Chapter 21: Safety Amulet

"In short, your task for these two days is to search this street to see if there are any Calamity hairs left under the ruins, or other unusual things..."

"Unusual things?"

"The power of a Calamity will affect the surrounding environment, and how it affects it varies from Calamity to Calamity... Some Calamities just by standing there will distort everything nearby, some will cause fires, and it's said that even more bizarre ones can control humans... We call this influence a 'Calamity Domain'."

"The higher the level of a Calamity, the higher the destructiveness and range of its Calamity Domain. Overall, we currently classify all Calamities into levels one through nine, but each level has some aliases to intuitively represent their destructive power.

For example, a Level 9 Calamity... we usually call it 'World-Ender'."

"World-Ender..." Chen Ling was stunned. "So a Level 9 Calamity can really destroy the world?"

"Although there's an element of exaggeration, it's not far from a true world-ending event... It's said that a World-Ender level has the power to completely exterminate a human domain." Qian Fan seemed to think of something and lowered his voice.

"Don't you know?"

"What?"

"Actually, the night before last, the one that escaped from your District 3... was a 'World-Ender'."

“！！！”

Chen Ling's face turned pale instantly.

"Haha, I'm just kidding with you." Seeing Chen Ling's reaction, Qian Fan smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "I heard that the Calamity pointer in your District 3 did indeed explode, which usually only happens when a 'World-Ender' descends... But how could that be possible?

There hasn't been a 'World-Ender' descent for nearly a hundred years, and if it really were a 'World-Ender', District 3 would have been exterminated in the first instant. How could it still be safe and sound until now?

So, it's likely that a Calamity whose domain just happened to affect the Calamity pointer descended.

Didn't your Law Officer Han Meng fight it yesterday? It was confirmed to be a Level 5 Calamity, not some World-Ender... So, set your mind at ease."

Qian Fan put his hands on his hips, his face full of smiles.

But Chen Ling couldn't smile.

As the "culprit" who beat up Han Meng, he knew best what was going on with the "Level 5" Calamity Qian Fan spoke of.

The "Level 5" Han Meng encountered wasn't really "Level 5"... It was simply because the [Audience Expectation] at that time happened to be stuck at 14%-15%, and the "Audience" usurping the stage had the combat power of a Level 5 Calamity.

And Chen Ling clearly remembered that the number of "Audience" members who escaped at that time was less than one percent of the total audience seats...

Then what if the "Audience" escaped collectively?

Would that mean... a complete "World-Ender" would descend?

Thinking of this, cold sweat broke out on Chen Ling's back.

He had thought the Calamities in the "Audience Seats" would be strong, but he didn't expect them to be this strong... That was a super Calamity with "World-Ender" capabilities! A ticking time bomb capable of destroying a human domain!

"Alright, hurry up and get to work." Qian Fan said with satisfaction.

"...Okay."

As Qian Fan left, Chen Ling was left alone on the ruined street.

He took a deep breath, suppressed the fear in his heart for the time being, and lowered his head to start searching through the rubble... No matter what level the "Audience" were, they seemed to have to follow the theater's rules. As long as Chen Ling kept the [Audience Expectation] above 20%, nothing would happen.

[Audience Expectation -1]

[Current Expectation: 32%]

Two lines of characters outlined themselves in the rubble and vanished in an instant.

Since going undercover as a law enforcer, the Audience Expectation had grown by 10% in one go, but as time passed, it was still falling at a steady frequency. At the current rate, if he did nothing, it would drop back to 20% in at most 36 hours.

For the rest of the time, Chen Ling searched carefully through the ruins, but after several hours, he still hadn't found any hair or traces left by a 'Calamity Domain'.

To be honest, Chen Ling was also curious about what exactly this Calamity that escaped with his "Audience" was.

"Chen Ling!"

A voice came from not far away. Chen Ling, who was searching for clues, looked up and found his fellow brother-in-arms, Wu Youdong, walking toward him.

"I heard them say you came early in the morning?" Wu Youdong was drenched in sweat. If nothing else, he must have walked all the way from District 3. "How are you so fast? Didn't you go home?"

"No, something came up."

"Related to your brother?"

Hearing this, Chen Ling looked up sharply. "What did you say?"

"Oh, when I came over just now, I passed by your house... I saw Officer Han Meng right there, saying he wanted to find your brother." Wu Youdong wiped his sweat, unable to help but sigh. "But brother, your living conditions are even worse than mine... The house has holes in it?"

Chen Ling ignored Wu Youdong's teasing and asked again: "Did Han Meng question my brother?"

"No, there was a tall man with silver-rimmed glasses standing in the house talking to him. I didn't hear clearly what was said, but after a few words, Officer Han Meng left... He didn't go inside."

A tall man with silver-rimmed glasses?

Chen Ling was stunned for a long time, and a thought flashed through his mind... He had actually forgotten about this!

He had sent a letter to Aurora City earlier, hoping to have that [Doctor] come and cure him, but so many things had happened in the past few days that he had completely forgotten about it... Now it seemed that the [Doctor] had arrived as promised to treat him.

However, wasn't District 3 locked down? How did he get in?

A series of questions flashed through Chen Ling's mind. He urgently wanted to go home and see what had happened.

"I won't talk to you anymore. My task is to settle the surviving residents of Ice Spring Street, and I have a bunch of things to do." Wu Youdong checked the time, said goodbye to Chen Ling, and left in a hurry.

Since Han Meng had been sent away, he shouldn't have had a chance to interrogate Chen Yan, so home should still be safe... Chen Ling thought as he quickly walked toward Qian Fan and the others.

That [Doctor] was a completely unknown entity to Chen Ling, and he didn't dare let Chen Yan stay alone with him for too long.

He had to go home, right now.

Creak—

Chen Ling took a step and crushed a brick in the ruins. He looked down, and a faint red color was pressed under the fragments.

Chen Ling frowned slightly, lowered his head, and brushed away the debris. The outline of the red color became clearer... Seeing the full picture of the object, his pupils contracted violently.

It was a broken safety amulet.

In the corner of the safety amulet, two tiny characters were embroidered—

Chen Yan.