Opulent and frenzied music echoed through the deserted, luxurious bar, forming an absurd contrast with the deathly silence outside. The three sat on high stools, savoring a vintage wine, its amber liquid refracting a hazy glow in their crystal glasses, having been sealed for an unknown number of centuries.
Just then, a heavy, dragging footsteps suddenly came from deep within the bar's backroom.
The sound wasn't like human footsteps; it was more like some slippery, heavy object rhythmically pounding the ground, one beat at a time. The wine in their glasses even rippled slightly with the vibrations.
"Smash!"
Almost simultaneously, the three slammed their highball glasses onto the bar, gripping their laser guns that rested against the counter.
Sure enough, the next second, a deafening roar erupted!
"Boom—!"
The wall between the backroom and the bar, crafted from precious wood, disintegrated in an instant, as if struck head-on by an invisible battering ram! Countless wood splinters and dust, mixed with fragments of the wall, formed a gray shockwave that swept towards the trio.
Fortunately, the three reacted extremely quickly, having already ducked and rolled the moment they heard the unusual sound. The shockwave grazed their helmets, and apart from some splinters rattling against their Carapace Armor with dull thuds, they didn't suffer any substantial attack.
However, under the special effect of Garry's tape recorder, Bohemian Rhapsody, the smoke and dust that should have spread rapidly, instead rolled and dispersed slowly to both sides like a stage curtain, in a comically exaggerated manner. When the invader's appearance was fully revealed, the three were stunned.
Garry even blurted out in a ghost-seeing tone, "Holy crap, that thing looks too bizarre!"
The monster was roughly two meters tall, its form twisted and grotesque, completely beyond the scope of normal biology. Its main body was hollow, presenting a bizarre, net-like shape woven from countless blood-red and purplish-blue "threads." These "threads" subtly writhed, making one involuntarily think of nerve bundles and vascular networks forcibly stripped from living bodies.
This bloody, skeletal framework had been forcibly stretched and twisted by an external force, combining to form a giant, dripping, vertical harp.
From the occasionally twitching "strings" and a human face at the top of the frame, stretched to its limit and with blurred features, it could be deduced that the person forming this "instrument"... was still alive throughout the entire process, even now.
Having played this game for so long, the three players were already accustomed to firing at vital points like the enemy's heart. But facing this sudden monster that had crawled out of a nightmare... they couldn't find any part that could be called a "vital point."
AlphaBravo, with a testing mindset, raised his hand and fired two casual shots. The clumsy monster naturally couldn't dodge, and two scorching laser beams accurately hit, instantly melting two fleshy threads on its "harp body."
What followed was not the scream a fleshy creature should make, but a high-pitched, grating sound that set teeth on edge, as if someone were frantically scraping fingernails on glass, or the piercing wail of countless harp strings breaking simultaneously. This was probably the monster's scream.
"Oh," AlphaBravo immediately realized, "so it's just a showpiece, all looks and no substance."
Fear stems from the unknown; once the opponent's true nature is seen through, there's nothing to be afraid of. The three players immediately aimed their guns at the monster, and a dozen laser beams formed a crisscrossing net of fire, precisely covering it.
The monster crashed down amidst increasingly harsh, increasingly high-pitched grating sounds. Its strange, soft substance began to rapidly dissipate like ice and snow exposed to the scorching sun, releasing an biting chill as it vanished. A visible white frost spread rapidly across the floor, centered on where it fell, freezing the surrounding air.
By the time the three players cautiously approached, there was no trace of the monster on the ground, only an ordinary, broken harp with a body full of cracks, lying quietly in the center of the frost.
Name: Damaged Harp
Type: Tool
Quality: Dilapidated
Notes: Friedrich Payton was Perditia's finest harpist, always proud of his musical skill. Until one day, the Governor invited a peculiar musician to perform. It was the most beautiful music Friedrich had ever heard.
Upon returning home, Friedrich found all the pieces he played to be jarringly unbearable, so he decided to seek guidance from that musician... and the other party readily agreed.
"Now it's clear what's happening in the Upper Hive and the Top Hive," AlphaBravo said, putting away his gun and looking at the item description, calmly inferring, "The foolish Governor invited a Slaanesh-aligned individual to perform... possibly a daemon, or something else, but the result is what we see now."
AlphaBravo turned his head, looking at Garry through the helmet's visor: "From the description, the reason it was drawn out should be music."
So Garry hurriedly fumbled to turn off the tape recorder on his waist. Name couldn't help but complain, "Your tape recorder's special effect almost killed us. When that monster burst in, it was all dust, and we couldn't see anything. There wouldn't have been so much dust normally."
Garry scratched the back of his helmet, giving an embarrassed smile: "I didn't know this monster appeared when it heard music."
He thought for a moment, then asked, "But is it definitely Slaanesh-aligned? I think dark eldar or something could also be possible. They have high artistic achievements and also like to torment prey in various ways... And they appeared in the game's background CG!"
"Yes, if you put it that way, then dark eldar are indeed possible, even more likely than Slaanesh-aligned," AlphaBravo first agreed with Garry, then changed the subject, squatting down, "But you overlooked a piece of information."
He extended his finger, pointing to the solitary harp on the ground: "Look closely at the description, Upon returning home, Friedrich found all the pieces he played to be jarringly unbearable. "
Name pondered: "Pleasure threshold?"
"Yes, that's a Slaanesh-aligned method," AlphaBravo stood up, his tone resolute, "After enjoying a higher, more extreme level of pleasure, trying a lesser one feels like eating excrement and drinking urine... even if the lesser one, from a realistic perspective, is already a rare delicacy.
"Adding this information, dark eldar become an impossible option. Our enemy can only be Slaanesh-aligned... we just don't know if it's a daemon or a Fallen space marines."
"And we don't know their location," Garry said, looking around the silent urban area, "The Upper Hive is so big, how are we supposed to find them?"
"No, we do," AlphaBravo retorted, turning around, his gaze passing through the huge hole in the wall and towards the towering spire of the Governor's Mansion in the distance, which represented the planet's highest authority, "Could a Slaanesh-aligned individual be anywhere other than the most luxurious, most decadent, most desire-fulfilling place?"
"You're right!" Garry suddenly realized.
"Time to report," AlphaBravo opened his communicator, "Let's use large-scale firepower to collapse the Governor's Mansion first, then discuss other things."