Silent Crown

Chapter 278 Standing on the Giant’s Shoulder 2

With a slight sound, the gate of the underground experiment lab opened. The old man dressed in a dirty white coat walked out of the lift with a bundle of things wrapped in black dust-proof cloth.

"Mr. Newton..."

"Mr. Dean!"

"Sir!"

The delegates rose and walked over. However, Newton just waved his hand in boredom and impatiently said, "Well, I guess you all can’t wait any longer. You all aren’t very good at hyping up technology, so without further ado, the demonstration will officially start now. "

The delegates returned to their seats awkwardly. Newton carried the bundle of things and swaggered to the center of the room. He slammed the black dust-proof cloth onto the ground, raised his head and voice, and said, "Today’s demonstration is an emergency commission by the Royal Musician Division half a month ago. I designed this sealed object specifically for the task. I named it Mary. If you don\'t like this name, you can think of something more imposing."

As he spoke, a huge iron cage was slowly lowered through the padlock opened in the ceiling. In the iron cage, crisscrossed chains shackled a huge black figure. The human-like thing was bound by the shackles and the chains. It had white bony barbs all over its body. Its messy hair was black as oil, and it smelled as if it had not bathed in a long time.

That thing was more like a gorilla than human being. However, the gorilla was too large. Even people standing dozens of meters away would get chills by looking at it. It gazed at the living creatures and struggled frantically. The iron cage whined plaintively, almost collapsing under that strange force.

"Mature primate demon?"

Almost all the representatives subconsciously moved behind Andrew, the deputy head of the Royal Musician Division. Everyone knew that Newton was a psychopath and that a psychopath would surely be a troublemaker. He had definitely caused his share of trouble. So, if there was any problem, it was the safest behind Andrew.

"The introduction is finished. Now, let’s start?" Newton looked at their faint pallor with undisguised mockery in his eyes. "This is taking your hearts into consideration."

"Excuse me, Mr. Newton," Andrew suddenly asked. "Where is your work \'Mary\'?"

"Well, isn\'t it here?" Newton kicked the bundle of things under the dust-proof cloth beside him. "Mr. Andrew, do you have bad eyesight? Come and see me sometime. I\'ll get you a pair of glasses for free. "

Andrew frowned. Narrowing his eyes, he studied it carefully. A long time later, he asked, "Sorry, I do not feel any aetheric waves. I can perceive that the things you brought are just ordinary steel instruments without any notes or movements. "

"Well, it is so. Recently, those alchemists responsible for the process got their periods at the same time. Irregular periods. They’re too troublesome, so I made a difficult decision." Newton undid the buttons on the black dust-proof cloth. "I gave them six months\' leave to have a good rest. Now, one of them is probably at beach in Burgundy, I think? Oh, by the way, I paid for them. I didn\'t spend any of the budget, but since everyone’s on break, there was no other way. I could only solve the problem by myself. Therefore, no alchemy was used throughout the process. This thing is pure mechanical engineering."

His words stunned everyone.

Under everyone’s dumbfounded scrutiny, he took off the dust-proof cloth, revealing the steel creations. These things that looked like…the long cones used as markers to fix the target during geological missions?

The slender and heavy long cones were about a meter long with a tip sharp enough to hurt one’s eye if they looked. The six long cones did not need to be bound by anything. They were connected by inserting into each other’s gaps, as if they were made like that. Those things looked like spears for killing. There was no doubt about their lethality, but they just looked...nothing like what a musician would use.

"What kind of weapon is this?" Some were shocked.

"It\'s not a weapon." Newton weighed the long cone in his hand and smiled mysteriously. "This is a musical instrument, my friends."

There was a silence in the crowd as if they could not understand the common language. They looked at each other, exchanging only confused and blank eyes.

Finally, the youngest of them, forced by the others’ stares, stood up and said, "But Professor Newton, this is not alchemy—"

"Who said it was impossible to play music without alchemy?" Newton lifted the long cone and thrust it into the ground. It pierced into the ground easily with its great sharpness. "I told you, the people who come here won’t need brains. It’s useless even if you have a brain. Just listen to me carefully. Now, listen up." He glanced at the young man who had a troubled expression. "If I say it is an instrument, then it is an instrument."

At the very front, the musician Andrew slightly frowned but did not speak up. Newton watched as the crowd fell silent again and chuckled. He pierced the spear-like things into the ground around the iron cage.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Three long cones embedded perfectly in an invisible ring, forming an equilateral triangle that surrounded the primate demon in the cages. He fumbled around his pocket for while and found half a twisted cigarette. After another while of fumbling, he grew impatient.

"Charles, where are you? Come on, light it for me!"

In the distance, Charles pursed his lips. He rubbed his hands and a line of fire flew past, accurately lighting the cigarette. Newton inhaled deeply. Puffing out blue smoke, he tapped the ashes behind him.

Boom! Ignited by the fuel splashed onto the iron cage, flames burst. The feeble primate demon grew furious. It struggled forcefully. The precarious iron cage complained.

In a series of shrill sounds, the iron shackles twisted into a strange shape. The chains broke one by one and the iron scraps burst. The pieces scattered to the ground, creating sparks and breaking the stone tiles.

With a roar, the burning iron cage completely fell apart. The raging demon in the flames completely lost all restraint. Under its sharp roar, even the flames weakened like a candle in the wind from the frantic tremors.

"Newton, are you mad?" There was a scream in the crowd.

