Chapter 58: Fifty-six: Strings (Two-in-One)

Fifty-six: Strings (Two-in-One)

On this night in the Shenzhou Region, people all over the world—whether they were white people living in the New York region on the other side of the Shenzhou ocean, the Yomok people located on the Winter Peninsula, or those situated on the southern land of the southern hemisphere, or even those in the even further south Nan Ji Zhi Di—all simultaneously and successively erupted into an inexplicable mass hysteria.

The source of this world-class, massive upheaval came from the hands of a world-class violinist who played notes from the underworld.

No one could have imagined that the music created by this musical genius would actually cross the chasm of dimensions, break through the shackles of reality, and create this piece of Magic Sound that was like a terrifying epidemic.

His music was not grounded in the world, but it connected to the underworld; it was as if the gates of hell and the netherworld had been opened, and countless vicious devils were competing to emerge, possessing every human with fragile nerves in reality, controlling their bodies to perform stiff, twisted dances, frantically tearing at their vocal cords and mouths, and emitting hideous, manic, and strange roars.

When a concert broadcast to the whole world turned into an epidemic spreading across time and space, the entire world seemed to be in turmoil.

"Daddy, what's wrong with these uncles and aunties? Why did they suddenly start dancing instead of listening to the music properly?" At the "enthusiastic and carnival-like," "boisterous" concert venue, besides Haimofen, who was focused on playing the movement, only a pair of simply dressed father and daughter remained unaffected. The little daughter, who had just turned four, sat on her father's lap and asked innocently.

Li Jiahong recovered from his astonishment at the scene and smiled at his daughter: "That's because they are too engrossed in listening."

"But I'm listening very carefully too." Hearing this, Li Yuning immediately put on a look of being somewhat unconvinced and somewhat aggrieved, saying, "Then shouldn't I dance with them too?"

"That's really not necessary." Li Jiahong immediately shook his head and patted Li Yuning's head: "It's too crowded here. We must learn to be modest and give the space to these uncles and aunties so they can dance."

"Oh right, one must be modest." Li Yuning nodded as if she understood, snuggled obediently and sensibly into Li Jiahong's arms, and continued to listen earnestly to the first great work of this musical feast.

Hum—

Suddenly, a strange bass sound from an unknown instrument cut into this perfect performance, instantly causing the people all over the world who were crazed by the Magic Sound to freeze in place, as if their nerves had been severed, standing there sluggishly like machines that had lost their power connection.

This abrupt sound was like a rude guest, forcing its way into this world, breaking the prelude to this concert that should have been flawless, making the host of this concert, Haimofen, very angry, and making those who were addicted to the music of this concert and had not yet lost their sanity burn with rage.

Almost at the same time that the eerie sound intruded into the melody, phenomena of gradually intensifying spatial distortion appeared all over the world, and countless deformed cracks bloomed in the air. Those distorted spaces dismembered the colors of the world into irregular, strange colors and shapes. The notes from the other dimension came from behind those indescribable distorted spaces. It seemed to come from the hands of an arrogant musical genius; that genius, upon hearing Haimofen's clumsy imitation of her music, let out a ruthless mockery, and thus also raised her exquisite instrument and launched a counterattack against Haimofen.

Haimofen laughed out of extreme anger, laughing silently, and continued to play his music, pushing the first great work of the concert, "Magic Sound," to a shocking climax, like a warrior's war cry, challenging the chief musician of the Dream Palace hidden behind that distorted space.

"Daddy, that thing that looks like a thread is so annoying. It's as ugly as the drawing our classmate Xiao Ming made. Xiao Ming said he didn't know what he wanted to draw so he just scribbled it. It's also something scribbled by some random Xiao Ming; it's really ugly and annoying." Li Yuning covered her ears, jumped off Li Jiahong's lap, stomped her feet in anger, and looked at the distorted spatial scene in the sky with burning eyes.

Li Jiahong also nodded in agreement, then stood up and said: "It is indeed very annoying, so let's go today. We won't listen this time. We'll listen to the next concert. After Teacher Hai beats this ugly guy away, we can continue to listen to Teacher Hai's works without any disturbance."

"Ah, can we still listen to the next one?" Li Yuning's big eyes were sparkling, and she couldn't close her mouth from happiness.

Li Jiahong smiled and nodded, saying mysteriously: "Let me tell you a secret. Actually, Daddy really knows Teacher Hai in reality, you know. We are even friends..."

Hearing this, Li Yuning immediately cast a look of admiration at her father and held Li Jiahong's rough hand: "Daddy is so amazing!"

