Chapter 10: "Audience"

Gulp.

Chen Tan couldn't help but swallow hard.

"How... how is this possible??" he said hoarsely. "No heart, head severed, and he can still move?"

"Where did he get that costume? Didn't we decide not to put it on him?!"

"I don't know!!!" Li Xiuchun was completely consumed by fear, answering incoherently. "When he... when he crawled out from underground, he was already wearing this costume... It's the one we draped over him when we buried him last night!

He's a ghost... he really is a ghost!!

A ghost coming to claim our lives!"

"Bullshit! There are no ghosts in this world!"

The scene before them was too bizarre. Chen Tan's legs were also trembling with fear, but he finally summoned his courage, picked up a table knife from the floor, and stabbed at Chen Ling's face!

He had killed Chen Ling twice, so he could kill him a third time!

Whatever was inside him, aside from looking scary, didn't seem as terrifying as the Calamities described in rumors, which gave Chen Tan a significant amount of courage.

The sharp table knife sliced through the air, but just as it was about to touch Chen Ling, it suddenly stopped in mid-air.

Chen Tan froze. His hand gripping the knife exerted all its strength, but it couldn't move forward an inch, as if an invisible giant hand had gripped the blade, holding it firmly in mid-air.

"Hee hee."

An eerie, light chuckle sounded from behind Chen Ling.

The next moment, the table knife in Chen Tan's hand vanished into thin air, replaced by a long, thin strip of red paper.

Chen Ling, his pupils dilated, chewed and swallowed the axe and kitchen knife in his mouth. He stared straight at Chen Tan, stepped forward, and repeated the same sentence mechanically and hoarsely:

"Dad, I'm hungry."

The simple three words made Chen Tan's scalp tingle!

He didn't doubt for a second that the next moment, Chen Ling would grab his head, stuff it into his mouth, and chew it to pieces... His bones wouldn't be any harder than the axe or the kitchen knife!

"Run!! Get out and find the enforcers!!"

Chen Tan turned and sprinted toward the door!

Chen Tan knew that the current situation was beyond their ability to handle... The only way to survive now was to find the enforcers for help. Those powerful enforcers must have a way to deal with a Calamity!

As for how the enforcers would judge their premeditated murder and organ theft later, that was a problem for another day.

At the very least, going to jail was better than losing his life.

Li Xiuchun, who had been crouching to the side and shaking, was also brought back to her senses by that shout and scrambled toward the closed door.

While Chen Ling's attention was on Chen Tan, she successfully reached the door and reached for the handle...

But she grabbed nothing.

Li Xiuchun looked down blankly, only to realize the door handle had vanished... No, not just the handle, the entire door had turned into a drawing on red paper, shifting from three-dimensional to two-dimensional.

She couldn't open a door drawn on paper.

"Hee hee hee hee..."

A dense chorus of voices stacked from all directions, as if the room were now filled with countless invisible figures... They watched the two, their scarlet eyes filled with mockery.

Strips of red paper fluttered around Li Xiuchun. In her daze, she saw one eerie face after another.

She screamed continuously, backing away, her eyes filled only with pure, unadulterated fear.

Finally, her eyes rolled back, and she slumped to the ground, losing consciousness...

【Audience anticipation value -1】

【Current anticipation value: 16%】

At the same time, Chen Tan felt the ground vanish beneath his feet and fell heavily to the floor. He looked back in shock, only to find the entire floor had turned red, surging like waves.

He stared blankly at the red-clad Chen Ling walking toward him, and as if realizing something, he shouted in terror:

"It's true... the enforcers were right!"

"You're a Calamity!"

"You're a Calamity that usurped A-Ling's body!"

Hearing this, the red-clad Chen Ling stopped.

His scarlet lips curled upward slightly, and he pressed a pale finger to his lips, making a "hush" gesture.

"Shh—"

Just as the endless red paper was about to engulf Chen Tan, two sounds of shattering glass came from the side!

"Calamity traces found at 128 Frost Street!! Destruction level evaluated at Grade 4! Requesting Enforcer support immediately!!"

Two figures in black and red uniforms burst through the window. One of them scanned the room and spoke quickly.

"Received, support is on the way. Please try to stall the target!" a stern voice came from the walkie-talkie on one of the enforcers' waists.

One enforcer gave a bitter smile. "A Grade 4 Calamity, how could we possibly stall it?"

Seeing the two enforcers suddenly break in, the audience in the void gave a light "oh," as if they had found even more interesting toys.

The red-clad Chen Ling flicked his finger, and the fallen Chen Tan fainted instantly, blood flowing from his seven orifices, gradually staining the ground beneath him...

"Keep your distance! Staying alive is the priority!"

One enforcer retreated quickly, pulled a gun from his waist, and pulled the trigger repeatedly!

Bang, bang, bang—

Brass bullets tore through the void, but before they could reach the red-clad Chen Ling, they turned into tiny strips of red paper and dissipated in mid-air.

The red-clad Chen Ling lifted his hand gently, and countless strips of paper emerged from the wide sleeves of his costume, binding the two enforcers like swimming snakes.

The paper wrapping the two twisted suddenly, like a wrung-out towel, and then slammed heavily onto the ground.

【Audience anticipation value -1】

【Current anticipation value: 15%】

The red-clad Chen Ling's body began to expand, his costume forced open as if human faces were about to break out from beneath his skin, and chaotic whispers filled the space.

Within seconds, he had become a monster with red paper tentacles fluttering all over his body. Scarlet pupils opened on the paper strips, and not a trace of Chen Ling's appearance remained.

It smashed through the paper door and rushed into the deserted street. The misty rain hit its body without making a sound.

It chose a direction at random and flew off, turning into a scarlet blur!

Almost simultaneously, a figure in black tore through the dark clouds, following closely behind at high speed.

"Target Calamity located," Han Meng said calmly.

"...Is it 'World-Ending' level?" a worried voice came from the walkie-talkie.

"Judging by the aura, it's at most Grade 5. It seems a Calamity did descend last night, but the pointer misjudged the target's energy intensity."

"Grade 5 is still quite dangerous! Be careful, Brother Meng!"

Han Meng didn't speak. He followed the red blur to the wilderness on the edge of District 3, then slammed down like a cannonball!

Boom—!!

The black meteor created an invisible shockwave in the wilderness!

Flying sand and gravel splattered in all directions. The red shadow was forced to a halt. The dense red paper tentacles swayed gently in the wind, and all the pupils looked toward the place where the dust was flying.

A figure lowered his head to light a thick cigarette and walked out slowly. Under his black trench coat, four silver patterns glowed faintly.

A breeze-like domain unfolded invisibly, shrouding the red paper monster within it.

"I am Han Meng, Chief Enforcer of District 3, Aurora Domain."

He held the cigarette in one hand and pulled a pitch-black handgun from his waist with the other, his thumb pulling the safety. The sand and gravel in the domain trembled slightly, and a thread of murderous intent locked onto the red paper monster!

His lips parted slightly, his words seemingly carrying the rhythm of some law,

"I uphold the justice of human civilization..."

"I sentence you to death."