signingbooks Chapter 251 The Collapsed Network
Chapter 251 The Collapsed Network
And this moment.
Inside the live stream, the barrage of comments had gone completely wild, even thicker than the video itself, with dense text obscuring Jiang Baizhi's sacred yet tragic face.
[I'm in Jing'an District, Shanghai. I just opened my window, and everyone in the building was yelling along with the TV! The security guard next door, who's usually the fiercest-looking guy, is now standing ramrod straight, wiping away tears while saluting!]
[Passing through Chinatown in New York, all the Chinese shops along the street were playing this song! All the older Chinese residents were singing together!]
[Help! My grandpa just insisted that this girl's singing reminded him of his old comrades-in-arms, and he's going to give away all his retirement savings as a reward...]
[OMG, my mom just snatched my phone and insisted on making the whole family stand up and sing. This isn't a talent show, it's a bloodline awakening event!]
Jiang Baizhi! You owe me for my tears! You owe me for my tissues! I'm a grown man, and I'm crying like a leaky thermos!
Shocked, moved, and proud.
Countless emotions burst forth through strings of words.
That was a resonance from the depths of the soul, a resonance that transcended mountains and seas!
however.
Just as viewers across the internet were preparing for a final surge in the scoring round, flooding the screen with comments...
picture.
Sudden.
blacken.
The previously rousing background music abruptly stopped, replaced by a spinning circle and a line of small gray text:
[Network connection timed out. Please check your network settings or try again later.]
"Holy crap?!"
"What's going on? I'm stuck here!"
"No, the platform crashed!"
"I was just about to post 'I have no regrets about being born Chinese,' and you pull this stunt?"
"Holy crap, where are the platform's technical staff? Come out here! You've let me down at this crucial moment?!"
At the same second.
It's not just the live streaming room of the platform where "The Voice of China" is broadcast.
A certain platform, a certain platform, a certain website.
All online platforms broadcasting "The Voice of China" have crashed!
Because at that moment, the emotional resonance among Chinese people around the world was simply too immense!
The massive data flow overwhelmed the server rooms of several major platforms!
.......
Kyoto TV, the data monitoring backend for The Voice of China.
"Director! It's a disaster! It's all a disaster!"
Xiao Gao from the tech team had shouted himself hoarse, frantically pounding on the keyboard, the screen filled with jumping error codes:
"Just a moment ago, the concurrent access volume exceeded 200 million!"
"It literally made the server rooms of major video platforms smoke!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Dazhong stared at the blacked-out network monitoring screens.
Instead of panicking, he let out a chuckle.
"It's good that it broke; the breaking means the heat... it's completely reached its limit!"
Wang Dazhong stared intently at the screen directly in front of him, which displayed the ratings for traditional television signals.
The network platform crashed because their technology was inadequate.
But these ratings... have nothing to do with the internet!
Look here!
Wang Dazhong suddenly pointed at the screen, his voice hoarse but extremely excited.
"The internet crashed, so these impatient viewers had no choice but to fight over the TV remote!"
"As long as there's even one television set lit up in China, our miracle will continue!"
All I saw was...
on the screen.
The red curve representing viewership ratings had already seen a dramatic surge from 2.8% to 3.5%, and then to 3.8% during Jiang Baizhi's performance.
At that very second, a large number of online viewers flocked to traditional television sets!
"Director! It's gone up! 3.9%!!"
Xiao Gao's voice became shrill with excitement.
Wang Dazhong suddenly stood up, his fists clenched, his eyes wide open:
"Charge!! Get over that hurdle!!"
On the television screen, the numbers on the big screen began to jump wildly.
This is the rating from two hundred viewers.
1000 .......
1500 .......
1800 .......
Finally, the recording stopped with a crisp "ding".
[1995 points!]
And at the very moment the scores were released.
"It's broken—!!!"
A heart-wrenching cheer erupted from the monitoring room.
"4.0%! Director! Our real-time viewership rating has broken 4%!!"
"This is an incredible statistic that hasn't been seen in 20 years since the golden age of talent shows on satellite TV ended!!"
3.3% is a record, 4.0% is legendary!
Wang Dazhong let out a long breath and slumped back into his chair, completely exhausted.
Looking at Jiang Baizhi gracefully bowing in the golden light on the screen, I murmured:
"This girl... she's not just a student, she's my life's golden opportunity!"
"Tomorrow's trending topics are going to explode!"
"No, it's already exploded!"
.......
