Chapter 304: Stage and Performance

Xuan Qiong was utterly dumbfounded.

He had planned for everything, yet he never imagined that cornering Tan Xin would devolve into an extremely primitive hand-to-hand combat. Though they were Seven-Mark Enforcers, capable of world-shattering power with a mere gesture, once their divine paths were sealed, their abilities were completely neutralized. Who could have thought there was such an utterly bizarre path as "Ceasefire" in this world? One step, and all beings become equal!

Most crucially, the last time he exercised or practiced combat was when he first became an Enforcer, at least twenty or thirty years ago. After all, at the sixth and seventh ranks, who still relies on muscle power in battle?

Before he could even react, Tan Xin's body slightly lowered into a crouch. With an explosive surge of muscle power from his legs, he launched himself directly off the ground and shot towards Xuan Qiong with astonishing speed!

Whoosh—!

Xuan Qiong's vision blurred; he instinctively tried to dodge, but an iron-like fist was already whistling towards his face!

The punch sent him flying from the ground like a ragdoll; broken teeth mixed with blood sprayed from his mouth. He crashed onto the frosty, snowy ground, rolled limply twice, and then his eyes rolled back as he fainted.

Tan Xin remained in his lunge-punch stance, still rooted to the spot, his firm stance seemingly piercing deep into the earth, his figure unshakeable like a mountain.

He glanced indifferently at Xuan Qiong.

"One."

One punch, one Seven-Mark Enforcer down.

The surrounding Enforcers were completely stunned. They finally snapped out of it, attempting to draw their guns from their waists, but just as they reached, Tan Xin, like a beast, crashed into the crowd, initiating a primitive and one-sided "slaughter"!

Tan Xin's fists whistled through the cold, and one figure after another fell beneath him.

Meanwhile, outside the high walls of Aurora City, a white-clad figure, like a deity, was also unleashing a massacre above the Forbidden Sea!

The two stood back-to-back, separated by the high wall standing in the frost and snow, fighting valiantly on their respective battlefields. Behind them was humanity; before them, a future riddled with thorny despair.

Click—

The camera shutter clicked from nearby.

Wen Shilin lowered his camera. He had already immortalized this scene on film. Even from such a distance, with perhaps only two blurry figures and chaotic light and shadows in the frame, he still removed the film, looked at the thick ice and snow beneath his feet, and spoke with a complex expression: "Lin Yan..."

"Hmm?"

"Tell me, how deep should I bury it in the ice and snow for this land to forever remember Aurora City's appearance?"

Chen Ling froze. He didn't know how to answer Wen Shilin's question, or rather, it wasn't a question at all, but Wen Shilin's reluctance to part with Aurora City and his sorrow over it.

"I've been a journalist for so many years and seen too much of humanity's darkness. I often feel that human selfishness and folly are incurable. Even when this city is on the brink of collapse, some people still profit from human lives out of self-interest, there are struggles, jealousy, hatred; they hate anyone who fares better than themselves. Even though humanity in this era is already desperate and struggling enough, they still turn their aggression on their own kind, satisfying their selfish desires and venting their resentment in endless internal strife..."

"Even I sometimes think pessimistically... Let it be, let everything be destroyed; perhaps humanity doesn't deserve to continue at all..."

In Chen Ling's mind, he instantly recalled the corpse-strewn station in District 3, the chaotic Century Avenue of Aurora City. He understood Wen Shilin's meaning.

"And now?" Chen Ling asked.

Wen Shilin gave a helpless smile. After a moment's pause, he looked at the film in his hand and spoke again,

"Now, I see something different, or rather... I've changed my perspective."

"Behind every heinous organ trade, there are parents willing to sacrifice everything to find their missing children; behind every exorbitantly priced piece of coal, there is kindness willing to share warmth bought with a lifetime's savings with others; even in Aurora City's internal conflicts, even in the confrontation between 'Reappearance' and the 'Hand of Salvation,' their original intention is for the continuation of human civilization, though they have chosen different paths..."

"In truth, beauty has always been there; we've just had our eyes veiled by darkness and despair. It's like Aurora City's kites, which always soar in the sky, yet how many people bother to look up and notice them?"

Chen Ling was startled. He followed Wen Shilin's gaze and saw a red kite silently fluttering in the biting cold wind, directly above the street where Tan Xin and the numerous Enforcers were battling.

"In this era, human lives are as insignificant as dust; yet, in this era, humanity shines like the stars."

"Human infighting and selfishness always exist, but there are always those who fight with all their might for the continuation of humanity as a whole..." Wen Shilin looked at the two figures fighting desperately in the bitter cold distance and let out a long sigh, "It's just a pity that their efforts... often go unnoticed."

The moment Wen Shilin's voice faded, Chen Ling's body trembled slightly!

As if sensing something, he abruptly looked up at the sky. Simultaneously, his surroundings receded like a tide – the station, the stairs, Wen Shilin... everything was being swallowed by darkness, and a pitch-black night sky enveloped him!

At this moment... he was sinking into another space.

A crimson divine path stretched beneath his feet, congealing into steps leading to the heavens. At the end of that divine path, a brilliant star silently flickered.

Countless pairs of scarlet eyes opened on either side of the path, silently watching Chen Ling. He wore a large red opera robe, standing on the second step, having unknowingly completed most of this step...

"I... am back," Chen Ling murmured to himself.

He looked back and saw a line of tiny text still inscribed on the front part of the second step, on the path he had come from. A horizontal line had been drawn across the text, signifying that the performance was complete.

Chen Ling turned his head back, gazing at the path before him. He was now standing at the edge of the second step; if he took one more stride forward, he would be able to ascend to the third step!

And beneath his feet, another line of small text was clearly visible.

That was his final performance before ascending to the third rank. He had a premonition that once he completed this performance, he would truly enter the ranks of the third rank.

Chen Ling took a deep breath, his gaze falling upon that line of small text...

—On an unnoticed stage, bring about an ending marked by resounding applause.

Chen Ling froze on the spot.