Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Burning

It was as if someone was manipulating the live comments, which were flooded with requests for a song in the West Continent language.

So, the comment Jiang Qin captured in her screenshot was, unsurprisingly, one requesting a song in the West Continent language.

Quite a few people were gloating behind their Light Computers right now.

The owner of Nalan Bar was one of them.

Yesterday, his bar lost a third of its customers, which immediately got his attention.

As another one of the bottom-rung bars on Tai Street, he couldn’t let Moonlight climb any higher, and he certainly wouldn’t let that guy You Wei swagger around in front of him.

He hadn’t even made his move yet, but unexpectedly, Moonlight’s only soothing master was already embroiled in a scandal.

What better time to kick her while she was down?

So without a moment’s hesitation, he spent 500,000 Star Coins to hire online trolls to join the fray.

In his eyes, this female had no merits besides her beauty and her pleasant singing voice. In fact, she was utterly foolish.

How dare she make such a bold claim to prove her own abilities.

Even if she had a huge repertoire of prepared songs, could she really have one that perfectly matched whatever the netizens demanded?

All it would take was one difficult request she couldn’t fulfill, and the popularity she’d gained from winning that competition would instantly turn against her!

That was why he was also behind the people in the live comments clamoring for a song in the West Continent language.

And that wasn’t all; he’d even come up with a theme meant to stump her for the next song.

He would pick something from a small, obscure genre. He refused to believe this little female wouldn’t crash and burn.

As a B-level male, he hadn’t established a foothold on Tai Street just because his bar had good Inhibitors. If he weren’t smart, he would have gone out of business countless times by now.

So when his customers started to leave, he had a gut feeling he absolutely couldn’t let things continue this way.

The best-case scenario would be to get this little female to leave Moonlight Bar, or even Blue Star entirely.

Otherwise, this kind of upheaval could jeopardize all of Tai Street.

***

Jiang Qin paid no mind to the choice made by these schemers. She wouldn’t have been so confrontational if she didn’t have an ace up her sleeve.

So she quickly chose a familiar song from the system.

This time, she didn’t pick up a guitar. Instead, she sat down at the piano.

You Wei had really come through for her, having three of every instrument custom-made.

One for the bar, and two sent to her apartment.

One was to be kept in her apartment for daily practice, while the other could be stored in a Space Button to take with her when she went out.

After all, she might get a sudden burst of inspiration while she was out and need an instrument.

At least, that was You Wei’s line of thinking.

He had discovered something secret: aside from the effect diminishing with a larger audience, the songs Jiang Qin sang also produced different results.

For example, the Purification Value of “As Wished” was a bit higher than her other songs.

He didn’t understand why, but he knew one thing: Jiang Qin was his chance to soar!

Therefore, he wouldn’t be stingy when it came to using material wealth to stay on her good side.

And it had to be said, Jiang Qin was very satisfied.

The craftsmanship of these instruments was especially good. To get them, You Wei hadn’t just spent money; he had also called in quite a few favors.

TING TING TING—

The clear, crisp notes of the piano rang out. Jiang Qin closed her eyes, gathering her emotions.

“Passion is sweet

Love makes weak

You said you cherished freedom so～～”

Her red lips parted, and fluent West Continent language suddenly poured forth.

Although most of the audience couldn’t understand the West Continent language, it didn’t stop them from appreciating the beautiful melody.

Compared to the nonsensical West Continent language songs in the current music library, this was like a voice from the heavens!

［Ssss~ Heh heh, I can understand the West Continent language. All I can say is, you guys who don’t get the lyrics are missing out on so much~~］

［I never thought the little female could write a song like this. It’s making me blush and my heart is racing.］

［So this is the ’illiterate’ person you were all talking about? Someone who can compose, sing, and speak fluent West Continent language?］

［I don’t understand a word, but now I’m not so sure who the real illiterate one is.］

［Don’t understand a word, but I think it sounds amazing +1.］

［+Light Brain Number! Love it, love it~］

“My skin’s still burning from your touch～～”

Her ethereal voice carried an electrifying thrill. Those who couldn’t understand the words felt a hook gently scratching at their hearts.

A strange desire welled up within them—one they couldn’t express or put into words. It just felt like listening to the song made them want to release something pent-up inside.

As for those who understood the lyrics, they were already blushing furiously, their imaginations running wild.

There were still people in You Wei’s family who spoke the West Continent language. Though he wasn’t fluent, he could still understand the gist of it.

He never, ever imagined he would tune into the livestream just in time to hear a lyric like that.

He was instantly mortified.

The song was beautiful, giving the listener a feeling of seeing Heaven, yet being unable to touch or reach it. But these lyrics…

In his eyes, Jiang Qin was just a poor, pitiful child. ’She’s still just a kid!’

’How could she describe… that sort of thing… in such detail?’

’My god, what kind of life has she lived?’

At that moment, You Wei felt a fire of rage ignite in his heart. He thought back to the information he saw when he helped Jiang Qin get her citizenship papers, and his heart ached with pity.

He was over fifty and still had no partner; he would likely go his whole life without having any offspring of his own.

So he couldn’t understand how any young one could have such a miserable upbringing.

’Where was her family?’

Even for citizens of a Barren Star, a family that had produced a C-level female shouldn’t be too badly off.

And yet, Jiang Qin had never even attended school.

’It was hard to imagine the difficult conditions she must have endured to learn how to compose, sing, and even speak the West Continent language.’

’It was even harder to imagine what kind of depraved environment she must have lived in to write a song like this…’

Jiang Qin: T_T *Actually, I just spent a little reputation value.*

But You Wei had no idea she was using a cheat code for life.

A scene was already forming in his mind.

A poor, pitiful little girl, squatting silently in a corner, enduring the pangs of hunger.

Meanwhile, her mother might have been mating with her partner right in front of her, perhaps even describing the sensations, or worse, teaching the young female about such things.

The very thought made You Wei feel as if his world was collapsing.

He had never dared to ask about Jiang Qin’s family, afraid he might touch upon a painful past.

After all, if she still had a loving family, Jiang Qin wouldn’t have had to go out looking for a job right after coming of age.

But he never imagined the reality might be even more horrific than he thought.

’Maybe… I need to investigate her family.’

’Abusing a child is a crime!’

But he was also afraid of upsetting Jiang Qin, so he hesitated.

’No one wants others to know about their shameful past…’

After some thought, You Wei decided against making the call.

He looked at the girl in the livestream, lost in her song. ’Maybe this life is already what she wants.’

’I’ll just have to take extra good care of this poor child.’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep