Chapter 83: Performance Ends

As soon as that was said, the other two enforcers rushed over like arrows.

"Someone's still alive?!"

"Wait... how is it him?"

Seeing Chen Ling, who was the only one still clinging to a thread of life, both men's eyes widened in surprise.

"He must have been cut open in the abdomen during the fight, losing too much blood," one enforcer said, hesitating as he looked at Five Marks. "If we don't do something, he's really going to die..."

"Should we save him?"

Everyone who entered the Ancient Repository had died. Only Chen Ling, whom they had expected to die, had miraculously survived. They marveled at the unpredictability of fate, yet found themselves unsure of what to do.

"Save him?!" the Five Marks enforcer swore angrily. "Are you out of your minds?! He's the only one left in the entire Enforcer team! If he dies, who will explain what happened here to Aurora City?!"

"Save him! At all costs! Get him back on his feet!!"

The two enforcers immediately began to assist Chen Ling. Lacking proper medical equipment, they could only give him a simple bandage before quickly carrying him out of the Ancient Repository of Military Paths.

As they departed, the Ancient Repository of Military Paths fell silent once more...

Across the corpse-strewn wilderness, tendrils of killing intent extended from the deepest part of the black giant sword, coiling around one of the bodies like snakes, pouring into it furiously.

A few short seconds later;

Jian Changsheng's dark red pupils snapped open!

In the center of the dimly lit stage.

Chen Ling, dressed in a large red opera robe, slowly opened his eyes.

"Phew..." He instinctively touched his lower abdomen and let out a sigh of relief, as if a great burden had been lifted.

To deceive the three enforcers, Chen Ling had no choice but to commit seppuku, the slowest and most agonizing method of suicide. If he had shot himself in the head, his resurrection would have been too quick; the enforcers might not have found him before his wounds healed.

Dying from blood loss was the only way to maximize the duration of the death process, and even after resurrection, it wouldn't be too shocking. However, the drawback was... this method of dying was incredibly painful.

"Shooting myself in the head would have been quicker."

Chen Ling slowly rose from the stage. His gaze fell upon the audience. Although the recent confrontation between the audience and the desolate tomb had been somewhat unexpected, there seemed to be no change currently... those countless crimson eyes were still fixed on him.

Chen Ling had grown accustomed to this eerie scrutiny. He walked straight to the screen and looked down.

As expected, after his bloodletting suicide, the audience's expectation value decreased by 50, dropping from 72 to 22, teetering on the brink of losing control. The good news was that in the bottom right corner of the screen, a treasure chest icon was flashing again.

Chen Ling reached out and lightly tapped the treasure chest.

*Thump-thump-thump—!*

Accompanied by spirited music, a table materialized in the center of the stage. On the white paper in the middle of the tabletop, several lines of text quickly appeared:

"Congratulations on completing the play, 'No One Left Alive'."

"Highest audience expectation value for this play: 72"

"You have received one designated draw right."

"Upon use, you can select any character who appeared in this play and randomly draw one of their abilities. The probability of drawing a rare skill is related to the overall audience expectation value of this play."

'As expected, completing the performance task on the stone steps means completing a play...' Chen Ling thought to himself.

In the void before him, pages of paper materialized.

"You're awake?" As Chen Ling opened his eyes, Chu Muyun's voice drifted from nearby.

"Where were you when they colluded with the enforcers, forcing ordinary people to their deaths one after another?!" "Where was your right to investigate?! Your right to enforce the law?!"

The corners of his mouth curved uncontrollably upward, as if he were performing some ritual, muttering, "The performance... begins."

Words continued to appear on the script, detailing all of Chen Ling's experiences during this period. Seeing his life compiled into a script once more, Chen Ling felt little emotion...

Or rather, he had become numb to it.

When he finished reading the last line of the play, he slowly closed it. At the same moment, his vision blurred.

He felt as if he had returned to that dream. The spotlight above him rapidly dimmed, endless night enveloped the world, and an unreachable star hung overhead. Only a winding, blood-red path, radiating an eerie aura, stretched towards the sky.

At that moment, Chen Ling stood upon the first step of this path.

Complete a performance with at least fifty participants, ensuring no one is left alive after the performance.

As the script in Chen Ling's hand shimmered, the second step before him trembled slightly. The small text on its surface vanished, and then a surge of pure spiritual energy erupted from his mind!

To be honest, Chen Ling didn't really know what spiritual energy was, and had barely ever perceived it. But at this moment, it was as if a gushing spring had appeared at his feet, pouring wildly into his body from this twisted divine path.

His entire body felt cleansed, and his previously exhausted spirit rapidly recovered.

"So, I only qualify to advance to the next step after completing the performance task above..."

Chen Ling looked thoughtfully at the step, which had returned to its original state.

He tentatively lifted his foot, attempting to step onto the second stair.

His foot easily passed through the former invisible barrier, but as he took the step, the spiritual energy in his mind rapidly depleted. Even after all his spiritual energy was exhausted, his toes had barely touched the step.

Only a few days had passed since he stepped onto the first stage; it was too soon to hope to ascend to the second stage in one go.

Fortunately, the barrier to the second stage was now removed, and stepping onto it was only a matter of time... Chen Ling withdrew his extended foot.

The next moment, his surroundings quickly shattered, and he found himself back in the center of the stage.

Holding the script, Chen Ling looked around.

Countless cards fluttered in the air before neatly settling onto the table. The small text that had originally been on the paper all vanished.

In its place, a brief message appeared:

"Please write the name of the character you wish to draw on the paper."

Chen Ling picked up the pen and, with barely any hesitation, wrote a name on the paper—

Jian Changsheng.

Chen Ling certainly had other options, such as the Usurpers. While their face-stealing ability was useless to Chen Ling, "item theft" and "light theft" (used by No. 8) were quite good. There was also the 'Seal' character from the Book God's Path.

The key issue was that he would have no opportunity to use these skills once he 'stole' them... or rather, learned them!

If Chen Ling wanted to properly maintain his disguise as an enforcer in the open, he needed a respectable and justifiable first-tier ability from the Military God's Path. Currently, only two first-tier abilities had appeared: Jian Changsheng's and others...

Chen Ling had personally witnessed the terror of the Asura Path. A single first-tier ability could transform Jian Changsheng, a self-proclaimed loser, into a super genius, capable of fighting Chen Ling to a standstill.

All things considered, Jian Changsheng's first tier of the Asura Path was his best choice.

As Chen Ling wrote Jian Changsheng's name, all other cards on the table vanished.

Only a single blue card remained, lying before him.