Chapter 370: Piano Recital
The collapse of the tree at Nan Xiang City’s Third People Hospital caused 7 instant deaths. They were from all hospital staff, 4 of them doctors and 3 nurses. All of them participated in the Tourette Syndro consultation, in fact, Liu Guolin was the attending physician of said hospital’s Patient Zero. Was the fallen tree... just an accident?
When Gu Jun heard this horrible news, he was inordinately angry. He did not believe for a second this was an accident. Was this a tragedy or a sacrifice? Who was it for? How was it managed?
Gu Jun’s emotion was shared by many. mbers of Phecda boiled with anger as well. A tree fell and claid 7 innocent lives. Such accidents did happen occasionally and it always brought with it imnse pain, but it was especially true this ti because this was clearly a preditated murder. The oak tree that fell was over 500 years old but during the previous inspection by the Forestry Departnt, it was perfectly healthy, there was no danger of falling. When the botanists from Phecda went to inspect the scene, the cause of the collapse was a shrunken root system and decay of the main trunk. Only through prolonged decomposition that this was possible...
The oak tree was over 20 tres tall. The bark scabbed into unnatural formations. The branches were thick and twisted. It had the appearance of a haunted tree from fairy tales. It fell so perfectly to cause 7 people to die on the spot, probability-wise that was close to zero. The whole thing reeked of supernatural intervention. The oak tree had no symbolic aning in China, but in western culture, oak trees were always associated with the mysterious and malicious. For example, in ancient ro, cultist priests worshipped oaks and mistletoes. They conducted living sacrifices inside oak forest. And in dieval Europe, witches were said to have their covens deep inside the oak forest. But these were just historical rumours. Unlike the Free Masons and Illuminati which had beco part of the public culture, no one had much information on these secret cults.
From what happened today though, the rumors surrounding the witches’ covens might not be entirely fallacious. The oaks, the witches, the chosen target of young girls as well as a shadow who self-proclaid herself as Gu Jun’s big sister... So many elents spoke of witchery.
Was this part of R’yleh Cult’s doing? Not even Phecda could be sure because this incident was so unique from any of their previous cases. Could it be another organization who also worshipped the Lord of R’yleh? An organization like Lai Sheng Company or Dagon Cult? Gu Jun was sure there was a connection between the banyan tree and the oak tree but he could not put his finger on it. If the banyan tree represented the Son of Misfortune when what would the oak represent...?
Just the thought of it caused a blade to saw through his brain. He had to stop.
On that very sa day, sothing else happened. Among the 126 registered patients, there was a girl quarantined at Eastern State dical University’s attached hospital. Her na was Zhong Huili, she just had her 6th birthday party. The girl ca from a normal family but her parents enrolled her in piano classes when she was 4. Little Huili was not particularly talented. After 2 years of training, she was slightly above average in piano skill but she had never won any competition. Huili was quiet and obedient. After she was quarantined with her mother, she did not make any fuss except making multiple requests of, “Mummy, I want to play the piano.”
Her mother, Song Fang blad herself for not noticing her daughter’s symptoms earlier so she now paid extra attention to everything her daughter said and did. She thought this was an unusual request so she reported it to the nurse. Normally Huili never showed much interest in the piano so why would the girl make such constant requests that day?
After getting the news, the Eastern State dical Departnt’s interest was hooked. This was because in past research, many children with Tourette Syndro would temporarily lose their tics when they were entirely focused on an activity, playing piano would be a perfect example. Every thod had to be tried so Phecda imdiately transported a piano to the hospital to fulfil Huili’s request. The piano was placed inside an empty examination room. There were caras everywhere and Phecda mbers guarded outside the door to deal with sudden accidents. The activity would be stopped once sothing went wrong. In such an environnt, Little Huili sat alone before the grand piano. With the assessnt stone around her wrist, the girl prepared for her recital.
Huili’s parents, Song Fang and Zhong Zhihao were given permission to stay in the surveillance room. They watched the screen anxiously. They were joined by other Phecda mbers from the Eastern State Division and the headquarters. Everyone held their breath. Elder Tong was one of them. He was afraid that once the girl’s finger touched the piano keys, the well-inspected piano which was painted with the Ancient Seal would suddenly explode.
A lody started to play. Earlier when Song Fang asked Huili about the song that she wanted to play, Huili just shook her head. She said she didn’t know, she just wanted to play.
On the screen, the girl’s fingers pressed against the keys. After giving it so tuning, her small face focused into attention. Her hands flew like lightning. With a speed that was disproportionate to her age, she played maddeningly. However, she was not just bashing against the keys. A lodious harmony poured out from the piano. It was swift yet impressive.
“This, this...” Song Fang was flummoxed. Zhong Zhihao’s eyes widened. ‘Is this their daughter?’ Technically, they should be over the moon because their daughter was a prodigal pianist but now, all they felt was chills. They just wanted their normal daughter back. A contained gasp travelled through the headquarters. No one expected this.
“Should we end the performance?” Soone asked.
“Wait, just wait a little longer...” Elder Tong ordered. Since the assessnt stone did not glow and the guards posted outside the room did not sense anything out of place, the performance could go on. Elder Tong had been through many things in his life and that provided him with a sharp eye for talent. The girl was imnsely talented, she was even more gifted than Xiao Xu...
“What song is this?” Soone asked.
“It’s Mozart.” Soone gasped, “But a child shouldn’t be able to perform a song like this!”
At the sa ti, a wave of thought overwheld the doctors. ‘Is this phenonon unique to Little Huili or it manifests itself among all the infected little girls?’
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