Chapter 101- Troublemaker Alert
After the special exam, He Ruge returned to the dormitory and opened the Star Station livestream. He watched the livestream while also working on a new piece of writing. The livestream provided many shots of Xi Guican, and the silver-white mecha seemed to be tirelessly indulging in slaughter.
Although he couldn’t see Xi Guican’s face, He Ruge could imagine what he looked like behind the mecha. He must be as cold as the weapons brought up from the depths of the sea, with disdain in his blue eyes, as if nothing in the world could enter his sight.
So handsome…
He Ruge immersed himself in his own imagination, unaware that inside the cockpit of the mecha, the military-clad male god was shirtless, freely scratching the skin covered by the wings with his sturdy tiger tail.
The small wings were no longer insignificant; they had expanded from the size of a palm to half a meter long. The oval shape of the wings was utterly non-threatening, resembling a chubby doll that had gained weight, still retaining its childishness. So now, it should be called the “Fat Wing” instead of the “Wing of Slaughter.”
The soft feathers seemed untouched by dust, resembling fine snow. Although they appeared fragile, the feathers firmly adhered to the wings, even when roughly rubbed by the tiger tail.
Previously, the insect wings transplanted onto Xi Guican’s body had been smooth and cold, without any feathers. But now, the Wing of Slaughter was warm and covered in feathers. The thick feathers stuck to his back, regulating the temperature inside the cockpit, but itching was an unavoidable problem.
In a star battle, mechas couldn’t stand still; bouncing around was the norm. As the mecha moved, the feathers on the wings swayed with its movements. Although the wings could be retracted, Xi Guican was currently replenishing the wings with nutrients from the insect race, so the Wing of Slaughter had been hiding in the magic pattern for a while and now wanted to come out and stretch its wings.
That’s the trouble with having so many feathers.
The Bald Tiger couldn’t help but think, If only I could transfer some of the feathers from the wings to my body.
Since He Ruge discovered his baldness, Xi Guican had given up on hair transplant surgery and no longer resorted to deception. He was ready to soak in a hair-growing bath. According to the current rate of hair growth, in another seven or eight days, Xi Guican would be able to grow back all his lost hair.
Thinking about the hair growth plan, Xi Guican began to consider when to go for the hair-growing bath. If the star battle lasted another three or four days, he should be able to defeat the insect race easily, and then he could go find He Ruge!
Both were on Sixteen Stars, and if he moved at full speed, it would only take half a day to see He Ruge.
Thinking of He Ruge, Xi Guican was filled with the motivation to kill enemies because killing the insect race could replenish his energy. So, Xi Guican was full of energy and didn’t need a halftime break.
Because he didn’t want He Ruge to see his poorly grown fat wings, Xi Guican didn’t video call him. He planned to wait until the fat wings grew back to their majestic and imposing state before showing the Wing of Slaughter to He Ruge.
Thinking of He Ruge, his piercing blue eyes suddenly softened.
He will surely like my wings very much.
I really want to wrap him up in my wings.
At the same time, He Ruge also refrained from video calling Xi Guican. Operating a mecha must be mentally exhausting, and he couldn’t afford to distract Xi Guican at this time. After saving a thousand words of new manuscript and chatting with Jiji for a while, he turned off the livestream and prepared to go to bed.
Before sleeping, he sent Xi Guican a text message, “Good night, miss you.”
The two words “miss you” took a long time of hesitation to add. He thought about adding “very” and even “very much,” but in the end, he just said “miss you.”
The next morning, when He Ruge opened his optical brain and saw Xi Guican’s “I miss you very much too,” he couldn’t help but smile.
In addition to the message from Xi Guican, there were also messages from the Hair Club bombarding him. The Hair Club sent a document containing various data analyses, which looked incomprehensible but impressive. This document was the result of the Hair Club’s research on the impact of He Ruge’s voice on mental cognition.
Ever since the Hair Club heard He Ruge’s voice for the first time, they wanted to conduct this experiment. However, they knew that Xi Guican was resistant to experiments, and Xi Guican had warned them not to, so they didn’t dare to approach He Ruge at all.
But the spirit of experimentation was difficult to extinguish, so after returning to the research institute, the Hair Club lurked in He Ruge’s livestream room, collecting voices for experiments.
At first, the Hair Club found that when He Ruge sang soothing songs, his voice could temporarily bring pleasure to patients with depression, mania, and autism. The Hair Club originally planned to continue researching for a while and then risk being beaten to death by Xi Guican to collaborate with He Ruge. However, after He Ruge finished singing “Only Fear Not Resisting” last night, the Hair Club’s research suddenly made a breakthrough.
This song was equivalent to a stimulant without side effects.
Mao Zixie realized that his perspective was too narrow. He had previously only thought about how He Ruge’s singing could contribute to medicine, but he had not considered that such singing could also be used in actual combat.
If the mecha pilots in the star battle were to hear such singing, their dulled minds from slaughter could be reinvigorated, even if only momentarily, and it could potentially save lives on the rapidly changing battlefield.
This was the reason why Mao Zixie was so eager to collaborate with He Ruge; he wanted to contribute to the star battle effort.
