Who is Playing the Piano

The instant he touched that Pale head, Lu Ban seemed to hear a burst of soft laughter by his ear.

Bang—

The head exploded soundlessly, bouncing across the pages. Piles of white bones accumulated, forming the words of the mission.

Who is Playing the Piano

Who was it, singing late at night in the theater and playing a forbidden melody? In the empty audience seats, only lonely applause echoed.

In the theater destroyed by fire, mournful murmurs were always heard. You came here, yet did not know that you had already become a character on the stage.

Do not stop playing. Trust me, you would not want to see that scene.

Mission Difficulty: Mortal

Mission Requirement: Arrive at Jiangcheng Grand Theater after sunset tomorrow, find the performer, and survive until dawn the next day to complete the mission.

"Even the gods favor his performance."

"...Survive until dawn the next day?"

When Lu Ban saw that description, he had a bad feeling.

Normally, if there were no danger, there would not be restrictions like some survival game.

He had to find some unknown performer in an abandoned theater and somehow hang on until daybreak. No matter how he looked at it, it sounded extremely dangerous.

But looking at the mission difficulty, it was merely Mortal level.

Lu Ban did not know what a Mortal-level mission meant, but Friend Under the Bed had also been Mortal level. They were probably about the same?

He figured that at most, he would hear some inexplicable sounds and see some mysterious figures while staying in the abandoned theater.

Glancing beneath his own bed, Lu Ban felt that it would not be a big problem.

Having learned the relevant mission details, he went back online to search for clues.

After entering the name Jiangcheng Grand Theater, Lu Ban quickly found that Jiangcheng had indeed once had a grand theater.

The theater stood at the border between Jiangcheng's current new district and old district. It had a history of more than fifty years and, until the 1990s, had been a popular weekend entertainment spot for Jiangcheng residents.

But with the development of movies and later the spread of the internet, Jiangcheng Grand Theater gradually declined. Around the start of the century, a serious fire broke out there due to electrical problems, leaving it beyond repair.

The theater's owner had intended to demolish it and sell the land to a real estate developer. But later, due to some unknown change, the deal was put on hold, and the place became a neglected wasteland that remained untouched to this day.

After all, these events had happened more than twenty years ago. The internet had not been well developed then, so it seemed reasonable that Lu Ban could not find much.

Rumors about Jiangcheng Grand Theater were mostly scattered across outdated places like local forums and message boards. Many pages had already expired, but Lu Ban still managed to find a few traces.

"...Legend says the fire happened because a boss's wife had an affair with an actor at the theater. After their affair was exposed, they were tied to the stage and burned alive in the theater!"

"No, the people in the theater were secretly using the place for illegal dealings. Later, they fell out over the profits and started shooting at each other, which burned down the whole theater. I saw the police surround the place with my own eyes!"

"Don't believe every rumor you hear. Actually, the theater was built on an ancient battlefield. Too many people died there, and the yin energy is too heavy, so it's always haunted. That's why it was never sold!"

"I heard from my nephew's classmate's mother that people still sing and play the piano there at night. It's terrifying!"

"What ghosts and spirits? It's already the twenty-first century, and you still believe that stuff? I'd say there's probably something wrong with the geomagnetic field there, causing people to hallucinate. Science can explain it all!"

Remarks like these had mostly vanished into the long river of internet history along with their crude webpages. Only cached snapshots offered the faintest glimpse of them.

As for more in-depth information, Lu Ban felt that it would be difficult to find online. He would have to go to the library.

Tomorrow, he would go to the library during the day to look through newspaper archives from that year, then head to Jiangcheng Grand Theater in the evening.

Having made up his mind, he instead became calm. He no longer had the excited feeling of an elementary school student going on a field trip the next day.

After washing up, Lu Ban glanced beneath the bed again. It was empty.

Although what had happened made him hesitate a little, he had nowhere else to sleep.

When people were poor, they could sleep even in a haunted funeral hall.

He turned off the lights and lay in bed watching videos for a while before drowsiness gradually enveloped him.

In his half-asleep state, Lu Ban suddenly felt something pressing down on him.

He tried to open his eyes and get up, but his eyelids were as heavy as stone. His body was stiff, as if he were already dead. His chest seemed compressed, making it hard to breathe. He felt as though he would soon suffocate.

The feeling was just like when he had been about to awaken from the dream within a dream last night.

As he struggled instinctively, Lu Ban's right hand suddenly touched a cold, soft, delicate hand.

As if trying to soothe him, that hand gently held his fingers and rubbed against his palm.

With the touch of that hand, the pressure on Lu Ban's body suddenly lessened considerably. Although he still could not raise his eyelids and his limbs remained unable to move, Lu Ban felt much more relaxed, and his consciousness was no longer so muddled.

The fingers of his left hand twitched slightly, and a silver revolver with a long barrel and large caliber appeared there.

Bang—

Lu Ban's consciousness fired the gun. A segment of sound began to emerge in his mind and, with the movement of his mouth, echoed through the room.

"Good Luck wishes you good luck, good luck brings joy and love, good luck comes to us, we have good luck."

It was "Good Luck."

Lu Ban currently had five Speech Bullets loaded, including a segment of "Good Luck," and it was even the original singer's version.

Don't ask. It was for warding off evil.

Whether because of the song's cheerful melody or Lu Ban's use of his ability, the oppressive feeling on him abruptly vanished.

Lu Ban opened his eyes.

In the dim room, the cabinet cast deep shadows in the faint light. Unknown shadows swayed behind the curtains. Lu Ban instinctively felt his shoulders first, confirming that nothing else was on them, before using his phone's light to climb out of bed amid the song "Good Luck."

He turned on the light and looked beneath the bed.

There was nothing there.

Getting up, Lu Ban cautiously opened the cabinet as well.

Creak—

The cabinet door opened with a sound. Lu Ban looked inside, only to discover an eye staring at him from among his neatly folded clothes!

"!!!"

Lu Ban's heart skipped a beat, and he stepped back half a pace.

But he quickly saw clearly that the eye was merely a print on a sweater.

"There really is probably something in this room."

By now, even Lu Ban could understand that something strange probably existed in his room.

And there was more than one.

At the very least, the thing that had immobilized him and that cold, soft hand were two different entities.

Lu Ban thought for a moment.

He turned on his computer and began playing the Spring Festival Gala playlist, filling the whole room with cheerful music.

He lay back on the bed and, to the melodious tune of "Unforgettable Tonight," fell peacefully asleep.

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