At eight o'clock in the evening, all the trainees gathered in the hall where the third ranking announcement was being recorded.

Jiang Ye looked up before entering.

This time, there were only twelve seats left on the pyramid.

Compared to the sixty seats that were packed during the initial seat selection, twelve seats inevitably felt a bit empty and lonely.

However, the central C position had never changed, always shining with its unique golden light.

Mentor Cui Qi came to announce the rankings.

"Good evening, everyone."

Cui Qi said casually as soon as he entered, "I'll give you a piece of news."

"I just went to see the finals' process, gosh, I’m telling you, the trainees who leave this time are absolutely lucky. Otherwise, standing for six hours during the finals, you'd be exhausted to death."

The tense atmosphere among the trainees instantly broke.

Trainees who were mentally prepared to be eliminated nudged their friends, "Did you hear that? Good luck! I guess I should leave first."

Cui Qi said as he walked to the front of the stage, slapped the script and the envelope with the trainees' names, and continued, "However, no matter which trainees stay or leave, don’t put too much pressure on yourselves."

"Participating in the show is just a life experience."

"At most, the next time you participate in a similar show, people will call you a ‘reheated dish’."

"What’s wrong with being a reheated dish? Having an extra ‘reheated dish’ title won't make you lose any weight, right?"

The trainees in the audience all laughed.

After the joke, Cui Qi finally started announcing the rankings.

This time, the rankings were announced starting from eleventh place.

This kind of ranking announcement really tests the mental state of the trainees who are on the edge of the elimination line.

Because the top few are usually fixed.

So, for trainees fighting for a spot, if they don’t make it into the top nine, ten, or eleven, it basically means they’re going to be eliminated.

So, they would desperately try to connect every hint the mentor gave before announcing the rankings to themselves.

Cui Qi said, "This trainee had a very outstanding performance in the 'Tiny' group during the third performance."

Lu Xiaowan immediately perked up her ears.

After reading a series of hints, Cui Qi announced her name, "Congratulations, Luo Xuan."

Lu Xiaowan’s heart sank.

"Now announcing the tenth-ranked trainee."

"This trainee is a dance lead."

"We’re all looking forward to seeing her better performance in 'Crush You'."

Lu Xiaowan’s heart jumped again.

Cui Qi: "Congratulations, Yu Chenchen."

Lu Xiaowan sighed in relief again.

This kind of repeated torture of hints was a kind of invisible torture for trainees on the bubble.

Normally, her nose would already be sour.

But she had promised Jiang Ye that she wouldn’t cry, so she tried her best to hold back.

The ninth-ranked trainee was Xue Zhihan.

It was a coincidence that Xue Zhihan’s downfall happened right after the second ranking announcement, during the clearing of the voting pool.

Half of her fans had unfollowed and turned against her, but the other half, some of whom had invested too much and were still gritting their teeth, and some who blindly believed in their idol, still managed to vote her into ninth place.

But no matter what, she couldn’t touch the debut position.

Jiang Ye didn’t feel much about this result.

But after listening for a while, she realized that Xue Zhihan’s acceptance speech this time seemed to be written by herself.

She didn’t have a prepared speech, she spoke incoherently, admitted some of the mistakes she had made, accepted the outcome, and thanked her fans.

Her speech was rambling, but it was far more sincere than her previous two speeches.

After finishing, Xue Zhihan bowed deeply to the camera before leaving.

Jiang Ye looked at her back and finally sighed.

...

Shen Zhiyi’s ranking quickly rose to sixth.

Her performance in the two performances had quickly fermented, and many new fans had joined her after the third performance.

Initially, when she first advanced, it was a bunch of people who were attracted to her beauty and voted for her, but in the following two performances, they unexpectedly discovered that what they thought was a beautiful but useless trainee was actually a hidden gem.

Moreover, with Xue Zhihan’s downfall, the company could only place all their hopes on her.

