Chapter 10: “Audience”

Gulp.

Chen Tan couldn't help but gulp.

"Th-this... how is this possible??" he rasped. "No heart, head chopped off, yet it can still move?"

"Where did that opera costume come from? Didn't we not put it on him?!"

"I don't know!!!" Li Xiuchun, completely overwhelmed by terror, stammered incoherently, "He... he was wearing that costume when he crawled out from under the ground... it's the one we draped over him when we buried him last night!

He's a ghost... he really is a ghost!!

A ghost come to claim our lives!"

"Nonsense! There are no ghosts in this world!"

The scene before him was too bizarre. Chen Tan's legs felt weak from fear, but he ultimately mustered his courage, picked up a dinner knife from the ground, and lunged towards Chen Ling's face!

He had killed Chen Ling twice; he could kill him a third time!

Whatever was inside that body, aside from looking terrifying, didn't seem as dreadful as the disasters people talked about, and this gave Chen Tan a significant amount of courage.

The sharp dinner knife sliced through the air, but just as it was about to touch Chen Ling, it abruptly stopped in mid-air.

Chen Tan was startled. He gripped the knife desperately, but couldn't move it an inch further, as if an invisible hand had clamped onto the blade, holding it firmly in place.

"Heh heh."

An eerie chuckle came from behind Chen Ling.

The next moment, the dinner knife in Chen Tan's hand vanished into thin air, replaced by a long, thin piece of red paper.

Chen Ling, with unfocused eyes, chewed and swallowed both the axe and the cleaver in his mouth. He stared intently at Chen Tan, slowly stepping forward, mechanically and hoarsely repeating the same phrase:

"Dad, I'm hungry."

These three simple words sent a shiver down Chen Tan's spine!

He had no doubt that the next moment, Chen Ling would grab his head, force it into his mouth, and chew it to pieces... his bones wouldn't be any harder than an axe or a cleaver!

"Run!! Go find an enforcer!!"

Chen Tan turned and bolted towards the front door!

Chen Tan knew that the situation was beyond their control. Their only way out was to seek help from the enforcers; those powerful officers surely had a way to deal with the disaster!

As for how the enforcers would judge them for their intentional murder and organ theft, that was a concern for later.

In any case, going to jail was better than losing their lives.

Li Xiuchun, who had been cowering and trembling nearby, was jolted back to her senses by the shout and scrambled towards the tightly shut door.

Taking advantage of Chen Ling's attention being on Chen Tan, she successfully reached the door and instinctively grabbed for the doorknob...

But she grasped at air.

Li Xiuchun looked down in confusion, only to find the doorknob was gone... no, not just the doorknob, the entire door had turned into a drawing on red paper, shifting from three-dimensional to two-dimensional.

She couldn't open a door that was merely a drawing on paper.

"Heh heh heh heh..."

A dense chorus of whispers piled up from all directions, as if the room was now filled with countless unseen figures... they watched the two, their scarlet eyes full of mockery.

Red paper fragments fluttered around Li Xiuchun. In a daze, she saw bizarre faces.

She screamed continuously, backing away, her eyes filled with nothing but pure terror.

Finally, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious...

Audience Expectation +1

Current Expectation: 16

At the same time, Chen Tan felt his feet give out, and he fell heavily to the ground. He turned back in shock, only to find that the entire floor had turned red, undulating like waves.

He stared blankly at the red-robed Chen Ling approaching, and as if realizing something, he cried out in horror:

"It's true... what the enforcers said is true!"

"You are the disaster!"

"You are the disaster that usurped A Ling's body!"

Hearing this, the red-robed Chen Ling stopped.

His scarlet lips curled into a slight smile, and a pale finger lifted to his lips, making a "hush" gesture.

"Shhh—"

Just as the endless red paper was about to engulf Chen Tan, two loud shattering sounds of glass came from the side!

"Traces of a disaster found at 128 Frost Street!! Destruction level assessed at four! Requesting enforcer support immediately!!"

Two figures in black and red uniforms crashed through the window. One of them quickly surveyed the room and spoke.

"Received. Support dispatched. Please try to hold them off!" A stern voice came from the walkie-talkie on one of the enforcers' belts.

One enforcer gave a wry smile. "A Level Four disaster, how can we possibly hold it off?"

Seeing the two enforcers suddenly burst in, the unseen audience in the void let out a soft sound of surprise, as if they had found a more interesting toy.

With a flick of his hand, the red-robed Chen Ling caused the fallen Chen Tan to instantly faint, blood trickling from his seven orifices, gradually staining the ground beneath him...

"Keep your distance! Saving your life is paramount!"

One enforcer quickly retreated, drawing a gun from his waist and repeatedly pulling the trigger!

Bang bang bang—

Brass bullets pierced through the void, but before reaching the red-robed Chen Ling, they transformed into tiny red paper fragments and dissipated in mid-air.

The red-robed Chen Ling gently raised a hand, and countless paper fragments emerged from the wide sleeves of his opera robe, coiling around the two enforcers like swimming snakes.

The paper wrapping them suddenly twisted, as if wringing them like a towel, and then they fell heavily to the ground.

Audience Expectation +1

Current Expectation: 15

The red-robed Chen Ling's body gradually swelled, his opera costume stretched taut as if faces were about to erupt from beneath his skin, and chaotic whispers filled the space.

In just a few seconds, he became a monster with red paper tentacles fluttering all over, and pairs of scarlet pupils opened on the paper, no longer bearing any resemblance to Chen Ling.

It violently crashed through the paper door and surged into the deserted street. The misty rain fell on its body without making a sound.

It randomly chose a direction and shot out like a crimson blur!

Almost simultaneously, a figure in black sliced through the dark clouds, swiftly pursuing it.

"Target disaster located," Han Meng stated calmly.

"...Is it a 'World-Ending' class?" a worried voice came from the walkie-talkie.

"From its aura, it's at most Level Five. It seems a disaster did descend last night, but the pointer misjudged its energy intensity."

"Level Five is still quite dangerous! Be careful, Meng Ge!"

Han Meng remained silent. He closely followed the crimson blur to the wilderness at the edge of District Three, then suddenly plummeted like a cannonball!

Thud—!!

The black meteor crashed into the wilderness, creating an invisible shockwave!

Shattered sand splattered in all directions, and the crimson shadow was forced to a halt. Dense red paper tentacles swayed gently in the wind, and all its eyes simultaneously turned towards the dust-filled area.

A figure slowly emerged, head bowed to light a thick cigarette. Beneath the hem of his black trench coat, four silver patterns glowed faintly.

A subtle, wind-like domain invisibly expanded, engulfing the red paper monster.

"I am Han Meng, Chief Enforcer of District Three, Aurora Realm."

He held a cigarette between two fingers with one hand, while the other drew a dark pistol from his waist. His thumb flicked off the safety, and the sand and stones within his domain subtly trembled as an unseen surge of killing intent abruptly locked onto the red paper monster!

His lips parted slightly, and his words seemed to carry the rhythm of a certain law,

"I uphold the justice of human civilization..."

"And I sentence you to death."