Chapter 318: Loss of Control

The Sea of Aurora surged violently in the sky, like souls leaping with joy in the light; their applause was silent, yet in another world, it roared like thunder.

The red-robed figure, standing amidst the ruins, was quietly poised there, like an actor on a curtain call stage embracing the applause. As numerous calamities approached, his enjoyment came to an abrupt halt.

He twisted his head three hundred and sixty degrees, looking at the rapidly approaching calamities behind him. Suddenly, he opened his mouth, and a thunderous sound burst forth:

“Hah!!!”

This single syllable instantly swept across the entire ruin. Chen Ling’s voice seemed to possess a magical power, striking the souls of all humans and calamities. Simultaneously, the scarlet glow, unique to the audience, reignited in his hollow eyes!

The numerous calamities paused. This time, they genuinely felt the “world-ending” aura emanating from Chen Ling—an aura even more terrifying than the beings in the depths of the Forbidden Sea. Beneath that human shell, a grotesque and mysterious scarlet monster lurked.

Under a gentle glance from those eyes, the burning rage in the calamities' hearts suddenly extinguished, and an unspeakable terror seized their souls!

They stood frozen across the ruins, looking back towards the depths of the Forbidden Sea, momentarily at a loss for what to do.

But at this moment, the depths of the Forbidden Sea also fell silent.

Clap—!!

A crisp clap broke the oppressive silence.

The figure in the large red opera robe suddenly clapped his hands overhead, then spread his legs and squatted down. In an extremely bizarre posture, he forcefully beckoned to the numerous calamities.

“WAAAH-YAH-YAH-YAH-YAH-YAH!!!!”

A sharp, meaningless sound erupted from his throat, like the roar of an old general on a stage, glaring at his enemies while performing his movements.

Under the impact of this sound, several calamities were instantly terrified. Their fear intensified; they could even clearly feel the scarlet monster emitting killing intent. That chilling sound was both a provocation and an act of contempt towards them.

They retreated step by step, not daring to approach the red-robed figure by a single inch. And the strangeness had only just begun.

Exaggerated and vibrant colors flickered across Chen Ling’s hollow face, intertwining into patterns with completely different expressions. The five types of painted faces from Chinese opera—Sheng, Dan, Jing, Mo, Chou—flashed frantically. His aura also changed repeatedly, and his lips curved into a strange smile throughout the process.

“This is...” From the distant ruins, Queen of Clubs saw this scene, her pupils slightly contracting.

Before anyone could clearly see Chen Ling’s final face, his hands suddenly covered it, and the sense of disarray and strangeness came to an abrupt halt.

A wailing wind swept across the desolate ruins. He stood there like a red sculpture for over ten seconds.

As everyone, including the calamities, waited with bated breath, he moved.

He suddenly spread his arms wide!

A black face was revealed!

It was a face as black as the abyss, its skin and features seemingly swallowed. In place of eyes, a pair of scarlet pupils eerily opened, and below, a red, crescent-moon-like mouth curved into an exaggerated smile, stretching up to his ears. It was sinister, mocking, and sent shivers down the spine.

It was the face of the audience.

Queen of Clubs' face immediately turned grim. Her brows furrowed tightly together, deep in thought.

The other calamities were even more terrified. A ripple came from the depths of the Forbidden Sea, and several calamities in the ruins, as if receiving a command, immediately turned and retreated, all the way beyond the city walls.

The figure moved. Wearing a mocking black smiling face and draped in a large red opera robe, he glided forward with a rhythmic pace.

His wide scarlet sleeves danced in the wind. As black snowflakes fluttered onto his shoulders, his body seemed weightless, like a red butterfly in this gray world, dancing alone through the deserted street ruins.

His tiptoes touched patches of charred ground, like a dragonfly skimming over fallen leaves on water, marking the original locations of every corpse burned to ashes in the explosion.

He danced among the departed souls.

“I... see the sky weeping,”

The voice emerged from Chen Ling’s throat, carrying a rhythm that echoed across the sky above the ruins.

These simple words caused Queen of Clubs' pupils to contract sharply. She stared in disbelief at the red-robed figure dancing silently, her eyes full of incredulity!

“I hear your voice;”

“I smell longing blooming among thorns,”

“I come from the direction of the sunset...”

Four lines followed one after another. At this, even the members of the Twilight Society outside Aurora City changed their expressions.

“A requiem???” Number 10 suddenly turned to look at the city ruins. “Who is singing a requiem??”

“It’s a man’s voice... not *him*?”

“There should only be four individuals in the world who can sing the Requiem... But the others aren't in the Aurora Domain, and it’s not *him* singing... So who could it be??”

“Is there a fifth person in this world who can sing a requiem?”

“Wait, this voice... why does it sound familiar?”

Chu Muyun and Bai Ye looked towards the city ruins, their pupils unconsciously contracting as if they had realized something.

“The earth and crimson are your warm bed,”

“Frost and the setting sun are your heavy makeup;”

“I will weave hope into dancing kapok flowers,”

“Until the rocks remember the fragrance of flowers.”

“Oh, weeping ones,”

“Please gently close your eyes;”

“When dusk falls in the darkest era,”

“I will promise you the morning glow and blue sky.”

The red-robed figure, accompanied by the sound of the ballad, danced alone among the departed souls, covering nearly a hundred meters in a single step.

He roamed over the desolate, frozen ruins, completely oblivious to others' gazes, like an actor deeply engrossed in his performance.

As the final line of the ballad faded, he seemed to lose all strength. The black smiling face gradually receded, and he plunged headfirst from the top of a hundred-meter-tall shattered wall towards the charred earth.

Just as his forehead was about to hit the ground, an arm firmly caught him.

Queen of Clubs looked at the completely unconscious Chen Ling, her eyes flashing with conflict and complexity. After a long silence, she shook her head and walked straight out of the city with him.

“Are you really going to save him?” A voice rang out from behind her.

Queen of Clubs stopped. Behind her, amidst the ruins, a red-haired woman wearing an enforcer’s trench coat was quietly watching her.

“If I were you, I would kill him now... What’s inside him is definitely not simple. It’s not just a threat to humans, but to your Twilight Society as well,” Hong Xiu said in a deep voice.