Chapter 363: Earth老乡?

The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, also widely known as the “Moonlight Sonata,” is a famous piano piece composed by Beethoven.

Why would Ning Qiuer play a sonata by Beethoven?

Xia Yu’s mind once again returned to his suspicion that Ning Qiuer might be from his hometown.

But if Ning Qiuer really was from his hometown, why hadn’t she ever used any cultural or entertainment works from Earth? Was she perhaps someone so self-disciplined that she would never plagiarize others’ achievements, even in an alternate universe?

Yet after hearing “The Brightest Star in the Night Sky,” Ning Qiuer should have recognized him. Why then did she approach him like that and ask him to help compose music for her?

Was she testing him?

Because of this unexpected piano piece, Xia Yu was thrown into intense anxiety.

He tried to analyze Ning Qiuer’s thoughts, deduce her intentions, and formulate a response plan accordingly, but he couldn’t establish a logical chain to explain her behavior.

After failing to determine her motives, Xia Yu shifted his focus to his own safety.

He had An Siyao, who could mobilize the power of the An and Yu families. Even if those two families weren’t strong enough, he could enter the bodies of high-ranking individuals through the game to help him through difficult situations.

He also had skills in combat, martial arts, and shooting. There shouldn’t be much of a problem.

As long as Ning Qiuer wasn’t someone with supernatural abilities or a member of the Time-Space Administration Bureau, he had no chance of losing in a confrontation.

Moreover, the body-swapping secret was likely not exposed yet. He could still enter Ning Qiuer’s body through the game. Although resistance would cause an immediate forced logout, he could accomplish a lot in an instant.

After confirming that he was relatively safe, Xia Yu rubbed his forehead. He reflected on his own carelessness—he had subconsciously assumed he was the only special one, or at least the most special, just because he had read too many web novels. Therefore, he had used Earth’s cultural achievements with little caution.

After considering the worst-case scenario and summarizing his experiences, Xia Yu started thinking about more positive possibilities.

Perhaps Ning Qiuer was just an ordinary transmigrant, someone with an entertainment system or similar. Moreover, she might not have ill intentions. At least, when they met half a month ago, she didn’t seem to have any malice—he would have sensed it through telepathy otherwise.

After thinking through all that, Xia Yu took off his earphones and dialed Ning Qiuer’s number.

“Where did you get that piece from?” Xia Yu asked.

“I composed it myself,” Ning Qiuer replied.

Xia Yu frowned. The tone in Ning Qiuer’s voice was one of pride, not teasing. In other words, she hadn’t recognized him?

Could it be that Ning Qiuer had never heard of “The Brightest Star in the Night Sky” back when she was on Earth?

Though unlikely, it wasn’t impossible. Besides, who said all transmigrants came from the same era? Perhaps Ning Qiuer had come from the 19th century.

After letting out a sigh of relief, Xia Yu began considering how he should act next.

He decided to first test Ning Qiuer’s physical strength. If she was just an ordinary person, he would take control of the conversation, gradually extracting information and gaining a harmless hometown companion. But if Ning Qiuer had special abilities, he would need to observe her further.

“Do you have time recently?” Xia Yu asked. He wasn’t worried about sounding abrupt—Ning Qiuer had orchestrated this outcome by imitating Beethoven.

Sure enough, Ning Qiuer sounded delighted: “Can we meet at A Fang’s house in three days?”

“Up to you,” Xia Yu replied indifferently. He didn’t want to meet at Liu Manman’s place but didn’t object, fearing suspicion. He decided he would have An Siyao take Liu Manman out on that day.

“How about the same café we went to last time?” Ning Qiuer changed the location herself, seemingly not wanting Liu Manman to know what she wanted to say.

After agreeing on the time, Xia Yu hung up.

Picking up the hairdryer from the table, Xia Yu continued drying his hair.

After finishing, he returned to his bedroom, thinking about how he should act in the next few days.

First, he called Yu Ningmeng and bought the ownership of a small forum from her at a high price.

This was a small, highly negative forum. Xia Yu contacted five women who had recently posted on the forum. One had already passed away, and one ignored him. Only three replied to his messages.

Using mental therapy, he briefly interviewed the three women through conversation and selected one of them.

After deleting all the website data and destroying the server, Xia Yu went to the vicinity of the woman’s home. He first hid the money he had prepared in advance, then approached the woman and used the Free Selection.

He entered her body.

It was a woman with a numb expression and a frail appearance.

After retrieving the hidden money using the woman’s body, she changed from resistance to compliance.

“What do you plan to do?” The woman, now holding the money, still felt uneasy.

