People all over the world rose to offer fervent applause once again to the girl at the center of the stage, like fleeting starlight in the dark night, surging forth in that instant.
No one noticed that the girl's hands were already clenched from pain. Tang Xin, her face pale, slowly lifted her skirt, curtsying once more to the stage below.
The girl had forcibly used gentle currents to cut open her long-damaged vocal cords, performing a healing spell. This healing was like draining a pond to catch fish, extremely short-lived like a firefly, and equally painful. The girl had almost overdrafted her future, yet stubbornly finished the song.
This was the song she wrote for all the ordinary people of the Star of Art.
It was also her final confession to the blonde girl.
It represented her resolve and many words she hadn't had the chance to say.
Gradually, the sparse applause in the audience weakened, and the scattered lights dimmed. The dignitaries subtly sensed something was amiss, turning their gazes with the girl towards the several figures in the judges' seats.
Belvedere sat behind a long table carved from ebony, his eye sockets seeming to sink even deeper. Beside him, Zeal, who had been enthusiastically applauding moments before, realized the sudden heavy atmosphere and shrank his shoulders, stopping his applause.
As an elder representing the Withered-Flower family from the Starry Gallery, he understood the principle of adapting to circumstances better than anyone.
Even if his face showed no expression, he was certain that the old vampire beside him was enraged. The slow flow of blood made these long-lived beings inscrutable in their emotions.
Who had dared to challenge the dignity of this old vampire, and at the Starry Art Academy, no less? Didn't they know this was his lair? Challenging him right under his nose—were they tired of living?
Zeal couldn't imagine, when suddenly, he noticed Belvedere's deeply sunken gaze had never once left the girl named Tang Xin.
He suddenly thought of something, and a terrifying guess rose in his heart: Could it be the song that the Starry Daughter sang earlier?
"Ayin, she is your adopted daughter, isn't that right?" Belvedere asked slowly.
Ayin, seated in the Winter family's box, suddenly felt immense pressure. He quickly lowered his head: "I failed to discipline her properly."
At the same time, a surge of emotion rose in Ayin's heart. He hadn't expected that her urgency to spread her influence across the city these past few days was for such a crazy act...
Ayin silently prayed that his daughter wouldn't do anything foolish and would simply withdraw from this stage.
The people present were filled with doubt, and for a moment, the opera house was so quiet that only scattered murmurs could be heard.
One must know that after a contestant performed, it was time for the judges to score. They were still looking forward to what kind of evaluation the principal would give.
[: The champion of this Starry Art Competition is definitely Sevia, no doubt about it.]
[: Almost all the seeded contestants with championship potential withdrew this year. The previous few contestants performed so poorly, who else could the champion be? L: Even if those seeded contestants were still here? The highest score would definitely go to the Starry Daughter. She has already conquered my heart with her song.]
[: I already see a universal superstar rising! After the competition, she will surely be like Ms. Marilynn!]
Meanwhile, in a small private box directly opposite the judges' seats, great artists sitting around a fine celadon redwood table all wore solemn expressions, staring at each other with wide eyes.
No one knew whether to break the silence at this moment.
After a relatively long and anxious period, the girl on stage finally spoke.
"Everyone, don't you feel that this city is sick?"
A slightly hoarse voice echoed through the dark stage, clearly reaching everyone's ears, whether they were the ordinary people behind the curtains, the students rehearsing for the year-end academy gala, or dignitaries from all over the world.
The dignitaries near the judges' seats were as silent as cicadas in winter, unanimously looking towards Belvedere, who sat at the center, silently praying that the old vampire wouldn't notice them at this moment.
"Don't you find it strange?"
"When did we in this city all become lonely individuals, indifferent to everything around us?"
"Rising to salute a tragedy on stage, yet ignoring the tragedies happening around us?"
"Stop, Miss Sevia." The student council member responsible for hosting immediately turned pale. Just as he was about to go on stage to stop the girl, someone pulled him back from below the stage, submerging him in the crowd.
Almost the instant Tang Xin uttered these words, paparazzi from major media outlets scrambled to record. Their intuition told them that what was about to happen would surely become tomorrow's big news!
In a flash, the blue-haired girl became the focal point of countless recording devices, with golden light sequins glittering around her. At this moment, nearly ten thousand people in this grand theater shared the same thought, a silent understanding passing between them.
Regardless of whether the girl truly became the champion of this Starry Competition, her name would surely be remembered by all.
And her fate,
would certainly be tragic.
"What's wrong with Senior Sevia?"
"She was performing so well just now, why suddenly..."
Inside the opera club, the students rehearsing stopped their movements. The club members looked at each other. The lead role in The Last Queen and Her Knights of the Round Table had already been recast twice. The black-haired girl playing "Lancelot" untied her ponytail and, under everyone's gaze, walked to the club door.
"Hey, Lin Yaqing, where are you going? We haven't finished rehearsing!"
Lin Yaqing turned back, her eyes as still as stagnant water.
"Revenge."
"When did this city become like this?"
"Since the full implementation of the orphanage system." Tang Xin's gaze swept over everyone in the audience. "Or was it from the moment this city was truly named the Star of Art, that the pathological seed was deeply buried in the ice and snow?"
"Search your hearts, everyone, do you truly love art?"
Upon hearing this, even the most ordinary office workers in the subway station understood what the girl intended to do, opening their eyes wide in surprise.
"Are you truly passionate about creation?"
"Or does it only bring you internal struggle and pain, to the point where merely seeing these two words makes you feel a deep aversion?"
"To cater to the rules, frameworks, and order of this society, you constantly humble yourselves, deliberately flattering art, even if it means getting bruised and battered, just to prove to others that you are not an anomaly, so as not to be rejected by society."
"But what if, from the very beginning, it was society itself that was pathological?"
"Art is noble, beyond question, Sevia, do you really know what you're saying!" Someone loudly retorted. "Get off the stage at once!"
"Stop, we are all blessed by the Stars, with endless inspiration, of course we love art." Someone pleaded. "The Lord of the Stars gazes equally upon all of us."
"If that's the case, then why do the news reports every day broadcast new incidents of the depleted harming people?" Tang Xin's voice rose in question.
"Why do ‘The Artist’ emerge from people's creations?"
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