After Jiang Ye and her team took the stage.

The stage was pitch black.

A moment later, a few dim spotlights lit up one after another.

At the same time, a large amount of dry ice swirled around the stage, creating a white mist that enveloped most of the stage, like a layer of unreal illusions.

The song's intro began, mixed with the ticking of a mechanical music box.

It was like a dark/childish scene.

The audience, who had been waiting for hours and had been restless, couldn't help but quiet down as they were drawn into this eerie atmosphere.

Suddenly, a voice rang out.

The voice was soft and slow, ethereal and distant, like someone talking to themselves.

"You can't stop loving me."

A moment later, the female voice repeated it again, "You can't stop loving me."

Two more spotlights lit up on stage, and the mist dissipated.

The audience only then noticed a huge mirror on the left side of the stage.

Jiang Ye was squatting in front of it.

She was wearing a white cloak-like jacket, and a beam of spotlight shone on her, making her aura appear bright and clean, seemingly out of place with the overall atmosphere of the stage.

Jiang Ye reached out and slowly touched the mirror.

Then she turned her head and smiled at the camera.

Her face appeared on the large screen on stage.

The entire audience couldn't help but erupt.

"I, I, I, I'm speechless!!! Is this kind of beauty real?!"

"Jiang Ye is even more beautiful in person than in the video, wuu wuu wuu!!!"

"Ah ah ah ah, the little sister is so beautiful today too!! I came here for Lin Zui, but I want to switch sides!!"

After giving this shot, Jiang Ye stood up and turned around.

Then, from behind the large mirror, four other people slowly emerged.

They were the other four teammates in this group.

The clothes they were wearing were all different, and the makeup on each person's face was also not the same style.

But the strange thing was, each of them had a heart-shaped mark on their face, and each of them was wearing the same bracelet on their right wrist, as if hinting at some connection between them.

The five of them, following the slow tempo of the intro, walked hand-in-hand towards the center of the stage.

《You Can't Stop Loving Me》 tells the story of a girl hoping for her boyfriend to change his mind after a breakup.

The whole song is like the abandoned girl's inner monologue.

At first, it was just a kind of regret and begging, but as the song progressed, the overall style became darker and darker, as if the singer had fallen into a crazy yandere mode, filled with a sense of "You must love me, you can't stop loving me, if you don't love me, I won't be able to live, and if I can't live, you can't live well either.".

The stage design kept changing, and the lighting intensity increased several degrees.

Entering the first verse.

Cheng Zhen stood in the middle first and began to sing.

Unlike Group A, who set the tone for the entire song right from the start, going straight for the yandere style.

Jiang Ye and her team chose a different approach, creating a positive and upbeat atmosphere during the first verse.

Because the lyrics of the first verse were relatively gentle.

So, Cheng Zhen's makeup and outfit were also relatively bright, with energetic twin pigtails and a white pleated skirt, like a girl who was unaware of the world.

After the first verse, she turned and stepped aside.

Yu Chenchen quickly took her place.

Compared to Cheng Zhen, her makeup was heavier.

And the lyrics she sang were more emotionally intense, as if the girl in the lyrics was gradually drifting towards the abyss.

Jiang Ye listened to the sound in her ear monitor and tried to relax.

It was her turn next.

It would be fine.

She told herself, Cheng Zhen's idea was good, and they had rehearsed this stage countless times.

Cheng Zhen's idea, which she had come up with in the practice room, was to rotate the C-position.

Each of them would portray a different state of the song's protagonist, showing the audience the different stages of the girl in the song, from her initial hopeful and beautiful vision of love to her eventual descent into madness.

In other words, they were playing five different personalities.

And she was playing both the original girl and the transition stage.

Yu Chenchen finished singing.

Jiang Ye took two steps forward.

She was wearing a white cloak, and she seemed very stable emotionally.

But if you looked closely, the edges of the white cloak were stained with blood, and there were red teardrop makeup around her eyes, symbolizing the beginning of her emotional breakdown.

