Chapter 57: How Could Anyone Compare to Her

Night Moxi once used dirty-bread and other internet-famous pastries to test Leng Baihe, discovering that the time period Leng Baihe previously lived in must have been at least a decade earlier than her own.

"If you want to go and confirm whether she is a soul from another world, go right ahead. All I can say is that we didn't come from the same place."

Luxue's mouth was stuffed so full she almost choked.

"I thought she was simply imitating you..."

Night Moxi chuckled softly. Imitating her? She had constantly been trying to replace her!

"Aren't you going to do anything about it?"

"Do what? If she's courting death on her own, I'd rather not have my kindness treated like a donkey's lung and end up dragging trouble onto myself..."

First Dili, then Leng Baihe—she would simply sit back and watch them walk right into their own destruction!

Did they really think those high-ranking sentinels, who made ruthless, decisive calls on the battlefield, were philanthropists? Trying to climb up using their reputation? They would fall hard enough to shatter into pieces!

Wen Boying and Duan Ningxuang exchanged a glance.

"You still insist on suspecting her?"

Duan Ningshuang took a puff of his cigar and sneered.

"What good does my suspicion do? The person directly affected by this is Feng Yanling!"

"Old Duan, although human hearts change easily, there will always be those who never forget their original intentions!"

...

"Flowers crowd the path at Master Huang's home, ten thousand blossoms... weigh down the branches. Wandering butterflies dance from time to time, carefree orioles... sing in harmony."

"Even though the melody seems simple, my tongue feels like it's tied in knots; I simply can't capture that poetic mood."

"As expected of the premier megastar of the Moyun Star System! Duan Ningshuang's new song is just too powerful. I'm not even a sentinel, yet my spiritual sea feels completely clear and refreshed after listening to it..."

"It sounds so good! I declare that this will be on infinite loop in my playlist..."

Praises like these flooded the interstellar network.

"Three minutes. I want all the information on the two women who sang a duet with the Heavenly King Duan!..."

"I know one of them is Luxue from the Lu family, the Luxue who just broke through to a Level Five vocal healer..."

Yes! After a month of study, not only had Luxue mastered the song, but she had also successfully broken through!

"I don't know the other one. Is she a freshman in the Vocal Healing Department of the Talent Academy? Looks like she has quite a backing, being able to collaborate with Heavenly King Duan right out of the gate!"

"What freshman in the Vocal Healing Department! She's clearly a freshman in the Planting Department! A scheming, petty little drama queen from a fringe star system!"

"Who's backing her from behind the scenes? Could it be some fat-headed clan elder..."

The comments on the interstellar network grew increasingly vicious.

Luxue was furious reading them, but Night Moxi didn't care in the least.

"Instead of wasting time proving your own innocence, it's better to critique others! Didn't Duan Ningshuang give us a lot of records? Why don't you do this..."

Beneath the most-viewed and most malicious comment, Luxue posted a bounty challenge.

"A mysterious grand prize awaits you to claim the crown! ## Under this comment, anyone can post a video of themselves singing. Let everyone judge, and the one with the highest number of likes will win a mysterious prize—related to Heavenly King Duan's new album!"

"Related to Heavenly King Duan's new album? Could it be his personally autographed record? I want in! None of you better snatch it from me..."

"Hah! What good singing can come out of that duck-quacking throat of yours? Just watch mine instead..."

"What on earth is all this? And they even claim to be vocal healers? You could pull anyone at random off the street and they'd sing better than you!"

"Comparing goods makes you want to throw them away! And here you were complaining about someone having connections! Spreading rumors that she climbed to the top with her body... Why don't you show some real skill and go head-to-head with her..."

"She must have used a vocal tuner, otherwise how could she possibly sing better than a vocal healer..."

"The person above might as well just claim that Heavenly King Duan's songs are entirely reliant on chorus blending! Lacking any real talent of your own, you've certainly mastered the art of spreading rumors!"

............

"Moxi, you're still the smart one. This trick really works!"

Night Moxi smiled without a word.

"Oh! The First Legion's official website just posted a video of the children in the Vocal Healing Department of their cadet school learning the ballad..."

"Baihe, you are just too kind! If it weren't for you, why would the First Legion have posted that video..."

"Exactly, exactly! Only our Baihe is beautiful in both appearance and heart, and you can even run your own shop to earn interstellar coins. That Major General Feng must be completely mesmerized by you..."

After being warned by He Mingzhu last time—since not many people had witnessed it, and coupled with the fact that Leng Baihe had indeed been interacting with several high-ranking sentinels afterward, and then opened that cafe which yielded impressive profits and made her generous with money—several of her best friends had been coaxed into believing her again. Major General Feng was supposedly "secretly" dating her just to avoid giving people something to gossip about...

Leng Baihe was puffed up by the flattery until she lost her sense of direction.

"It's nothing. We're all classmates in the Planting Department; how could I watch my classmates suffer under unjustified grievances..."

As if!

More than half of those posts on the interstellar network claiming Night Moxi sold her body to sleep with fat-headed clan elders had been anonymously posted by her using alternative accounts.

