Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Campus Seven Inconceivable Things (5)

Translator: Sigma Editor: Sigma

So Fa Re, La So Re…

After Feng Bu Jue had played these notes, he took several steps back, cautiously watch every change in his surroundings.

Seconds ticked by and a pair of pale, slim arms stretched out from the piano cover in a weird angle.

There’s an idiom called ‘Read like water flows’, perhaps there’s someone could do that, even though Feng Bu Jue had never seen one before. However, ‘Play the piano like water flows’, if he wanted, he could see it now.

Ten fingers of that pair of hands interlaced then pushed straight forwards with the palms facing out. Feng Bu Jue caught the sign immediately. This seemingly dispensable move was the ‘reaction time’ that the system gave players. If players didn’t get scared, they should seize the time and act quickly.

"Don’t want to listen…when the play is over, you must applaud." Feng Bu Jue mumbled the related hints in the folksong. As he understood immediately, he then sat down on a chair in the first row, put the phone on the next chair and kept the flashlight between his knees, shining directly on the piano.

The two pale arms that looked like two dried tree branches seemed to have finished its warm-ups and were ready now. Ten fingers were like ten flexible ghost claws wiggled several times and positioned themselves on the keyboard. It started to play… The pair of hands was like it was dancing on the piano keys while the elbows and the bones of the arms had been bent into an unimaginable angle. Each finger seemed to have its own life, brushing and dancing across the piano keys.

From the visual point of view, the way the two ghost arms were playing the piano wasn’t beautiful at all. Also, it didn’t bring a true feeling of speed. If one had to imagine this, it looked like ten earthworms hooked on two hooks; each hook had five different heads. And, those ten earthworms were trying to wriggle and twist their bodies attempting to get rid of the hooks.

Feng Bu Jue didn’t know if the melody was smooth and nice. Although there were some notes making their way into his ears, he didn’t hear a full, short section of the song since when the hands had played the very first notes, Feng Bu Jue had already covered his ears with both of his hands. And, he was shaking his head rhythmically while quickly humming, "La la la! La la la! I’m a little boy selling newspaper…" (1)

After he had finished the Selling Newspaper Song, he started March of the Volunteer (2). Anyway, if that pair of hands kept playing, Feng Bu Jue would just repeat those two songs again and again. No one knows if there’s a grudge between him and Nie Er. (3)

In short, after around five minutes or so, when Feng Bu Jue was about to sing the Selling Newspaper for the third time, the pair of hands stopped, lifted its finger from the keyboard and ceased in mid-air.

Feng Bu Jue didn’t say anything further, started to applaud excitedly, shamelessly yelled "Bravo!", almost asking ‘Encore please’.

This sort of compliment sounded more like a crosstalk in the garden seemed to surprise the owner of the ghost hands a lot as the hands were stunned, pausing in the air for almost thirty seconds before it could act again.

Suddenly, the right ghost hand had balled into a fist and punched into the air twice, just like it was expressing its dissatisfaction. After that, the left ghost hand lifted the piano lid, and the right hand got back to join it, pushing up the piano lid. Both hands were holding the lid and then slowly retreated into the piano, closing the lid. This move was like it was saying, we’re closed, you can go.

"Main Quest, updated."

"Searching Yousuke High School and Solving Seven Supernatural Phenomena, current progress: 2/7."

"Oh, seems the so-called ‘Seven Inconceivable Things’ are not all fatal." Feng Bu Jue picked up the phone, and the flashlight then got up, "Perhaps if I had listened to all the song, I would have died? Hm, I have a feeling that this scenario is trying to convey that ‘the ghosts are also humane.’"

He glared at the phone. 35:18. It was around five minutes to his next call. He didn’t know her situation now. Also, no quest updated notification meant she was still in the space of the ‘Thirteenth Step’. However, the system didn’t say that she was dead though.

The feeling of knowing your friend is in a dangerous situation, but you don’t know the particular details had a certain effect on Feng Bu Jue. He opened the menu, although he knew this was meaningless, he still wanted to check the ‘Alive’ status next to his teammate’s ID. This was a strange mood, just like players who got bored of shooting game would press TAB to check his friend list…

However, when he opened the game menu, he found something unexpected. After Feng Bu Jue had checked the party menu, he noticed another Specialty was unlocked. The new gray area which had appeared when the Open Beta was released was now half unlocked. The new Specialty was called ‘Spiritual Technique’, and Feng Bu Jue’s current grade was F.

Feng Bu Jue had unlocked one of the two new Specialties. However, at the first glimpse, he understood right away that it must be tough to train this specialty.

The six Specialties in Closed Beta, including Common, Weapon, Investigating, Fighting, Shooting and Curing, were conforming with the norms of society; however, eighty percent that this ‘Spiritual Technique’ and the other unlocked Specialty were the supernatural abilities.

Feng Bu Jue was not sure if his Spiritual Specialty had been unlocked at this quest or when he was carrying the ghost at the well. Since it was unlocked, he couldn’t help but worry about many things. For example, the bonus of this scenario, who knows if he could receive a Skill Card related to Spiritual Technique. Besides, this Specialty seemed to be used to confront ghosts, would it be able to affect other kinds of monsters or players? Also, would the related skill be able to be reused and to attack physically?

As he was still musing, the system had notified him. If he was still idle, he would be judged as ‘Passive Playing’; thus, he had to leave and continued searching.

The time of the next call was getting closer, and the quest updated from Like Rain hadn’t resounded yet. Feng Bu Jue couldn’t help but feel anxious. When it was one minute before the call, he hesitated whether to call or not.

It was certain that Like Rain’s current situation wasn’t good. Among the supernatural stories at school, ‘The Thirteenth Step’ is quite famous, also the toughest. Although the folksong said ‘Come back, come back…Don’t step on the thirteenth step’, it was the hint but a useless one. When player stepped on the thirteenth step, a deadly FLAG would occur.

However, when Like Rain was talking to Feng Bu Jue, she was walking while counting the steps and she had reached the thirteenth step. She also confirmed that she didn’t expect that she would encounter the thirteenth step on the second floor of this seven-floor building.

Right now Feng Bu Jue was weighing his thoughts. If Like Rain’s situation was really bad, possibly, she wouldn’t be able to pick up the call, and that would make her the responsible player. Within the next fifteen minutes, she would meet more dangerous threats, just like adding hail to snow.

But if he didn’t make this call, he would become the responsible player and ghosts would chase after him. Anyway, he could make sure that Like Rain wouldn’t receive more threats that way.

While he was still hesitating, the time had come.

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(1) It’s the beginning part of Selling Newspaper Song. Check out the link for a cute song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK1C9UwJLJ4

(2) Check out the link for the song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luwUcDg78nM

(3) He’s the author of the two songs that Feng Bu Jue had sung.