Chapter 182

In the corridor leading to the stage.

The young girl wore a ghost-face mask that looked like it was laughing yet crying, wearing a navy blue cloak, walking forward.

Her robes fluttered, her hair danced, her aura was unparalleled.

This scene.

Was extremely shocking.

The Empress aura was fully unleashed!

It stunned Cao Dan.

In the lounge, she didn't feel it while sitting with the girl, but seeing her walk like this, it was truly cool.

Kill me!

"Who exactly is she?" A thick curiosity suddenly rose in Cao Dan's heart.

Studio.

After Queen of Hearts left the stage, host Zhao Yong introduced the next masked singer.

He looked at the card in his hand and said into the microphone:

"This is another singer with a very domineering code name."

"Just now, we welcomed a Queen, next, let us welcome an Empress."

"Let's applaud and invite today's fourth singer, Ruthless... Empress!"

Among the audience and professional judges, there were many fans of *Shrouding the Heavens*; when the host finished speaking, many were stunned, blinking in confusion.

Then a slight commotion broke out at the scene.

Applause rang out.

Discussions also started.

"Holy crap! Ruthless?? Is it the one I'm thinking of? The one from the *Shrouding the Heavens* novel?"

"It can only be that one; apart from fan fiction, this character name hasn't appeared in other novels."

"Who is it? Daring to take my Empress's name as her masked code name?"

"Ruthless is here! Awesome!"

"In the mortal world, not to become an immortal, but just to wait for your return!"

"She's got the votes; just for the four words 'Ruthless Empress,' she's got the votes."

"This singer is clearly a book fan, and a veteran one at that. This is the first time I've seen someone use a character from a novel on the *Masked Singer* stage."

"I hope she's not a weakling and ruins the reputation of the Ruthless Empress."

"..."

The audience discussed while applauding.

Celebrity guests were also whispering to each other.

"Hey, this is interesting. Last round we had a Queen, this round we have an Empress; us mortals should just kneel and welcome them," a comedian joked.

"Empress, Queen, are they a married couple?" a female celebrity imagined.

"Ruthless? I wonder if your song is as ruthless as your code name?" a music king from the industry clapped and said.

Amidst the applause.

At the stage entrance.

A beautiful figure walked onto the studio stage.

Instantly, countless lights hit her.

Flash, flash, flash.

The eyes of numerous audience members, professional judges, and celebrity guests also looked over.

She was wearing a ghost-face mask that looked like it was laughing yet crying, wearing a fresh white Hanfu dress inside, and a cyan cloak outside.

Her figure was tall.

Her skin was as white as jade.

Her temperament was unparalleled.

Even with the mask and the clothes wrapping her tightly, she gave off a very pleasing feeling.

Her whole body radiated a cold, beautiful, and peerless aura.

If Queen of Hearts from the last round was fire, then Ruthless Empress from this round was ice.

And her ghost-face mask gave a strange feeling.

It seemed to hold extreme sorrow, yet also seemed to be mocking the entire world.

The book fans in the audience's eyes lit up.

"Don't say, it really feels like Ruthless!"

"This mask and tall figure kill me!"

"Love it, love it. Looking at this tall figure, I know the person behind the mask is very beautiful."

"Junior Wang Ye, pays respects to the Ruthless Empress!"

"Just for this outfit, you've got my vote."

"This is the best-looking and most accurate Ruthless cosplay I've ever seen."

"..."

Of course, more audience members were looking forward to her.

"I wonder how her strength is?"

"I hope she can sing a good song; after just hearing Queen of Hearts' song, an ordinary song won't pique my interest."

"It won't be easy for her to follow Queen of Hearts."

"Following a performance" refers to when the previous act finishes, and the next singer has to take over the stage.

Clearly.

The performance of Queen of Hearts before Ruthless Empress was very explosive and fiery.

With singing skills at least at the Queen of Music level, she used two vocal lines to perfectly interpret "She Said."

Pushing the audience's emotions to the peak.

At the same time.

When the next singer performs, the audience inevitably compares her stage to the previous one; if it's not as good, the votes naturally won't be very high.

Therefore, some audience members said it would be hard for Ruthless Empress to follow Queen of Hearts.

Backstage.

Cao Dan also thought about the "following" issue, and her pretty face turned pale with fear!

Can Teacher Ruthless really follow this performance?

She didn't know.

She broke into a cold sweat for the Ruthless Empress.

Meanwhile.

Queen of Hearts, who had left the stage, had the corners of her mouth slightly raised under her mask.

With this song, she was aiming for first place this episode.

She hadn't left any room for others to survive.

……

On stage.

The young girl didn't know what everyone was thinking.

She simply nodded to the band, indicating she was ready.

Subsequently.

The stage lights dimmed.

The music started.

The audience became quiet, and the professional judges and celebrity guests also stopped discussing.

"Wo..."

At the very beginning of the song, there was a pleasant chant.

The Ruthless Empress held the microphone, swaying and chanting, like a siren's song, echoing continuously in the studio.

Her surroundings were very dim, with only a faint white light falling on her.

Seemingly lonely and desolate.

Yet giving a sense of aesthetic beauty.

At the same time.

The big screen behind her lit up, showing a child-style painting of a warrior holding a sword charging at a dragon, with song information displayed below:

[Song Title: "Dala Dala Bengba"]

[Lyrics: Earth]

[Composer: Earth]

[Arranger: Earth]

The young girl thought that she definitely couldn't write "Xu Mingyue" in the lyrics, composer, and arranger section.

That would be too obvious, how could she play mind games with the audience?

So, the composer information also had to be changed to another name.

Since she had traveled from Earth, and the works she used were all from Earth's entertainment industry...

As someone bad at naming things, without much consideration, she filled in the two words "Earth."

……

And at the scene, everyone was stunned after seeing the song information.

"Who is Earth?"

"Dala Dala Bengba, never heard of this song title, is this a new song?"

The audience couldn't confirm.

But in the professional judge section, some judges were certain that this was a new song.

With their knowledge and years of experience in the music industry, they had never heard such a chant intro, never heard such a song title; it was undoubtedly a new song.

At the same time.

They expressed some surprise.

This Ruthless Empress is interesting.

Generally speaking.

On this kind of stage, singers would choose old songs that everyone was familiar with, or hit songs, which could quickly increase the audience's immersion and stir their emotions.

In fact.

The whole point of the show was to listen to covers of familiar old songs, and to guess and reveal the masked identities of the singers.

And a new song, although it could bring freshness to the audience, was very risky.

Because a new song was hard to stir up the audience's emotions.

If the audience's emotions couldn't be stirred, the votes for this performance wouldn't be very high.

Relatively speaking, old songs were much easier to stir emotions due to their wide popularity and influence.

Backstage.

Some contestants also expressed surprise.

And in the next second, everyone's surprise was even greater.

Just as the chant ended, a dynamic, super-rhythmic intro started, and many audience members couldn't help but tap their feet and nod their heads to the beat.

At the same time, the stage lights lit up, with red, purple, and blue lights flashing continuously on the stage.

Instantly.

The style changed abruptly.

It was as if they had gone from the frozen northern border to a nightclub.

Then, the Ruthless Empress picked up the microphone, and her singing voice rang out on the stage.

Very unexpectedly, her vocal line was not a young girl's voice, not a mature woman's voice, but a little girl's voice, the kind that was "milkily fierce":

"A long, long time ago, a dragon suddenly appeared, bringing disaster, taking away the princess, and disappearing. The kingdom was in great danger, who in the world is the bravest? A warrior rushed over and shouted—"

The little girl's voice echoed through the studio.

The whole audience was stunned!