Chapter 11  : Bait

When Ye Qingxuan awoke from a long period of being unconscious, he cried out in pain.

“Stole a musician’s instrument, escaped from the ‘fog’ and the ‘iron plant’, successfully got away from the musician with two friends, and finally, in order to break away from the musician’s lock on you, jumped into the freezing water, and swam all the way back into town.” Next to him, a voice sighed weakly. “Ye, you really did quite a thing back there.”

“Mr. Wolf Flute?” Ye Qingxuan was surprised to see the man in the wheelchair, pale as someone on the verge of death. “What happened to you?”

“Nothing. I pushed my limit with the excessive use of sound of heart. I had to do a heart resuscitation, but then my wound opened again, so I lost a couple of hundred CCs of blood. Oh, you do not know what a CC is–about half of a big pot,” Wolf Flute said with ease. Then he sighed, “You scared me. I thought you drowned yourself since you couldn’t be a musician.”

Ye Qingxuan was silent for a long time, then said in low voice, “Thank you.”

“I should be the one thanking you.” Wolf Flute shook his head, “If it were not for your friend who stole the Rain Artist’s instrument, he would have come to my doorstep last night and killed me.”

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“Oh?” Ye Qingxuan was surprised for a moment.

“The one you stole the instrument from was my enemy. I wouldn’t have been hurt if it wasn’t for him.” Wolf Flute sounded a bit embarrassed, “Actually, I was careless. I am much more powerful than he is. Really, you have to believe me.”

“Haha. Actually, I wouldn’t know.” Ye Qingxuan scratched his head, embarrassed, and felt weak all over his body again.

“You were rescued from hypothermia. You should probably lie down.” Wolf Flute pushed him back to bed, and suddenly said, “Ye, there is a question I’d like you to answer for me.”

“Yeah?”

“Although I got all the details from your friend, I don’t understand how you escaped from the fog magic. That’s not something a kid can force his way out of.”

Ye Qingxuan was also clueless. “You mean those hands in the fog?”

“Yes, it was a song written by members of a cult called ‘Mother Goose’: Avalon Bridge is Falling. Only two sections are still being circulated. One can create its own mist demon, with foul poison. The other is able to control the ‘iron plant’ which comes from plants and soil.

“The instrument was in your hands so he wasn’t able to use all of his power but the binding capacity from the fog was the strongest among its kind. To break free, even musicians cannot do that without paying a heavy price.”

“To tell you the truth, I do not know why either.” Ye Qingxuan smiled wryly. “If there was a reason, then it might be this.”

He took off his ring, and took it apart. After the ring was taken apart, it became a slender and flexible string. Even though it had been bent for so many years, it was still straight and tough once it was stretched out, radiating with dim silver light.

“What is this string? Sorry, I cannot recognize its origin. It is too long for a guitar, too hard for a violin, but…” Wolf Flute took a closer look, amazed, “This is a very rare material.”

“You know what it is?” Ye Qingxuan eyes lit up.

“Yes, this may be from a certain school’s manufacturing technology. This material is green gold refined with alchemy, as well as cultivated and alienated aether. That kind of alloy material can only be used in a very powerful instrument–you can feel it. It still has a leftover scent of ether. Too bad. It was once part of a musical instrument, but has been split into a string, now it’s useless.”

“Useless?”

“Aether has its own order of movements. If not moved accordingly, it will only be a mess. The existence of the instrument is to help the musician control the massive amount of aether, to attain a precise control. This kind of control relies on the harmony of countless parts, as well as implementation. It cannot be done with any single component. The aether collected on it was probably the reason you got away, but I am afraid it won’t be able to do it again.”

Wolf Flute thought for a moment, then gave the string back to him, “Keep it, no matter who gave you this, it is a very precious gift.”

Ye Qingxuan silently took it back, and wrapped it around his index finger.

“Ye, are you awake?”

The door opened. Victor, who had waited for long time, rushed in and checked again and again to make sure Ye was okay before letting out a relieved sigh.

Old Phil was much calmer now. It slowly walked in, gave everyone a disgusted look as if it was the king of this place, then jumped on the bed. It took a whiff of Ye Qingxuan, then sat on his chest reassuringly, and began whipping its tail at him.

It was not painful but very embarrassing.

“This is your dog? Looks very powerful.” Wolf Flute came closer, staring back at Old Phil. He smacked his lips and barked as if trying to communicate with Old Phil.

Old Phil looked at him expressionlessly, unmoved, and as calm as someone related to Father Bann.

