New Times, New Hell

Chapter 115 - Mysterious Horse Head

Their tickets were for the first row in the VIP section. After entering the venue and sitting down, Yu Zhengdu looked around them and discovered that there were several rich women adorned with jewels sitting next to them. A lot of them had probably used their connections and directly gotten tickets from the management company.

Yu Zhengdu jokingly asked, “These are probably the filthy rich fans that people talk about online, right?”

Shang Que casually scanned their surroundings. “In the past, only these people in the front row would’ve been able to hear the kinnaras’ music.”

Yu Zhengdu stared at him in perplexion. Shang Que smiled and explained to him that Huaxia was one of the biggest countries that believed in Buddhism. Especially during the years that Shang Que had lived through. At that time, Buddhism had been in its prime. Back then, Daxiangguo Temple had been located very close to the imperial city. It took up a lot of land, containing over a dozen courtyards alone. Prior to the disappearance of magic, enlightened monks were capable of inviting true gods. During large religious ceremonies, Sanskrit music would occasionally be lowered from the West. However, in those times, only nobles and officials could enjoy this music.

Now, though, as long as you had enough money saved up and were fast enough with your hands, you had the chance to snatch up a ticket to Sagittarius Band’s concert.

As they spoke, passionate applause and occasional cheers sounded out from among the audience. The fans here today were mostly older individuals. They weren’t in the habit of cheering and yelling like the young fans were, so mainly clapped.

Amidst the applause, the legendary Sagittarius Band appeared.

This was the first live performance Yu Zhengdu was watching now that the kinnaras had debuted. As soon as they appeared, Yu Zhengdu sputtered.

Only to see that the male kinnara was wearing a leather jacket, jeans, and his horse head. The female kinnara’s outfit was very glamorous as well. She had smokey eye makeup on……it looked very un-Buddhist.

The two kinnaras looked extremely excited too. They couldn’t be blamed, though. Despite the fact that they had experienced numerous large and small performances in the past, those had all been while they had been of low status. Their performances had only been a source of entertainment during religious assemblies, unlike now – now, the thousands of people crowded into the venue were all their fans.

Speaking of, since the kinnaras had debuted, the amount of times they cussed out Monk Jue Yin in the company groupchat had increased exponentially. It was already to the point that when they played on their phones while eating breakfast, they would offhandedly cuss him out a bit. If not for the fact that Jue Yin had lied to them, causing them to be cult scammers for so long, why would they have needed to hide all the time and become convicted criminals?

Luofeng was still the best. Not only had Luofeng given them the chance to create themselves anew, they had also offered them a new career path. As of now, their days of suffering were over. They were reaching the peak of their godly lives. They only wished that they could earn even more money for Luofeng; they wanted to do their best to sign a no-deadline labor contract with their company sooner.

“Hello, Jupiters. Thank you for attending our concert!” The male kinnara waved at the fans below him. In his loud voice, he said, “Right now, we’re going to perform our title song for everyone first——Blissful Rock!”

As the music started, the audience instantly became high. The middle and old aged fans all pulled out the LED signs and lightsticks they had inherited from their children and started shaking to the music.

A few times, Father and Mother Yu had also gotten so excited that they had almost stood up. Fortunately, they remembered at the last minute that they were sitting in the front row. Thus, they regretfully forced themselves to remain seated.

Yu Zhengdu suspected that if someone added a giant disco ball to the ceiling, the grandmas and grandpas could start having a disco party on the spot.

When it came time for the last song, Yu Zhengdu almost reached enlightenment on the spot—— The song was named《Rock-n-Roll Tang Sanzang》. Apparently, the kinnaras had gotten inspiration for it after watching various movies and dramas based off of Journey to the West.

Yu Zhengdu weakly said, “How fortunate that they didn’t watch Dream of the Red Chamber.”

Otherwise, the song right now would probably be “Rock-n-Roll Lin Daiyu.”

The lights flashed. The atmosphere had hit its peak. Almost all the fans were now starting to feel exhilarated. Those older grandmas and grandpas sang along while waving their lightsticks around. In this moment, the walls between the varying fan age groups collapsed. The fans merged into one big group.

Yu Zhengdu’s heart kept skipping beats as he watched. “Ey, that grandma isn’t young anymore. Please be careful……”

“Oho. Badass, Grandpa. Did you write that calligraphy yourself?”

Shang Que followed his gaze, only to see a grandpa waving a LED sign around. The difference was, the words on his LED sign were written in flamboyant calligraphy. A ring of tiny light bulbs surrounded them. It was very hardcore.

