Chapter 26: An Oolong at the City of Arts

The first place they arrived at was the outermost Music Hall.

Besides displaying various instruments and musical scores, it also housed neatly arranged sound stones that could play music created by musicians.

Nick stood in front of a recording stone and skillfully introduced, “This is a masterpiece titled ‘Chaos,’ created with great effort by Hu Lai, a music master from Moncheng. It can make listeners feel irritated and uneasy, thereby affecting combat.”

“Oh?”

Su Xing and the others became interested.

These music masters were generally also Phantom Spirit Masters, so it was normal for them to develop music for combat purposes.

Music that could influence a battle?

That must be amazing.

Nick saw their interest, smiled, put on a pair of earmuffs himself, and then pressed the switch.

The next second, a massive noise composed of various discordant sounds filled the hall.

“Crackling, clanging, dinging, sizzling…”

Su Xing and the other three’s expressions changed.

The little fox in Su Xing’s arms instantly transformed into a streak of light and darted into her body.

Evangel gritted his teeth, “Turn it off!”

Nick understood Evangel’s mouth shape, swiftly turned off the sound stone, and then, with an official smile, said, “Let me introduce it. This work utilizes a variety of musical instruments…”

Su Xing blinked in a daze, beginning to doubt herself. Was she too unsophisticated to understand music?

Could something that could only be called noise become a master’s work?

If that’s all it took, she could do it too!

Or was the main point of this work the creativity?

The creativity of being the first to treat noise as music?

Su Xing turned to look at her companions, hoping for an explanation from them.

But there was none; everyone looked bewildered. Kaka directly asked, “Isn’t this just noise? When I was little, I could make this sound by just banging around.”

Nick’s expression changed, and he somewhat awkwardly advised, “You can’t say that. These are all carefully selected works by masters from outside the City of Arts. We are not allowed to discuss their merits or demerits.”

After speaking, he turned and walked forward as if being chased by something.

He left Kaka turning back in confusion for confirmation, “Did I misunderstand?”

Su Xing felt that the other party’s words had a hidden meaning.

She frowned, “Follow him.”

***

Arriving in front of a series of sound stones, Nick had regained his composure and introduced with a smile, “These are all works created by young masters from outside in recent years, and they’ve been widely popular since their release.”

Works from outside again?

Su Xing composed herself, ready to receive the baptism of art.

The first song finished; the melody was very pleasant.

Ding-ding-dang, ding-ding-dang… The second song finished; the melody was very pleasant.

Ding-dang, ding-ding-dang, ding… The third song finished; the melody was very pleasant.

Dang-dang, ding-dang-dang…

After listening to three songs in a row, she gradually felt that something was off. |

In fairness, these songs were all pleasant, with catchy melodies, so it was no wonder they were popular with the public.

But the problem was, when these three songs were put together, even she, someone who didn’t understand music very well, inexplicably felt a sense of mysterious familiarity.

Kaka was the first to question, “Why do all these songs feel so familiar? It’s like they were made from the same template.”

A glint flashed in Nick’s eyes.

He glanced around nervously, and seeing that no one was paying attention to them, he whispered, “Alas, little brother, saying something like that might get you scolded. After all, these are things that have been reviewed by the audience, and our art museum can only collect and display them.”

Hearing his tone, it seemed he was quite displeased with the masters outside the City of Arts.

Su Xing thoughtfully probed, “Then, why don’t we look at the works of masters from the City of Arts?”

Nick had indeed been waiting for this sentence.

Hearing it, he immediately nodded and led the four to a sound stone to play music.

This time, it was finally true art.

After hearing this music, Su Xing immediately wondered what garbage she had been listening to before.

This was true music!

She quickly immersed herself in the melody, feeling as if she were hearing celestial music.

When the music ended, her ears still seemed to echo with it, the lingering sound endless.

Su Xing said admiringly, “This music master is too incredible. I’ve never heard such beautiful music.”

Regardless of the mayor’s ulterior motives, this music was genuinely beautiful.

Even a common person like her felt it was elegant and wonderful after listening to it.

The person who could create such music must be incredibly talented.

Kaka and the others also looked blissful, blurting out, “Now this is music! With music of this quality, why did they play those others earlier? Can’t you tell good from bad?”

Nick sighed helplessly, half-covering his words, “We cannot monopolize art. We must always display some external works. These were all carefully selected by them, and we couldn’t refuse.”

He emphasized “carefully selected” again, making Su Xing realize that it wasn’t that they deliberately played bad music, but rather that no truly great art masters had emerged from outside the City of Arts, so they had to make do with these inferior ones.

