Cultural Desert: From the Start, One Song Of

At the music academy's opening ceremony, the closing performance slot is given to an "over-the-hill child star."

No one has heard of him, and no one thinks he can sing worth a damn. Below the stage, people are on their phones or chatting.

Lu Shiqing simply grips the microphone and smiles faintly.

"Turn off all the overhead lights. Leave only the spotlight." Three seconds later, the chorus of "Sunny Day" explodes through the hall. Five hundred people rise to their feet as one, the principal's glasses are soaked with tears, and the livestream platform's servers crash on the spot.

Some say he just got lucky, so he makes his anti-fans apologize on livestream over a bar bet. Some accuse him of lip-syncing, so he sings live on the spot and gets five hundred people to join in. Someone bribes the school newspaper to smear his name, so he throws his live-performance statistics right in their face.

The music scene in this world has long since rotted away, with screens full of garbage traffic stars.

Lu Shiqing merely taps the ash off his cigarette. "Welcome to the true age of music."