If Nuan Yang Entertainment had to have a debut position, the scales had now completely tipped in her favor.

After Shen Zhiyi finished her acceptance speech, she walked onto the pyramid and stopped in front of Xue Zhihan.

Previously, it had always been her, with the lower ranking, who walked onto the pyramid first.

When Xue Zhihan came up, she would embrace her with a very polite gesture.

Now, their positions had changed.

Shen Zhiyi still extended her hand and quietly watched Xue Zhihan.

Xue Zhihan was stunned.

After a while, as if she had gotten used to it, she hugged Shen Zhiyi.

After the hug, Shen Zhiyi smiled and continued walking to a higher position.

Xue Zhihan looked at her back, feeling a sense of the tides turning, a sense of fate.

That position, it seemed like it should have always been Shen Zhiyi’s.

She had stolen it for so long, and now it's finally time to return it.

...

The fifth-ranked trainee was Liang Yu.

Her company, her fans, and she herself seemed to have a mentality of guarding the bubble zone, they didn't vote too high, they were stuck in this position.

The fourth-ranked trainee was Tan Meng.

This was the first time she entered the debut position.

Her fans and she were both very dedicated.

In terms of effort, Jiang Ye even felt that Tan Meng was no less dedicated than her.

And perhaps her popularity had already surpassed this position.

But the program team didn’t really want two trainees from the same company to be in the top ranks.

So, Tan Meng’s current ranking was entirely the result of her fans and her own hard work.

Even though it had been an incredibly difficult journey.

But Tan Meng’s attitude was very good when she gave her acceptance speech, "I looked at my rankings for these three performances."

"I found that I’ve been improving all along."

"I think that’s great, it means that everyone sees my progress, and you’ve all put in the same effort as me, pushing me forward."

She smiled at the camera, "So I won’t cry this time. Let’s work harder together and move towards a higher place!"

Third was Cheng Zhen.

Compared to the last ranking announcement, her ranking had also risen one position.

Of course, her parents helped, but more importantly, her performance had gotten better with each performance.

Cheng Zhen stood confidently in front of the camera.

"Ah, Tan Meng reminded me, I also found that my ranking has been steadily rising, it’s great."

"Being able to be seen and liked as trainee Cheng Zhen is a very happy thing."

Cheng Zhen didn’t say much, she just bowed to the camera, "Thank you for your continued support for Cheng Zhen."

After the third place was announced, it was time for the C position battle.

Cui Qi looked at the trainees who were getting excited, and he smiled and asked, "Who do you think I’m going to announce next?"

He turned his gaze to Jiang Ye, "Come on, Jiang Ye, who do you think it is?"

Jiang Ye: "..."

She curved her eyes and said without hesitation, "Lin Zui."

Cui Qi turned to Lin Zui, "Then Lin Zui, who do you think it is?"

Lin Zui also smiled, "It has to be Jiang Ye, right?"

"You two are very in sync."

Cui Qi said, "Well, then please come up to the stage."

Jiang Ye and Lin Zui finally returned to this familiar position.

They both breathed a sigh of relief.

Lin Zui had dropped to third last time and upset her fans, but her performance in the performance was very good, and her fans were energized, voting her back up.

Jiang Ye, as always, was stable.

Cui Qi asked them, "Do you have anything to say?"

"Can we say something?"

Lin Zui raised her chin, "It feels like I’m finally back."

She had always been very confident.

Even when she dropped to third, even when she realized that she wasn’t perfect, it had never affected her confidence.

So, returning to second place, Lin Zui didn’t express relief, but a sense of composure, as if she knew she would be back.

Cui Qi asked again, "What about Jiang Ye?"

Jiang Ye thought for a moment and looked at the person next to her, "Then I have a feeling that Lin Zui is finally back."

All the trainees in the audience laughed.

Cui Qi also laughed, "Okay, since you two don’t have anything else to say, then I’ll say it."

