How did things end up like this?
Duzuo stood in the cold spring wind, lost in thought.
Not far from him was an outdoor pottery exhibition, where Joey was completely absorbed in pottery-making, along with the exhibition owner who was watching Joey’s deep immersion in the craft.
The two were enthusiastically discussing topics that Duzuo couldn’t understand at all.
Earlier through conversation, he had learned that the other person was named Joey (even though he heard this name, he still hadn’t realized this was that extraordinary person), a tourist from out of town.
Out of guilt for causing the other person to suffer Grant’s verbal attack, and his own fascination with this mysteriously charismatic young man—don’t misunderstand, this wasn’t any inappropriate fascination, it was just that artists are naturally drawn to muses that inspire them, just as cats can’t resist the tempting smell of dried fish—anyway, Duzuo had volunteered to be a one-day tour guide, leading this foreign tourist to properly explore Roland Kingdom and fully experience the Year Festival.
As for after the festival, perhaps seeing how dedicated he was as a guide, the other person might think he was a good person and be willing to be his one-day muse... that would be perfect.
Soon, Duzuo discovered that this mysterious tourist was an art enthusiast with extremely broad knowledge. No matter where they went or what exhibitions or activities they encountered, the other person seemed able to participate—as Joey put it, as long as it involved art, regardless of the type, he knew a thing or two about it.
The two went along, playing and exploring. Wherever they met people, Joey could seamlessly join in, becoming friends with others in an instant.
When they encountered street musicians performing, he could borrow their bass guitar after just a few words and join the performance;
When they saw art students from a nearby academy showcasing their work, he could offer insightful comments that had others nodding in admiration;
Upon discovering a sculpture exhibition, after getting the owner’s permission, he pulled out a pocket carving knife from somewhere and went “swish swish swish” on an uncarved stone in a flurry of movements, completing a piece without even needing to change tools for different carving techniques.
And so, a series of strange scenes unfolded—
The street musician unknowingly had their rhythm led astray by him—though every note was technically correct, somehow a sad love song ended up stirring intense passion.
The singer, after finishing, fell into deep self-doubt, questioning their life choices as if realizing for the first time how terrible they were. Seeing the situation turning bad, Duzuo quickly pulled Joey away;
The art students, completely conquered by his talent, modified their works on the spot. While the final results indeed had stronger impact and more striking visuals, they might as well switch to impressionism now—the color combinations were so bizarre that one look would make people lose their sanity.
A teacher passing by saw the student’s fresh work and suspected they hadn’t been paying attention in class at all, ruining his reputation. They berated the student until they were like a dead fish. Once again seeing things going wrong, Duzuo pulled Joey away;
In the fairy tale fantasy section, among sculptures of mermaids, fairies, and pegasus, suddenly appeared a demon head sculpture that shocked the originally happy children visiting the exhibition. The culprit, completely unaware, even went up to the children asking for their opinion. Being confronted with the demon face, the children immediately burst into tears.
By now very experienced, Duzuo quickly pulled Joey away just before the children showed signs of crying.
After similar incidents repeated N times, when Joey once again dove into the pottery exhibition and happily made pottery, Duzuo was completely done.
He stared at the pottery pieces taking shape in the other’s hands as if watching a bomb being molded, feeling it might explode in his face at any moment... How exhausting!
Harmonicas, violins, bagpipes, flutes, saxophones... mixed musical sounds rose in the flowing dusk.
The sound was chaotic at first, but after a while, it became increasingly coordinated and harmonious. Even when people joined midway, they didn’t disrupt the rhythm at all.
Listening carefully, one would recognize it as “Ode to Peace,” the most widely spread song in Roland Kingdom. Its composer had passed away, but after first appearing at the Year Festival following that war’s end, it quickly entered every household, becoming the Roland people’s favorite piece.
Among the crowd, folk musicians stood on prepared carriages, performing as if on stage, while countless people surrounded the vehicles as they moved forward.
Along every street they passed, new people constantly joined in, making the parade procession grow longer and longer. Yet despite the crowds, there was no chaos—instead, everything moved with rhythm, like music itself.
Viewed from above, one could see the dragon of gathered humanity winding through the entire royal capital. Among the sea of people were slowly moving carriages. As the last rays of dusk completely faded and moonlight descended upon this land, under the moonlight, they appeared like the Moon Goddess’s chariots, patrolling this kingdom of music.
Countless musical notes seemed to dance in the moonlight.
But at some point, perhaps when someone joined the parade, starting from a certain point in this long dragon of people, the smooth and elegant musical rhythm suddenly took on a strange flavor. Then, like falling dominoes, this altered rhythm quickly spread, influenced, and infected other directions from this point. Though none of the notes were wrong and the melody was still “Ode to Peace,” something just felt off no matter how you listened to it.
The cheerful music suddenly turned eerie. Even the surrounding moonlight seemed to take on an inexplicable, obscure hue.
In that strange music, every building’s shadow and every deep patch of grass seemed to hide unnamed monsters, silently watching everyone.
The only one who sensed something amiss, Duzuo confusedly lowered his harmonica and looked puzzledly at Joey, who was seriously playing the erhu beside him. Then he looked at everyone else immersed in their performance, completely unaware that someone had altered their rhythm. A strange thought suddenly popped into his mind.
...Could everyone have been infected by some kind of “Joey” meme virus?
Before he could think further, in the increasingly eerie music, the parade procession had unknowingly arrived near the Moonlight Temple.
Joey reluctantly lowered his erhu and sighed with regret. “Looks like I’ll have to leave the parade temporarily.”
Duzuo was stunned for a moment before understanding. As he watched the young man’s silhouette walk into the Moonlight Temple, he actually felt a great sense of relief. Now that the source of the eerie music meme had left, surely they could return to the normal “Ode to Peace”?
He brought his harmonica back to his lips and took a deep breath.
—The notes that floated out were still filled with an eerie quality.
Duzuo fell into complete confusion and despair.
...Wait, how was the original “Ode to Peace” supposed to be played again?
We are currently recruiting. CN/KR/JP Translators/MTLers are welcome!
Discord Server: .gg/HGaByvmVuw