Chapter 26: Hey! How Unexpected!

The program is still ongoing; although the first episode of "Creating Idols" was split into two parts for broadcast, the duration of even just the first part is quite impressive, lasting over two hours.

Xiao Cai looks at the bullet comments, and the names she sees are basically those of trainees who already have a bit of fame.

For those like Shen Mingliu and Ji Kangdong who come with millions of fans, quite a few fans have already come to flood the screen with comments.

This is actually a huge advantage.

With 100 men gathered together, it is naturally dizzying to watch.

You might watch an entire episode and still have trouble remembering faces, let alone matching faces to names.

Even if you want to cast a 【Support Vote】 for the contestants, you are truly spoiled for choice.

But if the names of certain contestants appear frequently in the bullet comments, everyone will remember them a bit better, and when these contestants appear on stage, they will naturally pay more attention to them.

Just like those who debut in the C-Position on Earth, most actually had a certain foundation of popularity before entering the competition.

The snowball effect generated in the early stages like this is astonishing!

The production team will also view them as seed contestants and give them more screen time.

This makes Xiao Cai feel that Luo Mo is purely cannon fodder, just there to accompany the runners.

"Maybe by the end, this handsome guy won't even have much screen time; it'll be good if he can show his face for ten seconds or so in an entire episode," Xiao Cai mutters.

Better watch and cherish it while it lasts!

After all, his looks really do kill me!

This makes Xiao Cai think of her own hardships in the workplace; 996 is already a true blessing and counts as an easy job—we working stiffs are the most miserable.

"A working stiff in a talent show, that's truly something," Xiao Cai takes a big bite of watermelon and continues watching the program.

Instead, it is the Motto appearing on the big screen behind Luo Mo that has many people in the bullet comments asking questions.

"Why is this person's Motto 'Don't worry about having no friends on the road ahead'?"

"What does that mean? Is it half a poem?"

"I couldn't search for the full text."

"Is this person implying they have no friends?"

"There are no real friends in the workplace!"

The final conclusion reached is—【Miserable! A working stiff is truly miserable!】

Once the label of 【Working Stiff】 was attached, Luo Mo's popularity actually started to rise inexplicably!

When the trainees begin their initial stage performances, under the direction of Director Ning Dan, the editor includes all the shots of Luo Mo spacing out.

Others are cheering, he is slacking off.

Others are nervous, he is slacking off.

Others are shocked, he is slacking off.

It is very strange; he seems completely out of place with the whole world.

Human joys and sorrows are not connected; I just want to get off work early.

Watching his expression, the audience inexplicably finds it very entertaining.

"He has both a good-looking shell and an interesting soul, but it's a pity he'll definitely be a one-round tourist; he'll probably be eliminated in the first batch," Xiao Cai says with regret.

But then she thinks, for Luo Mo, being eliminated might be a good thing.

If he's eliminated, he won't have to work overtime!

A perfectly fine office worker, a 24-year-old over-aged talent show Youth, having to be forced to learn Dancing and Singing with a bunch of 18-year-old little suns, maybe even having to awkwardly learn a few lines of rap, plus having to take exams and being asked to go up and do an impromptu performance.

That would be too painful!

Meeting relatives when I was little and having to perform on stage wasn't even that awkward!

Xiao Cai stretches her legs, which have gone numb from sitting cross-legged, puts the half-watermelon on the table, and continues watching the program in a very strange, slouching posture.

In the first part of the first episode, Luo Mo's performance was not edited in.

This was also ordered by Director Ning Dan.

Luo Mo's performance is in the second part.

In the first part, 3 trainees have already received an A Ji, but the content of the program keeps hinting to the audience that they are not the Shou A members.

The first one to get an A is not them.

And at the end of the first part, it ends directly on the cliffhanger of who the Shou A is.

"No way, what kind of devilish editing is this!" Xiao Cai is so angry she wants to eat the remaining half of the watermelon in the fridge.

At the same time, she also finds it very funny.

"What is this? When they released the Shou A cliffhanger at the end, it was fine that the editor cut the faces of people like Shen Mingliu and Ji Kangdong into the frame, but why did they cut to Luo Mo too!"

Of the 7 faces, everyone else has a very serious expression, only Luo Mo is still slacking off.

"Hahahaha, is the production team pranking their own colleague?"

"What could the Shou A possibly have to do with him!"

After finishing all the content, Xiao Cai feels a bit unsatisfied.

This program is still very worth watching; it is worthy of being a program by the Godmother of Talent Shows, Ning Dan.

This mature woman really knows how to film men!

She also understands very well what female audiences love to watch!

But Xiao Cai does not know that Director Ning Dan's wild maneuvers have actually only just begun.

Why did she order the costume department staff not to prepare a performance outfit for Luo Mo when she saw him wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts?

Is it to disgust him?

