Chapter 77

SoFaRe, LaSoRe...

After pressing these notes, Feng Jue took a few steps back, alertly observing the slightest movements around him.

A few seconds passed, and then two pale, slender arms stretched out from inside the piano lid at a very bizarre angle...

There's a Chinese idiom, "recite backwards as fluently as forwards," and perhaps there are people who can actually do it. But Feng Jue had never seen anyone do it, nor did he think there was any point in reciting something backward. However, "playing backward as fluently as forward" was something he was about to witness.

Before playing, the hands crossed their fingers and extended their palms outward. Feng Jue immediately realized that this seemingly unnecessary gesture was the game's way of giving players a "reaction time." If the player wasn't scared stiff, they should do something now.

"Don't listen... applaud after the performance..." Feng Jue muttered the relevant hint from the song, immediately understanding. He darted to a chair in the first row, sat down, placed his phone on the adjacent seat, and held his flashlight between his knees, shining it toward the piano.

At this moment, the two spindly white arms seemed to be ready. The ghostly fingers flexed a few times and then pressed down on the keys. The performance began... The hands danced gracefully on the keys, the forearms bent at impossible angles, the elbows twisted strangely, and each finger moved as if it had a life of its own, sliding and jumping across the keys.

Visually, the way these ghostly arms played the piano was neither beautiful nor fast. If one had to describe it, it was like ten earthworms, five on each of two fishhooks, wriggling their long bodies, trying to escape the hooks.

As for whether the music was pleasant, Feng Jue didn't know. Although a few notes occasionally reached his ears, he couldn't hear even a short, complete melody. From the moment the two arms played the first note, Feng Jue had clamped his hands over his ears, rhythmically shaking his head and humming: "Lalala! Lalala! I'm a newspaper boy..."

After finishing the newspaper boy song, he sang the "March of the Volunteers" at double speed. As long as those hands kept playing, Feng Jue was prepared to keep cycling through these two songs. It was unclear what grudge he had against Nie Er.

Finally, about five minutes later, just as Feng Jue was about to start the third round of the newspaper boy song, the arms stopped playing. The ghostly fingers left the keys, raised in the air, and paused.

Without a word, Feng Jue started clapping vigorously, even shamelessly shouting "Bravo!" He was almost about to call out "One more!"

This applause, as if he were listening to a crosstalk show in a garden, seemed to shock the owner of the ghostly arms. The hands hung in the air, frozen for about thirty seconds before reacting.

The right hand clenched into a fist and waved in the air a couple of times, as if expressing some dissatisfaction. Then, the left hand supported the piano lid, the right hand removed the support, and both hands together slowly pushed the lid back, closing it. Overall, this action seemed to be a way of closing the door to visitors...

[Main Quest Progress Updated]

[Explore Ye Jie High School, dispel seven paranormal phenomena, current progress 2/7]

"Hmm... It seems that not all of the 'Seven Mysteries' are fatal," Feng Jue picked up his things and stood up. "Or perhaps... I would have died if I had listened to the entire piece just now? Hmph... I get the feeling this script is conveying a worldview where even ghosts have humanity."

He glanced at the time: 35:18, about five minutes before it was his turn to make the call. He wondered how Si Yu was doing. The lack of a task completion notification indicated she was still trapped in the "Thirteenth Step" space, and the system hadn't announced her death.

This feeling of knowing the other person was in danger but not knowing the specifics was affecting Feng Jue. He opened the game menu, even though he knew it was pointless, just to glance at the "Alive" status next to his teammate's ID, a strange emotion, like how players in shooting games always like to press TAB to check the list whenever they have a moment...

Unexpectedly, when he opened the game menu, he found something new. In the area that had been shadowed after the beta test, half of it was now visible. The new specialization was called "Spiritual Arts," and Feng Jue's current level was F.

Among the two new specializations, Feng Jue had already unlocked one. But from the name, he knew this specialization would be extremely difficult to level up.

The six specializations from the beta test—General, Equipment, Reconnaissance, Combat, Shooting, and Medical—seemed relatively standard. But this "Spiritual Arts" and the last unopened specialization were likely related to supernatural abilities.

Feng Jue wasn't sure if his Spiritual Arts specialization had been unlocked after completing the current task or when he carried the ghost in the dry well. But now that it was unlocked, he couldn't help but think about many things, such as whether the completion reward for this script might include a skill related to Spiritual Arts; whether this specialization, which seemed designed to deal with ghosts, would affect other monsters and players; and whether the related skills could have physical effects...

He stood there thinking for a while, but soon the system urged him to continue. He had to leave and continue exploring.

The time for the next call was getting closer, and there was still no notification of Si Yu completing her task. Feng Jue couldn't help but feel anxious. With one minute left, he hesitated... wondering whether to make the call.

Si Yu's situation was definitely not good. Among the many campus ghost stories, the "Thirteenth Step" was quite famous and likely one of the most difficult to survive. The song's hint, "Turn back, turn back... Beware the thirteenth step," was almost useless. It seemed that stepping on the thirteenth step would trigger a very fatal flag.

But when Si Yu was on the phone with Feng Jue, she was multitasking, walking and counting, and had already completed all thirteen steps. She hadn't expected to encounter the thirteenth step on the second floor of this seven-story building.

At this moment, Feng Jue was considering: If Si Yu's situation was already dire, she had a high chance of being unable to answer the call. The consequence would be that she would be the responsible party and face even more severe threats in the next fifteen minutes, making her situation even worse.

But if... he didn't make the call, he would be the responsible party and be pursued by the ghost. However, this would ensure that Si Yu wouldn't face any additional risks.

Just as he was hesitating, the time came.