Chapter 1: Returning Home to Play Ghosts

"Who... am I?"

Rumble—

Pale lightning flashed across ink-dark clouds. Rain poured down relentlessly, a divine fury of thunder and rain drenching the muddy ground. In the rippling puddles, a vermilion figure was fragmented in reflection. It was a young man wrapped in a large, crimson theatrical robe. He stumbled through the mud as if drunk, his wide sleeves flapping in the strong wind. Mud and sand washed off the robe's surface with the rain, the blood-like crimson a shocking sight in the night.

"Stop it... stop it!""All of you, be quiet!""I'm about to remember... I'm about to... remember...""I have a name... a name of my own!"

The young man's damp black hair hung to his eyebrows, and his unfocused eyes were full of confusion. He moved forward with difficulty, clutching his head with both hands, seemingly struggling to recall something. His roar echoed through the deserted street, but it didn't travel far before being swallowed by the endless curtain of rain.

*Thump—*

In the dim light, he tripped over a raised stone and fell heavily to the ground! A trickle of crimson blood rolled down the young man's temple. He lay sprawled on the ground blankly, then suddenly, as if remembering something, a faint light flickered in his cloudy eyes.

"Chen Ling..."

A name suddenly flashed through his mind. The moment he uttered those two words, a fragment of memory drifted out from the endless whispers that almost split his head, merging with his weakened body.

"What is this... transmigration?"

Chen Ling frowned deeply, continuously processing the memories of this body. His brain ached as if being torn apart. His name was Chen Ling, 28 years old, an intern director at a theater in the capital. After a performance one day, he was alone on stage, designing and arranging actor movements, when a violent earthquake struck. He felt a sharp pain in his head and then completely lost consciousness. Thinking about it now, he was most likely killed by a falling spotlight...

At this moment, Chen Ling was also slowly processing the memories of this body. To his surprise, the original owner of this body was also named Chen Ling, but their fundamental understandings of the world were completely different. The fragmented memories clashed, and Chen Ling felt his mind was about to explode. He took deep breaths repeatedly, struggling to get up from the ground. His theatrical robe was stained black and red, looking utterly disheveled.

For some reason, his body felt incredibly heavy, a kind of exhaustion as if he had been drained after staying up for four or five consecutive days writing a play..."Let's go home first..."

His exhausted body and fragmented thoughts made it almost impossible to think. He could only rely on the body's instinct to move in the direction of "home." Although he didn't know how he got here, the original owner of this body had memories of this place. He would walk this path every day after returning from caring for his younger brother at the clinic. From here to home, it was usually only a two or three-minute walk. But for him, at this moment, the journey felt longer than ever before.

The rain, carrying a bone-chilling cold, flowed over Chen Ling's body. He shivered uncontrollably. After walking for ten minutes in the rain, enduring the cold and fatigue, he finally arrived at the front door of the home from his memories.

Chen Ling fumbled in his pocket for a moment, finding no keys on him. So, with practiced ease, he retrieved a spare key from the bottom of the newspaper box beside the door and opened the front door.

*Creak—*

Warm light spilled from inside the house, illuminating a corner of the dark, rainy night and Chen Ling's pale face. The moment he saw the light, Chen Ling's taut nerves naturally relaxed. The cold and fatigue on his body seemed to be somewhat dispelled by the glow.

He stepped into the house and saw two figures sitting on either side of the dining table, their eyes red-rimmed as if they had just been crying. Hearing the door open, the two figures froze for a moment, then simultaneously turned their heads.

"Dad... Mom... I'm home."

Chen Ling, with his dizzy head, instinctively prepared to take off his shoes by the door, only to realize he had been barefoot the entire time. His soles and the spaces between his toes were now almost completely caked with mud, leaving two large black footprints on the floor.

At this moment, the two figures sitting at the dining table saw Chen Ling, clad in red, pushing open the door and entering. Their pupils constricted violently!"You... you..."The man's Adam's apple bobbed. He gaped, a look of seeing a ghost on his face.

"Mom... is there any water? I'm so thirsty." After returning home, Chen Ling's mind completely relaxed, his consciousness on the verge of fading. He mumbled to himself as he stumbled into the kitchen, picked up the water dispenser bottle, and began to drink greedily.*Gulp, gulp, gulp...*

In the kitchen, the red-clad figure drank water like a wild beast, swallowing greedily. Water trickled from the corners of his mouth, dripping onto the floor and forming puddles that reflected the two terrified, pale faces in the living room.

"A... A-Ling?" The woman forced herself to gather courage, speaking with a tremor, "How... how did you come back?"Chen Ling continued to gulp water frantically from the bottle, completely oblivious to the woman's words. Then, seemingly finding it too slow, he shoved the spout, as thick as a fist, directly into his mouth and bit it clean off! The synthetic plastic was chewed vigorously, and a torrent of water poured into his mouth, providing pure, unadulterated relief!

"I walked back."

A voice came from behind Chen Ling.

Yes... from behind him.

At this moment, Chen Ling was still absorbed in drinking water, yet his voice clearly reached the ears of the two people, as if in the invisible void behind him, another red-clad Chen Ling stood, with open hands, answering as a matter of course.

"The rain was quite heavy, I think I got lost.""I seemed to have fallen a few times on the way, and my shoes are gone...""Mom, I've made a mess on the floor. If it's not urgent, wait until I wake up tomorrow to clean it... I'm too tired right now."

Witnessing the horrifying scene before them, the man and woman in the living room felt a chill run down their necks. The flame of the kerosene lamp in the glass holder flickered relentlessly, as if an invisible hand was mockingly playing with the wick. Their faces were ashen, but they stood frozen in place, afraid to move.

Finally, the water bottle was empty. Chen Ling wiped his mouth, set down the bottle, then turned around. He stumbled across the floor, leaving a black footprint with each step, and swayed towards his bedroom...

"Dad, Mom... you two should go to bed early too. Good night."

He mumbled something indistinctly, closed the door behind him, followed by the dull thud of a heavy object falling onto the bed. The living room fell into a deathly silence.

After an unknown amount of time, the two figures, rigid as statues, slowly turned their heads... looking at each other. The flickering wick became steady, and the eerie kerosene lamp barely illuminated the dim living room. They sat trembling in their chairs, their faces utterly bloodless.

"He... he's back." The man spoke hoarsely, "How is this possible...""If that really is A-Ling...""Then who... did we kill last night?"