The audience was hidden in the darkness.

But every shout was frantically stimulating Jiang Ye's adrenaline.

She began to sing, her emotions and tone consistent, her dance steps quickly followed, and even though it wasn't long, she gave her all and completed her part.

The chorus was the moment when the song's emotions began to collapse.

Lin Zui came to the center of the stage.

She was dressed in gray-black, and her eyes became sharp as the song's style changed.

Her singing and dancing were undoubtedly outstanding.

Through her singing, she directly pushed the song's emotions to a climax, instantly infecting the audience below.

"Ah ah ah ah, Lin Zui is the best, Mom loves you!!"

"My hair is standing on end!! So exciting, wow!"

After the chorus, there was a fast-paced interlude.

Xue Zhihan's team, Group A, performed a synchronized knife group dance based on the original dance video.

Just when the audience thought Group B would do the same, they discovered that the five of them suddenly dispersed with the rhythm.

Then, each of them started dancing with different people.

As if they were directly performing an impromptu battle on stage.

Jiang Ye and Yu Chenchen were going back and forth.

Luo Xuan was going head-to-head with Lin Zui.

In the middle of all this, Cheng Zhen was the first to fall.

She returned to the side of the mirror, her back against the mirror, and lowered her head, beginning to sing the next verse, like the background music for their fight.

After she finished singing, the rap part began.

Luo Xuan moved to the center of the stage.

There was a reason why Jiang Ye chose her.

Her rap had its own unique style, unrestrained and powerful, and with these lyrics, it was as if she was really on the edge of madness, constantly screaming and releasing, making people feel a shock to their souls.

After the rap part ended, Luo Xuan raised her head, her eyes filled with a heavy, dark, murderous aura.

Suddenly, someone chopped down the back of her neck.

Yu Chenchen stood behind her, showing a smile.

Another interlude began.

The four teammates sang harmony together.

And she performed a solo dance.

Before the beat of the final chorus.

Lin Zui appeared from behind her, her fingertips pressed against Yu Chenchen's neck, as if she pressed down hard.

Yu Chenchen fell to the ground.

The final chorus suddenly began.

Cheng Zhen was responsible for singing the final high note.

Her voice was slightly adjusted, with a bit more sharpness and weight than usual, and at this moment, she gripped the hearts of all the viewers.

Lin Zui and Jiang Ye, in black and white, stood at opposite ends of the center stage, like yin and yang, ready to start a world war.

The final part was their duet.

The aura of the two ace dancers, both skilled in singing and dancing, collided fiercely in the air.

The drumbeat began.

Jiang Ye and Lin Zui moved.

Every move they made, going back and forth, was perfectly timed.

Lin Zui's dance had strong explosive power, while Jiang Ye's body control and flexibility were even better, neither was inferior to the other.

What was it like to encounter an opponent who was on your level?

It was like feeling the sparks of aura crackling in the air, both of them performing at a level several times better than their usual solo performances.

Plus, their black and white outfits gave the audience a very strong visual impact.

Finally, Lin Zui reached out and pulled tight the white bow tie on Jiang Ye's cloak.

Jiang Ye fell to the ground with the beat.

The final part of the singing ended.

Lin Zui breathed slightly, standing in the middle.

And the other four of them were lying in different corners.

She had killed the other four personalities and finally gained ultimate control over this body.

Lin Zui wiped the lipstick off the corner of her mouth, just as she was about to show a victorious smile.

The next second.

Jiang Ye quietly crawled up from behind her.

She followed the final heavy beat of the song, pulled the bolt, raised the gun, and made a gesture of shooting.

The stage lights suddenly dimmed.

A moment later, the sound of the mirror shattering came.

The next second, a lone beam of light shone on the center stage.

Jiang Ye stood there.

The white cloak on her body had disappeared, replaced by a black undershirt.

