by Feng Yue
Other than transforming into a lever to stir the aether sea, the man-made sub-originator also contained the abilities of the Philosopher’s Stone. It could adjust a man’s internal secretion, injecting prepared hormones, medicines, or antidotes for the musician.
Of course, when needed, it could even turn blood into nitroglycerin to ignite the musician into a ball of fire…
However, Ye Qingxuan had also left something for himself in the critical music theory. He had rewritten a portion so he could control it at any time. He did not want to be defeated by his own design.
After putting in the notes, the scale went back to equilibrium and then even went over two degrees.
“Let Nibelungenlied give me related information for the extra value.”
Just as Ye Qingxuan finished, a book of notes appeared in the left side of the scale. This time, it was not a copy that would be destroyed after reading. It was an old notebook.
Experiment records.
—Ye Lanzhou.
445 Essay
After receiving the notebook, Ye Qingxuan and Wolf Flute left.
The dwarf stayed in the silent darkness. He lit his pipe. Inhaling deeply, he blew out a plume of thick smoke. The scale was shrouded in the smoke. It looked dead rather than mysterious.
“You gave him the entire thing,” he said. “What he gave could only be exchanged for one page. Haven’t you always been neutral? Why are you biased toward that kid?”
“It’s not a bias. Hermes has paid everything for him.” The cool voice rang out from the darkness. It sounded like both but neither genders at the same time. “And he deserves to know what had happened.”
The dwarf laughed and tapped his pipe. “Is this your judgement? Or the judgement of all of you?”
The darkness was silent. There was no more sound.
-
In the moving carriage, Ye Qingxuan turned on the light and opened the notebook. Without a doubt, this was written by Ye Lanzhou’s own hand. There were no mistakes in the words and style. In between lines and in empty spaces, there would even be some improvised phrases. Some places were filled with drawings and sketches.
Some sketches were of surgical staff with their faces and bodies covered completely. Some drawings were of a large pot. It had been colored black and was full of holes. There seemed to be small figures on the side, acting as a scale and looking up at the vast ceiling.
It was clear that Ye Lanzhou did not treat the experiment seriously. Otherwise, he would not be drawing or writing sonnets everywhere. This guy could never be serious, and only put in seventy percent of his effort. He did whatever he wanted without thinking of the consequences—or he did think of them and decided he did not care. Otherwise, with his talent and skill, he would not end up like this.
Decades ago, the east and west worked together in the Sacred City and successfully created a miracle. The most powerful of the natural catastrophes were the Three Pillar Gods, the Three Saints, the Four Living Objects, and the Eight Phenomena. The one with the most sense of existence with endless vitality and fury is Hecatoncheir. But it had been defeated, sealed, and captured by humanity.
The nations all paid heavy prices for this battle and still have not recovered. The Caucasus had fallen and was still in chaos now due to this. There were countless saints who had died as well; even the King of Yellow had changed.
Of course, years later, another person paid for this—Ye Lanzhou.
All of Ye Qingxuan’s misfortune originated from this. Now he held this notebook, not knowing if he should feel disgust or joy. His mind was just a mess.
To defeat Hecatoncheir, the Sacred City had started research on the nature of natural catastrophes. It was the most successful attempt in human history and also the one with the largest consequences.
According to the notebook, Ye Lanzhou was responsible for analyzing the ‘source of consciousness’—where the consciousness of natural catastrophes originate from and why. However, he had delved too deeply and entered forbidden territory.
According to history, humanity’s first interaction with natural catastrophes was the birth of Hyakume. One of the Three Pillar Gods, the god representing chaos and evil had appeared from the Dark World. The abyss that existed in the aether world was finally discovered by mankind.
Some even hypothesized that Hyakume was the consciousness born from the terrifying abyss. But no matter what, it was just a hypothesis.
All was created by the Originator. However, in addition to miracles, the Originator also created freaks like the natural catastrophes. If humans wanted to survive in this world, they must fight against the natural catastrophes. One day, there would be an ultimate battle to decide the ownership of the world. That was why they began researching ‘the nature of natural catastrophes.’ Ye Lanzhou was responsible for the core—the classified of the classified. It was rare for a baseless Easterner to be trusted by the Sacred City and parliament.
This notebook contained his records of the research. Unfortunately, there were too many useless things. The b*stard was more willing to copy an old menu from a restaurant than something important! While Ye Qingxuan was furious, he could relate. He was like this too, after all.
If he could remember it all, why would he write it down?
This record was just some bullsh*t he wrote down for work. They were just scattered running accounts. Ye Qingxuan had to flip through for a long time before he could find useful bits. Sadly, the dates were blank and he could not guess when the accounts had taken place.
The first useful sentence had no context.
It can understand my speech.
Then there was a long rumor with some notes on what was interesting or how this story was too stupid. Two pages later, there was another random phrase.
I found the solution.
After a bunch of doodles, there was an off-handed complaint.
Took only two days to learn five hundred words. What were those idiots doing earlier? If they gave it to me earlier, it could be writing poetry now!
After paragraphs of nonsense, Ye Lanzhou went back on topic.