If that were the case, then what her classmates said earlier was quite true—the City of Arts was a land of outstanding people, and no truly great artists could be born outside; the real artists were all in the City of Arts.

Is that really the case?

Su Xing had her doubts.

It was indeed possible for a certain region to excel in some aspects due to geographical or natural reasons.

But could it be the same for art?

She didn’t believe it.

“Take us to see other things. We’ve appreciated enough of the music,” Su Xing said.

Next, Nick took them to visit the clay sculpture hall, the statue hall, the temporary painting hall…

Almost without exception, the excellent works in recent years were all from masters in the City of Arts, while the works exhibited from other places were hard to describe, with only one or two being passable.

Su Xing knew this was definitely not done deliberately by the City of Arts because it was too obvious; if it were intentional, people from other places would have protested long ago.

However, no one has yet accused the City of Arts. Instead, the rumor that “only the City of Arts can produce artists” is thriving, suggesting that art elsewhere has truly run dry, leaving them no choice but to swallow their pride and allow the City of Arts to dominate.

Su Xing felt incredibly strange, so strange that she didn’t want to stay in this City of Arts anymore.

But the mission had to continue, so she could only leave this peculiar art museum for now.

Su Xing interrupted Nick’s introduction, stating her desire to return. “Um, Secretary Nick, I’ve arranged to help my classmates buy some things, and I can’t afford to waste time here. Could you possibly take me there?”

Nick paused, then nodded, proudly saying, “Everything produced in our City of Arts is a masterpiece; people outside can’t even buy them. Your classmates are lucky.”

Su Xing’s list for recording was actually in her pocket, but she didn’t take it out.

She feigned embarrassment and asked, “I wrote down what my classmates wanted to buy on a note. That note is at the hotel right now; could we go back and get it first?”

Nick naturally agreed, following them to the hotel downstairs but not going up. Su Xing and her three companions quickly returned to their room, closed the door, and began to vent their strange feelings from the day.

Kaka spoke first, “I just remembered, my mom’s description of the City of Arts was that it indeed produced many incredibly talented artists, but there must be something fishy going on inside.”

Quinn nodded, “Th-th-there must be something fishy! The Federation is vast and rich in resources; how, how, how could only the City of Arts produce in-incredible artists? My parents also s-s-said before that if they had the chance, they would come to r-r-research the issues with the City of Arts.”

Evangel’s face was full of irritation.

“I’m not going out tomorrow. I don’t want to come to this awful place a second time.”

He had no interest in these things and just wanted to complete the mission early and go back to studying.

His phantom spirit ability was too weak, and he needed to seize every opportunity to improve himself.

Su Xing mused, “Do you think, if we can see these things, would the adults not be able to?”

Quinn paused, “Y-you… you mean?”

Su Xing nodded, “Even if the City of Arts does have problems, there must be some major power supporting it from behind.”

Evangel looked at Su Xing.

“Since you can guess that, don’t investigate any further.”

It was too dangerous; these were not things a group of fifteen-year-olds should be exploring.

One wrong step, and they might lose their lives.

Quinn adjusted his glasses, skipping the topic.

“But, s-speaking of it, what do you think about the l-l-little girl who knocked out Kaka?”

Su Xing nodded.

“The mayor said his daughter ran away from home, but at least two people attacked Kaka. So that rules out the possibility of the child simply acting out of spite, as the mayor claimed.”

Quinn agreed with this point.

“Indeed, being able to pre-pre-prepare a detailed plan, I, I, I lean more towards the mayor’s daughter… merely providing information about the painting in our hands. The one who truly planned to obtain this, this painting, is actually someone else.”

Kaka indignantly said, “So that little girl was tricked? How could they be so cruel! Tricking a little girl?”

That’s not necessarily true; it’s possible they’re all in it together, Su Xing thought. 

But seeing Kaka’s expression, she didn’t reveal this truth.

Evangel, however, mercilessly poured cold water on her, “Who gave you the illusion that you’re smarter than that little girl?”

Quinn suggested, “We can tell the teacher about this.”

Su Xing shook her head. 

“That’s unrealistic. We don’t have any evidence, and we’re just first-year students on our first mission. Even if we report it, the adults won’t take it seriously.”

Kaka: “But since we’ve encountered it, how can we just leave?”

Evangel surprisingly nodded in agreement.

“Exactly. If there’s some conspiracy behind this, our leaving might lead to disaster.”

Su Xing paused.

“Wait? You all agree to stay and investigate?”