35: Chapter 35 Redemption in the Deep Sea

Li Cheng's execution exceeded Jiang Fan's expectations.

Less than two hours after signing the contract, this old pro in the industry had completely transformed.

He made over a dozen phone calls.

Office desks and chairs, a printer, a computer, and a second-hand monitor speaker with solid sound quality—he hauled them all back at an extremely low price.

Jiang Fan sat on the newly delivered office chair.

Li Cheng was crouching in the corner connecting a power strip, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, ash falling in flurries with every movement.

"The budget's been exceeded," Li Cheng said without looking up, tightening a screw. "I'll cover the difference for now."

He plugged in the last wire, stood up, and brushed the dust off his knees.

He pressed the switch on the side of the monitor speaker with his finger.

"Hum—"

The speaker emitted a low rumble, and the green indicator light turned on.

Li Cheng stubbed his cigarette into an empty cola can on the desk, put his hands on his hips, and scanned the room.

"It's a bit shabby, alright," Li Cheng nodded. "But it'll do for now."

Shen Nian had been staying in the corner the whole time.

She sat on a folding chair, arms wrapped around her knees, watching Li Cheng bustle about without saying a word.

But her eyes were changing.

From the hollowness before, there was now an occasional flash of uncertain light.

Li Cheng glanced at his watch. "I'm heading out. There's another batch of second-hand recording equipment to negotiate; the seller is desperate to offload it, so I'm going to go haggle."

The door closed.

Only Jiang Fan and Shen Nian were left in the office.

Jiang Fan pushed the keyboard aside, adjusted the frequency band of the monitor speaker, and leaned back in his chair.

"Shen Nian."

Shen Nian looked up.

"Besides 'starry sky', do you have any other songs?"

Shen Nian was silent for a few seconds before slowly lowering her arms.

"I have one. I wrote it last winter, on the night I received my diagnosis."

Jiang Fan pushed the microphone stand toward her and turned on the mixing console.

"Sing it for me first."

Shen Nian stood up and walked to the microphone.

Her hand gripped the cold metal stand, tightened, then slowly relaxed—repeating the motion twice.

She closed her eyes and sang a cappella, without any accompaniment.

"Scattered moonlight pierces through the clouds,"

"Hiding from the crowd, spreading into scales upon the sea,"

"You ask me where I will go after I die,"

"If there is anyone who loves you,"

"The world has already abandoned you."

Shen Nian had excellent vocal conditions.

Her tone was clear and bright, with immense penetrating power.

But at this moment, all that talent was covered by a thick layer of deathly aura.

Her breath was entirely headed downward.

The melody kept descending, sinking deeper and deeper, with no room for turning back.

The lyrics depicted a person trapped in the deep sea.

Surrounded by cold seawater on all sides, with no light, unable to scream, left only to let the body sink continuously.

Jiang Fan sat in his chair, motionless.

Shen Nian finished the last note and slowly opened her eyes.

The office was silent for a dozen seconds.

"The song is very good," Jiang Fan said.

Shen Nian looked at him, waiting for what came next.

"But it cannot be performed on stage."

Shen Nian was stunned.

"The Arrangement and melody are too oppressive," Jiang Fan said in a flat tone, without any tact. "How did you feel after singing it yourself?"

Shen Nian lowered her head, and it was a long time before she spoke.

"Painful."

"The audience will feel even more painful," Jiang Fan tapped on the table. "Not the kind of pain that comes from being moved, but the kind that makes it hard to breathe. If we use this song for the duet battle, we're doomed."

Jiang Fan stood up and sat back in front of the computer.

"Give me twenty minutes."

He closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking directly into the system.

The mall interface unfolded, and Jiang Fan typed two characters into the search bar.

deep sea.

[ "deep sea" (Phoenix legend Version) ]

[ Redemption Price: 200 Lifespan Value ]

Jiang Fan didn't hesitate and clicked redeem.

[ Ding. ]

[ 200 Lifespan Value deducted. Remaining Lifespan Value: 7800 points. Remaining lifespan: 2 days and 12 hours. ]

[ Warning: Host's Lifespan Value detected below the safety threshold. ]

[ System protection mechanism triggered: Initial Charisma Field has been automatically locked. ]

Jiang Fan ignored the system's prompts.

A complete, extremely complex Arrangement plan instantly flooded his mind.

It was completely different from Shen Nian's desperate version.

This adaptation by Phoenix legend from his past life retained the melancholic core of the original, but did something extremely crazy with the Arrangement.

When the emotions were at their most oppressive, it used a chorus with explosive power to forcefully tear open a gap in the deep sea.

The lyrics were altered, removing words like "abandoned" and "after death."

Most importantly, it added a powerful male rap segment.

It was like a requiem, yet also a forced redemption.

Jiang Fan gripped the mouse and rapidly created audio tracks in the music production software.