It wants me to name it but I don’t dare.
Ye Qingxuan froze. Understanding what the words meant, he sank into deep thought. Hecatoncheir wanted a name that belonged to itself but Ye Lanzhou did not dare. Once something had a name, it would start differentiating between itself and the outer world. It would have a sense of self. Something that had a sense of self would become difficult to control. There would be countless changes.
After more nonsense, there was another phrase without context.
The subsidiary experiment is going on. It’s revoltingly successful.
And then there was only one last sentence of the records.
It’s learning so quickly. It already knows how to trick me into opening the door for it.
-
After that, there were no more related records in the notebook. It seemed as if every day was spent carelessly. He would write down a few unreliable things and then draw some self-portraits. His beard grew longer and longer. And then, all that remained was white paper.
Ye Qingxuan’s expression darkened. He flipped through the pages but there were no more records. Finally, he reached the last page and saw a long and messy essay. It seemed to be a message left specifically for others. This was the last thing Ye Lanzhou left on this world.
Lowering his head, Ye Qingxuan read through it silently.
-
To Whomever It May Concern,
When you see this, it will already be irrevocable.
Firstly, I thank the Sacred City for giving a wanderer like me such trust. I am truly sorry for betraying this trust.
If everything is successful, the result will be as everyone has witnessed. Yes, I personally released Hecatoncheir.
Hermes was right. If we were truly searching for a good ending, this experiment should never have existed in the first place. I stepped into this forbidden territory due to my curiosity and thus disc
overed revolting secrets.
Therefore, I spent the last few days thinking if the goal of the experiment truly is as pure and glorious as we had thought.
No matter what, it must be stopped.
I should have guessed that, whether it is the East or West, it is the same everywhere.
I hope that I can destroy the horrible result born from the experiment in time. Hopefully, my actions can serve as a warning and make you all more clearheaded. Please rethink your actions.
Compared to the world, humanity is so insignificant yet how can we commit such atrocities?
Perhaps, we should have never come to this world.
This world belongs to them.
446 For the F*cking World
There were no more words.
These were Ye Lanzhou’s last notes and his last essay.
For this world, for morals, to save the world, or for other sublime things…but he never mentioned his wife and son.
“It really…is you…” After a long, long while, Ye Qingxuan closed the notebook quietly. “It really is you.” Under the dim light, he leaned back in the carriage seat and closed his eyes weakly.
“This world?”
You did everything for this world?
Silently, aether crumbled the notebook. The pieces fluttered to the ground like snow. In the ripples of the furious music theory, wild aftershocks of the disturbance nature spread.
The white snow burned and faint sparks floated down, disappearing from the world.
Ye Qingxuan stared at the pile of ashes and murmured, “F*ck the world!”
-
A long time ago, Ye Qingxuan heard a joke: a farmer’s wife bought a basket of eggs in the city. Because she was pretty, a group of thugs on the way teased her, wanting to drag her into the forest. The woman refused and used immense strength to fight them off. The thugs were intimidated by her power and knelt down in humiliation. They admitted their ulterior motive and begged for forgiveness.
“That’s it?” The woman dusted herself in disdain. She said, “I thought you wanted to steal my eggs.”
All these years, Ye Qingxuan wandered through the world with no home to return to. He had lost so many things. He loved his mother and hated Ye Lanzhou. But he always thought that Ye Lanzhou had unspeakable troubles.
He must have had a reason for what he did.
Maybe he had tried to protect his family. Maybe he wanted to escape from the fate of the Ye family’s Dragon Bloodline or was tricked by Hyakume. Or maybe he had some inexplicable secret… So he had to do what he did.
Ye Qingxuan had made so many excuses for him in his mind. But then Ye Lanzhou told him he did all this for the eggs.
What a joke.
Ye Qingxuan thought furiously, F*ck your eggs. F*ck Ye Lanzhou!
This world was so cold and ugly. It seemed to always be snowing while he walked barefoot. He could feel the bone-numbing cold with each step. There were many people who should be more inclined to love it, protect it, or sacrifice something for it. But even if the first one hundred people were dead, it would not fall upon him.
He loved the world but the world did not love him.
Such irony.
Such pity.
Ye Qingxuan thought his life was as laughable as a joke. He had used more than ten years to come here. He found the truth, only to discover that Ye Lanzhou had just wanted to be a nameless hero.
Okay, go be your nameless hero. Go sacrifice yourself gloriously where no one knows.
For some reason, Ye Qingxuan suddenly wanted to return to Lute. Perhaps, he should have inherited the priest’s position in the beginning and spent the rest of his life in that small seaside village. He could be a respectful priest without any troubles.
Lowering his head, he caressed the holy emblem. He missed his professor, he missed Bai Xi and Charles, and he even missed Old Phil.
He finally decided that when this was all done, he would leave. From then on, he would have nothing to do with this weird duke title, this surname, and the hero who had abandoned his wife and son.
The carriage stopped. Ye Qingxuan pushed open the door.
“Thanks, Wolf Flute. I owe you.” He turned to bid farewell.