Naturally not.

Why did she have the camera linger for a few extra seconds to capture Luo Mo spacing out the entire time?

Why was she spending money to buy a Hot Search for Luo Mo again, and what exactly was the point she wanted to hype up?

This woman was very confident; she believed that this wave of marketing could bring great popularity to the show!

She wanted to use Luo Mo's unique "working stiff" label to promote the show.

It was just that she hadn't expected the development of the situation to directly exceed her expectations.

One might even say it was more outrageous than she had imagined.

Ning Dan had originally just wanted to teach her peers a good lesson, but in the end, the netizens of this generation taught her a lesson instead.

At this very moment, Xiao Cai opened Weibo and began to scroll through content related to *Creating Idols* with lingering interest.

She first scanned the Weibo Hot Search list and found that trainees from big companies like Shen Mingliu and Ji Kangdong had indeed all made it onto the Hot Search!

Shen Mingliu had even climbed directly to third place on the Hot Search; the company had definitely spent a fortune!

Xiao Cai's gaze traveled downward until it stopped at the nineteenth spot on the Hot Search.

What was written on the Hot Search was—Working overtime in a boy group survival show.

Honestly, this Hot Search title was quite standard.

But Xiao Cai immediately saw that it was about Luo Mo.

She clicked on it with a grin, and then was amused by the top-ranked comment in the comment section.

This comment read: "Sisters, say no more, I'm going to vote and support this Luo Mo. After all, there aren't many opportunities to control a handsome guy's life without spending a single cent!"

The number of likes on this comment broke ten thousand in a short time, and it was still fermenting!

Xiao Cai opened the replies under the comment, and it was already in total chaos.

"Yes, yes, yes, there aren't many opportunities to sway someone else's fate, and I just want to watch a handsome guy work overtime!"

"Hahaha, who doesn't love workplace drama in a boy group survival show?"

"How savage, you guys have taken all the bamboo shoots on the mountain!"

"It's killing me, you guys are all too evil!!!!!!!!!! Already voted~"

"Sisters, no one is allowed to spend money to vote, we want this free feeling!"

"Right, right, right! Don't let him get eliminated in the first round, let him stay and keep working overtime!"

"This is what you call a national producer, oh, finally getting a taste of being a high-level company executive!"

These comments left Xiao Cai stunned.

Talents, these netizens are all talents.

And as time passed, after more than an hour of fermentation, a very mysterious small organization had actually formed.

These guys, who didn't know if they were Luo Mo's fans or anti-fans, called themselves—【Mo-born People】.

Their slogan was—【Luo-ing Stones at the Well】!

Their tenet was—【You run, I chase, I won't let you fly away with wings!】

Being this handsome, why not come for a few more global tour-style work shifts? Brother, we just love watching you work overtime.

Xiao Cai looked at this evil organization and felt deeply shocked!

Her worldview had received a serious impact.

This kind-hearted girl had previously voted to support Luo Mo so that he could leave with some Decency.

Anyway, he was definitely going to be eliminated in the first round, but among the eliminated, he didn't have to be in last place.

Save some Face for us working stiffs.

But now, her intuition told her that Luo Mo's vote count might not be too low.

She hurriedly opened Penguin Video and checked the real-time vote ranking through the voting channel.

With the boost from a Hot Search, Luo Mo had already climbed from an unknown nobody to 47th place.

She refreshed it again five minutes later, and he had jumped to 45th place.

"Continuing to rise, rising crazily!"

"Crazy, crazy, this organization is simply sick!" Xiao Cai was dumbfounded by the netizens.

She opened Weibo again and found that in such a short time, Luo Mo even had a 【Topic】, though it hadn't turned into a 【Super Topic】 yet.

She looked at what this group of self-proclaimed 【Mo-born People】 were saying, and only felt the atmosphere was super great.

Fans of people like Shen Mingliu and Ji Kangdong were already crowdfunding.

They were throwing real money at the vote counts, and there was even an internal phenomenon of comparison.

"You say you love your brother, but you only spend 15 yuan, you call that loving your brother?"

Look at the 【Mo-born People】 side again........

"No one is allowed to spend money! We want to control a handsome guy's life without spending money!"

"Heh! Man, I'm definitely going to freeload!"

"If you love him a lot, to the point of being unable to control yourself, I personally suggest the upper limit is one yuan. Anything exceeding this amount is a betrayal of the organization."

"We aren't chasing rankings, why spend money? Our goal is to keep him from being eliminated so he continues to work overtime! Keep working overtime forever!"

Xiao Cai looked at her phone screen, then sighed up at the sky and looked up at the ceiling.

"So evil, really so evil!"

"This organization is simply sick!"

"I want to join!" the bad girl Xiao Cai thought to herself.

……

(PS: Second update, begging for double monthly tickets!)

(End of this chapter)