Chapter 1
Gu Hongying felt that he was quite unlucky.
He was leaning on a wooden stick he had picked up at random, his hair was disheveled, his face was covered in sweat, and he was panting heavily as he struggled to climb up the barren mountain.
He raised his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead, then looked up at the sky. There was already some light on the horizon, and it was estimated that it would be dawn in an hour at most. Under the dim morning sun, the whole mountain was covered with weeds, and there was no human habitation in sight. With the dimming light, it had a textbook-like beauty of a horror film location.
Gu Hongying: “…”
He looked at the top of the barren mountain and wailed in despair: "The day is almost dawn. Where on earth is the anomaly? Ahhhhhhhh———"
He spent five hours climbing up this abandoned mountain, not because of the adventurous spirit of a high school boy who is not afraid of tigers, but to complete his entrance examination.
Time goes back five hours. Gu Hongying had just finished the college entrance examination and was letting himself go. A little bluebird holding a roll of cloth knocked on his window in the middle of the night.
"Knock open" in the physical sense.
The sound of breaking glass woke up Gu Hongying, who was half asleep from playing games in the middle of the night. He looked up and saw a little bird spitting out a finger-long and wide cloth against the light at the window. The cloth did not fall to the ground, but floated slowly in front of him in a way that was extremely contrary to physics.
The little bird spoke in standard Mandarin:
"Hello, Gu Hongying. I'm the messenger from Miller Kerr University. I found out that you have finished the college entrance examination, so I came here to give you the acceptance letter."
———It is difficult to describe Gu Hongying’s mood at this moment.
After all, if a bird breaks open your window in the middle of the night and tells you that it has been accepted by an unknown university, and the words on the banner that flies over to you can escape the earth's gravity and float in the air and glow... basically everyone will think they are dreaming.
"Parrot... is quite powerful..." He praised dryly, and then a feeling of shame surged in his heart. His dream was too childish! !
"What parrot?" The super-powerful little bird seemed not to realize his shame at the same time. It shook off the shiny glass shards from its fluffy feathers, "I am Sanqing!"
Gu Hongying: “…”
He became more and more certain that he was dreaming after falling asleep while playing games. Who doesn't have a second-year student mentality that believes there must be magic and gods in the world?
Gu Hongying saw a human-like, painful expression on the face of the little strange bird that called itself "Sanqing":
"You kids all suspect it's fake... Is it hard to believe that magic and sorcery exist in this world?"
Gu Hongying: "...I stopped having this kind of dream after I turned ten."
Sanqing: "..."
It sighed and said, "I'll prove it to you now."
Its little paws stomped on the windowsill, and large and small pieces of glass flew into the air, as if invisible hands pieced the pieces together, glued them together, and then turned them into a whole piece of glass, which was then inlaid back into the window, as good as new.
"Do you believe it now?"
Gu Hongying nodded sincerely: "Recovering from the void, I was really dreaming."
Sanqing: "..."
The little bird, who was forced to prove herself many times while delivering the letter, finally exploded!
It flapped its wings and came in front of Gu Hongying in a flash, then stretched out its little claws and kicked him on the forehead!
Gu Hongying was kicked backwards, and a white spot of light appeared in his sight. The white spot of light spun and grew bigger, then swallowed him in one gulp!
It was as if he was thrown into a washing machine. When Gu Hongying's dizziness subsided, he found himself standing at the foot of a barren mountain.
The night wind blew up the corners of his pajamas and slapped them against his body, as if mocking his previous inference.
Gu Hongying pinched himself and jumped around in pain with a distorted face.
Good news: his chuunibyou fantasy really does exist.
Bad news: He was dropped off at the test center in the middle of the night.
The finger-long and wide piece of cloth was hanging beside him, and the glowing words on it changed from the acceptance letter to a sentence:
【Candidate Gu Hongying, please complete your entrance test—solve the mystery of the song in the barren mountain.】
*
Gu Hongying searched the top of the barren mountain but found nothing.
"You have to give me a clue!!"
The light on the horizon became a little brighter. Gu Hongying sat down on the ground, wailing at the top of his lungs.
All was quiet except for the wind that whistled through the trees and grass, mocking them mercilessly.
Gu Hongying: “…”
A real man can bend and stretch!
He got up from the ground, patted the mud sticking to his back, and prepared to go down the mountain by another way he had just found.
