The night color grew deep; in the Art Building's corridor, only a few dim emergency lights were shining.
Xu Zhixia carried that electric guitar covered in stickers full of personality on her back, acting like a thief walking on tiptoe, groping her way up to the third floor.
As Starry Sky Band's genius guitarist, Xu Zhixia's persona in the eyes of outsiders was: never practices guitar, endowed with natural talent, picks up the guitar and can solo the whole venue, and with a slight movement of her fingers, can make mortals look up in admiration.
But only Heaven knew, in order to maintain this effortless persona, how much effort she actually paid out behind the scenes.
"Damn it, yesterday I almost got exposed."
Xu Zhixia walked while muttering indignantly in her heart.
Last night she also came at this time point, and the result was she just arrived at the door and bumped into Lin Feng, who was preparing to leave. At that time, the situation was critical. In order not to collapse her "passing-by High Cold genius" image, she forcibly held her breath and used a kind of extremely stiff but (self-perceived) extremely cool "mechanical dance step" to turn around and slide away.
"That facial paralysis face was definitely awed by that wave of my operations." Xu Zhixia recalled that scene last night, somewhat proudly flinging her ponytail. "My on-the-spot reaction was simply full marks, 10/10, textbook-level acting skills!"
She did not know that in Lin Feng's eyes, her performance at that time looked more like a zombie with a missing brainstem.
Walking to the rehearsal room doorway, Xu Zhixia stopped her footsteps.
She habitually pushed the door, and discovered that heavy soundproof door was not closed tightly, allowing her to open it an extremely tiny crack.
"Hm? Someone's here?"
Xu Zhixia's heart tightened. She just wanted to turn and retreat, but suddenly heard a burst of hair-raising sound drift out from the door crack.
"Sssss——————"
That sound was extremely weak, yet continuous and unending, like a pressure cooker leaking air, also like some kind of giant reptile flicking its tongue, even more like... the wailing of some deep-sea giant beast before death.
Xu Zhixia's whole body's goosebumps instantly stood up to salute.
"W... what thing?"
She stiffened on the spot, her brain instantly flashing through countless campus horror legends.
For example, the piano that automatically plays at midnight in the rehearsal room; for example, the extra human figure in the mirror; and for example... this rehearsal room has bad Feng Shui—previously a bassist, because he could never hear his own voice clearly, died with hatred, transforming into a vengeful spirit that can only emit low-frequency noise.
"Sssss————Ugh——Cough cough cough..."
The sound inside cut off for a bit, immediately followed by a burst of heart-tearing and lung-splitting coughing sound, sounding extremely painful, as if wanting to cough out the lung lobes.
Xu Zhixia was scared into retreating half a step, her back tightly pressing against the cold wall.
This isn't a person practicing a song, right?
Who practicing songs would emit this kind of sound like being strangled by the neck, or like an asthma attack?
This is clearly a haunting ah!
"Calm down, Xu Zhixia, you are a materialist guitarist." She took a deep breath, attempting to comfort her wildly beating heart. "Or perhaps... someone inside has a sudden onset of malignant disease?"
Strong curiosity and the instinct as a new era internet-addicted young girl defeated the fear.
She trembled her hand, fished out her mobile phone from her pocket, skillfully opened the camera, and adjusted to recording mode.
"If it is a ghost, I will film it and post to Douyin, definitely can get on the hot list! The title will be called 'Late Night Exploring Art Building, Shocking Appearance of Dying Sea Monster Sound'!"
Xu Zhixia held her breath, carefully getting close to that door crack.
She dared not look directly with her eyes, afraid of having a "face to face" with the thing inside. Thus, she was like a secret agent, slowly stuffing the phone lens in along the door crack.
The phone screen emitted faint light in the darkness.
Xu Zhixia squinted one eye, staring deadly at the image on the screen.
The lens shook a few times, then focused successfully.
Inside the rehearsal room, the big light wasn't on, only a floor lamp in the corner emitting a pale white halo.
In the center of that halo, a figure was facing away from the door, standing in an extremely weird posture.
That person had hands on hips, shoulders hunched high, body leaning slightly forward, as if enduring huge pain.
Immediately after, that figure again inhaled a big mouthful of air deeply, the muscles of the entire back tightened up, and then—
"Sssss——————"
That "dying whale sound" that makes one's scalp numb sounded again.
Borrowing the phone screen's light, Xu Zhixia finally saw clearly that "ghost's" side profile.
That is... Lin Feng?
Xu Zhixia froze.
Inside the screen, Lin Feng's face was flushed red, green veins popping out, eyes staring like copper bells, mouth grinned in a weird arc, teeth clenched tight, currently emitting that strange sound.
He looked not like he came to practice singing, but rather like he was conducting some kind of evil summoning ritual, or perhaps showing the precursor to mutating into a zombie.
"What is he doing?"
Xu Zhixia looked at the man in the screen with a twisted expression, looking as if constipated for a century. The fear in her heart instantly dissipated, replaced by a deep, indescribable shock.
This is that man who is said to work desperately hard for the band?
This is that guy who yesterday still had a face full of High Cold, pretending to be "Guitar Buddha" on stage?
Xu Zhixia's hand shook, almost didn't hold the phone steady.
At this moment, she suddenly felt, compared to meeting a ghost, seeing a competitor roaring like a mental patient in the middle of the night—this kind of mental impact seemed greater.
She swallowed a mouthful of saliva, her finger subconsciously pressing the "End Recording" key.
If this video were to be sent out...
Xu Zhixia looked at this precious footage in her hand of only ten-plus seconds, the corners of her mouth gradually raising, hooking up a smear of a cunning bad smile like a little devil.
"Lin Feng ah Lin Feng, your blackmail, has fallen into my hands."