Although face to face with a musician, the dog’s eyes were still reserved with disdain, as if mercifully looking at its slave. It had guts, even Ye Qingxuan had to admit that.

“Oh, strange. It did not respond to me.” Wolf Flute did not mind, and continued making more weird gestures and sounds.

Ye Qingxuan was confused. “What are you doing?”

“Uh, I’m talking to it. I do not think he’s like an ordinary dog. I’m wondering if it understands a wolf’s temperament.”

Wolf Flute raised his hands above his head, gestured at the ears, and quietly hummed at Old Phil. If he had a tail, he would certainly be wagging his tail also.

Old Phil gave him the side eye. Seeming impatient, it finally raised its forepaw casually and waved in front of Wolf Flute, then mercilessly slapped him in the face!

And then it put its paw down, leaving a dirty paw print on Wolf’s face.

Ye Qingxuan was shocked, Victor was shocked, and Wolf Flute was also shocked.

There was a long silence.

“Ahem, ahem.” Wolf Flute moved away uncomfortably, pretending to cough twice, “Well, your pet has a very strong personality.”

‘Have you ever seen any pet like this?’ Ye Qingxuan thought.

He had actually never dared to treat Old Phil as a pet. Indeed, ever since Ye Qingxuan had met Old Phil, it had lived in this world as a wealthy bachelor.

For five years, Old Phil had always lived a heroic existence–rebellious, fighting with powerful force, and always ran ahead of everyone else, never letting anyone else be in charge of it.

‘To be his master? I’m definitely not qualified. Actually, he has always thought of me as its follower,’ Ye Qingxuan thought.

–

“Well, enough said. Since we are all here, let’s talk about something serious.” Wolf Flute wiped the paw print off of his face, and started to look serious. He looked around at the two boys and the dog. “In order to save Ye, I also took a great deal of risk myself. So, the priest promised me he would not intervene with this matter. There are some things that I’d like you to know. At the very least, you have to understand what you have done.”

Seeing the two faces turn solemn, Wolf Flute nodded with satisfaction, “First let’s talk about the Rain Artist.”

–

Rain Artist–the musician Victor had stolen the music instrument from.

“‘Rain Artist’ was not his original name. Like ‘Wolf Flute’ isn’t my given name either. These are titles given by the Sacred City by evaluating one’s resume, past conduct, and specialty in music after reaching the Resonance level.

“Previously the Rain Artist was someone nameless. He was considered to be like most people without talent, and probably would be stuck at the Student level for life.

“Suddenly, he escalated in an exploration, and successfully became a musician. Because of his talent, the Sacred City awarded him the title of the Rain Artist. He had a smooth path thereafter, and was considered having a solid foundation. Until six years ago, someone found out that he had massacred a whole village to sacrifice to ‘Hyakume.’

“He had disappeared since then, becoming one of the most wanted black musicians.”

“Sacrifice?”

“Yes, the price for exploring the Originator , with the power of Satan is life and blood. However, since he could use other people’s lives, why sacrifice himself? In most recent years, it has not been uncommon for musicians to go to the dark side.” Wolf Flute’s eyes no longer carried a smile, but were chilly. “All the Discipline Musicians from the ‘Silent Authority’ will hunt him down to the ends of the earth, until his head is hanging on the wall of the blasphemy. Justice has to be done. Whether or not he had attacked me, now that I’ve found him, he must die before he causes greater chaos.”

Ye Qingxuan silently listened to him talk, but a bad feeling gradually rose in his heart. Why was Wolf Flute saying all this? And why did he look at Victor when he spoke?

“Bait?” Suddenly, Ye understood. He looked up at Wolf and said, “You need a bait!”

In his gaze, Wolf Flute’s eyes also lit up. He hesitated and sighed. “Nobody likes a kid too smart, Ye.”

“Your wound also came from him?” Ye asked.

“Yes, a sneak attack,” Wolf Flute admitted. “He’s better than me at sudden attacks. I almost died.”

“Then he chased you here.” Ye Qingxuan went on to say, “He knows you are recuperating, but does not know you are with us. Because no one expected Victor to steal the bag, no one knows that I will bring you this news. He still thinks we’re hiding in the town. Without his instrument, he will not be able to kill you, so he will hide himself in the dark. But as long as the instrument can be retrieved, he has nothing to fear.”

Ye Qingxuan touched his string on the finger, and finally began to understand. His eyes gradually lit up, “So if you want to win, you will need an opportunity to have him walk into the trap willingly…”