She hadn't said anything herself anyway; it was all just other people's wild imaginations, so if anything went wrong, it couldn't be traced back to her.

She just wondered if the First Legion's announcement was a coincidence or...

No way! If Major General Feng had taken a fancy to Night Moxi, she would have been strutting around the Planting Department ages ago!

However, this Night Moxi turned out to be a transmigrator just like her! Hmph! Two tigers cannot share one mountain! How could those attention-seeking parlor tricks of hers ever compare to her own?

The only thing she hated was why, upon transmigrating over, she hadn't been the first to introduce milk tea, coffee, and singing!

Moreover, the superpower she awakened happened to be the dirtiest Earth Element! As such a delicate little fairy, could she possibly do that kind of filthy, back-breaking labor facing the loess and backing the sky?

...

"What a beautiful jasmine flower, fragrant and lovely on every branch, fragrant and white, praised by everyone..."

"Countdown begins, tick-tock, tick-tock..."

"You say you're a bit hard to chase, wanting me to retreat in the face of difficulty. Gifts don't need to be too expensive, as long as..."

"Click."

Leng Baihe closed the optical-brain projection and looked with a smile at the head of the Vocal Healing Department, Bargall.

"Department Head Bargall, what do you think?"

That exceptionally handsome department head raised his eyes, tossed the contract brought by Leng Baihe onto the desk, and laced his fingers together on the tabletop.

Undeniably, the ten songs brought out by Leng Baihe had indeed tempted him, but at the same time, Leng Baihe's appetite was far too large!

"One hundred million interstellar coins. I personally think that's enough to buy out the copyright for a single song."

Rather than what was written in Leng Baihe's contract, which transferred the right to use the songs to the Vocal Healing Department while requiring them to pay her additional copyright fees every time the songs were used for performances.

Displeasure flashed across Leng Baihe's face.

This was the optimal win-win cooperation proposal calculated by the system based on market rates!

"If Department Head Bargall feels it's inappropriate, then we have nothing left to talk about. I simply don't believe anyone could be foolish enough to give them away for free!"

As for the "person" she referred to, Department Head Bargall naturally knew who it was! Yet, that person actually *was* "foolish enough to give them away for free"!

Night Moxi had already signed a contract through Wen Boying long ago: copyright fees were only required when the songs were used for commercial performances. When the teachers and students of their Vocal Healing Department used them for teaching, personal practice, or family gatherings, copyright fees were not required at all. Furthermore, she hadn't raised any demands for a "transfer fee"!

Vocal healers, much like guides, were required to serve legion sentinels, and the legions naturally needed to pay corresponding "service wages." After all, guides were scarce, and because vocal healers could use their singing to soothe spiritual power, their market value had also risen accordingly.

However, they all knew Night Moxi must still know many more songs, and she knew they were all well aware of that fact, yet so much time had passed and she had never brought it up.

Leng Baihe's appearance could be said to have played right into Bargall's intentions—except that this woman was far too greedy!

"One hundred million interstellar coins to buy out the copyright of the songs. If you find that acceptable, we'll sign the contract."

Leng Baihe had actually only wanted to play hardball with Bargall for a moment, never expecting that the other party wouldn't give her any room for negotiation at all. She also knew that Bargall was unlikely to let her walk away with the ten songs she had produced today, but she still felt deeply unreconciled.

Vocal healers were the wealthiest class second only to guides. What she had envisioned was to transfer only the usage rights while holding tightly onto the copyrights—a business with boundless profit and zero loss!

"Department Head Bargall, I know my words carry little weight, but isn't your approach going a bit too far?"

Wasn't this simply trying to get a wolf with empty hands—getting something for nothing?

"Don't try to fool everyone else like they're fools! How you came by these songs, you know and I know. If these songs didn't hold some actual value, you would have been swept out the door long ago!"

Bargall sneered.

Every so often, souls from other worlds would appear in the interstellar society. The honest and well-behaved ones were few, while those stirring up trouble were everywhere.

Recently, three had arrived all at once! Well, two were still behaving themselves for now, while one... was still oblivious to the situation and utterly arrogant!

Leng Baihe froze.

What did he... mean by that?

"System, what is going on here?"

Didn't the system say that interstellar humans suffered from a severe lack of spiritual nourishment, and that when Night Moxi merely presented a single song, it caused the entire interstellar society to obsessively fawn over it? How come when she presented ten songs all at once, not only was she not treated as a priceless treasure by Bargall and elevated to a guest of honor, but instead he was threatening her?

"Is there any possibility of 'rarity drives up value'?"

It had already reminded the host, but she insisted on doing things her own way, claiming she wanted to instantly awe these interstellar hicks and let them taste something good...

Leng Baihe was extremely unwilling!

"I don't know what you're talking about! These songs that I spent painstaking effort to compose—I merely felt that I wasn't suited to perform them myself, which is why I wanted to cooperate with you. If you're unwilling, then forget it..."

Painstaking effort?

Such nerve!

Truly, comparing people... leaves no room for comparison!

