Chapter Thirty-Five: Best Photos

Sheng Jiaoyang's group lost, meaning one member will be eliminated.

Sheng Jiaoyang, with her immunity, is unlikely to be eliminated, while Qi Hua, with her powerful backer, is naturally not afraid of elimination. This puts the other three in danger.

Zhang Xue, the only one who didn't make any mistakes during the competition, blamed Luo Caimin and Huang Linying. If Luo Caimin hadn't been so picky from the start, their group wouldn't have fallen so far behind; if Huang Linying had put in more effort and stayed on track, their group wouldn't have ended up in last place. Luo Caimin and Huang Linying,

of course, didn't want to take responsibility and shifted blame to each other. They also had grievances against Qi Hua for not giving her all, but they didn't want to openly offend her.

As for Sheng Jiaoyang, they couldn't really blame her. She had arranged the competition based on their individual strengths, and she hadn't let them down during the competition, even cheering them on. They had seen all of this, so why would they want to blame her?

The competition results wouldn't be released until the next morning, at which time two more contestants would leave Supermodel House.

Back at the villa, several contestants who were uncertain about their chances were quite dejected, while the others, free from worries, spent the night having fun.

The next day,

just after the contestants had breakfast, Zhuo Yiyan arrived at the villa,

carrying a stack of photos.

"Good morning, girls!" Zhuo Yiyan greeted them with a smile.

"Good morning, Teacher Zhuo!" the contestants responded.

Zhuo Yiyan stood in front of everyone and said, "First of all, congratulations to Luo Yi's group for advancing to the next round."

Scattered applause rang out.

"Alright, the five of you, come and get your photos."

After distributing the photos to Luo Yi's group, Zhuo Yiyan then distributed the photos to Xiao Yang's group, his expression turning serious. "Now, let's announce the list of eliminated groups."

The others all looked at Sheng Jiaoyang and her group of five.

Sheng Jiaoyang's expression remained unchanged, and Qi Hua showed no nervousness at all, while the other three seemed quite uneasy in comparison.

"Xu Jiaojiao," Zhuo Yiyan announced.

"Huh?" "Are you kidding me?" "Didn't Jiaojiao have an exemption?"

Zhuo Yiyan ignored everyone's surprise and continued, "Come and get your photos."

It turned out that those eliminated didn't have photos! Everyone suddenly realized.

Sheng Jiaoyang stepped forward, took her photo, and stepped aside. She looked down at her portrait; photography truly was an art. She looked perfect in the photo, like an elf. Her hairstyle, features, expression, and demeanor were perfectly combined, creating a stunning portrait.

"Qi Hua."

"Huang Linying."

"Luo Caimin."

Soon, Zhuo Yiyan finished reading the names of the contestants with photos.

Zhang Xue's face turned pale instantly. She looked incredulous. She had clearly performed the best in the group stage, yet she was eliminated.

"Teacher Zhuo, I want to know how this result was determined? My overall score wasn't the lowest, so why was I eliminated?" Zhang Xue questioned.

Zhuo Yiyan calmly explained, "The elimination list for the losing group wasn't determined by overall strength, but by the quality of your photos. This result was unanimously decided by all five judges."

Zhang Xue was speechless, only able to silently shed tears.

Sheng Jiaoyang sighed softly and went over to hug Zhang Xue.

"Thank you!" Zhang Xue choked out.

"Keep putting on a show!" Qi Hua saw this scene, curled her lip, and muttered disdainfully.

The person standing next to Qi Hua heard her voice, glanced at her but said nothing, simply moving silently to the side.

"Next, we will announce the overall ranking list. This ranking also combines your photo scores and group stage scores."

Zhuo Yiyan then slowly read out the overall ranking list.

First place: Luo Yi;

Second place: Xu Jiaojiao;

Third place: Pu Mingyu;

Fourth place: Zou Anqi; Fifth place: Xiao Yang

...

Fifteenth

place: Luo Caimin.

According to the competition rules, the other elimination candidate was the person with the weakest overall strength outside of the winning group.

Zhuo Yiyan didn't need to announce the elimination candidate; everyone already knew directly from the ranking list who the second person to be eliminated was.

"You can go pack your bags now," Zhuo Yiyan said to the two eliminated contestants.

The atmosphere was inevitably tense with the sudden departure of two people.

Zhuo Yiyan certainly didn't want the tension to linger; after all, this wasn't a mystery or crime-solving show. He clapped his hands and said, "According to the competition rules, the contestant with the highest overall ranking and the contestant with the best photo will be exempt from the next round of competition."

"So, who will win the best photo this time? Let's all guess."

The contestants looked at each other, actually, everyone's photos were quite good, and everyone hoped they could also win the best photo award.

"It must be Jiaojiao!" Wang Wei, a newly minted fangirl, immediately thought of her idol.

Everyone looked at Wang Wei in surprise, wondering where her confidence in others came from.

Even Luo Yi, who was close to Sheng Jiaoyang, and Pu Mingyu didn't think she would get the best photo again; she only won last time because of her soaring popularity.

Sheng Jiaoyang also glanced at Wang Wei, a slight smile playing on her lips. The beautiful girl used to trust her wholeheartedly, believing she could solve any problem. Back then, she had wondered where the girl's confidence came from.

"Can I guess myself?" Luo Yi, who held the top spot on the strength ranking, tilted her head and smiled.

"Luo Yi, you have the best chance. You're currently ranked first overall, which means you excel in everything," Pu Mingyu said.

"Luo Yi, your group has three of the top five!"

"Yeah, Luo Yi's group is the strongest. I'm really worried about the next round."

"I think the grouping was unfair from the beginning. She can pick and choose, so she can naturally pull the strong ones over."

"Never mind, my goal is the top nine. As long as I can get into the top nine, that's fine."

Some contestants had indignant expressions on their faces, along with the tension and pressure of facing strong opponents.

It can be said that Luo Yi, who is popular and strong, is a recognized favorite to win the championship.

"Huh, Xu Jiaojiao's group lost the group stage, so their score is relatively low. The other people in their group are ranked very low, so how come she's still second?" Suddenly someone noticed this.

The scene fell silent.

The confidence on Luo Yi's face slowly faded. She looked at Zhuo Yiyan, who hadn't spoken since she asked them to guess the result. For some reason, she just felt something was wrong!

Silence represents a tacit agreement. As soon as the question was raised, everyone had their own guesses.

Zhuo Yiyan smiled slightly and said, "It seems you all guessed it. That's right, Xu Jiaojiao won the Best Photo award again. Congratulations!"

"I knew it!" Wang Wei was extremely excited, as if she had won the lottery.

Qi Hua rolled her eyes at Wang Wei. What's wrong with her? It's not like she won it herself, why is she so happy?

Some contestants began to despair, feeling that the competition had only just begun and the exemption rights were already being monopolized by these two. What were they supposed to compete for then?!

"Alright, bring your swimsuits. Today's photo theme is sunbathing. We'll draw lots to decide the group's shooting scene later," Zhuo Yiyan clapped his hands and announced.

"Wow~~~, are we going to take photos in bikinis?"

"Today's photos are a bit daring~~~"

The contestants were excited.

Of course, some contestants were thinking further ahead. Looking at the figures of the two exemption users, and then looking down at their own, they suddenly had the confidence to turn the tables.

Sheng Jiaoyang received all sorts of scrutinizing gazes. She was expressionless, and didn't know what words to use to describe her current feelings.