Qin Xi sincerely apologized:
"But I really have no prejudice against the old era... On the contrary, I really like the old era! Whether it’s the people of the old era, the romantic atmosphere, or classical music, I like them all!"
"Hehe, since that’s the case, I’ll give you all an extra performance!"
As she spoke.
Qin Xi bent down, opened the guitar case that was already closed, took out the acoustic guitar, and hung it around her neck:
"Well, I can’t let you co here for nothing, so I’ll give you a special encore ~"
She plucked the six strings one by one, tuned them, and then looked up at Lin Xian:
"Since you also ca from the old era, is there any song you particularly like? But, if you request a song, it has to be one of those extrely popular, classic songs from back then. I can’t sing every song."
"Anything is fine."
Lin Xian softly said:
"Thank you for the extra performance, you can sing anything you want."
After all...
[This was the last song of Qin Xi’s life.]
Qin Xi pressed her index finger to her chin and thought for a mont:
"In that case, I’ll sing a song I just learned."
Her eyes curved into crescents, with two dimples playfully appearing at the corners of her mouth:
"I only learned this song this afternoon, but I’m not very familiar with it yet, and haven’t morized the score, so I definitely wouldn’t dare to sing it with so many people watching at night."
"But now it doesn’t matter, after all, there are only the two of us here, oh... and Mr. Trash Can. If I sing poorly, don’t make fun of ."
As her words fell.
A cool night breeze blew.
It lifted the brown tips of Qin Xi’s hair beside her ears, brushed across her fair cheeks, and she fully imrsed herself in the music. Her left hand barred the fretboard, and her right hand plucked the guitar strings.
The notes were long and crisp, slow yet elegant, but within the scattered lodies, filled with the taste of desolate regret.
This prelude lody...
Back in university, Lin Xian was also a band guitarist, with an impeccable sense of music.
VV, being a super artificial intelligence, imdiately recognized the na of the "classical song" Qin Xi was about to play—
"Alaskan Bay"
As the lingering sound of the vibrating guitar strings gradually faded, Qin Xi took a deep breath, and her ethereal, pure voice instantly erged:
"Oh heaven... can’t you see how much I love her."
"How can two people who truly love each other be torn apart by you."
"Oh heaven... please don’t secretly tell her."
"In countless quiet nights, there is soone thinking of her."
...
Qin Xi’s a cappella singing was clear and bright, without a trace of worldly dust, and this pure clarity instantly pulled Lin Xian’s thoughts back to 1952.
That girl with a beaming smile biting into a hot dog;
That girl embracing the world on the carousel;
That girl standing on the backseat of a motorcycle, tears streaming as she shouted across the Brooklyn Bridge;
That girl standing on the top of the Empire State Building, snow swirling into angel wings, tightly holding his hand, wishing he would beco a true Savior.
It was just so pure and sacred.
The appearance of an angel, the kindness of an angel, the voice of an angel.
"In the days to co, you must take good care of her."
"I am not by her side, you cannot bully her."
"Don’t let anyone enter her heart, only to leave her in the end."
"Because I don’t want to see her crying again..."
...
The song was tender and intoxicating, but every word of the lyrics was like a needle, piercing into Lin Xian’s heart.
In the Manhattan cinema, CC teared up as she looked at him, asking if he would wake up to find this was just a dream.
At 20,000 ters high in the sky on the Skyspace Aircraft, Chu Anqing cried loudly, tears flowing endlessly upon touching the Space-Ti Particle.
Lin Xian clenched his fists.
Every Millennium Stakes girl brought him help, gentleness, and dedication.
And what he gave them...
Was a sight full of regret, sorrow, and farewell.
Qin Xi’s fingers danced, playing a hauntingly morable solo during the song’s pause, then she took a deep breath as the song "Alaskan Bay" reached its climax:
"Oh heavens...are you secretly mocking us."
"You knew I couldn’t protect her, yet you made us et."
"Oh heavens...is she no longer suffering from insomnia lately."
"May the warmth of the world turn into a breeze, embracing her for ."
...
Lin Xian had danced with every Millennium Stakes girl he knew, but this was indeed the first ti he heard them sing.
His vision beca sowhat blurry.
He too wished to save these Millennium Stakes girls, to seize the Black Hand behind the scenes and tear apart their plan to lock history.
But ti and ti again, as Liu Feng said, he was powerless, watching helplessly as they were destined to disappear.
On the clock tower of the bank in 1952, the First Generation Pillar CC turned into stardust in the wind, scattering across the whole of Brooklyn, yet Lin Xian couldn’t catch a single one.
In 2024, when Chu Anqing leaped from twenty thousand ters in the sky, he unhesitatingly jumped after her. Even though he caught up, even holding her hand, in the end... when he opened the spacesuit, there was nothing inside.
In 2624’s CC, the two went from scheming bank robbers to knowing and eting in one dream after another, accumulating mory fragnts one by one. They beca friends, and trusted partners; he had promised to give her the most spectacular fireworks show on CC’s 20th birthday, but until now, it had never been realized, and he couldn’t even find CC’s shadow in the dream.
Just as Qin Xi sang.
In order to fulfill the promise, save the world’s future, save mankind’s fate, and rescue Chu Anqing, who caught the first precious space-ti particle for him, he journeyed from 2025 through two periods of hibernation, arriving in the unfamiliar tiline of 2504.
Although he found Cheng Qian and revived VV, and was about to find Newton and Galileo... yet in front of this Millennium Stakes girl who was about to disappear, still nothing could be done in ti.
This song "Alaskan Bay" was drawing to its end.
Qin Xi, just like Chu Anqing, had imnse artistic talent, and they could easily imrse themselves in performance, as if they were truly there.
In the silence of the tunnel with only their pair present, Qin Xi’s slender guitar accompanint echoed around, making an already regretful song even more heartbreaking.
After playing a few short notes, the song reached its final closing stage, with the guitar accompanint growing more frequent, replaced by Qin Xi’s clear voice, gradually becoming a bit hoarse and lancholy.
Her voice was very light, very light.
Like telling a story, like reminiscing, like a past that couldn’t be returned to, like a distant place that couldn’t be reached.
"Oh heavens...the words I spoke to you this night..."
Qin Xi’s voice grew lighter, but more devout, just like CC praying with closed eyes in the church; or like the Angel making a life wish on the snowy rooftop of the Empire State Building.
"Please don’t carelessly let it slip to her, I’m afraid it will wake her."
"Oh heavens...please do not secretly tell her."
"In countless quiet and deep nights..."
With the last gentle strum of the guitar string.
Qin Xi looked up, gazing at Lin Xian who was so close, her tear-filled eyes blurry:
"[I’m still... thinking of him.]"
...
Whoosh ———
Whoosh ———
Whoosh ———
The sorrowful girl’s body turned blue, then beca transparent and thin as a cicada’s wing, even the moonlight could shine through.
In an instant, her body transford into large clusters of Blue Stardust, fragnted like scattered sand, brushed by the rising night wind, drifting into a field of starlight...
Drifting across the streets of Chengdu, disappearing in the night.
June 18, 2504, 00:42.
The city center’s nightlife was vibrant with singing and dancing, colorful neon lights flickering across the sky.
No one noticed.
In the unnoticed tunnel of a transit station, a girl in her pri left this world during a song, locking away a piece of history, yet leaving nothing behind.
Thud.
A dull sound.
A purely wooden guitar fell from nowhere, hitting the hard ground, skewing the guitar’s neck, and two guitar strings broke, turning into the last trembling note of this story.
In the tunnel...
Lingering endlessly.
Reviews
All reviews (0)