Blurred
The creak of the door slowly sounded.
A figure in red clothes walked out alone from the desolate Courtyard...
Even though Grandmother tried her best to make him stay, Chen Ling didn't stay long at Li Qingshan's home, much less go inside to rest and wait for Li Qingshan to return... He knew very well what the situation in the Red Dust Main City was right now. Since Li Qingshan chose to go back, it wouldn't be that easy to come out;
Or, he might never be able to come out.
Chen Ling's brows were tightly furrowed. He didn't understand. Li Qingshan was clearly just Second-Tier. Running into any random enemy from the Witchcraft Association on the road could take his life... What was the meaning of him risking such great danger to go back? Could a Second-Tier like him change the battle situation of the entire Red Dust??
Li Qingshan left, Kong Baosheng had probably also returned to the Main City, and Huang Suyue still hadn't arrived... Of the entire Jinghong Theater, aside from himself, no one else chose to come to Willow Town for refuge.
The pattering drizzle beat against Chen Ling's shoulders. Just as he walked out of the main gate, he seemed to sense something and turned his head to look beside him.
Beside Li Qingshan's door, a figure was sneaking a peek, as if eavesdropping. Suddenly seeing him come out, the two exchanged a glance, and it was instantly somewhat awkward...
"Oh... I was looking for whatchamacallit..." Jian Changsheng scratched his head while pretending to look around. "I was looking for the toilet, but couldn't find it... I got lost somehow and walked here."
"..."
Chen Ling's eyes narrowed slightly. "You were following me?"
"I wasn't, I didn't..." Jian Changsheng realized he couldn't keep quibbling, so he simply steeled his heart and gritted his teeth. "Yes, I was following you. What about it? You want to fight me?
That matter of you killing me before still hasn't passed. I couldn't beat you the previous two times, but if we fight this time, you might not necessarily be able to win against me!"
Facing Jian Changsheng's provocation, Chen Ling simply had no interest in wasting time with him. He directly walked through the rain curtain on his own, heading in the direction of the Dusk Society group.
Jian Changsheng closely followed beside him. After hesitating for a moment, he still spoke cautiously:
"I just heard, that opera partner of yours went back to the Main City?"
"...Yes."
"Aren't you going to help him?"
"Why should I go?" An nameless fire rose in Chen Ling's heart. He frowned. "I already told them Willow Town is the safest, but they didn't come themselves and insisted on going back to throw away their lives! I don't understand what they're doing."
"Actually, it's not that hard to understand, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"They are people of the Red Dust Domain. They grew up here. They want to protect their own home, is there anything wrong with that?" Jian Changsheng spread his hands, hitting the nail on the head.
Chen Ling froze for a moment.
"No... But they clearly can't change anything... There's no meaning to it either, right? How could this be right..."
Hearing this, Jian Changsheng's expression gradually turned serious. He slowly stopped in his tracks:
"Hearts... No, Chen Ling. Actually, I wanted to say this earlier. Ever since you came out of that broken painting, you've become very strange."
That Great Crimson Theatrical Robe also stopped and frowned at him.
"Although you were inherently cold by nature before, it wasn't to the point of being cold-blooded and heartless." Jian Changsheng spoke slowly. "Before, when we were in the Aurora Domain, you would still get angry from seeing people freeze to death, you would chase down Yan Shang because you couldn't stand the high-priced Coal, you would turn back and rush into the Calamity tide to save Han Meng... Your body still radiated the brilliance of Human Nature.
But now... I only see absolute indifference in you, and a sickening 'meaningless theory'.
If it's truly as you say, that everything is meaningless, then wasn't everything you did in the Aurora Domain also meaningless? Han Meng, Wen Shilin, and that younger brother of yours, are you going to Negate their existence along with it?!"
Chen Ling was stunned in place.
Jian Changsheng stepped forward step by step, his eyes almost pressing against Chen Ling's face. His eyes flickered with questioning and anger.
"To be honest, I don't know when it started, but I feel your face is very unfamiliar... Your facial features are becoming increasingly blurred in my eyes, losing the characteristics that originally belonged to you bit by bit, becoming... becoming some unknown thing...
You seem to no longer be the Six of Hearts, Chen Ling, that I know."
Face...
Chen Ling's eye pupils slightly contracted.
He subconsciously took half a step back, as if recalling something. He quickly walked to the edge of the river beside them and looked down at the water's surface.
This position, this movement, Chen Ling was very familiar with it;
The first time he came to the Red Dust Domain, tainted by Clown's White Ash and losing all his skills, Chen Ling also "looked at his face" here... He didn't expect that after so long, he would once again look into the water's surface here.
But the psychological impact this brought to Chen Ling this time was far stronger than the first time with Clown!
The Great Crimson Theatrical Robe stood tall beside the withered willow branches. He blankly looked at his reflection in the river... That was a blurred face. It wasn't because the water surface was shaking, nor was it because the water quality was muddy,
It was because his face had truly become blurred.
The originally straight nose bridge, the willow-leaf-like corners of his eyes, the fine spots on his cheeks... Everything had already disappeared. The face that originally belonged to "Chen Ling" was losing its recognizability, even gradually flattening, becoming a mass-produced face without any memory points, like a template!
Chen Ling stared wide-eyed, his hands forcefully rubbing that unfamiliar face. The touch of his skin and facial features made Chen Ling feel very familiar, completely identical to before. But for some reason, in his and others' eyes, his face had just become blurred...
Chen Ling's fingertips grabbed towards his chin and forcefully tore!
A layer of facial skin scattered in the air,
In the reflection on the water's surface, it was still a blurred face.
"How could this be... How could this be?" Chen Ling muttered to himself.
He constantly changed faces. One layer of facial skin after another flew in the air above the river. But without exception, all the faces were blurred and featureless... It was as if... as if there was a mysterious veil blocking between him and this world.
He was becoming estranged from this world,
He was transforming from the "Chen Ling" who was situated within the world, to an "Audience" who was alone outside the world.
Was it a side effect of that incident in 'Guernica'? Was it the result of him being too immersed in being an "Audience" and gradually losing his capacity for empathy? Was The Fourth Wall gradually thickening, cutting off his connection with this world?!
Right at this moment, that reminder from his master, which he had previously ignored, suddenly echoed in Chen Ling's ears!
"No matter what scene you are in, you are not an audience, but a truly existing 'person'."
"Your existence is defined by yourself. If even you yourself discard the characteristics of being a 'person', then no one can save you..."
Chen Ling's hands that were constantly tearing off facial skins suddenly froze in midair.
He stiffly lowered his head, looking at the reflection of that blurred face on the water's surface, and muttered to himself:
"I... am discarding the characteristics of a 'person'?"