The rehearsal room was located in the basement of the Student Activity Center. The air was permeated with a smell of mold that hadn't seen the sun in years and the scent of glue from cheap soundproofing foam.
Pushing open the door, Lin Feng held his guitar and nodded to the few people in the room.
"Hello everyone, I am Lin Feng. Coming to apply for rhythm guitarist."
His opening remarks were as concise as reading an instruction manual.
The air in the room solidified for two seconds.
In the corner, the long-haired boy tuning a bass lifted his eyelids, looked at him as if he had just woken up, and emitted a nasal sound: "En." This was Lu Mingxuan, the bassist.
The girl sitting behind the drum kit was lowering her head looking at her phone. Hearing the voice, she raised her head to glance at him. With her bobcut, she looked very beautiful; it was that kind of aggressive cold beauty. At this moment, she politely pulled the corner of her mouth, counting it as a response, then quickly lowered her head to continue scrolling through her phone. This was Shen Linyin, drummer and Dasao[1].
Only Ren Yichen walked over enthusiastically, wrapping an arm around Lin Feng's shoulder: "Aiya, bro, no need to be so restrained. Come come come, sit anywhere."
Lin Feng found a folding chair with no expression and sat down, looking around a circle: "Where is the lead guitarist?"
Usually, a band configuration is dual guitars. He came to play rhythm, so there should be a lead guitarist responsible for showing off skills.
The smile on Ren Yichen's face stiffened for an instant, then immediately gave a dry cough: "That... Old Wang, ah. Old Wang felt that rock and roll cannot save the Chinese people, so he decided to go take the Kaoyan[2]. He just sent a WeChat to quit the team this morning, right now he should be memorizing vocabulary in the library."
Lin Feng: "..."
"So," Ren Yichen patted Lin Feng's shoulder, his tone heavy as if entrusting an orphan, "now the situation has changed."
"What changed?"
"I originally only wanted to quietly be a lead singer, but now there is no way, I can only treat a dead horse as a living horse doctor[3] and reluctantly take on the role of rhythm guitar concurrently. As for you..." Ren Yichen looked at Lin Feng with a gaze full of trust (actually shifting the blame), "Brother, the heavy burden of lead guitar is handed over to you."
Lin Feng looked at him, his eyes without ripples: "I only know how to sweep chords."
"No problem! The spirit of rock is just to be reckless!" Ren Yichen took out a crumpled piece of A4 paper from who knows where. It was covered with handwriting that looked like crawling earthworms, and there were even a few holes burned by cigarette butts. "This is the score, very simple. You just play according to the feeling. For that solo part, you just casually make noise a few times and it'll do."
Lin Feng took the paper. Rather than calling it a music score, it was better to say it looked more like ghost talismans drawn by a Maoshan Taoist[4].
"Come, let's run through the first song, 'Boring Summer'." Ren Yichen didn't want to give Lin Feng a chance to regret, directly hanging the guitar on himself and shouting to Shen Linyin, "Start us off!"
Shen Linyin tapped the drumsticks expressionlessly. "Dong ci da ci, dong ci da ci..."
The music sounded.
Five minutes later.
The rehearsal room fell into a deathly silence.
Those five minutes just now were simply an auditory disaster. Lu Mingxuan's bass was steady as an old dog, Shen Linyin's drum beats were precise as a metronome, and although Ren Yichen's singing ability was average, he was still on key.
Only Lin Feng.
His guitar sound was like someone using a saw to saw wood. Every entry into the beat perfectly avoided the correct point. As for that solo section, it sounded like a startled duck stepping randomly on the strings.
Shen Linyin put down the drumsticks, brows locked tight. That face, originally just cold, now had a trace of obvious impatience.
"Rest for ten minutes." Ren Yichen hurriedly smoothed things over, stuffing a bottle of water into Lin Feng's hand. "It's okay, it's okay, first time cooperating, being unfamiliar is normal."
Lin Feng drank a mouthful of water, his heart having no fluctuations, he even wanted to laugh a little. Could this be blamed on him? That score didn't even have the bar lines drawn straight.
He took the opportunity to summon the system.
"System, this is the Top-tier Superstar Road you spoke of? Going to be kicked out before even debuting, right?"
[Ding! Triggered temporary mission: Use one System Item.] [Mission Reward: Lucky Wheel Draw Times x10.]
Lin Feng paused for a moment. Is this the legendary "someone sends a pillow when you want to sleep"?
He opened the backpack. Lying solitarily inside was that [Eternal Padlock (Bronze Level)].
