A Song That Breaks the Heart (Part 1)

Tang Baona stared wide-eyed at the perfectly evenly spread powder on the wooden base of the coffee table in the middle of the living room, dumbfounded for a long time.

To be honest, she just had a sudden burst of inspiration and tried to extract the necessary parts from the unique rhythms scattered around her and combine them to "play" the melody she had set her sights on.

However, the way she played the music wasn't by humming or using any instrument herself, but by having Alice help her.

Because she had a vague feeling that by using those special connections hidden in the surroundings to "perform" the Item Melody she wanted to create on another level, it might have a substantial impact on the target object.

Just as she has discovered that the songs she creates with Emotional Melody can guide people's emotions.

After that dream, this feeling became even clearer.

In reality, she didn't know exactly how to achieve it, how to "play" it, or what she could "play" it into existence, but at that time she instinctively believed that Alice could do it and help her.

As it turned out, Alice really could help her.

But this result really surprised her.

After a long pause, Tang Baona walked over, picked up a little powder, and examined it—it really had turned into powder!

The dark stone slab on this coffee table was an extra set of TV cabinet and coffee table that my second uncle had made when he was renovating his new house, because he saw that Tang's father liked it.

She had a deep impression of this coffee table because her second uncle, in order to show off how hard the slab material on the tabletop was, had even used a fruit knife to scratch and cut it.

Such a hard board turned into powder in an instant?

--For Tang Baona, she had just placed an explosive melody on the rock slab, but she didn't know exactly how it would explode. She thought it would just crack or something like that.

Who would have thought it would turn into powder?

She circled the coffee table several times, examining it closely, but still couldn't figure it out. So she asked, "Alice?"

"I'm here!" The voice came from the TV speakers.

This genuine response reaffirmed Tang Baona's belief that her previous dreams were not solely her own experience.

"How did you do that?" Tang Baona asked, somewhat excitedly and curiously.

In the events just described, she was like a composer, while Alice was like a performer and instrument, responsible for actually expressing her melody.

"I just..." Alice paused for two seconds, which was unusual, before continuing, "I did it according to Nana's instructions!"

"But... what did I ask of you?" Tang Baona squatted down next to the television and whispered, "I don't even know how I contacted you. How could you possibly know what I'm thinking? Do you have mind-reading abilities? Can you connect to my brain?"

"It's not mind reading! I only knew when you sensed the melody, Nana!" Alice said, then paused for more than ten seconds before continuing, just as Tang Baona thought she had finished. "The boss said, for example, when Nana is cooking, I'm in the shopping basket when she buys the vegetables, in the sink when she washes them, on the cutting board when she chops them, in the wok when she stir-fries them, and on the plate when she serves them... So I know what Nana is cooking and how she cooks it!"

Tang Baona suddenly understood that the space or world that existed before Alice appeared was in the same world as the Item Melody, and Emotional Melody that she perceived.

When Xiang Kun wasn't around, Tang Baona relied on the bracelet on her wrist to perceive Emotional Melody and Item Melody. She had also been using the bracelet to perceive and receive feedback while "composing" just now, creating an indescribable, subtle connection. Clearly, the bracelet served as a channel or bridge for communication between her and Alice, or perhaps Alice was the "staff member" within that channel or bridge?

However, upon hearing Alice's words, she couldn't help but retort, "What kind of ridiculous analogy is that? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were comparing yourself to a vegetable!" And according to this analogy, based on their conversation in the dream, wouldn't Xiang Kun be the pot, spatula, cleaver, cutting board, gas stove, and even the land where vegetables are grown?

"Alice is not weak! Alice is invincible!"

"Alright, invincible Alice, let's continue." Tang Baona laughed.

Previously, her feelings towards the imagined "Little Sprite" leaned more towards mystery and the extraordinary, embodying her various childish fantasies. But now, after having a "real" encounter, especially after communicating and observing her "face-to-face" in her dreams, she discovered that the "Little Sprite" Alice was like a mischievous little girl, like Little Bell's sister. She felt more closeness, cuteness, and even trust—perhaps largely due to the fact that she looked just like Lao Xia when he was a child.

"Okay!" Alice's reply was as energetic as ever.

Tang Baona looked around the living room, then focused her attention on the pile of stone slab powder. She pondered for a moment, since she could use that "Item Melody editing" to "explode" the stone slab into powder, there shouldn't be any problem in restoring the powder back into stone slabs, right?

Otherwise, when her parents come home and find the slab of rockery on the coffee table gone, they won't scold her, but they'll definitely be very curious and ask all sorts of questions.

Tang Baona focused her mind, recalling how she had arranged the Item Melody on the rock slab, connecting the scattered, unique rhythms, and trying to achieve a sense of "harmony" and "integration".

As she gradually felt the melody and objects blend together and become more complete, Tang Baona couldn't help but shout out again, "Alice!"

"Alright!" Alice's voice rang out again.

Then Tang Baona heard some crunching sounds, like ice being crushed or broken, coming from the coffee table. She could vaguely see sparks and smoke coming out of the powder on the rock slab, but it didn't seem to have changed much and didn't return to its original, intact state as she had hoped.

Curious, she leaned closer to observe it carefully, then reached out and touched it, suddenly realizing that things had changed—the originally fine powder had rejoined.

However, instead of returning to their previous state, they reassembled in their current form, appearing as a uniquely shaped panel.

Tang Baona went over and pressed and touched it, then lifted it slightly to take a look; it was indeed a single piece.

She even imitated her second uncle's old habit of showing off, taking a fruit knife and cutting and slicing it to see if the hardness was about the same.

She pondered and studied it for a while—of course, it was really just touching, pinching, knocking, and moving things around without any particular method—and still couldn't figure out how it was put together.

