FWTS ### Chapter 94: Speed Reading

The third challenge was against Xianxian, "Starlight" vs. "A Song for Myself," and it was successful!

The fourth challenge was against Shi Shiwun, "Yellow River Cantata" vs. "She Came to My Concert," and it was successful!

He showcased his guitar and piano skills, both at a performance level!

For the third challenge, he sang against the mentor's song, and for the fourth, he played the piano like the mentor!

Each of Hou Muyun's appearances brought unexpected surprises and shock to the audience!

Not following the usual pattern, yet filled with routines!

As the program aired, discussions about Hou Muyun and "War of Music" increased online, with Weibo topic volume reaching new highs. #HouHost'sWarOfMusic# hit one billion after the seventh episode aired, then continued to rise to 1.5 billion. After the eighth episode fully aired, it skyrocketed to four billion!

Additionally, the play and download counts for Hou Muyun's third and fourth challenge songs on music platforms reached astonishing levels.

Of course, as the topic volume increased and more people discussed it, there were bound to be some differing opinions along with the overwhelming praise.

"Dammit, it's just like other music shows, as soon as someone good appears, they start various hype. I'm sick of seeing this guy named Hou all over the place. Is he really that good? Disgusting!"

"This guy is so good at self-promotion, various hype, and piggybacking on hot topics!"

"I've read this guy's book, it's total trash!"

"Erhu, guitar, piano, haha, I don't believe one person can master all three instruments to performance level! It's either exaggerated or someone behind the scenes is playing for him. Today's stars, no limit to their hype! Tricks keep evolving!"

"What's with this 'King of Peking Opera Rock' nonsense? These mentors are speaking without thinking. Do they even know what Peking Opera or Rock is? Using this second-rate way to perform Peking Opera is a disgrace to our cultural heritage!"

"Good old 'Yellow River Cantata' got butchered like this, and these mentors are shocked? Shocked my ass!"

"Ha, seen many overdone performances, but never seen such shameless use of traditional music and cultural heritage for a gimmick!"

"The third challenge's 'Starlight' was disgusting. A perfectly good pop rock song got twisted like that. Does it even fit the lyrics and meaning? Saying it's a successful challenge is a slap in Xianxian's face!"

"The singing and playing are good, but it's too showy. Not a fan!"

"..."

Everyone has their own tastes, and where there are likes, there are dislikes. Especially on Weibo or in this circle, many things aren't as simple as pure preference. It's impossible that some of these comments weren't intentionally misleading.

Hou Muyun's great success, "War of Music's" great success, naturally meant some benefitted and others lost.

However, no matter how many such comments there were, they couldn't outnumber the praises. Moreover, due to the previous fight video incident, many troublemaking netizens dared not go too far. Hou Muyun's miraculous turn of events last time left a lasting impression. No one dared to be too harsh this time.

Additionally, the "Sky Team" had long become a formidable internet force, and Hou Muyun himself wasn't someone to mess with easily. Everyone had to think twice!

Just among celebrity influencers, no one dared to criticize. Firstly, they feared offending the five mentor teams and their fans. Secondly, they knew Hou Muyun would retaliate fiercely!

Hou Muyun watched this episode at home. He also saw some comments. He wasn't surprised by the discussions and reactions.

For this episode's song choices, he didn't randomly pick three songs due to lack of knowledge. He had spent considerable time selecting them before the recording.

The primary requirement for these three songs was to be impactful, secondly to ensure a 100% success rate in challenges to gain more stage time, and thirdly to generate more discussion and influence, all ultimately for more points!

Over the years, despite few good new songs in the music market, various programs had used various methods to reinterpret classic songs. To be impactful, one had to innovate and be different. With this in mind, there were two choices: adapt familiar songs or find hidden gems for reinterpretation, both in unexpected ways.

Thus, Hou Muyun chose these three songs that weren't too popular but familiar enough to evoke some memories and had flexibility for adaptation. This way, the audience wouldn't feel too alienated and could easily resonate, combined with impactful singing and playing!

Whether these choices were correct was most simply validated by the points.

180,000!

This was the points Hou Muyun saw the next day. From the program airing to this time, it had increased by over 140,000!

When the seventh episode of "War of Music" aired, it was Hou Muyun's first appearance on the show, singing three songs. The initial shock was huge. Coupled with the fight video and other incidents at the time, multiple factors combined, and the points increase by the next day was around 140,000!

So, this eighth episode's impact was even greater!

One could imagine how many points would be converted when the ninth episode aired and Hou Muyun cleared the game!

"Okay, stop thinking about it!"

Hou Muyun forced himself to suppress any urge to draw cards and directly placed the "Speed Reading Skill Card" into the slot. Once prompted, he chose "Confirm Equip" without hesitation. The points immediately reduced by 100,000, and the card transformed into a light entering his in-game avatar. The avatar then had a new bar under it: 【Speed Reading: Special Skill, Stackable】

Equipped with this special skill, Hou Muyun eagerly grabbed a book he borrowed from the bedside. Without caring what it was, he opened it and started reading. Looking at the pages, he clearly felt his "field of vision" widen significantly. A glance covered a wide range of text, instantly capturing the information into his mind!

One page, two glances to finish!

The amount of information absorbed was no different from reading carefully, combined with his current understanding and memory, a glance and a short pause captured most of it!

In other words, his reading speed or information intake speed now exceeded his brain's processing and digestion speed, or the latter couldn't keep up with the former!

Continuously reading for over ten pages, his brain gradually adapted to this intake speed, reducing the pause time considerably, forming a rhythm: a page read in two glances and a brief pause. During the pause, due to biological instinct, Hou Muyun would close his eyes slightly, improving sorting speed and resting his eyes a bit.

Reading a page took less than three seconds!

After another ten pages, he didn't feel tired, almost like normal reading, but the effective information intake increased exponentially.

Hou Muyun sat on the bed, immersed in this magical "page-turning" experience, until he finished the book "The World is Flat."

After stopping, he closed his eyes, taking over two minutes to rest and organize. Despite 9's top memory, he couldn't remember everything, but he captured the main content and key details.

Opening his eyes, Hou Muyun checked the time, eyes filled with shock and joy!

This book had over 400 pages, more than 410,000 words!

And the total time spent, including the final two minutes of organizing, was under 20 minutes!

Assuming it was 20 minutes, that meant reading over 20,000 words per minute, nearly 700 words per second!

One second now equaled a minute of intake before!

At least 50 times faster!

Moreover, this book "The World is Flat" was quite challenging to read!


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