【The Role】 Reversal
"What decisive decision-making." Seeing this scene, Chen Ling couldn't help but praise.
At this moment, 【Ying Fu】 had probably already realized that something was wrong. Not only was this 【Calamity】 extremely difficult to kill, but its strength would actually increase after a period of time. Currently, the 14% "【Mockery】" 【Calamity】 already possessed the power to suppress him. The longer this dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for him... Once this 【Calamity】 broke through to the 【Sixth Stage】, he feared he would have to leave his life here.
Under these circumstances, avoiding battle was absolutely the optimal choice. But Chen Ling originally thought that, given his overbearing personality, he probably wouldn't choose to retreat... Looking at it now, he had still underestimated 【Ying Fu】.
Fighting to the death blindly relying solely on a sense of integrity was the mark of a reckless, brainless "muddled general." Constantly being able to analyze the situation and make the wisest decisions was what made a qualified "emperor."
But it was very obvious that the "【Mockery】" 【Calamity】 wasn't willing to just let 【Ying Fu】 go so easily.
Even though 【Ying Fu】's speed had already been elevated to its limit, sweeping across the shattered earth and dust as he advanced towards the depths of the mountain range, that surging red cloud still closely followed behind him. Densely packed red paper slips intertwined to form massive tentacles, wrapping towards his figure from all directions!
A flash of coldness passed through 【Ying Fu】's eyes. He raised his hand and pressed it into the emptiness. Amidst the roaming electric arcs, the surrounding trees rapidly transformed. It was unknown what material they turned into as they began to grow crazily towards the sky. Branches and leaves interconnected and intertwined. In the blink of an eye, they enveloped this mountain peak, and his figure completely disappeared within it.
The tumbling red cloud stopped in the sky above the mountain peak. That red sun stared down at the mountain body below like an eye, still searching for 【Ying Fu】's trace.
"It's time."
An 【Audience Expectation Value】 of 14% was almost his limit. If he dragged it out any longer and let the 【Expectation Value】 drop to 13%, then he would have no way to snatch his body back on his own... Inciting the "【Mockery】" 【Calamity】 to resist the 【Path of the Sovereign】 was originally a risky move by Chen Ling. Now, he had to quit while he was ahead.
Chen Ling stood in the center of the 【Stage】. He fiercely grabbed towards the back of the curtain with one hand. As his fingertips touched the image of the "【Performance】," a flexible yet hard sensation transmitted back. It was extremely difficult to penetrate deeper, and it was virtually indistinguishable from a wall...
A wall?
Chen Ling suddenly thought of 【The Fourth Wall】 that 【Mo Jue】 had mentioned before, which was exactly the critical point dividing the story and reality... Was it possible that this mysterious barrier inside the 【The Theater】 was 【The Fourth Wall】?
When he was performing on the 【Stage】, 【The Audience】 had no way to intervene in the 【Performance】. But when their 【Expectation Value】 dropped below 20%, 【The Fourth Wall】 had the possibility of being broken. Thus, 【The Audience】 could pass through the dividing line between the story and reality, occupying his body to continue the 【Performance】... And similarly, he also had the opportunity to traverse this 【The Fourth Wall】 and snatch his body back. Only, compared to the 【Mockery】 【Calamity】, it would be much more difficult for him to pass through 【The Fourth Wall】.
A single wall separated the "【Performance】" and "reality." But in the final analysis, both he and the 【Mockery】 【Calamity】 were contenders for this 【Stage】.
At this moment, Chen Ling seemed to understand some of the mechanisms of this 【The Theater】, and the doubts previously in his mind were easily resolved... But right now wasn't the time to delve deeply into the mechanisms. He had to traverse 【The Fourth Wall】 as quickly as possible and snatch back the body that belonged to him!
"【Vermilion Countenance】."
Chen Ling slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, two smears of apricot red had been added to the corners of his eyes. His entire temperament suddenly became mysterious and demonic.
