"It's done, let's go." The two patted the mud off their bodies, confirmed that the pit had been completely covered, and then turned to leave.

Pouring rain watered down on countless barren mounds, dark red blood mixed with mud rolled down the cliff, and after a few dozen seconds, two figures wearing raincoats struggled up from the mountain below.

"Let's do it here..." The two carried glass kerosene lamps, scanned their surroundings, not noticing the dark red mud flowing in the darkness, and walked straight to the freshly dug pit.

They placed their cloth bags on the ground, took out shovels, and began digging slowly next to the dark red pit.

"...An's party will be fine, right?" Raindrops fell on the two's raincoats, making a pitter-patter sound, the woman's hands in her sleeves clenched pale, her voice hoarse.

"It will be." The man digging the soil said in a deep voice, "The heart has been sent, the surgery should have started...

Tomorrow, tomorrow we can go see him in District Two!" Hearing this, the woman's expression softened slightly, she looked at the black cloth bag at her feet, her eyes full of guilt, "An Ling has suffered..." "We must keep this to ourselves." "What if An asks about his brother when he comes back?" "Then we'll say he passed the law enforcement exam and was transferred to District Seven...

Can't come back." "Will he believe that?" "..." The man didn't speak, just silently plunged the iron shovel to the bottom and forcefully lifted a large piece of soil.

"Let's bury it like this." he said.

The two together threw the black cloth bag into it, burying it bit by bit.

The woman hesitated for a moment, picked up a wooden board from the side, seeming to want to write something, but was stopped by the man.

"What are you trying to do?" "It's a mother and son after all...

Let's make a monument for An Ling." "No, if we erect a monument here, what if the law enforcers or others see it?" "Then..." "I said, from now on, keep this to yourself." The woman remained silent for a long time, but still threw the wooden board aside.

Seeing this scene, the man comforted her softly, "It's okay...

When you wake up tomorrow, everything will be over." The two took a final look at the land and disappeared into the rain curtain.

The heavy rain washed away the dark red soil, as if trying to wash away their grudges and grievances, two solitary graves separated by a thin layer of sand, connected to each other.

Just as everything was about to be silenced by the downpour, a strange gray spread from nothingness...

The Gray Realm, intersecting.

...

"An...

An!" Tears uncontrollably rolled down Chen Ling's eyes, he frantically dug through the mud and sand with his hands until his fingertips blurred with blood.

He didn't know what happened after the Gray Realm intersected, why he was the only one who survived...

No, Chen Ling didn't survive either, he just turned into himself...

But at this moment, who he was didn't matter anymore.

This world played a joke on Chen Ling, letting him die at the hands of his foster parents Chen Tan and his wife...

But at the same time, the world played an even bigger joke on Chen Tan and his wife.

Chen Ling's vision blurred with tears, in his mind, scenes of the past two days flashed crazily.

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The Gray Realm intersected, a figure struggling to climb out of the chaotic burial mound, the chest wound gradually healing, countless pairs of crimson eyes opening behind him, the rainwater on the ground converging into a line of characters...

[Audience Expectation: 17%]; On a broken twig stuck in his fingernail, a shattered talisman swayed in the wind; The second disaster that struck Ice Spring Street may not have existed at all, from the beginning, it was Chen Ling himself...

or rather, it was the self who lost his sanity after the expectation dropped below 20%.

He was manipulated by the audience, slaughtering half of Bingquan Street, until the audience was satisfied, and then he walked slowly towards District Three...

"No, it won't be like this..." Chen Ling muttered to himself, "Is it really possible...

that it's just me from beginning to end?" On the hill behind, he washed the costume by the stream, handed it to Chen Yan...

but when he was questioned by Jiang Qin, the costume mysteriously appeared in his arms again; The Chen Tan couple who were taken away by the enforcers, their gaze pierced through Chen Yan's body, staring at him fiercely, roaring and cursing; On Hanfrost Street, enforcer Jiang Qin followed his finger and looked towards the dark corner of the street, but only saw a blurry figure; Chu Muyun stood with a letter at the door full of holes, facing the empty house, saying, "I heard that Mr.

