Killing Trap

Frost Street.

Two disheveled figures stood at the entrance to their home, their faces full of hesitation.

The house that had once belonged to them was now occupied by someone who had risen from the dead... or rather, by a "thing." Mass Grave had been contaminated by the Ash Realm last night, so whatever was inside was most likely a Calamity disguised as Chen Ling.

"What do we do now..." Li Xiuchun swallowed.

"What else can we do?" Chen Tan took a deep breath. "Go in, grab all our valuables, then run! Run to District Five or District Six—anywhere far away from here!"

"But it's still inside. What if we wake it up?"

"It's already left."

Chen Tan looked at the muddy footprints outside the door and said with certainty.

Hearing that, the woman finally breathed a sigh of relief. She unlocked the door, and the two rushed inside.

"Only take coins and valuables! Leave anything too heavy behind!"

"I'll go to the bedroom. You take the living room!"

"Hurry, hurry! We don't know when it'll come back!"

The two frantically pulled out burlap sacks and began packing separately.

The man opened a drawer and stuffed all the money into his pockets. As he was about to leave, he saw the axe by the bed that was meant for self-defense. After a brief hesitation, he shoved it into the sack as well.

Their family was not well-off, and they had few valuable possessions. But precisely because they had so little, neither of them could bear to abandon the meager belongings they had earned with their own hands.

Li Xiuchun stuffed three cotton-linen outfits into a bag in one go. After making sure she had not forgotten anything else, she hurried into the living room.

The two slung the sacks over their shoulders and were about to leave when Li Xiuchun suddenly spoke.

"What if A-Yan comes back after we leave?"

"Then we'll go to Second District first! Once we bring him out, we'll take him and run together!" Chen Tan answered decisively.

"He'll definitely look for his brother..."

"His brother is already dead."

As Chen Tan spoke, he reached for the door. Just then, the faint sound of a key sliding into the lock came from outside.

The two froze on the spot!

The front door slowly opened, and a young man walked in.

When Chen Ling saw the two of them carrying sacks, he paused slightly and asked in confusion,

"Dad, Mom, where are you going?"

Chen Tan and Li Xiuchun looked as though they had seen a ghost, their faces deathly pale.

At the same time, a fast horse raced past outside the window, and the Enforcers' shout echoed through the streets.

"A suspected high-risk Calamity has appeared! Third District is under full lockdown! No one is permitted to enter or leave!!"

"Be alert for any suspicious signs around you, such as roads or buildings appearing out of thin air, strange-looking unknown creatures, or even humans behaving abnormally!!"

"If you discover anything unusual, report it to the Enforcers immediately..."

The Enforcers' voice gradually faded into the distance.

Inside the cramped house, the atmosphere fell into an eerie dead silence.

"We..."

Hearing the voices outside, both of their legs began to tremble. They stared at the young man before them in terror, and in their dazed vision, he became a fanged demon from hell!

Chen Ling's gaze fell on the two large sacks. Recalling what the Enforcers had just shouted, he tried to reassure them.

"Don't worry too much. That Calamity doesn't seem to be nearby. Isn't the street still perfectly normal?"

Chen Tan: ...

Li Xiuchun: ...

Chen Ling was helpless too.

When he first heard that some world-ending Calamity had invaded, he had not thought much of it. But when he saw the Audience's anticipation surge, he immediately realized something was wrong...

Zhao Yi had been beaten for an entire afternoon, and that had only barely raised the Expectation Value by a dozen or so points. The Enforcers had merely shouted a few words, yet the Expectation Value had shot up to over sixty!

Based on what Chen Ling currently understood, that meant they had found something extremely exciting to watch.

Unfortunately, that something... might be him.

Doctor Lin had mentioned the Ash Realm's convergence and Calamities before. And he had happened to transmigrate last night, while the original owner's memories from that night had vanished... Putting all the clues together, if that Calamity was not him, then who else could it be?

Chen Ling guessed that what those Enforcers were looking for was most likely the Audience inside his head.

Chen Ling had considered turning himself in to the enforcers and asking them to find a way to remove the Audience from his mind. But judging by their attitude toward Calamities, they were more likely to kill him along with it.

In any case, he would first try to lie low and observe the situation.

Seeing that the two were still tense all over and nervous beyond belief, Chen Ling sighed and took Li Xiuchun's sack from her.

"Mom, where can you even run to at a time like this?"

"Second District and Third District are both locked down. You can't get out at all. Are you planning to sleep on the streets?"

When Li Xiuchun heard the first sentence, she was scared stiff. Only after hearing the rest did she barely come back to herself, forcing out a dry laugh.

"Right... you're right."

"Dad, put yours down too. Don't be so tense... If we run away, what will happen to A-Yan?"

Chen Tan swallowed hard, staring fixedly at Chen Ling's eyes, trying to find even the slightest trace of abnormality or killing intent on his face... but he failed.

Every move Chen Ling made was no different from a normal person's. He was exactly the same as the Chen Ling in Chen Tan's memories.

But Chen Tan knew very clearly... he was not Chen Ling.

Chen Ling was already dead.

