Chapter 22

 Chapter 22: Weakness - Language Performances

The next afternoon, Lu Zhixing and Liu Bo attended the rehearsal for the college welcome party. The rehearsal took place in the Game Design Institute's comprehensive building. All the students who had passed the initial selection were present. They were divided into groups based on their performance type: songs, dances, languages, and so on, and each group was led by different second-year students.

The college welcome party followed a "passing on knowledge" model, where experienced students from the previous year, who had similar performance experience and a sense of responsibility, would guide the incoming freshmen. After selecting the talents and completing rehearsals, the acts would be submitted layer by layer for review.

First, the acts would be reviewed by the person in charge of the welcome party (usually a capable third-year student in this field), followed by the guidance counselor and higher-level instructors.

Currently, the Game Design Institute's welcome party was still in its initial stage, with only a few talents chosen. The specific program lineup would be decided after rigorous practice and polishing.

The rehearsal conditions were quite humble since there were limited venues available at the school. Places like the small auditorium were frequently used for formal performances, and each college could only book them for one or two days before the actual event.

Therefore, the students could only rehearse in whatever available spaces they could find. If they were lucky, they could book a venue; otherwise, they'd have to practice on the playground or in underground parking lots.

Fortunately, the Game Design Institute's comprehensive building was relatively new and had plenty of open spaces, which was enough for these students to rehearse. While it wasn't possible to provide each act with a separate room, it was still better than the colleges that had to rehearse in underground parking lots.

Zhang Yiyang briefly explained the rehearsal guidelines, offered some encouragement, and then the different groups went their separate ways to rehearse.

Seeing Lu Zhixing among them, Zhang Yiyang had a big smile on his face. "Oh? Lu Junior, you're here too? Honestly, your level doesn't require you to participate in the rehearsal; you can just go on stage directly."

Lu Zhixing wasn't concerned. "It's alright, participation is the main thing. I still have a lot to learn, and I want to learn from the senior students."

Zhang Yiyang waved his hand. "Come on, you're too modest. Who here can teach you? How about you find a place to practice on your own and come to me if you have any questions?"

Lu Zhixing nodded. "Sure."

He had come to the rehearsal not to improve his own skills, as he was already the best singer in the entire college. His main purpose was to continue playing the role of the "Campus Superstar."

Lu Zhixing had noticed that completing certain "signature events" significantly increased the progress and points of his role-playing bar, so he wanted to use this identity to participate in various events as much as possible.

As expected, when Lu Zhixing casually strolled around the rehearsal area, the progress bar for his role-playing immediately showed a noticeable increase.

The rehearsal scene brought back memories of Lu Zhixing's university days in his previous life, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia.

In the song group, students, under Zhang Yiyang's guidance, practiced various singing techniques to improve their performance skills. Some even changed their song choices based on Zhang Yiyang's suggestions.

Yan Wei was leading a group of girls in dancing. Although their movements were a bit uncoordinated and their skill levels varied, their youthful energy was captivating.

However, after watching for a while, Lu Zhixing decided to head over to the language performance section.

Compared to songs and dances, the language performance group occupied the largest space. To rehearse skits effectively, they needed ample room. However, there were only two groups in this category, one performing cross-talk and the other a skit.

The cross-talk performance didn't look promising. Both performers were clearly amateurs, and although they tried their best to mimic professional cross-talk comedians, their movements and expressions were stiff, making the performance seem awkward.

Lu Zhixing had always considered cross-talk to be the most challenging type of language performance. If students wanted to perform language acts at a college event, stand-up comedy or skits were better choices. Stand-up comedy could draw on popular internet jokes, and skits involved coordinated actions and props. In contrast, cross-talk was heavily reliant on fundamental skills, making it difficult for students who weren't trained in it.

Fundamentally skilled performers could make even old jokes hilarious, while those unfamiliar with the basics would bore the audience even when delivering classic cross-talk jokes. Most college students fell into the latter category.

The skit group didn't look much better. Lu Zhixing sensed that they were trying to perform an obscure skit that had aired on a local TV station. However, whether it was due to the skit's quality or their execution, the expected comedic moments and punchlines failed to land.

A second-year student was guiding them, but his own skills were average at best, and he wasn't making much of a difference.

During the rehearsal, quite a few students stole glances at Lu Zhixing. It seemed that his actions during the student recruitment battle had already spread to some extent.

After touring the rehearsal area, Lu Zhixing returned to the song group, where everyone was taking a break and chatting.

He remarked, "It seems like our college's language performances are a bit weak."

