Love You, Walking Alone Through Dark Alleys?

The Chief of Staff was under forty, dark-skinned, lean, and fairly handsome. Though he spoke with an authentic Southwestern accent, his features had the sharp angles of a Northerner.

But the nonstop cursing spilling from his mouth carried the distinct flavor of a Sichuan-Chongqing woman.

"My damn motorcycle!"

"Hao Chengbin, what a surprise! What a surprise!"

"You brought back a busted pipa as a surprise for me!"

Fang Huai couldn't help reminding him, "Chief of Staff, it's not a pipa. It's a guitar..."

Hao Chengbin immediately chimed in, "That's right! Fang Huai wrote a song! Didn't the regiment commander ask for sign-ups for the opera house gala at the meeting the day before yesterday? I was planning to let him give it a try."

The Chief of Staff raised a hand to cover his face.

"You know it's an opera house gala, and you're going there to play a pipa?"

Fang Huai's face darkened. "A guitar..."

"Guitar, guitar! Back when we were soldiers, who didn't know how to play one of these?" As he spoke, the Chief of Staff reached out and took down the pipa—no, the guitar.

He opened the case, looked it over, and tuned it.

He was quite practiced.

After strumming twice, he actually began playing.

It was clearly "Really love you," but his technique was rough. He struck the sixth string a couple of times when he shouldn't have, and there was no variation in volume. It all sounded flat.

Still, being able to strum counted as a talent, more or less.

After finishing a passage, everyone started applauding.

"The Chief of Staff plays well!"

But the Chief of Staff didn't care much. He handed the guitar to Fang Huai.

"Come on, you! Don't think I don't know anything! Plenty of people in the army can play this! Play something for us!"

Wang Jian and the Sixth Squad leader immediately looked at Fang Huai with grins that said, "So you tried to show off and ran into an expert, huh?"

Fang Huai snapped to attention. "Yes, Chief of Staff!"

Then he relaxed. "Chief of Staff, this is a classical guitar. It doesn't have a strap button, so I need to sit down to play. Is that alright?"

The Sixth Squad leader immediately laughed. "Kid, you sure have a lot of demands. Didn't the Chief of Staff just play standing up?"

But the Chief of Staff didn't refuse his request. "Hao Chengbin, go to the company office on the first floor and get him a stool."

"I'll get it!" Fang Huai immediately followed Hao Chengbin into the New Recruit Building.

A minute later, they came back out with a roughly suitable stool.

Several curious squad leaders and officers also came out with them, wanting to watch the spectacle.

Seeing that he had an audience, Fang Huai first tuned the guitar, strummed it a couple of times to get familiar with it, then played a fairly difficult sequence of harmonics and tremolo picking.

"Qingming Bridge in the Rain" was a piece from 2019. It was difficult, and Fang Huai didn't have the skill for it. He had only learned something about thirty percent similar, but nobody could tell anyway.

Still, it was obviously much harder than what the Chief of Staff had just played.

"Doesn't sound good!"

"Yeah, yeah, play something we can understand!"

"The Chief of Staff can play too? Chief of Staff, play one for us!"

Every word in the air was steeped in social tact.

Fang Huai had no choice but to hurry. He strummed the strings twice and switched to another melody.

The classic "Country Roads, Take Me Home."

It was also the song he had relied on to make a living when he worked at a bar.

As the melody began, Fang Huai lowered his voice as much as possible.

"Almost heaven, West Virginia

(Almost like heaven, West Virginia)

Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River

(Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River)

Life is old there, older than the trees

(Life there is older than the trees)

Younger than the mountains

(Younger than the mountains)

Growin' like a breeze

(Growing slowly like a gentle breeze)

Country roads, take me home...

(Country roads, take me home)..."

It was even an English song! And it sounded pretty familiar!

The people around them had to admit that Fang Huai sang well. Even the Chief of Staff started stroking his chin.

Hao Chengbin's face lit up with excitement. This was really good! Borrowing that guitar hadn't been for nothing.

After the song ended, the Chief of Staff decided to give him a chance.

"Kid, sing me the song you wrote yourself."

Fang Huai froze and pointed in front of him. "Chief of Staff, sing it here?"

The Chief of Staff sneered. "What, are you afraid someone will steal it by listening?"

Fang Huai shamelessly put on a troubled expression. "I spent two years adapting it! If I take it outside, I'll definitely have to sell it for money!"

It could be sold for money?

The people beside him became curious.

A squad leader immediately called out, "Don't worry! We have Discipline Regulations here! Nobody would dare spread it around!"

The Chief of Staff looked around. They were all familiar faces, so he promised, "I guarantee it! Nobody will spread it outside! If it's really a good song, we'll help you apply for copyright!"

"That won't be necessary... It's an adapted Mongolian folk song."

After saying that, Fang Huai nodded. "Alright, then I'll play and sing it here."

Fang Huai had said it deliberately. He had far more than hundreds or thousands of songs in his head. He only wanted everyone to listen carefully.

A folk song really couldn't have any effect without a quiet environment and attentive listeners.

Sure enough, after all that back-and-forth, everyone felt that hearing this song was something rare. The surroundings instantly fell silent.

Fang Huai began playing and slowly started to sing.

"Wind crossing the wilderness, walk a little slower.

I'll tell you in silence that I'm drunk...

The Night in Ulaanbaatar

So quiet, so quiet

Even the wind can't be heard, can't be heard

Clouds drifting toward the horizon, walk a little slower

I'll tell you by running that I won't turn back..."

Three minutes later, the song slowly faded away. The surroundings remained quiet for a while.

Everyone tilted their heads back and closed their eyes, wearing expressions that said, "Baby, are you listening?"

They were intoxicated.