Use it. But use it on whom?
Lin Feng's gaze swept across the three people in the room like a radar.
Lu Mingxuan was leaning against the wall corner resting his eyes. This person seemed indifferent to who played the guitar, as long as it didn't delay his sleep. Favorability 14, very steady, no need to lock.
Ren Yichen was holding his phone bitterly sending voice messages to the ex-guitarist who ran away. As a bro, even if Lin Feng played like shit, he would at most complain privately a few times, he wouldn't truly turn his face. Favorability 37, safe.
Finally, Lin Feng's gaze landed on Shen Linyin.
She was sitting on the drum stool, twirling drumsticks in her hand, her eyes occasionally drifting toward Lin Feng, carrying a type of scrutiny and... disdain.
Lin Feng opened the interpersonal relationship interface to look.
Good guy. [Shen Linyin: 5/100 (Weak Aversion)]
Before starting rehearsal it was 7. After playing one song, it directly dropped 2 points.
If they continued rehearsing in this high-pressure environment, with Lin Feng's current level, he estimated that within not even an afternoon, this Dasao's favorability would fall into negative numbers. She is the band's drummer and the captain's girlfriend. If she exploded and said "It's either him or me," then Lin Feng's just-started superstar road could be declared bankrupt.
She is currently the most unstable factor.
"It's you then."
Lin Feng's mind moved, choosing to use the [Eternal Padlock] on Shen Linyin.
[Locking target: Shen Linyin.] [Current Relationship Value: 5/100.] [Locking successful. From now on, no matter what behavior the Host commits, this target's favorability/relationship value toward the Host will never decrease.]
Lin Feng let out a sigh of relief. Although it was only 5 points now, at least he didn't have to worry about losing points.
[System Supplementary Explanation: Relationship has been completely locked. In the future, it can only maintain or rise. Please Host rest assured and play loose.]
Lin Feng's heart gave a thump.
"Can only rise?"
These words sounded a bit terrifying. Meaning even if he dismantled Shen Linyin's drums right in front of her face, or even pointed at her nose and cursed her, her opinion of him wouldn't get worse, but instead, if there was even a tiny bit of something pleasing to the eye, the favorability would increase?
What kind of Domineering CEO Forced Love logic is this?
But now wasn't the time to think in detail about the ethical problems within; the mission was completed.
[Mission Complete. Reward: Lucky Wheel Draw Times x10. Do you want to draw immediately?]
"Draw." Lin Feng recited silently in his heart.
The familiar wheel, the familiar wumao [5]special effects.
First shot. [Thank you for your patronage.]
Second shot. [Thank you for your patronage.]
...
Lin Feng skillfully ignored the first nine times of ridicule that were like a repeater machine.
Tenth shot. [Congratulations on obtaining skill: Absolute Score Eye (Bronze Level).]
[Absolute Score Eye (Bronze Level): Even if it is a prescription written by a doctor, a talisman drawn by a Taoist priest, or a doodle by a kindergarten child, as long as it was originally a music score, you can instantly restore it into a standard staff notation and automatically play it in your mind. Although it cannot improve your hand speed, it can let you understand what you are playing.]
Lin Feng looked at the skill introduction, almost shedding tears of being moved.
Isn't this specifically prepared for Ren Yichen's ghost drawing talisman?
Truly sending charcoal in snowy weather[6].
"Alright, break over!" Ren Yichen clapped his hands, attempting to remobilize the atmosphere. "Lin Feng, let's do it again. This time slightly... slightly restrain that wild style a bit."
Although Shen Linyin had a face of unwillingness, she still picked up the drumsticks.
Lin Feng picked up that crumpled paper and activated [Absolute Score Eye].
Instantly, those twisted lines reorganized in his field of vision. Clear notes jumped up in his mind one by one, the standard melody flowing past like running water.
Although his hands were still unfamiliar, at least he knew where to press.
Lin Feng pressed his hand on the guitar neck, the corners of his mouth curving upward in an almost invisible arc.
"Come on."
[1] Literally "Big Sister-in-law." A respectful term for the wife or girlfriend of an older brother, leader, or boss.
[2] A hard post grad examination in China.
[3] Idiom that means "desperate times call for desperate measures".
[4] A school of Taoism often associated in pop culture with exorcisms and writing complex, illegible yellow paper talismans (spells).
[5] Cheap, implying the budget was only 5 mao (0.5 RMB).
[6] Idiom meaning to provide timely help in a time of need.