Mu Zi suddenly launched an attack, charging towards Feng Huai and Yu Rui, as if she didn’t see the pianist at the side.
The pianist didn’t look surprised, he was still smiling slightly, as if nothing could break the expression on his face.
Mu Zi’s shoulders slumped as if they had been cracked, but her movements were unusually agile. Her body moved like a phantom in the night, silently rushing in front of the two of them in a few breaths of time.
Yu Rui took a step forward, sidestepped to avoid Mu Zi’s attack, and at the same time, accurately grabbed her attacking wrist, and violently folded it back.
Mu Zi screamed in pain and twisted desperately.
Yu Rui said to Feng Huai, “Find something to tie her up, something is not right here.”
Feng Huai answered and looked around, in the empty and abandoned voice training room, except for the stone statue watching them intently in the darkness, there were no tools that could be used.
Feng Huai hurriedly scanned the room, and his eyes suddenly landed on the smiling pianist.
He had long since looked at this somewhat two faced NPC with disdain, he suddenly smiled at the other, “I need to borrow something from you.”
The pianist was slightly stunned, and before he could react, he saw Feng Huai had already moved in front of him.
Most of the people who came to the rehearsal were dressed in private casual clothes, only the pianist, every rehearsal was just like a formal performance, he wore a whole set of black tuxedo, with a white scarf that looked like a medieval style.
It was very nice, very European medieval court style.
The pianist was also obviously very satisfied with his own image, he had fair skin, features with a little Chinese and Western hybrid three-dimensional sense, his hair was brown and slightly curly, lip color was also light, he looked like a young count from the European court.
During the rehearsal, everyone could always see him adjusting his neckerchief in the mirror, striving for every detail to always be perfect.
And this neckerchief was Feng Huai’s target.
He coldly reached out, gently jerking and shaking off the neckerchief that the pianist had tied.
The length of the neckerchief was just like the length of an unusual bow tie, and it was just right for tying hands.
The pianist didn’t expect that he would be robbed of his neckerchief, his eyes widened in surprise, and he was so angered by Feng Huai that he couldn’t speak.
[Hahahahahahahahahaha f*ck look at the angry NPC]
[Heartbroken for the NPC little brother for a second, the little neckerchief which is organized every day was taken away haha]
[Wait a minute, I’m coming, I seem to understand why the NPC have to wear a scarf all the time.]
[Fuck …… I also understand ……]
[The newcomer is turning back to take a look at the pianist ah ah ah ah]
[Newbie, what kind of strange luck is this? Haha, I think it’s going to trigger some new branch line again.]
Feng Huai drew out his neckerchief and went to help Yu Rui, not even noticing the pianist’s side.
Mu Zi was pressed to the ground by the two men and couldn’t move, and soon her hands were clipped back together and tied with a strong knot.
[Player Feng Huai triggered the hidden subplot: searching for the invisible door, finding what’s behind the door is considered as completing the mission, reward : 4 points]
Feng Huai froze, and the movement of his hand stopped.
“What’s wrong?” Yu Rui asked when he saw this.
Feng Huai frowned slightly, “I triggered a hidden subplot.”
Even the number of points this time was more than the usual reward, meaning that there was an upgrade in difficulty?
[Hey, hey, newcomer, is that all you need to do to trigger the hidden branch? Hidden branch, newcomer! What’s hidden about telling ……?
“Maybe it’s because god Yu is the newbie’s guidance counselor, so he trusts him more?”
[You keep calling him a newcomer, but he has a name, too!]
【Not many players have shouted his name ah …… look at the name on the business card, can you call it out?]
[……]
[I remember, the pianist shouted it, right? Called …… “Feng” Huai?]
[I got it.]
Yu Rui: “Hidden thread? Just now? What did you do to trigger it?”
Feng Huai didn’t feel like he did anything, he was just about to open his mouth to briefly talk about the quest when he saw the system pop up an inquiry box:
“Do you confirm sharing the hidden side quest? After confirming the sharing, the quest points reward will be halved.”
Feng Huai paused, understanding that this was a restriction of the game, and that he had to share the quest in order to discuss the details of the quest with the other party.
“Confirm.”
[Holy shit does it still come with sharing hidden quests?]
[That’s four points! That’s at least 400,000 real money! That’s 200,000 less than half of that!]
[“Do you think newcomers are stupid? Four points, a normal hidden quest is only two points, double that and you can’t even tell if you’ll finish it!]
[“At least if he shares it with boss Yu, the chance of completing the mission is more than doubled. 2 points that you can get your hands on, or 4 points that you may not be able to get, which do you think you should choose?]
[Besides, if boss Yu wants the branch reward, can’t he get it? It doesn’t matter if the newbie shares or not.]
Yu Rui heard the system beep automatically, reminding him that he had gotten the hidden subplot that Feng Huai had shared with him.
He looked at Feng Huai with slight surprise, if it was before, he wouldn’t have been surprised, but now that it was just a copy guide together, he didn’t think that Feng Huai would be the one to put down his defenses.
“Even if I don’t share it with you, you’ll know what I’m going to do. Instead of letting it pull us apart, it’s better to walk together in a closer embrace.” Feng Huai said.
Judging from the initial enthusiastic and drastic increase in popularity of his live room, Yu Rui must be a veteran player with seniority and popularity in this [Game].
Since Yu Rui could bring him the popularity he needed, as well as the experience and ability he currently didn’t possess, why not tie them together?
Yu Rui understood Feng Huai’s meaning, and he smiled, not minding in the slightest that he was actually the one being utilized, he nodded, “Okay.”
