Chapter 160 The Late Work
Cecilia's gaze had been locked on that massive electronic screen the entire time.
The screen was cycling through all fifty contestants' final design drafts to fill the gap between competition segments.
Including those works that had already been announced as eliminated.
Her name wasn't on the advancement list.
But her "Shattered Light" wasn't in the scrolling collection of eliminated works either.
From thirty-first place to fiftieth place, design drafts flashed by one after another.
Only number 108 was missing.
She and her work seemed to have been completely erased from this competition.
This wasn't normal.
Even a system error would leave code traces.
But now, the backend showed only a wiped blank space.
Cecilia withdrew her gaze, no longer paying attention to the smugly triumphant Isadora beside her, and turned to walk toward the director's area at the side of the stage.
"Stop right there!"
Seeing that she showed no sign of defeat but rather looked ready to cause trouble, Isadora's anger flared even more. She chased after her in a few steps and blocked her path.
"What do you think you're doing? Going to make a scene because you can't handle losing? Amelia, your behavior is embarrassing!"
Cecilia finally stopped and turned her head to the side.
She looked at Isadora with calm, contemptuous eyes, completely ignoring the other woman's hysteria.
"Get lost."
It was still a brief statement, without any emotional fluctuation.
Yet her inherent indifference and intimidating presence made Isadora's breath catch, all her following words stuck in her throat.
During this brief standoff, the show's director had already noticed the commotion.
He was already overwhelmed dealing with the out-of-control public opinion and the endless "rigged" hashtags flooding the internet.
Seeing Cecilia approach, he instinctively frowned, his tone carrying some impatience.
"Ms. Martinez, I know you have objections to this result, but a competition is a competition, please..."
"Where is my work?"
Cecilia interrupted him directly, her cool voice cutting through the noise and reaching the director's ears precisely.
The director was stunned. "What work?"
Cecilia raised her hand and pointed at the big screen.
"It's not on the advancement list, not on the elimination list either. So where is my design?"
At these words, not just the director, but all the staff and contestants who had been listening nearby were stunned.
Right!
Everyone had been so shocked that Amelia, who got a million audience votes, was eliminated that no one noticed her work hadn't appeared in any ranking at all!
The director's expression changed.
He immediately grabbed the tablet beside him and quickly searched through the backend system.
No matter how many times he refreshed, contestant number 108 Amelia's status bar showed blank in the professional judges' section.
No submission record, no score, nothing at all.
"What, what's going on?"
Cold sweat instantly broke out on the director's forehead.
This was ten thousand times more serious than the "rigged" speculation about judges giving low scores leading to elimination!
This was a broadcast accident!
Isadora also sensed something was wrong. The triumphant smile on her face gradually froze, and a strong sense of foreboding rose in her heart.
Just as the atmosphere on site reached its most tense point, a young assistant in work clothes suddenly stumbled out from backstage.
He held a document folder high in his hands, his face completely drained of color, his voice shaking uncontrollably.
"Director! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
He ran to the director, and because he was running too fast, he nearly fell with a stumble.
The document folder in his hands flew out.
The folder opened in mid-air, and an exquisitely beautiful design draft floated down, spinning, and landed in the center of the stage.
It stopped right under a spotlight.
In that instant, everyone's breathing stopped.
What a breathtaking work it was.
The main piece was an extremely deep obsidian, shattered by violent force, covered with jagged, ugly cracks.
But deep within those vicious fissures, countless points of brilliant light burst forth.
Tiny diamonds were brutally and resolutely embedded and compressed into every crevice.
They weren't healing the wounds.
They were tearing through the darkness.
Clearly a product of destruction, yet transformed into the sharpest, most dazzling resistance!
"Shattered Light."
With just one glance, everyone understood the meaning of this title.
"I'm sorry, director!" The young assistant said through tears, "It was me, when I was organizing the contestants' works to send to the judges' room, I accidentally left this one under the desk! I just found it now! I'm really sorry!"
The truth was out.
It wasn't rigged, there was no rule violation, but rather an absurdly laughable fatal mistake.
The venue fell silent for a full ten seconds.
Then, an overwhelming uproar completely erupted throughout the entire hall.
"Oh my God! So she wasn't eliminated at all! The draft never even made it to the judges!"
"I knew it! How could the winner of a million votes be eliminated! This work! It's amazing!"
"This is going to be good! Isadora's behavior just now must be so embarrassing for her now!"
Isadora stood frozen in place, her whole body ice cold.
She stared fixedly at the design draft under the spotlight, her mind completely blank.
The director's expression turned stern as he quickly made a decision.
He picked up the walkie-talkie and ordered in an absolutely commanding tone: "All cameras, focus on the judges' panel! Sound, lighting, prepare! We're doing live public scoring right now!"
This was the only way to remedy the situation!
Staff immediately collected the design draft, and a high-definition scanned image was instantly projected onto the independent display screen in front of the judges' panel.
The expressions of the five international design masters went from initial shock, quickly to solemnity, then to undisguised amazement and admiration.
"My God..." Henry, the judge from Seraphim, was the first to murmur in disbelief, "This is the wail of diamonds and the rebirth of obsidian, so, so incredible."
Sitting in the main seat was Philip Mitchell, a heavyweight figure in the design world, known for his strictness.
He adjusted his reading glasses, leaned close to the screen, and looked carefully for a full minute.
Then, Philip slowly raised his head, looked at the director, and uttered one sentence.
"Perfect score."
The atmosphere on site erupted again!
You have to know, in Philip's forty-year career, he had never given any work a perfect score in any public competition!
"I agree too, perfect score."
"I can't imagine this is a work that a designer of this age could conceive. It's full of philosophy and power. Perfect score."
"I can't find any reason to deduct even one point. Perfect score."
"Perfect score."
All five judges, without a moment's hesitation, consecutively revealed their scores.
Five perfect scores!
An unprecedented record!
Backend staff rapidly recalculated the total scores.
First in audience voting, first in professional judging with perfect scores.
Undoubtedly, overwhelmingly, first place!
Isadora looked at the glaring perfect scores on the screen, her body swaying, barely able to stand.
Her pride, her credentials, her sense of superiority brought from the international haute couture circle—all shattered to pieces in this moment.
No.
She couldn't lose like this!
Just as the host was about to announce the final result, Isadora suddenly let out a scream, completely losing control.
"I object!"
She rushed to center stage, snatched the microphone from the host, and screamed at the director and judges' panel with bloodshot eyes.
"This isn't fair!"
"The competition results have already been announced! The list of thirty advancing contestants is already out! Why should she alone be allowed to break all the rules?"
"Just because of one assistant's mistake, should the results that have already been produced be voided? Is that fair to the other contestants?"
Isadora spun around abruptly, using the microphone to address the dozens of other contestants below the stage.
"If Amelia's score is recognized and she takes first place, then all our rankings will shift back one position! That means the person who was originally in thirtieth place and already advanced will be pushed out by her and eliminated! Is that fair?"
"Why should an innocent person have to pay for your production team's mistake?"