musicians of old

Appreciation of Chapter 188 "Ghost Stories" (4K [-]-in-[-])

With a distance of more than ten meters, in a few seconds, some thoughts flashed through Fanning's mind.

"Going on vacation?" He said hello and pleasantries.

"Still working just like you." Vassius straightened his top hat.

"For me, this experience is equivalent to a vacation." Fanning smiled relaxedly in his eyes, "It seems that Mr. Vassius has also paid attention to the summer art festival in Fort Santaram?"

"With its popularity, it's hard not to hear about it."

"Are you interested in coming to the performance on the 21st and listening to the performances of the young artists from Uvransel? I still have a few internal tickets that are not for sale."

A hard black and white concert ticket was placed on the desk in front of the investigator by Fanning.

"Thank you. If you can catch up, it's not that you can't consider it." Vashius put away the tickets, his voice still not salty.

Fan Ning is clear that the official organization of the knowers in Tiolein adopts the management model of the imperial headquarters + county branches. Under normal circumstances, the knowers are responsible for tracking the origin or the mysterious events in their own jurisdiction. .

The investigator of the Uvransel Branch of the Special Inspection Agency went to the imperial capital, either he was following up and investigating himself, or he was dispatched by an order at the headquarters level to deal with other mysterious incidents.

Fanning couldn't think of a third possibility.

After a short conversation, he turned around and walked towards the front of the train.

Vassius looked at the ticket front and back for a few seconds, and then took out a loose-leaf notebook slightly larger than an adult's palm from his briefcase.

He slowly flipped through the pages one by one, his eyes passing by the yellowed old papyrus fixed in the plastic folder.

These papyri consist of 11 numbered sheets filled with column chords starting in the key of C major or A minor without any initial sharps and sharps.

The 11 sheets were quickly turned from beginning to end, and then the note page appeared.

These papers are filled with dense text in the format of "musician's name-work title-work number", covering the works of most composers from the Middle Ages to the present, but more than [-]% of the text has been crossed out. In addition, there are a large number of figures or musical examples.

Vassius' eyes fell on the last two pages that were opened.

The handwriting here is still messy, and there are more than [-] conclusions that have been retained, and there are a lot of traces of deletion. It can be seen that after a long period of thinking, the conclusions were repeatedly drawn and overturned.

"21. It may be a secret message compiled by a certain composer based on his own composition catalog."

"23. Perhaps the actual order of the chord progression is not the original order."

"30. Perhaps the real chord progression key is not the original key."

"31. The mysterious chord is suspected to be contaminated by foreign ███."

"65. It may reflect the chord trend of a group of unknown musical works with hidden history."

"71. Perhaps related to sister arts other than music."

"72..."

He stared at the notes for a while, then took out his pocket watch, and was about to check the time when his lazy figure suddenly sat up straight.

The light-shaped outlines embossed on the dial of the pocket watch seem to be subtly dimmed.

Fan Ning, who was walking towards the front of the train, took out a folded note paper from his chest pocket during the walk.

This is a little detailed information about the investigator of the special inspection agency that he got from the black market a few days ago.

"Joe Vassius, male, about 36-40 years old, a fifth-level or sixth-level enlightened person, the phases studied may be "Desolation" and "Development"."

"Killing case [-], the overall action screen of oneself suddenly accelerated, and shot and killed the opponent. Killing case [-], hiding the return route in the dream and causing the opponent to lose. Killing case [-], after being seriously injured, it seemed to suddenly return to the place six or seven seconds ago status, shoot and kill the opponent.”

"The public identity is an art critic, with profound music appreciation literacy, and his familiarity with the works of unpopular composers is far beyond that of ordinary music lovers."

The number of passengers in the No. 1 car is obviously too sparse compared to the spacious space. At this moment, Lu is sitting opposite Xilan and Joan, and the three are chatting. Only Kaprun is still on his sofa, with his sparse hair pricking his forehead. in a pile of data.

"Mr. Adair, the taste of your drinks is a little lacking in personality, similar to the follow-up brewing of some expensive but flashy coffee shops in the central city. This may be a little bit worse than the tonality of the first-class compartment..."

Joan is making her proposal.

"It is indeed necessary to make some improvements." Lu's expression was as serious and polite as ever.

"How long will you stay in the imperial capital this time? Will you come back with us?" Fan Ning sat down beside Lu.

