"Wait! Why did he use "also"? Chen Yan is Chen Yan, not something else wearing his skin.

Chen Ling can be sure of this.

Since the same gray catastrophe has come, since the "audience" can merge with oneself...

then why can't the other catastrophe that comes merge with humanity? But all of this is Chen Ling's speculation...

What the truth is, perhaps only he knows if he asks him personally.

Just as Chen Ling hesitated whether to knock on the door, the door was opened from the inside.

"Brother." Chen Yan rubbed his eyes, "What are you doing?”

“...I have something to ask you." Chen Yan was about to say something, looked at Chu Muyun's room opposite, pulled Chen Ling into the room, and closed the door.

"A Yan, I'll just ask directly." Chen Ling looked at him seriously, "The one who bloodied Bingquan Street...

was it you?" Chen Yan's body shook, seeing the peace symbol fragment in Chen Ling's hand, he silently lowered his head.

"...Yes." Seeing Chen Yan admit so straightforwardly, Chen Ling, who was about to continue persuading him, was stunned.

"Really you?" Chen Ling asked again, "So, have you also merged with the catastrophe?”

“...I don't know, I woke up and was already standing there.”

“Did you also lose a memory?”

“Yes." Chen Ling frowned slightly.

He believed that Chen Yan would not lie to him, and even he himself was in this situation...

inexplicably crossing, inexplicably having the "audience" in his mind, and when he woke up, he was already back home.

"But the intersection of the gray world was not in the back mountain, right? You should have been in surgery at the time...

why were you also affected?”

“I don't know." Chen Yan shook his head again, "I just remember the doctor gave me anesthesia, and when I woke up, I was on Bingquan Street...I was very scared, so I hid in the back mountain, and when I came out again, I saw my brother crawling out of that monster..."

Hearing this, Chen Ling connected the dots.

But why Chen Yan was affected by the intersection of the gray world was still a question...

Could it be that when that catastrophe entered District Two, it happened to encounter Chen Yan on the operating table?

And then merged? Chen Ling didn't quite understand this "merging" process, and he couldn't think of anything else.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"I understand." Chen Ling nodded, "You stay at home these days, don't go anywhere, understand? I'll handle other things." Chen Yan hesitated to speak.

"What's wrong?”

“I...

I wanted to take a look at Mom and Dad..." Chen Ling was stunned, after a long silence, he spoke softly, "Let me clear your suspicion first, and when things calm down, I'll take you to see them, okay?”

“Okay." Chen Yan obediently nodded.

"Stay away from Chu Muyun these days, don't let him touch you, and talk to him less.”

“Okay.”

“If Han Meng comes to you again and asks you some questions, just answer like this...”

“Okay." After instructing Chen Yan, Chen Ling turned and left.

Chen Yan gently locked the door and lay down on the hard plank bed...

He turned his head to look out the window, and in his chestnut-colored eyes, there was a reflection of the blue aurora in the sky.

Suddenly, at the end of the aurora sky, a faint red light lit up, like a cinnabar-like star.

"Here it comes again." Chen Yan murmured to himself.

As the cinnabar-like star shone brighter, a dreamlike road extended from nothingness, connecting directly to the head of Chen Yan's bed...

The road floated and swayed between the star and him, like a soft satin ribbon.

Chen Yan lay on the bed, calmly watching this divine path, which was an olive branch thrown to him by a god.

After a moment, he slowly raised his hand, grabbed the elusive ribbon...

And then, he squeezed it hard! Bang - A faint sound lingered in Chen Yan's ears, as he crushed the divine path with one hand, turning it into scattered dust that dissipated into nothingness.

At the same time, the vermilion star in the sky quickly dimmed.

He rejected the divine favor.

Chen Yan opened his palm, revealing a thumb-sized fragment of the divine path lying quietly in his hand, resembling cinnabar glass.

He casually opened the drawer by the bedside, threw the cinnabar glass fragment inside, and locked it shut.

In the dark drawer, over thirty identical cinnabar glass fragments faintly shimmered.

...

Morning.

Chen Ling got up early to wash up.

Today, there was no "kind person" to reimburse his travel expenses, so he had to walk to Bingquan Street, which would take over four hours round trip.

Therefore, he had to get up early and return late compared to other trainee enforcers.

To his surprise, Chu Muyun seemed to have gotten up even earlier than him.

As Chen Ling entered the living room, he saw Chu Muyun sitting at the table in a casual shirt and knitted vest, holding an ancient medical book and studying it intently, occasionally pushing his glasses up.

It was as if he was not in a drafty old living room but in an elegant café in Aurora City.

Seeing Chen Ling get up, he smiled and put down the book.

"Good morning.”

“Morning." Chen Ling replied casually and hurriedly left to have breakfast at Zhao's breakfast shop across the street.

Since the last time he informed Uncle Zhao, he felt a bit guilty, so he visited their house every morning to give Uncle Zhao some business...

As for Zhao Yi, he had been grounded by Uncle Zhao for a week and had not left the house yet.

After Chen Ling left, Chu Muyun slowly put down the book.

He stood up and walked straight to Chen Ling's room, his footsteps on the old floorboards making no sound...

like a ghost.

Chu Muyun walked to Chen Ling's bedside, his eyes behind the lenses slightly narrowed.

He put on white gloves, took out a pair of tweezers from his pocket, collected the scattered hairs and tiny skin flakes on the pillow, and put them in a brown empty bottle.

After doing all this, he quietly left the room, waved his hand lightly, and a breeze swept across the floor, erasing all traces of his footprints.

Instead of returning to his room, he walked out of the house, crossed several streets, and arrived at the entrance of a run-down convenience store.

Ding-a-ling - As he pushed open the store door, a clear bell rang.

"What do you want to buy?" A woman sitting at the counter lazily yawned and asked casually.

"I want to buy a thread of hope." Upon hearing this answer, the woman's gaze instantly froze.

The previous laziness disappeared completely, replaced by cold and sharp eyes as she stared at Chu Muyun, and asked in a slow voice, "Show me your identity."

Chu Muyun lightly raised his fingertip, and a white playing card appeared magically in his hand, which he placed face down on the table.

The woman flipped the card -

[Black Spade 7].

"Password," she asked again.

Chu Muyun calmly replied, "Human civilization...”

“Will never be extinguished."