!?

"Thank you to the audience here and those watching in front of your television sets for tuning in to the first half of the *Masked Singer* grand finale live broadcast."

"We also thank the guests of the guessing panel and the public media jury for being our guests."

"The second half of the grand finale will take place tomorrow night at 8:00, where the Masked King of Songs will be crowned."

"As for who will ultimately take the crown, please join us on time and wait and see!"

On the stage.

Host Li Hao nodded and smiled.

Before the program had even ended.

Lin Yu's performance of *Record of the Luoyang Temples* and his stunning, ear-shattering operatic second act had already gone viral across the entire internet in the form of short videos.

Especially the segment where he proved his innocence to the anti-fans and the media jury.

It directly ignited the attention of the entire internet.

The click-through rate quickly surpassed ten million.

The tens of thousands of comments underneath were endless and incredibly exciting.

"Holy crap! Is this Tropical Rainforest human? After *Preface to the Orchid Pavilion*, 17 has come up with another *Fireworks Cool Easily*. This creative ability is just too monstrous!"

"According to leaks from the production staff, these lyrics and music were created just two days ago. You have to know that any lyrics and music that make it to this stage usually go through countless rounds of polishing, but it's truly rare to see something like Tropical Rainforest's work, which debuts right after it's created."

"Pfft! I just watched the video taken by the audience at the scene, and it really cracked me up. That one operatic note scared the anti-fans and unscrupulous media so badly they jumped; it felt like their souls were about to be sung right out of them."

"Hahaha, these anti-fans should just be rounded up and sent away. This is supposed to be a relaxing music variety show meant to please the audience, yet they're questioning someone for lip-syncing. They must be living miserable lives and just come here to find a sense of existence."

"....."

Backstage at *Masked Singer*.

To ensure the secrecy of their identities, every contestant has an independent lounge.

After the performance, they all have dedicated staff to escort them back to their respective hotel rooms.

At this moment, Chief Director Che Ze looked conflicted.

He gritted his back teeth.

And still, he walked quickly toward Lin Yu's room.

"Hmm?"

"Director Che, why are you here?"

"Is there something wrong?"

"Do you want me to intentionally throw the grand finale?"

After returning to his room, Lin Yu had taken a shower and was lying on the sofa eating snacks while watching anime.

Seeing Che Ze's hesitant expression, he asked with some curiosity.

He thought the *Masked Singer* program was going to pull some shady behind-the-scenes maneuvers, had already decided on a champion, and wanted him to go easy.

"No, that's impossible."

"We already agreed in the contract beforehand that the contestants who advance to the grand finale rely on their own abilities. Based on strength, whatever ranking they deserve is what they get; our production team will absolutely not interfere."

Che Ze hurriedly waved his hands with a bitter smile.

"Then what is it?"

Seeing this, Lin Yu tossed a cigarette to Che Ze.

"Sigh."

Che Ze lit the cigarette butt.

He explained the ins and outs of the matter.

It turned out that the leadership at Jin Ling Television, seeing that the two songs *Preface to the Orchid Pavilion* and *Fireworks Cool Easily* had exploded in popularity online, wanted to seize the copyrights to Lin Yu's two songs.

Upon hearing the full story,

Lin Yu's brows furrowed tightly.

"Director Che, since we are acting according to the contract, we have to be reasonable."

"I remember it was stated before that the station has no right to interfere with song copyrights."

Although Lin Yu is not currently a professional singer.

He is still very knowledgeable about the importance of song copyrights.

If Jin Ling Television really seized the copyrights to these two songs.

Then he wouldn't be able to sing these two songs in any setting in the future.

Not to look too far ahead, just take the Flower Band formed by Da Zhangwei.

Their copyrights were previously sold to the company team.

Now they can't sing a single song.

Half a lifetime after debuting, he returns to being a newcomer.

Lin Yu wants to hold concert tours in the future, and if that happens, he would have to pay copyright fees to Jin Ling Television for every show.

Isn't this just bullshit?

"Lin Yu, don't get excited."

"Let me say a few words behind closed doors: the current leadership has this shitty attitude. Once they see potential profit, they get blinded by greed and don't care about anything else."

"But don't worry, I am definitely on your side."

"Let me give you a heads-up: if you don't hand over the copyrights to these two songs to Jin Ling Television for free, I'm afraid the upper management will put pressure on you during the grand finale."

Che Ze had already made this very clear.

This is equivalent to blowing a biased whistle; never mind competing for the championship, at this rate, he probably wouldn't even let Lin Yu get a decent ranking.

"Hmm, I understand."

Lin Yu exhaled a smoke ring with composure.

Suppressing the anger and resentment in his heart as much as he could.