They Exist

"Achoo!!"

In the biting wind, Chen Ling suddenly sneezed.

Even as someone from the north in his previous life, Chen Ling could barely endure the weather here—cold and damp. Though a blazing sun hung overhead, he could not feel the slightest warmth.

"Make way, make way!"

A lazy voice came from ahead. Chen Ling came back to his senses and instinctively pressed himself against the roadside.

At the end of the road, a tricycle was slowly approaching. One boy pedaled while another sat in the rear seat beside two large buckets of salt.

He scooped up salt with a ladle and scattered it over the frosted road. As the grains fell, the ice on the ground gradually melted.

"Oh? Chen Ling?" The one scattering salt raised his brows when he spotted Chen Ling standing by the road.

"Didn't expect to see the top student here. Weren't you taking the enforcer exam? Did you get cut?"

The moment Chen Ling saw that face, a memory surfaced in his mind.

His name was Zhao Yi. He had grown up on the same street as Chen Ling, but he had been jealous by nature. Back in high school, Chen Ling had earned better grades, and Zhao Yi's mother had often compared him to Chen Ling. As a result, Zhao Yi had never been able to stand the sight of him.

"I passed the written test. The practical test is still ahead." Chen Ling stood by the road and replied casually.

"Hehe, then I hope luck smiles on you!"

Even as he said that, Zhao Yi scooped up a heaping ladleful of salt and flung it hard toward the side of the road, catching Chen Ling in the spray.

The flying salt grains covered Chen Ling's hair and padded robe. He had never expected Zhao Yi to pull something like that. He quickly brushed the salt away, then turned and glared at him.

By then, Zhao Yi had already ridden off on the tricycle, swaying along the road... With one foot propped on a salt bucket, he stuck out his tongue and made a face at Chen Ling.

As a twenty-eight-year-old adult who had taken his share of beatings from society, Chen Ling found such a clumsy prank both irritating and amusing...

Still, Chen Ling had no intention of chasing after that brat and beating him senseless. He merely made a mental note of it. He had more important matters to deal with right now.

Just as Chen Ling was about to continue on, his peripheral vision caught sight of the ground beneath his feet, and he froze slightly.

The frost touched by the salt grains slowly melted, leaving faint white residue on the ground. In that instant, Chen Ling saw a line of text weave itself into existence—

[Audience Expectation: 27%]

Before Chen Ling could react, the salt completely dissolved. What he had just seen seemed like nothing more than a fleeting illusion.

Chen Ling rubbed his eyes hard and muttered to himself,

"No way..."

The sense of urgency rose again. Chen Ling could not help quickening his pace, sprinting straight toward the clinic.

A few minutes later, Chen Ling pushed open the clinic's door.

Calling it a clinic was generous. It was really just an ordinary house on Frost Street, two stories tall, square and dirt-gray. At a glance, it reminded Chen Ling of the rural home from his old life.

Yet even such a crude building was considered fairly decent on Frost Street. At the very least, it had two floors and could keep out the wind.

"It's you." Behind a wooden desk, a man in a white coat turned slightly. "Here to pick up medicine for your brother again? Didn't he transfer to the hospital in District Two?"

"This time, it's not A-Yan. It's me."

Chen Ling's younger brother had previously been hospitalized here and was quite familiar with Doctor Lin. Chen Ling walked to the desk and sat down, looking somewhat nervous.

"Oh? Is something wrong?"

"My... brain doesn't feel quite right."

"Do you mean a physical headache, or..."

"I think I've been having hallucinations lately."

"Psychiatry?" Doctor Lin raised his brows and seriously adjusted his black-rimmed glasses. "That's my specialty... Tell me about your symptoms."

"I had a dream last night. I dreamed I was standing on a stage, with many audience members beneath it... I couldn't see their faces clearly, but they didn't seem human. I ran desperately across the stage, but I could never find an exit..."

"Dream interpretation isn't part of my practice."

"I know." Chen Ling took a deep breath. "But after I woke up, I kept feeling... like they were still watching me."

At that, Doctor Lin finally became interested. "You imagined yourself being watched?"

"It doesn't feel like imagination... They seem to be inside my head, sitting in the audience and observing everything I do. And I'm like an actor forced to perform, nothing but a tool to entertain them."

"You mean your life is the stage, and you're the only protagonist on it?"

"That's about right... but not as positive as you made it sound."

"What about the audience? Other than watching you, do they do anything else?"

Chen Ling fell silent for a moment. "I don't know if it's just my imagination... but they seem able to affect things around me."

"They can affect reality? That sounds rather fantastical." As Doctor Lin spoke, he picked up his tea mug and took a sip. He was just about to say something when his expression suddenly changed!

Pff!!

Doctor Lin spat out a mouthful of scarlet blood, splattering it across the floor.

"Doctor Lin??" Chen Ling jumped in fright. "What illness do you have?"

"...No." Doctor Lin wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. It was not his blood. After frowning in thought for a moment, his gaze fell on the tea mug at the corner of the desk...

At some point, the mug had become filled with thick blood.

Doctor Lin's expression darkened. He clearly remembered steeping a packet of pu-erh tea in it just one minute ago.

During that time, only he and Chen Ling had been in the clinic. Chen Ling had remained in his sight the entire time, with neither the opportunity nor motive to swap the tea. Yet the full mug of blood had appeared inside as if by magic...

Chen Ling seemed to realize something as well, and his face grew paler still.

"Just as I said," he said hoarsely.

"They... might truly exist."

Doctor Lin stared at the cup of blood for a long time before slowly looking at him.

"How long has this been going on?"

"One day." Chen Ling paused. "Only one day, from the point when my mind became clear."

"And before your mind became clear? What were you doing?"

"I..."

An image suddenly surfaced in Chen Ling's mind: himself stumbling through the torrential rain last night. "I don't know. I can't remember."

"So you can't be sure that these symptoms began last night, and you have no memories from before last night?"

"...Right."

"Have you ever been possessed by Calamity?" Doctor Lin adjusted his glasses.

"Or let me put it another way—did you encounter Gray Realm Convergence last night?"