At 3 a.m., the landmines in front of the station

"Hmm, Tsukishima, have you finished practicing the pieces I marked for you?"

Mengjie sat on a round black piano bench, looking down at the timid bassist.

In order to deliberately make things difficult for her, they specifically set a threshold of practicing five pieces within three days.

For a normal beginner, encountering such difficulty would definitely discourage them.

It's important to know that ACG music is different from other styles; the tempo often exceeds 150, approaching 180+. Newbies might not even be able to memorize the sheet music, let alone complete a full combo.

Tsukishima's profile indicates that she studied with a skilled teacher in Japan, so she's clearly not a newcomer. Furthermore, she was an exchange student at Sacred Heart Girls' Academy, and her most impressive skill isn't actually a musical instrument, but rather her "Level 10 Chinese proficiency"...

Not only that, she was also extremely interested in the "landmine system," and the reason she came here was "to understand the cultural differences between the landmine system here and ours"... Therefore, Wang Mengcai let her come for an interview with a try-it-out mentality.

"Practice, practice, work hard, practice."

Tsukishima answered each question timidly. Although her accent was a bit strange, everyone was very tolerant of her. As long as they could understand what she was saying, it was fine.

Ling Yao watched as she put down her violin case, unzipped it, and took out a sunset-colored bass.

It's instantly recognizable as Fender's Player series, priced at over 8,000 yuan, still at a premium, and has consistently sold well.

With a proper zither and someone with exceptional learning ability, Ling Yao had a slight expectation of playing a duet with her.

As for the level of the others, it was already revealed on that night of "The Voice of China".

If everyone wasn't so bad at the game and had such questionable character, Ling Yao wouldn't have wanted to leave the team immediately and go find Yuan Xiao to sincerely apologize.

That's really awful.

She cursed her teammates in her heart, but her expression was warm and cheerful, which made the newcomer Tsukishima seem a little more at ease.

"Shall we begin with 'Imprisonment in the Past'?"

"it is good."

The group took their positions, in a state of "all present but mindless," and worked with the captain to assess the little sister who had mistakenly joined the "deadly team."

Ling Yao picked up her violin again, plugged in the cable, found the most inconspicuous corner of the rehearsal room, and sat down.

As the lead singer, I've even lost the desire to stand and play the piano.

I adjusted the keyboard tone, placed my hands on the keys, and turned the volume knob.

The drummer then twirled his drumstick and stomped on the bass drum a few times to warm up.

Finally, the lead singer cleared his throat, leaned against the mixing console, turned his volume fader to the maximum, and put on one of his monitor headphones, ready to go.

Wow. She's pushed the fader beyond the red line; isn't she afraid of distorting her voice?

Yui Tsukishima watched Wang Meng's actions and shook her head inwardly. With a harmless expression, she connected her guitar to the tube amp, not even bothering to take out the effects pedal board.

Her playing style seems to differ from that of the average bassist—

The next second, she pulled a pick from the pocket of her school uniform skirt, seemingly intending to use the pick technique instead of the mainstream fingerpicking method.

The advantage of this style is that the notes played are clearer and more brilliant; the disadvantage is that it is not as flexible and varied as fingerstyle playing.

The novel habits, resembling unorthodox martial arts techniques, immediately caught Ling Yao's attention.

"So?"

"You're here."

Snap, snap, snap, snap—

A series of small percussion sounds arose, and with the start of the somewhat unstable drumbeats, Ling Yao's lead guitar suddenly swooped in, instantly dominating the entire soundstage without the support of a rhythm guitar.

Wow, that's pretty good.

Yui smiled slightly, showing no reaction whatsoever, as if she had effortlessly followed her rhythm.

The keyboard, in the absence of the rhythm guitar, was used in two ways: the right hand played the piano tone, and the left hand provided the chords for the rhythm guitar. In a flurry of activity, he managed to provide some support for Ling Yao's main vocals.

The drummer started off with a dazzling display of skill, but without a metronome, it was pure charades.

But Tsukishima's bass playing is as steady as a beating heart—

Hearing this, Xiao Yuan felt embarrassed to slack off, so she immediately focused all her attention and tried her best to avoid being so lame.

It seems... everyone performed exceptionally well today. Especially Aya...

Team leader Mengjie has a sharp ear; she could clearly sense during the performance that the previously disorganized "Shuise" group seemed to be in a rather... disorganized state today.

Very naughty.

[Did something trigger you?]

Also, that kid is amazing.

Before the shock in my heart had subsided, I saw the rhythm of Tsukishima merge with Lingyao's main theme—

Tsukishima is like a stable tram, making the drummer feel as if he has a metronome even without turning on a metronome. He only needs to follow her perfect rhythm to find his direction.

