HLnovel Chapter 486 The answer lies within the riddle itself.
Chapter 486 The answer lies within the riddle itself.
[Songs that should not be sung]
This word, carrying a somewhat eerie and suspenseful connotation, made Su Tianqing, who was hiding in the distance, feel a little awkward.
The other two puzzles are about finding objects. The goal is very clear: to find something. They are easy to think about.
But "folk songs" are such an ethereal and intangible thing...
"I just checked the balcony and found this."
Xia Youyou said, leading Xia Taotao to a tabletop glockenspiel and looking at the dusty mallets placed next to it.
"A bell-shaped zither?"
"Hmm, although I don't know why they put a glockenspiel here, I think it must be related to the mystery."
"Do you want us to play a song? But I don't know how to play any instruments," Xia Taotao replied awkwardly.
The two rabbit sisters stared intently at Zhong Qin, perplexed and completely clueless.
Xia Youyou tried to step forward and tap the bells a few times. The bell produced a melodious sound, but she couldn't produce a decent song with her haphazard tapping.
Fortunately, the two did not get stuck on the issue and immediately re-examined their surroundings.
Naturally, things related to folk songs include sheet music and musical instruments, but Xia Taotao searched for a long time and found nothing except this glockenspiel.
While the bunny sisters were struggling with their problem, Su Tianqing was also thinking of a solution.
Soon, the posters on the balcony wall caught my eye.
It was a notice poster for the Shelter Hotel, which was also posted in the stairwell. At first, it didn't catch her attention, but after carefully looking at the contents of the poster, Su Tianqing suddenly realized something.
While Xia Youyou was looking down to investigate under the bell, the squirrel familiar appeared in Xia Taotao's field of vision and pointed to the poster on the wall.
"...?"
Following the familiar's directions, Xia Taotao looked at the poster. Before she could ask the squirrel familiar a question, it scurried away as if it had never been there.
Is Fox giving itself a hint?
With that thought in mind, Xia Taotao walked closer to the poster and looked up at the content on it.
[Music broadcast from the shelter hotel]
The title and content are easy to understand; it roughly describes that this sheltered hotel offers a karaoke service, where guests can reserve soothing music to play in the corridors via a mobile app.
Soothing music? Could it be...?
Xia Taotao quickly called Youyou over, and the two pink-furred bunny girls huddled together, examining the poster side by side.
"Here's a QR code, let me scan it."
Xia Youyou took out her phone to scan the QR code, and her two little heads leaned in front of the phone screen to look at the unfamiliar song list.
The list mostly consists of instrumental piano pieces, but also includes some violin pieces and gentle songs.
After scrolling through the list, Xia Taotao noticed a song that was completely different from the others:
"Shining Star Wish".
"Hmm... Is there anything special about this song?" Xia Youyou asked curiously, clearly having never heard it before.
Xia Taotao, who had been reserved just moments before, suddenly became enthusiastic and began to introduce the song.
It's the ending theme song for an older magical girl anime, *Magical Girl☆St. John's ~Great Adventure in Another World~*, and it didn't become widely popular; it's only talked about within the magical girl fandom.
The reason it didn't become as popular as other anime is that it differs greatly from typical magical girl anime. It completely lacks elements of urban adventure and girlish romance, instead becoming an isekai adventure story.
But setting aside style and subject matter, the animation's plot and music are outstanding, earning it a loyal following within the industry.
So, Xia Taotao told Xia Youyou everything she knew, leaving the latter feeling dizzy.
"Wait, wait... Sister, do you mean this song is the 'song that shouldn't exist' we're looking for?"
"I think it's very possible! Let's request a song first; maybe it'll solve the mystery!"
Xia Taotao was thrilled. Although Xia Youyou felt it was a bit strange that she found it so easily, she was also quite curious about the song and reached out to click on the reservation button.
If this song is the answer, then what is the meaning of the glockenspiel's existence?
Is it simply to obstruct one's view and deliberately create difficulty in deciphering the code?
No time to think about these things anymore, soft background music echoed in the corridor, followed by a familiar song that gently sang, making Xia Youyou's bunny ears perk up:
【Embark gently on a journey to another world~ Starlight sparkles and dances at your fingertips~】
"Hmm...it sounds pretty good, the melody and tune are quite nice."
Xia Youyou was immediately immersed in the melody of the song, and Xia Taotao also hummed along softly.
Contrary to expectations, the mystery remained unsolved, showing no sign of being solved until the song ended.
On the contrary, Xia Taotao, who was humming, noticed something was amiss.
"Something's not right with this song."
As soon as the song ended, Xia Taotao immediately spoke to Xia Youyou, who was still immersed in the lingering melody beside her.
The latter blinked blankly, and the rabbit ears on its head twitched curiously a few times.
"Hey...ah...sister, did you hear anything? I didn't hear anything, I just thought it sounded pretty good..."
"You're hearing this for the first time, so it's normal that you don't know it. But the song playing on the radio—every line has one word that's off-key."
"what……"
Xia Youyou scratched her head in confusion.
This is indeed beyond my knowledge; after all, who can tell that the lyrics of a song they've never heard before are off-key?
Soon, Xia Taotao replayed the song on her phone. Xia Youyou listened for a few seconds and nodded thoughtfully.
"Indeed, there was one word out of tune in every sentence, but the tunes were actually quite close, so it didn't sound that strange."
"This means that the person who designed this puzzle is very familiar with the song and knows the entire structure of the lyrics."
"But even so... how does this help with decryption?"
The two sisters exchanged a glance and suddenly realized something.
Xia Youyou immediately replayed the video, while Xia Taotao opened her phone's notes app and started taking notes.
Sure enough, every line of the song played on the radio had one word out of tune, and the tunes were very similar. Unless you were a die-hard fan, it would be hard to tell that anything was unusual.
As soon as a song finished, Xia Taotao would write down the off-key lyrics, and when the song ended, a list of off-key words would appear on the paper.
However, when they are put together, they are just a string of meaningless words, and there is no discernible pattern in their arrangement, which is quite perplexing.
"...What if these words aren't pointing out the answer, but rather giving us hints?" Xia Taotao muttered to herself, looking at the garbled characters on her phone screen.
Each off-key word is in a different position in the lyrics, and if you connect it to the glockenspiel in front of you...
"Could it be that the placement of the off-key words in the lyrics is actually a hint to us to strike the notes of this glockenspiel in the correct order?"
The rabbit sisters both looked at the quietly placed carillon.
Xia Youyou picked up the piano mallets, and Xia Taotao read out the order beside her. After making two mistakes, she finally managed to play a soft little tune relatively smoothly.
"Ding~"
The last syllable is finished.
A magical light screen suddenly lit up on the wall behind Zhongqin.
—The song played by this glockenspiel, which shouldn't be playing in the sheltered hotel, finally reveals the truth.