Chapter 14: You Are Also a Calamity

This opera robe was indeed Chen Yan's.

Eight years ago, a small, dilapidated opera troupe came to District 3 and set up a small stage in the wilderness to perform a couple of shows. Seven-year-old Chen Yan had become obsessed with it.

In this world, theater culture was not popular. When the troupe spent two days painstakingly building the stage, only five people showed up... Chen Ling and Chen Yan, who had been attracted while playing in the wilderness; a passing porter who was dragged in to fill the audience; and a beggar who came to beg for food from the troupe...

And one more, a teacher from District 2 who had heard of them and came because he truly loved theater culture.

Of the five, only Chen Yan and the teacher listened to the entire performance. Chen Ling fell asleep halfway through, the porter left in a hurry at the start, and as for the beggar, he rushed onto the stage to beg for food during the intermission, only to be kicked off by a martial actor and left while cursing.

But Chen Ling had seen the light in his younger brother's eyes as he looked at the stage.

After that day, Chen Yan began to teach himself theater. He found two books from somewhere, practiced singing every morning in his room, copied scripts, and even learned needlework to sew costumes.

The one Chen Ling was wearing was hand-sewn by Chen Yan; there was a tiny blue flower on the hem left over from when he sewed it.

"Here, give it back to you."

Chen Ling finished washing the robe and handed it to Chen Yan. He looked at his reflection in the water; the wounds and bloodstains had basically disappeared.

The two followed the path, cautiously walking to the edge of Frost Street, and looked toward their home.

They saw that the area around the house with the broken door had been completely cordoned off by police tape, and several enforcers in black and red uniforms were moving about.

On two stretchers at the entrance lay two corpses covered in white sheets.

"What's the situation?"

"No saving them." An enforcer looked at the white sheets with regret. "The two of them were ordered by Brother Meng to track this couple. They must have discovered something inside and forced their way in, sacrificing themselves while fighting the Calamity."

"What about the couple? Are they dead too?"

"...No."

The enforcer looked toward the door. At that moment, a man and a woman were being helped out of the house by other enforcers. Their pupils were dilated, their faces deathly pale, and they were trembling uncontrollably, as if they had lost their souls.

"They survived."

"Weren't they the first to be attacked by the Calamity? Why did they survive?"

"We suspect that although they were attacked first, they didn't resist. Those two enforcers drew their guns and fired, angering the Calamity, which is why they were killed..."

"You mean the Calamity was toying with them at the time?"

"That's the implication."

"Any other clues?"

"Almost none... The Calamity's ability was extremely bizarre; it tore apart most of the house, leaving no valuable information. We can't even determine which direction it broke in from."

"Frost Street is so big, yet it happened to break into this house. Is it a coincidence?"

"Hard to say. Frost Street is already on the outermost edge of District 3. Behind the street is the back mountain, and behind that is the mass grave where the Gray Realm intersected at the time, and then District 2... In terms of the path, if the Calamity crawled out of the Gray Realm, went to District 2 to wreak havoc, fled into the back mountain, and then turned to rush into Frost Street, it would be logical."

"Was the murder site in District 2 also near the back mountain?"

"Yes, these locations aren't far apart and are all on the same line." The enforcer nodded slightly.

Just as the two were about to say more, a sharp roar came from not far away.

"Calamity!! Calamity!!!"

Li Xiuchun suddenly broke free from the enforcer beside her, as if she had seen something terrifying. She stared at them, scrambling backward. "Don't you dare harm me!! Don't you dare harm me!!!"

As she retreated, she slammed into the people supporting Chen Tan. This collision caused Chen Tan's pupils to shrink sharply.

He immediately curled into a ball, clutching his head with both hands, muttering meaningless characters, his eyes filled with fear.

The surrounding enforcers exchanged glances, a trace of helplessness flashing across their faces... They weren't too surprised, instead skillfully binding them with ropes and stuffing white cloth into their mouths to prevent them from disturbing the public, before heading straight to the District 3 headquarters.

Seeing this, Chen Ling felt a sense of relief.

Dr. Lin had said that among survivors of Gray Realm intersections or Calamity attacks, 80% would suffer from mental instability, and most would never recover. It seemed this symptom had manifested in Li Xiuchun and Chen Tan.

For Chen Ling, this was fortunate, as only four people had seen him turn into a Calamity, and the two enforcers had already been killed by the "audience." Once Li Xiuchun and Chen Tan told everything, he would immediately be a wanted man.

Fortunately, now that Li Xiuchun and Chen Tan were insane, his identity wouldn't be exposed, and he could still walk the streets openly as Chen Ling.

Of course, this was assuming the enforcers didn't track him down later.

"Still not safe... I need to find a way to completely block their investigation..." Chen Ling didn't like taking risks, and he liked his fate being in others' hands even less. His brain raced, trying to find the safest method.

Just then, a figure rushed out from beside him!

"Dad! Mom!"

Chen Yan exclaimed, sprinting toward the two figures being taken away, his haggard little face full of anxiety.

Chen Yan didn't know what had happened; he was only a fifteen-year-old boy, and seeing his parents being brought out of the ruins was no different from the sky falling.

Chen Ling's eyes narrowed. He instinctively wanted to pull Chen Yan back, but after a moment of hesitation, he stepped forward and followed closely behind Chen Yan, also calling out for Mom and Dad.

Hearing their calls, the enforcers turned back to see two youths rushing over, then lowered their heads to check their files.

"This couple has two children, one eighteen and one fifteen."

"We didn't find the bodies in the house earlier; I was just about to send people to look for them, but they appeared on their own..."

"Sigh, poor kids."

“……”

The enforcers whispered among themselves.

Chen Yan rushed to Li Xiuchun, just about to say something, when Li Xiuchun's pupils contracted violently. She somehow spat out the white cloth and stared ahead, roaring:

"Calamity!! You are also a Calamity!! You want to kill me too?!"

Chen Yan froze in place.