"Sit down for a while. I'll get you some water from the kitchen." Seeing that their faces were still pale, Chen Ling pulled out the chairs by the table and turned toward the kitchen.

Li Xiuchun and Chen Tan exchanged a glance before obediently sitting down in the end...

As Chen Ling poured water in the kitchen, he pondered how to ease the atmosphere and casually said,

"Oh, right, Mom. That grilled sausage you left for me this morning was really good. How did you make it?"

"Grilled... grilled sausage?"

Li Xiuchun looked bewildered.

Last night, she and Chen Tan had gone to Mass Grave. When had she left any grilled sausage behind?

"The one on the chopping board," Chen Ling answered.

The confusion in Li Xiuchun's eyes deepened. She tried hard to remember, then seemed to realize something. Her face turned as pale as paper!

"When did you leave him a grilled sausage?" Chen Tan asked in a low voice.

"I... I didn't." Li Xiuchun lowered her voice as well, answering shakily. "There was originally a boning knife on that chopping board...

"But when I was packing things just now... I found that the knife was gone."

Chen Tan's expression changed drastically as well!

At the same time, Chen Ling, standing in the kitchen with his back to them, slowly continued,

"That grilled sausage smelled great, but it seemed a little tough... Mom, remember to grill it softer tomorrow."

The living room fell into deathly silence.

Chen Ling finished pouring the water and placed it before them, only to find that their faces seemed even paler...

"Are you all right? Are you feeling unwell?" Chen Ling sat across from them in confusion.

"...We're fine."

Chen Tan took a deep breath and quietly dragged the sack on the floor beneath his feet with one foot. His voice became somewhat steadier.

"A-Ling."

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember... what happened yesterday?"

"Yesterday?" Chen Ling tried hard to recall again, then shook his head. "I can't remember clearly... What is it?"

"...Nothing." Chen Tan took a small sip of water. As if he had finally made up his mind, he looked directly into Chen Ling's eyes.

"What do you think... of the way we've treated you?"

"Very well." Chen Ling answered as though it were only natural. "If you hadn't taken me in back then, I probably would have frozen to death by the roadside long ago... My biological parents did not want me. You raised me, worked tirelessly to put me through school. Everything I have was given to me by you."

Everything I have was given to me by you.

At those words, a trace of relief flashed through Chen Tan's eyes...

"Then if one day, A-Yan fell ill... and only your heart could save him... would you be willing to save him?"

Chen Ling froze.

In that instant, he found those words strangely familiar.

Fragmented memories surged from the original owner's mind, and Chen Ling's head began to ache again... He suddenly remembered that the original owner seemed to have heard similar words last night.

"I... I..." Chen Ling clutched his head, pain appearing on his face.

"A-Yan is our biological child. Your mother took medicine until it ruined her body just to conceive him... We struggled for ten years before finally having this one and only child..."

"A child who truly belongs to us!"

"Now he's sick. We can't just watch him die... The divine shaman in Second District said that as long as we could obtain another young heart from someone under twenty, it could replace A-Yan's failing heart."

"A-Yan has called you brother for so many years. You've been our son for so many years. Your mother and I have never asked you for anything, but this one time... we're begging you to save A-Yan."

"Tell me... you're willing, aren't you?"

Chen Tan's body trembled faintly. His eyes were full of pleading and expectation as he looked at Chen Ling.

He was like a child who had done something wrong, waiting for forgiveness that had come too late.

At that moment, the incomplete memories buried in last night's torrential rain finally began to return to Chen Ling. Enduring the pain in his head, he took a deep breath and spoke hoarsely.

"So... you were the ones who killed him..."

"Him?"

"...Does A-Yan know?"

"He doesn't. If he knew that the heart he was about to receive was yours... he would rather die than accept it."

Chen Tan emerged from the struggle and guilt deep within his heart. He reached into the sack at his feet and slowly pulled out a sharp axe.

"A-Ling, you're already dead. You shouldn't be here." Chen Tan's eyes were red as he gripped the axe tightly and spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Whatever has taken over your body... I'll set you free."

A low rumble of thunder flashed across the dim heavens.

A sharp axe was raised high...

Then swung down with all its strength!

Bang—

Warm liquid splashed across Chen Tan's face.

Scarlet blood blossomed across the floor like flowers. Chen Ling's body toppled stiffly to the ground with a dull thud.

The axe was embedded in his neck, nearly severing his entire head. His dilated eyes stared blankly into nothingness, pain and confusion still lingering on his face...

He was dead.

There was no heartbeat, no breath. His body gradually turned cold, like a martyr fallen amid scarlet flowers.

Chen Tan's chest heaved violently as he stared fixedly at the utterly lifeless body, sweat soaking through his clothes...

"D-Dead...?" Li Xiuchun collapsed into her chair and asked shakily.

"...Dead."

"What about the Calamity?"

Chen Tan paused. "...I don't know."

Li Xiuchun stared blankly at the corpse and suddenly said, "Do you think... it's possible that he wasn't a Calamity... but that God gave us another chance to atone for our sins?"

"If that's true..." Chen Tan gave a bitter laugh. "Then we really do deserve to go to hell."