On the other end of the phone, the man’s voice was low with a hint of danger: "Where are you?"
Just those three simple words made Su Xingyu’s heart tremble. "I..." she stamred.
On stage, the second contestant had already stepped up and was passionately introducing their photo. Lu Shifeng’s voice gave away no emotion: "Did you climb over the wall to sneak into the finals?"
Su Xingyu’s heart was in turmoil after being exposed, and she forced herself to reason with him: "Lu Shifeng, house arrest is house arrest. The fact that I managed to escape is my own ability. Don’t try any tricks at the finals. If I don’t win the championship for so inexplicable reason, I will never forgive you in this lifeti!"
"This lifeti?" His voice made her scalp tingle.
"Yes, this lifeti!" She stubbornly replied. At this point, she had to push through whether it was possible or not. "You’re the Crown Prince of Blade Group, the big boss. You must maintain the fairness of your competition!"
"Our competition?" This ti, the anger in Lu Shifeng’s voice was palpable even across the phone line.
Su Xingyu realized she misspoke. This petty man was most sensitive to her using "your Blade Group" when addressing him. She hesitated over whether to apologize to him. But the problem was, she had already spoken harshly; would it make her seem too weak to now backtrack and apologize? While she was caught in hesitation, Lu Shifeng’s voice ca again over the phone: "Wait for after the competition."
Before she could respond, the call ended.
"Hello? Hello!" Su Xingyu was furious, "I didn’t agree yet! I’m not going to wait for you!"
Wait for him? Stay here and get caught red-handed?
She sat in the darkness of the first row of the audience, distracted by his call, her mind a chaotic ss. She hadn’t paid attention to what photos the other contestants were showing. By the ti she ca back to her senses, it was Lin Luna and Su Xingqi’s turn on stage. A commotion arose from the audience: "Look, there’s Lin Luna and Su Xingqi! The two who were accused of staging photos before."
The buzzing at the scene was quite loud. Su Xingqi was wearing a beautiful gown, her makeup was exquisite, and she held a proud posture. Her lips painted with crimson lipstick curled into what seed like a mocking smile. Ha, so many people suspected her of staging? So what, they had no evidence! This final, the staged photo they brought would surely shock the entire audience!
She elegantly took her place on stage.
Next to her, Lin Luna also took her place, ignoring the commotion below the stage, and opened her own photo: "This ti the the was ’Golden Wing Angel’, and it’s of my good friend next to , Su Xingqi. Xingqi is an excellent model. Even in daily life, her every gesture is full of charm, providing with much creative inspiration..."
Lin Luna narrated gracefully.
Su Xingyu squinted to examine that photo closely, bold and brazen of them to stage the sa kind of photo again. This final-round photo looked like... another staged shot!
"Shaless." She muttered under her breath.
Mr. Leng, who was beside her, closed the notebook in his hands at so point and looked up at the stage.
"The light is wrong." He tersely remarked.
Sitting beside him, Su Xingyu heard this, turned her head to him: "What’s wrong with it?" She also felt sothing was off with the lighting, but it was just an intuition without any evidence to back it. She was curious about what astounding skills this "Mr. Leng" supposedly here to assist her had, that he could expose Su Xingqi and convince everyone?
She eagerly awaited an answer, but Mr. Leng just turned his cool, aloof face away and ignored her again.
Su Xingyu was rebuffed, turned back to the stage feeling disappointed. She felt even more strongly that Blade Group was comprised of weirdos.
On the stage, the photo of Su Xingqi taken by Lin Luna was indeed beautiful. This ti, it was in a garden where they had afternoon tea, under bright sunlight. Su Xingqi wore a fairy-like floral dress and smiled as she took the matcha cake delivered by a waiter. Her posture was light and elegant, a beam of sunlight fell behind her like delicate golden wings unfolding from an angel, leaving people in awe.
"This really is stunning..."
"Quite impressive to capture in the mont. With such lighting and composition, it probably lasted less than a second?"
"Is it really candid? They were suspected of staging before. This could also be staged, right?"
"There’s no evidence. You see the light is so natural, the composition, the angle ratios are all fine. It’s not impossible to believe it’s candid."
Lin Luna and Su Xingqi clearly heard the discussions from the audience. Lin Luna’s smile grew a bit stiff. Seeing this, Su Xingqi took a step forward gracefully, smiling as she raised the microphone: "No need to doubt us, Luna and I are honest, and this picture truly is candid. Bla it on Luna’s excellent photography skills making look so perfect, which leads to suspicions of staging."
Her innocent deanor quieted the crowd sowhat. Such is the advantage of a beauty—what she says sounds more convincing than most. She continued: "If you don’t believe it, we can disclose the cara model and shooting data. Look at our aperture, shutter speed, etc., and you’ll understand this photo is legitimate."
As she spoke, Lin Luna indeed disclosed the data, with the cara model, lens, aperture, shutter exposure, and so on listed on a big screen. Quickly, many in the audience started discussing: "It’s not impossible."
"The data looks fine."
"It really might be candid."
Su Xingqi listened to the crowd’s discussion, an accomplished smile on her face.
However, Su Xingyu shook her head below the stage, muttering to herself: "Not right... sothing’s definitely not right! This photo shouldn’t be like this."
She frowned, intently staring at the photo, trying to pinpoint the problem. The lighting was peculiar. If it was ambient light scattering, the colors should be duller. While minor adjustnts within the competition’s allowed post-processing range were possible, the color temperature, angles of the subject...
"Definitely not right!" She concluded.
Mr. Leng glanced over at her. Initially, when Lu Shifeng had him pulled from his confidential governnt project to help a nobody, he was displeased. But now, he found himself a bit interested in Su Xingyu: "Absolute color perception?" he asked.
Deep in thought and concentration, Su Xingyu was startled by his sudden question: "Huh?"
"I said, do you have absolute color perception?" Mr. Leng patiently repeated.
The so-called absolute color perception is a rare talent. For instance, the sa shade of Chinese red would appear more vivid in a completely white environnt and duller in a completely black one, making so people think they see two different reds. However, soone with absolute color perception won’t be affected by environntal colors or lighting changes, able to distinguish colors precisely and without deviation in any complex or mixed environnt.
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