NOVEL NEXT Chapter 275: Fitness Competition
As the finals began officially, the lights in the venue were brilliant, like daylight.
A huge stage sat at the center of the venue, surrounded by tier upon tier of audience seats, all filled to capacity. Spectators held glow sticks, engaging in lively conversations, eagerly awaiting the start of the competition, the air thick with excitement and tension.
Around the stage, professional sound equipment played stirring music, the beat pounding against the heart. On the large screen at the back of the stage, highlights of the contestants' brilliant moments from the preliminaries were rolling.
Backstage, Huang Jun was doing his final warm-ups amidst the many contestants, muscles both tense and relaxed.
From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Wang Xiao repeatedly checking his appearance in front of the mirror. Huang Jun frowned slightly, and Wang Xiao, sensing his glance, turned his head, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and then made a thumbs-down provocative gesture.
Huang Jun's face darkened; just as he was about to step forward, Zhou Shun quickly blocked him and whispered, "Focus, you're going on stage soon. Don't act rashly."
After cautioning Huang Jun, Zhou Shun signaled to a nearby companion to keep Huang Jun steady, then turned his gaze towards the audience area in the distance.
To find Li Jing's figure, Zhou Shun specifically stepped out of the waiting area and stood by the side of the stage to look at the bustling audience area before him.
He wanted to confirm if Li Jing had already found his seat and was also curious if what Li Jing said about having a friend arrange a seat for him was true.
It's not that he doubted Li Jing, but the hype around the competition had made it exceptionally popular, and the seats had long been sold out.
Even as an industry veteran, Zhou Shun only managed to secure a middle-row seat for him. Not just for Li Jing, he also helped a few people from his gym who usually trained Huang Jun to get middle-row seats.
At this moment, his gaze first turned to the middle-row seats he had reserved, and sure enough, he saw some familiar faces excitedly chatting and taking pictures.
For them, attending an international professional competition for the first time was undoubtedly a rare experience. Without Zhou Shun's help, they wouldn't even have gotten seats in the back row.
But as Zhou Shun's gaze moved, there was an empty seat among them, unoccupied, which should have been the seat he originally reserved for Li Jing.
"Brother Li really didn't sit in the seat I reserved for him. Could it be true that he has another friend who secured a front-row seat?"
Zhou Shun was secretly surprised.
Having secured tickets himself, he naturally knew how difficult it was to buy tickets for this event.
Not to mention the front row, even the middle-row tickets had been speculated to over a thousand yuan, and without special connections and internal relationships, it was simply impossible to get a front-row seat.
"Could it be that Brother Li knows a big shot in the fitness circle?"
While Zhou Shun was secretly pondering, his gaze was already scanning the front-row audience seats one by one.
However, after looking around, he didn't find that familiar young face, but instead spotted some well-known veteran fitness experts in the circle, as well as a few influencers with considerable popularity in the circle.
Indeed, these people had snatched up the front-row seats.
Zhou Shun frowned, a bit unsure, and moved his gaze further forward: "Could Brother Li be sitting in the VIP seats?"
With this thought, he turned his head to look at the VIP section, which only had a dozen seats.
The spectators in the VIP seats appeared much calmer compared to others, clearly accustomed to attending similar events.
Among them, Zhou Shun also noticed two figures in suits who seemed to be CEOs of a fitness equipment company.
"Indeed not..."
After quickly scanning the VIP seats, Zhou Shun confirmed that Li Jing was not among them.
Feeling a sense of disappointment, he also displayed an expression of expected inevitability on his face.
Although Brother Li had decent economic strength, after all, he wasn't part of this circle and couldn't possibly be sitting in the VIP seats.
"Brother Shun, Brother Jun is ready to go on over there."
At this time, the male companion came out, looking towards Zhou Shun in wonder, "Brother Shun, what are you looking at?"
"Looking for Brother Li."
Zhou Shun frowned slightly, "I looked all around but didn't see him. He's not answering his phone either, maybe because it's too loud here. I don't know if he found his seat. If worst comes to worst, go look for him later to make sure nothing unexpected has happened."
"Probably not, even though there are a lot of people here, Brother Jing is so capable, he should be able to find his seat, right?"
The young man glanced at the packed audience seats and said, "Brother Shun, are you sure you've checked all the seats?"
"Yes, except the back row. Brother Li wouldn't leave a middle-row seat to sit in the back row." Zhou Shun said, gazing towards the few deep-red seats at the very front.
There were only five deep-red seats there, with a different style and material from the other seats, seemingly highlighting the unusualness of these five seats.
"Could he be sitting there?"
Zhou Shun's face showed a bit of surprise as he gazed at the figure whose back was facing him, feeling a sense of familiarity, but it was difficult to see clearly due to others obscuring the view.
"Huh, what's the deal with those seats?" Following his gaze, the young man also noticed the five red seats, "How come they're different from other seats and even more upfront than the VIP seats?"
"Those seats are special, not for sale to the public."
Zhou Shun explained seriously, "Those who can sit there are the big shots who decide the course of this event."
"Could Brother Jing be sitting there?" The young man widened his eyes.
"Logically, it's impossible, but that back..."
Zhou Shun's gaze moved through the back of people's heads, staring closely at the figure in the very front, uncertainly saying, "I can't see from this angle; I'll go forward a bit to check."