335 Just Watch (1/2)

It was silent at night. A shadow stood amongst the clouds and wordlessly gazed at the city below him. Holding a notebook and a feather quill, he recorded silently. Endless stars were reflected in his Starry Eyes. Behind him, a silhouette emerged from the condensation. ”Grandmaster Koch, how is everything?”

”As usual.” Koch ripped out a piece of paper for the man. ”A total of nineteen musicians have gone against the Sacred City's order and involved the locals during their personal fights.”

”There are many kids who think too highly of themselves.” The shadow in the clouds glanced at the notes and nodded. ”They want to fool around when the Silent Authority's here? They'll have to pay for not following the rules.”

Grandmaster Koch continued to look down. He finally stopped recording when the midnight bell rang out. His records were filled with various names.

Ye Qingxuan was the last participant to arrive before the deadline of midnight last night. Now, there were one-hundred and sixty participating musicians in Auschwitz. The group's average age was not even thirty, but there were more than twenty musicians above the Resonance level. The others had delved deep into music theory years ago. They were the elites of their academies and the stars of their schools…Torre Hauser, Sam, Casper Hauser, Colt Flagg, Ye Qingxuan, Baro, Arianna, Rebecca…

Grandmaster Koch gazed at the lines of names under the moonlight. Perhaps the new king of musicians would be born from this list. They were destined to shine.

-

The next morning, they were at the center of Auschwitz. If one looked down from the sky, one would see a yawning hole in the circular area. The eerie crack was like an eye in the earth staring up to the heavens. Within the eye was bottomless darkness.

According to scholars, Auschwitz was built on a complex but fragile geological rock formation. The smallest earthquake would cause a chain of disasters. If the crack enlarged, everything might be swallowed into it.

One could vaguely make out some rusted machines and the remains of a helicopter around the crack. Those were the digging equipment that the Chainsaw Fraternity gave to Romulus. They were only able to enter the mines with these things. However, they were abandoned when the relic was discovered. Now, only the scar-like hole remained.

At daybreak, the musicians gathered here, waiting to cross through the mine and enter the relic. Of course, many of them held mysterious maps and suspicious unreliable mine road maps. They did not know if the maps were useful but they only costed around two to three hundred dollars. They could use the maps as commemorative gifts.

Soon, the grandmasters supervising the trial appeared. After publicly taking away the dozens of rule-breaking musicians, the trial officially began.

The sealed entrance to the mine was opened.

Some musicians flew down, some started climbing, and others summoned phantom beasts that could fly. Seeing everyone use their tricks to enter, Ye Qingxuan casually got into the line for the lift.

The lift was a piece of equipment from before. It used to transport the miners and heavy machinery every day. It was dozens of square meters and could easily transport dozens of people and their luggage.

Beside him, Baro had wanted to summon his griffin and fly down. However, due to his promise, he followed Ye Qingxuan's command with a dark expression.

”You don't have to waste your energy at the start. Attracting attention at the start will make you a public enemy, right? The Sacred City won't care what we do once we're in.” Ye Qingxuan carried his package to the very front. Compared to the other light travelers, he looked like a snail.

Sam eyed his own giant bag with a pained expression. ”Is all of this necessary?”

Ye Qingxuan patted his shoulder. ”I hope a lot of it is unnecessary but you'll be happy to have it when we need it.”

Sam sighed. He obediently put on the heavy bag and walked into the lift, lowering into the darkness under the loud rumbling.

Another rumble sounded under their feet. Blinding red light illuminated in the darkness. Fire was burning. Screams spread…

-

Far from the entrance of the mine, a middle-aged Easterner stuck his hands in his sleeves and watched the chaos with a smile. Beside him, a few white-haired youths and girls anxiously wanted to do something but could only stand there obediently.

”Sir, are we really not going to help?” someone asked softly.