Chapter 24: Poker

Wait, why did he use "either"?

Chen Yan is Chen Yan, not something else wearing his skin. Chen Ling could be sure of this.

Since it was the same Gray Realm descent, and since the "Audience" could fuse with him... why couldn't the other Calamity that descended fuse with a human?

But all of this was Chen Ling's speculation... As for the truth, perhaps he would only know if he asked him personally.

Just as Chen Ling was hesitating whether to knock on the door, the door was opened from the inside.

"Brother." Chen Yan rubbed his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"...I have something I want to ask you."

Chen Yan was about to say something, but glanced at Chu Muyun's room opposite, pulled Chen Ling into the room, and closed the door.

"A-Yan, I'll just ask directly." Chen Ling looked into his eyes seriously. "The one who bloodied Ice Spring Street... was it you?"

Chen Yan's body shook. Seeing the safety amulet fragment in Chen Ling's hand, he lowered his head silently.

"...Yeah."

Seeing Chen Yan admit it so readily, Chen Ling, who was preparing to continue persuading him, was stunned.

"Was it really you?" Chen Ling asked again. "So, you also fused with a Calamity?"

"...I don't know. When I woke up, I was already standing there."

"You also lost a period of memory?"

"Yeah."

Chen Ling's brow furrowed slightly.

He believed Chen Yan wouldn't lie to him, and even he himself was in this situation... A bizarre transmigration, a bizarre addition of the "Audience" in his mind, and when he woke up, he was already back home.

"But wasn't the location of the Gray Realm convergence at the back mountain? You should have been in surgery at the time... Why were you also affected?"

"I don't know." Chen Yan shook his head again. "I just remember the doctor giving me anesthesia, and when I woke up, I was on Ice Spring Street... I was very scared, so I hid in the back mountain, and when I came out again, I saw brother crawling out of that monster's body..."

Hearing this, Chen Ling had connected the cause and effect.

However, why Chen Yan was affected by the Gray Realm convergence was still a question... Could it be that after that Calamity broke into District 2, it happened to encounter Chen Yan on the operating table? And then fused?

Chen Ling didn't quite understand the process of this "fusion", and couldn't think of anything else.

"I understand."

Chen Ling nodded. "Stay at home for these few days, don't go anywhere, understand? I'll handle other things."

Chen Yan wanted to say something but stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"I... I originally wanted to go see Mom and Dad..."

Chen Ling was startled. After a long silence, he said softly, "Wait for brother to clear your name first. After things calm down, I'll take you to see them, okay?"

"Okay." Chen Yan nodded obediently.

"Stay away from that Chu Muyun these few days, don't let him touch you, and don't talk to him much."

"Okay."

"If Han Meng comes to find you again and asks you some questions, answer like this..."

"Okay."

After Chen Ling finished his instructions, he turned and left.

Chen Yan locked the door gently and returned to the hard wooden bed to lie down...

He tilted his head to look out the window. In his chestnut-colored pupils were the reflections of the blue aurora filling the sky.

Suddenly, at the end of the aurora sky, a point of red light shone slightly, like a cinnabar star.

"It's here again." Chen Yan muttered to himself.

As the cinnabar-like star became more brilliant, a dreamlike path extended from nothingness, connecting all the way to Chen Yan's bedside... That path floated and swayed between the star and him, like a soft ribbon.

Chen Yan lay on the bed, calmly watching this path to divinity. It was an olive branch thrown to him by a god.

A moment later, he slowly raised his hand and grabbed the elusive ribbon...

And then,

Crushed it with force!

Bang—

A faint sound lingered in Chen Yan's ears.

The path to divinity was crushed by his one hand, turning into dust that filled the sky and dissipating into nothingness. At the same time, the cinnabar-like star in the sky also dimmed rapidly.

He refused the divine favor.

Chen Yan opened his palm, and a fragment of the divine path the size of a thumb nail was lying quietly in his palm, like cinnabar glass.

He casually opened the drawer by the bed, threw this piece of cinnabar glass in, and then closed and locked it.

In the dark drawer,

More than thirty identical pieces of cinnabar glass flickered slightly.

……

Morning.

Chen Ling got up early to wash up.

Today there was no "kind person" to reimburse his fare, so he could only walk to Ice Spring Street. The round trip alone would take more than four hours, so he had to get up earlier and return later than the other reserve law enforcers.

To his surprise, Chu Muyun seemed to have gotten up earlier than him.

As soon as Chen Ling walked into the living room, he saw Chu Muyun wearing a casual shirt and a knitted vest, sitting sideways at the table, holding an ancient medical book, as if studying something seriously, pushing his glasses from time to time.

It was as if he wasn't sitting in a drafty, broken living room, but in an elegant cafe in Aurora City.

Seeing Chen Ling get up, he smiled and put down the book.

"Good morning."

"Morning."

Chen Ling responded casually and hurried out to have breakfast at Zhao's breakfast shop across the street.

Ever since he "tipped off" Uncle Zhao last time, he felt a bit guilty, so he visited their shop every morning, which was considered giving Uncle Zhao a bit more business... As for Zhao Yi, he had been grounded by Uncle Zhao for a week and hadn't left the house yet.

After Chen Ling left, Chu Muyun slowly put down the book.

He stood up and walked straight to Chen Ling's room, his feet stepping on the old floorboards without making a sound... like a ghost.

Chu Muyun walked to Chen Ling's bed, his eyes behind the lenses narrowing slightly.

He put on white gloves, took a pair of tweezers from his arms, and collected all the hair scattered on the pillow and the tiny skin dander, putting them into a brown empty bottle.

After doing all this, he quietly exited the room, waved his hand lightly, and a breeze blew across the floor, completely erasing the footprints he had left.

He didn't return to his room, but walked straight out of the house, passed through several streets, and came to the door of a dilapidated small shop.

Ding-a-ling—

As he pushed open the shop door, a crisp bell rang.

"What do you want to buy?" A woman sitting at the counter yawned lazily and asked casually.

"I want to buy a glimmer of hope."

Hearing this answer, the woman's gaze froze instantly.

The original laziness and casualness disappeared completely, replaced by a pair of cold and sharp eyes. She stared at Chu Muyun in front of her and spoke slowly:

"Show your identity."

Chu Muyun raised his fingertips, and a white poker card appeared in his palm like a magic trick, which he placed face down on the table.

The woman flipped the card—

[Spades 7]

"Password." She spoke again.

Chu Muyun said calmly,

"Human civilization..."

"Shall never be extinguished."