Chen Yan

Riiip—

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

Sensing Chen Ling's imminent return, the Red-Paper Monster began struggling frantically. Its body kept turning transparent, like a sheet of paper soaked by rain, growing thinner and thinner.

Suspended from it, Chen Ling skimmed along the ground, swaying so violently that he felt dizzy and disoriented.

The tear in the paper writhed continuously, as if trying to swallow Chen Ling back inside. Chen Ling braced his upper body with all his strength, enduring the dizziness as he wrestled against it!

Just then, a drenched boy ran across the devastated earth, heading straight toward them!

"Brother!!"

A hand seized Chen Ling's arm and yanked him downward!

Chen Ling felt a surge of strength bolster him. His lower body tore free from the paper, and his whole body passed through the gap between the Theater and reality before crashing heavily to the ground!

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

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

Rain clouds hung dark and oppressive overhead, scattered droplets sliding down from the tips of his hair.

As the world spun around him, Chen Ling saw a familiar face appear before his eyes, anxiously shaking him.

"Brother! Brother!! Are you okay?"

The dizziness gradually faded. Chen Ling focused his eyes and froze slightly.

"A-Yan? Why are you here?"

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

In the original owner's memories, Chen Ling had only ever been proud of two things in his life.

First, earning his way into the Enforcers through his own efforts; second, having a younger brother like Chen Yan.

That was not to say Chen Yan was especially clever or talented. Quite the opposite—Chen Yan was not smart. His grades ranked near the bottom of his class, and he stammered when speaking with others. He was the sort of child most likely to be bullied at school.

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

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

Chen Ling was ordinary, but in Chen Yan's eyes, he saw a different version of himself... a self someone admired.

"I... I..." The soaked boy was so flustered that he could barely form a coherent sentence.

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

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

"Weren't Districts Two and Three locked down? How did you get here?"

"The law enforcers seemed to be short-handed. They only sealed off the outside of Districts Two and Three, but there weren't many people stationed between the two districts, so I sneaked over."

Chen Ling shook his head and finally managed to sit up. Looking at the face full of concern before him, he felt indescribably conflicted.

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

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

But on further thought, Chen Yan himself knew nothing about any of it. He was only a fifteen-year-old boy. He only knew that his parents had said they could 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.

Thinking of this, a faint sorrow flickered through Chen Ling's eyes as he looked at him.

"Brother... did you kill someone?"

Chen Yan looked toward Han Meng, who 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 Chen Ling emerge from the Red-Paper Monster with his own eyes. And now, Chen Ling had a vicious wound around 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 that there was actually a group of "Audience" inside his mind? That he had been possessed just now?

Chen Ling's mind was in chaos. He had inherited the original owner's memories, along with 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. There was not the slightest trace of fear in his chestnut-colored eyes.

After thinking seriously for a moment, he walked to Han Meng, used all his strength to hoist him onto his back, then staggered deeper into the wilderness.

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

The boy's thin frame carried Han Meng, who weighed nearly twice as much as he did. Every step left a deep imprint in the wet wilderness.

Even so, he gritted his teeth and stumbled onward.

"Brother, he's a Law Enforcer."

"I know."

"Killing a Law Enforcer is a serious crime. Once they find out, whether or not you killed him... they'll come to kill you."

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

"Brother," Chen Yan said softly.

"I'll help you bury him."

Chen Ling's heart trembled slightly when he saw the determination and sincerity in Chen Yan's eyes.

He stood there in a daze for a long while before finally finishing the rest of his sentence:

"No... A-Yan, what I mean is... he isn't 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, seemingly about to wake up.

With a startled cry, Chen Yan lost his balance and fell to one side, sending the unconscious Han Meng rolling onto the ground with a thud.

In his haze, Han Meng's eyes gradually opened to a narrow slit...

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

Bang—!

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

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

That was close. This guy had nearly turned the tables on him!

Chen Ling had watched Han Meng's entire fight with the Red-Paper Monster through the stage curtain earlier. Though he did not know what that man's special ability was, without the Red-Paper Monster, he was certainly no match for him.

"Let's go."

After knocking Han Meng unconscious, Chen Ling glanced at the increasingly heavy rain and immediately pulled Chen Yan away.

Han Meng was not the only law enforcer in District Three. He had probably appeared here simply 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 boys' figures gradually receded into the distance.

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