One claimed she spent "painstaking effort," while the other called them "ballads from my hometown"...

...

"Mentor!"

Bargall was Duan Ningshuang's mentor. He had just finished an interstellar tour when he was summoned by his mentor for a meeting.

Only to find that Chief Michael and Wen Boying were also present at the scene.

"Brought you here to help record a few songs for teaching purposes. As compensation, you can use them for your own commercial performances at any time within a year."

Mentor Bargall got straight to the point.

Duan Ningshuang glanced over, signed his name directly, and tossed the document in front of Wen Boying.

"What did I tell you? It hasn't even been a few days before her fox tail couldn't be hidden anymore..."

Wen Boying paused, realizing he had misunderstood.

"Night Moxi has indeed brought out new songs, but they are the battle songs of the First Legion!"

He opened his optical brain and showed it to Duan Ningshuang.

In the cadet school of the First Legion, the primary class of the Vocal Healing Department featured a group of small children wearing uniform attire, singing in unison: "Jade plate, jade plate, why do you hang above the roof? Jade plate, jade plate, why do you freely cast silver light... Jade plate, jade plate, when will that child cross the ten thousand folding mountains in the sky, drifting afar, drifting afar, drifting afar into the Milky Way... Jade plate, jade plate, that child is looking up and gazing, inviting the crane to visit, riding straight up to the nine heavens... That child has already brushed away the wind and frost, gathering the stars for him, bringing him back to his homeland..."

Duan Ningshuang's heart trembled.

Yet he still curved his lips into a cold sneer.

"She surely didn't refuse to collect copyright fees again, did she?"

Wen Boying raised an eyebrow. He had to admit that Night Moxi sometimes saw things with profound clarity. She had said that the biases in people's hearts were like mountains; she wouldn't demand that everyone like her, nor would she attempt to change anyone's perspective through self-vindication or similar actions.

"She indeed did not collect any copyright fees, and this song is not even permitted to be used for any commercial performances. It is a battle song belonging exclusively to the First Legion, and only vocal healers belonging to the First Legion are qualified to sing it... Old Duan, you can put aside your prejudice against Night Moxi for now."

"So the Moyun Star System has produced another new soul from another world?"

"Isn't that a good thing? Absorbing the strengths of various realms, the Moyun Star System will have even more beautiful songs..."

Mentor Bargall said.

"Chief Michael, what do you think?" Duan Ningshuang still didn't believe that there really were law-abiding souls from other worlds in this world!

"Whether they are true or false remains to be tested!"

Wen Boying held the contract and chose to remain silent. How should he put it? He believed that Feng Yanling wouldn't misjudge a person!

Or rather, it was impossible for the Feng family and the Ye family to all suffer collective drops in intelligence the moment they encountered a Night Moxi! Night Moxi must possess brilliant qualities worthy of their sincere protection!

...

"Moxi, I drove a new hover-craft to pick you up."

Night Moxi had reached the age where she could take the hover-craft driver's license test, and Feng Yanling happened to have a quota available, allowing her to acquire a military-grade hover-craft with superior performance.

However, the colors were basically masculine shades like green, black, and silver-gray. Night Moxi wasn't picky about color; she valued performance more.

It was just that for someone like her—who could score a hundred on the theoretical exam in her past life, but whose practical driving... made her immediately lose courage and ask for a refund—it posed a bit of a challenge!

Yet the difficulty was manageable, because Feng Yanling would teach her personally.

"Wait for me for three minutes."

Feng Xun had brought back a few Level Five spiritual plant seeds, and Night Moxi needed to go to his office to help germinate them.

Feng Yanling simply leaned against the door of the hover-craft to wait for her. Silver-gray sunglasses covered the greater part of his face, but the man's tall, straight posture still attracted quite a bit of attention.

"Baihe, isn't that Major General Feng over there?"

Leng Baihe was pulled by her best friend and finally caught sight of Feng Yanling's figure.

"So romantic! I want an arranged-marriage partner like that too..."

Leng Baihe smoothed the stray hair at her temples.

Her pretty face was flushed pink.

"He... has a rather aloof personality. I'll introduce you guys later..."

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe her recent days as "riding the crest of success"—the countless zeros in her optical-brain account balance, the beauty bonus redeemed with points, more suitors, and the massive amount of points accumulated in the system...

She refused to believe she couldn't take him down this time!

"Understood, understood! Go on then..."

Her best friend curled her lips after Leng Baihe turned around. Wasn't she just afraid of having Major General Feng snatched away by her?

Hmph! If a man wanted to stray, was that something you could possibly guard against?

The best friend took out her compact mirror and began touching up her makeup.

"Major General Feng, we meet again..."

Feng Yanling frowned.

Who was this this time?

"Did you perhaps have some misunderstanding about me last time—ah..."

Leng Baihe stumbled forward, lunging toward Feng Yanling.

With a flick of his hand, Feng Yanling manifested a golden superpower barrier between the two of them.

"Poof."

A cloud of pink smoke diffused from the palm of Leng Baihe's hand, but it was entirely inhaled into her own nasal passages.

"Ah..."