As if from the beginning, her inner self was a black heart.

Jiang Ye raised her index finger, her fingertip had a red mark.

Then, she put it to her mouth and whispered, "Shh."

"You can't stop loving me."

She whispered.

Like the final line of a play.

But it also echoed the first two lines of the song, creating a sense of closure.

The performance ended.

The spotlights on stage completely dimmed.

The audience was silent for a moment.

Then, a deafening roar of screams erupted at the same time.

"Wow wow wow, that was amazing!!!"

"Ah ah ah ah, wow, Jiang Ye, Mom loves you!!"

"Help, I'm going to die from shipping them! This is what a girl group should do!"

"I'm so shocked!! It's like I watched a complete stage play on a talent show!!!"

This was a song about an abandoned girl who healed herself and went crazy.

If Xue Zhihan's team, Group A, presented a story of five people playing a yandere.

Then, looking back at Group B's stage.

If you think about it carefully, the lyrics they repeated over and over again, it's not really sung to their lover, it's more like a monologue.

You can't stop loving me.

You can't stop loving me.

Is this really sung to the person who abandoned her?

No.

This line, she's saying it to herself.

In this world, anyone can abandon me.

But you can't.

Because we were originally born from the same soul.

The sound of the mirror shattering at the end also symbolized that nothing would ever return.

The five different personalities she created out of self-pity were close at the beginning, they could walk on stage hand-in-hand.

But in the end, they chose to abandon each other in the struggle, killing each other.

•••

Backstage, the mentor's commentary seat.

Chen Yiming was a bit surprised, "I didn't expect them to directly change the song."

Compared to the original dance choreography video provided by the program team, the two were not the same, at least they were completely unrelated.

Compared to them, Group A, who performed according to the original video, was undoubtedly weaker.

Yue Xia also shook her head regretfully, "Group A was actually very strong in terms of skills and performance, it's a pity."

"Not a pity."

Mu Xingchi said coldly, "When Xue Zhihan was competing for the theme song C-position, she should have realized that Jiang Ye is a trainee with a lot of creativity."

"Then she should have anticipated that her opponent's stage wouldn't be as simple as she thought, but she didn't make any possible changes to her own stage, that's her problem."

He said, recalling what Xue Zhihan had said when she chose Jiang Ye as her opponent, "Because she lost once and wanted to challenge her again? If she's like that, she shouldn't challenge her, she can't win."

The other mentors: "..."

He really didn't leave her any face at all.

Yue Xia joked, "Why do I feel like Mentor Mu is particularly partial to our trainee Jiang Ye?"

"Is that so?"

Mu Xingchi paused slightly, then shrugged, "I'm just speaking the truth."

On stage, all the members of Group B were doing their self-introductions.

Jiang Ye led her teammates in bowing to the audience, then said, "Hello everyone, our group of five is called, 'Escaped Executioners from Prison'."

Cheng Zhen picked up the microphone, "I'm Cheng Zhen, who will sing you to death if you stop loving me."

Luo Xuan said in a rap tone, "I'm Luo Xuan, who will rap you to death if you stop loving me."

Yu Chenchen raised her hand in a karate chop, "I'm Yu Chenchen, who will chop you to death if you stop loving me."

Lin Zui made a gesture of strangling someone's neck, "I'm Lin Zui, who will strangle you to death if you stop loving me."

"Hello everyone."

Jiang Ye made a gesture of shooting a gun at the audience, smiling, "I'm Jiang Ye, who will snipe you to death if you stop loving me."

Each of them corresponded to the actions in the song just now.

The audience quickly understood and burst into laughter.

"A very exciting performance."

Yang Jingjing, as the host mentor, walked onto the stage, "I have to say, your performance is several times better than what I saw during the rehearsal, it's really amazing."

"But I'm even more curious, what considerations did you have when you made these changes to the stage? Can you tell us?"

Jiang Ye handed the microphone to her teammate.

