Chapter 57: Fifty-five: Haimofen

Fifty-five: Haimofen's Magic Sound (Two-in-One)

Xin Junmao used the comb just as the shop clerk had instructed, yet he had been cooped up in his room for a whole day without sensing any abnormal activity.

Even just a strange sensation would have been enough to satisfy him.

Xin Junmao felt a bit depressed; could it really be that difficult to fulfill his wish of finding a job?

Feeling inexplicably struck down once again, Xin Junmao sighed and walked out of his room.

Standing in the dim hallway, he glanced at his parents' room and heard his father's snoring; he couldn't help but think: if only wishes could come true a little faster.

He changed into his shoes, intending to go for a night run to clear his head and work up a sweat.

In the days when he couldn't find work, he often used running to empty his mind and relieve stress; the results were quite good, and it helped him exercise, allowing him to persist in a habit he hadn't been able to maintain during his four years of university.

Xin Junmao ran out of the residential complex and headed straight forward, aiming for the "Citizen Sports Center" two kilometers away; this was his regular running route.

When he had run about a kilometer, Xin Junmao gradually noticed that there were far more cars and pedestrians on the road tonight than usual; normally, this route he used for long-distance running was basically empty, and at this hour of the night, it was even rarer to see anyone.

However, tonight was a bit strange; while you couldn't call it a bustling crowd of traffic and people, it was certainly an endless stream, with a few people visible every few meters.

Out of curiosity, he took a close look at the passersby and secretly eavesdropped on their conversations, finally learning the reason for the sudden surge in the number of people on this road today.

Today was the first concert of Haimofen's tour in Cuizhu City, and the venue was the very Citizen Sports Center that Xin Junmao was about to head toward.

By the time Xin Junmao ran near the Citizen Sports Center, which usually saw few people entering or leaving at night, he already saw a long line of traffic and crowds; for a moment, he couldn't help but be even more impressed by the scale of Haimofen's influence.

He had never attended any events held by celebrities, such as concerts, autograph sessions, or art exhibitions, and this was his first time witnessing the scene of a concert held by a famous person in person, but even so, he immediately grasped the power of the name Haimofen.

"It makes me suddenly want to listen to his music too." Xin Junmao was infected by the enthusiasm of Haimofen's fans and suddenly had the urge to listen to the live performance, but he knew he didn't even have a ticket and couldn't get in at all; besides, even if he stood on the perimeter of the Gymnasium, he probably wouldn't be able to hear a single note.

But Xin Junmao knew where there was a gap to "freeload"; although he couldn't see the stage, he could at least hear the sound.

If nothing else, the Gymnasium at the Citizen Sports Center was certainly soundproof enough; before Haimofen held his concert here, many singers and bands had already held concerts here.

Back in high school, Xin Junmao had a girl he wanted to pursue, and without money for a ticket, he decided to launch his own romantic pursuit strategy, claiming to the girl he loved that he had a way to listen to the music without entering the venue; so, that winter, he brought the girl he loved to that gap, and while they bathed in the cold wind, they listened to a few songs by the girl's idol.

Then the girl left before the performance was over, and afterwards, she quit her idol, and incidentally, she quit Xin Junmao too, eventually getting into a key university after the college entrance exam. At the high school graduation celebration, the girl even used the liquid courage of alcohol to drunkenly thank Xin Junmao for bringing her there to listen through the gap that day, otherwise she wouldn't have known that her idol's live singing was so lackluster, and how heartbreaking love with only a little romance but no material foundation could be.

It was precisely by discarding those adolescent distractions that she finally understood why she needed to study hard, and it was only after a period of struggle that she was admitted to a university she hadn't dared to imagine before.

Xin Junmao thought of that gap, and naturally, he thought of his first love, feeling a wave of emotion in his heart.

He bypassed the crowd, bypassed the surveillance, climbed onto the dome of the stairwell outside the Gymnasium, walked along the slope, and finally climbed into an empty space on the second floor of the Gymnasium's exterior, which had been sealed off with metal plates.

Now it was empty here, with only him present; he walked through the empty space and then saw a long, narrow strip of light, and his eyes lit up: "Hey, it's still here."

He took a few steps forward, arrived next to the wall where the gap was, and sat down, leaning against the wall.

