Chapter 4: They Exist

"Ah-choo!!"

Chen Ling sneezed violently in the biting cold wind. As someone from the North in his previous life, he still found the weather here hard to bear. It was cold and damp, and even with a large sun hanging overhead, he couldn't feel the slightest warmth.

"Make way, make way!" A leisurely voice drifted from ahead. Chen Ling snapped out of his thoughts and instinctively moved to the side of the road.

At the end of the road, a tricycle was slowly approaching. One teenager was pedaling, while another sat on a chair behind him, with two large barrels of salt beside him. The teenager scooped up salt with a spoon and scattered it on the frosty road. As the salt grains fell, the ice on the ground gradually melted.

"Oh, Chen Ling?" The person scattering salt noticed Chen Ling by the roadside and raised an eyebrow. "Fancy seeing the big scholar here! Didn't you go for the Enforcer exam? Did you fail?"

When Chen Ling saw that face, a memory surfaced. His name was Zhao Yi, a kid who had grown up on the same street as Chen Ling. However, he was naturally envious. In high school, Chen Ling's good grades often led Zhao Yi's mother to compare him to Chen Ling, which made Zhao Yi dislike Chen Ling intensely.

"I passed the written test; there's still the martial arts test," Chen Ling replied casually from the roadside.

"Hehe, well, I wish you good luck with your exam!" As he spoke, Zhao Yi scooped up a large spoonful of salt and forcefully swung it towards the side of the road, deliberately affecting Chen Ling, who was standing there.

Flying salt grains covered Chen Ling's hair and cotton robe. He hadn't expected Zhao Yi to pull such a trick. He quickly brushed the salt off with his hand, then turned back to glare at Zhao Yi. By then, Zhao Yi, still on the tricycle, was wobbling away in the distance. He had one foot resting on a salt barrel and stuck out his tongue, making a face at Chen Ling.

As a twenty-eight-year-old adult who had experienced the harsh realities of society, Chen Ling felt a mix of anger and amusement at such a clumsy prank. However, he had no intention of chasing after the boy to beat him up. He simply made a mental note of the incident; he had more important things to do at the moment.

Just as Chen Ling was about to continue walking, his peripheral vision caught sight of the ground beneath his feet, and he paused slightly. The frost, where it had come into contact with the salt grains, was gradually melting, leaving a faint white residue on the ground. In that instant, Chen Ling saw a line of text intertwine and form:

Audience Expectation Value: 27

Before Chen Ling could react, the salt grains completely melted away, and the scene he had just witnessed seemed like a fleeting illusion. Chen Ling rubbed his eyes vigorously and muttered, "No way..." A sense of urgency resurfaced, and Chen Ling couldn't help but quicken his pace, heading straight for the clinic.

A few minutes later, Chen Ling pushed open the clinic's door. Though called a clinic, it was actually just a two-story residential house on Frost Street, square-shaped and dirt-gray. It immediately reminded Chen Ling of the houses in his rural hometown. Yet, even such a rough-looking building was considered quite decent on Frost Street; at least it had two stories and offered shelter from the wind.

"It's you," said a man in a white lab coat from behind a wooden table, turning slightly. "Are you here for your brother's medicine again? Didn't he transfer to the hospital in Sector Two?"

"It's not A-Yan this time; it's for me," Chen Ling replied. His younger brother had been hospitalized here previously, so Chen Ling was quite familiar with Dr. Lin. He walked to the table and sat down, looking somewhat nervous.

"Oh? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"

"My... my head isn't feeling quite right."

"Is it a physical headache, or is it...?"

"Lately, I seem to be experiencing hallucinations."

"Psychiatry?" Dr. Lin raised an eyebrow, adjusting his black-rimmed glasses seriously. "This is my specialty... Tell me about your condition."

"Last night, I had a dream. I dreamt I was standing on a stage, and there were many spectators below... I couldn't make out their faces, but they didn't seem human. I ran desperately on the stage, but I could never find an exit..."

"Dream interpretation isn't within my scope of practice."

"I know," Chen Ling took a deep breath. "But after I woke up, I kept feeling like... they were still watching me."

Hearing this, Dr. Lin finally showed interest. "You imagine being spied upon?"

"It doesn't feel like imagination... They seem to be right inside my head, sitting in the audience, observing my every move. I feel like an actor forced to perform, merely a tool to entertain them."

"Are you saying your life is a stage, and you are the sole protagonist on it?"

"The meaning is right... but it's not as positive as you make it sound."

"And the audience? Do they do anything else besides observe you?"

Chen Ling was silent for a moment. "I don't know if it's my imagination... but they seem to be able to affect things around me."

"Affect reality? That sounds a bit mystical," Dr. Lin said, picking up his mug and taking a sip. Just as he was about to say something, his expression suddenly changed!

*Pfft!*

Dr. Lin spat out a mouthful of crimson blood, which splattered onto the floor.

"Dr. Lin??" Chen Ling was startled. "Are you ill?"

"...No, that's not right." Dr. Lin wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. It wasn't his blood. He frowned in thought for a moment, then his gaze fell on the mug at the corner of the table... At some point, the mug had become filled with viscous blood. Dr. Lin's face was grim. He clearly remembered brewing a bag of Pu-erh tea in it just a minute ago. During this time, only he and Chen Ling were in the clinic. Chen Ling had been under his constant observation, making it impossible and without motive for him to switch the tea. The full mug of blood had appeared as if by magic, strangely.

Chen Ling also seemed to realize something, and his face grew even paler. "Just as I said," he spoke hoarsely. "They... might truly exist."

Dr. Lin stared at the cup of blood for a long time before slowly looking at Chen Ling. "How long has this been going on?"

"One day," Chen Ling paused. "Only one day since I became fully conscious."

"And before you were conscious? What were you doing?"

"I..." A scene suddenly flashed in Chen Ling's mind: him stumbling through heavy rain last night. "I don't know, I can't remember clearly."

"So, you're not sure if this symptom started last night, and you have no memory before last night?"

"...Yes."

"Have you ever been possessed by a 'Calamity'?" Dr. Lin adjusted his glasses. "Or, let me rephrase that: last night... did you encounter a Gray Realm convergence?"