Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 458 - 409 Audition

Chapter 458: Chapter 409 Audition

The next day, Xu Yang checked Wei Shiyue’s resume and then summoned her, along with Du Qianqian, the three of them started planning Wei Shiyue’s comeback.

"I’ve been an idol trainee for over two and a half years, and I can write my own lyrics and compose music." Wei Shiyue wanted to look back on her glorious past, but found that there was no information about her anywhere, no records of her existence, and her own social media accounts had also disappeared. Even the trolls she once despised were gone.

"It must be the work of Alliance Special Agents," Xu Yang searched for clues, "or Modern Entertainment Company must have authorized a clearance. The idol industry updates so quickly, the new generation of netizens knows nothing about you. It seems you have to start all over again."

"If it is the special agents," Du Qianqian thought of an unsettling fact, "they will continue to threaten Wei Shiyue, and they might even use force."

After all, Wei Shiyue was a dragon, belonging to the superhuman sequence. This news didn’t spread widely, but it was enough to attract the attention of the secret front of the Corporate Alliance.

They had previously recruited special agents from around the world, which also expanded their available manpower.

"I’m not afraid of special agents." Wei Shiyue was determined, "Don’t consider their threats."

"Even if they can’t harm you directly," Xu Yang reminded, "it’s entirely possible for them to interfere through covert actions. Fortunately, Nestor Corporation is fully responsible for the protection of Anjiu City. At least operating here is completely secure."

"Change the name?" Du Qianqian pondered, liking the idea of a complete makeover.

"Hiding your ears while stealing a bell," Xu Yang shook his head. "Such a unique voice and appearance, if you change, you’d have to change everything, and that’d be too much of a pity."

"Just binding with corporate world interests will do." Wei Shiyue nodded, "No one wants to fight with money. If I sign endorsements and commercials with many companies, the agents would be stopped by those company people first if they wanted to interfere with me."

"That’s the way." Du Qianqian’s eyes lit up, "It’s time to make a name."

"You can start engaging with enterprises in the Northern Archipelago Continent now," Xu Yang arranged, "Wei Shiyue, register your social media accounts first and release a teaser about your comeback."

"The first commercial deal since the comeback has to be significant," Wei Shiyue was all business, warning Du Qianqian carefully, "The beginning is the hardest part. If the debut doesn’t go smoothly, it will be extremely difficult to take off later. Similarly, if the first performance is great and the first album is a hit, everything afterward will go smoothly, and the fan base will grow like a snowball."

"Yes!" Du Qianqian nodded vigorously, determined to find the perfect contract for Wei Shiyue no matter what.

The profit had to be substantial, the partners had to be big-name brands, and the entire project had to have enough appeal to attract public attention and traffic.

Wei Shiyue registered accounts on the short video app Myriad Dreams Entertainment, local platform Angle House Video, and the world’s largest anime community, Kyoto Infinity Danmaku Network, quietly laying out her plans before returning to her room to record videos.

She figured that just by dancing a bit for the otakus and riding on some trends, she could easily rake in the "rice." Why wouldn’t anyone like to see the thighs of the Moonlight Princess just by opening an app?

Meanwhile, Du Qianqian frantically searched for commercial offers, seeking potential partners, but felt that none of them seemed right.

Either they were high-threshold, well-known brands, which were difficult to schedule. No matter how they were contacted, they would repeatedly deliberate and go through the cumbersome processes of big companies.

Or they were mid- to low-end companies that would damage Wei Shiyue’s reputation. Once a contract was signed, she would be burdened with an indelible black mark for life. Now, it seemed another option might be to organize a comeback concert or simply become a spokesperson for Nestor Corporation, but the effect would be average and not enough to create the impact Wei Shiyue sought.

Seeing Du Qianqian’s distressed expression, Xu Yang had to give her some guidance: "We’re in the Northern Archipelago; to gain traction, we must go via the anime route."

"I don’t understand anime." Du Qianqian had lived a harsh life from a young age; she had no time to care about anime.

"But there are capable people in our team." Xu Yang said.

With Xu Yang’s introduction, Du Qianqian called Nidelaide’s contact information.

"Hey, Nit." Du Qianqian hunched in her chair, "do you know of any trending topics in anime recently?"

"First of all, my name is Nidelaide."

Nidelaide was planning a prosthetic factory in Silla, producing inexpensive alternatives, and was working on high-level designs. Once they started production, countless poor people with disabilities could afford prosthetics and regain their full abilities.

After chatting with Du Qianqian for a while, Nidelaide easily pointed her in the right direction.

"It’s the anime adaptation of ’Siphon!’" Nidelaide said, "Drawn by Kirino Reisei herself. It’s now heading towards animation adaptation. It hasn’t hit the trending searches because it’s in the planning and review stages, and the financiers aren’t very supportive."

"If the financiers aren’t supportive, doesn’t that mean there’s a huge problem?" Du Qianqian didn’t understand.

"Yes, but we’re here to solve problems," replied Nidelaide, well aware of the situation. "Everyone knows Wei Shiyue’s performance skills are strong. If she sings the theme song, the effect will definitely be explosive. Even if it doesn’t win over the financiers, it can serve as a lead-in, attracting global crowdfunding. It’s a win-win. Once it airs, Wei Shiyue can also make a strong comeback riding the fame of the anime!"

"Is that story really so good?" Du Qianqian still remembered the frightening time when Nanase Kizuna pinned her to the ground, it was too scary.

