Clown

"Done. Let's wrap up."

The two patted the mud and rainwater off themselves. After confirming that the pit had been completely filled in, they turned and left.

Torrential rain poured over countless barren graves. Dark-red blood mixed with mud and rolled down the hillside. A few dozen seconds later, two more figures in raincoats struggled up from the foot of the mountain.

"Here should be fine..."

Carrying glass kerosene lamps, the two scanned their surroundings. They failed to notice the dark-red mud flowing through the darkness and walked straight toward the pit that had just been dug.

They set down the cloth sack in their hands, took out shovels, and began digging little by little beside the dark-red pit.

"...A-Yan will get better, right?"

Rain pattered against their raincoats. The woman's hands clenched pale beneath her sleeves, and her voice was hoarse.

"He definitely will." The man shoveling dirt spoke in a low voice. "The heart has already been sent over. The operation should have started by now... Tomorrow. Tomorrow, we can go to the Second District to see him!"

Hearing this, the woman's expression eased slightly. She glanced at the black cloth sack by her feet, her eyes filled with guilt.

"It's A-Ling who has to suffer..."

"We have to bury this matter in our hearts."

"Then what do we do if A-Yan asks about his brother after he comes back?"

"We'll tell him his brother passed the Enforcers' exam and was transferred to the Seventh District... He won't be coming back."

"Will he believe that?"

"..."

The man said nothing. He merely drove the shovel into the bottom of the pit and forcefully lifted a large swath of soil.

"Let's bury it like this," he said.

Together, the two threw the black cloth sack inside and gradually buried it.

After hesitating for a moment, the woman picked up a wooden plaque from nearby. She seemed to want to write something on it, but the man stopped her.

"What are you doing?"

"Whatever else, he was still my son... Let's put up a grave marker for A-Ling."

"No. What if the Enforcers or someone else sees a marker here?"

"Then..."

"I told you. From now on, bury this matter in your heart."

The woman was silent for a long time before finally tossing the wooden plaque aside. Seeing this, the man softly comforted her.

"It's fine... Once we wake up tomorrow, everything will be over."

The two gave the patch of ground one last look, then turned and vanished into the curtain of rain.

The downpour washed over the dark-red soil, as if trying to wash away their hatred and resentment. Separated by only a thin layer of sand, the two lonely graves were connected.

Just as everything was about to fall silent beneath the storm, an eerie gray spread from the void...

Ash Realm Convergence.

"A-Yan... A-Yan!"

Tears streamed uncontrollably from Chen Ling's eyes. He dug through the mud like a madman with both hands until his fingertips were bloody and mangled.

He did not know what had happened after the Gray Realm Convergence, or why only he had come back to life... No, Chen Ling had not come back to life either. He had merely become him...

But at that moment, who he was no longer mattered.

This world had played a joke on Chen Ling, letting him die at the hands of Chen Tan and his wife, the couple who had raised him... But at the same time, it had played an even crueler joke on Chen Tan and his wife.

Chen Ling's vision blurred with tears as scenes from the past two days flashed wildly through his mind.

After the Gray Realm Convergence, a figure struggled out of the Mass Grave. The wound in his chest gradually healed. Countless scarlet eyes opened behind him, and rainwater on the ground converged into a line of text... [Audience Expectation: 17%];

A shattered protective talisman lodged on a broken branch beneath his fingernails swayed gently in the wind;

Perhaps the second Calamity that attacked Ice Spring Street had never existed. From the very beginning, it had been Chen Ling himself... Or rather, himself after being resurrected, after his [Expectation Value] dropped below 20% and he lost his mind.

The Audience controlled his body, slaughtering half of Ice Spring Street. Only after they were satisfied did he slowly make his way toward the Third District...

"No, it can't be like this..." Chen Ling muttered. "Could it be that... from beginning to end, there was only ever me?"

On the back mountain, he washed the opera robe clean by the stream, then handed it to Chen Yan... Yet when Jiang Qin questioned him, the robe had eerily reappeared in his arms;

When Chen Tan and his wife were hauled away by the Enforcers, their gazes passed through Chen Yan's body and locked onto him as they roared curses;

On Frost Street, Enforcer Jiang Qin followed the direction of his finger and looked into the darkness at the corner of the street, only to see a blurry shadow;

Chu Muyun stood at the entrance of the hole-riddled house with a letter in hand, speaking to the empty room. "I heard that Mr. Chen needed a [doctor], so I came...";

The empty room had been repaired;

The torn padded coat had been mended;

Yet from beginning to end, not a single person had ever spoken to Chen Yan.

