Late last night, when the bell rang at midnight, a crowd of birds started flying.
In the foggy city of Avalon, there are birds with flexible wings across the night sky, soaring under the light of the stars. It was a crow, a white crow.
This is a moonless night, the moonlight is covered by dark clouds, and there are only a few stars.
White crows soared out of the thick fog, hovering over the sleeping city, overlooking the city's music and lights. In the heavy midnight bell, the white crow flew silently to the clock tower and landed on the sharp hands on the huge clock dial.
At midnight, the brass pointer pointed to the sky like a sword.
The white crow looked back silently, looked around, and finally passed through the skylight and layers of gear machinery of the bell tower before entering the dark bell tower.
A candle burned silently, illuminating the dusty bell tower.
In the darkness, several dots of green light lit up silently, which were the reflections of candlelight in the eyes of beasts, the sinister eyes of predators. Those green eyes were full of indifferent gazes, crisscrossing the room, looking at each other, with a heart-stopping aura.
I don’t know since when, this small room has been filled with more than a dozen birds. They all look different from each other, some are black vultures, some are gray seabirds, and among them there is a huge pelican.
The pelican's long beak drooped, and it looked like it was smiling, but its eyes were not smiling, but silent and deep.
Seeing the arrival of the white crow, the pelican opened his mouth and made a sound: "Gentlemen, I am calling you here this time. I believe everyone knows why. I think everyone is not in the mood to be polite to each other, so let's get straight to the point."
"certainly."
"Have the results of the investigation come out?"
"I don't want to waste time either."
There was a loud noise from the birds and human voices.
If someone were here, they would probably be scared to death. But in the eyes of the musician, the scene in front of him contains a different kind of mystery.
These birds are not real living creatures, but puppets transformed from the ether, delicate and cold dead creatures.
At this moment, they fly and spread their wings or speak human words, but they are controlled by the controller in the distance.
In order to conceal each other's identities, or to worry about being noticed by interested parties, they chose to use puppets to come. But even the puppets are made so delicately, trying to reflect the magnificence of the nobility at all times. There was a tone of voice that sounded like a chant, full of reserved dignity.
When the flock of birds fell silent, the pelican looked around at the others present and said in a hoarse voice like an old man: "A few days ago, the vision that appeared in the lower city was more news than everyone else."
He paused, and his hoarse voice brought back memories that had kept everyone awake for days:
"—The bright moon rises over the sea. According to verification, it is indeed a scene caused by the musician's chapter of destiny resonating with the world and interfering with reality... Everyone is right to worry that that person may be back again."
As soon as the words fell, the flock of birds suddenly became noisy. They either questioned angrily, remained stunned in silence, or asked questions about every detail, intending to refute this possibility.
The only thing that was the same was the unconcealable fear in his voice.
"enough!"
The pelican raised his voice, completely suppressing their chaotic sounds. Watching them fall into silence, he spoke again: "Regarding the vision that occurred a few days ago, we have used various connections to find the scene. Unfortunately, we found nothing. Everyone present has become a mental patient. Those who survived have all been admitted to Arkham Asylum. They may not be able to regain consciousness in their lifetime. The dead have been taken away by the Royal Institution, where is the chassis of Newton's madman, and we can't get involved. All traces at the scene have been It’s been cleaned up without leaking. But that kind of phenomenon seems to be intentional... "
"He's demonstrating." Vulture's voice sounded like he was gritting his teeth, murmuring angrily: "He just wants us to see it!"
The owl's eyes were also extremely gloomy: "Yes, he wants to tell us that he is back!"
"Simply arrogant! Can he alone resist the power of the entire Anglo Empire!"
"He's dreaming!"
"But… "
"That's enough. What are we arguing about? Do we still want civil strife at this time?"
"What's wrong? Are you scared?"
It clearly looked like the noisy chirping of a flock of birds, but different voices were arguing with each other, some were old or young, some were panicking, or they were angry.
Until finally, all the flying birds turned around and stared at their companions in the corner: "White Crow, you promised us that he is dead."
Silence came suddenly. Under the questioning of all the same kind, Bai Yao remained indifferent and just looked into their eyes silently. It was not until they finally calmed down that he spoke and said lightly:
"He is indeed dead."
It was as if something had been set on fire, and the birds were furious.
"You are lying!"
"White Crow, I've had enough of your lies!"
"But what happened that day?!"
"In the entire world, there is only one Chapter of Fate that can create that kind of scene!"
"—Yueyin."
