"This is nothing much. I thought you'd posted something really strange on social media,"
Xu Xiaoyou said casually as she flipped through the videos on the Curtain.
Tang Xin shifted her shoulders awkwardly, remaining silent.
Xu Xiaoyou didn't notice, but the girl was biting her lip so hard it almost bled.
Having such things discovered by others was indeed quite embarrassing; it felt like her private space was being pried into.
Tang Xin didn't have many followers—only about a hundred in total. Her social media handle was Tang Xin Little Blue Bird, the same as her account name on the Curtain.
From three years ago until today, the young girl had posted hundreds of videos on this social account. They were all records of her daily life, such as learning a new tune, mastering a new dance step, or finishing a new painting.
She could play many instruments: piano, guitar, violin, and various wind instruments.
However, most of the videos featured the bass. Clicking into them, one would see Tang Xin sitting on a bed under the quiet moonlight, with a bedside lamp lit, plucking the strings of the bass in her hands and softly humming a melody.
Xu Xiaoyou noticed that whenever Tang Xin began to play these instruments, her entire being seemed to enter a different state. Her temperament underwent a world-shaking change; her gaze became focused and serious, as if she were treating something sacred.
"The guitar playing isn't bad," Xu Xiaoyou nodded.
"That's a bass..."
"Is this guitar called a bass?"
"Enough, stop with the bass jokes." Tang Xin was helpless.
"Actually, overall, everything is quite good. You're just really bad at managing your social media account—only a hundred followers in three years."
"I even lost one last month," Tang Xin said gloomily.
"Then I'll make up for it."
Xu Xiaoyou clicked 'follow,' and the follower count for Tang Xin Little Blue Bird ticked up by one.
"Now it doesn't feel like a piece is missing, right?"
"Thank you," Tang Xin said softly.
"But as for talent or anything like that, I still don't have it. You're not a local of the Star of Art, are you?"
"You could tell?"
"Yeah. People like us can hear a lot just from a simple melody." Tang Xin sat on the bed, her hand gently smoothing the wrinkles in the sheet. "Whether someone has talent or not can be heard instantly."
"Like me, I'm just one of those idiots with no talent who can only rely on constant practice to bridge the gap with others."
"I guess I'm just a layman then." Xu Xiaoyou spread her hands, then thought of something. "Wait, don't tell me everyone here has to learn these things."
As if hearing a very strange statement, Tang Xin gave her a weird look:
"What else would we do?"
"Huh?" Xu Xiaoyou frowned. "It's not like you have to follow the path of art. For example, you could move bricks, or like your previous part-time job, be an apprentice. You could do manual labor. There are so many choices in life..."
"Shh, shh, shh."
Tang Xin hurried to place her index finger over her lips.
"If a tuner hears those words, you'll be in big trouble!"
Xu Xiaoyou fell silent.
Tang Xin sat on the bed with her legs pulled together, her chin resting on her knees. Her long blue hair draped over her shoulders, and the dim light in the room danced in her eyes.
"Actually, I've wondered too... why everyone became like this, and when it started..." She suddenly thought of the man she had seen in front of the bakery. Why on earth was he playing that guitar?
For a dream? But she clearly only saw pain in his eyes.
"It's like everyone is on a path chasing a dream, yet everyone is running unwillingly, as if being chased by some monster. If we stop, we'll be eaten."
"A dream... shouldn't it be something beautiful, something filled with hope?"
"It seems it's been this way from the very beginning."
"Most people grow up in the city's orphanages. The nursery teachers there are very strict with us."
"They tell us we should learn to play instruments, learn how to hold a paintbrush, learn how to support our entire body weight on our tiptoes."
Xu Xiaoyou was stunned.
"Wait, what do you mean by 'most people'?"
"The orphanage system. It's a mandatory question on the final big essay every year. For example, the necessity of the orphanage system for the Star of Art, its role in driving other social systems, its importance to economic development, and so on."
"Most people here never see their parents even once in their lives. They are sent to the orphanage as soon as they are born, grow into adults, and then enter society. You clearly knew this, right?" Tang Xin tilted her head slightly.