After all, it was Cheng Zhen who first came up with this idea, she didn't want to take credit for it.

Cheng Zhen briefly explained her initial thoughts about the stage, and said, "Although I came up with this idea, the subsequent re-choreography was mostly done by Lin Zui and Jiang Ye."

She smiled, "Otherwise, with just my idea, it wouldn't have been feasible."

"No, no."

Jiang Ye said modestly, "This stage is the result of everyone's efforts."

This was the first performance, and it was also the easiest performance to go viral.

She hoped to leave a good stage that everyone would remember.

This was more important than creating a stage where only the C-position stood out.

Besides, the changes she made to the original choreography could perfectly play to their strengths and give each of the five members in the team different highlight moments.

Cheng Zhen, who was not good at dancing, was set as the first personality to be eliminated, and after that, she only needed to sing the high note.

Luo Xuan was set to be eliminated after finishing her rap and saying what she wanted to say.

Yu Chenchen was eliminated after showcasing her solo dance.

Lin Zui and Jiang Ye's duet was the soul of the song, the killing part.

In the end, Lin Zui eliminated Jiang Ye, and when she thought she had won, Jiang Ye made a comeback, it was the final unexpected twist of the stage.

"Besides expressing what the song itself wants to express, we also wanted to create a dramatic twist."

Jiang Ye looked at the audience and smiled, "I don't know if you guys will like it."

The cheers from the audience nearly lifted the roof off.

"A very interesting idea."

Yang Jingjing applauded for them, "Now, let's invite Group A back."

Xue Zhihan and her teammates came on stage.

Yang Jingjing motioned, "Then the next two groups can each campaign for themselves."

Xue Zhihan's face was a bit pale.

She had watched their entire stage from backstage, and she felt like she had been clearly outshined.

But fortunately, her idol training was still there, so she forced herself to cheer up, "We really love this song, and we all worked very hard for this stage for the past five days."

"In the end, we were practically living in the practice room, only sleeping for a few hours before getting up to practice again, and finally, we presented this stage."

She subtly played the victim card, then smiled, "Actually, it doesn't really matter if you vote or not, I just hope that everyone in our group can be seen by you."

Jiang Ye: "..."

Such a tea-spilling statement, using her teammates to establish a persona for herself.

Yang Jingjing: "What about Group B?"

Jiang Ye looked at Lin Zui.

Lin Zui motioned for her to speak.

"Group A said it doesn't matter if you vote or not, so I'll just say it."

Jiang Ye said with a smile, "I think voting is important, so I hope you'll vote for our group."

Xue Zhihan: "..."

Who is she throwing shade at?

Jiang Ye paused, then winked at the audience, her voice lowered, like a demon's seductive whisper, "If you don't vote for us, I and my other four personalities will come and punish you tonight."

Her words sounded like a threat.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she finished speaking, the screams from the audience, which were already loud, became even louder.

"Damn, ah ah ah, I can do this!!!"

"Wuu wuu wuu, sister, you're scaring me!!!"

"You're so mean! You're actually going to do it!"

Yang Jingjing controlled the situation, "Now, you can raise your voting devices and vote for your favorite trainees. Each person can cast two votes, corresponding to the different numbers on the trainees, be careful not to vote wrong."

Thirty seconds later.

"Voting is over."

Yang Jingjing said, "Now, the two groups can return backstage to check the results."

As the two groups left the stage and returned backstage to prepare to see the vote count results.

The real-time repo on the forum was already exploding.

Xue Zhihan's team, Group A, had already contributed a stage that could be considered perfect, and many people were sweating for Lin Zui and Jiang Ye.

But unexpectedly, Group B had created a perfect stage that combined a hodgepodge of styles, narcissism, multiple personalities, and key costume changes.

And this stage was summarized in the repo with one sentence:

【High energy ahead! Tonight's 《You Can't Stop Loving Me》 Group B! I'm going to die from shipping them!】