So Fa Re, La So Re…
After playing those notes, Feng Bujue jumped back several steps, paying close attention to the changes to his surroundings. Several seconds later, two extremely pale, slender arms reached out from inside the piano lid at an incredibly awkward angle.
There was a Chinese idiom called memorizing everything backward. Perhaps someone might be able to do that in real life, but in any case, Feng Bujue had not witnessed that before and did not even realize what the point of reciting something backward was. However, he was about to bear witness to playing everything backward.
Before the hands started playing, they crossed their fingers and stretched outward. Feng Bujue reacted instantly; this might appear to be an insignificant action, but he understood that it was the ’reaction time’ that the game had given the player. If the player was not scared away, now was the time for them to do something.
The piano cries the mournful tune. Do not listen, do not listen… but do clap after the performance. Feng Bujue went over the relevant lyric in his mind, and he got it immediately. He ran to the first row of tables and sat down. He placed the phone next to him, squeezed the flashlight between his knees, and turned to look at the piano.
By then, the hands were ready. They wiggled agilely over the keys before pressing down on the notes. Then, the recital began… The hands danced over the keys, and the arms were twisted at impossible angles. The joints at the elbows were strangely contorted while the fingers felt like they were supercharged with life as they glided and leaped over the keys.
Visually, when the two arms were playing, it was neither beautiful nor fast. If Feng Bujue had to describe it, it was more like ten worms strung onto two hooks, five worms on each, and then the worms were wiggling their bodies, trying to slither away from the hooks.
Whether the song was presentable or not, Feng Bujue had no idea. Even though straggling notes entered his ears, for the most part, he had no idea what the song sounded like. This was because since the arms started playing the first note, Feng Bujue had covered his ears with his hands while rocking his head from side to side, humming loudly to himself, “La la la! La la la! Twinkle twinkle little star…”
After going over the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star song, he sang the Christmas Song at double the speed. In any case, as long as the arms kept playing, he decided to sing these two songs on loop.
About five minutes later, when Feng Bujue was about to sing the children’s lullaby for the third time, the two arms stopped playing. The ghost claws floated away from the keys and stopped moving.
Without waiting for a break, Feng Bujue clapped like his life depended on it. He was even shameless enough to cheer and request for an encore.
The owner of the ghost arms appeared to be shocked. The hands that dangled in midair froze for thirty seconds before they reacted. The right hand curled into a fist and waved it around twice like it was expressing some kind of displeasure. Then, the left hand held the lid, while the right hand removed the stand that supported the lid, and finally both hands held the lid as they slowly retreated into the piano, closing the lid as they went in. Overall, it looked like they were bowing down as the curtain fell.
“Main quest progress updated. Explore Ye Jie Elite Academy to resolve the seven supernatural phenomena. Current progress, 2/7”
Hmm… From the looks of it, not all seven of the supernatural phenomenon are lethal. Feng Bujue took his things and stood up. Or perhaps I would have died if I listen to the whole song earlier? Hmm… In a way, I feel like this whole scenario is trying to express the concept that, even among ghosts, there are kind and harmless spirits.
He glanced at the time; it was 00:35:18. About five minutes later, it would be his turn to make the call. He wondered how Passing Rain was doing. Since the system did not announce it, it meant that she was trapped inside the dimension of the thirteenth step. Thankfully, the system did not announce that she was dead either.
This kind of situation where he knew that the girl was in danger but had no idea how she was hanging on influenced Feng Bujue to a certain degree. He opened the game menu to confirm that she was still alive from the ’living’ status next to her game ID, even though he knew that the action was pointless.
However, after he opened the menu, there was a surprise find waiting for him. After glancing at the team status, he glanced at the mastery tab and noticed that new masteries had been unlocked. The shadowy area that had appeared after the start of the open beta had half been unlocked. The new mastery was called ’Sorcery’, and Feng Bujue currently had it at level F.
Of the two new masteries, Feng Bujue had already unlocked one, but from the name, he knew that it was going to be hard to level up this mastery.
The six masteries during closed beta—general ability, workmanship, sleuthing, fighting, medic, and marksmanship—all looked like more common settings, but this ’sorcery’ and the yet to be unlocked mastery were most likely ability related to the supernatural.
Feng Bujue had no idea whether he had unlocked this sorcery mastery when he was dealing with this piano ghost or when he carried the ghost out of the well, but since he had already unlocked it, he could not help but wonder about other things related to it. Would the randomized skill card that he obtained from clearing this scenario be related to sorcery? The mastery sounded like it was specialized against ghosts and spirits, so did that mean it would be useless when facing other monsters and players? Also, would the skills under this school of mastery be effective against things in the physical world?
He stood there thinking for so long that he soon received the warning from the system. If he stayed there any longer, he would be marked as AFKing, so he had no choice but to continue his exploration.
It was soon time for the next call, but the system still had not announced that Passing Rain had passed her quest. Feng Bujue started to get anxious. With one minute left, he started to hesitate over whether to make the call or not.
Passing Rain had to be in a harsh situation. Of all the ghost stories, the story of the ’extra step on the staircase’ could be said to be the more popular one and thus probably the most difficult. The lyrics “One two three, four five six… Count your steps going up the stairs, turn around, turn around… before you reach the thirteenth step” were rather meaningless. From the sound of it, by taking the thirteenth step, a fatal event would be triggered.
But earlier, when Passing Rain was talking with Feng Bujue, she had also been counting the steps. Perhaps she had been distracted by him and taken the thirteenth step without realizing it. She also did not expect that, in a building with seven floors, she would come across this staircase with thirteen steps so soon on the second floor.
At the time, Feng Bujue’s concern was, if Passing Rain was caught in a tough spot, then there was a high chance she would not be able to answer the call, and that would mark her as the responsible party. Then, she would be dropped into greater trouble for the next fifteen minutes, adding insult to injury.
So, if I don’t make this call, I’ll become the responsible party and suffer the haunting of the ghosts. But in that case, at least additional danger won’t be shouldered by Passing Rain. She will be spared.
Just as he was hesitating, time was up.