"Is it… a ghost?"
The frantic rain lashed against the cold window, and the hearts of the two people flickered like flames in a lamp, wavering uncertainly.
"I… I don't know." The woman swallowed, "Should we notify the Enforcer?"
"Are you insane?!"
Upon hearing the words "Enforcer," the man, who had been scared silly, finally regained some semblance of reason.
"Once the Enforcer gets involved, what we did will definitely be exposed… Absolutely not!"
"Then… what about him?"
The woman paused for a moment, "You don't think… a 'Calamity' has possessed A Ling's body, has it?"
Both of them simultaneously looked at the tightly closed bedroom door, falling silent once more.
After a long while, the man seemed to make up his mind, took a black raincoat from the door, and pushed it open to go out.
"Where are you going?"
"To the place where we buried the body!"
"Now? To do what?"
"To verify." Rain slid down the man's pale face, and he spoke hoarsely, "No matter what that thing in the room is right now… he absolutely cannot be A Ling! I need to see his body with my own eyes."
"I'll go with you!"
No one wanted to go out in such a thunderstorm, but compared to being alone with the sleeping, unknown thing in the bedroom, the woman preferred the former.
In the heavy rain, two figures in raincoats hurried away.
…
Bedroom.
Chen Ling, who had fallen into a deep sleep, suddenly felt his eyelashes tremble slightly, as if he were having a nightmare.
In his dream, his consciousness continuously sank, as if falling into a bottomless cave. After an unknown amount of time, he seemed to land on a hard surface, finally stabilizing himself.
Thump—thump—thump—thump—
A dull mechanical sound rang out, followed by beams of light piercing the darkness like swords, converging on a figure in red.
Chen Ling instinctively covered his eyes with his hand.
"Where… is this?"
Chen Ling's hazy consciousness gradually cleared. After slowly adapting to the strong light, he looked around in a daze.
Within the range of the light beam, he could only see the vermillion opera robe on his body, the old wooden floor beneath his feet, and the black curtain behind him, a corner of which was also illuminated by the light beam… Beyond the light beam was endless unknown and darkness.
Seeing this scene, Chen Ling suddenly froze.
He seemed to have thought of something, squinting his eyes to look up. The light beams illuminating him came from spotlights fixed on steel frames.
"A stage?"
As a director working at a Theatre, Chen Ling was extremely familiar with stages. In his previous life, until he was crushed to death by a light, he had been pondering positions on stage. His understanding and knowledge of stages even surpassed those of actors.
So, his first reaction at this moment was that he had transmigrated back again.
No…
The lighting effects of the Theatre stage in his previous life were better than this, the curtains weren't black, and the floor wasn't this old wooden one.
So, was he dreaming?
Chen Ling tentatively took a step, and the old floor let out a piercing creak. As his figure was about to step out of the light circle, another beam of light followed his footsteps, chasing into the darkness.
"Follow spot?" Chen Ling's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively shouted,
"Who's there?!"
These lights could follow him, so it was highly probable that they were manually controlled, unless this place also used a fully automatic follow spot system. However, judging from the old state of this stage, that possibility was almost zero.
"Who's there…"
"Who's there…"
"There…"
Chen Ling's voice echoed in the darkness, becoming increasingly eerie and chilling.
At the same time, an electronic screen at the edge of the stage suddenly lit up.
In stage design, this position is usually set up for a teleprompter to prevent actors or hosts from forgetting their lines midway. But on the screen at this moment, there was a string of red characters—
[Audience Expectation: 29%]
In the bottom left corner of the screen, there were a few smaller words:
"Please do not let the audience's expectation fall below 20%, otherwise the Theatre does not guarantee the personal safety of the actor."
Seeing this screen, Chen Ling felt a bit bewildered…
Audience? Where did the audience come from?
Thump—thump—thump—
The familiar sound of lights turning on rang out again!
The darkness in front of the stage receded like a tide, and hundreds of thousands of wooden chairs spread out in a tiered fashion into the distance. They surrounded the front of the stage, densely packed.
Auditorium.
These three words appeared in Chen Ling's mind.
It was reasonable for an auditorium to appear where there was a stage. What truly made Chen Ling's scalp tingle was not this point, but that, at some unknown time…
These auditorium seats were already filled with "audience members."
They were humanoid creatures shrouded in shadows. Even with sufficient lighting, Chen Ling still couldn't make out their appearance; they seemed like incarnations of the abyss.
The only exception was their eyes.
Countless crimson pupils opened in the dimness. They sat in their respective wooden chairs, watching Chen Ling on the stage, like a group of cats cornering a mouse, their gazes mocking and greedy.
Chen Ling felt a chill down his neck as they stared at him. He didn't know what these "audience members" were, but they certainly couldn't be humans!
Chen Ling forced himself to stop looking at those creepy eyes, turned around, and ran wildly to the other end of the stage.
Logically, the exits of a stage are on both sides. As long as he left the stage, he should be able to temporarily escape those ghostly things!
The follow spot locked onto the running figure in red, rushing straight to the edge of the stage, but what greeted him was a bare wall.
Chen Ling froze.
He ran to the other side of the stage, not believing it, and it was still the same.
This stage… had no exit at all.
In the dim auditorium, dense crimson pupils followed his escape, constantly moving, like a group of "audience members" engrossed in a wonderful performance, utterly focused.
And the protagonist of this performance was Chen Ling in red on the stage.
At the same time, the characters on the display screen in the center of the stage flickered… The audience expectation jumped from the original 29% to 30%.
Damn it, what kind of messed-up nightmare was this?!
Chen Ling pinched himself hard, trying to actively wake up from the dream, but apart from feeling a familiar pain, there was no sign of waking up at all.
[Intermission over, please continue your performance]
Another line of characters popped up on the screen, and then, a crisp bell suddenly rang from above the stage!
Ding-A Ling-ling—
Before Chen Ling could react, the scene before his eyes shattered inch by inch, and his consciousness quickly blurred…
Before he lost consciousness, he vaguely saw the massive and mysterious black curtain behind him slowly pulling open!
…
Bang!
Chen Ling suddenly sat up from the bed!
The bedsheet was soaked with cold sweat. His chest heaved violently, and his eyes were filled with terror.
He swallowed, his gaze slowly scanning his surroundings, and after confirming that he was in his own room and not that damned stage, he finally relaxed.
"Was it a dream… This dream is too bizarre."
He calmed himself down, got out of bed, and walked into the living room.
By now, the rain outside had mostly stopped, but the sky was still dim. Chen Ling called out for his parents a few times, but no one answered; the entire house was quiet.
"Did they go to work so early?" Chen Ling muttered to himself.
Chen Ling rubbed his empty stomach. Last night's nightmare seemed to have consumed too much of his energy; he felt light-headed even when walking. Helpless, he could only go into the kitchen to find something to eat first.
As soon as he entered the door, he tripped over something. Looking down,
It was the remains of a bucket, as if gnawed by a wild beast.
What was wrong with this bucket? Did it crack from the cold?
Chen Ling couldn't remember what happened last night at all. He muttered in suspicion, then picked up the bucket, threw it into the corner, and turned to find a rag, preparing to wipe away the water spilled on the floor.
As soon as he squatted down, he froze in place.
He saw the water stains on the ground begin to slide on their own, as if an invisible figure was squatting opposite him, dipping a finger in the water and writing something on the ground.
The next moment, the transparent water stains visibly turned blood red, and a twisted, eerie text was outlined in front of Chen Ling.
—[We are watching you].