Prologue

At one thirty in the afternoon, Chen Chuan and his companions reached the ticket checkpoint at the entrance. The ticket inspector informed them that since they held second-class tickets, they would have to wait until three o'clock, when the event officially began, before they could be admitted. "We still have to wait an hour and a half?" Pan Xiaode muttered. Tan Zhi looked helpless as well. He hadn't bought the tickets himself; they were a gift from Instructor Wei. Given the limited seating and the fierce demand, having tickets at all was quite fortunate. At that moment, the vast majority of the audience waiting out on the plaza was in the same boat as them. Only those who were unmistakably high officials or dignitaries didn't have to wait, entering directly through the VIP lane. Chen Chuan remembered the tickets Counselor Pei had given him, which seemed different from the one Tan Zhi had shown earlier. He took them out, glanced at them, and said, "I have a few tickets here that a friend slipped me a few days ago. Take a look." Tan Zhi took them, his eyes lighting up. "These are first-class tickets!" Turning excitedly to Pan Xiaode and Qi Huixin, he said, "We don't need to wait behind the stanchions! We can head straight inside!" Chen Chuan nodded. "Good, I thought they might go to waste." Tan Zhi and the other two were thrilled. Not only could they enter early, but they would also be seated in a private box—a far cry from where they were originally slated to sit. The four of them squeezed through the crowd and arrived at another checkpoint. After presenting the tickets, they walked in along the VIP lane. Once inside, a dedicated usher guided them to their private box. As they crossed the grand lobby, the high-ranking officials, dignitaries, and corporate executives who had entered earlier were gathered in small groups, conversing animatedly. These people weren't here merely to watch a musical; they treated the venue as a major social function. Seeing a group of young people with such striking presence walk in, they assumed they were scions of some prominent family and cast curious glances their way. However, the martial artists accompanying them stiffened in unison. One government official noticed his advisor's subtle reaction and asked, "Lao Liu, is something wrong?" Lao Liu kept his voice low. "Councilor Ai, all those young people who just walked past are fighters." Councilor Ai took another look, his tone appreciative. "Really? Quite an impressive bunch of youths, then." Martial arts were currently all the rage across the world. Even if someone couldn't become a true fighter, upper-middle-class families would still hire an instructor or two for their children. Naturally, quite a few talented individuals emerged from such backgrounds, so seeing a few fighters among the youth was hardly surprising. Lao Liu remained grave. "Councilor Ai, the one leading them might be a third limit fighter. He gives me a very strong sense of threat." "Oh?" Councilor Ai was caught off guard. His smile faded, and after glancing left and right, he instructed, "Have someone check their backgrounds. Make sure not to cause a scene." Security in Weiguang District was generally excellent, and few dared to stir up trouble here. Even so, violent incidents had been frequent lately, and they were in the middle of pushing certain security bills, so this was not something to overlook lightly. Lao Liu nodded. "Understood." Just as Chen Chuan and his companions reached the entrance to their box, internal security personnel approached to question them. However, they were extremely polite; after all, anyone who could access this section was no ordinary person, and they avoided causing offense whenever possible. Chen Chuan presented his identification card. The security officer promptly verified his identity through a boundary credential, snapped to attention with a salute, and said, "Captain Chen, pardon the interruption. We wish you an enjoyable viewing." Tan Zhi and the other two hadn't thought much of it out on the plaza, but now they felt a distinct divide between Chen Chuan and themselves—not merely in personal combat prowess, but in social standing as well. Given their backgrounds, interacting with upper-middle-class figures was nothing out of the ordinary. Yet Chen Chuan was their peer, which made the sensation entirely different. Moreover, they knew that his background was humbler than theirs. Everything he had achieved had been earned through sheer effort, evoking a deep sense of admiration and envy within them. Councilor Ai soon received the security team's report. He was taken aback. "A Disposal Bureau enforcement captain? At that age?" He wondered which family the youth hailed from, but so long as the boy's credentials were clear, there was no cause for concern. Once inside the box, Chen Chuan and his companions settled into the comfortable seats. From their vantage point, they had a clear view of the entire stage, making the seats prime real estate. The box featured a mini-bar and a beverage display case, and a dedicated attendant waited outside the door, ready to provide catering service at any moment. In the box directly opposite, people could be seen moving in and out, shaking hands, and chatting. A few even nodded courteously toward their side. Pan Xiaode curled his lip. He had never liked occasions like this; as a child, nothing had annoyed him more than being dragged along to various gatherings. After entering Wuyi Academy, such annoyances became rare. In particular, after he and Qi Huixin had undergone cosmetic alterations to give themselves matching sibling-like faces, their families had looked upon them with sheer displeasure, which suited