Zhang Yiyang nodded, "Who would disagree? It's our college's traditional weak point. In categories like singing and dancing, there are always a few talented individuals in each incoming class, whether they have a naturally good voice or have taken vocal and dance classes before. However, language performances are different. Most students lack any prior performance experience, and comedy is the most challenging genre. Making the audience laugh is incredibly difficult."

He continued, "Moreover, scripts are a significant issue. The well-known cross-talk and skit performances have high recognition, but everyone already anticipates the punchlines and humor. If we opt for less-known scripts, they may not be funny enough to leave an impact. In summary, it's tough!"

Everyone knew that language performances were an essential part of the welcome party since it contributed to the event's excitement. Just like how the Spring Festival Gala's reputation declined over the years due to subpar language performances.

Despite this awareness, solving the problem remained elusive for students.

Lu Zhixing silently noted this issue and considered using his points to exchange for a skit script to help address this weakness. Of course, he wasn't sure if he could obtain a suitable one, so he kept it to himself for the time being.

……

In the evening, as Lu Zhixing returned to his rented apartment, he collapsed onto the couch and began to assess his progress in his various role-playing identities.

The "Worker" role had a completion rate of 7%, indicating that he had spent some time working part-time jobs. On the other hand, his completion rates for the "Campus Superstar" and "Paralyzed Patient" roles were significantly higher, at 34% and 22%, respectively.

Throughout his role-playing endeavors, Lu Zhixing had accumulated a considerable number of points, with his current balance totaling 189 points.

Now, Lu Zhixing's primary goal was to participate in a lottery drawing. This was intended to improve the completion rate for his "Worker" role.

Despite occasionally helping out at the StarRoad Internet Cafe, he hadn't made much progress in this role. The completion rate was increasing very slowly, and it was now almost stagnant.

In contrast, the other two roles had seen more significant progress.

The "Paralyzed Patient" role's completion rate and points mainly came from moving around in a wheelchair. While some of the repetitive actions incurred deductions in completion rate and points, it had still maintained a decent level of progress.

The "Campus Superstar" role's completion rate had skyrocketed by over 30% thanks to the incident at the talent show and a single rehearsal. It had also brought in a substantial number of points, which surprised Lu Zhixing.

Clearly, the rules and criteria for completing each role were different.

Lu Zhixing's behavior during the talent show's recruitment battle aligned perfectly with the keywords associated with being a "humble, low-key, and vigilant Campus Superstar." This had resulted in rapid progress and significant impact.

However, the "Worker" role's slow progression was mainly due to the key limitation of "holding multiple jobs." Working part-time at the internet cafe, while not entirely fitting the "Worker" identity, didn't involve taking on multiple jobs or expanding into other business areas, hence the slow completion rate growth.

Lu Zhixing had considered finding more diversified work, such as laboring at a construction site or contacting the courier from Jingxi Express for a package sorting job. However, he quickly dismissed the idea, considering his current physique. Even with the talents of a "Worker," handling strenuous physical labor might be challenging. Besides, there was the risk of overexertion, which could cause complications.

Therefore, Lu Zhixing decided to start with the lottery and see where that led him.

Certainly, here's the past tense version of the translation:

The points he had at that time were sufficient for him to have redeemed one artistic work and three life skills. The former could have helped him compensate for his shortcomings at the welcome party, while the latter could have aided him in finding part-time work more effectively.

With a resolute decision, Lu Zhixing had gone ahead and initiated the draw.

First, in the "Random Artistic Work" category, he had specified the type as "skit." Then, after some consideration, he had input "talent show" in the keyword section.

A skit is the art of satire, and he couldn't have missed the opportunity to plan a university talent show.

After all, "Jealousy is like hatred." This was his persona, not pettiness.

【Exchange Successful!】

【Artistic Work: Skit - Undercover Trainee】

There were no fancy special effects, no animations of opening treasure chests or spinning slot machines. This game's various functions had emphasized simplicity, and the draw had been completed directly.

"Hmm, is there truly such a work?"

Lu Zhixing had been pleasantly surprised and had quickly run through the script in his mind.

That script had been quite interesting. Essentially, an undercover agent had infiltrated a talent show, continually exposing its behind-the-scenes secrets. During this process, he encountered various absurd aspects of talent shows, creating a highly comical program with a strong satirical flavor.

Those artistic works drawn in the "Life Simulation Game" wasn't been from that world, nor had they existed in Lu Zhixing's memories from his past life.

Although he could have vaguely seen the shadow of some works, they had seemed more like the result of blending many classic works and adapting them to meet Lu Zhixing's real-world needs.

"Alright, that's it!"

With one successful redemption, Lu Zhixing's mood had been quite good.

He decided to press on and use the remaining points to draw three more life skills.