Next week, the band would welcome their second formal performance.
The location of the performance was set near Jiangcheng University at a Livehouse named "Gear." This was once an abandoned parts warehouse, later renovated by a few cynical rock old cannons into a performance venue. The mottled rust on the walls and the graffiti visible everywhere all manifested this place's "bloodline".
This was not that kind of stage for traffic singers to brush their faces, but a gathering place for true music fans and underground musicians.
Inside the rehearsal room, Ren Yichen looked at the performance list, his facial expression somewhat grave.
"Brothers, 'Gear' is not the campus open-air stage from our last performance." Ren Yichen rarely became serious, "The audiences there have mouths that are very poisonous. If we still sing that song Boring Summer, I estimate that before we sing halfway, the stage below will be a patch of booing sounds. That song is too 'pop', and in that kind of place, 'pop' equals 'tacky'."
Shen Linyin frowned: "But that is the song we can currently take out of our hands the best."
Ren Yichen sighed: "So that is why I am worrying. We need a little avant-garde, experimental, or perhaps... something with more 'depth'. Otherwise, we will be taken by that group playing underground music as 'music scene tailors' who only know how to rely on faces to eat rice."
Lin Feng held his guitar, looking coldly at Ren Yichen: "Since you knew that place is a hornet's nest, why did you accept this job until it flew in the first place?"
After all, the entire band knew, Old Ren had only the ability to rely on his face. Writing the song 'Boring Summer' was a fluke, and even then, it was mediocre at best.
Ren Yichen's old face turned red, his eyes began to drift: "I was... wasn't I doing it for our band's style? I thought we can't always sing saliva songs, we have to challenge the heights of art."
"Speak the truth." Lin Feng was concise and comprehensive.
"Okay..." Ren Yichen slumped his shoulders, muttering in a low voice, "The Boss Lady of 'Gear' told me, she said our band's guitarist has grown a 'world-weary face', which fits the aesthetic of that 'decadent post-industrial style' in their shop very well."
Lin Feng's facial paralysis face twitched once: "So, you sold my 'world-weary face'?"
"How can you call it selling! This is artistic sacrifice!" Ren Yichen retorted with a face full of righteousness, then immediately leaned over and gave a hei-hei laugh, "Besides, I also want to display our band's hardcore side in front of Linyin."
To the side, Shen Linyin rolled her eyes, obviously not buying this kind of "display."
Just at this moment, the bassist Lu Mingxuan, who had been in a dropped-connection state all along, suddenly raised his head. A flash of unprecedented wise light passed through his eyes: "Actually, I have a song."
Everyone was shocked. Could it be that the deeply hidden Obsidian Will was finally going to awaken his creation soul?
"Quick, sing two lines to let us hear!" Ren Yichen leaned over excitedly.
Lu Mingxuan took a deep breath, fiddled with the strings a bit, and used a voice that was extremely low and full of experimental nature to sing:
"Chinese cabbage... hey..."
"Fifty cents a jin... hey..."
"Price went up... heart so painful..."
The rehearsal room fell into a dead-like silence.
Shen Linyin painfully held her forehead: "I knew I shouldn't have held any expectations for him."
Ren Yichen wiped a handful of cold sweat from his face and gave a dry cough: "That, Mingxuan, this song... is too avant-garde. The current audience might not be able to understand it yet. Let's still look for some... look for some sane things."
Quietly, Lin Feng was moved, wanting to shed a tear, but he kept a perennial expression of indifference.
Finally, three pairs of eyes uniformly landed on Lin Feng's body.
Lin Feng still maintained that facial paralysis face unchanged for ten thousand years, holding the guitar, his tone cold: "Don't look at me, I am just a substitute."
"Feng-er! Brother Feng! Daddy Lin!" Ren Yichen directly pounced over to hug Lin Feng's thigh. "You are our band's needle that fixes the sea! That hand of guitar you play is as precise as a machine, you definitely have ideas, right?"
Lin Feng helplessly shook his head.
Everyone agreed to go back to their respective homes and mobilize all relationships to find writer and composer friends, to see if they could "borrow" a song that could press down the field before next week.
...
After the rehearsal broke up, Lin Feng walked alone on the small path returning to the dormitory.
"System," Lin Feng asked tentatively in his mind, "Since you are called the 'Top-tier Music Superstar System', then do you have that kind of function? It is... that kind of 'parallel world song porter' or something? For example, give me a revolutionary song like Hotel California or Nocturne but from a parallel world or something?"
Although he was not a transmigrator, he deeply knew the routines of this type of system. Since it is a system, it must have a little cross-dimensional stock, right?
[Ding! Detected that the host has generated thoughts of opportunism.] [This system insists on the spirit of originality and refuses all forms of cultural plagiarism behavior. The world the host is in possesses its unique artistic trajectory. It is forbidden to destroy the balance by transporting works from other worlds.]
Lin Feng's mouth corner twitched: "Then what use do I have for you? To watch helplessly as we go to lose face next week?"
[Ding! Although works cannot be directly provided, this system can provide auxiliary tools.]
[Detected that the host is currently facing a creation predicament, now distributing a limited-time item: [Sage of Lyrics · Zh**** N* Experience Card] (Incomplete Version).]
[Item Effect: After use, the host will obtain top-level textual perception and melody capturing ability within the next 24 hours, entering the "Lyric Sage" creation state.]
Lin Feng paused.
Yo, this system changed its nature? Usually, drawing a lottery is harder than plucking feathers from an iron rooster, but today it actually actively gives welfare?
"I still thought your system only knew how to pit me for my lottery tickets all day long, making the Lucky Draw look like a fraud trap. I didn't expect that at the critical moment, you actually have quite a conscience." Lin Feng roasted secretly in his heart, "It seems as long as I beg a few more sentences, you aren't unable to accommodate."
These words of Lin Feng were actually a backhanded compliment carrying a bit of ridicule.
However...
[Ding! Detected that the host is conducting "yin-yang weirdness" behavior of "praising openly but criticizing secretly" toward this system.]
[This system has a saint like personality and forgives the host lacking a heart of reverence.]
[Ding! Reset the host's 150-draw guaranteed pity progress in the "Lucky Draw" pool.]
The expression on Lin Feng's face instantly solidified.
150 draws... guaranteed pity... reset?
He saved that progress for so long, watching as it was about to ship goods, just because he had a loose mouth and said one sentence of "conscience"?
"System! I was praising you! Do you understand what rhetorical devices are!" Lin Feng roared inside his brain.
[Ding! The decision was not made to punish the Host; rather, it is to maintain upright and fairness.]
Lin Feng stood under the moonlight and took a deep breath. Originally, his cold eyes revealed a thick stream of despair.
"This broken mouth of mine..."
While beating his chest and stomping his feet, he silently clicked open that [Writing Buff Card]. The guaranteed bottom was gone and could be saved again, but if next week's performance was smashed, his plan to "poach" and build a dream team would be completely ruined.
Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night. Under the blessing of the "Lyric Sage" state, Lin Feng felt countless inspirations drilling into his mind like crazily growing weeds, but accompanying them came waves of angina pectoris from losing the 150-draw guaranteed bottom.