Splash, splash, splash...
Splash, splash, splash...
The sound of flowing water was constant. The vase held in the hands of the humanoid statue sprayed spring water ceaselessly.
Lin Ye and Mai Sakurajima walked in with light steps. The soft music continued to echo, but the rhythm began to slowly change from smooth to something containing a trace of agitation.
Thump, thump...
Heartbeats accelerated slightly.
Lin Ye carefully observed the surrounding environment. Up until now, no existence suspected to be a Strange entity had appeared.
"Senpai, you stay here. I'll go over and take a look."
When they were ten meters away from the fountain statue, Lin Ye signaled Mai Sakurajima to stop at this temporarily safe position.
The girl with long black hair stopped her steps. "Pay attention to safety," she stared at Lin Ye and exhorted.
He was always the one attempting dangerous things alone. Mai Sakurajima wanted to help very much, but alas, her ability was limited. Facing Strange events and Strange entities, she didn't have much experience and didn't know how to help better. Right now, not causing trouble for Lin Ye was the greatest help to him.
After Lin Ye raised his hand to indicate there was no problem, he walked step by step carefully toward the direction of the statue.
Crisp footsteps rang out rhythmically.
Lin Ye remained attentive to the surrounding situation, but until he walked to the side of the statue, he didn't welcome any sudden changes.
"Will there be changes after contact?"
Lin Ye didn't make direct contact immediately. He tested it through the fabric of his clothes, and no signs of danger like infection appeared.
The next moment, he chose to make direct contact. The pads of his fingers pressed against the cold outer skin of the statue. Hard, cool; it was just a stone, not much difference.
This made the thought he had prepared—to immediately eat Dazzle Chewing Gum to resist Strange erosion once he suffered Strange infection—useless.
Lin Ye walked two circles around the statue. Several touches didn't attract any changes either. He jumped up to look at the situation on the upper part of the statue but didn't discover any relatively special places.
The humanoid statue still stood there quietly, the spring water gushing and splashing constantly.
Splash, splash...
Splash, splash...
The agitated background sound slowly turned peaceful, then became low and deep.
The gushing spring water also slowed down all of a sudden, becoming limp and losing its impact force.
In this instant, Lin Ye only felt his emotions become low and depressed. His slightly fast heartbeat also gradually slowed down. Even his thinking train of thought seemed to have become slow, entering a stagnant state.
"The background music has a problem."
It had an influence on human emotions.
Lin Ye grit his teeth, the slight stinging pain reminding his brain. He took out the Dazzle Chewing Gum he had prepared long ago and immediately stuffed it into his mouth.
A coolness quickly diffused in his mouth. The low and depressed emotions were reduced by more than half, though threads still lingered in his heart, teasing him, making one unable to lift their spirits.
"Senpai, eat the chewing gum."
But at this time, Mai Sakurajima had already sat on the ground with a plop. Her beautiful cheeks were sorrowful, her beautiful pupils dim, and crystal tears flowed constantly from the corners of her eyes.
"Someone like me..."
"It's best if I disappear..."
Soft whispers of resentment emerged. Lin Ye only felt that in that instant, the figure of the girl in his field of vision flickered for a moment.
Illusion? Impossible.
"No one cares about me, I really am..."
Swish, swish! Like a strobe light, Mai Sakurajima's figure vanished in a flash and appeared again quickly, residing in an abnormal state.
Lin Ye made a judgment very quickly.
"Senpai, eat the chewing gum."
He lifted his legs and strode toward the girl. Squatting down, he took out a piece of chewing gum. He couldn't care whether the action was elegant or appropriate; holding the chewing gum with his fingers, he stuffed it directly into the girl's mouth.
"Bite it."
He held the girl's chin, forcing the girl to make a chewing motion.
Very quickly, Lin Ye saw Mai Sakurajima recover a trace of clarity.
"Student Lin..."
