Chapter 304: Stage, and Performance

Qiong Xuan was completely dumbfounded.

He had calculated everything, but he never expected that the siege of Tan Xin would turn into a primitive, close-quarters brawl... Although they were seven-striped law enforcers who possessed world-destroying power in their every move, as long as their Divine Path was sealed, they were completely silenced.

Who could have imagined that there would be such an extremely bizarre path as [Stop the War] in this world? One step out, and all beings are equal!

The most critical thing was... the last time he exercised his body and practiced fighting was when he first became a law enforcer, at least twenty or thirty years ago. After all, at the level of the sixth or seventh rank, who would count on muscles to play a role in battle?

Before he could recover, Tan Xin's figure bowed slightly... With the explosion of his leg muscles, the powerful force directly ejected him from the ground, and he swept to Qiong Xuan's front at an astonishing speed!

呼——！

Qiong Xuan only felt a blur before his eyes and subconsciously wanted to avoid it, but an iron-like fist was already whistling and smashing into his face!

This punch directly knocked him off the ground like a sandbag. His mouth full of broken teeth mixed with blood sprayed out. He fell onto the frosted earth, rolled twice limply, and fainted with his eyes rolled back.

Tan Xin maintained the posture of a lunge punch, paused in place, his solid footsteps as if deeply pierced into the earth, his figure as immovable as a mountain.

He glanced at Qiong Xuan indifferently.

"One."

One punch, one seven-striped law enforcer solved.

The surrounding law enforcers were completely stunned. They finally came to their senses and tried to draw their guns from their waists, but just as they reached out, Tan Xin crashed into the crowd like a beast and began a primitive and one-sided "slaughter"!

Tan Xin's fist wind whistled in the cold, and one figure after another fell under him.

At the same time,

Outside the high walls of Aurora City, a white-clad figure like a god was also on a killing spree above the Forbidden Sea!

The two stood back to back, separated by a high wall standing in the frost and snow, fighting bravely on their respective battlefields... Behind them was humanity, and in front of them was a desperate future full of thorns.

……

咔嚓——

The sound of a camera shutter sounded from the side.

Wen Shilin put down the camera in his hand. He had already permanently engraved this scene on the film. Even though they were so far apart and there might only be two blurred shadows and chaotic light and shadow in the frame, he still took the film out, looked at the thick ice and snow under his feet, and spoke with a complex expression:

"Lin Yan..."

"Hmm?"

"Tell me, how deep into the ice and snow should I hide it so that this land will forever remember the appearance of Aurora City?"

Chen Ling was stunned. He didn't know how to answer Wen Shilin's question... or rather, this wasn't a question at all, but Wen Shilin's reluctance and regret for Aurora City.

"I've been a reporter for so many years and have seen too much darkness in human nature. I often feel that human selfishness and stupidity are incurable... Even if this city is already in danger, there will still be people who make money from human lives for their own selfish interests. There will be fighting, jealousy, and resentment. They will hate everyone who is better off than themselves... Clearly, the humans of this era are already desperate and having a hard enough time, yet they still point their fingers at their own people, satisfying their own selfish desires and venting their resentment in endless infighting..."

"Even I sometimes pessimistically think... then let it be, let everything be destroyed. Perhaps the species of humanity doesn't deserve to continue at all..."

In Chen Ling's mind, the station in District 3 filled with corpses and the chaotic Century Avenue of Aurora City immediately appeared... He could understand what Wen Shilin meant.

"Then what about now?" Chen Ling asked.

Wen Shilin smiled helplessly. After a pause, he looked at the film in his hand and spoke again.

"Now, I see something different, or rather... I've changed my perspective."

"Behind every heinous organ trade, there is a group of parents willing to sacrifice everything to track down their children; behind every piece of sky-high coal, there is kindness willing to share the warmth exchanged for their life savings with others; even the infighting in Aurora City, even the confrontation between 'Reappearance' and the 'Hand of Salvation,' their original intentions were all for the continuation of human civilization, it's just that the paths they chose were different..."

"Actually, beautiful things have always been there, it's just that we were blinded by darkness and despair. It's like the kite of Aurora City has always been soaring in the sky, but how many people would look up and notice it?"

Chen Ling was stunned. He followed Wen Shilin's gaze and saw that above the street where Tan Xin was fighting with many law enforcers, a red kite was still floating silently in the biting cold wind;

"In this era, human life is as small as dust; but in this era, humanity is as brilliant as the stars."

"Human infighting and selfishness are always there, but there are always people who are giving their all for the continuation of humanity as a whole..." Wen Shilin looked at the two figures fighting to the death in the cold in the distance and let out a long sigh. "It's just a pity that their efforts... are often ignored."

The moment Wen Shilin's voice fell, Chen Ling's body shook slightly!

He seemed to sense something and looked up at the sky abruptly. At the same time, the environment around him faded away like a tide. The station, the stairs, Wen Shilin... everything was being swallowed by darkness, and a pitch-black night sky covered his head!

At this moment... he was sinking into another space.

A blood-colored divine path extended under his feet, condensing into steps leading to the firmament, and at the end of that divine path, a brilliant star was flickering silently.

Countless scarlet eyes opened on both sides of the road, watching Chen Ling silently. He was wearing a bright red opera robe, standing on the second step, and without realizing it, he had already walked most of the way through this step...

"I... am back again." Chen Ling muttered to himself.

He looked back and saw that on the path he had come from, a line of small text was still engraved on the front of the second step, except that a horizontal line had been drawn across the surface of the text, meaning that the performance had been completed.

Chen Ling turned his head back again, staring at the road ahead. At this moment, he was already standing at the edge of the second step. If he took one more step forward, he would be able to step onto the third step!

And under his feet, there was also a line of small text, clearly visible.

That was the last performance before he was promoted to the third rank. He had a premonition that once this performance was completed, he would truly step into the ranks of the third rank.

Chen Ling took a deep breath, his gaze falling on that line of small text...

——[On a stage that no one cares about, complete a curtain call with thunderous applause].

Chen Ling was stunned in place.