“Just a prank,” Xia Yu replied using the woman’s body.

He then retrieved a lifelike-looking water pistol from another location.

“I won’t do anything that harms lives,” the woman had strong moral principles.

“I already said it’s just a prank.” Xia Yu pulled the trigger, and a stream of water shot out from the pistol. “I’ll only use your body to do this—pretend to be a robber, subdue him, and spray water on her face.”

“You aliens really know how to play,” the woman’s tone was complex.

She had some doubts, but the amount of money Xia Yu offered made her swallow her concerns.

Eight hours later, Xia Yu returned to his own body.

Thus, on the day of his appointment with Ning Qiuer, at 7:30 AM, Xia Yu entered the woman’s body again.

Ning Qiuer had agreed to meet at 3 PM. Xia Yu planned to end the game at 3:30 PM, leaving a half-hour buffer to account for possible delays. He could claim a slight delay and get away with it. Ideally, he would use the travel time difference to make Ning Qiuer wait until after 3:30 PM.

At exactly 3 PM, the Xia Yu in the woman’s body successfully spotted Ning Qiuer at the ideal location.

Reaching out from the alley, Xia Yu dragged Ning Qiuer into the darkness.

Things went even more smoothly than he had imagined. Xia Yu easily pinned Ning Qiuer to the ground and pressed the water pistol against her head.

He relaxed, but Ning Qiuer felt unusually excited.

Ning Qiuer had been imagining using the “Moonlight Sonata” to secretly strike a deal with Xia Yu, reigniting her career and leading to a happy life. Just when she was getting excited, she was suddenly dragged into a narrow alley by a hand emerging from the darkness.

A thin, dry hand covered her mouth, pressing her face-down onto the ground.

From start to finish, Ning Qiuer never saw the attacker’s face. Based only on the sensation, she guessed the attacker was a woman.

The situation wasn’t over yet when a pistol appeared in front of her. She immediately struggled, but the thin body was surprisingly strong. She could only watch helplessly as the attacker slowly pulled the trigger.

Ssshh—

A stream of water sprayed out from the pistol, drenching her face.

Ning Qiuer: “???”

Seeing that Ning Qiuer was completely helpless, Xia Yu relaxed.

Using a disguised voice, he said through the woman’s body: “This is a social experiment. You can also consider it a prank. There’s a hidden camera filming. Now, could you please stay down quietly for a while? We’ll apologize to you afterward.”

After saying that, Xia Yu released the hand covering Ning Qiuer’s mouth.

Feeling the strength behind her, Ning Qiuer realized she had no choice. She asked, “How long do I need to stay down?”

“It would be best if you could count to one hundred. You can shout for help first if you want, but please finish counting,” Xia Yu replied in his disguised voice.

“Then I’ll start counting?” Ning Qiuer signaled Xia Yu to let her go.

“Just a moment.” Xia Yu, originally planning to leave immediately, suddenly had a new idea.

Since the current situation was so ideal, he might as well directly ask about the “Moonlight Sonata.”

He mentioned a name: “Beethoven.”

“Who is that? I don’t know him. I haven’t met any Westerners in the past year!” Ning Qiuer’s voice sounded a bit tense. She always felt this wasn’t just a prank.

Her confused and nervous tone didn’t seem faked, causing Xia Yu to frown.

Not a fellow transmigrant? Or was her acting just too good?

“Hey, what are you doing!” A passerby’s voice came from the alley’s entrance.

The alley wasn’t particularly secluded, and Ning Qiuer wouldn’t choose to walk on a deserted path.

“Count to one hundred.” Xia Yu released Ning Qiuer and swiftly dashed into the alley. He discarded the toy water gun, removed the mask, hat, coat, boots, and gloves. After ensuring no one was nearby, he climbed up the air conditioner unit to reach the third-floor maintenance restroom of the neighboring mall. Slipping in through the window, he finally took off his sunglasses and seamlessly merged into the crowd as he departed.

After reaching a location two streets away from the alley, he hailed a taxi, gave the driver the woman’s address, and entered the reward’s storage location into the woman’s phone.

Five minutes later, at 3:30 PM, Xia Yu returned to his own body.

At this moment, Yu Tuo was getting a massage at the spa upstairs from the café. If he were late, Xia Yu’s ready-made excuse would be that he got too relaxed and lost track of time.

He refused to continue the unfinished massage, dressed himself, and went downstairs.

Ning Qiuer hadn’t arrived yet. There was a message on QQ saying she would be late.