In the chaos, no one knew who said the name that seemed to represent disaster, and for a moment, everyone fell silent. Shocked by the seemingly elegant name, his eyes were at a loss.
In a heart-stopping silence, the pelican presiding over the meeting spread its wings, suppressing the panic in everyone's eyes.
He asked: "Before that guy escaped, he destroyed all his records. I'm afraid no one here can remember his appearance. Are you sure you didn't kill the wrong person?"
The owl next to him said conspiratorially: "Besides, it's not uncommon for musicians to revive corpses, right?"
"I heard that there are musicians who can turn into mice..."
The vulture said: "It is not impossible to escape."
"Yes, I heard that after a musician dies, he may crawl out of the grave..."
The birds were noisy again.
"Are you telling a joke? Everyone!"
But this time in the commotion, the white crow suddenly made a solemn voice and interrupted their words.
"Follow fate, all things are from birth to death. Human power is limited, so you should keep your limits. Revere the ether, only the Great Source is eternal... This sentence has been the oath of all musicians since the Dark Ages. Have you ever heard it?"
He looked around at his astonished companions, and his voice was full of ridicule: "Have you read too many legendary novels? As soon as a person comes into this world, he is destined to die. This is the arrangement of fate, and no one can resist it. Death, Then there will be no resurrection. Where can there be corpses crawling out of the grave? Resurrection of corpses? Have humans ever had such a luxury as a 'soul'? Even if they had, human ancestors would have sold it to evil gods for thousands of years. Bar?"
"Become a mouse? Nonsense! If it can be done, the law of 'conservation of mass' of the School of Change will be overturned. I don't know how many people will go crazy and die because of the backlash of music theory. Don't be fooled by Newton who believes in apocrypha The guy misled me, he is not even a musician, he is just a lunatic who became insane after being hit on the brain by an apple! Yue Yin is dead, this is absolutely true!"
"Hmph, who knows if Yue Yin has any trump cards?"
The vulture murmured in a low voice: "To this day, are there still few ways to make people live forever?"
Bai Ya said coldly: "Immortality is not immortality!"
"Then the Pope..."
"Enough!" White Crow shouted angrily: "Maybe you are majestic enough in the world, but do you dare to speculate on the realm of God?"
"I don't dare, but don't forget what Yue Yin originally did at the Royal Academy!"
The vulture asked back: "Until now, we don't know: How far did that guy advance in the taboo system? Before he escaped, he erased all research records and the memories of all relevant personnel. Any Everyone who has dealt with him has completely forgotten his existence. For so many years, we have no clue other than that he is an Oriental!"
"Besides, can anyone really kill him?"
The owl said, "Even that madman Maxwell was not even willing to fight him, and the Royal Band of Musicians was helpless against him. Even Gaius led the dragoon troops to capture him in person, but half of them were lost in his hands!" "
"That's right! After that operation, Gaius rebelled directly. We still don't know what secrets Gaius got from him!"
"I knew that Romulus man couldn't be trusted! His Majesty the Pope handed over so much power to Gaius, but with the temptation of an Eastern bastard, he betrayed us when the empire needed him most!"
"Revolutionary Army? Those damn rebels! I think Gaius and Yue Yin are in cahoots with each other. They are all in the same boat..."
"But what should we do now? What if Yueyin is really not dead, and they joined forces..."
"Everyone! Calm down."
The white crow made a sound, but no one paid attention to him, so his eyes became angry and he raised his voice:
"calm!!!"
Finally, the birds became quiet.
"Look, you've calmed down now, how good is it?"
Bai Ya said calmly: "Don't worry, Yue Yin is dead, there is no doubt about it."
"How can you be sure?"
Pelican was silent for a long time and asked solemnly: "No matter how powerful a musician is, he might fail when facing him, right?"
"You don't need to worry about this."
Bai Yao chuckled softly: "Only this is absolutely impossible. That man has never failed, nor has anyone else been disappointed by him. No musician dares to say that he can defeat him. Now that he has made a move, tell us Yueyin is already dead, so he will definitely not be alive."
"How can you be sure he didn't deceive you?"
"Because no! Need! Want!"
Bai Ya said the name in a cold voice.
So there was a long silence in the attic, and the birds exchanged glances in astonishment. After a long time, a restless heart finally stabilized.
As if the dust had settled, they let out a sound of relief.
Those words seemed to have magical power, instantly settling the chaotic situation.
Because in that moment of silence, the white crow whispered:
"—The person who killed Yue Yin was Bach."