Mao Zixie earnestly explained a lot of things. Patriotism always struck a chord with people’s emotions. Although He Ruge was somewhat touched, when he thought about “experiments,” he remembered the human experiments at the Star Ocean Orphanage. So, he tentatively asked, “Dr. Mao, how do you need me to cooperate?”
Contrary to He Ruge’s expectations, the cooperation was straightforward. Mao Zixie sent many songs and hoped that He Ruge could sing a few casually. After singing, He Ruge would just send the recordings to Mao Zixie, and for each song, Mao Zixie would pay He Ruge a considerable fee.
After weighing the pros and cons, He Ruge finally agreed to Mao Zixie’s proposal. He browsed through the song list and found that they were all war songs at first glance. However, when he scrolled to the end, he saw an encrypted song title.
Curiously, He Ruge clicked on it. An animated lock hung on the cover of the song, and a message from Mao Zixie popped up on the screen:
[This is a one-time message and will be automatically destroyed after viewing.]
Mr. He Ruge, this song is forbidden.
It’s banned by the Federation, and it’s said that those who listen to the original version of the song will eventually commit suicide.
This song cannot be found on the star network, and even the database of the Institute does not have the audio of this song.
I found this song among my grandfather’s relics. At that time, I didn’t know it was forbidden. After listening to it, I just felt that the melody was a bit eerie.
Later, I coincidentally learned that this song was the legendary forbidden song.
At first, I even doubted if it was just a song with the same name. But from the moment I listened to it until now, so many years have passed, and I’m still alive and well.
I casually mentioned this to my father, and he was very curious and wanted to listen to it.
Back then, I copied this song from my grandfather’s optical brain. So, besides me, no one else knows about the existence of this song, not even my father. The thing I regret most is giving this song to my father to listen to.
That night, he committed suicide.
I suddenly thought that my grandfather also committed suicide before the Anlahors Prize was announced. Was my grandfather’s death also related to this forbidden song? I don’t know.
I’m afraid of this song, and I dare not give it to anyone. Sometimes I feel that this song is like a demon hidden in the optical brain, staring at me all the time…
It wants to kill me.
And now, Mr. He Ruge, I want to give this song to you.
Actually, I’ve been thinking about a very dangerous idea.
But it’s so fascinating.
Mr. He Ruge, since your singing can save people, does that mean your singing can also kill?
The bodies of the insect race are indestructible, but their mental cognition is not as hard as their exoskeletons.
So, if the insect race were to hear this forbidden song, would they also be unable to resist committing suicide?
Mr. He Ruge…
Maybe I’m going crazy. I don’t know if my decision to send you this forbidden song is right or wrong. The choice is yours.
This song is locked, and the unlock password is the song title “Sacrifice.”
You can choose to unlock it or destroy it.
[This message will be automatically destroyed upon completion.]
He Ruge was stunned. This locked song was like Pandora’s box, reminding him of the “Requiem,” “Black Friday,” and “Thirteenth Eyes.”
So, forbidden songs were a thing throughout the universe?
He Ruge had previously searched for those forbidden songs out of curiosity and felt nothing after listening to them. Perhaps it was because the songs online were not genuine forbidden songs.
Logic told He Ruge that he should destroy such songs, but curiosity prevented him. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to put the song into his library.
As long as he didn’t open it, there should be no problem. After Xi Guican returned, he could discuss it with him.
After figuring out a solution, He Ruge felt relieved and went to invigilate the exam.
This exam was proposed by He Ruge himself, but the He Ruge who proposed the exam was not a devil, because he had reduced the difficulty of the exam and provided a test paper that even a three-year-old could complete. It was tailored for Xiong Xin Hao.
All the arithmetic problems were addition and subtraction within 20, and the Chinese characters for spelling were basic vocabulary words that Xiong Xin Hao knew.
Standing on the podium and watching Xiong Xin Hao answer the questions seriously, He Ruge’s black eyes softened immensely.
He knew that for some children, going to school was actually very painful. Because they were “stupid,” “couldn’t think flexibly,” “not suited for learning,” couldn’t understand what the teacher was saying in class, and couldn’t do their homework.
This was actually a very cruel thing. Because in school, children with slower cognitive abilities would always receive more malice than others. They would be ridiculed by others, even if not verbally, they would have these thoughts in their hearts.
Classmates, teachers, relatives, and even parents treated children with slower cognitive abilities differently from how they treated intelligent children.
Imagine a child who wasn’t suited for studying sitting at their desk every day, unable to speak or move around. Going to class was torture for them, but they had to endure this torture every day, listening for seven or eight hours each time, for ten years, for most of their childhood.
They couldn’t find any joy in going to school. Not only were they denied by others, they slowly started denying themselves.
This wasn’t good.
Every child deserved to be loved.
So, He Ruge wanted to prepare a special exam for Xiong Xin Hao. In seven days, Xiong Xin Hao would have to leave immediately and go to another planet. His intelligence was not suitable for studying, so he might go to a specialized vocational school.
He Ruge didn’t want Xiong Xin Hao to grow up and only recall his brief schooling years filled with failed exams and always getting questions wrong.
He wanted Xiong Xin Hao to score ninety points, or even one hundred points.
Because he was a lovely little cub, if there was a test paper to test the cuteness of cubs, then he would surely get a perfect score.
Because every child deserved to be loved.