"The first-place winner of the third ranking announcement of Chasing Light Girls—"

Jiang Ye proactively extended her hand to Lin Zui.

She remembered that during the first ranking announcement, it was Lin Zui who extended her hand to her.

This time, it was her turn.

Lin Zui raised her eyebrows and took her hand.

"——Congratulations to Shengrui Entertainment trainee Jiang Ye, with 11,005,007 support points, you’ve taken first place!"

The background music immediately started playing.

All the trainees in the audience stood up and applauded and cheered.

Cui Qi nodded to them, "Come on, it’s time for your acceptance speeches."

Lin Zui picked up the microphone first.

"Someone told me during the last ranking announcement that they predicted my ranking would be second."

"And she was wrong."

"But it’s okay, thanks to the fans who voted for me, I’m back."

Lin Zui smiled, paused, and said, "Actually, I quite like this position."

"There’s always room for improvement, there are goals to chase, and as I said last time, there’s motivation to strive for the best."

"But be careful, someone."

Lin Zui looked at Jiang Ye next to her, "I won’t always be in second place."

"Be careful, be careful, one day I’ll surpass you."

Lin Zui finished her speech and passed the microphone to Jiang Ye.

Jiang Ye first responded to Lin Zui’s words, "I welcome anyone who wants to challenge my position."

"It’s because of the urgency of being chased that I want to work harder and keep my position."

"I believe my fans feel the same way."

"Here, I want to thank the fans who voted for me."

"This is actually the last ranking announcement before the finals."

"And I just thought back, from the moment I first chose the first seat, you’ve been working hard to protect my dream, accompanying me all the way to today."

Jiang Ye bowed to the camera, "Thank you."

"On the next stage, I still hope I won’t let you down and will bring you new surprises."

"And, before I came on stage today, I told Lu Xiaowan not to cry."

"I also hope that everyone here today won’t cry."

"We have one more stage, I hope everyone can perform well."

"Leaving isn’t the end, it’s a new beginning."

Jiang Ye looked at all the trainees in the audience who hadn’t yet sat on the pyramid, and she said firmly, "We’ll definitely see each other again in the future."

The trainees in the audience all nodded at her.

Some were tearful, some were smiling, and some shouted, "I heard you, Jiang Ye! Don’t break your promise!"

The acceptance speeches were finished.

Jiang Ye and Lin Zui went up to their respective positions on the pyramid.

After they sat down, Cui Qi said, "Now I’m going to announce the last trainee who will be in the top twelve."

He raised his eyebrows, slowly starting to open the envelope, "Let’s see who this lucky trainee is."

All the trainees who were still sitting in the audience immediately sat up straight.

This was the last spot in the finals.

It was their last hope.

"This trainee."

The moment Cui Qi saw the name, he raised his eyebrows, "She’s actually kind of like my student."

"After all, during the third performance, she really surprised me in the 'Tiny' group."

Lu Xiaowan’s heart, which had completely sunk, instantly lifted again.

She looked at the stage, listening to Cui Qi announce more and more hints, she could hardly contain her excitement.

Until she finally heard the words, "Congratulations to Linjiang Entertainment trainee Lu Xiaowan."

She still couldn’t believe it, she froze in place.

"Don’t just stand there."

Cui Qi smiled and waved to her, "Come on stage."

All the trainees in the audience were shouting her name, cheering for her advancement.

All the members of the "Crush You" group who had already advanced stood up and applauded for her.

It’s great.

Their "Crush You" group was complete, no one was missing.

Lu Xiaowan didn’t have to be an eliminated trainee, she could accompany them to the finals.

She could actually go to the finals!

Lu Xiaowan stood on the stage.

She was so excited that she held the microphone, she held back for a long time, but she couldn’t hold it in anymore, and tears immediately welled up.

Jiang Ye, who was holding the tissues she had just taken from Lu Xiaowan: "..."

It really was beyond anyone's control.