112: bad at games but loves to play

Jinling, BASIS International School.

In the piano room at BASIS International School, the soundproof walls completely shielded it from the outside world.

A beam of light hit the black lacquered surface of the Steinway grand piano, refracting a cold, hard luster.

There was no smell of chalk dust like in public high schools, only the faint fragrance blown out by the climate control system,

and the faint, lingering sound of a Schubert serenade in the hallway.

Ye Xi sat upright on the piano bench, her back straight.

She was wearing the school's custom British-style uniform, with a dark red ribbon tied at the collar,

and her long, jet-black hair hung softly over her shoulders.

Her profile, as exquisite as a porcelain doll, appeared exceptionally holy in the interplay of light and shadow.

Her fingers danced on the keys, flowing out the high-difficulty melody of Liszt's "La Campanella."

In the hallway outside, passing teachers and students involuntarily slowed their pace, casting admiring glances inside.

"As expected of the Ye family's daughter; this temperament is simply born for the piano."

"I heard she's already received early admission to the Curtis Institute of Music; it's truly enviable."

However, only Ye Xi herself knew what kind of internal battle was raging in her mind at this moment.

Just at the 53rd measure, the moment the melody climbed to its most intense peak.

Ye Xi's finger trembled; her left hand, which should have made an octave leap and landed with the force of thunder, instead slammed onto the adjacent black key.

With a dull "hum," the atmosphere of the entire measure vanished completely.

Ye Xi maintained a gentle expression on her face, but inside, it felt like twenty-five mice were frantically scratching at a door.

Just now, just now! The phone she had placed next to the music stand lit up.

The notification sound for her special alerts was muted, but the vibration traveled through the piano's soundboard and reached her fingertips in the room where only piano music played.

She glanced at it while playing blindly. To her surprise, it was an update notification from "Hell Dream Weaver"!

As a die-hard fan of "the human world is like a prison" and also a fan of "Jian Shen," Ye Xi had long been looking forward to today's "the ferryman war" that had captured the attention of the entire internet.

The internet was in an uproar now, saying that the Dream Weaver was clout-chasing, plagiarizing, and had no bottom line.

But Ye Xi didn't think so.

That Dream Weaver, who could write such an ending, was definitely not some mediocrity who only knew how to parrot others.

Curious. She was too curious.

How would that madman interpret the word "ferry"?

"Whew..." The piece ended.

Ye Xi elegantly raised her wrist, drew an arc in the air, and then lowered it gently.

Confirming that the patrolling teacher outside had walked away, her originally straight back instantly slumped, and that unreachable goddess persona vanished completely.

With an extremely practiced motion, she quickly snatched her phone from beside the music stand, expertly unlocked it, and opened the Hongguo Reading app.

The action was fluid and seamless, taking 0.5 seconds.

On the screen, that black and red cover brought a chill rushing toward her.

It lacked the aesthetic beauty of the wilderness sunset in "the ferryman," and it didn't have that warm tone of redemption.

There was only black. Pure, oppressive black.

【Chapter 1: Convenience Store No. 444】.

Ye Xi took a deep breath, hid her phone inside her thick music score folder, pretended to be studying music theory, and lightly swiped the screen with her finger.

Upon looking, her originally casual gaze instantly froze.

On the screen, the very first line of text brought a cold, damp chill rushing toward her.

【The Buddhist scriptures record that in this world, there are five types of eyes. The Heavenly Eye, the Wisdom Eye, the Dharma Eye, the Buddha Eye, and the Fleshly Eye. The eyes of the flesh are dim and unclear; they see the near but not the far, the front but not the back, the light but not the dark.】

【But there is another type of eye that does not belong to these five. It can see... things that should not exist.】

The beginning had no grand introduction to the world-building, only a cold, icy monologue.

Ye Xi subconsciously held her breath.

【Have you ever wondered if there are really ghosts in this world?】

【Perhaps it's a gust of cold wind behind you when you walk at night, or perhaps it's an extra reflection when you look in the mirror...】

...

The piano room's climate control system seemed to be broken.

Ye Xi subconsciously shrank her neck, feeling a cold wind blowing on her back.

The protagonist of the story was named Xia Dongqing.

A college student preparing for postgraduate entrance exams, reclusive, silent, and friendless.

He had a special pair of eyes. Yin-Yang eyes.

Ye Xi's fingers swiped slower and slower on the screen, and her breathing became lighter and lighter.

She looked at the world depicted in the text:

The world in Xia Dongqing's eyes was crowded.

On the streets, besides the hurried living, there were also those drifting, incomplete, pale-faced "things."

Some were crying, some were laughing, and some were searching for the way home.

He had to pretend not to see them. Because once he made eye contact, he would be entangled.

"This setting..." Ye Xi murmured to herself, a look of amazement flashing in her eyes.

This was hardly a trend-following piece. This was clearly dragging the concept of "ferry" from the romantic clouds and yanking it into the muddy, cold reality!

Jian Shen's "the ferryman" ferries the sublimation of the soul; it is a trial of love and courage.

While the Dream Weaver's "soul ferry" ferries... it seems to be the obsessions and regrets that linger in the human world.

Just as Ye Xi was engrossed in reading, the piano room's doorknob suddenly turned. "Click."

Ye Xi was startled, her whole body shuddering. With lightning speed, she shoved her phone into the crevice of the piano bench under her butt, then slammed both hands onto the keys.

"Bang—!!!" An extremely dissonant, heavy bass note exploded.

The piano teacher who walked in froze, looking at her usually elegant and perfect star pupil: "Ye Xi? What's wrong? This chord... is a bit avant-garde."

Ye Xi turned her head stiffly, instantly putting on that flawless, obedient fake smile.

"Teacher, I'm trying to... break the shackles of tonality." She spouted nonsense with a straight face.

"I want to express a kind of... sudden sense of fear."

The piano teacher raised an eyebrow, her gaze sweeping over the piano bench under her butt; she clearly didn't believe it, but she didn't expose the talented young girl either.

"The idea is good, but next time you want to express fear, don't break the piano."

Ye Xi froze, her cheeks slightly warm.

After the teacher closed the door and left, Ye Xi let out a long sigh of relief and quickly took out her phone.

Where was she? Right, Xia Dongqing found a part-time job on the night shift at a convenience store to make a living. The name was... Convenience Store No. 444.

Ye Xi looked at that number, and only felt a chill rush straight to her scalp.

444. This number, in this country that values auspiciousness, inherently exuded an eerie quality.

Not only that, but the convenience store described in the book... that red sign, those neon lights that were always flickering.

She suddenly remembered that on the way to school, she always passed a gloomy intersection where it seemed... there really was a convenience store, and the lights on the sign were also flickering just like that.

Ye Xi swallowed, subconsciously looking back at the empty corner of the piano room. Was there really no one there?

She instantly felt the temperature in the piano room drop a few more degrees.

Although her spine was chilled, her fingers were very honest. She swiped her phone and continued reading.