Chapter 599: "Audience" Anomaly

"Miss, are we really not going back?" Uncle Quan looked at the empty opera house and the gray sky with surging winds outside, his eyes filled with unease. "The Disaster Bell has rung, it's not safe to stay outside..."

"Go back? Is it safe to go back?"

Although Huang Suyu was also a bit nervous, she wasn't panicked. She pointed to her feet. "Where else could be safer than by the side of the Special Envoy?"

Uncle Quan opened his mouth, not knowing how to refute, and nodded helplessly.

The gray sky surrounded the opera house, pressing on everyone's hearts like lead. The cold wind, coming from nowhere, brushed under the eaves of the opera house like a continuous sigh.

"Sir, it's very dangerous outside now... will they be okay going out?" Kong Baosheng's face was also a bit pale, and he asked cautiously.

"It's fine, they are 'professionals'."

Now that Club J, Square 10, Heart 9, and Jian Changsheng had all set out, and except for Jian Changsheng, they were all veterans of the Twilight Society, he shouldn't need to worry about safety. As for Jian Changsheng... well, as long as he doesn't die.

Chen Ling returned to the side of the stage and sat down, picking up a cup of tea that had long since gone cold, and took a light sip.

The slightly bitter cold flowed down his throat. He stared at the howling wind outside the door and the white ashes dancing in the wind, and a question suddenly arose in his heart.

Chen Ling had had several contacts with the Gray Realm by now, whether it was the "Ghost Mockery Abyss" occupied by various shadow monsters, or the "Forbidden Sea" inhabiting the Far North Frozen Sea—they were all different territories from the Gray Realm... He wondered which territory of the Gray Realm the Jiangtian Cult had summoned this time?

"Strange... where did the kitchen's boning knife go?" Kong Baosheng walked out of the kitchen in a daze and saw Chen Ling drinking cold water, so he couldn't help but speak up.

"Sir, your tea is cold. Shall I brew you a fresh cup?"

Chen Ling nodded slightly and let him take the teacup from his hand, but his mind was still on the previous question.

The cold wind coming from nowhere, the strange ashes dancing in the wind... While Chen Ling was lost in thought, a wisp of white, cotton-like ash drifted into the opera house with the wind blowing past the window. Seeing it, Chen Ling subconsciously reached out to catch it.

At the same time, Kong Baosheng walked quickly toward him with a steaming cup of tea:

"Sir, your tea is here."

The moment Chen Ling's palm touched the white ash, an inexplicable chill suddenly surged into his heart!

In the void behind him, pairs of scarlet eyes suddenly opened, staring fixedly at that wisp of white ash. The originally playful gaze instantly turned cold and sinister, and an eerie aura drifted out from Chen Ling's body...

Bang—!!

The cup Kong Baosheng handed him suddenly shattered without warning!

Amidst the boy's gasp, the broken cup splattered, and the scalding tea spilled all over the floor of the opera house, steam rising.

Chen Ling was startled. He turned his head abruptly, but those eerie audience gazes had already disappeared. The others present didn't seem to see them, and they all turned their heads to look here in confusion.

"Are you okay?! Did you get burned?" Huang Suyu stood up from her seat and ran toward Chen Ling, her face full of anxiety.

Li Qingshan also walked down from the stage and approached Chen Ling.

Chen Ling's palm was indeed reddened by the scalding hot water, but this was not worth mentioning. He flicked the water droplets off his fingertips and looked at the floor with a deep frown...

He saw the scalding tea spilled on the ground, and it happened to interweave into a line of hideous, twisted small characters, displayed before Chen Ling:

——【Wilderness of Sighs】.

……

Under the gray sky.

Many pedestrians were running along the street, their eyes looking around in terror from time to time, as if fearing that something would crawl out of the corners.

"It's a police officer! There's a police officer!" The figure running at the front saw Wang Jincheng walking toward them, and a look of joy appeared on his panicked face. The few people behind him also surrounded him in one breath.

Wang Jincheng, who was holding a walkie-talkie in one hand and searching the street with a grim expression, had no choice but to stop.

"You're a police officer, right?! What exactly is going on here?"

"Isn't it a Gray Realm intersection? But we've run a long way and haven't been able to get out of the range of this gray cloud... Do you know where it's safe to run?"

Under the barrage of questions, a look of helplessness flashed in Wang Jincheng's eyes. He said, "The range of this Gray Realm intersection is huge, and because of the Jiangtian Cult, the nearby city trains and cars have all stopped... It's unrealistic to try to walk out on foot."

As soon as this was said, everyone panicked.

"Can't run out? Then what should we do??"

"Doesn't the safety manual say that after a Gray Realm intersection, those disaster monsters could pop out at any time? If we can't run out, doesn't that mean we'll always be in danger?"

"Will you protect us? You will protect us, right??"

“……”

"Sorry, I have other things to attend to and can't protect all of you." Wang Jincheng's expression was extremely serious. He paused for a moment and spoke again, "The best way now is to hide in your homes or other buildings, the more hidden the better. Running on the road is too conspicuous."

Everyone's faces turned pale, but there was no other way. They took a simple look around and ran quickly toward the nearest restaurant.

This restaurant was a detached building, and its exterior was built of stone, looking very sturdy. At this moment, at least a dozen passersby were hiding inside, their eyes looking out through the windows, filled with terror and unease.

The vast majority of the residents of the Red Dust main city were experiencing a Gray Realm intersection for the first time, and the range of this intersection was so wide, so it was normal to be terrified... Wang Jincheng witnessed the group of passersby hiding inside, and only after he could finally sit down and catch his breath did he withdraw his gaze and continue walking toward the front of the street.

"This is Wang Jincheng, no signs of disasters yet..."

Boom—!!!

Before Wang Jincheng could finish his last word, the detached restaurant beside him exploded!

A giant pale shadow, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, easily smashed the heavy stones into a sky full of powder, instantly crushing the dozens of residents inside into blood mud. It then continued to charge straight forward, smashing through a three-story building and a bank in succession, and continued to run wildly forward!

The flying dust swept across Wang Jincheng's face, and his pupils contracted slightly...

Everything happened too suddenly. The Red Dust residents who had just been seeking his protection didn't even have time to let out a scream before they were trampled into blood. A dozen buildings were leveled to the ground in an instant... Even Wang Jincheng couldn't see what that white shadow was.

Wang Jincheng's chest heaved violently, and a flash of anger climbed rapidly in his eyes.

He let out a low roar, and the ground beneath his feet was instantly torn apart, carrying his body as he rushed wildly in the direction the white shadow had left!

After he left, in the corners of the city under the gray sky, mysterious alchemy arrays gradually lit up. Among the remains that had turned into blood mud, many souls seemed to be pulled by something, slowly drifting toward a certain direction...