"Moon Street, no abnormalities."
"Wind Street, no abnormalities."
"Snow Street, no abnormalities..."
A succession of voices came from the Walkie-talkie. Chen Ling stood alone on the roof of a five-story building, looking around.
This small building was already the highest building in the nearby blocks. If it were an ordinary day standing here, Chen Ling could have taken in five or six streets at a glance... But now, in the heavy fog, he couldn't even see the edge of this floor. It was as if the entire world was wrapped in water vapor.
He sighed helplessly and pressed the Walkie-talkie. "Frost Street, no abnormalities."
This was already the dusk of the second day since the Dense Fog descended. There were no signs of Calamity Invasion occurring, and there was no reply from Aurora City either... Everything was so quiet, so quiet it made one uneasy.
Especially Chen Ling. Ever since he saw that prompt for Audience Expectation Value, he was certain something must have happened in District Three. But he searched all the streets last night and found no abnormalities.
"Third shift Law Enforcers take over, the rest of you can rest." Han Meng's voice came from the Walkie-talkie, followed immediately by a series of acknowledgments.
Stimulated by the Audience Expectation Value last night, he hadn't slept a wink. Today he needed to rest a bit... He walked to the door of his home, glanced at Uncle Zhao's breakfast shop opposite, which was still brightly lit. After hesitating for a moment, he decided not to disturb him, turning around and returning indoors.
After washing up, Chen Ling lay back down on his bed early, his consciousness gradually sinking into sleep...
Of course, dreaming was impossible.
Chen Ling opened his eyes again. Pairs of mocking red eyes were watching him from the audience seating. Dazzling spotlights beat down on him, making him the sole focus On Stage.
Chen Ling was accustomed to this. But whether it was his illusion or not, he faintly felt that the Audience's gaze at him today seemed even stranger...
As if they were anticipating something.
Chen Ling frowned slightly and looked down at the screen on the stage. After a day of boring guard duty, the Audience Expectation Value surprisingly hadn't dropped, still maintaining last night's 39% progress. For the Audience, this was an almost impossible thing.
"Something's wrong..." Chen Ling keenly sniffed a trace of abnormality. "Something must have gone wrong somewhere."
Chen Ling carefully recalled everything in his mind, but didn't find any problems. This wasn't strange either, because Chen Ling knew the Audience could see some "plotlines" that he couldn't... Trying to deduce the problem this way required luck.
After pondering for a long time, Chen Ling could only give up.
He closed his eyes. In a trance, that Twisted Divine Path leading to the firmament appeared around him again.
Ever since Chen Ling unlocked the qualification to step onto the Second-Tier, he would basically try to advance every night. After all, he could feel his Spiritual Power growing every day... Although it was only extremely slight, it was growth nonetheless.
Chen Ling took a deep breath and continuously poured Spiritual Power into the soles of his feet. Just as his soles gradually approached the surface of the stairs, a crisp ringing sound suddenly rang out from above the stage!
Ring ring ring—
Chen Ling was stunned.
He was of course familiar with this ringing sound. It meant the intermission was over... To him, it meant the dream was about to wake up.
But he had only just entered sleep not long ago?
Chen Ling looked in puzzlement at the screen in front of the stage. A line of characters had already popped out:
【Intermission over, please continue your Performance】
Immediately following was a series of characters:
【Audience Expectation Value +3】
【Audience Expectation Value +3】
【Audience Expectation Value +...】
Chen Ling's consciousness plummeted abruptly!
...
Thump thump thump—
In his sleep, Chen Ling suddenly opened his eyes!
Someone was knocking on the door?
Misty fog flowed outside the pitch-black window. He quickly sat up and looked towards the main door.
Thump thump thump—
That knocking sound rang out again, neither light nor heavy. The rhythm of each sound was extremely even, giving a feeling of elegance without losing politeness.
Chen Ling glanced at the time. Less than an hour had passed since he fell asleep... No wonder the stage urged him to continue his Performance so much. Turns out someone had come knocking.
No, that's not right...
Chen Ling clearly remembered that before he lost consciousness on the stage, he saw the prompts for increasing Audience Expectation Value crazily refreshing on the screen. What could make the Audience so excited was definitely not as simple as a simple knock on the door!
Chen Ling got out of bed without hesitation, gripped the gun at the head of the bed in his hand, and slowly approached the main door.
Thump thump thump—
"Who is it?" Chen Ling spoke in a deep voice.
A moment later, an ear-piercing and eerie voice rang out from the door.
"I came... looking for someone..."
Hearing this voice, Chen Ling knew things were wrong. This was completely not a sound human vocal cords could produce. It was as ear-piercing as listening to nails scratching across a blackboard, only this ear-piercing sound was imitating human speech patterns.
Looking for someone?
Chen Ling subconsciously asked, "Looking for who?"
"The Scarlet Sovereign of the Ghost Mockery Abyss;"
"The King of No-Phase Who Mocks Fate."
These two sentences had no pauses or obscurity whatsoever. They sounded very fluent and natural, as if practiced many times.
Chen Ling's brain spun rapidly, thinking about whether he should open the door to see what exactly was behind it, or just shoot directly... After a moment of silence, he replied:
"The person you are looking for is not here."
The voice behind the door fell silent.
The next moment, the door to Chen Ling's home violently shattered!
Amidst the grayish mist, a figure lunged right at Chen Ling's face!
Chen Ling was already prepared. In an instant, he raised his knee and smashed into that figure's chest, backhanding the butt of his gun to fiercely strike the other's head with a whistling sound. That figure let out a muffled groan and fell heavily to the ground.
Only then did Chen Ling barely see his full appearance clearly.
"Zhao Yi?"
Seeing that person's face, Chen Ling was stunned.
"...Careful! My shadow!!" Zhao Yi was deathly pale. Enduring the dizziness in his head, he yelled loudly.
Chen Ling's pupils contracted slightly. Almost simultaneously, a massive blurred shadow swept from the darkness to right in front of him!
Its speed was too fast. Chen Ling simply had no time to do any thinking. Striking out was his strongest killing move. The Domain of the Tribunal abruptly unfolded. That black muzzle instantly aimed forward, and he pulled the trigger without hesitation!
Bang—!
The bullet of Deconstruction pierced the black shadow, tearing it directly into nothingness, turning it into a pile of shattered mush that fell to the ground.
The overdraft of Spiritual Power from the 【Tribunal】 made Chen Ling somewhat dizzy, but compared to that time in the Ancient Vault of the Military Path, it was much better. Frowning, he glanced at the formless corpse on the ground, then at Zhao Yi, who had fallen and was coughing violently.
"Zhao Yi, what is going on?"
Zhao Yi lay flat on the ground, panting like a broken bellows, his voice incredibly weak, "Chen Ling... they are here!"