"Good song! Good song! It has the loneliness of a soldier guarding the frontier!" The Chief of Staff took the lead in applauding.

That was some seriously forced frontier defense.

Fang Huai couldn't help twitching his lips.

Ulaanbaatar was the capital of Outer Mongolia! Was he trying to forcibly expand their territory by 1.56 million square kilometers?

The soldiers only thought it sounded good and joined in with loud applause.

"Is that the original song's melody?" the Chief of Staff asked.

Fang Huai nodded. "Yeah, the main melody is from the original song, but it's in Mongolian and rather awkward to sing, so while changing the lyrics, I also changed some of the melody."

"How much did you change?"

"Seventy... eighty percent, maybe."

The Chief of Staff clearly knew his stuff. "Then isn't that basically original?"

"Oh, no, no, Chief of Staff. It's just an adaptation."

Fang Huai waved his hands repeatedly. Before his rebirth, a song like "Rakshasa Sea City" had already caused a huge uproar. Even a Northeast mountain tune could get someone hammered for it. He didn't dare touch that line.

Whether it counted as an adaptation or not, people who knew would naturally understand. As long as it spread and people recognized his "musical talent," that was enough.

The Chief of Staff carefully recalled the lyrics and felt that this kid really did have talent. He couldn't help encouraging him.

"Not bad! This kid's good! With that much talent, you should spend some time seeing whether you can write a regiment song for our New Recruit Regiment!"

Fang Huai froze.

A regiment song?

Forget it. That wasn't where his ambitions lay.

But... this counted as an opportunity. It was time to unleash something big.

"Chief of Staff... I'm actually working on a Firefighting promotional song. I've written part of it already, but without instrument accompaniment, I probably need to wait until I join a unit and find a professional recording studio."

The Chief of Staff's eyes widened like brass bells.

Holy shit? He really had more?

A Firefighting promotional song was a huge deal! If he could really make it happen, then this year's recruit training would have an enormous highlight!

Firefighting was different from other military units. More than half of its annual funding and benefits came from the government, so publicity was of vital importance.

Who could resist that temptation?

As he thought, he noticed the sly smile on Fang Huai's face and became a little irritated.

"What are you keeping us in suspense for? Sing a couple lines and let me hear it!"

"Just a couple lines?" Fang Huai asked with a smile.

Hao Chengbin immediately put on the authority of a squad leader, clasping his hands behind his back. "The Chief of Staff wants to hear it, so sing him a couple lines!"

As he spoke, he shot the Chief of Staff a smug glance.

Did this count as a surprise? Huh? Old Yang!

"Yes, Squad Leader!"

After saying that, Fang Huai picked up the guitar again and forcefully strummed an invigorating intro.

"Love you... walking alone through dark alleys!"

He paused.

"Love the way you never kneel!"

He paused again and even glanced at the Chief of Staff.

The Chief of Staff swallowed.

Damn it, this sounded pretty damn exciting!

The strumming surged again.

"**Love you for facing despair and refusing to cry!

Love your tattered clothes, yet daring to block fate's gun

Love you... for your stern expression, your dark face!

Will you go? Are you worthy, in this ragged cape?

Will you fight? Fight on, with the humblest dream

To the sobbing and roaring in the darkness

Who says only those standing in the light count as heroes!**"

The line "Love you for your stern expression, your dark face" had been changed on the spot after Fang Huai saw the Chief of Staff's dark face.

"Who says only those standing in the light count as heroes..." The Chief of Staff muttered it twice, then touched his head in amazement.

"Wonderful, wonderful! You're an incredible kid! You've got real skill!"

Fang Huai immediately climbed the pole. "It was all thanks to Squad Leader encouraging me to create! He felt I could bring honor to Firefighting and even went all that way to borrow an instrument for me!"

The Chief of Staff beamed. "Good! Hao Chengbin, that really was a huge surprise! I won't make you pay for the motorcycle! Did you scrape your leg just now? Go to the infirmary and have it checked later!"

Hao Chengbin wanted to laugh and curse at the same time.

So if it hadn't been a surprise, I wouldn't even have deserved a trip to the infirmary?

But the Chief of Staff's next words soothed all his pain.

"This song... kid, if you finish writing it, I'll report it to the regiment commander—no, it should go to headquarters—and get you credit for it!

Don't worry. You won't have to wait until you join a unit. Our training base and many other units have Firefighting training programs. A mere recording studio? I'll find you one!"

When the Chief of Staff thought about how Fang Huai had planned to wait until he joined a unit before creating it, he felt as though one publicity opportunity and news report after another was brushing past him. He hurriedly added.

"Kid, create it properly! At tomorrow's weekly meeting, I'll report this matter to the regiment commander and political commissar!"

Everyone was so envious their faces turned purple.

Especially the Sixth Squad leader. Right now, he wanted to go back and beat up his recruits, just to see whether they had any unawakened talents left.

"Yes, Chief of Staff! I guarantee it won't delay training!" Fang Huai immediately stood up and snapped to attention.

With such generous conditions, he couldn't very well hide his abilities anymore.

The Chief of Staff's lips trembled, but he found it hard to speak.

You... if you can really create it, delaying training a little would be fine too!

Fang Huai didn't need to delay training.

He only needed the system to improve his memory a little. Besides, he had heard a Firefighting version of "The Lone Warrior" before; he just couldn't remember the lyrics.

He began calculating in his heart.

Actually, for the next mission reward, it would be fine if he didn't get Leg Strength Enhancement.

...Or should he take out a high-interest loan from the system?

Interest Rule: 50% interest rate (minimum loan: two rewards)

At that thought, the line immediately appeared before Fang Huai's eyes.

Heavy artillery made people calm.

Ahem, discuss it later, discuss it later.