Chapter 548: Your Place Exploded

Bang—!!

Following a sudden, piercing scream, a black shadow streaked rapidly across the chaotic dance hall like a cannonball, crashing into several tables and chairs!

“Holy crap!! What just flew past?!”

“Was that... a person???”

“What??”

“……”

The previously noisy crowd was now entirely focused on the screams and the shadow that had overturned the tables. Everyone looked toward that spot in a daze, not knowing what had happened.

【14:22 PM, a bolt of thunder streaked across the sky above the dance hall】

Pale lightning flashed silently through the clouds. Through the intense light that flashed for an instant outside the window, everyone finally saw everything clearly.

Amidst the wreckage of tables and chairs, a burly figure covered in blood stared with wide eyes at the ceiling above, his expression one of terror, his face deathly pale—he was already lifeless. A bloody blade wound ran through his body, a shocking sight under the pale lightning.

The dim dance hall, the sudden flashes of thunder, the ruined furniture, the brutally murdered corpse... As this scene fell upon the eyes of all the guests, their breathing stopped.

At the same time, at the end of the path where the corpse had been sent flying, a figure stood with his back to the pale lightning outside the window, a giant shadow like a demon flickering within the dance hall!

Scarlet blood blurred Li Ruohong’s face; his expression was ferocious and vicious. In his hand, a grim short blade was dripping blood continuously, and a pool of blood had already silently spread beneath him...

Boom—!!!

As the lightning faded, the dance hall plunged back into darkness. The deafening thunder seemed to threaten to shatter their eardrums.

Only now did the crowd finally snap out of it. Piercing screams erupted frantically throughout the dance hall. Everyone was plunged into deep terror; the image from a moment ago was branded into their minds. Even though everything had returned to darkness, they could still imagine Li Ruohong’s ferocious, blood-stained face!!

And at this moment, Li Ruohong, in the darkness, looked down at his own palm in a daze...

Where’s the wrench???

When did the original wrench turn into a knife?

And how did that bodyguard just fly away... I didn't even use any force, did I?!

Also, what are they screaming about??

【Audience Expectation +3】

Li Ruohong was completely bewildered, having no idea what had happened. As the lightning outside the window flashed again, the scene of the crowd fleeing the dance hall in terror was reflected before his eyes.

“Blood... blood!! There’s blood everywhere!! The floorboards are seeping blood!!”

Someone shouted, and the crowd looked up abruptly. They saw that the dance hall’s floorboards had been soaked in blood at some point, dripping downward like dried blood clots that had been hidden between the floor layers for who knows how long. Washed by the rain, they were now dripping along the walls and through the gaps in the floorboards onto everyone’s cheeks.

Pale lightning flashed behind them, and blood seeped from the floorboards. The dance hall, which had been a place of debauchery just minutes ago, had now become a hellish purgatory!

“The corpse from earlier is gone too! Only a pool of blood and bits of flesh are left!”

“How could this happen...”

“It eats people... this place eats people!!”

Numerous figures scrambled frantically toward the exit. Some noticed that the corpse, which had been lying in the ruins, had mysteriously vanished in the gaps between the lightning flashes... It was as if it had been devoured by something invisible, leaving only a pool of blood and small, shattered pieces of flesh to prove that a body had indeed been there just moments ago.

Screams and lightning mingled, echoing harshly in the dance hall. As the environment briefly plunged into darkness and then lit up again in the lightning, a figure in a brown trench coat was already sitting in a neglected corner like a ghost.

Clink—

Ice cubes clinked gently against the glass. Amidst the flickering of darkness and pale light, Chen Ling looked up unhurriedly and finished the liquor in his glass.

“The effect seems decent...”

Lightning flashed repeatedly outside the window, like spotlights on a stage being switched on and off; blood flowed bit by bit along the scenery, maximizing the atmosphere under the changing lights; the character holding the prop “short blade” stood blankly on the stage, watching the audience scatter and flee below, completely unaware that he was already part of the performance.

And Chen Ling, who had directed all of this, casually placed his empty glass back on the table, picked up the lighter, and gave it a flick. The flame slowly devoured the notepad that recorded the “script.”

The predicament of Jian Changsheng and the others lay in being suspected and monitored by the police and the [Floating Life Painting]. With Chen Ling’s current abilities, he naturally couldn't solve all the enemies by force, so his only way was to personally “package” a more eye-catching “Twilight Society stronghold”!

In this way, even if he couldn't completely clear the casino’s suspicion, he could significantly reduce the surveillance intensity of the Red Dust Main City on the casino, creating confusion... The muddier the waters of the Red Dust Main City became, the more advantageous it would be for the Twilight Society.

Of course, Chen Ling didn't expect to completely shift the suspicions of the [Floating Life Painting] with just this one performance. This could at most be considered an opening act, an opportunity to bring the Great World Dance Hall into the sights of the [Floating Life Painting]... As long as the [Floating Life Painting] started paying attention here, everything would be easier to handle.

Chen Ling couldn't clear the casino’s suspicion, but he had a hundred ways to create suspicion for the dance hall!

Orange flames accompanied the embers, drifting into the pool of blood. Chen Ling walked step by step toward the staircase in the darkness, tore at his chin with his fingertips, and his figure turned into a small, faint afterimage, disappearing completely into the shadows.

“Murder... it’s murder!!”

“Call the police quickly!!”

“Blood... there’s blood everywhere!”

“……”

Torrential rain poured onto the streets. A large number of figures swarmed out of the Great World Dance Hall, shouting in terror, their faces pale as they ran in all directions, as if they had seen a ghost.

Hearing the commotion outside, the nearby residents opened their windows one after another, looking blankly at the fleeing crowd below. Although they didn't know what had happened, a sense of inexplicable unease began to permeate the street amidst these hair-raising shouts...

At the entrance of the casino, the plainclothes officers who were still struggling to monitor the place in the rain saw the chaotic scene in the distance, and looks of doubt appeared in their eyes.

An officer disguised as a rickshaw puller silently pulled his vehicle and approached the direction from which the crowd was fleeing.

“Brother, what happened over there?”

“Blood... the dance hall... the dance hall’s floorboards are seeping blood!” a young man with a deathly pale face said incoherently. “And, and someone was murdered! They were stabbed and sent flying over ten meters away, and in the blink of an eye! The corpse was gone!!”

“What did you say???”

Meanwhile.

At the entrance of Jinghong Tower.

Hearing the noisy commotion outside, Kong Baosheng cautiously poked his head out of the door, keeping as much distance as possible from the two “door gods” who looked like drowned rats, while curiously watching the fleeing crowd and the Great World Dance Hall, which was bleeding from its entrance.

Kong Baosheng paused, scratched his head, and then said to the two equally stunned “door gods”:

“Drowned rats, did your place explode?”