145: Chapter 144: The Expedition is Imminent, the Team is Named Hua

Lin Yue pressed the Enter key.

The WDSC official website updated the list for the Asia-Pacific qualifier wildcard battle.

Seoul.

SM Entertainment building.

Park Jung-soo sat on the leather sofa, and Choi Myung-ho pushed the door open and entered.

Choi Myung-ho handed over a printed document.

"Huaxia has submitted the registration form."

Park Jung-soo took it, glanced at it, and his gaze stopped at the very top.

In the participating team name column, there was no long string of English prefixes.

There was only a single Chinese character.

Hua.

"What does this mean?"

Park Jung-soo looked up.

"Pinyin abbreviation? Or do they think this single character can represent something?"

Choi Myung-ho pushed his glasses up. "Currently on Twitter, fans of the Japanese Shura label and the Korean Empire label are laughing at this name. They think it looks shabby and lacks the grandeur of an international competition."

Park Jung-soo threw the document onto the coffee table.

"Has everything been arranged on Charlie's end?"

"The notice has been delivered properly,"

Choi Myung-ho replied, "As long as they dare to take the stage, Charlie and the other two judges will directly crush their technical scores."

Park Jung-soo picked up his coffee.

"An abandoned piece cleared out by us, finding a group of grassroots, and yet they still want to turn the tables."

Paris.

Behind the scenes of the WDSC event organizing committee.

Antoine, the replaced French chief judge, sat in front of the computer, looking at the character "Hua" on the official webpage.

Beside him, the newly appointed technical officer Charlie walked over holding a glass of champagne.

"Antoine, are you still paying attention to this amateur team?"

Charlie shook his wine glass. "The three Korean teams have already arrived in Paris by charter flight. That is industrial-grade Street Dance. Look at this name, they don't even have a proper label."

Antoine pointed at the screen.

"Charlie, have you seen their recently published videos?"

"Those movements with martial arts and acrobatics cannot be considered pure Street Dance at all."

Charlie sneered, "I will let them know the real judging criteria."

Antoine closed the webpage and stood up.

"Capital cannot buy true art. Tomorrow, you will see how ridiculously wrong you are."

Antoine turned around and walked out the door.

Chengdu.

Morning Star Dance Studio No. 1 Training Room.

Countdown twelve hours.

Fifty people stood on the wooden floor.

No one spoke.

The central air conditioner blew out cold air, but the indoor temperature remained very high.

The floor was soaked with sweat over and over again.

Yan Yu set up her mobile phone and pressed the live broadcast button.

This was the last domestic live broadcast before the expedition.

Three million netizens poured in instantly.

The bullet comments started scrolling.

[The registration list has to be submitted tomorrow. Have they selected the twenty people?]

[I don't know who was eliminated. These fifty people have practiced for so long, and I hate to see any of them go.]

[No matter who goes, being able to dance that set of movements makes them good!]

[Countdown one day, final joint practice!]

[I see that the neighboring Japanese and Korean teams have already posted airport photos, such a big display.]

[No matter how grand their display is, we have the strength!]

Su Chen walked to the front of the team.

He was holding that metal metronome.

"Last time."

Su Chen looked at everyone.

He didn't turn on the metronome, and directly threw it to Lin Hao beside him.

"Unplug the speakers."

Su Chen ordered.

Lin Hao was stunned for a moment, quickly ran over, and unplugged the connection cable.

No electronic beats, no roaring accompaniment.

Su Chen looked at Guan Heng.

"Dance based on the muscular rhythm remembered by your body."

All fifty people closed their eyes.

This was a silent joint practice.

Su Chen raised his right hand and snapped his fingers in mid-air.

Fifty people moved at the same time.

Without the cover of music, the force-generating points of everyone's movements were completely exposed.

Step forward, dive down.

The soles of their feet slammed onto the floor, producing a dull, synchronized echo.

Fifty people, ten directions, one hundred legs.

The sound of footsteps replaced the drumbeats.

Chen Yu side-stepped and slid, Guan Heng lowered his shoulders and thrust his elbows.

The two crossed paths, and the friction of their clothes made a crisp sound like tearing fabric.

This was the silent operation of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Formation.

Every time they paused, the chests of all fifty people vibrated simultaneously.

This vibration produced a low-frequency sound that echoed all around.

Synchronized.

Pure.

The flesh itself became the accompaniment.

Yan Yu's mobile phone microphone faithfully recorded all of this.

The live streaming room's bullet comments flooded the screen.

[Holy crap! Can they still be this synchronized without music?]

[Their footsteps are the heavy bass!]

[The sound of clothes rubbing is actually hitting the beats?]

[This terrifying muscle memory is something those Korean groups could never practice in their lifetime.]

[My scalp is tingling. Fifty people exhibited the momentum of an army.]

[They really integrated Eastern martial arts into Street Dance.]

The joint practice lasted for three minutes.

Su Chen took his final step forward, punched downwards fiercely with his right fist, and stopped.

