Earthling Compatriot?

The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, also known by its familiar name "Moonlight Sonata," is a famous piano piece by Beethoven.

Why would Ning Qiuer choose Beethoven's Sonata?

In Xia Yu's mind, the speculation about Ning Qiuer being a fellow Earth native re-emerged.

But if Ning Qiuer was from Earth, why had he never seen her using Earth's cultural works before? Or was she an extremely self-disciplined person who wouldn't plagiarize others' achievements even in a different time and space?

After hearing the song "The Brightest Star in the Night Sky," Ning Qiuer should have recognized him. So why did she still want to get close to him and have him help her write music?

Was she testing him?

Due to the sudden appearance of the piano piece, Xia Yu fell into a state of great tension.

He tried to analyze Ning Qiuer's thoughts to figure out her purpose and formulate his next moves accordingly. However, he couldn't find a logical chain for her actions.

Failing to analyze her intentions, Xia Yu started to think about his own safety.

With Ansiya, he could mobilize the power of the An and Yu families. Even if their power was insufficient, he could still enter the bodies of powerful people through the game and have them help him through tough situations.

He had skills in strength, combat, and shooting, so the problem shouldn't be too big.

As long as Ning Qiuer wasn't a supernatural, or a member of some time-space management agency, there was no chance of him losing in a conflict.

Moreover, the body swapping matter shouldn't have been exposed, and he could still access Ning Qiuer's body. Although resistance would cause forced exit, he could do a lot in a split second.

Ensuring his own relative safety, Xia Yu rubbed his forehead. He reflected on his lack of caution, assuming that he was the only special one, or at least the most special. So he used Earth's cultural achievements with almost no defenses.

Having thought through the worst-case scenario and summarizing his experience, Xia Yu began to think about better possibilities.

Ning Qiuer might have been an ordinary traveler with an entertainment system. And she might not necessarily have malicious intentions. At least, when they first met half a month ago, there was no sign of malice, otherwise, he would have sensed it with his mind reading ability.

Having finished this train of thought, Xia Yu pulled off his headphones and dialed Ning Qiuer's number.

"Where did you get that piece?" Xia Yu asked.

"I wrote it myself," Ning Qiuer answered.

Xia Yu furrowed his brow. Ning Qiuer's tone of voice was proud, not sarcastic. That is to say, she hadn't recognized him?

Had Ning Qiuer never heard the song "The Brightest Star in the Night Sky" when she was on Earth?

The possibility was small but not non-existent. Besides, who said that travelers had to be from the same era? Maybe Ning Qiuer was from the 19th century.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Xia Yu started to think about his next move.

He decided to probe Ning Qiuer's strength first. If she was just an ordinary person, he would take control of the conversation and get information step by step. Then, if needed, he would win over an apparently harmless fellow countryman. If Ning Qiuer had special abilities, he would continue to observe and assess the situation.

"Do you have any free time recently?" Xia Yu asked. He wasn't afraid of his abrupt question, as Beethoven, whom Ning Qiuer pretended to be, was expecting such an outcome.

As expected, Ning Qiuer's tone was very excited, "I'll be at the Afang in three days, shall we meet at Manman's house?"

"Whatever you want." Xia Yu didn't want to set the location at Liu Manman's place, but he was afraid of arousing suspicions, so he didn't object. He decided to have An Siyao take Liu Manman out when the time came.

"Let's just go to the coffee shop we went to last time." Ning Qiuer took the initiative to change the location, apparently she didn't want Liu Manman to know what she had to say.

After confirming the time, Xia Yu hung up the phone.

Picking up the hairdryer on the table, Xia Yu continued to blow his hair.

After drying his hair, he returned to his bedroom, thinking about how he should act in the next few days.

He first called Yu Ningmeng and bought the ownership of a small forum at a high price from her.

It was a very negative small forum. Xia Yu contacted five women who had recently posted on the forum, one of whom had passed away, one ignored him, and only three replied to him.

Using psychological therapy and briefly screening the three women through conversation, Xia Yu chose one of them.

After deleting all the website data, and destroying the server, Xia Yu came to the woman's house, hiding the money he had prepared in advance, and then found the woman using Free Selection.

He logged into the woman's body.

It was a numb-faced, withered-looking woman.

After using the woman's body to take out the hidden money, the woman changed from resisting to obeying.

"What do you want to do?" The woman who had taken the money was still a little uneasy.