him just fine since it bought him peace and quiet. Chen Chuan slowly sipped his warm drink and logged into the theater's platform. It contained numerous recordings of past musicals and plays, though naturally, none had the impact of a live performance. Still, with plenty of time remaining, he decided to browse casually. Suddenly, voices rose sharply from one of the boxes. A young man was shouting aggressively at an impeccably groomed, middle-aged gentleman, drawing frequent glances from the occupants of neighboring boxes. Pan Xiaode glanced over. "Huh? Isn't that Lü Miao?" Tan Zhi asked immediately, "You know him?" "Not well. Met him a few times," Pan Xiaode said. "His old man is a deputy director in the City Security Defense Department. He started training in fighting earlier than us and usually acts pretty cocky. The guy he's yelling at is probably his uncle Bao Yun, who works as his dad's assistant." Chen Chuan looked over. On paper, the City Security Defense Department was the administrative superior of both the City Patrol and the Disposal Bureau, with its department head reporting directly to the mayor. Its rank was exceptionally high, making the man effectively his superior. From the fragments of their argument, it seemed Director Lü had detained someone, and Lü Miao was demanding that his uncle release the person. However, even if Bao Yun had the power to do so, airing the matter publicly in such a venue made it utterly impossible for him to comply. Security personnel from the theater moved in swiftly and escorted the young man out. Assistant Bao looked thoroughly humiliated. After murmuring apologies to those around him, he followed outside to handle the situation. As the two departed, hushed discussions rippled through the boxes. With barely ten minutes left before the musical was scheduled to begin, Chen Chuan noticed the noise level outside rising again. An elderly gentleman of great poise entered arm-in-arm with a dignified, elegantly dressed woman. The elderly man was clad in imported formal attire. Though well along in years, his stride was steady and his gaze sharp. The moment he stepped inside, the occupants of the boxes rose to applaud and greet him. The gentleman waved politely to those around him. Chen Chuan noticed that right beside the pair, walking in almost side by side with them, was the very figure he had encountered earlier in the Confluence—Chen Bitong. As Chen Chuan looked over, Chen Bitong looked back. Once their eyes met, Chen Bitong gave him a brief nod. Chen Chuan returned the gesture. Tan Zhi remarked, "That must be Speaker Quan and his wife, right?" Pan Xiaode, noticing Chen Chuan's gaze, asked curiously, "Classmate Chen, that person next to him looks formidable. Do you know him?" "We met once, not long ago," Chen Chuan replied. After exchanging a few words with the individuals who had been waiting for him, Speaker Quan proceeded toward the central second-floor box, which offered the best seats in the house. Seeing that the time had come, Chen Chuan turned his attention away from Chen Bitong. He put on the boundary credential required for viewing the musical and quietly waited for the performance to begin. A few minutes later, the bright light screens around them dimmed, leaving only the stage illuminated. A rolling green wilderness came into view. Notably, the scenery wasn't produced entirely by the boundary credential; the foreground combined physical props with lighting, while only the distant vista was generated by the credential. After a brief wait, an ethereal female voice drifted out, sounding as if it were carried on the wind across the open plains, rising from deep within the soul with the power to stir the heart. Chen Chuan could sense a mental resonance carried within the singing, though the singer herself did not appear to possess martial strength based on her aura. Martial artists were not the only ones capable of mental cultivation. Many religious figures from the old era had walked that path. Unlike fighters, however, their spiritual force was generally diffuse and unformed, lacking tangible physical power, yet capable of inducing emotional resonance and mental infection under specific conditions. This had to be the prologue: the mute shepherdess discovering the fallen knight. This chapter was the beginning of the entire saga—the First Song of the Divine Song. Chen Chuan listened closely. Regrettably, whether because of the vocalist or the language barrier, he failed to detect anything extraordinary within it. According to the introduction, however, the song's contents would progressively unfold alongside the narrative. The further along the performance went, the more it would reveal. The essence of the entire musical lay in the second half, during the most intense clashes of the plot. In that case, he looked forward to what was to come. Amidst the singing, a young woman with long, platinum-blonde hair stepped onto the stage. She wore a wind-shielding hood and a layered skirt that reached her ankles. Though her face bore traces of dirt, her pale green eyes were striking, calling to mind crystal-clear lake water. Following the script, the shepherdess walked over to the base of a tree. Parting the tall grass, she discovered the fallen knight lying on the ground. He appeared to be a young man clad in battered armor, the visible contour of his jawline sharp and resolute. At that moment, however, Chen Chuan sensed an irregularity. He tried switching off his boundary credential, but nothing seemed amiss. Yet when he utilized his Second Self to screen out all external field information and looked again, his brows twitched slightly. There was no young man there at all—only an empty suit of armor.