Fifty people made the same ending movement in the exact same second, straightened their legs, and stood still.

The whole place was pin-drop silent.

Not a single bit of extra panting.

Not a single person fell down.

Su Chen straightened up.

He walked to the nearby table and picked up the copy of the registration form.

He stuck the copy onto the floor-to-ceiling mirror behind him.

"The registration form has been submitted."

Su Chen turned around.

Brother Cai, Chen Yu, Guan Heng, and other twenty regular team members stood in the front row.

Thirty eliminated team members stood in the back row.

No one complained.

Fifty pairs of eyes stared at the piece of paper on the mirror.

On the participating team name column, a "Hua" was written.

Brother Cai swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

"Brother Su, this name..."

"Only a single character."

Su Chen looked at the whole room.

"The Hua of Huaxia."

He uttered these five words, his voice not loud.

The air in the training room suddenly heated up.

Old Jin clenched his fists tightly, and his knuckles made a crisp cracking sound.

Yan Yu stood in the back row, her eye sockets instantly turning red.

"In the past, you represented individuals, representing labels. For a champion title, for appearance fees."

Su Chen took a step forward.

"Now, you represent this character."

Su Chen pointed his finger at that copy.

"The Koreans think we don't understand Street Dance. The American officials took money and want to sentence us to death."

"They want to teach us the rules."

Su Chen looked at Brother Cai and Chen Yu.

"Then go smash their rules."

"Starting today, you are not Dancing for yourselves."

Su Chen lowered his voice.

"You represent every person who loves Dancing on this land. Force Huaxia's culture into their rules, and fight until they admit defeat."

Guan Heng stepped out and shouted loudly: "Do it!"

"Do it!"

Brother Cai's eyes were bloodshot, and he roared at the top of his lungs.

The roar of fifty people shook the glass of the training room.

The live streaming room's traffic instantly broke six million.

The bullet comments went completely crazy.

[Hua! This character is too heavy!]

[No English name, no prefix! Just a single character represents everything!]

[Smash their rules! God Su said it well!]

[This is the grit a Huaxia man should have!]

[Fifty people, go teach them a lesson!]

[Charge! Blow up the foreigners' stage!]

Three o'clock in the afternoon.

Two buses parked downstairs of Morning Star Studio.

Chengdu's sky revealed dazzling sunlight.

Fifty people carried unified black backpacks and walked out of the building.

No airport-pickup fans, no flashing lights.

Chen Yu walked to the front of the bus and patted Guan Heng on the shoulder.

"Don't be nervous. When you arrive in France, dance the way you usually practice."

Guan Heng patted the knee pads on his legs.

"Not nervous."

Su Chen walked at the very back.

Lin Yue stood beside the bus door and handed him an itinerary.

"After landing in Paris, go directly to the Metropolis Arena to register."

Lin Yue pointed at the materials, "The organizing committee has issued a notice that all participating teams must undergo qualification verification at the venue tonight."

Su Chen took the itinerary.

"Have those three Korean teams arrived?"

"They have already arrived."

Lin Yue looked through her tablet, "They held a media meet-and-greet outside the arena. The popularity is very high."

Su Chen nodded and boarded the bus.

"Drive."

The vehicle started and headed towards the airport.

Yan Yu sat in the back row and turned off her phone's live broadcast.

These fifteen days of hellish training had made her legs nearly numb.

But her eyes had never been so clear.

She lowered her head and glanced at the badge with the character "Hua" on her backpack.

Sixteen hours later.

Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, France.

Fifty people of Huaxia Team walked out of the passage.

The air carried the chill of late autumn.

The organizing committee's bus parked outside the airport.

Along the way, no local media paid attention to this team.

The sports news pages were completely occupied by the US delegation and the Korean Empire label.

The car parked outside the Paris Metropolis Arena.

Night fell.

In front of the arena, it was brightly lit, and media reporters carrying long lenses and short cannons surrounded the entrance.

The Japanese Shura team and the Korean Empire team had just completed registration and were accepting interviews from foreign media on the steps.

Vice President Li Dongjian and Charlie stood behind them with smiles all over their faces.

The door of Huaxia Team's bus opened.

Guan Heng was the first to get off the bus.

Followed by Brother Cai, Chen Yu, and Old Jin.

Fifty people, wearing uniform black jackets, had a dark red character "Hua" embroidered on the left chest.

No one spoke.

Fifty people lined up neatly.

Su Chen got off the bus last.

He stood at the very front of the team, his gaze sweeping across those reporters and judges on the steps.

The surrounding commotion stopped abruptly.

Everyone's gaze was simultaneously cast upon this newly arrived team.

Someone recognized Su Chen.

That was the man who had been banned by Korean entertainment for five years and set a record of fifty million online viewers in a live broadcast.

He really brought the team here.

Su Chen ignored those camera lenses.

He turned his head and looked at the forty-nine people behind him.

"Enter the venue."

Su Chen said.