"Hahaha, my precious daughter is not bad either." Li Jiahong picked his daughter up from the ground and then left his seat.

He walked through the crowd, who were all rolling their eyes and stiff-bodied, came to the computer responsible for starting the live broadcast, closed the live streaming software, and then took his daughter away from the Gymnasium.

There was no need to involve his daughter in the remaining matters; he believed Teacher Hai could handle it.

Since Teacher Hai could drive that guy away once before, he could drive that guy away a second time now.

The moment the live broadcast room was cut off, all the people affected by the Magic Sound in the broadcast room fainted almost simultaneously, falling to the ground from exhaustion. They were dreaming, and in their dreams, they were still constantly replaying the melody of the Magic Sound they had heard, unconsciously imitating the tune, and following along by humming softly...

Xin Junmao was immersed in the confrontation between the two pieces of music, unable to extricate himself, listening to the "Magic Sound" played by Haimofen with his left ear, and listening to the unknown music of the "musician" from the other dimension with his right ear.

The two different melodies kept colliding deep in his brain, making Xin Junmao feel his brain constantly expanding. One moment he felt it was the sound of nature, and the next he felt it was the wailing of evil ghosts. The two forces were frantically squeezing the diaphragm of his rationality, both wanting to infiltrate his soul.

But under the violent pincer attack of these two powerful musical magics, Xin Junmao surprisingly did not die. The high wall of rationality remained high and solid as a fortress; the power of the two pieces of music actually failed to break through his supposedly fragile defenses.

Xin Junmao was listening to the "noise" in his ears, but his eyes were full of the beautiful woman in the qipao who was as beautiful as a fish sinking and a goose falling.

At this moment, he once again felt the charm of the woman in the qipao. Her beauty was enough to shake the heavens and the earth, to make the seas dry up and the rocks crumble; her beauty could make one forget everything and ignore everything.

Therefore, Xin Junmao forgot the danger of the environment and completely ignored this distorted and eerie environment, with only the woman in his eyes.

"I thought I could listen to an elegant and comfortable concert, but it seems there is no chance." The woman in the qipao stretched out her fair hands. Her ten fingers were sometimes excessively long and thin, exceeding the length of her face, and sometimes slender and weak like withered grass, looking like ghost hands. Yet, such a strange hand made Xin Junmao incredibly fascinated, letting the other party's sharp fingertips gently rub across his face, leaving faint bloodstains.

The fingertips of the woman in the qipao gently scratched from the other party's forehead, from the forehead to the side of the cheek, and finally landed on the neck. With a light gesture, she made a shallow wound on Xin Junmao's neck, seeing blood but not fatal. Looking at Xin Junmao, who was staring at her blankly, she said with a smile: "Do you want to visit my home?"

"Okay." Xin Junmao agreed without hesitation. Then he stood up and followed, following behind that graceful figure, attracted by the swaying posture of the other party, his heart itching unbearably. Even when he saw a strip of out-of-control flesh occasionally exposed within the skin of the figure, he still appreciated it with a blank expression, and was even moved by it.

The woman in the qipao led Xin Junmao out of the second floor of the Gymnasium, came to a manhole cover somewhere in the Citizen Sports Center, opened the manhole cover, and led another man who was obsessed with her beauty to her eerie kingdom located under Cuizhu City.

The duel between the human musical genius and the "musician from the other dimension" continued. In the first round of the confrontation between the Magic Sound and the strange music, as Xin Junmao's first work, "Magic Sound," entered its finale and failed to topple the "musician from the other dimension," the melody of the strange music ultimately gained the upper hand and completely won this first round.

Haimofen's face was flushed, blue veins appeared on his face, his eyes were bloodshot, and blood seeped from the gaps in his clenched teeth. The defeat did not cause him any fear. After a burst of silent, wild laughter, he suddenly flicked his violin bow, threw the bow to the ground, then peeled off the white gloves on his hands, revealing a pair of hands full of bloody and mangled wounds. He switched hands to hold the violin, stuffed his hands into his pockets one by one to fumble around, and put on Iron Claw Gloves equipped with blades on both hands.

Haimofen used his claws as hands and blades instead of a violin bow, and then began the next long movement he was going to play.

"This piece is called 'Curse.' Listen well; my music will be even better than yours." Haimofen grinned wildly, the arc of his smile exaggerated to the point of facial stiffness.

The blade slid across the strings of the violin, but miraculously, no matter how rough and agitated Haimofen's method of sawing the strings was, the strings remained unbroken.