Ling Yao, on the other hand, thrives against stronger opponents. Suddenly discovering a seemingly unassuming but incredibly formidable individual within the team, her initial plan to "finish this piece and then improve" gradually faded.

Instead, he stood up halfway through the performance.

We've taken a more serious approach to dealing with Yui.

The keyboard was sweating profusely and couldn't keep up with their pace at all.

The lead singer also made several mistakes, but fortunately, the off-key singing in the rehearsal room wouldn't be heard by outsiders.

After the chorus ends, the song transitions into a buffer and repetitive section, leaving only the guitar and bass still in full combo, leaving the bandmates far behind.

[Interesting, this energetic performance really exceeded my expectations.]

While squinting and smiling as she looked at Ling Yao, Tsukishima flawlessly played the last sustained note to perfection.

Ling Yao, under the high pressure of this low-frequency rhythm, was sweating profusely, and for the first time had the illusion that "the little girl in front of me seems to possess terrifying energy, enough to make our team, which has no future, move forward a little further"...

Is she here to fry fish?

This was Ling Yao's first reaction.

The drummer, keyboardist, and lead singer were all panting heavily when the music ended.

Tsukishima used a long, tailless glissando to suppress the low frequencies, then put away the pick. He was the first to turn his head to look at Ling Yao, who was giving it his all, and praised her with an expression of admiration: "Wow, Ling-senpai is so amazing! I love your playing!"

"Ah...is that so...?"

"Clap clap! Today's ensemble performance was so much fun!"

"Haha. That's good."

Seeing the lack of sincerity in her expression, Ling Yao turned to Captain Meng and asked, "So, are you satisfied with her abilities?"

There was a clear element of sarcasm in his tone.

After all, Ling Yao still harbored resentment over their bullying of Yuan Xiao and hadn't yet gotten over it.

"Oh my little darling, didn't I say last time that you'd be in charge of the team from now on? After all, if you leave, we'll be disbanding pretty much anyway. Anyway, you see, Little Moon Island is really strong, and I won't refuse a talented kid. I think it's doable."

After collaborating on a piece, Sister Meng was completely exasperated. Little did she know that the exchange student she had randomly picked up online would turn out to be such a consistently impressive person.

She looks so petite... wearing a deliberately short skirt, so delicate and frail that you just want to push her over and teach her a lesson a thousand times over. But it's precisely this kind of contestant who can play the bass so "presentally"...

This completely changed Meng Jie's mindset, who once thought "a bassist doesn't have to be found." She stopped her arrogant remarks and stopped comparing herself to others.

Ling Yao sneered and didn't say anything more.

Thinking to myself: [If you kick out bad players and don't kick out good ones, then I think you guys are really bad. Should I just fire you all unilaterally?]

She shook her head, then turned to Yui with a smile, and stretched out her little hand.

"So, Tsukishima-chan, as you can see, this is our team's strength and situation. I warmly welcome you. If you don't mind, would you like to play together in the future?"

She smiled and held her hand in front of her junior.

"Hello, hello~! Please take care of me from now on!"

Yui pulled a wet wipe from under her skirt, unfolded it, wiped the sweat from her palms, and then took Lingyao's small hand in hers.

The two girls formed a bond for the first time in the "Water Color" rehearsal room.

of course,

Any band needs to hold a special meeting when a new member joins.

At the very least, we need to figure out what each person's goals and direction are.

This is one of the core driving forces that enables a "band" to move forward.

If we have different paths, then we should each go our own way and do our own thing.

If we share the same goal, we can unite as one and work together.

The current situation is,

In "Water Colors," apart from Ling Yao, the other three girls didn't really have any goals...

Mengjie's goal is: Kirakira, to show off in front of others.

Lulu's goal is to learn practical music theory from her teammates by forming a band, and get rid of the "musical illiterate" label, in short... "no self-study, take the shortcut".

Du Yuan's goal is: she had ADHD as a child and liked to hit people. She doesn't want to be a female hooligan, so she plays drums. She wants to release her sexual urges through drumming.

and so……

These teammates share absolutely no common goals; they are a complete rabble.

Trying to twist the rope is just a pipe dream.

This is also one of the core reasons why Ling Yao originally planned to leave the team.

"So... Little Moon Island, can you tell me what your goal is?"

She asked about the points that concerned her, wanting to hear if the child had any particular thoughts.

Tsukishima placed his finger to his lips, squinted his eyes, and thought for a moment.

Then, abruptly, he looked at Ling Yao.

He smiled insincerely.

"Some are annoying. When I was on exchange at my previous school, I met a senior student, I called her Cat Senior. She was so cute and incredibly awesome! I wanted to play in a band with her, but... but she rejected me... maybe she thought I was too weak."

So I was not convinced, so I asked her, "What would it take for you to team up with me?"