“Kinnaras’ music can directly enter the hearts of mortals,” Shang Que explained to him. “It’s very normal for mortals to be affected.”

For Shang Que, though, the kinnaras weren’t that different from before. They were just normal performance guests. Thus, he was much quieter than the people around them.

Yu Zhengdu kept facepalming as he watched. “In the future, the kinnaras should have concerts in different styles targeted at their fans of different age groups. I’m worried that these grandmas and grandpas are going to get too excited and something bad’s going to happen……”

“Un.” Shang Que nodded.

Yu Zhengdu let his mind drift for a moment. “When that happens, tickets for middle and old aged fans can be sold in bundles with thermoses and goji berries.”

Shang Que thought about it. “I think the young fans will probably need those too.”

Yu Zhengdu deeply agreed. “We can bundle wigs for the young fans.”

Just as he finished speaking, a loud humming noise suddenly sounded out from onstage. Something had happened to the female kinnara’s microphone.

Because today’s concert had originally been planned as a fanmeeting and not an official concert, the equipment that had been prepared had only been ordinary commercial equipment. In the end, though, perhaps because the kinnaras had been too excited or because the staff had been too excited, the microphone unexpectedly encountered a problem.

“Hello hello——” The female kinnara shouted. The microphone wasn’t even picking up any noise anymore. The fiery atmosphere instantly calmed down. A bucket full of cold water had been poured over the fans’ excited moods too.

This was the last song before the end of the concert. Such an accident was actually occurring. If not for the fact that they were currently being influenced by Buddhist music and submerged in a sea of peaceful rock, the audience would be directly cussing on the spot.

Though they weren’t cussing now, the disappointment was unavoidable.

The Yu parents were a bit disappointed too. Mother Yu went aiya and regretfully said, “This is the song I’m best at. How come there’s no more sound……”

The event organizers were extremely panicked. They hurriedly looked for a backup microphone.

At this time, the male kinnara suddenly tossed the microphone in his hand away too. He made eye contact with the female kinnara in tacit understanding. They picked up their instruments and took two steps forward, completely disregarding their microphones.

The main event organizer thought that they were expressing their displeasure at the equipment. He felt his vision immediately go black. He could already predict how badly he was going to get scolded after the end of the concert.

Upon seeing this, the fans in the audience were about to start causing a commotion too. Only to see the male kinnara lift both hands into the air and start drumming: “Come on, sing with me, everyone!”

The female kinnara immediately followed his lead. The sound of her harp was melodious.

Speaking of, it was quite strange. Their music wasn’t actually the type that was deafening and noisy. However, it was strangely expansive. Even the audience members in the corners could hear them perfectly clearly.

The atmosphere of the concert got lifted up again. The audience started singing along to the music. Amidst the exhilarating music, the kinnaras no longer used their microphones. They directly opened their mouths and began singing without microphones.

The crowd went crazy. The workers were astonished too.

Problematic equipment was probably the biggest nightmare for all performers and staff who worked with music. However, it didn’t seem to be a problem at all for Sagittarius Band—— They actually weren’t expending too much more energy than they had been before, but their voices didn’t sound noticeably different either. Their singing could still clearly reach the ears of each audience member. No, more accurately speaking, after removing the interference caused by machinery, their voices sounded even clearer and brighter than before.

What kind of shocking lung capacity was this? What kind of astonishing performance ability was this?

Yu Zhengdu lamented, “As expected from a god!”

“That’s not the reason,” Shang Que offhandedly said. “In the past, there weren’t microphones either during religious performances. However, these religious ceremonies would be extremely large. They needed to ensure that every attendee could hear…… This is technically a basic work skill, I guess. It’s the same concept as how all white collar workers need to know how to use Microsoft Office these days.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” Can’t you just let me keep some of my illusions about gods?

This unexpected accident actually resulted in Sagittarius Band’s highest quality performance of the night. The concert hadn’t ended yet. Star Path Management created an emergency PR plan and bought trending topics for this accident and the band’s surprising resolution for it. They earned a bunch of positive reviews and popularity.

After the concert ended, the audience left the venue in an organized manner under the direction of workers. The two kinnaras signed autographs for a small portion of their passionate fans. Then, following the schedule their management company had given them, they headed into the little venue next door to receive an interview from the media.

Because Sagittarius Band had gotten popular too abruptly, many media sources were paying attention to this concert. Thus, the management company had simply decided to invite a few entertainment media representatives to the venue. There would be an interview after the concert. Additionally, they could drop a teaser to better allow these large events to gain more traction in the future. At the same time, they had invited a few lucky fans from the newly formed fan club to energize the crowd and strengthen the affection of newly attracted fans.

Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que were just about to lead the Yu parents out of the venue when they heard someone yell out, “Boss Shang, Boss Yu, so you guys have come to listen to the concert too!”

Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que turned around to look, only to see Star Path’s executive music producer, Xu Hui. He was also Sagittarius Band’s album producer.

“Hello, Boss Xu,” Yu Zhengdu greeted him.

“Why didn’t you guys tell me you were coming? I could’ve made arrangements for you ah.” Xu Hui couldn’t hide his excitement. He quickly took a step forward and tugged at Yu Zhengdu at them. “Just as well. We’re hosting a celebratory banquet later. You guys come along too.”

Yu Zhengdu originally wanted to decline, but Xu Hui didn’t give him the opportunity to do so at all. He couldn’t be blamed for this, though. As of now, Sagittarius Band was their ace. He was naturally inclined to be more attentive towards Sagittarius Band’s true bosses.

Yu Zhengdu apologized, “It’s not that we don’t want to attend, but we’re here with my parents today. It wouldn’t be appropriate to disturb you guys.”

“Yo, you’re here with Auntie and Uncle ah.” Xu Hui hurriedly greeted the Yu parents. Then, he waved his hands and said, “Not a big deal. We can go together.”

Now that they had already reached this point, if Yu Zhengdu continued declining, that would be a bit disrespectful to Xu Hui. He glanced at Shang Que. However, Shang Que seemed rather apathetic.

Thus, Yu Zhengdu turned to look at his parents. “Dad, Mom, how about we go grab a meal together? You can see your favorite Sagittarius Band.”

The Yu parents had originally been a bit shy. Upon hearing the name “Sagittarius Band”, though, their eyes instantly lit up. Father Yu took a step forward and seemingly nonchalantly asked, “Um……is it convenient for us to go watch Sagittarius Band’s interview?”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” He had underestimated the passion of senior fans.

Xu Hui easily answered, “It’s convenient. Of course it’s convenient. Uncle and Auntie, come with me. I’ll arrange for two spots for you guys.”

Mother and Father Yu knew that someone else was doing them a favor. They didn’t want to trouble him even more. Thus, they hurriedly waved their hands. “No need, no need. We can just stand.”

Thus, while feeling very speechless, Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que, along with Yu Zhengdu’s parents, followed Xu Hui to the little venue next door. The interview had already started.

Xu Hui led them in through a side door. For fear of disrupting others, they didn’t specially clear out any spots. They only stood and watched from off to the side.

The little accident that had occurred at the end of the concert had actually created many new topics for this interview. The media excitedly asked questions; the kinnaras answered very elegantly as well.

Father and Mother Yu had stars in their eyes as they watched. The two of them took turns spouting praise.

Father Yu: “Ah, Miss Jin Na is really so pretty.”

Mother Yu: “Mr. Jin Luo is very handsome too.”

Yu Zhengdu turned to look at his parents, face flushed red. “Mom, Jin Luo has a horse head. How can you tell that he’s handsome?”

Mother Yu: “It’s a handsome horse head!”

Yu Zhengdu: ……These fan glasses were at least forty meters thick, right?

They had just finished this conversation when Xu Hui added on, “It has already been a long time since celebrities as elegant and qualified as Jin Na and Jin Luo have appeared in the entertainment industry.”

Yu Zhengdu hadn’t thought that even Xu Hui, who had interacted with innumerous people in the past, would agree. He was instantly quite curious. “Is that so?”

“There’s nothing bad to be said about their air of elegance. Right now, you can’t find anyone else in the entertainment industry who carries a cleaner aura than them.” Xu Hui placed an exaggerated hand over his heart. He used his other hand to point at the kinnaras onstage. “Listen to what they’re saying. This quality and level of enlightenment is enough for them to run for the National People’s Congress.”

Yu Zhengdu was shocked by Xu Hui’s exaggerated description. He had just been chatting with his parents, so hadn’t listened to the kinnaras’ responses in detail. After hearing Xu Hui say this, he started diligently listening for a while.

And then he realized what was going on.

The two kinnaras had clearly followed the old monk Jue Yin around and scammed people for too long. They were exceptionally good at coming up with lofty phrases and had completely surpassed the level of “extremely high level scam master.” In addition to the fact that the two of them had a godly halo around them, their exquisite aura somehow managed to utterly fool the clever media reporters.

Jue Yin had once used these scamming techniques to get a whole population of worshippers. Was it possible for his level to not be high?

