Chapter 230：The Masked Singer: Anyone watch it?

Xue Jing Yi took it and hurriedly browsed through it, her face paled. This piano score only included five tracks, but it was recognized as one of the world's most difficult piano tunes, the alternate name was 'Transcendental Etudes' [this does not actually exist]. From the words 'transcendent', it was clear that the pianist needed superb skills to play it.

The world's top musicians were afraid to boast that they could play the five tracks completely, in fact, if they could successfully complete two or three, that was enough to make them feel proud.

And Xue Zi Xuan was the only person in the world who could play the five tracks in full. The standard he set for Xue Jing Yi was so high, she felt a heavy pressure.

Xue Jing Yi's fingertips trembled as she opened the score.

The first song was the least difficult, but after getting a glimpse of its name, Xue Jing Yi's mind blanked. 'Hellfire', the song used the most double notes, one bar contained up to 120 double notes, of which there were about 70 double trills. When playing, if the fingers were too tense, or the two notes were uneven, the song would be destroyed.

Some pianists joked: Those who can play 'Hellfire' perfectly must have more accurate control of their hands than a robot.

Xue Jing Yi took a deep breath and forced her fingertips to relax. You can do it, you must! She kept bolstering herself, but made an error on only the second line. A double note was faulty, making the melody suddenly too sharp.

"Stop, again!" Xue Zi Xuan snapped. Seeing the boy suddenly look up from playing with his computer, his eyes wide open, somewhat alarmed, he quickly walked over to gently rub his hair.

The boy smiled shyly and bent back over his computer, then Xue Zi Xuan said in a softer tone, "Start over, don't just completely relax your fingers, even your wrists need to be relaxed."

Xue Jing Yi nodded, but her hands were even more rigid. She bit the bullet and continued playing, but at the end of the first bar, more than a dozen consecutive double notes appeared, frightening her. Her fingers fumbled over the keys, and the originally beautiful melody turned into unsightly noise.

"Stop! What is going on with you? I remember your level being higher than this. Step aside, I'll give you a demonstration again." Xue Zi Xuan frowned tightly.

Xue Jing Yi hurriedly got out of the way, then looked nervously at him.

Zhou Yun Sheng put away his computer and leaned against the piano to listen along, then he eagerly asked, "Brother, this song sounds very fun, can I play it once?"

Xue Zi Xuan's cold face instantly melted, he said warmly, "Come try it."

Zhou Yun Sheng sat in front of the piano and turned the music score over again, once memorized, he put the score away and played freely. This song originated from one of the composer's nightmares. He dreamt that he had fallen into hell, where he was surrounded by blue flames and dreadful demons. The flames burned him, the demons hunted him, and he fled in fright, then he woke up kicking and screaming, only to find out that everything was a dream.

So he wiped away his cold sweat and laughed, relieved.

As a result of this experience, the first three bars of this song were filled with dazzling double notes and double trills, building up the horrifying, eerie, frantic atmosphere in detail, but the last bar was full of joy and relief, allowing the audience to completely shake off the previous feeling of panic. The huge emotional drop off and switch in style was this song's most dazzling moment, and the consecutive emergence of double notes made the song ultra-difficult.

Zhou Yun Sheng's slender fingers slide over the keys, neatly and accurately pressing the notes, when he finished, Xue Jing Yi unconsciously rubbed her arms and found a layer of goose bumps.

He played so perfectly, his superb skill comparable to famous veteran musicians.

Xue Zi Xuan was standing beside the piano, gazing at the teenager with obsessive eyes. When he finished, he pressed down on his frantic heartbeat and hoarsely praised "Perfect, I have nothing more to teach you."

Zhou Yun Sheng smiled shyly.

Nothing more to teach? If even the Piano King could say such words, the boy's skills must've reached a level others would find difficult to reach. Xue Jing Yi's heart was riddled with bloody holes from corrosive jealousy. Seeing her brother waving at her to come try again, she reflexively took two steps back.

"Jing Yi, did you watch carefully? Come over and try again, remember to relax."

"Yes." Xue Jing Yi looked down at the piano, and a dark blue flame suddenly sprang from the gap between the keys and roared towards her face. She quickly backed up to escape the flames and almost fell down.

Zhou Yun Sheng noticed her tilt and quickly ran over to catch her, he asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"

"No, nothing." Xue Jing Yi stared intently, there was no flame on the keys, her nerves had cause her to hallucinate. She slowly placed her finger on a key, but her fingertip seemed to be dipped in lava, causing unbearable pain. She clearly knew that a wonderful melody could be created with a press, but currently, she didn't have the strength to move her fingers. The boy had played 'Hellfire' perfectly on the first try, and she wanted to climb up to the peak of this unreachable mountain, she even wanted to go beyond it, was that even possible?

