Chapter 9: Dad, I'm Hungry

"Perhaps that 'Calamity' was too weak... and a single axe blow was enough to kill it completely," Li Xiuchun suggested another possibility.

Chen Tan didn't reply. He stared at the figure in the pool of blood for a long time before turning to retrieve a cleaver from the kitchen.

"What are you doing?"

"I need to open his chest and see if his heart is still there," Chen Tan said hoarsely. "At least I need to know... whether I killed a monster or the salvation given by God."

He knelt beside Chen Ling's corpse and struggled to cut open the chest with the blade. Li Xiuchun, her face pale, turned and rushed into the kitchen, vomiting violently.

A few minutes later, Chen Tan slowly stood up.

"Well?" Li Xiuchun asked.

"Empty," Chen Tan said, looking at the empty cavity inside the chest, as if relieved. "He has no heart."

"No heart? Then how did he..."

"I don't know." Chen Tan paused. "Whatever it was... it's dead now."

"What should we do with the body?"

"Let's hide it in the cellar... The law enforcers are everywhere outside; we can't take it out."

Chen Tan dragged the corner of the living room table aside and opened a heavy wooden board on the floor, revealing a dark, narrow underground space.

In an era without refrigerators, relying on the natural insulation of a cellar was the best option for storing food. He was about to put Chen Ling in but stopped when he saw the horrific wound on his neck.

"Go get A-Yan's costume," Chen Tan said. "Whatever it is, this is still A-Ling's body... If he can't have a coffin burial, at least let him wear something decent."

At the mention of the costume, Li Xiuchun trembled slightly.

"But last night... he came back wearing that very outfit..."

"It's just a piece of clothing," Chen Tan was about to retort, but recalling the horrifying sight of Chen Ling returning home last night, he didn't press the issue. "Never mind, let's just leave it."

Chen Tan dropped Chen Ling's body into the cellar, covered it with the wooden board, and then pushed the table back over it, finally putting an end to the matter.

Next, Li Xiuchun began to clean the bloodstains in the house. Although the sight made her continuously nauseous, she pinched her nose and continued.

Knock, knock, knock—

Urgent knocking suddenly sounded at the door.

Li Xiuchun, who was cleaning, missed a beat in her heart and whipped her head around to look at Chen Tan.

"Someone's here?"

"Ignore them for now; pretend no one's home."

Li Xiuchun nodded. Both held their breath in the living room, with only the dull knocking echoing persistently.

However, the knocking showed no signs of stopping; instead, it grew louder and more insistent. Then, a deep voice came from the door:

"Law enforcers! Open the door immediately!"

Hearing the words "law enforcers," both their faces instantly paled. After a moment of hesitation, Chen Tan gave Li Xiuchun a glance, quickly changed his shirt — leaving some buttons unfastened — and walked towards the door.

Creak—

The door opened a crack.

Chen Tan slipped outside, closing the door behind him with his backhand. "Officer, is there something I can help you with?"

A light drizzle fell from the gloomy sky. Two figures in black and red uniforms stood outside, their expressions somewhat grim.

"We've been knocking for a long time. Why didn't you open the door?"

"I was sleeping just now, and it took me a moment to get dressed," he chuckled awkwardly.

The two law enforcers glanced at his unbuttoned shirt, and their expressions relaxed slightly. "Is this Chen Ling's house?"

"...Yes."

"Where is he?"

"He left this morning and hasn't returned yet."

"When he returns, please give him this notice." One of the officers pulled out a document from his pocket. "Districts Two and Three are currently under complete lockdown. All provisional law enforcers who passed the written examination are being temporarily summoned to assemble, and he is on the list.

They are to gather at the District Three Law Enforcement Headquarters tomorrow at 7 AM sharp. Failure to appear will be considered an automatic forfeiture of the position."

Chen Tan's heart skipped a beat, but he accepted the notice without a change in expression and nodded.

"Alright, I'll make sure he gets it."

The two law enforcers turned and left. Chen Tan breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Scraaaape—scraaaape—

The moment he entered, a piercing metallic scraping sound assaulted his ears, like sharp nails dragging across a blackboard, sending an instant shiver down Chen Tan's spine.

At that moment, Li Xiuchun was huddled in a corner, trembling uncontrollably.

Seeing Chen Tan return to the house, her nearly broken eyes finally lifted. She slowly extended a hand and pointed towards the kitchen...

In the kitchen, a crimson figure stood with its back to them, head lowered, seemingly chewing something.

At the sight of that back, Chen Tan's mind went blank instantly!

It was a young man whose neck was almost severed, but the crimson flesh was healing at a visible rate. He held a cleaver in his left hand and a blood-stained axe in his right, simultaneously stuffing them into his mouth...

As if sensing Chen Tan's return, the figure draped in a large red opera robe slowly turned around in the kitchen.

It was Chen Ling, Chen Ling without a heart, almost beheaded.

His cheeks were slightly puffed out as he fiercely chewed on the remnants of metal and wood. His unfocused eyes resembled those of a beast, eerie and chilling.

"Dad."

A voice sounded from behind him. "I'm hungry..."

Chen Ling had a dream.

It was an overcast afternoon.

As usual, he had just finished his workout at the suburban training ground and, sweating profusely, pushed open his front door.

It wasn't his birthday that day, but a cream cake sat on the dining table... Orange candlelight flickered in the dimly lit living room, illuminating two figures seated at the table, their eyes red-rimmed.

A single cream cake, costing 200 copper coins, was an expense their family could absolutely never afford on a normal day.

He was puzzled and asked what day it was.

His parents told him it was the day his younger brother A-Yan was scheduled for surgery.

He was overjoyed to hear this. His brother's congenital heart disease had been a nightmare for their family. To cure his brother, his parents and he had run everywhere, pleading for help, but every clinic had been helpless.

A few days prior, his parents had said they found a hospital in District Two and sent his brother there, confident they could cure him.

Hearing this good news, he happily finished the cake, but soon his consciousness grew hazy, and he slumped onto the table. The last image he saw was his mother, Li Xiuchun, covering her mouth and sobbing bitterly.

"I'm sorry... truly sorry," he heard his father whisper. "A-Yan's illness needs a heart... You'd be willing, wouldn't you?"

He opened his mouth, as if to answer something, but ultimately fell into a coma.

Then, he felt himself being stuffed into a bag. Rain pattered against the bag's surface, and after a long time, he was finally lifted onto a table.

He felt his chest being cut open, and something was removed from inside.

After that, he was dressed in an outfit and moved to another location in the heavy rain. Thick soil gradually covered his body, and everything around him plunged into darkness and silence...

In the darkness, Chen Ling's eyes suddenly opened.

Spotlights illuminated one after another overhead, shining on the red-clad figure lying in the center of the stage. After a moment of disorientation, Chen Ling propped himself up with his hands and shakily stood.

"Damn it... how am I back again?"

Chen Ling's face was pale. His gaze instinctively fell upon the screen in the center of the stage, and his pupils suddenly constricted.

Audience Anticipation: 1Audience Anticipation: 1Current Anticipation: 67Loss of actor connection detected, performance interrupted.Audience Anticipation: 50Current Anticipation: 17Warning! Warning!Audience is intervening in the performance!

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