Everything seemed to indicate that Chen Yan had once existed... Like a ghost by his side, or perhaps merely a bizarre delusion of his own.

Chen Ling continued digging. Blood began seeping up through the soil below. Just as he was about to keep going, a hand suddenly gripped his wrist...

Then, a bright-red opera robe was gently draped over his shoulders, shielding him from the wind and snow.

Chen Ling froze.

He looked up and saw the familiar youth crouching before him, tears running down his cheeks.

"Brother, stop digging... I'm begging you, please don't keep digging, okay?"

"...A-Yan."

Chen Ling stared blankly at him. His blood- and mud-covered hand rose, as if wanting to touch Chen Yan's cheek... He touched it.

"A-Yan... are you alive?" Chen Ling's voice trembled. "You're alive, aren't you?"

"I..."

Chen Yan glanced at the bloodstained soil, lowered his head, and did not dare meet Chen Ling's eyes.

"I'm already dead, Brother..."

"But you're right here!"

"I'm here because of your power."

Chen Ling paused. "Me? How could I have that kind of power? I..."

Before he could finish, a surging blizzard flooded Chen Ling's vision. The next moment, Chen Yan vanished once again, as if he had never appeared at all.

[Audience Expectation +5]

[Current Expectation Value: 63%]

Chen Ling's gaze was uncontrollably drawn to the two lines of text appearing in the snow. As if he had realized something, his pupils contracted slightly.

The "Audience" possessed the power to affect reality.

After he had crossed over, they had influenced things around him more than once: the water stains in the kitchen, Doctor Lin being pranked, the bone-removing knife being gnawed apart... But ever since Chen Yan appeared, they seemed to have stopped meddling in his life.

So Chen Yan's appearance in his eyes had also been the Audience's handiwork...?

"...It was you."

Chen Ling's blood-covered hands clenched tightly. He glared into the void before him, veins bulging one by one along his neck.

"You made me see him... You made me get used to him... From the very beginning, you only treated him as a prop, using him to deceive my feelings before destroying him yourselves..."

"You've been waiting for this moment for a long time, haven't you?"

[Audience Expectation +5]

The appearance of another line of small text completely ignited the fury Chen Ling had suppressed in his heart. He abruptly climbed out of the snow, his red robes howling in the gale like a raging lion!

"Are you satisfied now?!!"

"Have you seen enough of this show?! Did you enjoy it?!!!"

"Did I perform well for you?!!!"

"Fuck you all!!!"

Chen Ling could almost imagine it: inside that dim Theater, countless scarlet eyes peered through the curtain, watching him converse with Chen Yan these past few days, watching him promise to perform at the school's New Year's Eve gala, watching Chu Muyun stand alone nearby in silent thought...

They had designed everything. They knew everything. They watched him pour all his emotions into his performance upon the stage, while the corners of their mouths curled uncontrollably in the darkness...

He felt like a clown, a clown who had been lost in a false performance all by himself, existing for others' amusement.

His chest heaved violently. The flames of his rage seemed capable of burning away the snowstorm. He searched frantically through the snow, trying to find a knife or gun that could end this absurd life.

He did not want to be a clown, much less a tool for the "Audience" to toy with.

Just then, his feet suddenly slipped. Several objects slid from his pocket and fell onto the pure white snow, reflecting a faint silver gleam...

Nine silver coins.

They were the "payment" Qian Fan had personally handed him that morning with a smile.

The instant he saw those coins, Chen Ling's pupils contracted. He stopped in his tracks. A trace of clarity emerged in his furious eyes, before turning into even more intense hatred.

He stood there in silence for a long time, then bent down and picked up the silver coins one by one.

"...Fine." Chen Ling's voice was incomparably hoarse. He slowly raised his head and looked toward the Second District, his eyes blazing with unprecedented killing intent and madness.

"You want to see a good show, don't you..."

"Then I'll..."

"Put on another one for you."

Chen Ling smiled. Amid the ice and snow filling the sky, his smile looked like that of a demon.