Chapter 170 - 166: Shocking! "March of the Steel Torrent

Chapter 170: Chapter 166: Shocking! "March of the Steel Torrent

BANG. The lights suddenly went completely dark.

Then, a spotlight hit Su Yunzhou in the center of the stage.

On the large screen, the handsome, upright young man glanced around before quietly taking a seat. He closed his eyes. His long eyelashes fluttered gently, and his lips parted slightly, as if taking a deep breath.

The next second, the impassioned sound of the piano suddenly rang out.

His fingers danced like leaping sprites, and beautiful notes flowed from his fingertips.

In truth, using a piano to perform the "March of the Steel Torrent" lacked a bit of its majestic momentum. However, under Su Yunzhou’s Master Level technique, the vast majority of the audience was moved to tears.

At some point, the audience’s soft humming gradually turned into a massive chorus.

"Forward! Our bugles sound! Display our brilliance, shock the beasts!

"Forward! Our morale is soaring! Through wind and rain, I hold my chest high!

"Forward! We stride boldly forward! Riding the Wind and Breaking Waves..."

As the resonant singing echoed, the atmosphere instantly became electrifying. Everyone spontaneously stood up, clapping along to the beautiful music and the rhythm. They praised the prosperity of their motherland and sent blessings to the Dragon Country athletes who were about to compete.

The performance came to an end. As the final note fell, a brief silence was followed by CLAP CLAP CLAP. Thunderous applause resounded throughout the entire venue.

[Detected that the host is performing a talent on a stage for twenty thousand people.]

[The applause at the scene is thunderous and endless.]

[Applause Card activated.]

[Rewarded 10 million in cash.]

[Extra reward: One special lottery draw.]

"Huh?!" he wondered. "What exactly is a special lottery draw?"

Listening to the system’s notification in his ears, Su Yunzhou’s smile grew even wider. However, now was not a good time to explore it. He stood up, bowed slightly to the audience, and nodded with a smile in gratitude before strolling off the stage.

The audience was incredibly excited. Various gasps of admiration, screams, and discussions blended together.

"Wow! My God! It’s the first time I’ve gotten goosebumps from a piano piece!"

"This song is too fiery!"

"The way he plays the piano is just too handsome!"

"He’s good-looking, an athlete, and can play the piano. I’m absolutely in love."

Nearby, there were a few young girls with red national flags painted on their faces.

"Say no more! I’m going to look up his competition schedule for tomorrow right away. I’m going to be a hardcore fan!"

"Ah! He just bowed to me! I really want him to bend backwards for me again."

"Uh, sister, your mind is in the gutter! On such a serious occasion..."

In the Dragon Country athlete section.

At this moment, the shock on everyone’s faces was particularly prominent. They were entirely dumbfounded, unable to recover their senses for quite a while.

How could they describe this feeling? It was like an ordinary colleague you spent every day with suddenly telling you one day: "I won’t hide it anymore. I’m laying my cards on the table. I’m actually..."

It was just that unbelievable!

Ning Xiangwu looked at the figure on the stage, then at the coach beside him. "I... he..."

Lin Wei furrowed his brows and said, "If you have something to say, spit it out."

Ning Xiangwu shrank his neck and ultimately didn’t dare to say anything.

Sitting in the back row, the high-ponytailed Yu Jiao had a beautiful face full of excitement, her eyes reflecting nothing but that person’s figure. "Elegant! So elegant! He’s simply like a prince!" she exclaimed softly. "If I don’t take the initiative with someone so outstanding, I’ll never get a chance. No! After the competition ends, I need to find a chance to ask him out..."

Listening to everyone’s murmuring, Brother Long, the top rock climber Pan Yong, curled his lips. He didn’t mean anything else; he just felt that an athlete should diligently study their own professional events and Skill, instead of wasting time on playing the piano like this. He had heard the head coach say this guy was a genius. How could someone who wasted their talent like this deserve to be called a genius?

He thought to himself, "In tomorrow’s competition, I will definitely let you know that being a genius is merely the threshold to meet me."

