Despite feeling quite disgusted, Jiang Rumeng had no intention of jumping out to sabotage Liliya's reputation.
After all, this situation was extremely favorable to her.
If Liliya won, Jiang Qin's reputation would be further tarnished. Given how much her mother valued face, she probably would never publicly acknowledge her again in this lifetime.
On the other hand, if Jiang Qin won, Liliya was very likely to be expelled.
By then, there would be no annoying people like her in the dormitory anymore. So Jiang Rumeng was more than happy to sit back and watch the tigers fight it out.
Facing Liliya's provocation, Jiang Qin remained calm on the surface, even as hateful comments flooded the chatroom at a rate of three per second.
"I'm here today not to argue about who originally created those three songs. Aren't you a top student from the Music Department of Dorian University? Then you should be brave enough to accept a challenge from me, a female from a barren planet."
Liliya raised an eyebrow and asked, "A challenge? What kind?"
"Simple. Let's compete in your specialty—composition, songwriting, and singing. We'll use software to generate the challenges and score us fairly, alright?"
Liliya said nothing, her smile still on her face, but her eyes kept glancing sideways.
After a minute, the confident smile returned to her face. It was easy to guess what gave her that reassurance—probably someone had prepared a bunch of songs for her to cheat with.
Jiang Qin wasn't worried at all. No matter how many songs Liliya had, could it really be more than those from Earth?
Sure enough, once she felt confident, she immediately accepted the challenge.
"Fine. I'll compete with you. But if you lose, you have to admit that you plagiarized and return the copyright of those three songs to me."
"Deal. And if you lose, you must admit that you slandered me, record a public apology video to the entire network, and keep it pinned for seven days."
They agreed on the stakes and applied for the Neural Core Judge to oversee the match.
The Neural Core Judge was a branch of the Federation's main star network AI.
It was absolutely fair and impartial—no one could interfere with its judgment, nor influence its decisions.
Its scoring was precise down to decimal points, so having it as the judge was even more reassuring to Jiang Qin than a human referee.
Soon, the Neural Core Judge approved their request, and a small robot icon appeared in the live stream interface.
Both Jiang Qin and Liliya now had a "Ready" button before them.
Once both chose ready, the judge robot began drawing the challenge questions.
[First Challenge: Graduation season is near. Please perform a new song live on the theme of school, graduation, and youth.]
"Ah, this topic's great—I like songs like this."
"Unconsciously, graduation season is here again. How many new faces will appear on the battlefield this year?"
"Kids, treasure your school days, because once you graduate, harsh reality awaits."
"I heard the cold front will come early this year. The beast tide might be fiercer than before."
…
They had twenty minutes to compose one song. They could sing a new song from their own inventory but had to ensure they owned the copyright.
The order was decided by drawing lots.
Jiang Qin drew her number just five minutes later. Seeing this, Liliya quickly drew hers and gave Jiang Qin a provocative glance.
"Oh, sorry, Miss Jiang. I was actually hoping to sing first to give you more preparation time, but looks like luck's on my side."
Liliya smiled smugly at her.
Composing, writing, and warming up within twenty minutes was really tight.
Also, singing first was a disadvantage—no time to warm up the voice, making mistakes easier.
But this suited Jiang Qin perfectly.
She feared Liliya might lose and then use this as an excuse to make excuses. Given Liliya's shamelessness, that was quite likely.
Jiang Qin didn't bother playing along and calmly held her guitar, tested the sound, and began playing officially.
"I give you my heart as a keepsake,
This love will feel fresh whenever you open it,
With me by your side, even hardships turn sweet…"
[Another song style I haven't heard before, but it matches the style of the three songs she released earlier.]
[That's right, though the style is different, they share the same emotional focus and a clean sound.]
[Most Federation songs use sharper synthetic tones, totally different from Jiang Qin's songs.]
[Clearly, these songs come from the same origin—a new style of music.]
[Tsk tsk, this plagiarism claim is getting more interesting.]
"Last summer,
Counting shells and waves by the seaside,
We prayed that on this day next year,
We could still wear carefree smiles…"
Jiang Qin, who had been a bit angry before, gradually calmed down as the guitar sounded.
Her emotions were stirred by the song, as if she saw a scene she once yearned for.
Wearing school uniforms, holding flowers, standing with classmates, smiling at the camera.
Yet, in her life, there was no single graduation photo.
"No matter how fierce the storms, I will bravely move forward,
Our love is set in the youth memorial album…"
Pan Yangxia, who had originally just come to support his idol, was instantly captivated by this song.
He excitedly told his roommate, "I know what song to sing at this year's graduation party! It's this one. We can divide it into parts and then sing together at the end."
"Is this a new song? I haven't heard it before."
"It hasn't been released yet. It's my idol Jiang Qin's new song. She's battling someone in a PK right now."
A few curious people nearby immediately gathered around.
The two beautiful faces on screen instantly captured the hearts of these single guys.
"Wow! Both these girls are so pretty! Who's your idol?"
Pan Yangxia pointed to Jiang Qin. "That's Miss Jiang Qin. See what she's holding? If I'm not mistaken, that's an ancient instrument—the guitar."
"?? Playing an ancient instrument live?"
Another person was shocked. "No way! Are there really still people who don't use software to play, but perform directly on ancient instruments? That's amazing!"
"Exactly!" No wonder he admired Jiang Qin so much.
No matter how many doubted, he would always believe in her.
He couldn't accept that someone skilled in multiple ancient instruments would need to steal someone else's sheet music.
This new song was proof enough.
Soon, the Neural Core Judge scored Jiang Qin's performance.
[High-quality new song, full marks for emotional impact, theme perfectly on point, extra points for tone color, minor singing flaws. Final score: 96.35.]
Bonus: +3 points for playing an ancient instrument.
Final verdict: 99.35 points.
Next, it was Liliya's turn to sing.
To be fair, she was still a music department student. Her singing wasn't outstanding but not terrible either.
Yet, listening to her made Jiang Qin's ears ache.
Some of Liliya's melodies were piercing—those sudden sharp notes—and the lyrics were painfully cliché.
Youth Memorial Album: Komi Boy Version