"I’ve been watching anime for ten years," Nidelaide asserted confidently, "this manga definitely deserves to be a big hit, and it will surely explode globally. The quality is too high. Kirino Reisei’s accumulated experience in drawing for decades, even centuries. If it wasn’t for suspicions of being both a judge and a competitor, she would have been winning awards left and right... In fact, even the worst anime series, as long as money is poured into it, with decent voice actors and graphics, there will always be trend-following kids hyping it up. But ’Siphon!’ is different. Even the anime experts are praising it. It’s going to be the dominant anime of spring 150 years from now."

As Nidelaide painted this picture, Du Qianqian was enthralled, already envisioning Wei Shiyue becoming wildly famous. She quickly flipped over, moved to the sofa area, and started contacting Kyoto Infinity.

"Don’t rush." Xu Yang still had a secret communication channel with Nanase Kizuna. If Du Qianqian talked to those company people at Kyoto Infinity, it would inevitably be a long-winded process. Directly chatting with Nanase Kizuna was much faster.

Xu Yang helped Du Qianqian to connect with Nanase Kizuna and then asked her to send a message while he himself chatted with Nidelaide about recent developments, all old companions from the Anonymous era, which naturally made their relationship deep.

Meanwhile, Nanase Kizuna was busy preparing for the animation of "Siphon!."

It was a troublesome matter because Kyoto Infinity had experienced a series of malicious incidents in her hands last year, leading to the withdrawal of external capital and attempts by internal investors and the board to wrest control from her hands.

She could no longer appoint a new president, and the decision had to be made by the board of directors.

The main controller of the company’s capital structure now was the New Xisheng Group, dominated by Xisheng’s children and amalgamating all Xisheng Enterprises that remained in the Northern Archipelago, to oppose Honma Noriko hidden in the Near East Region.

For the new president, the New Xisheng Group had chosen Tenjouin Shino, who was both a Witch and a member of the nobility. Born into a prestigious family with an elegant demeanor, she had long served as the overall supervisor of the animation department, with complete mastery over Kyoto Infinity’s lifeblood anime business, making her a better president.

Once they officially supported Tenjouin Shino’s ascent to a high-ranking position, they would expand greedily like an octopus, swallowing up and taking over every department of Kyoto Infinity from Nanase Kizuna, becoming the master of Shangjing.

And Nanase Kizuna’s much-coveted animation of "Siphon!" also faced corresponding resistance.

Everyone knew it would become a dominant series, and everyone also dreaded Nanase Kizuna using it to make a comeback, so they obstructed the production process both openly and covertly.

Even the team’s main creators received assassination threats, forcing them to resign and ultimately disappearing in some place in Shangjing, which pained Nanase Kizuna greatly.

In the midst of this desperate situation, Nanase Kizuna contacted Du Qianqian through the mysterious person from the New World Mechanism.

"The singer for the anime song..." Upon seeing the contract sent by Du Qianqian, Nanase Kizuna was very sincere and earnest in requesting an opportunity, promising that she would change her mind once she heard the audition disc.

Could she really trust this? But at this point, she couldn’t be choosy.

The songwriting and arrangement for the anime’s theme song were already completed. Sharing the same name as the series, it was composed by the artificial intelligence Hundred-eyes Demon in collaboration with several veteran anime music producers, perfectly suiting her manga and bound to be popular, yet she hadn’t found a suitable artist—she might have to resort to a virtual singer in the end.

"Siphon!" was the culmination of Nanase Kizuna’s millennia-old Monster life, the essence of her essence.

In countless nights, she swore to herself that she must adapt it into an anime, as the greatest farewell gift for Kirino Reisei and also the greatest treasure they would leave to this world.

She was determined to let everyone in the world see this anime! Nanase Kizuna would not let slip any opportunity.

For confidentiality reasons, she sent only the first part of the entire song for the audition.

Even though the other party’s qualifications were doubtful and completely cross-disciplinary, Nanase Kizuna still held on to a glimmer of hope. Miracles were rare in the world, but the other party might have prepared an exceptionally good singer.

Soon, including the time for adjusting equipment and practice, half a day passed, and the audition clip was sent back.

Was it a beautiful voice? Was it a voice that could move the entire company?

Gazing at the intelligent screen, Nanase Kizuna put on her headphones and began to listen.

As the melody began, she waited patiently until the moment the human voice joined in.

—Nanase Kizuna’s body trembled slightly, holding her breath.

It was more beautiful than any human voice or synthesized sound.

The enchanting and pleasant voice of Wei Shiyue arose, almost piercing the depths of Nanase Kizuna’s soul, as she gripped the edge of the table.

Mesmerising.

After the 25 seconds of the audition clip ended, Nanase Kizuna only regretted why she hadn’t sent the whole song but there was still time, as she saw the other party’s agent asking about the audition experience, suggesting a high probability of reaching cooperation.

Nanase Kizuna initially thought that the animation of her manga would be stillborn, but now she saw hope.

That was enough, completely enough. Although it was a very short part of singing, the value and potential it revealed were limitless.

That voice...

She quickly called a high-level meeting of the animation production department, especially inviting Tenjouin Shino. Nanase Kizuna wanted everyone to listen to this audition, a divine voice that could definitely make people reconsider!

If it were in the ancient times Nanase Kizuna was familiar with, one might say it was a Monster’s enchanting sound technique. Many other board members, hearing the news, also planned to join, wanting to know what exactly had happened.

Nanase Kizuna walked barefoot across the floors towards the meeting room, her heart filled with a firm will.

The animation of "Siphon!" would revive the entirety of Kyoto Infinity.