Yu Zhengdu stared at Xu Hui, who looked completely and utterly touched by the kinnaras’ words. He really wanted to ask the other if he was interested in submitting a request to join the Kinnara Sect to become a glorious guardian.

Because of the kinnaras’ extremely elegant manner of speech, this interview went very smoothly. The lucky fans in the audience gave very passionate reactions too. Rather quickly, the interview ended. Staff started arranging for the dispersal.

Yu Zhengdu and his parents followed Xu Hui toward the staff exit as well. At this moment, the horrified screeching of fans could suddenly be heard from inside the venue. “Aah——”

“Ah——there’s someone——”

Immediately after, the deep voice of a man sounded out, “Sagittarius Band, I like you guys so much——”

Yu Zhengdu hurriedly looked onstage, only to see a tall man appear out of nowhere. He had seized the opportunity of everyone else dispersing to rapidly charge towards the kinnaras onstage.

The scene was a mess. The staff had been taken by surprise too. Several security guards rushed onto the stage to stop that fan, but it was already too late.

That fan had obviously come well prepared. In the blink of an eye, he had already pounced onto the male kinnara. With both arms wrapped around the other’s horse head, he yelled loudly, “Jin Luo, what do you actually look like——”

As soon as he shouted this, the fans present all quieted instantaneously. They couldn’t help turning to look onstage in sync.

People absolutely hated crazy fans, but at this moment, none of them could help the faint anticipation bubbling in their hearts—— Since Sagittarius Band had debuted, Jin Luo had always kept a horse head mask on. No matter the event, he never took it off. It was impossible for fans to not be curious. In actuality, fans were incredibly curious.

Numerous posts discussing Jin Luo’s true appearance had been published online.

Only, the large majority of fans definitely wouldn’t be like this man and do something so crazy and dangerous.

If……if Jin Luo’s horse head mask really got yanked off like this, the fans would definitely strongly criticize this crazy fan. However, at the same time, they would also keep their eyes wide open so as to clearly see Jin Luo’s face.

With the same conflicted feelings, the media representatives present all immediately held up their cameras. They were waiting for the moment that Jin Luo’s horse head was going to be removed.

Xu Hui yelled in panic, “Hurry and stop him——Hurry——”

However, he was mainly doing this out of business considerations. Currently, Jin Luo’s horse head was one of Sagittarius Band’s biggest selling points. The more mysterious he was, the more attention and discussion he could garner. As soon as the horse head got removed, this topic of discussion would be completely ruined.

Everyone present had their own little agendas. But, no matter how worried they were, it was useless. That fan was tall and sturdily built. He hugged Jin Luo’s horse head and forcefully yanked in an unstoppable manner. “Jin Luo, let me see you——”

The fans’ eyes all widened in sync. Camera lights flashed incessantly.

And then……he failed.

The crazy fan seemed to be a bit surprised that he hadn’t actually managed to remove the horse head mask. He turned his head and glanced at Jin Luo in confusion. Both hands tightened around the horse mouth that was jutting out and pulled once again. And again…… Still, nothing changed.

The crazy fan’s eyes slowly widened. His voice was filled with horror. “The h-horse mouth……is solid?”

The male kinnara released a pleased laugh. “Unexpected, right?!”

Immediately after, he threw out a punch that directly landed on that crazy fan’s abdomen. Surprisingly, he managed to force that fan over a meter away with that one punch. And then, he casually dusted his hands off. “Dumbass!”

After saying this, he strolled out with the female kinnara, leaving a sea of question marks in the audience.

Yu Zhengdu glanced at Shang Que, speechless. “Buddhist disciples are truly very hardcore.”

Shang Que nodded. “Otherwise, why would there be warrior monks?”

Yu Zhengdu: “……You’re right.”

Next to them, Xu Hui heaved out a long sigh. Yu Zhengdu turned to look at him. “Boss Xu, what’s wrong?”

Xu Hui handed his own phone over to Yu Zhengdu. “The highlight news for today is probably going to be completely off.”

His phone screen was open to a few big media accounts on Weibo. In only a moment, these accounts had all urgently created new headlines and posted them:

Entertainment Headline: Sagittarius Band Encounters Crazy Fan Trying to Yank Off Horse Head Mask During Live Interview, Mask Could Not Be Removed.

Today’s Entertainment Industry: The Mysterious Horse Head Mask That Can’t Be Removed, How Does Jin Luo Do It?

Yu Zhengdu patted Xu Hui on the shoulder and calmly said, “Isn’t this pretty great? What a strong online presence.”

Xu Hui: “……”

That was true too!

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Horse head man: Unexpected right.jpg