It was only autumn now, and although there was wind, it wasn't strong, nor was it very cold, so he didn't feel any discomfort sitting on the ground.

Xin Junmao didn't know where he was in relation to the stage at this moment; he tried to get a look through the gap, but unfortunately, the visibility through the narrow slit was truly limited; he couldn't even see half a person, and could only tell from the sound of the crowd coming through the gap that the concert venue was still very lively, and all the audience members were still entering.

"I wonder if there's a live stream?" Xin Junmao couldn't help but think; he felt it was possible, so he clicked into a popular short-video live streaming platform, and without needing to search, the top-ranked popular live stream on the homepage was the broadcast of this concert.

Xin Junmao turned off the sound of the live stream, watched the live footage, and listened to the live sound from the gap, feeling as if he were there in person; besides, this was much more interesting than watching the live event, as he believed that the vast majority of people who bought seats at the venue couldn't even see the face of the concert's protagonist, Haimofen.

"If only live streaming had been as popular and convenient back then as it is today." Xin Junmao couldn't help but think of his top-student first love again, feeling another wave of regret in his heart.

Soon, Haimofen appeared in the live stream footage; he entered in an elegant and noble black suit with his band for the night, smiling warmly as he walked to the core performance stage with the violin that had accompanied him through countless battles.

"He's so beautiful, truly more beautiful than a woman." Seeing Haimofen appear and witnessing that feminine, charming face, Xin Junmao said with immense emotion, "How can someone be so good-looking and also so talented?"

Thinking of himself as still being an unemployed drifter, Xin Junmao couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"Distinguished guests, welcome to the first stop of my regional tour, the Cuizhu City concert..." While listening to Haimofen's opening remarks, Xin Junmao watched the barrage of comments scrolling by in the live stream room.

Among the sea of comments, Xin Junmao accidentally caught a small stream of comments that suddenly became crowded and then suddenly calmed down.

"Are his ears a bit strange?" Xin Junmao saw a few fleeting comments saying this, and he couldn't help but start curiously focusing on Haimofen's ears in the video; after a careful, fixed gaze, his eyelids twitched, and he made a discovery.

He believed it wasn't an illusion, because he observed that Haimofen's left ear had an unnatural fit, looking somewhat disjointed.

Coupled with the fact that Haimofen's skin tone had changed, possibly due to his running around these past few days, it provided a stark contrast to his strange left ear.

A musical genius had actually lost his left ear and was wearing a prosthetic!

The viewers in the live stream room also gradually discovered this bombshell; as fans of the genius Haimofen, given the fanaticism and loyalty of some of them, it was impossible for them to be completely unaware of their "brother's" physical condition.

Someone even dug up an old photo of Haimofen in the comments section; it was from four years ago when Haimofen attended his mentor's concert, a playful photo of them pulling each other's ears after the performance; in that photo, Haimofen's left ear was pulled high, and it had obvious natural elasticity, which could never be mimicked by a prosthetic ear.

Therefore, everyone speculated that this was an injury sustained during the few years Haimofen had been in seclusion.

Some guessed that Haimofen's left ear might have been cut off because he had been sabotaged by rival peers in recent years, while others speculated that this was Haimofen becoming too crazy for the sake of his art, gradually losing his rationality and cutting off his own ear.

This act of cutting off an ear was not uncommon among artists; a famous painter had once done something similar, and that painter had indeed suffered from mental illness during that period, which lasted for a long time, and it was also suddenly, as if possessed, that he had cut off his own ear.

Everyone seemed to have associated this with the famous painter's incident, so the fans in the live stream room began to worry about Haimofen's mental state, hoping that he hadn't truly "suddenly fallen ill."

Haimofen, who was at the scene, did not know about the worries of the fans in the live stream room; he was still smiling gently and elegantly as he finished his opening remarks, until he got to the point: "Then now, let us officially begin the first performance of the concert!"

"This first piece is titled 'Magic Sound', I hope you all like it!"

Haimofen set up his violin and gave a signal to the conductor, who immediately understood and entered the zone.

At this moment, the audience at the concert felt incredibly curious and full of anticipation, all distractions swept away.

Although the performance hadn't started yet, everyone already had the feeling that the conductor was not the one in control of the big picture, and that Haimofen was the true leader of this concert.

