Huo Sining tossed the rose in his hand to the audience below, and with a few quick turns, he pulled a large bunch of vibrant, dewy roses out of his hat—as if they had just been picked fresh in the morning.
An abrupt burst of applause rose, and Huo Sining winked playfully at Du Yan Lin in the corner, flashing a sly smile.
Du Yanlin’s face darkened, but her eyes remained firmly fixed on Huo Sining.
"You may have brought the roses back, but the pigeons have flown away. I’d like to see what you’ll do about that."
It seemed that Huo Sining had guessed what Du Yanlin was thinking. He tossed the large bunch of roses he held into the audience as well, and the surrounding women screamed and scrambled to catch them, leaving none behind.
Immediately after, Huo Sining picked up the whistle hanging around his neck and blew into it.
Soon, a white pigeon flew out of Huo Sining’s black hat.
The pigeon was odd; after flying out of the hat, it landed on Huo Sining’s arm. She raised her hand to shoo away the pigeon, but it circled in the air and landed on her shoulder instead.
Huo Sining, undeterred, shooed it again, yet the stubborn bird refused to fly away.
A wave of laughter erupted from the audience, and Huo Sining’s face immediately showed embarrassment. Seemingly left with no choice, she tried to stuff the pigeon back into the hat to reverse the trick, but then, unexpectedly, five or six pigeons suddenly burst out of the hat.
A flock of pigeons flew wildly on the stage, leaving the audience stunned.
The hat, less than twenty centimeters in diameter, could in no way hold five or six pigeons. Huo Sining’s magic was flawless, and applause once again filled the air from below the stage.
But it wasn’t over yet. Huo Sining, who probably hadn’t anticipated all those pigeons coming out, pointed at the birds on stage as if to scold them and chased them around in a fit of rage.
The pigeons seemed to be teasing her on purpose, swirling around the top of Huo Sining’s head, refusing to fly away.
Huo Sining shrugged at the audience, seemingly very helpless. She picked up the whistle and blew into it again, while her hands held the jazz hat.
As her whistling sounded, the pigeons, one by one, flew back into the hat—first one, then two, until all of them were inside.
Huo Sining turned the hat upside down, and it was completely empty; not a single one of the pigeons that had turned the stage into a mess remained.
Thunderous applause rang out, and cheers could be heard from all corners.
On the stage, Huo Sining moved with elegant grace, her playful gestures perfectly capturing the female magician’s performance, her lavish moves and dashing magic capturing the attention of all spectators.
Huo Sining clapped her hands, and just at that moment, a girl from the audience pushed a cage forward. Inside the cage, a brown and yellow Tibetan Mastiff saw Huo Sining and immediately wagged its tongue, drooling happily.
Recognizing the person who came forward, Huo Sining froze for a moment.
The one bringing up Heitan wasn’t the prop master Zeng Liming, but Su Qingqing.
Sensing the change in Huo Sining’s expression, Su Qingqing playfully stuck out her tongue and made a face at Huo Sining.
Huo Sining was speechless for a moment, but her expression quickly returned to normal. The show still had to go on, and she couldn’t afford a break in character now.
Su Qingqing stepped off the stage, and Huo Sining slightly opened the cage. Heitan, with its big mouth open, was about to pounce on Huo Sining, barking loudly in great cooperation.
Such a giant dog naturally attracted everyone’s attention.
"What kind of dog is this, so big! It looks so majestic!" Some clueless audience members couldn’t help but murmur softly.
"Majestic, heh, why don’t you say fierce? This creature is a Tibetan Mastiff, the fiercest breed among dogs! Its teeth can kill a person!" someone who knew about dogs couldn’t help but snort coldly.
"Tibetan Mastiff? My God, what does Huo Sining need to do? Is he prepared to let that Tibetan Mastiff out? No way, what if the Tibetan Mastiff rushes down the stage and bites someone?" Now someone exclaimed in astonishment, their eyes wide with fear.
The girls in the audience, who had been enjoying the show, were terrified when they heard that the dog in the cage was a Tibetan Mastiff. They covered their mouths and dared not make a sound, afraid that they might enrage the Tibetan Mastiff into sprinting down and biting someone.
On the stage, Heitan was thoroughly enjoying playing games with Huo Sining. Huo Sining was holding the fish bait that Heitan loved most in his hand, but he teased the dog by not letting it have any. Heitan, confined in the cage and unable to reach with its paws, was immediately furious.
Huo Sining deliberately showed a look of terror on his face, as if he was terribly frightened by the Tibetan Mastiff, and cautiously approached the cage again.
"He’s really going to open the cage?!" Realizing Huo Sining’s intentions, people held their breath, tension mounting as they watched the stage intently.
The cage was slowly opened, but just when it was wide enough for the dog to barely fit through, the dog burst out, pouncing directly towards Huo Sining.
There were some in the audience who didn’t understand and thought the Tibetan Mastiff had lost control and was attacking Huo Sining. They instinctively screamed, and those too nervous to watch closed their eyes in fear.
However, in that instant, Huo Sining sidestepped, avoiding the Mastiff’s attack.
The Mastiff turned to charge again, but Huo Sining quickly conjured a bone in his hand.
He threw the bone into the cage, and the Tibetan Mastiff, chasing after the bone, rushed back into the cage. Huo Sining hastily shut the cage door and then, still shaken, patted his chest.
Only then did everyone realize that this was all part of Huo Sining’s planned performance, and they burst into laughter.
Huo Sining walked around the cage, one hand on his chin as if pondering some mischievous idea, then suddenly lifted his head with an expression of surprise as though he had thought of a great idea.
He took an opaque cloth from the side and covered the cage, circling around it and waving the wand in his hand as if reciting some incantation.
After a while, he tore off the cloth, and everyone looked on in astonishment, eyes wide open.
In less than twenty seconds, the cage was empty. The Tibetan Mastiff that had been confined inside had somehow disappeared.
The accompaniment to "Seventy-Two Changes" ended at that moment, and the hall erupted, with many people screaming loudly and clapping vigorously.
The students from the College of Biology were particularly vocal, their voices hoarse from shouting, as if they wanted the whole school to know that the person on stage belonged to their college, and was one of their classmates.
Only the math department’s students had complicated expressions. Huo Sining’s abnormal performance during military training had left a deep impression on many, and many knew she had once been a math student. Moreover, due to Du Yanlin and Xue Jingjing’s promotion, Huo Sining had a rather poor reputation in the math department.