The reason for this was that the material of the strings of this violin was extremely special. It was an item Haimofen had purchased at a high price from Lin Ling's Forest Cabin. These strings were not common nylon or steel wire, nor were they the sheep gut strings most beloved by the classical school, but rather a few strands of Human Hair Strings.

When buying the Human Hair Strings, Haimofen had once asked Lin Ling about the origin of these hairs.

Lin Ling smiled and explained: "Legend has it that a long time ago, there was a sentimental and beautiful woman. She had a childhood sweetheart to whom she was betrothed. She and her lover had liked each other since they were young, and their feelings were sincere. One day, the woman's country and a neighboring country were at odds, and the two countries went to war. The flames of war were everywhere. The woman's beloved was a patriot who decided to join the battlefield, promising the woman that he would return to marry her as soon as the war ended.

Who would have thought that once the lover left, he would never return? It is said that he died under the butcher's knife on the battlefield. Due to the intense fighting on the front lines, the man's body could not even be brought back, and he was left exposed in the wilderness.

The woman was heartbroken and decided to shave her head to become a nun, worshiping before the Buddha, performing three thousand kowtows, striking the wooden fish three thousand times, and ringing the bell three thousand times every day, casting aside her love and hatred, and quietly turning to Buddhism.

However, day after day, year after year, the bhiksuni did not know how many springs and autumns had passed, but she found that she still could not comprehend the supreme Buddhist dharma and could not see any Buddhist principles in the scriptures. Her heart was lost, so she asked the venerable abbess in the nunnery for advice.

The abbess did not speak, but led the bhiksuni to the bamboo forest in the backyard. She saw a Black Hair Tree rising from the ground in the bamboo forest, curled like a twist, standing straight. The bhiksuni walked closer to look carefully and was surprised to find that it was a strange object made of strands of black hair.

The abbess asked: 'Do you know now?'

The bhiksuni shook her head, puzzled.

The abbess sighed softly and slowly told the truth. It turned out that this Black Hair Tree was actually a strand of Troublesome Silk she had left behind when she was tonsured back then. Who would have thought that it would take root after falling to the ground, growing more and longer, gradually becoming a Black Hair Tree in the backyard, hidden among the bamboo forest.

The abbess said: 'Every day you perform a kowtow, it grows a fraction; every day you strike a wooden fish, it grows a hair; every day you ring a bell, it grows a millimeter. Every night it will wither like a flower and return to hair seedlings, repeating the cycle.'

The bhiksuni was silent, as if she had a sudden enlightenment, tears streaming down her face, her heart filled with mixed feelings.

It turned out that she had never let go of her obsession, never let go of her attachment; she still held onto the past and remembered her lover.

This Troublesome Silk was the manifestation of her state of mind.

Performing kowtows, striking the wooden fish, and ringing the bell seemed to be expressions of her sincere devotion to Buddha, but in reality, every time she did it, she felt tormented and suffered. She could not completely cut off her past; she just deliberately ignored it. Doing these things would not make her truly let go of the past, and the troubles were actually always growing.

And as for why the Black Hair Tree would turn back into hair every night, the reason was that she would dream of her dead lover every night, meeting him in her dreams, lingering with him in her dreams, and relieving the bitterness in her heart. Once the wish was fulfilled, the knot in her heart would loosen, and the troubles would fall away on their own.

Having realized all this, the bhiksuni understood and decided to leave the temple temporarily to resolve her karma..."

When he said this, Lin Ling felt thirsty and paused, holding a cup of tea and drinking it slowly.

During this period, Haimofen expressed his guess about the direction of the story: "Did that woman fail?"

"Failure? Or success?" After quenching his thirst, Lin Ling said with a smile, "That depends on how one defines it."

Lin Ling continued, "That woman eventually died halfway through her ascetic journey. She happened upon a group of mountain bandits robbing a merchant caravan and passersby; she stepped forward to dissuade them but was instead killed by a blade. In the end, she returned to the netherworld of the underworld, where she met her lover in the afterlife, who had long refused to be reincarnated, waiting for her arrival. And after she died, that single strand of hair she had left in the Buddhist temple grew to three thousand strands, three thousand wisps, and from then on, it grew no more."

Haimofen was filled with emotion, truly not knowing how to define this success or failure.

But at the very least, he now knew the function of the Human Hair Strings. The Human Hair Strings are a few segments of one of the three thousand Troublesome Silk; yet, despite this, they are infinitely useful. As long as there is still trouble in the world, the Human Hair Strings will never break!