———If he can’t find it, he can’t just stay on this mountain and starve to death. He has to make plans before taking action. Sustainable development is the way to go!
He had walked a few steps toward another path down the mountain when he suddenly heard a distant and faint singing voice.
It was impossible to tell whether the singing was from a man or a woman, nor could one make out the lyrics; the voice was vague and ethereal, giving off a creepy feeling.
Gu Hongying: “…”
He was very scared when he didn’t find anything abnormal, but when he found something abnormal—he was even more scared!!
He rubbed the goose bumps on his arms that had appeared at some point, scratched his slippers with his toes, made up his mind, and tiptoed towards the place where the singing was coming from.
The singing came from another path he was taking to go down the mountain. Gu Hongying walked carefully, trying his best to avoid dead branches and leaves under his feet to avoid making any noise.
The singing was intermittent, like a ghost wandering in the woods. Gu Hongying went in the wrong direction several times, but finally found the right place with his amazing intuition.
A dilapidated ruin.
This piece of ruins is even scarier than the mountaintop at twilight. It is a standard horror movie setting. The dilapidated walls are covered with dark-colored ivy, blocking most of the sunlight. Broken bricks and stones are scattered on the ground, and the remains of exquisite carvings can be vaguely seen.
The paint on the vermilion door had peeled off, and the mortise and tenon structure of the door leaves had already decayed, so it hung there half-fallen apart, like an old rotten wood.
Gu Hongying walked around carefully, trying his best to make every step solid and silent.
The singing that had just stopped for a while appeared again, so ethereal that it seemed to be right in front of me, and also as if... right next to my ear.
Gu Hongying felt his heartbeat like a drum, one after another. His men consciously pressed the position of his chest pocket—that was where the strange piece of cloth was contained, and it was also the basis for his inexplicable adventure.
He walked around the ruins and entered the dilapidated house. The beams above his head were rotten and covered with moss. Ivy coiled around and cast all kinds of ferocious shapes on the ground through the light.
The further you go inside, the dimmer the light becomes. The sunlight slowly disappears, and there is a white mist. Under the deformed window frame, two or three pieces of dusty broken glass reflect an eerie cold light.
The singing was getting closer and closer, with a strange tune and incomprehensible words, like a mountain goblin transformed into a human form, humming softly in the dark woods and dilapidated ruins.
Gu Hongying, who was usually fearless, stood there hesitantly for a while before moving forward.
Pulling aside the dead ivy vines that blocked the road, Gu Hongying saw the last house in the ruins, and... a person standing in the ruins.
Gu Hongying's actions seemed to disturb him, and he followed his reputation.
He has black hair and phoenix eyes. He wears a monocle with the chain hanging down to his chin, and a black retro gown buttoned to his neck.
This should be a somewhat strange outfit, but when it is combined with this stranger, it does not seem out of place at all, as if he is supposed to be like this.
Gu Hongying calmed himself down.
"Who are you?"
he asked.
The stranger did not answer his question. He only said:
“This is not a place for children.”
The fog outside the window had grown thicker at some point, blocking out the sunlight. Even at a not-too-far distance, my vision was somewhat blurred.
Through the mist, Gu Hongying saw the stranger smile lightly.
"Go home."
He said.
Then the white mist suddenly became thicker. Before being completely submerged by the mist, Gu Hongying saw the stranger bend over and pick up something, and then...
He could no longer see.
When he came to his senses, he was standing in front of the dilapidated ruins again. The broken bricks and stones hurt his feet through his slippers.
Everything that just happened... was it just an illusion?
Gu Hongying didn't believe it.
So he followed the same path and walked into the final ruins again.
The ruins were the same as what he had just seen, with rotten and mossy beams, collapsed bricks and tiles at a corner, ivy that came into the house from the ruins, and one or two beams of sunlight shining in through the cracks.
There was no strange white mist, and no strange person.
Gu Hongying suddenly remembered that smile.
When the strange stranger laughed, he used an inappropriate yet apt metaphor—like a precious antique forgotten in memory.
The cloth in his chest pocket suddenly became hot. Gu Hongying took it out and unfolded it. The words on the cloth changed again:
【Entrance Exam: The Mystery of the Song in the Barren Mountain
Current status: Resolved
Congratulations to candidate Gu Hongying for completing the test. The information required for admission has been sent to your email. Please check it and report on time. 】