Chapter 380: Invitation from the Theater Path Ancient Collection

"What a brilliant method."

The eldest disciple stood on the corridor, looking into the distance, and couldn't help but exclaim, "One person playing three people in the palm of his hand, and he only made one move until all three were dead... Little Junior Brother is truly not simple."

"But what method did he use to manipulate the signal? I've never heard of a God Path with such an ability." The third disciple's brows were full of confusion.

"There are too many secrets on Little Junior Brother; they aren't things we can see through." The End Role shook his head.

After a brief silence, the three of them turned their heads simultaneously to look at the beautiful youth who had opened his eyes on the bed.

"Why are you looking at your master?" The beautiful youth glanced at them, held the back of his head with both hands, and said leisurely, "Master isn't omniscient either. This 'old six' isn't simple... even I can't see through him completely."

"To think there's something Master can't see through; that's truly rare."

"But now that those people from the Floating Life Painting have seen through Little Junior Brother's disguise, if nothing goes wrong, they'll send people to deal with him soon... Master, what should we do?"

The three of them looked at the beautiful youth, waiting for his answer. After all, whether they could intervene was up to Master.

The beautiful youth didn't answer but got out of bed unhurriedly, put on his shoes, and walked toward the corridor. The three disciples stepped aside to clear a path.

The beautiful youth stood still by the corridor and looked up at the dark clouds signaling a storm. His dark hair fluttered in the wind at his temples.

"These painters in the Red Dust Realm are like leeks; one batch is cut, and another grows... The juniors are one thing, but some old things dare to show their faces and intervene. Do they really think my Theater Path has no one?"

Hearing this, the eyes of the three disciples lit up.

The eldest disciple asked cautiously: "Does Master mean..."

"This world tour still has one last play left to perform." The beautiful youth said lightly.

"...Then let's perform it for them in Willow Town."

……

"So I really can't leave after all..."

Chen Ling in red stood at the edge of Willow Town, looking at the arc in front of him, a flash of helplessness in his eyes.

Since Lin Xi's death, the second [Circle] drawn by the Floating Life Painting was larger, probably fearing that Chen Ling had some means of rapid movement and had escaped Willow Town in the short term, so it even covered the surrounding wilderness and mountains.

And Chen Ling had tried every possible way to break through the [Circle], but unfortunately, it was all in vain...

"Relying on my own strength, I probably can't get out. Does it ultimately depend on the audience?" Chen Ling muttered to himself.

He looked down at the ground.

[Audience Expectation +3]

[Current Expectation: 49%]

Seeing the sudden increase of three points of expectation, Chen Ling's heart skipped a beat. After all, an increase in expectation for no reason was never a good thing; that was his experience so far... But thinking about it carefully, he was already at a dead end. How much worse could it get?

Chen Ling looked at the remaining 49% expectation, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

The audience was his only hope for a comeback from this dead end, but with his current expectation, even if he released the audience, he would definitely die... And if nothing went wrong, the high-level members of the Floating Life Painting would arrive very soon. In such a short time, where could he earn enough expectation?

As Chen Ling walked toward the center of Willow Town, his brain worked at high speed, constantly searching for a way to break the situation.

Just as he stepped back onto the alley, a figure suddenly darted out from the side and crashed into his arms.

WHOOSH—!

The figure's speed was very fast, so fast that even Chen Ling hadn't reacted. Just as he was about to respond, he had already been crashed into!

Chen Ling stumbled back a few steps, subconsciously gripping the gun in his pocket. Just as he was about to draw the gun to counterattack, a somewhat familiar voice rang out:

"Ouch..."

A beautiful youth was knocked down by Chen Ling and sat on the ground, grimacing in pain.

Silver half-rimmed glasses sat on the youth's nose, and the glasses chain swayed gently behind his ears. He rubbed his butt while glaring at Chen Ling:

"What are you doing? Don't you have eyes when you walk?"

Chen Ling's hand gripping the gun paused slightly.

It's him...

Wait... ?！！

Chen Ling saw the glasses on the youth's face, which were identical in style to his own, and suddenly froze in place.

After the youth finished scolding, he brushed the dust off his body and turned to run away into the distance.

"Wait a minute!"

Chen Ling came back to his senses and was about to call out to the youth, but the latter had already vanished into the end of the alley without a trace.

A breeze blew over the empty street. Chen Ling stood there alone in red, staring blankly at the direction the youth had disappeared, as if what had happened in those few seconds was just a dream.

"How is this possible..." Chen Ling muttered to himself.

Chen Ling clearly remembered that when he was at the inn, the youth had asked about his glasses. However, those glasses were just a disguise he used to hide his identity, created using [No-Form] transformation, and the design was inspired by glasses from before the Great Catastrophe... Although he told the youth that he bought the glasses from a merchant, he knew that was just a perfunctory excuse.

And just now, he had actually seen the youth wearing a pair of glasses identical to his own?

No, that’s not right...

In Chen Ling’s mind, the conversation between the young man and the woman in green at the inn suddenly resurfaced, along with the young man’s extraordinary speed just moments ago... One suspicion after another swirled in Chen Ling’s mind, as if hinting at something.

Just then, Chen Ling’s hand, resting in his pocket, suddenly felt something like soft paper. After a brief moment of surprise, he pulled it out.

It was a performance invitation.

Chen Ling clearly remembered that this wasn’t in his pocket when he drew his gun. Did that young man slip it in just now?

Chen Ling opened the invitation. Inside was a handwritten letter in elegant, neat script. In the top right corner, the five types of opera face masks—Sheng, Dan, Jing, Mo, and Chou—were printed, looking incredibly lifelike.

"Respected Mr. Chen Ling [Heart 6]:"

"The Ancient Treasury of Opera Arts sincerely invites you to witness the New Era 380 Realm Performance."

"This invitation is the sole admission ticket for the performance. Please depart for the performance location immediately upon receiving it. During this time, do not communicate with others and do not disclose any matters related to this performance to anyone. If you have not entered by the start time, this invitation will be void."

"【Performance Time: February 3rd, New Era 380, 15:00】"

"【Location: Wasteland on the east side of Willow Town】"

Signed—"Nameless Actor"