Forget about doing it now, when it was her heyday, she also wouldn't be able to do it. He just needed to press a few lines of notes and she lost- lost her self-confidence and pride, and also lost her brother's attention.

Only God knew how much she wanted her brother to stare at her with the same obsession, but she knew that she could never surpass the boy.

Whether Xue Jing Yi was really sick or faking, Zhou Yun Sheng was not interested in knowing. He only knew that because her pride and self-confidence had been thoroughly crushed by him, the game could go on.

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Xue Jing Yi was pretending, she didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of her brother and become a foil to highlight Huang Yi's excellence.

But perhaps because of the rapid psychological attacks, after waking up from the coma that day, she noticed that her psychological endurance had been significantly enhanced. Things that always made her heart ache in the past, like seeing an intimate embrace, she could now pretend to look on indifferently.

Early the next morning, she quietly walked into the piano room and sat in front of the piano in a daze. After more than half an hour, she put her hands on the keys and tried to play the simplest minuet, but the familiar melody didn't appear, replaced by a bunch of messy, meaningless notes.

The music was clearly engraved in her mind, she could see it with her eyes closed, but in reality, she couldn't use the keys to express it. She seemed to have lost her ability to play.

Xue Jing Yi panicked, then changed the tune and tried again. But the more anxious she was, the more her fingers didn't listen to her call, and the small bit of recognizable rhythm later became completely chaotic, creaking like an old staircase about to collapse.

Where was this music, this was clearly the noise of torture, if her brother heard it, he would forcefully slam the piano cover and break her hands. Xue Jing Yi finally stopped, staring at her trembling hands in a daze.

She knew that she had to take a break, she would not be able to touch the piano again for a while. Just by sitting in front of the piano, she felt not anticipation and pleasure, but fear and anxiety. Huang Yi's perfect performances had induced this mentality, and it grew more serious by the day, cementing after she suffered a crushing blow yesterday.

Xue Jing Yi gently closed the cover and went back to her bedroom. The piano room was insulated, so she hadn't woken anyone up, and now she had time to think quietly. She turned on her computer and solemnly browsed information relevant to heart surgery, since last month, she'd been relying on this information to motivate her to continue fighting.

A news story suddenly leapt out, and she was unable to blink for a long time. A young man had underwent a heart transplant, and after rehabilitation, he had a lot of inexplicable memories, and also discovered talents he hadn't previously had. This transformed his life. The experts analyzed: The human heart can also store memories, allowing heart transplant recipients to obtain some of the previous owner's skills. Some primitive tribes in Africa performed the ritual of devouring the hearts of their enemies to gain strength.

Xue Jing Yi eerily stared at this report, and after a long moment, she smiled. If she received Huang Yi's heart, would she be able to get his extraordinary musical talent? How would she know if she didn't try?

What was he, just a container to store her heart, a wretch that lived in her shadow, why should he make her feel fear?

She smiled brighter, more viciously, then made a decision after catching sight of the invitation on the table.

Since she'd momentarily lost the ability to play, she'd make Huang Yi participate in the competition in her stead. She was not interested in the prize money, just the opportunity to enter Curtis Music Academy to learn. With her current ability, she'd need to practice for at least a few years to be admitted, but Huang Yi could easily get in.

He was going to die soon anyway, she might as well thoroughly use him. And when she received his heart and talent, no one would find out that the person who'd participated in the contest wasn't her.

Thinking of this, she calmly turned off the computer, and pressed the emergency aid button.

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Xue family surrounded the sick bed with haggard faces, especially Xue Li Dani, her eyes were red from constant weeping. Xue Jing Yi pulled her hand and asked feebly, "Mama, will I die?"

"Nonsense, you'll definitely get better, we've thought of a way. Honey, isn't it true?"

"Yes, as long as your health improves a bit, we can immediately schedule your surgery." The implication was that there's a heart always ready for you.

Xue Jing Yi smiled slightly, then looked to the ashen faced Xue Zi Xuan and probed, "Big brother, do you think I can get better?"

Xue Zi Xuan didn't answer positively or negatively, he just stood up and walked away, saying without looking back, "Rest carefully."

He'd finally understood that his sister's survival was built on the boy's death, which made him feel suffocated. He was now unable to face Xue Jing Yi's existence. She was a defective product, to kill a genius to make up for her incompleteness, this was a crime!