Drums, bass, synthesizers, and harmonies.

Twenty minutes later.

Jiang Fan let go of the mouse and turned around.

"Come here."

Shen Nian walked to the computer, bent over, and looked at the Arrangement framework on the screen.

Her eyes widened bit by bit.

The original melodic progression had been completely reconstructed.

The notes that originally kept sinking were suddenly lifted by a powerful force during the chorus.

"This is... a duet?" Shen Nian's voice trembled slightly.

"The duet battle is meant to be a two-person stage," Jiang Fan leaned back in his chair. "Let's run through it once. You take the melody first, I'll follow with the harmony."

Jiang Fan stood up and walked to the other side of the microphone stand.

The two stood face to face, with a microphone between them.

Shen Nian's chest heaved once, and she began to sing.

Her voice was slightly shaky.

The new melody carried sunshine and healing, but she was clearly not used to this style of singing yet.

The explosion in the high-pitched section hadn't been fully unleashed.

"Louder," Jiang Fan said.

On the second pass, the volume was up, but as soon as they hit the chorus, her breath habitually dropped again.

"Don't go downward," Jiang Fan interrupted her directly. "You aren't singing alone. Listen to my voice and follow it upward."

Jiang Fan's harmony cut in.

Deep, rich, and carrying a sense of chanting almost like Buddhist scriptures.

The male vocals spread out beneath Shen Nian's clear tone, like a pair of powerful hands, steadily supporting her falling body.

Shen Nian's eyelashes trembled violently.

Her voice began to climb upward.

At the last line of the chorus, the two melodic lines collided with a roar.

The heaviness of the male voice and the ethereal quality of the female voice entwined, facing the water pressure of the deep sea, twisting and rushing upward—

"Spring rain, summer cicadas, tomorrow will be a good day!"

"Autumn winds rise, snowflakes dance, the deep sea sees no seasons!"

Shen Nian's high notes exploded.

Clear, penetrating. Carrying a whole year of darkness and despair, it completely broke through the water's surface.

The moment the tail note fell.

"Plop."

A tear hit the desktop.

Shen Nian lowered her head, her shoulders shaking violently.

She bit her lip hard, not making a single sound of crying.

Jiang Fan reached out and turned off the microphone's power without a word.

About two minutes passed.

Shen Nian wiped her face messily with the sleeve of her trench coat.

"Let's do it again." Her voice was hoarse, but it carried a hint of grit.

Jiang Fan turned to look at her.

Shen Nian's eyes were as red as a rabbit's, but her back was straight.

"Alright."

The two ran through it five more times.

By the fifth time, Shen Nian's high notes were completely stable.

Her breath no longer trembled, and her emotions were controlled with ease.

That sense of power, breaking out of a cocoon, was enough to tear apart any stage.

The rehearsal ended.

Shen Nian stood in place, her gaze landing on Jiang Fan's back.

She couldn't explain what kind of feeling this was.

From the moment she entered this office, she felt a string inside her body, one that had been taut for a whole year, slowly loosening.

Jiang Fan hadn't said a single word of comfort; his tone had even been somewhat cold and hard.

But as long as she stayed by his side, the voices that had tormented her day and night all receded.

The version of herself trapped in the deep water, drowning—this man in front of her had dragged her out of the sea with just a few lyrics.

The sound of a key turning came from the door.

Li Cheng walked in, followed by several workers, each carrying a cardboard box.

"Done!" Li Cheng directed the workers to place the boxes on the floor.

"A full set of recording equipment. The seller was a Recording Studio that couldn't keep going and needed cash urgently, so I cut the price by forty percent."

He straightened his back, only then noticing that the atmosphere in the office was a bit off.

Shen Nian stood in front of the microphone, her eyes red, with dried tear stains still on her face.

Li Cheng looked at Shen Nian, then turned to look at Jiang Fan, who was sitting in front of the computer.

"Did you make her cry by yelling at her?" Li Cheng frowned.

"She cried on her own," Jiang Fan said without turning back.

Li Cheng's mouth twitched.

What on earth were these two up to?

After moving the equipment, Li Cheng walked over to the monitor speaker.

He noticed the playback indicator light was on.

The recording function built into the speaker had automatically saved the audio from the rehearsal just now.

Li Cheng pressed the play button.

The audio from the last rehearsal flowed out of the speakers.

The cigarette dangling from Li Cheng's mouth stopped.

Two vocal lines intertwined in the cramped office.

The female voice was ethereal and desperate; the male voice was deep as a bell.

The melody was forcefully pulled up from the depths of extreme oppression, carrying a reckless vitality, exploding with a roar.

The song ended.

The lingering notes dissipated into the air.

Li Cheng stood in front of the speaker, holding that position, not moving for a full half-minute.

He turned around slowly, staring fixedly at Jiang Fan.

"Holy shit."