But even though it was disgusting, Jiang Ruming had no intention of jumping in to expose Lilia's act.
After all, the current situation was incredibly advantageous for her.
If Lilia won, Jiang Qin's reputation would be ruined even further. And knowing how much her mother cared about appearances, she would probably never publicly acknowledge Jiang Qin for the rest of her life.
On the other hand, if Jiang Qin won, Lilia would very likely be expelled.
Then there would be one less annoying person in the dorm. So, she was more than happy to sit back and watch the show.
***
Despite Lilia's provocations, Jiang Qin's expression remained calm, even as nasty comments flooded the chat at a rate of three per second.
"I'm not here today to argue about who originally wrote those three songs.
You're a top student from Duolun University's music department, aren't you? Surely you're not afraid to accept a challenge from a female from a Barren Star like me, right?"
Lilia raised an eyebrow. "What's the competition?"
"It's simple. We'll compete in your specialty: songwriting, lyric writing, and vocal performance. We'll use software to generate the prompts and score us. Perfectly fair, wouldn't you say?"
Lilia didn't say anything. She kept a smile on her face, but her eyes kept darting to the side.
A minute later, that confident smile returned to her face. It was as if she'd just received the reassurance she needed.
'The answer is easy enough to guess,' Jiang Qin thought. 'Someone probably has a bunch of songs ready for her to cheat with.'
Jiang Qin wasn't worried in the slightest. 'No matter how many songs she has prepared, could she possibly have more than the entire musical catalog of Earth?'
Sure enough, with her confidence restored, Lilia immediately accepted.
"Fine, I'll compete with you. But if you lose, you have to admit you plagiarized and return the copyrights for those three songs to me."
"Deal. Likewise, if you lose, you have to admit you slandered me, record a public video apology to the entire network, and that video must stay up for a full seven days."
With the stakes set, they applied to the platform for a duel adjudicated by the Mainbrain Adjudicator.
The Mainbrain Adjudicator was an extension of the Federation Star Network's primary AI.
It was an entity of absolute fairness and impartiality. No one could interfere with its rulings, and no one could sway its decisions.
Its scoring was accurate to the decimal point, so Jiang Qin felt more at ease with it as the judge than any human.
Soon, the Mainbrain Adjudicator responded to their request, and a small robot appeared on the livestream interface.
A "Ready" option appeared before both Jiang Qin and Lilia.
Once both selected it, the adjudicator robot began to draw the first prompt.
[Prompt 1: With graduation season approaching, please perform a new, original song on the theme of school, graduation, or youth.]
[Ooh, this is a good prompt. I love this kind of song.]
[Graduation season is here again before you know it. Wonder how many new faces will be showing up on the battlefield this year.]
[Cherish your school days, kids. Once you graduate, you'll be facing a harsh reality.]
[Heard the cold snap is coming early this year. The beast tides will probably be even more ferocious than usual.]
...
The time limit for composition was twenty minutes per song. They could perform a new song from their personal repertoire, but they had to guarantee it was their own copyrighted work.
The performance order would also be decided by drawing lots.
They just had to click to draw a number determining their turn.
Jiang Qin went to draw her number after only five minutes. Seeing this, Lilia quickly followed suit, shooting her a provocative glance.
"Oh, my apologies, Miss Jiang. I was thinking of going first to give you a little more time to prepare. I just didn't expect my luck to be this good."
Lilia smiled at her smugly.
After all, composing a song and writing lyrics in twenty minutes was a real time crunch.
Plus, with no time to warm up one's voice, it was easy to make mistakes. The first one to sing was at a distinct disadvantage.
But this suited Jiang Qin perfectly.
She was worried that if her opponent lost, she would use this as an excuse. 'Knowing how shameless Lilia is,' she thought, 'that's a very real possibility.'
But Jiang Qin couldn't be bothered to play along with her act. She simply held her guitar calmly, tested the tuning, and began to play.
"I give you my heart as a memento
This love will be fresh any time you open it
With me by your side, bitterness turns to sweet…"
[Whoa, another song in a style I've never heard before. But it feels similar in type to the three songs she released previously.]
[Exactly. The styles are different, but the overall type is similar. They all focus on expressing emotion and have a very clean sound.]
[Most songs in our Federation use synthesized melodies that are pretty sharp, completely different from Jiang Qin's songs.]
[It's obvious. You can basically confirm these songs all come from the same origin. You could even call it a whole new style of music.]
[Tsk, tsk. Well, that makes this whole plagiarism accusation rather thought-provoking.]
"Last summer
On the shore where we counted shells and waves
We prayed that on this day next year
We could still keep these same carefree smiles…"
The anger that had been simmering in Jiang Qin's heart began to calm the moment the first notes rang out from her guitar.
She was gradually swept up in the song's emotions, as if she could see a scene she had once longed for.
Wearing a school uniform, holding a bouquet of flowers, surrounded by classmates, all of them smiling for the camera.
And yet, in her own life, there wasn't a single graduation photo.
"No matter how rough the storms, I will bravely press on
Our love, enshrined in the album of our youth…"
Pan Yangxia, who had only tuned in to support his idol, was instantly captivated by the song.
He turned to his roommate excitedly. "I know what song we should sing at the graduation gala this year!
This one! We can all sing it together. I'm thinking we can split it into parts, then come together for a final chorus."
"Is this a new song? I've never heard it before."
"It's an unreleased song. It's new from my idol, Jiang Qin. She's in a PK battle right now."
A few others nearby immediately crowded around, their curiosity piqued.
The two beautiful faces on the screen were a direct hit to the hearts of the single males.
"Whoa! Both of the young females are gorgeous! Which one is your idol?"
Pan Yangxia pointed to Jiang Qin. "She's Miss Jiang Qing. See that thing in her hands? If I'm not mistaken, that's an ancient instrument—a guitar."
"Huh?? She's playing it live? An ancient instrument?"
Another person said in shock, "No way! People are still skilled enough to play an ancient instrument directly, without using software? That's insane!"
"Exactly!" 'Why else would I admire her so much?' Pan Yangxia thought.
No matter how many people doubted her, he would believe in her.
He refused to believe that someone who could play multiple ancient instruments would need to steal another person's compositions.
This new song was the proof.
Soon, the Mainbrain Adjudicator displayed Jiang Qin's score.
[High-quality new song. Emotional impact: full marks. Theme adherence: correct. Bonus for vocal timbre. Minor flaw in vocal performance. Judged score: 96.35 points.
Bonus: +3 points for live performance on an ancient instrument.
Final Score: 99.35 points.]
Next, it was Lilia's turn to sing.
It had to be said, she was a music student, after all. Her vocal performance wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either.
But listening to it grated on Jiang Qin's ears.
Some of the song's melodies were too shrill, the kind of shrillness that was sudden and jarring, and the lyrics were completely artless.