"I don't have any plans to return to Uvransel right now." Lu shook his head.

"Is the railway branch suddenly so leisurely?" Sheeran asked, "As the general manager of the Uvransel railway system, you can leave for so many days together. I see that you have been almost busy in the past few months." It's too much to deal with."

"Strictly speaking, the post over there has officially ended," Lu said.

Surprise flashed in Fanning's eyes, and then he tried to understand.

Maybe this is the "normal" rate of career advancement?
Of course, social animals can't understand after all.

"My rank in the imperial railway system has not changed yet." Lu explained, and then waved to the attendants to continue serving drinks and snacks.

"It's just that the head of the county branch has become the head of the core department of the head office, and the new position is the director of safety and compliance production...Unexpected transfer, because the recent troubles in the capital are a bit big."

"Safe and compliant production?..." Fan Ning chewed on the word, and glanced at the small open book on the table in front of Lu.

"Gentleman's Collection of Ghost Stories"... Fanning couldn't help picking it up with the dark color scheme and the curious cover name.

Lu slowly explained: "In Fort Santa Ramos, "Esquire" is a second-tier newspaper with a male-oriented social life. For a long time, the popularity of the regular issue has been mediocre. The 'Ghost Stories' column of the "Ghost Stories" has maintained its mid-range market response..."

Fan Ning didn't read it separately, so he just read it along.

The reverse position is a short story titled "Password Man".

Lu went on to explain: "The 'Ghost Stories' column adopts the form of mobile writing, and most of the contributors are senior practitioners in various fields of the empire. A small number of these elites are keen to start from their own professional backgrounds and fabricate some 'spiritual short stories'... The author of "Password Man" is Mr. Carmen Leon, a famous physicist and the designer of the second-generation difference engine. He has participated in the investigation of major railway accidents in Tiolein many times, and has made great contributions to the improvement of rail steel and design. contribute…"

Fanning read it in 2 minutes.

The structure of this "ghost story" is very simple, with only 2 characters and a 3-day plot.

On the first day, when the narrator of the novel was walking along the railway line in the evening, he met the password operator, who shared his job responsibilities: guiding the train to pass safely by sending dispatch telegrams, controlling light buttons, and manipulating mechanical lifting levers.The author carefully designed the character's lines to imply that the password operator's mental state was abnormally restless.

On the second day, the narrator met the password operator again, and after getting acquainted with him, he asked the reason for his uneasiness. It turned out that when he walked to the signal light he was in charge of yesterday, he inadvertently made the gesture of covering his face with his left hand and waving his right hand—— The password officer often sees a "ghost" making similar actions under the lights. What is even more frightening is that every time he sees it, there will be a bloody and terrible railway accident on the corresponding section of the road.This caused the poor password officer to fall into great pain and suffering: he knew what would happen again, but he could do nothing. As an ordinary person with a conscience, this was undoubtedly unbearable mental torture.

On the third day, the narrator was very sympathetic to the password operator, and came up with the idea of ​​trying to help him get rid of this high anxiety state.He got in touch with the most experienced psychiatrist in the area, but when the two went to find the password operator in the evening, they were told that the poor man had been run over by a train in the morning.

The ghost story ended in a hurry here, but Fanning read the anxiety that permeated the lines.

"This novel is very well written." Seeing Fan Ning closing the book, Lu shared his evaluation, "...on the surface it seems to be a ghost story, but it actually depicts the kind of people facing the new technology when the empire's industrial technology is developing rapidly. An uneasy feeling of being overwhelmed."

Fan Ning nodded in approval: "This reminds me of what I saw in the newspaper last year about the news about the trial operation of the Santaram Fort subway. Many scholars and media expressed serious doubts about the hidden dangers of landslides, fires, and suffocation. and worry."

"Their doubts are not unreasonable." Lu said, "In fact, since the middle of the last century in the empire, a railway accident broke out in a certain county almost every once in a while, and it was quickly spread to the society through newspapers. In the atmosphere of high anxiety that this ghost story represents."

While the two were chatting, the two girls on the opposite side also finished reading the ghost story. Sheeran raised her head: "Indeed, I was deeply impressed by the major railway accident on the "Kerubini" four years ago. 159 people died and 70 people were seriously injured, just from the fact that the number of dead exceeds the number of injured, we can see the tragedy of the scene."