Newton sneered at him with a mocking expression, his back to the burning demon. The primate demon grew furious. It twisted, twisted the lock, and pounced toward Newton with hiss. It still remembered the old rascal who had been too lazy to find a toilet and peed next to his cage!

In a twinkling, everyone’s faces grew pale. Andrew, who had always been calm as statue, was stunned too. He lifted his fingers, about to trigger his sound of heart and release a music movement. However, he stopped immediately because electricity flashed out of thin air!

The moment it crossed the invisible boundary, the three long cones that were pierced into the slate in an invisible ring suddenly jolted. The sound springs rubbing came from the long cones.

The long cones pierced into the slates suddenly pulled up and popped out. The fine gears and reeds hidden within were revealed. They were densely hidden inside the slender grip and rotated quickly. The people were instantly dazzled by it.

The crystals inside were shaken. It triggered the electric light, which flew over sixteen links under its guidance. In the end, hundreds of reeds vibrated at the same time. The waves in the air resulted in rising sounds.

The fine yet staggered sounds converged and transformed into a maiden singing. The ethereal and tender song passed to all directions. In that moment, invisible walls sprang up and turned into a cage even stronger than iron.

When the furious primate crashed against the wall, the three long cones buzzed. The electric lights were in tandem so that the invisible resistance became more obvious. It was like a miracle. But compared to this, the guests were more concerned about something else!

"Singing?" The colonel of the second division paled visibly. He almost jumped from the chair, pointing at the long cones with trembling fingers. "It—it—it...that thing is singing!"

Andrew stared at the three long cones in astonishment and listened to the ethereal sounds in the air. It was so pure and beautiful but with a terrible precision that humans could not possibly achieve. There was not even the slightest error and it was horribly stable!

"Mary?" he muttered; he finally understood what it meant.

The ethereal female voice was singing softly, "Mary has a little lamb, its fur as white as snow. Wherever Mary goes, it always runs along...The little lamb loves Mary and Mary loves the lamb..."

Mary Has a Little Lamb. It was as simple as a nursery rhyme. It was possible to hear it once and know it all. This was just a temporary ploy by a nameless musician. It was simple yet widespread.

Most students learned this melody before they started. All the intervals used the most basic and common relationship. They were just like textbook exercises and were too simple to be taught.

The melody composed by the notes had only one effect of a fence. This way, the flock could be herded and Mary’s lamb would not run away…The song that had been sung by everyone and had almost forgotten now was recorded into the machine. It was split into thousands of different voices and composed together again into a song that called to the aether.

The aether was called forth and created the effect. There was no musician guiding, no alchemy, no recording of any notes, and no induction to the aether. But it unexpectedly... worked? And what was more bizarre was that the fence had no defensive force at all. It was the most basic of the basics. A strong shackle could be more useful than it!

Then what the h*ll was it that made its power strong enough to imprison the mad primate demon in it?

Andrew\'s mind turned. His fingers faintly pressed down, carefully detecting every fluctuation. In the end, he was stunned. "Coherence?"

The three inanimate machines were in coherence! The method of uniting musicians with each other and performing a symphony was applied to inanimate objects?!

"That’s right, coherence." Newton chuckled softly. He pulled out another \'Mary\' and gazed at its faintly trembling blade. "It’s the same alloy formula, casting method, structure, and assembly method. Each of them is made on a dedicated lathe to make sure there is no observable error among them.

"The result is an extremely enhanced \'resonance\' effect—hehe, anyway it’s just a more complex resonance effect. As long as you find some special fulcrums and then like this...the effect is doubled!"

Boom! He suddenly forced the long cone into the ground. \'Mary\' shook in a strange way and popped out again. The machine springs trembled and the light female voice melted into a trio.

When the four voices fused into one, the electricity from the four long cones pierced the spectators’ eyes. In the \'fence,’ the frantic primate demon stopped moving and was forcefully ejected backwards. The strength of the barrier had instantly doubled, and there was no more space left for it to struggle.

Boom! The fifth long cone was pierced in. The resonance coherence effect surged and doubled again! In an instant, the whole area bounded by the long cones was filled with invisible power.

As if it was thrown into the deep sea, the large demon suddenly curled into a ball and shook violently. It seemed to feel something and cried out. It struggled but nothing could be done.

Outside the boundary, Newton lifted the last long cone. Cackling, he pierced it down with a cackle.

Boom! With a loud boom, the frenzied power exploded. The aftershocks forced Newton to the ground. He rolled pathetically and a group of people scrambled to help him up, but he kicked them aside.

His nose even started bleeding from the shock but his eyes were still fanatical. He stared at the six long cones. In a series of resonance with each other in the electric light, the six long cones on the fulcrum had been burnt red by the wild power. They released terrible power.

The slate could not bear the doubled power anymore. It fell apart, leaving a frantic six-pointed star on the ground!

Within the thrice-multiplied \'fence,\' the primate demon screamed in desperation. The sound was muffled and thin as if it came from behind layers of walls. Furious pressure gathered from the surrounding area. The sounds of bones shattering came continuously as if it was sandwiched between iron walls. It was collapsing! It was collapsing inside!

Everyone looked at the center of the six-pointed star. The frantic demon was shrinking and collapsing in midair. It had become so bloody that it turned into a quickly spinning ball of meat.

Finally, it exploded!

Charles\'s eyes lit up. He asked quietly, "Should we tell the kitchen to make meatballs this way? It’ll be chewy!"

Newton froze. Then he immediately patted on his bare forehead. "D*mn, why didn’t I think about this earlier?"

"...."