She looked at the man in front of her, the events that just happened emerging in her mind. The tip of her tongue still had the residual tactile sensation. She flushed red; from childhood to adulthood, when had she ever had such a thing happen with a man!
"The sound affects emotions."
"Mn."
She knew.
The moment the music changed from agitated to low just now, she inexplicably felt uncomfortable and down. Sad things that happened in the past constantly emerged in her brain, causing her to only want to cry, only want to weep.
And now, that touch of sorrowful emotion still lingered in her chest, overflowing with bitter emotions. If not for this piece of chewing gum, she felt she might have gloomily wanted to commit suicide.
"Is there a way to resolve it?"
"I'll try and see."
Lin Ye had an idea.
Cough, cough, cough.
He coughed once, and subsequently began to sing loudly.
A military song. A passionate and surging military song.
The school taught quite a few songs, and military songs were the ones he still had an impression of and could still sing now.
Mighty and majestic, fiery and burning, high-spirited and forging ahead.
The bold and unconstrained military song echoed constantly.
The lingering background sound had already been replaced by the majestic military song.
The powerless fountain also gained a channel of strength, the spraying intensity becoming more vigorous and powerful.
Splash, splash... Whoosh, whoosh... The spring water streamed and flew.
In this moment, Lin Ye felt his whole body burning. Emotions surged constantly; the low mood had long disappeared cleanly, replaced by flying enthusiasm.
The military song was resonant, singing with passion. The gloomy and cold environment seemed to gain a touch of burning flame, radiating heat, bursting with fiery red.
Mai Sakurajima heard it in her ears, surging in her heart.
That wasn't a Japanese song; that was a Xia Country song. But the passionate and surging melody also caused her inner heart to fly and forge ahead along with it, holding her head high to advance.
Music has no boundaries.
In this moment, she experienced it. That trace of sorrow remaining in her heart also disappeared cleanly.
Unknown when it started, the low background sound had already disappeared.
When Lin Ye finished singing this military song, the fiery atmosphere didn't diminish, and the flowing water of the fountain was still flying wantonly.
Lin Ye gazed all around but didn't discover any new changes.
"Method is incorrect?"
No, impossible.
If the method was incorrect, the depressed background sound couldn't have disappeared. His emotions also couldn't have returned to normal.
Lin Ye further verified his conjecture from Mai Sakurajima's current state.
"What is still missing..."
Lin Ye pursed his lips in deep thought. What exactly was still missing?
Mai Sakurajima came to Lin Ye's side. Looking at the man's frowning, deep-in-thought appearance, she moved her red lips lightly to inquire, "Student Lin, speak up. Perhaps I can think of a train of thought you haven't considered."
Lin Ye thought about it and felt the girl made sense. "It's like this. The music is related to the fountain, influencing our emotions and the Strange erosion. But now that the background sound has disappeared because of my military song, why hasn't there been a greater change like imagined?"
Mai Sakurajima touched her own chin, recalling Lin Ye's singing voice just now. "Can I speak about my thoughts on your singing, Lin-kun?"
"Speak."
Lin Ye said immediately.
"Very inspiring, making one's mood burn, but..."
She looked at Lin Ye and said, "I couldn't understand it."
Lin Ye was stunned.
Holy crap.
It really was that!
Couldn't understand. Here is Japan! Naturally, it should generate a connection with Japanese culture. This Strange entity probably couldn't understand Xia Country songs!
Although hard to imagine, it could be explained.
"Senpai, sing!"
Lin Ye patted Mai Sakurajima's shoulder, raising a hearty smile. "It's time for your singing performance, Senpai."
"I am an actress, not an idol."
Mai Sakurajima sighed lightly and said.
Lin Ye's smile froze.
There was still a difference in industry fields between idols and stars. Idols focused on dance and singing, while stars focused on acting. But generally speaking, stars would also sing, right!
"I definitely won't sing as well as Student Hoshino."
"Senpai, I believe in you. You can do it. You are Mai Sakurajima after all."
"I always feel you're adding some baffling labels to Mai Sakurajima."
