The Trending Topic Herself: The Villainess is the Superstar!-Chapter 160: Scoring (Part 2)

The music begins, and the panel of judges waves to the audience’s cheers as they approach the stage.

Maya raises her eyes to take a look; the judges are all fairly young and don’t seem like industry insiders, so they should be amateurs from society.

Brian greeted each of them with a hug: "Welcome! ’Joy Without Limits’ welcomes you!"

The lead judge was a bald young man with glasses, giving off a scholarly rather than a tough vibe. He raised the microphone: "I’ve always loved watching ’Joy Without Limits.’ I never thought I would have a chance to be on stage. It’s truly a dream come true!"

Brian laughed heartily, then pointed to a row of seats beside him.

"Alright, please take your seats on the judges’ panel!"

The judges promptly took their seats.

Brian glanced at the script, then looked up and said, "I have a few photos of the contestants here. Please give them your objective scores. The maximum score is — 100."

The judges nodded in understanding.

The photos were shown in random order, and as they progressed, judges might feel aesthetic fatigue, so earlier positions were better.

The judges soon received the first photo, and the enlarged version was displayed on the big screen.

The first photo was of Kiki Monroe.

Kiki quietly let out a sigh of relief upon seeing this. Her shot wasn’t bad, and she got a pretty good position, which means her chances of winning the championship aren’t small.

Alisa noticed the photo on the big screen. Her gaze froze for a moment, but she quickly turned away with a faint smile.

On the big screen, Kiki had one hand over her chin, her sparkling eyes adding a touch of shyness, and her smile looked very comfortable.

Bella praised, "Kiki’s shot is quite good, it looks very gentle."

Brian nodded and looked at the judges beside him, "What do the judges think?"

First to speak was the bald judge, seemingly somewhat enchanted: "It feels like a lotus after the rain, delicate and refined, with a touch of softness."

Brian laughed, "Sounds like a fair and literary response; it seems you rate Kiki very highly!"

Isaac instantly nodded, "Yes, I feel it appeals to my aesthetic."

Then a straightforward young woman with a ponytail added, "I also think the photo is quite good, it definitely has that goddess vibe."

Several more judges shared their views later, all without exception were positive comments.

Brian nodded and said, "You have a calculator at your seats; please write down your scores next."

The judges lowered their heads and went to work on the machines.

Julian ran over to Maya’s side with seemingly endless topics, "Maya, it seems Kiki’s score will be very high; all the judges are praising her."

"It shouldn’t be low."

Kiki is the protagonist; how could her score be low?

When Julian saw Maya engaged in his topic, he instantly became incredibly excited, "Maya, do you also think that photo is quite nice?"

Maya’s tone showed a hint of fatigue, "It’s alright."

Julian was stunned for a moment, unable to understand why Maya confirmed Kiki would get a high score but didn’t find the photo beautiful.

In Julian’s view, these two statements were almost contradictory.

But since his idol said it was just okay, he immediately changed his tone, "Well... actually, if you look closely, Kiki’s smile seems pretty fake, doesn’t feel very real. You’re quite right, Maya!"

Maya slightly tilted her head and met his shining eyes, "The camera’s rolling, and you say it out loud?" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Julian laughed indifferently, "They can edit it out later, besides, you also said something, right?"

"It’s not the same."

"What’s different?"

Maya suddenly withdrew her gaze.

"Just watch."

Brian saw all the judges were done scoring, then he said, "The photo’s score is the average, cutting off the highest and lowest numbers. Scores won’t be announced for now; they’ll be disclosed after summing up all contestants’ scores."

Kiki felt slightly disappointed upon hearing this; she had intended to seize this opportunity to shine, but later... it wasn’t too bad, especially being able to stomp on some people she didn’t like.

With this thought, Kiki’s gaze unintentionally fell on Maya.

Evaluation of several more contestants’ photos followed, with the judges offering praise, making it seem highly courteous and perfunctory after hearing it many times.

To avoid offending the contestants, every judge’s comments were positive, making it difficult for them to guess the approximate scores.

A photo was displayed on the screen again, revealing James’s somewhat panicked face, his eyebrows furrowed together, the image’s quality slightly blurred, contrasting sharply with the previous styles.

Seeing the photo, James almost wanted to find a place to hide, covering his forehead, telling Ian beside him, "You don’t know how anxious I was at the time. I have poor balance and am afraid of heights; when I crossed the balance beam, there were only about five seconds left, and I hurriedly took the shot without time to focus on angle and action!"

Ian nodded in understanding, "I saw; you really struggled. It’s okay; it’s done now, and you don’t look bad, so your score won’t be too bad."

James didn’t know if he listened, just nodded.

The ponytail girl said, "James’s appearance inherently lends to a sunny vibe and this natural unedited photo, giving me a very nice feeling. I think I like it."

Several more judges evaluated, all choosing nice words for James.

If they pointed out shortcomings, it would be one thing, but these judges wished to praise him to the skies, leaving James feeling a bit awkward.

Maya rubbed her eyes, coldly uttering two words: "Boring."

Julian pondered for a while beside her, "I think... maybe they’re afraid to offend people; these judges are amateurs, so critiquing artists with large fan bases is indeed challenging."

"It’s nothing worth watching." Maya covered her mouth, stifling a yawn, "I’m somewhat sleepy."

Maya found a seat again, although it seemed more like a stool located remotely. Few cameras were set up here, wouldn’t attract guests nor would they sit here.

Without hesitation, Maya sat down. A few guests’ gaze seemed to follow, but Maya ignored them, closing her eyes to start pretending to nap.