After all, their initial acquaintance and companionship was also in the midst of temptation and utilization, deepening to finally become the deepest bond.
There was no relationship stronger than utilizing each other’s value.
“Looking for the invisible door ……,” Yu Rui mused for a moment, “Do you remember where we first met? I mean in this game copy.”
Feng Huai quickly responded, “You mean the lounge in that long corridor?”
They found a count-like pendulum in the lounge that looked like a switch to activate some sort of mechanism, only nothing happened when they spun it.
“Yeah, that pendulum has a lock hole on it, and we were missing a key.” Yu Rui said with a nod.
He turned his back to Feng Huai and ruffled the black hair at the back of his neck, near the root behind his ear there was an almost identical three-hole scar.
“After I was knocked out by some kind of sharp weapon last night, I was put in the rest room, and when I woke up, this mark was left here, exactly like the lock hole at the back of the neck of that Earl’s pendulum.” Yu Rui said.
“That means the sharp object that knocked you out could be the prototype of the key.” Feng Huai said.
Yu Rui nodded slightly, he pulled Mu Zi up as he said to Feng Huai, “Take her out first, then we’ll go find the key.”
“What about the other Phantom mission?” Feng Huai asked with a frown.
“Let’s do the one with clues first, as for the other quests, the clues might pop up automatically, there’s no rush.” Yu Rui said, “Usually there is a connection between these quests, they will always be solved.”
Seeing that he had said so, Feng Huai nodded and agreed.
It wasn’t until they were planning to leave the practice room that they remembered the pianist NPC that had been forgotten in the corner.
When Feng Huai looked back, he saw the pianist slightly covering his neck and staring at them closely.
“We’re going to look somewhere else.” Feng Huai dismissed the piano master perfunctorily.
As soon as his words left his mouth, he suddenly froze for a few seconds with his eyes glued to the pianist’s neck.
He saw that there was a necklace hanging around the pianist’s neck, and the pendant of the necklace was completely silver, pointing upward in the shape of a finger.
–just like in that event photo on the promenade.
That first performance, in 2005, after the construction of the Siegfried Opera House, this rigid necklace pendant came from that pianist playing an Austrian march.
“You’re Silge?” Feng Huai suddenly opened his mouth and snapped, looking at the pianist.
The pianist’s face changed, and soon, his identity was updated on the character card-
Silge (1982-2005), the youngest world-class genius pianist, from the Sishman family, mixed Chinese and Western blood, he was the 7th in line heir, the corresponding identity that is Count Silge Sishman.
Silge put down his hand, he looked at Feng Huai and smiled: “Ah I’ve been recognized, how did you recognize me? There is no portrait of me on the promenade, it was specially hidden by me.”
“Your necklace showed a corner in the group photo.” Feng Huai said, and moved closer to Yu Rui’s direction in case the other party suddenly snapped.
“So it’s like this ……,” Silge laughed, and at the mouth of his throat, which he covered with his hand, three bloody holes shivered outward with his laughing tremors, shaking out rotting mincemeat.
Yu Rui’s gaze condensed, then he coldly asked, “How did you die?”
Silge murmured softly, “How did I die? Let me think about it …… I remember, I was still in the Seifer Opera House, I was backstage, taking pictures with my fan friends.”
“There were too many people, and someone fell, and I went to assist, but there were piles of construction debris all over the backstage, and the reopening of the Seaver Opera House stepped on a timeline that was so rushed that all of that construction debris was casually and temporarily dumped in backstage piles.”
“I remember falling too, and there seemed to be silence all around me, and then screaming ……” Silge raised his hand to cover his throat, where it had been pierced right through.
“Oh and my hand ……” Silge looked to his wrist, covered by the long sleeve of his tuxedo.
He gently lifted the long sleeve and revealed that it had been sliced almost in half at the wrist, tendons attached.
[Hiss… this looks like it hurts too much…]
【Tbe pianist is too miserable ah, his hand …… was still pierced ……]
[This is a construction accident at the opera house, right? Wasn’t there a little bit of coverage at first?]
[It was crushed, right ……]
“Pity, pity, it’s still been discovered.” Silge said softly, looking towards Yu Rui and Feng Huai, with a bit of nostalgia in his eyes looking not far away, as if he was looking through a wall of white walls at the performance hall that used to be there.
He inclined his head and said with pity in his tone, “I had thought that perhaps I would be able to play one last song here tomorrow.”
As he said that, his figure swayed slightly in front of Feng Huai, and he steeply dispersed into a cloud of smoke that drifted away.
[Congratulations to players Feng Huai and Yu Rui for completing the side quest: visit the old Opera House at night to find clues to the Phantom. Reward 2 points]
“Let’s go.” Yu Rui voiced out to call out to Feng Huai who was a bit shaken.
“Is this him disappearing?” Feng Huai asked in a low voice.
“Not necessarily, since he’s a clue to the Phantom, I think he’ll still have some connection to the source of the legend, maybe it’s just a temporary retreat.” Yu Zhi said.
He noticed Feng Huai’s emotions, which reminded him that when they had just started [the game], they had also treated every character in the game as if they were a living human being, only to gradually become numb later on.
He raised his hand and gently held the back of Feng Huai’s neck, soothingly and gently rubbing it twice, his movements were quick, and he withdrew his hand again before Feng Huai could react, “This is a [Game], they are characters in the game, and in almost every game they are repeating the same lines and experiences.”
“That sounds even more pathetic.” Feng Huai said.
Yu Rui froze for a second at his words, hiding what came to his mind, then he smiled slightly, “Perhaps this is one of the reasons why …… I wanted to end the game in the first place.”