Silent Crown

Chapter 368 I’ll Whistle for You

When Ye Qingxuan regained consciousness, it felt like his head was cracking apart. In the underground room that had been transformed into a prison, he was half naked and soaked in some sticky liquid. Breathing was difficult. He could not feel blood flowing and had lost his sense of aether. He felt drowsy too and could not collect his thoughts.

"Hey, do you have to be so serious?" Ye Qingxuan rasped out, struggling to open his eyes. "Can't you just use a rope?"

"How can a rope be suitable for someone of your status?" Naberius snickered. "You're experiencing the treatment of a grandmaster right now. How is it? Happy?"

"F*ck you."

"I'm reassured seeing how feisty you are." Naberius nodded in satisfaction. "I'll have Mordred accompany you during the wait so you won't be lonely. He's really obedient and you can ask him for anything you need, even bedtime stories. Don't worry, it won't be long. It'll be your turn in a few hours."

He paused. His narrow eyes squinted in anticipation. "Don't be afraid. You won't feel anything being taken away when you fall into darkness. All you'll receive is liberation. I'm really excited. How powerful will you become from the evil thoughts and unimaginable darkness locked away in your mind?"

Ye Qingxuan lowered his eyes, no longer listening. He quietly sensed his surroundings but he was disappointed. The dark musicians had really given him the grandmaster treatment. There was not even a handkerchief on him. He obviously did not have something as powerful as Jiu Xiao Huan Pei either.

Thinking of this, he could not help but look over at Naberius. All of his belongings were hanging on the wall behind the youth reading fairytales on the ground…

"How long was I unconscious for?" Ye Qingxuan sighed.

"Two months." Naberius chuckled. "So don't worry, Auschwitz has already been burned to the ground. As for the trial, the good news is that all your competitors are dead. The bad news is, you didn't gain anything."

Ye Qingxuan did not even glance at him. "Tell the truth."

"Tsk, half an hour." Naberius shook his head. "Being too familiar isn't a good thing. I can't even crack a joke."

Just as he finished, footsteps appeared outside the dungeon. A black shadow walked toward Naberius. "Leader Crowley calls for you."

Naberius nodded. He glanced over at the newcomer, eyes filled with involuntary shock. "He chose you? He has good taste. Since the leader thinks highly of you, I'll leave this to you. I'm sure you and the prisoner will have a good time." He patted the man's shoulder and left. All that remained in the cell were Ye Qingxuan, shackled in the cage, and the man outside the cage.

"Hey, Colt…" Seeing his cold expression, Ye Qingxuan could not help but laugh in amazement. "Your new clothes are pretty handsome. I didn't expect this to suit you, really."

Faced with the undisguised mockery, Colt remained cold. "Whatever. Even with your abilities, aren't you in this state too? People have to know when to give up so they won't become as pathetic as you.

"I can't believe Naberius is so good to you. He even added some of the Dark Gaia's flesh into the treatment liquid. Other than treating your wounds, you'll have an extra ability after your transformation. You should thank him. He treats you well."

"Really?" Ye Qingxuan chuckled. "I didn't know dark musicians were so hospitable. I can't wait to join this loving family! When will you take me to meet the 'parents'?" He paused, his expression turning into disdain. "Oh, right! You're not a dark musician yet either. You haven't even seen 'daddy' yet and you're already here to sing the praises? Your teacher at the Rock Institute will be sad, you know."

Colt's expression remained unchanged.

In the corner behind him, Mordred suddenly raised his cold eyes. A dragon scale fingernail shot out of his fingers like a blade. Seeming to sense this coldness behind him, Colt stepped back. The fingers clenched around his sword loosened one by one.

"You're on your own, Ye Qingxuan." He stared long and hard at the youth in the cage and left.

In silence, Ye Qingxuan watched as he disappeared and let out a relieved sigh. He really could not control his mouth. What if he accidentally pissed this guy off completely and Colt decided to end him?

"Thanks, Mordy." Ye Qingxuan waved at the youth in the corner.

The youth glanced up with disdain.

Ye Qingxuan was speechless. However, time dragged on forever in the silence. Finally, he could not help it anymore and asked, "Can you really read me fairytales?"