The instant this 【Opera Masks】 was summoned, Chen Ling distinctly felt that 【The Fourth Wall】's obstruction towards him had weakened. If it was originally a half-wall that was hard to advance even an inch into, it had now become thick, sticky mud. He could slowly allow himself to pass through.
It was almost the same as Chen Ling had predicted. The 14% 【The Fourth Wall】 was already his limit. If it dropped to 13%, even if he possessed the "【Vermilion Countenance】," he would have no way to pass through... At least the current "【Vermilion Countenance】" wasn't enough.
At the same time, that red cloud obscuring the sky suddenly began to tremble violently!
On the surface of the bizarre, scarlet red sun atop the red cloud, a small opening suddenly broke open. A palm seemed to stretch out from another world, firmly gripping the edges of the gap...
Chen Ling's voice transmitted from behind the gap:
"You can exit the stage now... For the next program, I am the protagonist."
As Chen Ling's voice fell, the 【Red Paper】 monster's body began to collapse, with that gap as the center. Countless pieces of 【Red Paper】 fluttered down copiously like dancing butterflies, and its figure immediately shriveled... A second palm reached out from the gap, grabbing it and forcefully tearing it open. A figure draped in red clothes returned to reality once more!
Two smears of apricot red decorated the corners of his eyes. Like a 【Thespian】 who had just stepped onto the stage, he stood amidst the sky full of red butterflies, his 【Theatrical Robe】 fluttering in the wind.
Actor, 【The Audience】, 【On Stage】, 【Off Stage】—【The Role】s had reversed once again!
...
"This is Search and Rescue Team One. We still haven't found any trace of the exploration team!"
"Search and Rescue Team Two has temporarily found no trace of the exploration team!"
"Search and Rescue Team Three has temporarily found no trace of the exploration team!"
"..."
Several well-equipped exploration teams ventured deep into 【Shennongjia】 along different directions. There were basically no researchers among these people; they were all military personnel. Dressed in uniform camouflage, their movements were orderly and agile... The mountain range after the rain was still shrouded in dense water vapor. Looking out, everything was hazy with fog.
"How could this happen? How could this happen!!"
At the base camp for entering the mountain, 【Wang Xinye】, the person in charge of this expedition, tightly gripped his 【Walkie-talkie】, pacing anxiously back and forth in his tent.
He gritted his teeth, pressed the 【Walkie-talkie】, and spoke resolutely:
"Communications are now restored. I don't care what methods you use, you must rescue all nine doctors and bring them back! They are elites in their respective fields of research, the pillars of national development! At all costs! Even if you have to turn the entirety of 【Shennongjia】 upside down, you must bring them back!!"
After speaking, he slammed the 【Walkie-talkie】 heavily onto the table. His gaze stared fixedly at the foggy mountain range in the distance, his expression incomparably grim.
It had already been seven hours since the nine doctors' exploration team went missing in the mountains. Roughly an hour ago, the mysterious magnetic field affecting the entirety of 【Shennongjia】 suddenly vanished, and all 【Communication Device】s returned to normal. But no matter what, 【Wang Xinye】 had no way of contacting that exploration team.
【Wang Xinye】 didn't know what had happened in 【Shennongjia】, but he could be certain that the disappearance of the mysterious magnetic field was definitely related to the exploration team. Perhaps they had made some breakthrough progress... But the fact that they hadn't responded to communications meant that an accident might have occurred during this process.
The moment communications were restored, 【Wang Xinye】 called in several more well-equipped search and rescue teams to enter the mountain and save them. But what was bizarre was that when they followed the traces of the exploration team's initial entry into the mountain and walked for a few kilometers, their footprints completely disappeared...
It was as if these people had evaporated out of thin air, vanishing amidst the continuous mountain ranges. The three search and rescue teams split into three directions and radiated their search outwards for over an hour, but they didn't find a single trace of them.