The Classic Four-Person Lineup

Rock music exuded a wild air from its very name. Although rock in the broad sense also included some country music and jazz, most people thought of it as music with a fierce rhythm, full of passion, catharsis, rebellion, hedonism, and pessimism.

In his previous life, Si Ming had once gone to see an amateur rock band perform, but the impression it left on him was less than favorable. A group of musicians in shamate style flailed their bodies wildly, shook their heads violently, whipped their long hair back and forth, and screamed lyrics he couldn't make out at the top of their lungs. Meanwhile, a crowd below the stage, as if drunk out of their minds, hollered along to the beat. After three minutes, he couldn't stand the noise-like volume anymore and turned around and left.

First impressions easily hardened into prejudice. After that performance, he understood why people in the past had equated playing rock with being a hooligan or a thug. That nearly hysterical, self-abandoning way of letting loose was hard for a law-abiding person to identify with, and those musicians were a far cry from the rock stars on television who cared about looking cool and handsome.

Perhaps, in the eyes of those who played rock, it was the rock stars on television who had betrayed the spirit of rock, while they themselves were the genuine article.

Si Ming had no desire whatsoever to investigate which side represented the true spirit of rock. His understanding of rock amounted to, Once I've copied those few rock songs, I can go back to my hometown and get married. It might be enough to fool Ying Zhou at first, but he would be found out in time, so he needed another approach.

"You misheard me just now. I didn't say 'rock and roll,' I said 'rock the drums.' Of all the instruments, isn't playing the drums the most exciting?"

The instruments of the Sea Continent world were mainly Eastern instruments. Whether zither, qin, xiao, flute, or erhu, none could be played while convulsing. By comparison, drumming did offer the most freedom.

Martial arts existed in this world, so people had invented foot drumming, acrobatic drumming, and butt drumming, which were difficult for ordinary humans to perform.

Foot drumming involved standing on a large drum and striking its surface with one's feet to produce sound. Its rhythm was fast, somewhat like the tap dancing of his previous life.

Acrobatic drumming had even more variations. A performer might do somersaults on a drum, stand on their hands and play it, or simply smash their head against the drumhead with an iron-head technique. Some even played in pairs.

Butt drumming was naturally not the philosophical music created by the New Nichōme School that used the buttocks as an instrument. Rather, a person leaned against an upright drum and used their buttocks as drumsticks to strike its surface. Though in Si Ming's opinion, this musical method was just as much a form of kichiku, especially when combined with electric buttocks. It was truly an affront to public decency, too much to look at.

Ying Zhou thought back for a moment and nodded. "Drumming really is the best way to let off steam. Which drumming technique do you think I should learn?"

"There's no need to learn an existing technique. We'll create a brand-new one ourselves. That way, we won't have to learn anyone else's rules. We'll make our own."

Si Ming's pitch appealed perfectly to a teenager in his rebellious phase, but Ying Zhou wasn't so easily carried away by delight. He asked doubtfully, "Creating a new drumming technique isn't that easy, is it?"

"Don't worry, leave it all to me. In three days, I'll show you a completely new way to play the drums."

What Si Ming had in mind was naturally a drum kit, mainly because the various pieces of equipment were easy to find ready-made. Drums of all sizes went without saying, and gongs and cymbals could stand in for hi-hats, crash cymbals, and ride cymbals.

Ying Zhou looked at Si Ming with some disbelief, but finally nodded. After all, Si Ming had given him a definite deadline rather than vague promises like "someday," "in a few days," or "soon." Whether it worked or not, he would know in three days.

Si Ming added, "Since you agree, let's bury the kitten first."

Ying Zhou frowned, then said somewhat petulantly, "I don't need your help. I did it, so I'll take responsibility. I can do it myself." With that, he turned and walked toward the kitten's body.

Watching his crouched figure from behind, Si Ming curled his lip. "A tsundere boy isn't fun at all. But now that it's come to this, do I really have to play music?"

With the funds allocated by the Mohist Academy of Science, he no longer needed to earn extra money. Besides, plagiarizing because he had no other way to make a living was one thing, but doing it for fame and fortune went somewhat against his morals.

His dilemma was soon resolved, however.

"You know music? That's perfect. With a musician's identity as cover, you can carry out some secret missions. A famous band is coming to the city for a concert next week. Disguise yourself as one of their members and assist with security from the shadows."

Si Ming had originally wanted to ask the organization to find the relevant instruments, but when Pan De learned of it, he issued Si Ming his first mission.

"Is it really all right to have a rookie like me handle security? To be honest, I don't even have confidence in my own strength. Yesterday, I almost lost to an elementary school kid."

"Then this elementary school kid seems pretty talented. Test him, and if there's no problem, recruit him." Pan De replied without missing a beat and produced a weapon shaped like a revolver. "If your cultivation falls short, equipment can make up for it. This is a psionic revolver developed by the Mohist Academy of Science last year. It greatly reduces the True Qi needed to activate the firing circuit. Even with your current level of internal cultivation, you can fire about ten shots."

