Chapter 1319: Hope for a Comeback

In the muddled darkness, a trace of clarity returned to Chen Ling’s mind.

This is...

Chen Ling felt that fleeting red glimmer. The light itself didn't seem to contain any power; it was like a light palm reaching across the void, patting the top of his head and waking him from his unconscious state.

Although it was only for an instant, Chen Ling felt a familiar aura from that glimmer.

Is it the Red King?

Does he know I’m in a predicament?

Although Chen Ling had countless questions, now was not the time to delve into them. His head, which had fallen onto the stage, could see through the curtain that "himself" was dragging the imprisoned Wu Yi toward a room in the Underground Palace.

He had lost the fight just now, but he was not reconciled to the loss;

That Black-Robed Theatrical Shadow had first hidden in the shadows, letting endless audience members drain his stamina, letting the negative emotions from devouring the audience interfere with his reason, and then striking with thunderous force to fight him. Just as he had managed to turn the situation around slightly through sheer grit, he had hidden behind the crowd again, finally finding an opportunity to ambush him.

Chen Ling hadn't lost to the Black-Robed Theatrical Shadow; he had lost to the nearly complete Calamity of Derision, excluding himself.

Chen Ling could accept death, but he could not accept being backstabbed by such insidious means, and even less could he accept being controlled by this dark persona.

Throughout his journey, Chen Ling had mostly borne curses and false accusations; only a handful of people had given him warmth and trust. He could not accept this dark persona using his identity to erase everything.

But... how could he turn the tables?

Although his consciousness had been awakened by the Red King, he was currently separated from his body. Even if he could barely stand up, the Black-Robed Theatrical Shadow outside would likely sense it immediately.

As he was now, he was definitely no match for him.

Chen Ling’s brain worked at high speed, constantly recalling everything from the past, trying to find a glimmer of hope.

Just then,

A voice emerged from his memory:

"According to the latest Integration Faction theories, the similarity between human and calamity DNA is 47.83%, only 1% higher than yeast, so there is a huge difference between us and calamities in terms of physical body... But research has found that calamities also release brain waves similar to human consciousness, with an overlap as high as 95%."

"This means that under specific conditions, humans can entangle their consciousness with calamities, and it is even possible to completely replace the calamity’s consciousness!"

"And this process is known in Integration Faction theory as [Slaughter of Calamities]!"

“……”

"In the last class, we focused on the Aurora Sovereign, Yang Xiao."

"...Yang Xiao is the most special among the Nine Sovereigns. His uniqueness lies not in the strength of his power, but in his ability itself... He is the only one among the Nine Sovereigns who can manipulate souls."

"In 'Basic Principles of Integration Theory 2,' we discussed that the integration of humans and calamities is essentially the entanglement of souls and the battle of consciousness. Current integration technology is difficult to break through because the human soul is in a weak position compared to the calamity’s soul. Even if human consciousness gains the upper hand for a short time, it will eventually be backlashed."

"But theoretically, Yang Xiao’s ability can solve this problem. He can decompose the calamity’s consciousness at the soul level, leaving it in a 'blank' state without autonomous thoughts, like an empty shell. This completes the human’s absolute control over the calamity..."

Entanglement of souls, battle of consciousness...

Chen Ling suddenly realized that on this stage, all the "audience members" were essentially souls with independent consciousness. That was why he wouldn't die even if he was decapitated; only being annexed counted as disappearing... It was precisely because of this that none of Chen Ling’s skills could be used here.

Then what if it were an ability that acted directly on the soul?

A glimmer of sharpness flashed in Chen Ling’s gray eyes!

"Communication Equipment and Electromagnetic Induction Principles" was only a Tier 3 skill and could only act on external electronic equipment, not on the soul itself... But now, Chen Ling had one more chance.

The headless body struggled to raise its fingertips and tapped lightly on the corner of the stage screen!

Ding—ding—ding!!

The next moment, impassioned music sounded from the stage once again!

"Congratulations on completing the play, 'The Lonely King'."

"Maximum audience expectation for this play: 69%"

"You have earned one designated draw."

"After using it, you can designate any character from all the characters who appeared in this play and randomly draw one of their abilities. The probability of drawing a rare skill is related to the overall audience expectation of this play."

When Chen Ling left the South Sea Realm, he had already completed the Tier 6 advancement performance, but the final skill draw reward had not been settled. That was a method taught to him by his many performance experiences...

And now, this would be his last hope for a comeback!

Almost at the same time Chen Ling opened the reward exchange, the Black-Robed Theatrical Shadow, who had just locked Wu Yi onto the metal table, paused slightly.

At this moment, Wu Yi was struggling frantically. On the wall in front of it hung one pair of pliers after another, shimmering with an eerie luster. Extremely hot wax oil and a poison whip capable of breaking through its carapace were like the specialized "crab-eating tools" used when eating crab. This was a set of "dismantling" tools specifically for torturing centipedes.

The Black-Robed Theatrical Shadow seemed to realize something and flew into a rage. He immediately dropped the pliers he was about to use to tear Wu Yi apart and sank his consciousness into the theater...

But in that short interval,

Chen Ling, who had fallen to the ground, had already exhausted all his strength to reach beneath the neatly standing table.

Just as Teacher Ye said, the third slaughter of calamities was extremely dangerous, especially since he was trying to slaughter a King of Calamity, which was equivalent to snatching food from a tiger’s mouth... This was a war with a survival rate of less than 3%, or even less than 1%!

On this tragic stage, the only thing he could rely on was himself.

Chen Ling roared as he kicked over the table, grabbed the piece of paper that fluttered down, and wrote a name with a flourish!

——【Yang Xiao】!!

"Damn it!!!!"

The black-robed shadow’s figure arrived before Chen Ling in an instant, delivering a heavy, powerful kick directly into Chen Ling’s chest!

This time, the black-robed shadow’s visible rage caused Chen Ling’s chest to cave in significantly; the latter was sent flying like a sandbag, slamming into the curtain with a pained, muffled groan.

The black-robed shadow was too arrogant. He hadn’t expected Chen Ling’s consciousness to awaken so quickly, nor had he expected that even after being beaten like this, Chen Ling could still force his body to move through sheer willpower. Seeing that sheet of paper already dissipated in the air, the black-robed shadow felt as if he had been mocked right to his face!

“No matter what ability you’ve switched to, it won’t change the current situation!” the black-robed shadow spoke chillingly.

“I originally intended to keep you around for a while longer, but it seems you’re just looking for death... I don’t even care about the split personality anymore. Today, I will definitely devour you!!”