Chen needs a [doctor], so I came..." The empty room was being repaired; The torn cotton coat was being patched up; But from beginning to end, there was not a single person who spoke to Chen Yan.

All of this seemed to indicate that Chen Yan had once existed...

like a ghost by his side, or perhaps just his own bizarre delusion.

Chen Ling kept digging, and the soil below gradually oozed blood, just as he was about to continue digging, a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist...

Then, a large red costume gently draped over him, covering him from the snowstorm.

Chen Ling was stunned.

He looked up and saw the familiar young man squatting in front of him, tears streaming down his face.

"Brother, don't dig anymore...

please, don't dig any further, okay?" "...Ayan." Chen Ling stared at him blankly, his hands, covered in blood and mud, lifted up, as if wanting to touch Chen Yan's cheek...

and he did.

"Ayan...

are you alive?" Chen Ling's voice trembled, "You are alive, right?" "I..." Chen Yan looked at the bloody soil, lowered his head, and dared not look into Chen Ling's eyes.

"I am already dead, brother..." "But you are clearly here!" "I am here because of your power." Chen Ling was taken aback, "Me? What kind of power do I have, I..." Before he could finish speaking, a raging snowstorm engulfed Chen Ling's vision, and the next moment, Chen Yan's figure disappeared again, as if he had never appeared.

[Audience Expectation +5] [Current Expectation: 63%] Chen Ling's gaze uncontrollably turned to the two lines of characters appearing in the snow, as if he had realized something, his pupils slightly contracted.

"Audience," possessing the power to influence reality.

After crossing over, they had influenced things around him more than once, the water stains in the kitchen, the pranked Dr.

Lin, the gnawed bone knife...

but since Chen Yan appeared, they seemed to have never intervened in his life again.

So, the appearance of Chen Yan in his eyes was also the work of the "audience"...? "...It's you." Chen Ling clenched his blood-stained hands tightly, he glared at the emptiness in front of him, the veins on his neck bulging one by one: "It's you who made me see him...

it's you who made me get used to him...

from the beginning, you just treated him as a prop, used to deceive my emotions, and then destroyed him with your own hands..." "You have been waiting for this moment for a long time, haven't you?" [Audience Expectation +5] Another line of small characters appeared, completely igniting the suppressed anger in Chen Ling's heart, he suddenly got up from the snow, a red robe roaring in the storm, like an enraged lion! "Are you satisfied now?!!" "Have you had enough of this play?!! Are you enjoying it?!!" "Do you think I acted well?!!" "Fuck you!!!"Chen Ling seemed to have imagined that in the dimly lit grand theater, countless pairs of crimson eyes peered through the curtains, watching him as he had been conversing with Chen Yan for the past few days, watching himself agreeing to perform at the school's New Year's Eve party, watching Chu Muyun lost in thought on the side...

They orchestrated everything, they knew everything, they watched him pour out his emotions on stage, the corners of his mouth uncontrollably curling up in the darkness...

He felt like a clown, a clown immersed in a false performance alone, a clown entertained by others.

His chest heaved violently, the flames of anger seemed to burn through the heavy snow, and he frantically searched in the snow, trying to find a knife or a gun to end this absurd life.

He didn't want to be a clown, let alone a tool for the "audience" to play with.

Just then, he suddenly slipped under his feet, and a few things slipped from his pocket, falling onto the pristine snow, reflecting a silver light...

Nine silver coins.

It was this morning that Qian Fan handed them to him with a smile as "payment." The moment Chen Ling saw these silver coins, his pupils contracted.

He stopped in his tracks, a hint of clarity appeared in his angry eyes, then turned into even stronger hatred.

He stood still for a long time, bending down to pick up the few silver coins one by one.

"...Alright." Chen Ling's voice was hoarse, he slowly raised his head, looking towards the direction of District Two, his eyes flashing with unprecedented murderous intent and madness! "You want to see a good show, don't you..." "Then I'll..." "Give you another performance." Chen Ling smiled, his smile amidst the snow and ice, like a demon.