It was Si Ming's first encounter with a firearm in the conventional sense. He curiously took the psionic revolver and hefted it, finding it much heavier than he had imagined. He couldn't help asking, "With this weapon, can I take on experts?"

"That depends on how expert they are." Pan De made a deadpan joke, and seeing that Si Ming didn't laugh, his voice immediately grew listless. "In a head-on fight, a martial artist with level-six internal cultivation who excels at qinggong could dodge by predicting the direction of your shots. In a sneak attack, even a martial artist with level-eight internal cultivation would be in trouble if caught off guard. In terms of destructive power alone, as long as you hit a vital point, even a martial artist with level-ten internal cultivation would be seriously injured unless they specialized in body-tempering martial arts."

Si Ming understood at once. As long as he could hit the target, he could break through even the defenses of a martial artist with level-ten internal cultivation. If he couldn't hit, nothing else mattered. But the deeper a martial artist's internal cultivation in this world, the sharper their intuition. Before he could even aim after raising his hand, his opponent would probably sense danger and dodge in advance.

In a sense, the psionic revolver was a hidden weapon. The lower the user's cultivation, the more help it offered; conversely, the higher their cultivation, the less help it offered, and it might even become a burden.

To a genuine martial arts expert, a psionic gun might not even be as good as a flying locust stone, because the speed of a flying locust stone was proportional to the thrower's cultivation, whereas the speed of a bullet fired from a psionic gun was fixed. As long as one's internal cultivation was strong enough, a flying locust stone could travel faster than a bullet. One could also add throwing techniques to alter its trajectory in flight, making it difficult for an opponent to guard against, an advantage that straightforward bullets couldn't match.

Of course, this didn't mean firearms were useless in this world of martial arts. Replacing the psionic revolver with a weapon such as a psionic submachine gun would clearly increase its power considerably. But with Si Ming's current total amount of True Qi, he really couldn't keep a submachine gun going for long. It would run dry in under five seconds, which was obviously no good for a man.

"Don't worry, we'll also arrange people to provide protection openly. If even the experts out in the open can't hold them off, we're not counting on you to turn things around. As long as you can buy some time and take them by surprise, that's enough," Pan De reassured him.

Hearing this, Si Ming hesitated no longer and nodded. "I understand. I'll take the mission."

"Oh, right. The artificial sun lamp to help you cultivate the Blazing Yang Battle Art has already been delivered by the Mohist Academy of Science. Remember to collect it from the logistics department."

"So soon!"

Delight showed on Si Ming's face. With the sun lamp, he could cultivate naked at home from now on, greatly increasing his cultivation speed.

Chapter 26: The Classic Four-Person Lineup

Unlike a traditional bureaucratic system, the Mohist Knight Guard operated with exceptional efficiency. Si Ming had merely mentioned the instruments when he collected the artificial sun lamp from the logistics department, and the next day they delivered ones that met his requirements.

"It's still a little different from the drum kit I imagined, but it'll do."

To give Ying Zhou a demonstration, Si Ming first sat down in the middle of the drums. He recalled the various books on drumming techniques he had browsed at the New Mohist Bookstore that morning, then the song he was about to play, "Freedom." After combining the two in his mind, he began to drum, his hands fluttering like butterflies.

"Freedom" was a song by Zhang Zhenyue, a singer under Rock Records. Si Ming hadn't chosen it because he particularly liked it, but because there were only a few classic rock songs he had heard and remembered, and even fewer among them featured a drum kit prominently. Although his personal favorite was the Black Panther Band's "Nowhere to Hide," "Freedom" was better suited for practice.

At first, Si Ming's technique was still very rusty, and he inevitably missed beats. But with his frightening talent for learning, his skill rapidly improved at a pace audible to the naked ear. By the middle of the song, he had fully mastered the basics, and by the time he finished the entire piece, he had reached the level of a professional drummer.

"What did you think after listening?"

Si Ming figured it should be enough to fool a beginner. Once a drum kit performance entered its high-speed phase, that dazzling hand speed looked quite cool.

"I want to try."

Sure enough, although Ying Zhou was unwilling to show his emotions, Si Ming could still sense his excitement and curiosity, and his eagerness to try.

After offering some pointers on techniques and insights he didn't understand very well himself, Si Ming let Ying Zhou play as he pleased, paying no mind even when his rhythm was a complete mess. After all, he only wanted to use this method to relieve the pressure in Ying Zhou's heart; he had no intention of actually training him to become a master drummer of his generation.

Yet whether Ying Zhou truly had a talent for it or his martial arts training gave him an advantage when playing instruments with a strong percussive feel, after half a day of practice, he was actually playing quite capably.

"This really is... unexpected!"