Chapter 2: We Are Watching You

"Is it... a ghost?"

Frenzied rain battered the cold window, and their hearts flickered like a candle flame.

"I... I don't know," the woman swallowed. "Should we call the authorities?"

"Are you insane!"

At the mention of the authorities, the terrified man finally regained some composure.

"Once the authorities get involved, what we did will definitely be exposed... Absolutely not!"

"Then... what about him?"

The woman paused for a moment. "Do you think... a 'Calamity' has possessed A-Ling's body?"

They both looked at the tightly closed bedroom door and fell silent again.

After a long while, the man seemed to make up his mind, took a black raincoat from by the door, and pushed it open to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"To where we buried the body!"

"Now? What for?"

"'To confirm,' he said hoarsely, rain streaking down his pale face. 'Whatever is in the room right now... it absolutely cannot be A-Ling! I need to see his body with my own eyes.'"

"I'll go with you!"

No one wanted to go out in such a thunderstorm, but compared to being alone with whatever was sleeping in the bedroom, the woman preferred the former.

In the heavy rain, two figures in raincoats hurried away.

Bedroom.

Chen Ling, already deep in sleep, his eyelashes suddenly trembled slightly, as if he was having a nightmare.

In his dream, his consciousness continued to sink, as if falling into a bottomless cavern. After an unknown period, he felt as though he landed on a hard surface, finally steadying himself.

Thump—thump—thump—thump—

A dull mechanical sound echoed, followed by beams of light, like swords, piercing the darkness and converging on a figure in red.

Chen Ling instinctively shielded his eyes with his hand.

"Where... am I?"

Chen Ling's muddled consciousness gradually cleared. After his eyes adjusted to the intense light, he looked around in confusion.

Within the range of the light beams, he could only see the vermillion theatrical robe he was wearing, the old wooden floor beneath his feet, and a corner of a black curtain behind him that was also illuminated by the light... Beyond the beams lay endless unknown and darkness.

Seeing this scene, Chen Ling was suddenly taken aback.

He seemed to remember something, narrowing his eyes as he looked up. The light beams illuminating him came from spotlights fixed on a steel frame.

"A stage?"

As a working director at a theater, Chen Ling was intimately familiar with stages. In his previous life, up until he was killed by a falling light, he had been meticulously planning stage positions. His knowledge and understanding of stages surpassed even that of the actors.

So his first reaction at that moment was that he had somehow traveled back again.

No... that's not right.

The stage lighting at the theater he worked at in his previous life was better than this, the curtains weren't black, and the floor wasn't this old wooden type.

So, was he dreaming?

Chen Ling cautiously took a step, and the old floorboards let out a grating creak. As he was about to step out of the light circle, another beam of light followed his steps, tracking him into the darkness.

"A spotlight?" Chen Ling's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively called out,

"Who's there?!"

The fact that these lights could follow him meant there was a high probability they were manually operated, unless this place also had a fully automated spotlight system, which seemed almost impossible given the age of the stage.

"Who's there..."

"Who's there..."

"There..."

Chen Ling's voice echoed in the darkness, growing increasingly eerie and chilling.

At the same time, an electronic screen at the edge of the stage suddenly lit up.

In stage design, this position is usually for a teleprompter, to prevent actors or hosts from forgetting their lines mid-performance. But on the screen now, there was a string of red characters—

Audience Expectation: 29

In the bottom left corner of the screen, there were a few more words,

"Please do not let the audience expectation fall below 20, or the theater cannot guarantee the actor's personal safety."

Seeing this screen, Chen Ling felt a bit bewildered...

Audience? Where did an audience come from?

Thump—thump—thump—

The familiar sound of lights turning on echoed again!

The darkness in front of the stage receded like a tide, revealing hundreds of wooden chairs stretching back in tiered rows, densely packed around the stage.

The auditorium.

These three words appeared in Chen Ling's mind.

It was reasonable for an auditorium to appear where there was a stage, but what truly sent shivers down Chen Ling's spine wasn't that fact, but rather that at some unknown point...

These seats were already filled with 'audience members.'

They were humanoid figures cloaked in shadow; even with sufficient lighting, Chen Ling couldn't make out their forms, as if they were embodiments of the abyss.

The only exception was their eyes.

Countless scarlet pupils opened in the dim light. They sat in their wooden chairs, watching Chen Ling on stage, like a group of cats cornering a mouse, their gazes mocking and greedy.

Chen Ling felt a chill down his neck under their gaze. He didn't know what these 'audience members' were, but they certainly weren't human!

Chen Ling forced himself not to look at those terrifying eyes, turned around, and sprinted to the other end of the stage.

Logically, stage exits were usually on both sides; if he could just leave the stage, he should be able to temporarily escape those monstrous things!

The spotlight locked onto the running figure in red, tracking him as he raced straight to the edge of the stage, only to be met by a bare wall.

Chen Ling froze.

Disbelieving, he ran to the other side of the stage, but it was the same.

This stage... had no exits at all.

In the dimly lit auditorium, the dense scarlet pupils moved continuously, following his escape, like a group of 'audience members' deeply engrossed in a spectacular performance, utterly focused.

And the protagonist of this performance was Chen Ling in red, on stage.

At the same time, the characters on the display screen in the center of the stage flickered... The Audience Expectation value jumped from 29 to 30.

Damn it, what kind of messed-up nightmare was this!

Chen Ling pinched himself hard, trying to wake himself from the dream, but apart from a familiar sensation of pain, there was no sign of him waking up.

Intermission over, please continue your performance

Another line of characters appeared on the screen, followed by a crisp ringing sound that suddenly came from above the stage!

Ding-a-ling—

Before Chen Ling could react, the scene before his eyes shattered piece by piece, and his consciousness rapidly blurred...

Before he lost consciousness, he vaguely saw the vast and mysterious black curtain behind him slowly parting!

Chen Ling jolted upright in bed!

The bedsheet was soaked with cold sweat, his chest heaved violently, and his eyes were filled with terror.

He swallowed hard, his gaze slowly scanning his surroundings. Only after confirming he was in his own room and not that damned stage did he finally relax.

"Was it a dream? This dream was too bizarre."

He calmed himself down, got out of bed, and went to the living room.

By now, the rain outside had mostly stopped, but the sky was still dim. Chen Ling called out for his parents several times, but no one answered; the entire house was silent.

"Gone to work so early?" Chen Ling murmured to himself.

Chen Ling rubbed his rumbling stomach. Last night's nightmare seemed to have drained too much of his energy; he felt as if he was floating when he walked. Left with no choice, he went into the kitchen to find something to eat first.

Just as he stepped in, he tripped over something. Looking down,

it was the remains of a bucket, as if gnawed by a wild beast.

What happened to this bucket? Did the cold weather crack it?

Chen Ling couldn't recall what had happened last night at all. He muttered in suspicion, then picked up the bucket and placed it in the corner. He then turned to find a rag, intending to wipe up the water spilled on the floor.

As he knelt down, he froze.

The water stains on the floor began to slide on their own, as if an invisible figure was squatting opposite him, dipping a fingertip in the water and writing something on the ground.

The next moment, the transparent water stains visibly turned blood-red, and a twisted, bizarre message was outlined before Chen Ling.

—We are watching you.