Mai Sakurajima's eyes gazed at Lin Ye, and she pursed her lips.
Although she didn't sing that well, a necessary attempt was still needed.
The girl with long black hair cleared her throat and adjusted her state. Very quickly, a gentle singing voice rang out, "Rainbow After the Rain."
"..."
"..."
The fountain's clear water changed along with it.
Sometimes bursting forth, sometimes gentle.
The moonlight at this time was coldly beautiful. The permeating water vapor overflowed with bits of luster.
Bathed behind the flickering luster, Mai Sakurajima's red lips moved lightly. The pleasant singing voice sang constantly, the timbre moving, crisp like a silver bell.
Under the night curtain, the girl with long black hair became the center of this moment.
Lin Ye appreciated it, listened to it.
This wasn't pleasant to hear? Liar.
This singing voice, even a layman like him knew it was very pleasant to hear. Good listening is simply good listening.
Rustle!
A sound of slight abnormal movement rang out. Although covered by Mai Sakurajima's singing voice, Lin Ye still heard it.
He looked over with a glance.
That was on a small tree beside the fountain. Under the cover of layers of green leaves, it seemed to block the figure's owner.
But, Lin Ye had perspective.
Skill: perspective, activate.
In the blink of an eye, the figure under the cover of green leaves entered his field of vision.
A bird.
A bird with pale yellow feathers and red eyes. In terms of appearance, Lin Ye judged it to be a Lark.
That was a bird with the reputation of 'Singer among Birds'. Its voice was crisp, its charm mild, its loud sound resonant.
Lin Ye remembered seeing it at the place where they played chess. At that time, Lin Ye didn't think much of it because old people walking birds and teasing birds was too normal a thing.
But now that this Lark appeared here, it had to make people suspicious.
Could it be... the owner of the ethereal voice is it?
But the mission said female voice. Did a female voice mandate it must be a human?
This wasn't certain either.
Several guesses emerged; Lin Ye let his imagination run wild.
However, he didn't mobilize immediately, but silently waited for the timing for further judgment.
One minute later, Mai Sakurajima finished a song.
"Hoo..."
From the initial nervousness to the wholehearted devotion afterwards, Mai Sakurajima had also done her best. She reviewed it herself; she had sung her most perfect rendition.
"Senpai, very pleasant to hear."
Lin Ye gave a thumbs up.
"Thank you."
But Mai Sakurajima cared more about the changes in the surroundings. Did they pass this fountain's assessment?
She gazed, only to discover the fountain didn't have any changes.
"Sorry."
Mai Sakurajima's words were apologetic.
But the next instant, the humanoid statue emitted a blue-white light. The spring water in the vase gushed out, rushing straight to the sky. Whoosh... The scattered spring water fell constantly like rain.
"%...￥￥%￥..."
That ethereal voice rang out once again.
But unlike the timbre that possessed considerable bewitching and hypnotic effects in the past, this time, neither Lin Ye nor Mai Sakurajima suffered influence.
"Found it."
"Where is it?"
Mai Sakurajima inquired immediately. That voice came from all directions; she couldn't distinguish the position at all.
"Wait for my good news! Senpai."
Lin Ye made Mai Sakurajima look forward to it. According to what Lin Ye said, as long as they found the owner of that ethereal voice, they could leave this Strange Chiba Park and return to real society.
He immediately took out a pebble from the spring water, clenched his right hand, turned around, and threw it toward one side.
Thump!
Leaves rustled.
A Lark flapped its wings and flew out.
"...&￥%..."
It seemed to be singing, but also cursing.
"It's it."
That voice, there couldn't be a mistake. Mai Sakurajima heard it.
"It is the owner of that voice."
"Student Lin, does this count as finding it?"
"Not entirely. We still need to catch it. At least touching it counts."
But this difficulty seemed very, very hard in Mai Sakurajima's view.
A bird could fly in the air. They basically had no good method to contact that Lark.
