Chapter 110: Chapter 99: You Are Simply Superman
"So, this thing is packed with all the musical hits from the next thirty years?" Lin Xia fiddled with the digital recorder, clicking his tongue in amazement.
"To be precise, starting from ’35," Chu Bamboo corrected him rigorously. "And it’s not *all* of them. I just grabbed some—from the Divine Continent, Europe and America, the Peninsula, and Japan."
Music is the kind of thing where demos and templates might exist for years beforehand, so he pushed the start date forward by a decade—
’A song copyrighted in ’35 probably wouldn’t already exist in ’25, right?’
If one did, Chu Bamboo would just have to accept it. He’d just give up the copyright and pay any damages.
"Okay, you’ve applied for the copyrights, so the next step is operations!" Lin Xia counted on his fingers. "First, will you sign with an online platform? Or just upload them directly to Douyin? As long as more people use them, the platform will have to pay you since you own the rights! Besides, there are plenty of musicians on Douyin already."
"You handle all of that," Chu Bamboo said noncommittally. "If I need to sign something, just let me see the contract. I can even throw the money we make back to you to let it roll around in the stock market for a while, as long as Lao Zhao doesn’t need it right away."
’Anyway, before the funds hit the tens of millions, the risks of stock trading are acceptable!’
"You got it!" Then, Lin Xia put on the headphones and began to listen, full of anticipation.
One song, two songs, three songs...
Lin Xia took off the headphones. He fell into deep thought. He cleared his head. He sucked in a sharp breath. He stared at Chu Bamboo, dumbfounded. "?"
"You... how do you have songs with a female vocalist? Who did you get to sing..."
"Is there a problem?" Chu Bamboo’s voice suddenly changed. It was now identical to the singing voice Lin Xia had just heard—melodious and pleasant, yet as pure and clear as a mountain spring.
Lin Xia: "????"
’Wait a minute... I know there’s a singing technique like that! One that lets you switch between male and female voices...’
’But... this...’
’Are you even human?!’
His expression stiff, he started listening again. After two more songs, Lin Xia took the headphones off once more and said in a daze, "Bro, let me ask... how can you actually sing?"
At first, Lin Xia had assumed that Chu Bamboo took the lyrics and sheet music and found someone from the music college next door to sing...
Chu Bamboo would own the copyright, while the other person would have the performance rights. That way, once the songs were uploaded to various sites, they could start thinking about making money.
But... you did everything from start to finish yourself! From male to female vocals, from classical to folk, from Chinese to English to Japanese, from composing to lyrics to singing—you monopolized the entire process!
’So you’re not going to let any other professional earn a single cent, are you?!’
"I can’t actually sing," Chu Bamboo said, choosing his words carefully. "What I’m mainly good at is playing all sorts of musical instruments."
’Most musical instruments still exist in the future... It’s just that many of them are called Ancient Relics. Yes, mainly because they were excavated!’
"..." Lin Xia pointed, dumbfounded, at the headphones in his palm, which were still playing music. "You call *this* ’can’t sing’?"
’If you say that... the divas would weep and the kings of pop would fall to their knees!’
"I merely completed a Reproduction," Chu Bamboo sighed softly.
In the future, he had listened to all those singers in the Nuwa No. 17 database and even watched their stage presence during concerts.
He was just relying on his Extraordinary physique, Extraordinary memory, and some intuitive understanding of musical concepts and techniques to create a one-to-one Reproduction of everything from their voices and posture to their singing techniques.
He can only imitate, not create. He can’t even make these songs fit his own style.
This was also why, when Chu Bamboo sang in both male and female voices, he basically used a different vocal tone for every song—
It wasn’t that he was trying to change it up, but that he didn’t really understand how to use his own vocal cords, how to make micro-adjustments to sing songs that were beautiful and classic, yet also uniquely his own.
After a long silence, Lin Xia finally managed to squeeze out a sentence.
"...You’re basically a superman!"
It was the first time he’d ever heard of someone ’singing’ like *that*.
...
「Meanwhile.」
At the Teacher’s Music College, Dean Sun’s brow was tightly furrowed as he turned off the player.
The dean’s office fell silent, but it was as if the two people in the room could still hear the music lingering in the air.
"Are you sure the copyright applications went through?" Dean Sun asked.
"Probably?" Teacher Zhang said, but immediately followed up with a disclaimer. "But there’s still a public review period... so we can’t completely rule out the possibility of a copyright issue."
"...That’s irrelevant." Dean Sun pondered for a moment, then shook his head decisively. "If it were one or two songs, that kind of problem might occur. But for this many... for them all to pass means that, at the very least, they don’t currently exist in the music copyright database!"
"Dozens of songs... dozens!" Dean Sun muttered, as if talking to himself, yet also questioning. "What kind of jackass would compose so many songs and not stick them in the copyright database?"
Dean Sun scoffed. "And even if there were such a jackass... he’d deserve it if his copyrights were stolen! Not to mention his singing technique... and the foreign languages. My god, is there anything he can’t do?!"