...How did this topic come about today?
Listening to everyone talking about the railway accident, Fan Ning couldn't help but look at the sunny pastoral scenery outside the car window.

During the journey, everyone chatted intermittently, sometimes exchanged a few words, and sometimes closed their eyes to rest or look at the scenery.

Several hours later, Fan Ning brought up the original source of the topic again: "...So, you said that you were appointed as the safety and compliance production director of the Railway Corporation because the imperial capital has been in a bit of trouble recently?"

"Safety production issues." Lu said, "Since the third quarter, Santaram Fort has experienced frequent production safety accidents, dozens of large-scale accidents, and tens of thousands of small, medium and micro accidents...Our new business During the trial operation period of the subway, there were dozens of near-miss accidents, large and small, and several accidents involving serious injuries or deaths in the railway system... the same as other industries, just a few that I know Large factories and construction sites have cumulatively caused more than three-digit deaths due to accidents such as explosions, poisoning, or landslides..."

"Because of the pressure brought by public opinion to the House of Commons, the Industry, Energy and Transport Committee has put forward rectification requirements to several relevant cabinet departments. Personally, I think that 'the low quality of grassroots workers and managers caused the accident', and I only admit that I have shortcomings in 'supervising the company to manage people well'..."

Fan Ning frowned when he heard this and asked, "What is the cause of the accident in production safety, what is the investigation?"

"Common reasons." Lu said: "From the results of the investigation, the direct cause is either a machine failure, or a worker's misoperation or management negligence, but even for the latter, it is believed that 'the root cause of the accident is the low quality of grassroots personnel' It's also extremely stupid..."

"Talk about something that you have the right to speak, such as the example of the railway password officer mentioned in the ghost story. From the authoritative data of the third quarter of Tiolein - an average of 714 trains pass through each signal room every day, and the peak of the station The daily train throughput exceeds 1500. These passers-by are divided into two shifts for 24 hours, leading a train to pass every 2 minutes on average, sending a telegram every 1 minute and 8 seconds, switching the indicator light every 35 seconds, and switching the indicator light every 14 seconds. Manipulate the mechanical rod once, and there will be 3-10 special scheduling tasks that need to be coordinated every day..."

Fanning could hear sweat on his forehead.

This kind of tight work rhythm with a fault tolerance rate of 0. His sense of anxiety has already risen.

The technical content may not be too high, and it belongs to the type of work that makes perfect, but just imagine, every operation must be correct, otherwise the two trains may collide...

Playing the piano can still be a little dirty, and the conductor can still be slightly flawed. And the music is colorful.

"This job, if you do it for a few days, it's fine, but for five or ten years? Damn it." Fan Ning estimated that even a knowledgeable person like himself would have psychological problems in the end.

He fully understood where the anxiety and guilt of the password operator in the ghost story came from—it was hard for him to figure out whether he was responsible for the accident. Reason might indicate that "I have really tried my best", but As a normal person, it is emotionally unacceptable that the bloody accident comes from "misoperation by oneself or the other party's password operator".

"It is natural to think that most of the industrial workers in other fields also work in such tight-paced and high-risk jobs." Lu concluded at this time, "... Therefore, there was a high incidence of safety production accidents in Fort Santaram in the third quarter. On the surface, it seems that practitioners suddenly relax, slack off, and become dereliction of duty... But in fact, this is an inevitable phenomenon under the industrial wave of Tiolein..."

As Lu was talking, he suddenly added "Kang Dang" and "Tong Tong Tong".

The entire carriage shook violently a few times, and Fanning felt that this was similar to the shaking of a manual transmission car after misoperation of the clutch.

The train began to decelerate at a rapid rate, and at the moment it stopped, everyone rushed forward.

Wrong car stop?How did you make such a violent commotion?The passengers all looked around blankly.

It is not a stop, and the sunny mountains, fields and towns are still outside the window.

Lu's originally calm and calm face suddenly darkened. He slapped the table, then stood up and turned around and shouted:

"What are you doing? Where is the train conductor? Come out for me!!"

　Thank you for the monthly tickets for Jiang Jiu, Abelus, Fengsheng of the Remaining Night, Jiuyan 8, Qinghexiucheng, and Five-Spiced Eggs on August 23~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)