"You asked me questions about this before, didn't you?"
Xu Xiaoyou remained silent.
She knew about the orphanage system of the Star of Art. It was a system introduced after Principal Belvedere took office, created to implement artistic ideals and pursue the ultimate path of art.
With the full implementation of the orphanage system, under this education where every citizen was an artist, the economy of the Star of Art once flourished to the extreme, becoming the most radiant star under the universe. Various art industries thrived; the frequency of oil paintings, sculptures, architecture, musical compositions, and literary works being released increased by several, even dozens of times compared to the past.
In the past twenty years, the number of great artworks worthy of being recorded in textbooks exceeded the total of the previous century.
Some joked that this world of ice and snow never lacked great artists, because every snowflake that fell here was blessed by the stars, turning into inspiration that landed on people's heads.
Undoubtedly, from any external perspective, this was an incredibly correct system that greatly promoted the development of the Star of Art.
"I asked about 'most people'," Xu Xiaoyou said in a low voice. "What about the minority?"
"The families." Tang Xin's gaze dimmed.
"The three major families behind the board of directors, and the two families within Universal Heavy Industries—Winter and Withered Flower."
"The children of those families receive elite education within their families from a young age. Each one is a chosen child of heaven. We ordinary people generally don't have contact with them."
When she said 'ordinary people,' Tang Xin intentionally or unintentionally emphasized the words, as if highlighting them.
"That's quite the double standard."
Just then, an emergency news broadcast began to play on Xu Xiaoyou's Curtain.
"Interrupting with an urgent news report. The terrorist who launched the attack at Belvedere West Plaza has just been discovered by tuners. Let's turn our camera to the brave warriors contributing to the city's security."
In the footage, charred marks were everywhere. In front of the stock exchange, which had been reduced to ruins, a dense crowd of security personnel had blockaded the street, sealing it off completely.
A man wearing a brownish-gray trench coat, his face covered in dust, was emerging under the warnings of two tuners, shaking the dust off his body.
The moment she saw the man, Xu Xiaoyou's mind went blank with a buzz.
Two days ago, she had seen this man.
Right in front of the stock exchange.
Her impression was very deep; he had been carrying a briefcase at the time.
He blew up the entire stock exchange!?
That meant at least hundreds of people had lost their lives in this terrorist attack.
And she had walked right past him.
Something this major had seen no movement on the Curtain for two whole days. After doing all this, the man hadn't even fled; he had hidden in the ruins for two days before being found by the tuners.
The man smiled. The wailing of a hundred lives was to him nothing more than a beautiful melody. He slowly walked toward the two tuners.
"As we can see, the terrorist is currently in a standoff with the tuners," the reporter continued, a siren blaring in the background.
"Put your hands up!!" a tuner roared, as if facing a formidable enemy. He raised his scepter, a sharp spearhead extending from the tip. "Don't take another step forward! This is your final warning!!"
The other tuner also gripped his weapon tightly, his tensed finger resting on a golden crossbow. As long as he pulled the trigger, an arrow of punishment carrying the power of a thousand thunders would shatter the man's head.
The man was composed, while the two tuners were highly strung. Looking at the standoff, it was as if the man were the officer about to capture a fugitive, the hunter in this game of cat and mouse.
The man's perpetually squinted eyes opened. They were dim, lightless eyes, different from what Xu Xiaoyou had seen two days ago; all color had vanished from them.
He raised both hands.
In the split second the two tuners relaxed their nerves, he broke into a twisted smile.
"You are not the maintainers of order. We are."
"Shut your mouth!!" the tuner roared.
"You are not the practitioners of art. We are."
The man spread his arms, and a brilliant light lit up beneath his skin.
"Welcome to the world of suffering. Welcome to—the Ascetic Sect!"
The two tuners wanted to fire their weapons, but it was already too late. Scorching energy erupted from the man's throat, sweeping across the world!
Boom!
In the deafening explosion,
the entire block was leveled to the ground.
Rate on N.U.