The concert has ended, but the chain reaction it has triggered across China goes far beyond that.
Shanghai, Su Family Villa.
The echoes from the giant screen television still reverberated in the air, their soul-stirring resonance plunging the living room into a long silence.
Su's father, who was still thinking about how to sponsor Jiang Baizhi, now had two lines of clear tears streaming down his chubby face, his eyes revealing an unprecedented clarity and... guilt.
"I...I'm a real piece of trash."
Mr. Su wiped his face, his voice choked with emotion, filled with a profound and regretful realization:
"Bai Zhi is a star in the sky, the soul of our China."
"Just now, I was actually thinking about how to 'sponsor' someone with money, hoping that they would be protected by me in the future..."
"Was that sponsorship? I was trying to use the stench of money to corrupt their pure souls!"
"I am guilty, I don't deserve it!"
When Su Ze heard his father's "heartfelt" confession, his eyes lit up.
"Oh my! Dad! You've finally come to your senses?!"
Su Ze rushed to his father's side and looked at him like he was a hero:
"I knew it! How could someone like you, a piece of cow dung... cough, a big boss reeking of money, possibly even be interested in Bai Zhi?"
"That's what you call true enlightenment! Your withdrawal is the greatest respect you can show to art!"
Mr. Su sighed deeply, his expression forlorn.
"Yeah, I'm not worthy."
"From now on, I will not mention a word about such investments or sponsorships again, so as not to tarnish Miss Bai Zhi's path."
Su Ze became even more excited, rubbing his hands together, his face beaming with joy, and he chuckled:
"Since Dad has decided to step back and become a casual fan, then the rest... is up to me!"
"I'm young, we're the same age, there's no generation gap!"
"My brother-in-law Jiang Bai and I are best friends, so we have an advantage of being close."
"Dad, do you think our allowance... should be increased by a million or two?"
"I'll definitely have to put in more effort to pursue her in the future, so someone else doesn't snatch her away. Otherwise, you won't have such a beautiful daughter-in-law!"
Instantly.
Mr. Su, who had just been immersed in repentance, suddenly turned sharp-eyed upon hearing these words.
He slowly turned his head and looked at his own son as if he were mentally challenged.
"You're going to chase after them?"
Mr. Su chuckled and looked Su Ze up and down.
"Aside from your face, which somewhat resembles mine, what about you is worthy of her?"
"Do you understand the piano, or do you understand the spirit of the nation?"
"You can't even fold a blanket into a perfect square. If you go after them, you'll just be joining the ranks of 'simps.' What else can you do? Can you even beat those people?"
Su Ze panicked:
"Dad! Weren't you just repenting? How come you're resorting to personal attacks right away?!"
"Besides, I'm handsome! I can definitely beat those guys!"
Mr. Su did not answer, but slowly took out another cigar from under the coffee table.
He didn't light the fire, but simply tucked it behind his ear with an extremely dashing air, exuding a mysterious confidence that seemed to suggest an old man indulging in youthful exuberance.
"I am repenting for using money to objectify Jiang Baizhi."
"But then I thought about it again—"
Mr. Su paused, his tone becoming extremely righteous:
"If Miss Jiang has to choose one of you ordinary mortals in the future..."
"Rather than letting a good-for-nothing spendthrift like you waste other people's talents, I'd rather do it myself!"
Su Ze was stunned:
"Huh?! Dad, what do you mean?"
Mr. Su sneered, straightened his collar, and arrogantly raised his head:
"I may be a bit old, but I'm steady and reliable!"
"I'm ambitious! I have rich life experience that can protect others from hardship!"
"In order to prevent Miss Jiang Baizhi from being harmed by a scumbag like you."
"I'm willing to break moral boundaries, bear the infamy, and personally become that guardian angel!"
As he spoke, Su's father revealed an extremely greasy... no, rather, extremely "successful person" cool smile.
Su Ze was completely devastated.
He looked at his father's ruddy, chubby face, and after a long pause, finally managed to squeeze out five words through gritted teeth:
"Old Deng, you're shameless!!!"
"Violating morality? What's morality? You lost it when you were chasing after Second Sister, it was eaten by dogs!"
The second, third, and fourth sisters, who were sitting to the side and had been deeply moved by the singing, rolled their eyes when they heard the bizarre conversation between the father and son.
You two think you're worthy?
The three women exchanged a glance, their eyes blazing with fury.
As mothers who are fans, they absolutely will not allow this father and son to succeed!