Chapter 83: The Performance Ends

As soon as these words were spoken, the other two Law Enforcers rushed over like arrows.

“There’s still a survivor?!”

“Wait... why is it him?”

Seeing Chen Ling, who was the only one left with a trace of breath, astonishment appeared in their eyes.

“He must have been cut in the lower abdomen during the fight, causing excessive blood loss.” That Law Enforcer looked at the Fifth-Rank hesitantly, “If we don’t do something, he’s really going to die...”

“Should we save him?”

Everyone who entered the Ancient Treasury had died, except for Chen Ling, whom they had deemed certain to die, who had somehow managed to save his own life. They sighed at the fickleness of fate and were somewhat indecisive.

“Should we save him??” The Fifth-Rank Law Enforcer cursed angrily, “Are you idiots crazy?! He’s the only seedling left from the entire Law Enforcer team. If he dies, who will explain to Aurora City what happened here?!

Save him!! At all costs! Save him for me!!”

The two Law Enforcers began to rescue Chen Ling on the spot, but they had no rescue equipment, so they could only give him a simple bandage and then rush him out of the Ancient Treasury of the Military Path.

With everyone gone, the Ancient Treasury of the Military Path fell back into deathly silence...

On the wilderness covered with corpses, strands of killing intent extended from the deepest part of the giant black sword, coiling like snakes beside one of the corpses and pouring into it frantically.

A few seconds later;

Jian Changsheng’s dark red pupils opened abruptly!

……

In the center of the dim stage.

Chen Ling, draped in a bright red theatrical robe, slowly opened his eyes.

“Phew...” He subconsciously touched his lower abdomen, letting out a sigh of relief as if a burden had been lifted.

To fool the three Law Enforcers, Chen Ling had to choose the slowest and most agonizing method of suicide: disembowelment. If he had blown his own head off, the resurrection would have been too fast, and the Law Enforcers might not have found him before his wounds healed.

Only dying from blood loss could prolong the death process to the maximum, and even if he resurrected later, it wouldn’t be too shocking. The downside, however... was that this method was too painful.

“Blowing my head off is still more satisfying.”

Chen Ling slowly climbed up from the stage. His gaze fell on the audience. Although the clash between the audience and the desolate grave just now was unexpected, there didn’t seem to be any changes for now... Those countless scarlet eyes were still watching him in unison.

Chen Ling was already used to this eerie gaze. He walked straight to the screen and looked down.

After he bled himself to death, the Audience Expectation had unsurprisingly dropped by 50%, from 72% to 22%, teetering on the edge of losing control... The good news was that a treasure chest icon was flashing again in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Chen Ling reached out and tapped the treasure chest.

Ding-ding-ding—!

Accompanied by stirring music, a table appeared out of thin air in the center of the stage. On the white paper in the middle of the table, a few lines of small text quickly emerged:

“Congratulations on completing the play, 《And Then There Were None》.”

“Maximum Audience Expectation for this play: 72%”

“You have obtained one designated draw right.”

“After using it, you can designate a character from all the characters who appeared in this play and randomly draw one of their abilities. The probability of drawing a rare skill is related to the overall Audience Expectation of this play.”

Sure enough, completing the performance task on the stone steps counts as completing a play... Chen Ling thought to himself.

In the void before him, sheets of paper appeared out of thin air.

【“Are you awake?” As Chen Ling opened his eyes, Chu Muyun’s voice drifted over from the side.】

【……】

【“When they colluded with the Law Enforcers to force one ordinary person after another to their deaths, where were you?!” “What about your investigative authority?! What about your law enforcement authority?!”】

【……】

【The corners of his mouth curled up uncontrollably, as if completing some ritual, and he muttered to himself: “The performance... begins.”】

【……】

The text appeared one after another on the script, depicting all of Chen Ling’s experiences during this time. Seeing his own life turned into a script again, Chen Ling no longer felt much of a ripple in his heart...

Or rather, he had become numb.

When he finished reading the last sentence of the play, he slowly closed it. At the same time, his vision suddenly blurred.

He felt as if he had returned to that dream. The spotlight above dimmed rapidly, endless night shrouded the world, and an unreachable star hung overhead. Only a blood-red path emitting an eerie aura twisted and turned, extending toward the sky.

And at this moment, Chen Ling stood on the first step of this path.

【Complete a performance with at least fifty participants, and ensure that after the performance ends, no one survives.】

As the script in Chen Ling’s hand flashed with brilliance, the second step before him trembled slightly. The small line of text on its surface dissipated without a trace, and immediately after, a pure mental force surged from his mind!

To be honest, Chen Ling didn’t really know what mental force was, nor had he ever really perceived it, but at this moment, it was as if a spring had appeared beneath his feet, pouring frantically into his body from this twisted divine path.

His whole body felt as if it were being cleansed, and his exhausted spirit recovered rapidly.

“So, only after completing the performance task above do I qualify to move to the next step...”

Chen Ling looked at the step that had returned to its original state, lost in thought.

He tentatively lifted his foot and walked toward the second step.

His foot passed easily through the original invisible barrier, but as he stepped forward, the mental force in his mind was consumed frantically. By the time all his mental force was exhausted, his toe had only just touched the step.

It had only been a few days since he stepped onto the first step; trying to reach the second step in one go was still too early.

Fortunately, the barrier for the second step was now lifted, and stepping onto it was only a matter of time... Chen Ling withdrew his foot.

The next moment, the environment around him shattered rapidly, and he returned to the center of the stage.

Chen Ling held the script and looked around.

Countless playing cards danced in mid-air and then landed neatly on the table. All the small text on the paper disappeared.

In its place was a short line of text:

“Please write the name of the character you wish to draw on the paper.”

Chen Ling picked up the pen and, with almost no hesitation, wrote a name on the paper—

Jian Changsheng.

Chen Ling certainly had other choices, such as the Fire-Tampers. Although their face-stealing skill was incredibly useless to Chen Ling, the “Object Stealing” and the “Light Stealing” used by No. 8 were quite good, as well as the Path of the Book God’s character-sealing.

The key problem was that even if he stole... no, learned these skills, he would have no chance to use them!

If Chen Ling wanted to disguise himself well as a Law Enforcer, he had to have a presentable, justifiable First-Rank skill of the Path of the War God. Currently, there were only two First-Rank skills that had appeared: Jian Changsheng’s and the others...

Chen Ling had seen the terror of the 【Asura】 path with his own eyes. A First-Rank skill could transform Jian Changsheng, a loser in life, into a super genius, even capable of trading blows with him.

Overall, Jian Changsheng’s 【Asura】 First Rank was his best choice.

As Chen Ling wrote down Jian Changsheng’s name, all the other cards on the table disappeared,

leaving only a lonely blue card in front of him.