149: Chapter 149 The Grand Finale of Heavenly Voice

The next day, Star City Mango Studio. The live set of The Sound of Nature grand finale.

People were coming and going in the backstage corridor, with the static of walkie-talkies rising and falling.

Jiang Fan leaned against the sofa in the lounge, the large screen displaying the pre-show feed from the Livestream Room.

The number of online reservations had already exceeded 30 million.

In the top ten Weibo trending topics, three were related to tonight's finale: #Shen Nian's Finale Song#, #Chen Hao vs. Shen Nian#, #The Sound of Nature Champion Prediction#.

In the comment section, fans from both sides were arguing incessantly.

Zhou Yutong was squatting on the floor scrolling through her phone, flinching with every post she read, as if she were being electrocuted.

"Brother Fan, look at this: 'Chen Hao hired a national team vocal coach, what does Shen Nian have to fight back with?'"

She swiped the screen. "There are even people placing bets on the gambling board; Shen Nian's odds are 1.9, Chen Hao's are 2.1—"

"Stop looking." Jiang Fan placed her phone face down on the coffee table.

The dressing room door opened. Shen Nian walked out.

She wore a white gown with a floor-length skirt, her hair tied in a loose low bun with two wisps of hair left by her ears.

Her makeup was light, with a touch of silver glitter at the corners of her eyes, and her lip color was a nude-leaning bean paste pink.

She looked entirely pristine, like a completely different person compared to the blood-red wedding dress from the last episode.

Jiang Fan looked up at her. "Beautiful."

Shen Nian raised her hand to tuck the stray hairs behind her ear. She didn't reply, but she couldn't suppress the corners of her mouth from turning up.

Zhou Yutong bounced up from the floor and circled around Shen Nian. "Sister Nian! You look so ethereal today!"

"Alright, alright, stop spinning, you're making me dizzy." Shen Nian pressed down on her shoulders.

— — 8:00 PM sharp. The livestream started on time.

Teacher He stood in the center of the stage, sharp in his suit, his voice cutting through the restlessness of the crowd.

"Dear audience members, welcome to The Sound of Nature — Grand Finale Night!"

Thunderous applause erupted, with screams rising wave after wave.

The number of online viewers jumped from 34 million at the start to over 40 million within five minutes.

"After four rounds of intense competition in the ranking matches and semifinals, the two singers finally standing on this stage are—"

The large screen lit up. On the left, Chen Hao. On the right, Shen Nian.

Their photos were displayed side-by-side: one in a suit, sharp and imposing; the other in simple white, looking cold and unworldly.

"Tonight, they will compete for the championship throne of this season's The Sound of Nature!"

Teacher He waited for the applause to die down slightly. "The rules for the final are simple: each of the two singers will perform one song, and the 1,000-member Audience Jury will vote on-site. The one with the highest count will be this season's champion. There is no set theme; song selection is free."

He raised the microphone. "Who goes first? This time, we'll decide by a coin toss."

A staff member walked up carrying a tray with a gold coin on it.

"Heads—Chen Hao sings first. Tails—Shen Nian sings first."

The coin was tossed into the air. One thousand pairs of eyes in the venue followed the bright spot as it rose and fell.

Slap. It landed on the back of Teacher He's hand. He turned his hand over.

"Heads! Chen Hao, you sing first!"

Backstage, Zhou Yutong patted her chest: "Going later is better, going later is better." Jiang Fan didn't respond.

— — On the large screen, Chen Hao had already taken the center of the stage.

He wore a dark blue suit, his hairstyle groomed meticulously.

Standing on stage with his 1.9-meter height, the aura of certainty could be felt even through the screen.

As soon as the prelude started, Jiang Fan knew this kid was going to give it his all tonight.

With a brass foundation and a string section layered on top, the entire Arrangement was designed to "bring the house down."

Chen Hao began to sing. His voice tonight was like a sharpened blade.

The penetrating power in his high register was more than a notch stronger than in the previous episodes. Hiring the national team vocal coach hadn't been in vain.

After the first verse, the Audience Jury could no longer sit still.

When it reached the chorus, he released all the energy he had been storing up.

When that high note hit—a girl in the front row covered her mouth with both hands, tears streaming down her face.

The final section. Chen Hao stepped back, tilted his head up, the veins in his neck bulging, his voice striking straight toward the dome of the venue.

The tail end of his note circled the entire space for several seconds before slowly dissipating.

The whole venue went wild; several rows of people sprang up from their seats simultaneously, their screams nearly blowing the roof off.

At the mentor's table, Heavenly King Zhou took the lead in standing up to applaud. Tang Yingxue sat there, her hands folded on her lap, and nodded.

The bullet comments in the Livestream Room were a sea of white — [Is this even human voice?? It's nuclear bomb level! ] [Chen Hao is overperforming tonight, his voice is hacked! ] [Shen Nian is done for, how can she fight this...] [To be honest, this performance is top-tier level in the Mandarin music scene; can anyone even follow that? ]

Backstage, Zhou Yutong stared at the large screen, the color draining from her face. "Brother Fan... his level..."

"Very strong." Jiang Fan stared at the screen showing Chen Hao taking his bow, his fingers tapping twice on the sofa armrest.

This kid really risked his life for this. The final battle, leaving no path for retreat.

Teacher He walked onto the stage to take over. He waited five or six seconds, letting the excitement of the crowd slowly subside.

"That was spectacular! Chen Hao's performance tonight—I can only say that this is the most explosive performance I have ever heard on The Sound of Nature stage."

He scanned the Audience Jury, who were still standing. "Please sit down, everyone. Because next—there is still one more singer."

The noise in the venue slowly died down. "Next, let's welcome the second singer of our finale—"

Shen Nian was sitting in the chair in the dressing room. From the moment Chen Hao went on stage until he finished singing, she had kept her eyes closed.

She had gone through "left hand points to the moon" from beginning to end in her mind. Every breath, every gap in the transition between chest and head voice, the enunciation of every word—she had gone over everything in her head.

The dressing room door was knocked twice. "Teacher Shen Nian, please prepare to go on stage."

Shen Nian opened her eyes and stood up. She exchanged a look with Jiang Fan. Jiang Fan was leaning on the sofa and nodded at her.

Zhou Yutong clenched her fists and jumped up: "Good luck, Sister Nian! You are the best!"

Shen Nian smiled at her and turned to walk out the door.

Her white skirt swayed lightly under the corridor lights, her footsteps falling steadily on the floor, neither rushed nor slow.

Walking to the edge of the curtain, she lifted her skirt with her left hand and stepped out. Applause and screams surged toward her simultaneously.

She steadied her footing and walked to the center of the stage. Her white dress shimmered with a soft luster under the lights, the train of her long skirt dragging across the floor with a slight rustling sound.

The venue went quiet. Five hundred pairs of eyes were pinned on her.

A beam of moon-white light fell from the dome, hitting Shen Nian. White dress, white light.

She stood in the light, eyes lowered, holding the microphone in her right hand. She was as clean and pure as a moon.

A simple prelude began to play. Shen Nian raised the microphone to her lips.

"Left hand grips the earth, right hand grips the sky—" "The palm lines crack, lightning from ten directions—"

The moment the first word came out, the two technicians behind the mixing console both looked up.

At the mentor's table, the hand holding the water cup belonging to Tang Yingxue froze. On the arm of a middle-aged man in the front row of the Audience Jury, the hair stood up one by one.

That voice—clear, bright. Without any embellishment, it passed through the microphone and poured into every corner of the entire venue.