Hum—

As Haimofen drew his bow, the first note rang out from the strings; that strange sound, which didn't seem like something a violin could produce, instantly captured everyone's attention.

Is this the kind of sound a violin should make? Was it a mistake?

However, before anyone could think, Haimofen continued to play with a calm expression, and gradually, everyone realized with amazement that this was not a mistake, but a special resonance Haimofen had intentionally created; although the sound was strange, it wasn't unpleasant, but rather had a kind of strange magic—the longer you listened, the more you sank into it, slowly becoming unable to extricate yourself, making people sink deep into the mysterious forest swamp that Haimofen had constructed for them.

Soon, there were no more comments in the live stream room; everyone was immersed in the strange music Haimofen was playing, trapped in the fantastical musical world he had built for them.

Xin Junmao was the same; he had never imagined that he, who had almost no taste in music, would be so intoxicated by this type of music; it could be said that from this moment on, he had completely fallen in love with Haimofen's music, especially this piece.

The music lived up to its name—truly a Magic Sound; a magical tone, a demonic melody, music that made one obsessed.

Listening to Haimofen's violin performance, whether they were at the venue or watching the live stream, everyone felt an inexplicable, strange sensation rising from the bottom of their hearts; this feeling that made their blood boil, their bodies sweat, and their whole bodies turn cold... wasn't it fear?

As the piece progressed, Xin Junmao gradually noticed that the melody seemed to have changed, and the world before his eyes began to feel somewhat unreal.

But when he shook his head violently, trying hard to keep himself awake, Xin Junmao found that the melody hadn't gone in a strange direction, so why did they slowly feel that the melody was becoming more and more eerie?

"Is it my brain that has changed, or is it my mental state?" Xin Junmao suddenly thought this, then felt it was somewhat absurd; how could a mere violin piece accomplish such a bizarre thing?

But soon, the music pulled his spirit away again, and Xin Junmao gradually gave up thinking, telling himself: I just need to settle my heart and savor it carefully, and stop thinking about anything else.

In a trance, Xin Junmao realized that the world he saw was becoming less and less real; one moment the world was iridescent and shimmering with stars, and the next it was like the scenery he usually saw.

"It sounds so good..." Just as Xin Junmao was wandering in his mind, feeling somewhat ethereal, a familiar fragrance of orchids rushed to his nose, and the voice dissipated his gradually lost spirit like a dusting of powder.

Xin Junmao blinked and found that the world had stabilized into that abnormal, iridescent appearance; he now found it hard to distinguish reality from magic, and when he saw the red-eyed woman in a cheongsam suddenly appear before him, he actually felt as if he were dreaming, foolishly reaching out to stroke the cheongsam woman's face, which was fairer than winter snow.

"Hehe, why are you here?" Xin Junmao felt as if he were drunk, asking in a "tipsy" manner.

Faced with Xin Junmao's flirtatiousness, the cheongsam woman did not mind; instead, as if she still remembered Xin Junmao, she smiled and said, "I followed the sound here, and now that I hear it live, it is indeed full of beauty."

Xin Junmao said with a chuckle, "To be able to hear such wonderful music, and to see you again tonight, I am truly indescribably happy."

"You really want to see me?" The cheongsam woman pursed her lips and chuckled, her fingertips lightly touching her lower lip, looking even more charming and moving, even though she had no eyes at all...

His brain felt as if it had been overloaded by an electric shock, the world before his eyes flickered and blurred, and the iridescence that had originally dotted the world gradually began to emit an unsettling color.

It was clearly just a violin performance, and there were no human voices added to the concert, but for some reason, Xin Junmao had already begun to hear the pilgrimage-like prayers of a crowd; at first the voices were very soft and few, but gradually, the voices became more and more numerous, and as each person's voice overlapped, it became deafening, striking directly at the soul.

It seemed... it seemed to be calling out the name of some existence...

Xin Junmao gradually breathed more heavily, slowly seeing clearly the truth hidden beneath the beautiful world: the hazy halos floating in the air were not light, but strange, needle-covered flesh balls, the ground beneath his feet was full of the vitality of flesh and blood, pulsing like a beating heart, and the walls, ceilings, and all structures were covered and devoured by flesh and conduits.

The sounds were changing, the environment was changing, but the only thing that remained unchanged was the cheongsam woman before him, just as he had first seen her, beautiful in such a soul-stirring way.