Chapter 113 (1/2)

《Infinity》 was Paganini’s most famous etude.

Like the name implied, the melody was repetitive. It tested a musician’s skill and was used for training. It tested the endurance and flexibility of the left hand for pressing strings and the bow’s jumps, but also the adeptness of change for the right hand. Many large orchestras used the piece as their compulsory audition track to test violinists’ ability.

This piece contained 2,212 notes. Paganini was able to play it in three minutes and three seconds, over twelve notes a second!

It was unimaginable and unheard of for current violinists.

After Paganini, the best violinist in the world could only clock the piece at three minutes and thirty seconds. In his youth, Akkad could play it at three minutes and thirty-two seconds, for comparative sake, that showed just how difficult the piece was.

In fact, the piece itself wasn’t that difficult. At a slower speed, even amateurs could play it. However, it was a speed test.

In the silent room, everyone held their breath, staring at the young man.

Some stared at his left hand while others already stared at their stopwatches in silence.

This was perhaps the longest three minutes in the world. With over ten notes a second, all the students could see Qi Mu’s hands moving swiftly over the bow and strings, but at the very least, they knew…

He definitely wasn’t slow!

The repeated melody echoed in the rehearsal room. Qi Mu’s slender, fair fingers seemed to have a mind of their own. They danced along the violin board so skillfully and easily, holding and changing strings constantly.

No technique, just speed, speed, speed!

When the second minute ticked in, many members of the violin department already felt their wrists aching. They naturally were the most qualified to express their opinion on this piece because they knew, it was at this stage, the piece truly tested their endurance.

This kind of intense string changes made one’s muscles sore, and wrists swell. Most of them couldn’t endure it at this stage and would feel like they were dying. Therefore, for them, this piece spelled “Tragedy” whenever they heard it from afar.

But what they couldn’t believe was——

Qi Mu didn’t seem to slow at all!

In fact… He seemed to get even faster!!!!

Some of the girls covered their mouths in marvel, but Dylan and the others who just entered the rehearsal room had their eyes wide with shock and watched Qi Mu incredulously.

When the performance finally entered its third minute, time seemed to slow, sixty seconds feeling like a century.

They watched the handsome young man calmly play the last two notes. Long after the piece ended, the room was dead silent, and no one moved.

In the end, it was Kale from the piano department who started the provocation in the first place that clapped first in a daze. The others followed, and thunderous applause from nearly a hundred members of the orchestra filled the room.

Dylan finally reacted, “Oh, God, don’t let my teacher see Seven perform… Teacher really will scold me to death!”

Lena nodded, “This… I finally understand how terrible Professor Akkad is. Little Seven is so skilled, why is he always so unsatisfied?!”

Amongst the whispered marvel, someone finally asked the duration. The student with the stopwatch raised his mobile phone and announced, “Three minutes and thirty seconds! No, it’s… 03:39:44!!!”

This silenced everyone. Even Kale, who issued the challenge and stated the timing, withered. He looked at the young man in front of the crowd who was described as beautiful with strange eyes filled with wonder.

If Qi Mu could read people’s minds, he would hear only one word in unison——

『Monster!』

By the age of 22, he could play 《Infinity》 in under 3:40 seconds. If he wasn’t a monster… then what else could he be!

Even Christole wasn’t said to be this powerful!!!

In fact, these innocent students didn’t know that only last night, Qi Mu was given the arduous task——

To play 《Infinity》 within three minutes and thirty-five seconds in only a week!

And so, Qi Mu had begun practicing this piece right after he returned last night. He hadn’t touched this piece in so many years. When he first played, he could only manage three minutes and fifty seconds. The second try shaved off three seconds!

If Angelo knew Qi Mu could reach this speed after only practicing twice compared to him, who took over a month, perhaps even vomiting three liters of blood wouldn’t be enough to express his grief and indignation.

However, Qi Mu spent over two hours practicing and resting his hands intermittently, yet couldn’t break the forty-second barrier. It was only this morning after Professor Akkad gave him some corrections that he managed it.

Even Qi Mu didn’t think… he could play this piece in under forty seconds, to begin with. After all, this feat was a bit shocking for an ordinary student who hadn’t even graduated yet.

But this also meant Qi Mu had met this impossible “requirement of the orchestra.”