"It's just a prank." Using the woman's body, Xia Yu answered.

He then took out a lifelike toy gun from another location.

"I can't do anything that would harm a person's life." The woman had a strong moral compass.

"I told you it's just a prank." Xia Yu pressed the trigger, shooting a stream of water from the gun, "At the time, I'll only use your body to pretend to be a villain, subdue her, and splash her face with water."

"You aliens really know how to have fun." The woman's tone was complicated.

She still had some doubts, but the payment figure Xia Yu mentioned made her swallow her doubts.

Eight hours later, Xia Yu returned to his body.

Thus, on the day agreed with Ning Qiuer, Xia Yu logged into the woman's body at 7:30 in the morning.

Ning Qiuer had set the time for 3 pm, and his game would end at 3:30 pm. He had a half-hour buffer for errors, and when the time came, he could just say he was slightly delayed and get away with it. Ideally, he could use the difference in travel time to delay Ning Qiuer until after 3:30 pm.

At 3 pm in the afternoon, the woman, who was hiding in the best location, finally saw Ning Qiuer.

Reaching out from the alley, Xia Yu pulled Ning Qiuer into the darkness.

Things went more smoothly than he had imagined. Xia Yu easily pinned Ning Qiuer to the ground and held the toy water gun to her head.

He felt relieved, but Ning Qiuer found the situation extremely thrilling.

Ning Qiuer was fantasizing about using Moonlight Sonata to make a secret, filthy deal with Xia Yu, reviving her career, and living a beautiful life. Just as she was getting excited, a hand reached out from the darkness and dragged her into a narrow alley.

A thin, bony hand covered her mouth and pressed her to the ground.

It wasn't pressing her back to the ground, but her face. From beginning to end, Ning Qiuer never saw the attacker's face, only guessing by touch that it was a woman.

The ordeal wasn't over, as a gun appeared in front of her. She struggled immediately, but the thin body had immense strength. She could only watch helplessly as the attacker slowly pulled the trigger.

Swish —

A stream of water squirted from the gun, drenching her face.

Ning Qiuer: "???"

Seeing Ning Qiuer had no resistance, Xia Yu breathed a sigh of relief.

He controlled the woman's body and spoke in a falsetto voice: "This is a social experiment; you can also treat it as a prank. There's a hidden camera filming. Can you please lie quietly for a while before getting up? We'll apologize to you later."

Having said that, Xia Yu released his hand from Ning Qiuer's mouth.

Feeling the woman's strength on her back, Ning Qiuer didn't feel she had the power to choose. She asked, "How long do I have to lie here?"

"It's best if you can count to a hundred. You can call for help before counting, but please finish counting." Xia Yu's falsetto voice replied.

"Can I start counting now?" Ning Qiuer signaled Xia Yu to release her.

"Hold on a moment." Initially wanting to leave directly, Xia Yu suddenly had a new idea.

Since the current situation was so ideal, he might as well ask about the Moonlight Sonata.

He said a name: "Beethoven."

"Who is that? I don't know him. I haven't met any Westerners in the past year!" Ning Qiuer's voice was somewhat tense as she felt this didn't seem like a prank.

Her confused and tense tone seemed genuine, making Xia Yu frown.

Not an insider? Or just a great actress?

"Hey, what are you guys doing!" A passerby's voice came from the entrance of the alley.

The alley wasn't secluded, and Ning Qiuer wouldn't walk down a secluded path.

"Count to one hundred." Releasing Ning Qiuer, Xia Yu quickly ran into the alley. He discarded the toy water gun, removed his mask, mouthpiece, and hat, took off his windbreaker, leather boots, and gloves, and after making sure no one was around, he climbed up the adjacent mall's third-floor maintenance bathroom via the air conditioning unit. Entering through the window, he finally removed his sunglasses and blended into the crowd to leave.

Arriving two streets away from the alley, he boarded a taxi, told the driver the woman's address, and entered the location of the payment into the woman's phone.

Five minutes later, at three-thirty, Xia Yu returned to his body.

At the moment, the entrusted Yu was getting a massage in a massage parlor above a cafe. If he was late, Xia Yu's prepared excuse was that he had forgotten due to the comfort.

Refusing to continue the half-finished massage, Xia Yu got dressed and went downstairs.

Ning Qiuer hadn't come over yet. There was a message on QQ stating that she would be late.

