Chapter 355: Fall

"Is he serious?" a judge muttered, frowning, from below the stage. "Is he really going to make Old Sun appear?"

"How is that possible? Unless he and Old Sun conspired beforehand..."

"Wait, did they really conspire? Otherwise, why hasn't Old Sun shown up yet?"

"Are you crazy? Do you know how much Wu Shaohua gave..." The judge paused, shaking his head quietly. "Absolutely impossible. You all know Old Sun's character. How could he cooperate with such an inexplicable person? And if he really did cooperate, wouldn't that be a slap in our own troupe's face? Old Sun isn't that kind of person."

"True, none of us are clean; we're all in the same boat. Where could he possibly jump to?"

"And this person in red clearly doesn't understand the rules. He actually wants to compete with Wu Shaohua on scores, and the scores aren't even determined by us... It seems he's truly a greenhorn."

"I bet Old Sun has forgotten the time again, playing with some girl in a room... Hmph, wasn't it like this last time?"

"I'd like to see how this guy plans to wrap things up."

The judges exchanged a few quiet words, feeling reassured, and looked at Chen Ling on stage with a hint of mockery.

On stage, Director Zhou squinted at Chen Ling. "All right, how are you going to make him appear?"

Chen Ling pushed an empty cart from behind the curtain, placing it in the center of the stage. Then, from who knows where, he produced a theatrical robe and gently draped it over the cart.

Under the spotlight, he snapped his fingers, gesturing for Director Zhou to step forward.

"You just stand here and keep waving the robe."

"That's it?"

"Yes, it's that simple."

Director Zhou's gaze swept over the cart in front of him. He was all too familiar with it; it was just an ordinary cart used for transporting props in their troupe, with no hidden mechanisms or compartments. There was only a pungent smell... like gasoline?

He glanced at Chen Ling, his expression gradually turning displeased.

"Are you playing games with me??"

At this point, Director Zhou didn't believe Chen Ling's so-called magic at all. Perhaps this guy was just bored and looking for amusement, because waving a theatrical robe over an empty cart looked utterly idiotic from the audience's perspective!

"I wouldn't dare," Chen Ling said with a smile. "I've made a bet. If I were playing games with you, would I still be able to walk out that door?"

Director Zhou frowned slightly. He glanced at Wu Shaohua, who was watching the show from the audience with folded arms, then gave a cold snort. Finally, he took the robe from Chen Ling. Although he didn't know what this person intended, if he was truly doing this to make a fool of him, he would certainly be dealt with soon enough.

Director Zhou stood in front of the cart, his face full of reluctance, and vigorously waved the theatrical robe in his hands. The colorful robe rustled in the air, dancing like waves.

At the same time, Chen Ling smiled and walked to the edge of the stage, gently pressing several light switches.

Click.

The stage lights abruptly went out.

Immediately after, a dark silhouette suddenly fell from the metal rigging above the stage, plummeting rapidly towards the swaying robe below!

Thud!!

"Ahhh!!"

A low thud sounded, as if a heavy object had crashed down, accompanied by Director Zhou's screams. The darkened auditorium suddenly erupted in commotion!

"What happened??"

"Did something fall??"

"What's going on?? Why does it sound like a pig being slaughtered?"

"It's Director Zhou, Director Zhou is yelling?!"

The judges also sat in the dark, stunned, unsure of what was happening. Just as they were about to do something, the lights came back on!

A spotlight shone directly down from above the dark stage, hot and bright like a sword of light piercing from the heavens. In the center of this sole circle of light, the cart stood still, while Director Zhou held his broken wrist, wailing in pain.

"Arghhh... Damn it... What was that... What hit me?!"

"You son of a bitch, I knew you didn't call me up here for anything good..."

Director Zhou's voice abruptly cut off. Under the vertical glare of the hot light beam, he clearly saw the scene before him...

The colorful theatrical robe was now crumpled and pressed onto the cart's surface, with drops of crimson blood flowing along its edges, staining the stage. In the center of the cart, a bloated, bloody body lay twisted.

It was a man, tied up with ropes, dead. There was a small, bloody hole in his neck, as if pierced by a sharp object. His eyes, round with anger and lifelessness, stared fixedly at Director Zhou, as if wishing to devour him alive!

Most eerily, his mouth was now bulging, and his clothes were lumpy all over, as if filled with something...

"Ah... Ahhhhhh?!!!"

Director Zhou saw that familiar face, froze for two seconds, then his face turned as pale as death, and he collapsed to the ground, screaming suddenly!!

"Director Sun?!! It's Director Sun?!!!"

"He really appeared... but... but how he looks..."

"Dead!! It's a dead body!!"

"Oh my god, he's really dead! It looks like he fell from the rigging above the stage!!"

"What's stuffed in his mouth? It looks horrifying!!"

An unprecedented commotion erupted from the audience. Everyone watched the stage in terror, their eyes filled with shock and disbelief, especially the judges in the front row. They could clearly see every detail on Director Sun's corpse, and this bizarre and gruesome scene undoubtedly caused them immense psychological trauma!

"This... this..." They stared wide-eyed, their expressions completely blank, as if they hadn't yet recovered.

Just moments ago, they were discussing which woman Director Sun was sleeping with, and thinking of sending someone to call him... The next moment, Director Sun fell from the sky, appearing on stage!

They had asked Chen Ling to make Director Sun appear, and Chen Ling had done it;

Except,

It was in a way they had never imagined.

"...Brother Lin?"

Li Qingshan was also startled by the scene. He swallowed, moving his gaze from Director Sun's corpse to the tall, red-clad figure standing smiling at the front of the stage... His eyes were filled with confusion.

In a corner of the crowd, the injured girl stared blankly at the stage, at the foul-smelling face stuffed with something. She stood motionless like a statue.

Liu Qingyan had seen that face not long ago... that ugly, obscene, perverse, lecherous middle-aged face. She would never forget what that face had done to her, nor the ugly marks it had left on her body and in her soul!

As she looked at that pained and twisted face on stage, an unprecedented surge of satisfaction suddenly welled up within her, as if the pent-up depression in her heart had finally burst forth!

She stood in the dark corner, looking at the corpse in the spotlight of judgment.

On her pale, small face... her smile was as bright as sunlight.