"U^%&*$%$..."
It chirped and twittered; the pleasant and ethereal voice spread constantly along the air.
The spring water of the fountain changed, gathering together and rushing toward Lin Ye.
Lin Ye dodged with a step.
The next stream came. It was targeting him alone.
"Senpai, sing."
Lin Ye shouted loudly and began to run.
Phew... Phew...
Accompanied by the pleasant voice, streams of the fountain flew out one by one. Even the many small holes on the ground surged with constant small water columns.
Mai Sakurajima wasn't attacked. She immediately opened her singing voice and began to sing.
In just three seconds, the Lark's attention concentrated on Mai Sakurajima's body. Lin Ye was quickly forgotten in the corner.
"Silent night..."
This time, Mai Sakurajima chose a song that made one feel relaxed and happy, calm and peaceful.
Just as she thought, the agitated and angry Lark gradually calmed down.
It flapped its wings and flew a circle, finally staying on Mai Sakurajima's shoulder.
Feeling the weight coming from her shoulder, Mai Sakurajima once wanted to take action to grab this Lark, but when she sought Lin Ye's opinion, what she saw was Lin Ye shaking his head.
This made Mai Sakurajima endure and continue to focus on singing.
Lin Ye didn't rush to act.
He was waiting for the moment Mai Sakurajima finished singing this song.
Finally, two minutes later, Mai Sakurajima finished her emotional singing.
The Lark seemed not to have recovered from this singing voice yet.
And Lin Ye...
"Time Stop, activate."
He crossed the distance of twenty meters, coming to Mai Sakurajima's side unbeknownst to gods or ghosts. The hand rope was used by him to tie up this already very small Lark in a flower-pattern bind.
Just in case. In case this little guy had some special move that caused him to be unable to hold it just by grabbing with his hand!
The twenty seconds of time passed very quickly.
Time resumed flowing.
Mai Sakurajima noticed the man appearing by her side out of the corner of her eye.
"%...￥%...&￥%..."
The Lark, revealing only a head, chirped and shouted ceaselessly. The peculiar ethereal voice even caused considerable impact force.
But Lin Ye was prepared long ago and was already chewing Dazzle Chewing Gum. The Strange erosion's influence on him at this time was very small.
Slap...
"Don't yell."
Lin Ye slapped it once.
"...&%%..."
It still yelled ceaselessly. It tried to flap its wings, pecking with its beak, but it had no method against the rope transformed from the hand rope.
"Student Lin, you're really fast."
Mai Sakurajima exclaimed in admiration.
In the blink of an eye, he had captured this Lark.
"Cough cough, Senpai, you can't say a man is fast."
"Mn?"
Mai Sakurajima slowly typed out a question mark. After a short while, she reacted.
"Pervert."
Improper. Occasionally he just liked to be improper.
What puzzled Lin Ye at this time was why the Strange Game still hadn't sent the mission completion notification.
'Find the female voice main body'.
He had already caught this Lark; could it be it still didn't count? The female voice main body was something else?
Or was it that leaving the Strange Chiba Park was required for it to count?
Lin Ye thought for a circle and believed the latter was incorrect. The mission completion conditions had no relation to whether one left Strange Chiba Park.
He looked at this Lark, thinking about what other possibilities there were.
"Student Lin, is it not it?"
"No."
"Then could it be someone's pet?"
Lin Ye had also thought of this possibility.
"Take us to find your master."
But the Lark chirped and twittered, having absolutely no intention of agreeing with Lin Ye.
"If you don't take us to find your master, I'll pluck all your feathers and turn you into a naked chicken."
The Lark: ???
"I'm starting."
Lin Ye grabbed a bird feather of the Lark with one finger.
Seeing the Lark unmoved, he pulled it out with a swish.
"T%^&$^..."
The Lark shouted wildly for a spell, screaming endlessly in pain, but at this time it completely didn't have the intention to lead the way.