Wolf Flute looked at his tired expression and shook his head. “I should have let you know earlier.”
“There’s nothing you should or shouldn’t have done. You’ve done enough for me.” Ye Qingxuan rubbed his forehead. “I’m a little tired. I won’t go tomorrow.”
Wolf Flute was taken aback but he quickly smiled. “Congrats. When you wake up, you’d probably be a true Disturbance level musician.”
“Wolf Flute…” The youth looked at him with troubled eyes.
“Huh?” The other was confused.
“The tragedy of my life all started with aether.” Ye Qingxuan laughed at himself. “Lola was right. If I had other choices, I wouldn’t choose to become a musician.” In the cold wind of the night, the youth turned and left.
Wolf Flute watched as his figure walked into the embassy and disappeared inside. For some reason, he suddenly thought of the youth back then. The white-haired youth had smiled and walked into the hot sunlight, stepping onto the path to his future. The scene was right before his eyes was as if it was not too long ago.
He lowered his head and sighed. Lighting his last cigarette, he exhaled his sense of loss with the smoke. “Little Yezi, seems like you’ve really grown up.”
-
Under the same night sky, Charles opened the window. Cold wind blew in. He yawned into his palm and rubbed his hands. He shivered under the cold breeze. His fatigue gradually disappeared. It was four o’clock. After a few hours, the sky would lighten. After laying low for so long, they had finally moved from the crappy warehouse to an inn. However, it was only Constantine and Charles. The others had all been secretly arranged to leave the Sacred City and go by sea to the New Colony.
Only the two of them remained in the Sacred City.
The accommodation was good. This building was furnished well and they lacked nothing. They had meat for every meal and had more than enough bread. However, they were still being ‘protected.’
The Revolutionaries seemed to still be distrustful of Constantine whom they had rescued. Even after countless rounds of investigation, they still didn’t tell him the Revolutionaries’ new location in the Sacred City. As his secretary and follower, Charles naturally had to go through investigations too.
The Winter Festival was getting closer every day. There was only half a month left but he still made no progress. Constantine and Gaius only communicated with a few letters. Because Constantine had vision problems, Charles had to read the letters out loud for him. However, they never talked about anything important. They probably knew that communicating through letters could not solve any problems. Constantine had always been against Gaius’s actions in the Sacred City, even if the man had saved him from prison.
On the other hand, Gaius’s attitude grew colder and colder. In the last letter, there was a feeling of ‘you’re on your own now’ with a bad premonition.
Thinking of this, Gaius sighed. His expression grew troubled. The bedroom door behind him opened.
“Charles?” Constantine took off his glasses and looked over. “You haven’t slept yet?”
“I woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep. I opened the window to get a breath of air.” He asked, “Did I wake you up?”
“As you age, you become a lighter sleeper.” Constantine tossed a book onto the table. “I read for a while but still couldn’t fall asleep. I realized you weren’t sleeping either so I came to ask if you want to drink.”
“Sure.” Charles shut the window and grabbed a bottle from the cabinet. He prepared everything. There was an ice tray in the kitchen. After pouring in clean water, Charles shook it slightly and there was the sound of ice forming.
“All set?” Glancing at his relaxed actions, Constantine looked a bit envious. “No matter how many times I see it, I still think musi
cians are quite useful.”
“I’m not even a musician. This is just a small trick.” Charles smiled helplessly. “When I was little, my teacher would use this trick to play with me. After I grew up, I realized that the biggest use for this is to make shaved ice for myself.”
“Then, let’s drink to the powerful musicians.” Constantine raised his glass and they drank bottoms up. They talked about many different topics. Talking with Constantine was interesting. One always had a good time.
After a few glasses, Charles grew happy. He wanted to talk about the happy days of getting drunk in Avalon and running around nude. But then he shuddered. He had a different identity now. If he got drunk and ran out of habit… It was one thing to get mistaken as a pervert but it was also cold out. He could catch a cold from running nude!
His mind instantly cleared.
“Mr. Constantine.” After hesitating, he could not help but ask, “What is…the general like?”
“The general?” Constantine thought for a while and laughed. “You mean Gaius?”
“Yeah.” Charles nodded and explained, “Uh, didn’t you say we’ll go meet the general in a few days? You know me. I want to get some facts straight so I don’t say the wrong thing.”
Seeming to understand something, Constantine chuckled. “You’re scared I won’t take you?”
Charles scratched his head awkwardly.
“It’s not that much of a secret, actually. Everyone has already witnessed Gaius’s actions,” Constantine said lightly. “However, most people just think he’s crazy. I do too.”
Charles froze. He did not expect to get this comment from Constantine. He had thought that after interacting for a decade, Gaius and Constantine had mutual trust and worked together well. He did not expect that in Constantine’s eyes, the Revolutionaries’ general that caused so many sleepless nights, the worst criminal in the world, was just a crazy man.
“Perhaps Gaius was once the most clear-headed man in the world.” Constantine laughed and downed a glass. “But how much sanity could remain after he was forced onto a hopeless path time and time again by the thing he believed in strongly?”