After waiting for more than ten minutes in the café, Xia Yu saw Ning Qiuer. She had only gone to wash her face and change her clothes.

"Sorry for the delay. I got held up on the way here." Ning Qiuer didn't mention the incident that had just happened. To her, who had experienced numerous incidents, being suddenly attacked on the street was nothing strange. After all, there was no harm done, and the water gun used in the attack was just a toy. She merely needed to be more cautious in the future. Of course, these thoughts were just to comfort herself. What truly made Ning Qiuer decide not to pursue the matter was the attacker's skillful and bizarre motives.

In addition, it was difficult for her to report the incident to the police, as the assailant had only splashed her with water. Even she was extremely puzzled, let alone the police. Such perplexing attacks were rarely taken seriously.

"It's fine; I also got held up for a bit just now," Xia Yu replied.

Ning Qiuer called the waiter and ordered coffee and snacks. After the food was served, Xia Yu said to Ning Qiuer, "Let's get straight to the point."

Once he was sure Ning Qiuer was not a threat, he relaxed a lot and looked forward to revealing their identities so they could discuss their experience of crossing over. After all, crossing over was not his biggest secret; the body swap game was.

Ning Qiuer put down the coffee she had just tasted and stood up: "Let's go to a private room upstairs."

Once they were in the private room, Ning Qiuer's expression became serious: "I'll get straight to the point. You can have the piano piece, but in return, I want you to provide me with songs in the future."

"I can provide you with songs, on the condition that you tell me who wrote this piece," Xia Yu said.

"It was me," Ning Qiuer's answer remained the same.

"With your level of skill, you couldn't have composed a piece like this," Xia Yu pressed Ning Qiuer for another answer, hoping to gain more information.

"How could you look down on people like that?" Ning Qiuer was somewhat indignant.

Seeing that Ning Qiuer was determined to be stubborn, Xia Yu stood up and led her back to the main hall. He walked to the center of the hall, borrowed a piano, and began playing. With his hands suspended above the keys, he closed his eyes, recalled the score of Moonlight Sonata, and began to play.

At first, Ning Qiuer's expression remained unchanged, merely a little surprised that Xia Yu could play the piece so well after just one night, when she struggled with it herself. She wasn't surprised that Xia Yu knew the first part; transcribing the score was basic knowledge for them. Xia Yu had practiced a lot, and her piece had a great charm, making her even more confident in it.

When two minutes had passed, she expected Xia Yu to stop playing regretfully as he had completed the portion of the piece she had given him. However, to her astonishment, Xia Yu continued playing without stopping, completing the entire piece.

After Xia Yu let go of his hands, applause rang through the café, and some women even came up to give flowers. Xia Yu quickly responded and came to Ning Qiuer's side, asking, "Now, can you tell me the true composer of this piece?"

Ning Qiuer tightly gripped the coffee cup in her hand, the trembling coffee reflecting her inner struggle.

"Tell me, who created this piece, and I will give you what you want," Xia Yu stepped closer to Ning Qiuer.

"I don't know!" Ning Qiuer backed away, hurriedly placing the coffee cup on a table to the side.

Looking at Ning Qiuer's seemingly genuine expression, Xia Yu realized that the situation might be more complicated than he had imagined.

He then recalled the previous doubts and asked all together, "In your previous two songs, there are parts that are the same as the melody I wrote. Who are you?"

"I really don't know!" Ning Qiuer continued to back away, already against the wall. Her gaze swayed from side to side, and her body unconsciously curled up, looking somewhat horrified.

Xia Yu tentatively uttered two other words, which he often used to fool possessed women: "Aliens? Stand-in emissaries?"

Before he could say anything else, Ning Qiuer pushed him away and rushed out of the café.

Chasing her to the street outside, Xia Yu lost track of Ning Qiuer.

He had just been immersed in thought and hadn't been able to react in time.

Rubbing his forehead, Xia Yu reflected that he should have kept Ning Qiuer in the private room for questioning.

Fortunately, the monk might be able to run away, but not the temple. By asking Liu Manman, he could find Ning Qiuer's nest.

He began to reconsider. Ning Qiuer didn't seem to be running away because of hearing the words "alien" and "stand-in emissary", but rather because her emotions had reached a breaking point.

His new guess seemed to be wrong, but only seemingly so. After all, he wasn't an FBI agent, and he couldn't accurately judge the other person's psychology just by their expressions. "Life Exchange Game"