It wasn't that it didn't sing, but every time it attempted to open its mouth to sing and cause the fountain to rise, its mouth was gripped by Lin Ye, making it unable to shout out, to the point that finally, the Lark didn't even struggle.
Mai Sakurajima watched Lin Ye pluck the Lark's feathers one by one. Every sound of pulling made her palpitate, her scalp going a bit numb.
She had also experienced the stinging pain of hair being pulled out, but compared to the feeling of this Lark having bird feathers plucked, it should be unknown how many pain levels lower.
Rip!
In the end, the Lark was stark naked.
Lin Ye almost laughed looking at it, nearly laughing out loud. But similarly, he also expressed admiration for this Lark's backbone. It was tough and truly didn't speak, without a shred of compromise.
Actually, besides forcing this Lark, Lin Ye was also using it to draw out that possible 'true body of the ethereal female voice'. But until now, until the Lark turned into a naked chicken, it didn't appear.
Could it be that the main body didn't care about this Lark that could imitate voices?
"&￥&..."
A bout of cursing. This naked bird looked at its own beautiful feathers scattered on the ground, almost hating with eyes full of anger.
But as soon as it saw Lin Ye raise his hand, it immediately shrank back trembling.
"If you still don't want to speak, I can only turn you into a roast chicken."
"..."
This Lark feared not death.
"This unafraid of death?"
It was motionless.
Feathers were gone, what was there to fear about death!
"Student Lin, should we look around the surroundings?"
After this Lark was caught, the surrounding environment didn't change too much, and Lin Ye didn't feel increased Strange erosion, indicating this Lark was indeed related to the music in the musical fountain and related to the Strange rules of this place.
It was just, where was that main body?
Up until now, the voice of that 'ethereal female voice's main body' hadn't appeared again. This once made Lin Ye feel whether that ethereal female voice had disappeared just like that.
"Okay, let's look around."
Lin Ye took this bird and walked a circle together with Mai Sakurajima.
They couldn't walk out to the remote areas; an invisible wall locked them here.
They searched for five minutes but still didn't find new clues.
"Cute little bird, tell us! I can sing better songs for you to listen to."
Mai Sakurajima also knew her singing voice could attract this bird.
But now, this Lark was already lying flat, with a tragic attitude of having no love for life.
"Sigh, better to kill it!"
This threat was already useless.
"Killing it is also a waste. Better to roast it and feed it to the dog."
The Lark blinked.
Lin Ye captured its keen reaction in an instant.
Dog? It had a reaction to dogs?
Lin Ye's eyes slowly widened.
He looked at this Lark with a chuckle. "Giving you one last chance. If you confess and lead the way, I'll let you off. Otherwise..."
The Lark turned its head, not caring at all.
"Hehe, you asked for it yourself. You can't blame me."
It remained indifferent.
Thus, Lin Ye opened the Strange Game interface and began clicking confirm.
[Successfully summoned.]
[In five seconds, the German Shepherd 'John' will arrive by your side. Please be ready to receive.]
[Three, two, one...]
[Arrived.]
...
In the blink of an eye, a massive, mighty German Shepherd appeared.
It was new to the place and was still a little bit dizzy, but when its eyes focused and saw the situation in front clearly, it immediately looked toward Lin Ye.
"It's me, John."
The appearance was different, the scent was different.
But under Lin Ye's greeting, it recognized him.
"Woof, woof woof..."
Reunited again, John barked wildly, running to Lin Ye's side and raising its front limbs for a bout of active intimacy.
Lin Ye had been worried John wouldn't recognize him and had even prepared many remarks, but it seemed John still recognized him.
Not bad, not bad, good dog, good dog. Probably also related to the 'Strange Game'! After all, he used an item to sign a contract with John.
Mai Sakurajima watched this robust German Shepherd from the side, having only one doubt: where did Lin Ye find it?
And the other one...
The Lark stared wide-eyed at this German Shepherd.
This dog, where did it come from?
This park absolutely had no dogs.
In this moment, it began to shiver.
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