Chen Yan

Rip—!

A figure in an opera robe squeezed half its body out of the Red-Paper Monster, hanging upside down in midair.

Sensing that Chen Ling was about to return, the Red-Paper Monster began struggling frantically. Its body kept turning transparent, like paper soaked by rain, growing thinner and thinner.

Chen Ling hung from it, flying close to the ground and swaying wildly, so dizzy that the world spun around him.

The tear in the paper surface kept writhing, seemingly trying to swallow Chen Ling back inside. Chen Ling, meanwhile, braced himself desperately with his upper body, fighting against it through the dizziness!

Just then, a drenched youth ran across the devastated earth, charging straight toward them!

"Brother!!"

A hand grabbed Chen Ling's arm and yanked him down hard!

Chen Ling felt a surge of strength bolster him. His lower body broke free of the paper, and he passed through the gap between the Theater and reality before crashing heavily onto the ground!

The instant Chen Ling escaped, the paper monster in the air completely melted away, as if it had never existed.

Chen Ling, draped in a bright red opera robe, lay flat on his back in the muddy earth, breathing heavily.

The rain clouds overhead were dark and oppressive, scattered droplets sliding down from the tips of his hair.

Through the spinning haze, Chen Ling saw a familiar face appear before him, anxiously shaking his body.

"Brother! Brother!! Are you okay?"

The dizziness gradually faded. Chen Ling focused his gaze and froze for a moment.

"A-Yan? Why are you here?"

The youth before him was none other than his younger brother, Chen Yan.

In the original owner's memories, Chen Ling had taken pride in only two things throughout his life.

The first was getting into the Enforcers through his own efforts. The second was having a younger brother like Chen Yan.

That was not to say Chen Yan was particularly clever or gifted. Quite the opposite—Chen Yan was not smart. His grades ranked near the bottom of his class, and he stammered whenever he spoke with others. He was the kind of child most likely to be bullied at school.

But ever since Chen Yan was still running around in split-crotch pants, he had followed Chen Ling everywhere every day. Whatever Chen Ling told him to do, Chen Yan did. Even when Chen Ling had mischievously buried him in sand as a child and nearly suffocated him, Chen Yan's first reaction after being rescued had not been to cry, but to grin foolishly at him.

From then on, Chen Ling took Chen Yan with him wherever he went, and no matter what he did, Chen Yan trusted him unconditionally.

Chen Ling was ordinary, but through Chen Yan's eyes, he saw a different version of himself... someone worthy of admiration.

"I... I..." The soaked youth was somewhat incoherent.

"After I woke up from the surgery, I kept waiting at the hospital for you to come pick me up... Then, then I heard people outside saying a World-Ending Calamity had invaded, and I got really worried about you.

"I slipped out while the people at the hospital weren't paying attention. I was going home to find you, and then I saw you hanging from a monster..."

"Weren't the Second District and Third District locked down? How did you get here?"

"It seemed like the Enforcers didn't have enough people. They only sealed off the outside of the Second and Third Districts, but there weren't many guards stationed between the two districts, so I snuck over."

Chen Ling shook his head and finally managed to sit up. Looking at the worried face before him, his feelings were impossibly complicated.

Li Xiuchun and Chen Tan had plotted to murder him so they could give his heart to Chen Yan... to save his life.

In a sense, Chen Yan had caused Chen Ling's death.

But on second thought, Chen Yan himself knew nothing about any of it. He was only a fifteen-year-old boy. All he knew was that his parents said they had a way to cure him, so he obediently lay down on the operating table...

Even after being cured, he would never know that the heart beating in his chest had come from his brother.

At that thought, Chen Ling's eyes held a faint trace of sorrow as he looked at him.

"Brother... did you kill someone?"

Chen Yan looked toward Han Meng, whose body was covered in blood. His youthful face had gone pale as paper.

"I didn't kill him." Chen Ling answered instinctively. "That wasn't me, it was..."

But before he could finish, he froze.

He did not know how to explain any of this to Chen Yan.

Chen Yan had seen him emerge from the Red-Paper Monster with his own eyes. And now, Chen Ling had a vicious wound across his neck and was covered in blood. No matter how one looked at him, he did not resemble a normal human... Should he tell him there was a group of "Audience" members in his mind? That he had been possessed just now?

Chen Ling's thoughts were a mess. He had inherited the original owner's memories, as well as his feelings for his younger brother. Deep down, he was even somewhat afraid... afraid that Chen Yan, like their parents, would see him as a monster.

But Chen Yan merely looked at him quietly, without the slightest fear in his chestnut-colored eyes.

After thinking seriously for a while, he walked to Han Meng's side and used all his strength to hoist him onto his back. Then, swaying unsteadily, he headed deeper into the wilderness.

"What are you doing?" Chen Ling was stunned.

The youth's thin frame carried Han Meng, who weighed nearly twice as much as him. Every step left a deep mark in the wet wilderness.

Even so, he gritted his teeth and staggered onward.

"Brother, he's a Law Enforcer."

"I know."

"Killing a Law Enforcer is a serious crime. Once they find out, no matter whether you killed him or not... they'll come to kill you."

"...I know, I..."

"Brother," Chen Yan said softly.

"I'll help you bury him."

Seeing the determination and sincerity in Chen Yan's eyes, Chen Ling's heart trembled slightly.

He stood there blankly for a long while before finally finishing the second half of his sentence.

"No... A-Yan, what I mean is... he's not dead yet!"

Chen Yan:?

The bewildered Chen Yan turned around, just in time to see Han Meng's eyelids tremble behind him. He let out a faint groan, seeming about to wake up.

He cried out in surprise and lost his balance, falling to one side. Han Meng, still unconscious on his back, tumbled to the ground with a thud.

In his daze, Han Meng slowly opened his eyes into a narrow slit...

A red figure suddenly rushed to his side, raised a fist high, and smashed it into the back of his head!

Bang—!

Han Meng, who had just been about to wake up, only felt a sharp pain at the back of his head before his eyes rolled back and he fainted again.

Chen Ling shook his aching hand and let out a long breath.

That had been close. This guy had almost turned the tables on him!

Through the stage curtain earlier, Chen Ling had seen the entire battle between Han Meng and the Red-Paper Monster. He did not know what sort of special ability the man had used, but without the Red-Paper Monster, he would certainly be no match for him.

"Go."

After knocking Han Meng unconscious, Chen Ling glanced at the rain that was falling harder and harder, then immediately pulled Chen Yan away from the place.

Han Meng was not the only Law Enforcer in the Third District. He might have appeared here only because he was the fastest... If they delayed any longer, they would not be able to escape once the other Law Enforcers arrived.

Han Meng lay stiffly unconscious in the pit as the two youths' figures gradually disappeared into the distance.

The heavy rain washed over the devastated wilderness. Mud flowed across the ground, erasing every trace of their footprints. A few minutes later, a group of figures in black-and-red uniforms hurried over...