Chapter 3: Calamity

Chen Ling's pupils contracted sharply!

However, when he blinked, the blood-red characters vanished instantly, as if they had never existed.

A hallucination?

Chen Ling stood there blankly; those words seemed to have burrowed into his mind, impossible to forget.

[We are watching you]

Chen Ling turned his head abruptly!

In the empty living room, it felt as if pairs of invisible scarlet pupils were observing him. This feeling of being stared at was exactly the same as in his nightmare.

He stood stiffly like a statue for a long time, forcing himself to take deep breaths.

"Maybe I was just too tired from staying up late preparing for the Enforcer exam these past few days, my mind was too tense..."

"But that was the original owner of this body, it shouldn't have anything to do with me... Could something have gone wrong during the fusion of the two souls, damaging my psyche?"

"I've heard that severe schizophrenia can indeed cause indistinguishable hallucinations..."

Chen Ling temporarily suppressed his inner fear, trying to explain everything with science. A strong sense of hunger surged up.

He grabbed a sausage from the cutting board and swallowed it in a few bites, finally feeling a bit more composed.

"Maybe I need a psychiatrist."

Startled, Chen Ling didn't even bother washing his face. He hurriedly threw on a black cotton coat and pushed the door open to leave.

Even so, the cold air rushing in behind the door made Chen Ling shiver.

This was the first time Chen Ling had officially made contact with this world since regaining consciousness. He took a deep breath, ready to face all unknowns and difficulties.

However, when he inadvertently looked up at the sky, a "holy shit" couldn't help but escape his lips.

The morning light scattered from the east, and ribbons of dreamlike blue light floated above the small city, appearing as if they were within reach, yet impossibly far away.

Aurora.

Daytime aurora.

Chen Ling stood at his doorstep, staring blankly at the aurora-filled sky for a long time, muttering to himself:

"What the hell... is this world?"

……

"Damn it, why is this road so hard to walk on?"

"It's too cold, and with the heavy rain last night, the mountain road has frozen over. Be careful."

"We've been dragging our feet all the way, it's already bright out." The man wiped the sweat from his forehead, "How much further?"

"The potter's field is just ahead... we should be there soon."

The two stumbling figures climbed over the mountain and finally saw the mounds of earth standing in the distance. Some were new, some old. Most had no headstones, just wooden signs stuck in front of them, or items that had belonged to the deceased during their lifetime.

But after last night's heavy rain, many of the mounds had been washed away, and the wooden sticks and other items were scattered messily everywhere; the scene was a total wreck.

To their surprise, the potter's field was now cordoned off with yellow police tape, and over a dozen figures were moving through the restricted area with grave expressions.

"Enforcers?"

Seeing the striking black and red uniforms, the man's eyes widened, "How could they be here!"

"Have they already found out?" The woman's face turned deathly pale, "Is... is it A-Ling? Did he go to the Enforcers? Is he really not dead?"

They thought they had killed Chen Ling, but he returned the very next day. Plus, the sudden appearance of Enforcers at the burial site... there was hardly any other explanation.

"No..." The man stared fixedly at the figures, "Even for criminal cases, the District 3 Enforcers would send at most three people! To send over a dozen at once, it can only mean..."

"A Calamity... has appeared?"

The woman seemed to realize something, and cold sweat instantly soaked her back!

"Could the monster in the bedroom be..."

"Let's go! Hurry!" The man grabbed the woman's wrist and turned to get away from there.

Just then, a cold voice came from nearby.

"Stop."

The two figures stiffened instantly.

An Enforcer ducked under the caution tape and walked slowly toward them, eyes narrowed.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"I... I..." The woman stammered, unable to speak.

"We're here to visit our son." The man said as calmly as he could, "He was buried here, and today is the anniversary of his death."

"Then why were you running?"

"...Because we were scared."

"Scared?"

"Sending so many Enforcers at once... it means the Gray Realm is intersecting here, right?" The man swallowed hard, "Maybe a Calamity even crawled out from inside... we were afraid of being caught in the crossfire."

"Oh? You know quite a bit." The Enforcer raised an eyebrow in surprise.

The man forced a pale smile.

"Officer," the woman asked cautiously, "has a Calamity really crawled out of the Gray Realm?"

"That's classified."

The Enforcer replied flatly, "You won't be able to visit your son today, so just head back... You're not allowed to spread word of what you've seen here. You know the rules, right?"

"Yes, we do."

"Go on then."

Hearing those words, the man finally felt a sense of relief and turned to leave immediately.

"Wait."

Both their hearts skipped a beat.

"Leave your names and addresses." The Enforcer took out a pen and paper, "Required by the confidentiality protocol, please understand."

"Chen Tan, Li Xiuchun, 128 Frost Street, District 3."

After recording the information, the Enforcer let them go. He crossed the yellow tape and walked up to a man in a black coat, handing him the file.

"Brother Meng, I asked. They were just here to visit their son."

Han Meng puffed on a thick hand-rolled cigarette, taking a deep drag. The acrid smoke mixed with his breath, drifting into the cold wind.

He glanced casually at the file and said calmly:

"Send a few people to follow them secretly. They're suspicious."

"...Huh?"

"Frost Street is at least a dozen kilometers away from here. For them to arrive at this hour, they must have left at four in the morning at the latest... and at that time, the rain hadn't even stopped yet."

"Who would come to the mountains to pay respects in a downpour before dawn?"

"Also, this is a potter's field, a place for those who have no family or died far from home. As parents, why would they bury their child here?"

The Enforcer was stunned and slapped his forehead, "Right, why didn't I think of that?"

"...Xiao Qin, how did you even pass the Enforcer exam?"

The Enforcer called Xiao Qin gave a dry laugh and changed the subject, "By the way, Brother Meng, so did a Calamity actually crawl out of the Gray Realm last night?"

Han Meng didn't answer. Instead, he pulled a palm-sized instrument from the inner pocket of his coat. In the center of the instrument was a compass-like pointer device, with different colors marking different zones on the scale, clear and distinct.

"Is this the Calamity Pointer?" Jiang Qin looked at the instrument curiously and reached out to touch it, only to have the back of his hand slapped hard.

"This thing is precious. Once you're promoted to Enforcer Officer, you'll have your chance to touch it."

Jiang Qin rubbed the back of his hand bitterly, "How exactly does this thing work?"

"This is a device for detecting the danger level of a 'Calamity'. Once opened, whichever zone the pointer lands on indicates the magnitude of the 'Calamity' fluctuation that occurred nearby. If it's just a simple Gray Realm intersection without a 'Calamity' crawling into the reality, it won't react."

"The higher the level of the Calamity, the more violently the pointer will shake."

Jiang Qin nodded, looking worried:

"Brother Meng... there shouldn't be a 'Calamity' that crawled out, right?"

"Most likely not. After all, if a 'Calamity' had really descended through here yesterday, Districts 2 and 3 would have been in total chaos by now."

"That's good."

"To be safe, we still have to complete the test."

As Han Meng said this, he opened the Calamity Pointer. The other Enforcers watched with curiosity.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

The Calamity Pointer showed no reaction.

Just as Han Meng breathed a sigh of relief, the pointer on the compass began to shake violently!

The pointer swept frantically across the different colored zones, and a harsh, screeching sound came from inside the instrument. Han Meng's pupils contracted, and he instinctively let go of the Calamity Pointer!

Bang—!!

Countless parts shattered in mid-air, and the sharp broken end of the pointer grazed Han Meng's cheek, leaving a streak of scarlet blood!

The Calamity Pointer...

Exploded.