Mordred looked up in confusion. After confirming that there really were such bored adults in the world, he looked down and tried to read the fairytale out loud. He stumbled over the words and butchered the story. Ye Qingxuan suspected this was a new type of torture.

"Hey, Mordy." Ye Qingxuan coughed, clearing his throat. "Can you get the clothes on the wall for me? And my bag—"

Mordred raised his head and looked at Ye Qingxuan as if he was stupid. "My uncle said that if you said that, I should tell you, 'do you think I'm an idiot?'"

What Ye Qingxuan felt at the moment was indescribably. He sighed. "What can you do other than reading fairy tales? Can you whistle?"

"Do you want to hear?" Mordred glanced at him and shook his head. "Because I can't."

"I didn't expect you to either." Ye Qingxuan sighed weakly. "There's a whistle in my bag. You can take it out and play it."

Mordred froze. He thought about it, hesitating. "Why should I play your whistle?"

"Then whistle with your mouth."

"I can't."

"Then you can only find a whistle to play, right?" Ye Qingxuan shrugged innocently. Then he started rolling on the ground, moaning, "Help! I really want to hear whistling. I'm gonna die!"

Mordred hesitated for a long time. Finally annoyed by Ye Qingxuan, he got up and kicked the bars. "Shut up! It's just whistling…"

Ye Qingxuan shut up obediently. He watched as Mordred yanked his bag off the wall and started trifling through. "Ah, it's not there. The bottom-yeah, your right side, beside that box-yes, yes, that one!" He could not help but clap his hands. "Whistle, whistle, whistle!" he cheered like a kindergartener waiting for a performance.

Mordred glanced at him suspiciously. He checked the whistle in his hands but found that it was just a regular thing. It could do nothing other than make loud noises.

This showed the importance of being cunning. If Naberius was here, he would definitely break the whistle and burn it to dust. But Mordred was different. After hesitating, he picked up the whistle given to Ye Qingxuan by the Angloian grandmaster and put it in his mouth.

He blew.

The sound was thin yet sharp and traveled into the distance instantly. In that moment, Ye Qingxuan was overjoyed. Cackling, he almost flipped inside the cage.

Then a long, long while later…nothing happened in the silence.

Ye Qingxuan waited blankly for a long, long while. Still, nothing happened.

His smile stiffened on his face like a withered cabbage. Outside the cage, Mordred was tired. He threw the whistle into the cage in annoyance.

"If you like whistles then you blow it yourself. I've never seen someone so happy from whistles. Are you some kind of dog demon?"

Ye Qingxuan clutched the whistle and cried without tears.

-

Somewhere in the deep abyss, darkness filled every crevice. Six captured grandmasters sat cross-legged in the cramped space, their brows furrowed. Someone pounded the darkness furiously but the darkness showed no sign of weakening.

"Stop wasting your energy." Mr. Hu sighed. "This is a projection of the abyss. We're all inside the Garment of Original Sin. There'll be no use unless someone breaks through the dark atrium or if we self-destruct. It sucks here but at least it's difficult for them to move or hurt us. We're just locked up temporarily."

"You make it sound simple!" A grandmaster rolled his eyes and glared. "Your students—those Easterners—had gone home long ago! You're by yourself, of course you're relaxed!"

"That's a reason, of course…but 'home is where the heart is.' There's nothing wrong with making the best of things, right?" Mr. Hu waved with a smile and pointed at the kettle on the small stove before him. "The tea's almost done. Would anyone want some?"

"The tea's done? Great, great!" The Angloian grandmaster, snoring in a corner, suddenly woke up. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Ah, it's been a while since I slept so well."

"Dreams come from the heart." Mr. Hu chuckled. "Maybe you're the type that can only sleep well in the abyss."

The Angloian grandmaster laughed as well. Rather than correcting him, he picked up the thumb-sized teacup. Looking at the green tea, he drank it all. "Someone told me this is life." He shrugged. "I give in."

In the silence, Mr. Hu lifted his teacup as well, smiling in reply. Then he suddenly looked up and listened hard. "Is someone blowing a whistle?"

"Is there? Whatever…" The Angloian grandmaster yawned. "I've been lacking sleep these past few days. Let me sleep a bit longer." He laid down in the corner and started snoring as soon as he finished. He slept soundly as if he dreamed of a peaceful home in the abyss.