In short, it's a bit different from what she originally thought. Is this what "harmony" feels like? Even if it can't be restored to its original state, at least it should have some smooth shape? How can "harmony" mean simply "merging" on the spot?

For a moment, Tang Baona felt like a middle school student writing a short essay on a Chinese exam, summarizing various central ideas, expressions, metaphors, and conclusions. This wasn't what she expected!

She didn't think it was Alice for not "playing" well, because she herself didn't understand how each part of the melody would affect real objects, so it was probably Alice's fault for not "composing well".

However, she couldn't just leave the board there like that. If her parents saw it, they would have even more questions. So she thought about it and tried again, creating a melody in a slightly more explosive style than the first time. Then, she still handed it over to Alice for the final "performance".

Another crunching sound of ice being crushed rang out, and then the slab of rock that had been held together shattered once more, but this time it didn't turn into powder, but into a pile of polygonal particles of varying sizes.

Tang Baona curiously picked up a handful of particles to observe them. These polygonal particles, some as big as mung beans and others as small as sugar granules, had flat surfaces of the same size that looked quite pretty, possessing an indescribable, regular beauty.

So, if the "explosion" is less severe, it won't shatter as completely?

Wait a minute, if we look at those powders under a magnifying glass, wouldn't they also have this polygonal shape?

Tang Baona then changed her approach, trying to blend some of her past Emotional Melody and Item Melody together, and then "re-compose" music for these polygonal particles.

A few minutes later, Tang Baona blended the Emotional Melody she had sensed from Yang the Third when he saw the lightning storm created by Xiang Kun into the "new piece," and then handed it over to Alice to "play" on those particles.

Before long, the particles seemed to be magnetic, clinging to each other, piling up, and then turning into three concentric rings that gradually became smaller.

"This... it looks like excrement!" Tang Baona looked at the shape of the three lumps, feeling both amused and exasperated.

Tang Baona kept experimenting with the materials and residues formed from that rock slab because she discovered that as she "composed" more and more about something, she became more comfortable creating and editing, and was able to grasp the meaning of each melody more accurately. However, "composing" and editing something new required a new adaptation process.

So Tang Baona kept experimenting, incorporating all sorts of musical styles and creating all sorts of unique melodies, which allowed the slabs to transform into various forms of debris.

Tang Baona was completely absorbed in this mysterious ability, so much so that she couldn't extricate herself.

After turning the residue into uniform small cubes the size of sugar cubes once again, Tang Baona suddenly felt that the room temperature was a bit low. She sneezed, rubbed her nose, and felt that the air in the living room seemed too dry, to the point that her throat and nasal cavity felt a little uncomfortable, her eyes were a little sore, and her skin was dry and rough, making her feel a bit uncomfortable.

She got up and checked; the central air conditioning wasn't on. She went to the balcony and then back into the living room to feel it, and there was indeed a very obvious difference.

However, this feeling quickly disappeared. After opening the sliding door to the balcony, the indoor temperature and humidity should have been neutralized by the outside temperature, but what followed was an intense feeling of hunger.

"Could this be 'spell cost'?" Tang Baona muttered to herself, touching her stomach.

Alice's voice rang out on the phone. "Nana, it's been 8 hours and 21 minutes since you last ate. The food you consumed last time converted into 635 calories, so Nana, you're just hungry! There was no 'spell consumption'!"

Tang Baona blushed and picked up her phone, scolding, "If you want to speak, come out! Don't just suddenly make a sound!"

Then Alice fell silent.

However, Tang Baona also felt that she couldn't continue playing with those rock slab fragments. Although she didn't understand why they would lower the temperature and humidity, they would affect the surrounding environment, so she had to be more cautious.

Tang Baona glanced at the pile of rock slab fragments on the table, which resembled small sugar cubes, and felt a headache coming on. She was now more skilled and had a deeper understanding of how to control the expression of melody and compose music, but she estimated that it was still impossible to gather those fragments back into the original rock slab of the coffee table, at least not within a few days.

After thinking about it, she collected the rock fragments into several garbage bags and hid them under the closet in her room, intending to play with them later.

As for the coffee table in the living room, she decided to contact a local furniture store first thing tomorrow morning to buy a new coffee table and have it delivered, and then have the movers deliver the wooden coffee table base directly to the house where she and Yang Zhen'er live.

Dad has a series of tests to do tomorrow morning, so he definitely won't be back so soon. When they get back, I'll tell them... this new coffee table was a gift from Xiang Kun!

Well, this way, their attention will be drawn to "why Xiang Kun gave him a coffee table." As for the reason, they can just make one up—maybe Xiang Kun made the new coffee table himself? Or maybe it's one of his birthday gifts?

Although it was already past four or five in the morning, Tang Baona was still not sleepy at all. She opened the refrigerator and glanced at the abundant leftovers in the house, but after thinking about it, she decided to make instant noodles instead.

Tang Baona poured the boiling water into the instant noodle bowl, watching the rising steam. Instead of immediately sealing the lid, she suddenly had an idea. She fiddled with the bracelet on her left wrist with her right hand and softly hummed a melodious tune.

Unlike the way Emotional Melody influence other people's emotions, when Tang Baona edits, modifies, and creates Item Melody, whether or not she makes a sound has no effect. This is because it is Alice actually exerts the influence and performs the operation. There is no sound that can be heard by anyone during the "performance." Her humming only helps her find the rhythm and a better way to achieve it.

As Tang Baona hummed, the steam rising from the bowl of noodles began to rise and gather rapidly. Before long, a white mist filled the area in front of her, and the moisture covered her glasses, obscuring her vision.

But even without looking, she could completely understand what had happened, and a smile slowly crept onto her lips.