After waiting in the café for over ten minutes, Xia Yu finally saw Ning Qiuer.

Ning Qiuer had simply washed her face and changed clothes.

“Sorry, something came up on the way,” Ning Qiuer didn’t mention the earlier incident.

To her, who had watched countless dramas, such a sudden attack on the road wasn’t particularly strange. After all, nothing serious had happened. The gun was just a toy water pistol. She would just be more careful in the future. Of course, these were just comforting thoughts. What truly convinced Ning Qiuer not to pursue the matter further was the attacker’s obviously skilled technique and strange purpose.

Additionally, reporting the incident would be difficult. The attacker was so skilled just to spray her with water. Even the police would find it confusing—she herself was also puzzled.

Such a confusing attack was unlikely to be taken seriously.

“No problem, I was also slightly delayed just now,” Xia Yu replied.

Ning Qiuer called the waiter and ordered coffee and pastries.

After the food arrived, Xia Yu looked at Ning Qiuer and said, “Let’s get straight to the point.”

Having confirmed that Ning Qiuer posed no threat, Xia Yu felt much more relaxed. At this moment, he was actually looking forward to revealing his identity soon so they could talk about their transmigration experiences.

After all, transmigration wasn’t his biggest secret. The body-swapping game was.

Ning Qiuer put down her coffee, which she had only taken a sip of, stood up, and said, “Let’s go to a private room upstairs.”

Inside the private room, Ning Qiuer’s expression turned serious: “Then I’ll be direct. I’ll give you the piano piece. In return, I hope you can provide me with songs in the future.”

“I can provide you with songs, on the condition that you tell me who composed this piece,” Xia Yu said.

“It was me,” Ning Qiuer replied as before.

“Your playing level couldn’t possibly compose such a piano piece.” Xia Yu pressed Ning Qiuer for another answer so he could gain more information.

“How can you look down on me like this!” Ning Qiuer sounded somewhat angry.

Seeing that Ning Qiuer was determined to stick to her story, Xia Yu stood up, pulled her back downstairs to the main hall.

He walked to the center of the hall and borrowed the piano.

He hovered his hands above the keys, closed his eyes, recalled the Moonlight Sonata, and began playing.

Initially, Ning Qiuer’s expression remained normal, only slightly surprised that Xia Yu could play so excellently a piece she had struggled with all night.

She wasn’t particularly surprised that Xia Yu knew the beginning of the score—it was common practice to transcribe music.

Xia Yu’s excellent performance proved he had practiced a lot. Her piano piece indeed had great charm!

Ning Qiuer became even more confident.

After two minutes, Ning Qiuer thought that Xia Yu had finished playing the section of the piece she had given him and should stop regretfully.

However, Xia Yu continued playing without pause, completing the entire piano sonata.

After Xia Yu lifted his hands, applause erupted in the café. Some even came forward to give flowers to him. Xia Yu briefly acknowledged the attention and approached Ning Qiuer, asking, “Now, can you tell me who composed this piece?”

Ning Qiuer tightly gripped the coffee cup in her hand. The trembling surface of the coffee revealed the turmoil in her heart.

“Tell me who composed this piece, and I’ll give you what you want,” Xia Yu stepped closer to Ning Qiuer.

“I don’t know!” Ning Qiuer stepped back, hastily placing the coffee cup on the nearby table.

Looking at Ning Qiuer’s seemingly genuine expression, Xia Yu realized that the situation might be more complicated than he had imagined.

He recalled the previous doubts and asked them all at once: “Parts of the melodies in your previous two songs were the same as mine. Who exactly are you?”

“I really don’t know!” Ning Qiuer continued to retreat, now backed against the wall. Her eyes darted left and right, her body instinctively curling slightly, showing signs of fear.

Xia Yu tentatively mentioned two other terms—he often used these to fool the women he possessed: “Alien? Stand user?”

Before he could say anything else, Ning Qiuer pushed him aside and rushed out of the café.

Chasing her outside onto the street, Xia Yu lost sight of Ning Qiuer.

He had been too immersed in thought to react in time.

Rubbing his forehead, Xia Yu reflected that he should have locked Ning Qiuer in the private room before questioning her.

Fortunately, the monk might run away, but the temple wouldn’t. He could ask Liu Manman to find out Ning Qiuer’s hideout.

He began thinking again. Ning Qiuer didn’t seem to have run away because she heard the terms “alien” and “stand user,” but rather because her emotions had reached their limit.

His new hypothesis might still be wrong, but it was only a possibility. After all, he wasn’t an FBI agent with the ability to accurately judge others’ psychology through expressions alone.