Not far away.

It wasn’t until after she finished appreciating the magnificent performance that the Beautiful Country’s female rock climber, Lilia, realized the guest performer on stage was the same handsome Dragon Country athlete who had smiled at her earlier.

Joy shone in Lilia’s deep eyes. She loved the piano very much. Aside from rock climbing, her biggest hobby was playing the piano, as it helped her relax. She had thought she was the only one in the world like this, but she never expected to meet such a similarly interesting soul in a foreign land.

Lilia made up her mind. Later, when he came back, she would go over and ask for his number.

Her frequent glances at that empty seat naturally caught Yan Peisheng’s attention. Yan Peisheng only knew three basic sentences in English. He could tell she wanted to say something, but ultimately, he could only use the internationally universal expression—a smile—to cover up the awkwardness.

At this moment, Yan Peisheng watched everyone’s reactions and felt a secret thrill in his heart. In the beginning, he genuinely thought Su Yunzhou had only asked to participate in the opening ceremony to mess with the foreign athletes’ mindsets for the next day. How could he have known this guy played the piano so well?

Although Yan Peisheng didn’t understand music, he had attended many international rock climbing competition opening ceremonies. Piano performances were not rare during these events. Having heard many of them, he could naturally tell the good from the bad. It was no exaggeration to say that he felt Su Yunzhou’s piano level was absolutely world-class.

Gu Sanming and the others backstage shared the same sentiment. Gu Sanming understood Su Yunzhou’s strength, so he wasn’t surprised by the brilliant performance. However, when he learned from his student Ye Xiaofei that Su Xiaoyou was also a wildcard athlete, the shock on his face was self-evident.

He thought, "How old is he! To be able to achieve such high accomplishments in two completely different fields like music and sports. He is truly a heaven-sent genius!"

The few students beside him only now understood why Teacher Gu had gone out to drink happily with this young friend that night. Wasn’t this exactly the tale of High Mountain and Flowing Water turning into reality?

This was especially true for Chu Chengxian. He also majored in piano. He knew perfectly well the level of the other party’s previous performance. Calling him a master was no exaggeration at all.

Thinking back to the ridiculous drinking session from a few days ago, his heart was incredibly conflicted. He felt ashamed of himself, yet honored to have shared a drink with such a young piano master.

"Uh..." he thought. "Anyway, it still counts as drinking together! And we even downed whole pots."

Apart from their shock, the other students all wore somewhat dejected expressions. They saw the helplessness of ’knowing there’s nothing they can do and accepting it as fate’ in each other’s eyes. They had also been called musical geniuses since childhood. However, years of arduous practice had only brought them to an Advanced level. To reach Master Level technique, who knew how many countless ages of bitter training it would take.

Many musicians never attained the title of master in their entire lives. It wasn’t because they played poorly, but because they always lacked that bit of personal spirituality. This was also why some musicians could only leave behind eternal classics after experiencing matters of great right and wrong, or life and death, and achieving Enlightenment.

Yet Su Yunzhou wasn’t that much older than them. However, the gap between them was perhaps something they could never close in their entire lives.

Right at this moment, Su Yunzhou appeared backstage. Many performers involved in music gave him a thumbs up.

Ye Xiaofei closed the distance to him in a few steps, her sparkling eyes filled with admiration.

"Brother Su, you’re really too amazing!

"Earlier, my dad even called to ask if that person was you!"

Su Yunzhou smiled. He figured that through this live broadcast of the opening ceremony, his female friends would all be quite surprised!

Originally, his close girlfriends had all planned to come. But upon Su Yunzhou’s well-meaning advice, they stayed home to watch the live stream. Of course, there was another important reason. Tonight, he had to stay at the designated athletes’ hotel with the Dragon Country’s participating team. So, if they came, they could look but not touch, which wasn’t much fun.

However, what Su Yunzhou didn’t know was that tonight, after returning to the athletes’ hotel, something particularly interesting was going to happen.