Chapter 388: Applause

Old Man He, riding his white crane, pressed the button on his walkie-talkie.

"This is He Feng."

No prefix, no serial number. As soon as these four simple words were spoken, a deep voice responded from the other end of the walkie-talkie.

"What's the situation? I saw that the names of Liuying and the others have disappeared... Even if that person really is [Heart 6], he's only a Third Rank. How did he manage to kill them?"

It was clear that the person behind the walkie-talkie also found their deaths inconceivable. Moreover, the interval between the disappearance of their names was less than a minute, which meant there was a high probability that Chen Ling had killed them both in succession... This made it even more bizarre.

"We've fallen into a trap." Old Man He's expression was incredibly ugly. "I'm on my way out of Liu Town. You need to deactivate the [Circle] immediately, or even I will die here!"

"What?!" The voice behind the walkie-talkie was shocked.

"Listen to me, there is definitely more than one [Heart 6] in Liu Town. Everything here is in chaos. We heard the sound of singing, and then... *clack clack clack*... and then there was a spear... *clack clack clack clack clack*..."

Halfway through his sentence, strange clacking sounds began to emerge involuntarily from Old Man He's throat, like the sound of steel gears turning, emitting a dull, heavy noise.

He froze in place.

"He Feng, what are you saying?" the person on the walkie-talkie asked, confused. "You heard singing, and then what?"

"Then... *clack clack clack clack*... *clank*... after..."

Old Man He's voice became increasingly eerie, until finally, he couldn't utter a single word. At the same time, he felt his body becoming heavier and heavier, to the point where he couldn't even control his fingers...

The walkie-talkie slipped from his stiff hand, vanished into mid-air, and finally shattered into pieces on the ground with a bang.

At the same time, the white crane beneath him flew with increasing difficulty, as if it were carrying something extremely heavy. After flapping its wings twice with great effort, it plummeted toward the earth!

In Old Man He's terrified gaze, he looked down stiffly at his own body. At some point, his skin had taken on a metallic luster, his limbs were gradually transforming into wheels, and his rounded body was beginning to grow sharp edges bit by bit...

At this moment, he inexplicably recalled the words the figure in the headscarf had said before dying:

"We... seem to have turned into carts?"

……

"The iron cart... turned into a person?"

Chen Ling rubbed his eyes, looking in disbelief at the seventh iron cart charging toward him.

In his vision, the cart was turning into a human shape bit by bit. Although it still looked like a cart overall, one could already vaguely make out the contours of a human face on the front: rivet-like eyes, wrinkle-like cracks, and handle-like ears;

Chen Ling could even clearly see terror and astonishment on that "face"!

If the stage influencing reality was something Chen Ling could barely grasp, the scene before him completely exceeded his understanding... Was this a cart turning into a person, or a person turning into a cart?

At this moment, the boundary between drama and reality seemed to blur, and the world became absurd and eerie.

As this bizarre iron cart approached, Gao Chong, the white-clad god of war on the stage, slowly raised the gold-chiseled tiger-head spear in his hand...

His spear tip was aimed directly at the face of the iron cart.

Seeing this, Old Man He—part human, part cart—was terrified. He frantically tried to mobilize his skills to escape, but in this body, he couldn't sense a shred of spiritual power.

He desperately tried to turn his wheels, carving an arc on the stage to avoid Gao Chong directly in front of him, and rushed off the stage in a panic.

Just then, his gaze fell upon the red-clad figure in the first row, and he froze slightly.

It's him?!

It's [Heart 6] Chen Ling!

Seeing the face that was identical to the one in Liuying's portrait, Old Man He recognized Chen Ling's identity. He never expected that his original target for assassination would appear before him at such a time.

So Chen Ling had been hiding here all along... No wonder Liuying couldn't pinpoint his location.

Chen Ling's figure was reflected in Old Man He's rivet-like pupils. After a brief moment of hesitation, he accelerated like a roaring train, crashing toward Chen Ling at full speed!

His body had been turned into this state, and he was inexplicably trapped on the stage; he estimated that it would be difficult to escape on his own. Perhaps only by capturing Chen Ling would he have any bargaining power... At the very least, he could drag him down with him before he died!

Old Man He opened his mouth, seemingly roaring Chen Ling's name, but only a metallic clacking sound came out.

Chen Ling, sitting in the first row, felt a jolt of alarm as the monster iron cart rushed toward him. It was too late to dodge, and besides, Li Qingshan was sitting right next to him in a state of meditation.

*Whoosh—!*

Just as the iron cart was about to leap off the stage, a gold-chiseled tiger-head spear descended from the sky!

Under the cold, gleaming spear tip, the hard iron cart was as fragile as paper. A white shadow stood at the edge of the stage, and with a sweep of the spear, the iron cart was split in two right down the middle!

Blood splattered, and debris shattered.

In Old Man He's terrified and painful gaze, his body fell apart, crashing heavily onto the stage with a dull thud.

Even the fragment that flew the farthest did not land in the audience area, but stopped steadily at the edge of the stage, never crossing the boundary between performance and viewing.

Old Man He lay upside down on the stage, his eyes fixed on Chen Ling below, until the consciousness in his eyes gradually faded, turning completely into two metallic rivets.

An "aged" iron cart died just like that at the edge of the stage.

Chen Ling's body was still tense. He stared at this scene in a daze, only coming to his senses a moment later.

He looked up and saw a figure holding a long spear standing atop the ruins of flesh and debris. The orange-yellow light behind him cast a golden outline around his body, making him look like a white-clad god of war.

On stage and off, their eyes met for an instant.

The white-clad figure curled his lips into a faint smile, then turned and sang loudly toward Wushu in the distance:

"Though the barbarian soldiers swarm and harass, I shall ensure they cannot escape even with wings!"

He raised his spear and charged back onto the stage.

Chen Ling sat in the dim light beneath the stage, his red theatrical robe fluttering silently, as still as a statue.

In the following performance, no other corpses appeared; presumably, the enemies who had come to hunt him down had been completely wiped out. After a brilliant fight scene, the performance reached its finale.

Although Chen Ling didn't quite understand it, he sat there quietly until the entire performance was over.

As a character resembling Yue Fei sang the final lines, the lights on the stage went out completely, and a misty haze once again shrouded the dim stage.

In this deathly silence and darkness, the red-clad figure in the audience sat silently for a moment, then slowly raised his hands...

Lonely yet passionate applause rang out.

Several figures walked slowly from the dark stage...