Chapter 217: Eye Contact

Chen Ling clearly remembered that the last time the audience intervened in the performance, his hand could still barely pass through the curtain.

Although the process had been extremely difficult then, at least his hand could move within the curtain. This time, when his hand touched the curtain, it felt like hitting an incredibly hard wall. Even with all his might, he could only push in less than half a finger...

The last time he tried to reclaim his body, the audience expectation value had only dropped to 14%, but this time, it had broken the bottom line to 13%.

Although it was only a 1% change, the difficulty of crossing the curtain had increased significantly.

Chen Ling looked at the blood-red estate behind the curtain, which was gradually running wild, and felt anxious... He saw hundreds of figures being devoured, and even the Paper Puppeteer had been torn to pieces by the two buildings. If this continued, the commotion would sooner or later attract high-tier Enforcers.

"Is there no one in the Star Chamber of Commerce who can stand up for themselves?" Chen Ling couldn't help but complain. "Someone come and distract it a little, at least!!"

As he spoke, he began to use both hands to frantically claw at the crack, trying to use the force of tearing to expand it bit by bit until he could pass an arm through. Even though this process was as difficult as ascending to heaven, he had to bite the bullet. If he couldn't pass through this curtain, he would be truly dead.

He could only pray that someone would come and contend with the red paper monster, slowing down the drop in audience expectation. If the expectation value dropped to 12%, he would have no chance of reclaiming his body.

The tear in the curtain gradually widened under Chen Ling's efforts, but it was still far from enough to pass an arm through. Beneath the bright red theatrical robes, Chen Ling was already covered in sweat.

……

Star Chamber of Commerce.

Dungeon.

Boom—!!

Successive explosions came from overhead, and large amounts of debris began to fall. This underground space seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

By now, the guards who had been stationed at the dungeon had all gone to the surface; those who weren't dead had fled. The empty underground was left with only Jian Changsheng, who was locked in a cell, pacing back and forth in anxiety.

"Damn it, what on earth is happening up there?"

"Can't someone come and deal with me?!"

There was a ventilation window on the ceiling of the cell. Jian Changsheng could hear the wailing and roaring outside. He knew something major must be happening, but he was left locked up here alone, as if forgotten by the whole world.

"No one's going to deal with me, huh?"

A ruthless glint flashed in Jian Changsheng's eyes. He bit the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood hard outside the cell!

As the blood droplets splattered, his figure instantly vanished from the spot, appearing outside the cell door the next second.

Since all the guards had left, no one cared about Jian Changsheng's jailbreak. He made his way to the surface and stood there, stunned by the completely chaotic and mad estate before him.

Whoosh, whoosh—

Jian Changsheng dodged sideways, avoiding two bricks flying through the air, and finally snapped back to reality.

He wiped his bleeding tongue with his fingertips, stained them with a drop of blood, and flung it hard into the distance. In the blink of an eye, he shifted over a hundred meters away. The next moment, his previous position was whipped by a dozen willow branches, sending stone debris flying.

"What is this situation? A circus?" Jian Changsheng asked in shock while frantically fleeing through the absurd estate.

If he couldn't still feel the pain from his tongue, Jian Changsheng would have suspected he was dreaming. Otherwise, what were all these messy things? Crawling buildings, swaying trees, bricks flying freely... He even saw the servant's quarters where he used to live turn into a giant crab, rampaging through the estate.

Everything before him was so unreal, and when Jian Changsheng instinctively looked up, he saw the source of all that unreality...

Above the churning red clouds, a hollow pupil, like a sun, was overlooking the earth.

The moment Jian Changsheng looked up at it, it seemed to sense something. The pupil turned slightly and locked onto the fleeing Jian Changsheng... In that instant, their gazes met.

Jian Changsheng's heart skipped a beat.

He had only looked up for a second, never expecting the pupil to look back at him... A hair-raising feeling surged in Jian Changsheng's heart!

The next moment, the red clouds supporting the pupil churned violently. Dense red paper strips, like tentacles, hung down from the sky and rushed toward Jian Changsheng's position at high speed!

At the same time, the architectural beasts wandering throughout the estate seemed to receive some kind of order, simultaneously turning and surrounding Jian Changsheng...

With just one exchange of gazes, Jian Changsheng had become the target of the entire chaotic estate!

Jian Changsheng felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet to the top of his skull. He widened his eyes in disbelief, his face deathly pale.

"Why is everything coming for me???"

Jian Changsheng felt like dying. He picked up a short sword from the ground, slashed his palm hard, and used [Blood-Dropping Top] to flee desperately through the estate...

He didn't understand. He had only made eye contact with that pupil; he hadn't broken any heavenly laws. How did he suddenly become the target of everyone?

When he was running just now, he saw a man in a wool coat and silver-rimmed glasses fleeing frantically just like him. There were other people alive in other places, so why did that thing come for him without a word?

As the large number of non-human living things shifted their targets, Chu Muyun, who had been maneuvering through the estate, finally stopped to take a breath. He looked at Jian Changsheng, who was constantly teleporting away, his eyes full of surprise.

Who was that person?

Facing the red paper monster that had reached Tier 6, Chu Muyun didn't consider himself a match, so even if he wanted to help Chen Ling, he couldn't; he could only barely maneuver in this estate... All he could do was send out a distress signal, hoping that high-tier Twilight Society members lurking in Aurora City would receive it and come to support.

But strangely... his distress signal failed to send.

It was as if something in this estate had completely cut off communication with the outside world. Chu Muyun initially suspected it was the red paper monster, but after careful identification, he found it wasn't...

Even more strangely, it stood to reason that with the red paper monster making such a huge commotion, Aurora City should have noticed long ago, and a large number of high-tier Enforcers should have arrived by now. Yet, to this point, he hadn't seen a single Enforcer.

"Could it be..."

Chu Muyun pushed his silver-rimmed glasses and scanned his surroundings, wondering what was going on.