Chapter 215: I Am Me

"Mm."

He gave a light "mm."

After a moment of silence, the unknown figure draped in the bright red opera robe spoke again:

"Since you have made up your mind, I will not persuade you anymore... However, the scope of this domain is only the Seven Districts. Outside the Seven Districts, things that have already happened cannot be tampered with. Do you understand?"

"I understand." The voice remained quiet and docile.

After a long sigh, the figure draped in the bright red opera robe walked up slowly, and his fingertips brushed lightly across his face...

A face that seemed to have no thickness was pasted lightly onto his face. The moment the skin fit, his body visibly grew taller, as if he had completely become another person.

After hesitating for a moment, the figure took off the bright red opera robe from his own body and draped it gently over him,

"If one day, you start to feel confused about yourself, come find me..."

"We are waiting for you at the Opera Dao Ancient Treasury."

He nodded: "Okay."

The figure turned as if to leave, but then, as if struck by a sudden thought, stopped in their tracks... They slowly looked back, their voice sounding deep and icy:

"However, if the one who comes in the end is 'Mockery'... I will kill you with my own hands."

……

The next moment, the surrounding scene twisted violently, as if torn apart by some unseen force, and the imagery of the memory shattered into nothingness in an instant!

An unprecedented pain surged in his heart. The man in red, as if waking from a long dream, snapped his eyes open!

In the void before him, countless black palms were devouring the remaining fragments of memory. Wisps of white smoke were kneaded and crushed within their grasp, vanishing completely... Thousands of souls simply disappeared beneath their gaze.

After finishing all this, those palms vanished, as if they had never existed at all.

The man in red was still standing on the familiar stage. He slowly lowered his head to look at his own hands, his expression incredibly complex.

"Am I... Chen Yan?"

He replayed the conversation in his mind. Although he hadn't seen any images or gained much other information, there were only a few people present at the scene. Thinking it over, could he only be "Chen Yan," who had taken on the role of "Chen Ling"?

But who was the person draped in the bright red theatrical robes? Why had he appeared there? And why did he claim to be his master?

Furthermore, what was this "Mockery" he spoke of?

Was it the audience?

One mystery after another swirled in his mind. He stood on the stage like a statue for a long time until, suddenly, a soft sound came from the side.

Clatter—

It was the sound of a book hitting the floor.

He snapped out of it and turned toward the sound. It was the bookshelf where he kept his scripts... For some reason, one of the scripts had slid off the shelf.

He walked over instinctively and picked it up. On the cover of the script, several large characters were strikingly visible:

【First Act】

【Chapter of Origin—"Heartless"】

【Starring: Chen Ling】

Upon seeing the last line, his body shuddered, and his pupils contracted slightly... At that moment, a thought seemed ready to burst from his mind, only to vanish instantly. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recall it... It was as if something deep within his heart was preventing him from thinking any further.

"No..."

After a long silence, he shook his head. "I am Chen Ling."

He looked down at his reflection on the screen and spoke again, his tone gradually growing firm.

"No matter who I was in the past, I am Chen Ling now... No one can deceive me, no one can influence me. I am who I am."

Chen Ling placed the first act back on the shelf, the haze and confusion in his eyes gone. Whether Chen Yan or Chen Ling, they were all just people in a play... Now that he stood on this stage, if he believed he was Chen Ling, then he was Chen Ling.

As he turned around, he tore at his chin with his fingertips, and Chen Ling's face reappeared beneath the skin. The bright red theatrical robes fluttered slightly with his stride.

He returned to the center of the stage.

"This farce should end now."

Chen Ling looked down at the screen. The audience expectation value had dropped to 14%, back to an all-time low... But the situation was far worse than that.

【Audience Expectation -1】

【Current Expectation: 13%】

Chen Ling's expression darkened instantly!

……

The Star Chamber of Commerce.

Scarlet clouds churned in the sky, and a paper sun was suspended above the red clouds. As the paper surface cracked, it slowly opened like a hollow eye staring down at the mortal world...

The moment this eye opened, every living creature within the estate, regardless of where they were or whether they had seen the eye, felt an unprecedented palpitation. It was as if a primal fear from the deepest part of their existence began to erode their sanity bit by bit.

"What... what is that thing??"

Inside the most heavily guarded building of the Star Chamber of Commerce, Yan Xishou hid by the window, watching the eye suspended above the red clouds, his body trembling uncontrollably.

"It's a Calamity... a Tier 6 Calamity!" The old butler's forehead was beaded with cold sweat. "How could a Calamity appear in Aurora City..."

"It's that Chen Ling! He is the Calamity!" Yan Xishou watched as the Chamber of Commerce was gradually razed to the ground, grabbing his hair frantically, his expression full of regret. "Damn it, why did I have to provoke him... What kind of monster is he?!"

The Star Chamber of Commerce had indeed been somewhat turbulent before, but it was just someone breaking out of prison or a reporter digging into organ trafficking. The matters could be big or small... But now, it had escalated to the point where the entire Star Chamber of Commerce was about to be leveled. This was no longer a minor mistake!

When his father returned and found the Star Chamber of Commerce gone, it wouldn't be a question of whether he could inherit it... He would definitely be beaten to death by his father!

"Don't panic, Young Master." The old butler comforted him. "We are far from the battlefield, and this building has shelter-level protection. As long as we stay here, we will be safe..."

No sooner had the old butler finished speaking than a gaze from above the red clouds swept past them. The next moment, everything around them began to glow with an eerie red light.

The thick walls became visibly thin, fluttering in the wind like sheets of paper. The solid, cold marble floor inexplicably began to lose its texture, and the gaps between the bricks turned into hand-drawn lines, crooked and distorted... Even the window in front of them began to grow fangs, like the gaping maw of a ferocious beast.

The two of them were now like food trapped in the mouth of a giant beast, seemingly about to be chewed to pieces at any moment.

The changes before them completely defied their understanding. This building, the pride of the Star Chamber of Commerce, had suddenly turned into some unknown monster. Yan Xishou collapsed to the floor, his eyes filled with terror!

The ornate chandelier turned into an organ resembling tonsils, vibrating rapidly with the hurricane blowing in from outside. A low roar sounded like thunder, rolling and rumbling!

Yan Xishou and the old butler's eardrums were instantly ruptured. They crawled on the ground in agony, blood streaming from their ears...