Dean Sun was genuinely amazed.
He himself had started out with folk music and the bamboo flute, and was considered a top master in the country, with numerous publications on music to his name.
In a sense, he was a true titan of the domestic music industry.
Across the entire Divine Continent, there was no one with more seniority in this field... No, at most, you could only say they were his peers, as he had already reached the pinnacle of his path.
Yes, within the Divine Continent, the number of people who could even be considered his peers could be counted on two hands.
And that number... excluded the so-called kings of pop and superstars.
Sure, they might be more popular with the public, with works that everyone knew by heart... but status was another matter entirely.
"Are you absolutely sure he’s from the university next door?" Dean Sun kept muttering, his eyes full of doubt. "It can’t be. Am I going to call over and be told he’s a student from a music school in Shanghai or Yanjing?"
"...Um, Dean!" Teacher Zhang said with a pained expression, really not wanting to take the blame for this. "You were the one who told me to receive him! You took Principal Li’s call. When it comes to this stuff, don’t you know more than I do?"
"Ahem!" Dean Sun coughed, belatedly realizing his mistake. Feeling awkward, he narrowed his eyes, made a decision, and took out his phone.
"Fine!" Dean Sun sighed. "I’ll just have to swallow my pride!"
He truly admired Chu Bamboo. The young man’s talent was a geyser, erupting like a volcano—surging, scorching, and completely undisguised.
His only regret now was that he shouldn’t have passed the task off to Teacher Zhang earlier...
Even just listening to the recordings on the digital player was like hearing celestial music... It was truly hard to imagine what kind of incredible experience it would be to witness Chu Bamboo play and sing in person, to listen live—
He wanted to take Chu Bamboo on as his disciple. If it were just an extraordinary talent for pop music, that would be one thing.
But to have talent in classical music, in traditional folk music... in their academic circles, that was something else entirely! This was someone who could truly inherit his legacy!
"Principal Li? Are you there?" The moment the call connected, Dean Sun’s voice took on a respectful tone.
He couldn’t help it. A higher rank crushes you. And in this case, it was more than just one rank...
"Ah, Dean Sun? Oh, it seems that matter has been resolved?" Li Quanyuan’s gentle voice came from the phone, tinged with a hint of apology. "My apologies. This kid always likes to do these wild things. But he also happens to be very... I’m not sure how to put it! But he’s truly a prodigy and an eccentric."
"I understand... That’s exactly right!" Dean Sun nodded in deep agreement.
He could detect the faint trace of helplessness hidden in Li Quanyuan’s voice, but this, in turn, showed how much Principal Li valued and tolerated Chu Bamboo.
’Could it be... that Teacher Zhang’s earlier speculation was true? He really is some second-generation kid whose family is old friends with Principal Li.’
With his thoughts racing, Dean Sun said sincerely, "I know you’re busy, Principal Li, so I’ll get straight to the point... May I ask, this prodigy and eccentric you sent to our school, would you be willing to part with him?"
A dead silence.
"???"
In his office, Li Quanyuan froze for a second. ’Part with him? Part with what?!’
’Wait!’
After collecting his thoughts, Li Quanyuan’s pupils contracted. He finally realized that Dean Sun was trying to poach his student.
"Huh?" Li Quanyuan subconsciously glanced at his phone screen. ’Yep, I’m definitely talking to Dean Sun.’
He was baffled. He even wanted to ask, "Are you in your right mind?"
"You already know... he’s a prodigy! And you’re still asking me this?" Li Quanyuan laughed. He realized that the joke his grandson had told him once was true—when you’re truly speechless, you really do laugh.
"But all his talent is in music!" Dean Sun gave a wry smile and tried to persuade him, "Your university doesn’t even have a music department. What’s the use of holding onto him?"
"Besides, our Teacher’s College was originally a part of your university! In a way, we’re one family..." The more Dean Sun spoke, the more fluent, confident, and sincere his words became. "Letting this child shine here would be a glory for you as well, wouldn’t it?"
"Principal Li, I know you think very highly of this young man, and you might even... know his parents! But over here... he’ll have better opportunities for development! Wouldn’t that be a better way to answer to him and his family?"
"? Hold on! Let me get this straight." Li Quanyuan finally realized something was wrong. ’Have... Dean Sun and I been talking about two completely different things this whole time?’
After his eyelid twitched a few times, Li Quanyuan asked with a hint of uncertainty, "...You’re talking about talent in, uh, music?"
"Yes," Dean Sun nodded, confused. But he was a sharp man and instantly realized something. "Wait, when you said ’prodigy and eccentric,’ you weren’t referring to music? Then what were you referring to?!"
"..."
Li Quanyuan was silent for a long time. In the end, he felt there was no need to hide it and said with difficulty, "Track and field. And at a championship level... world-class."
Immediately, both of them fell silent.
To the side, having heard the entire conversation on speakerphone, Teacher Zhang could only think: "...?"
’What the hell?’
’What champion?!’
