Chapter 34 Clown
"It's done, call it a day." The two men patted the mud and water on their bodies, and after confirming that the earth pit had been completely buried, they turned around and left. The heavy rain poured on countless desolate graves, and dark red blood mixed with mud and water rolled down the cliff. A few seconds later, two figures wearing raincoats walked down the mountain with difficulty. "It's right here..." The two men held glass kerosene lamps, looked around, and did not notice the dark red mud flowing in the dark, and walked straight to the earth pit that had just been dug. They put the cloth bags in their hands on the ground, took out the shovel, and dug a little bit beside the dark red earth pit. "...Ayan will get better, right." The rain hit the raincoats of the two people, making a dripping sound, and the woman's hands in her sleeves were pale and clenched, and her voice was a little hoarse. "I will definitely do it." The man who was shoveling the soil said in a deep voice, "The heart has been sent over, and the operation should have begun... Tomorrow, tomorrow we can go to District 2 to see him!"
Hearing this, the woman's expression eased a little. She glanced at the black cloth bag at her feet, her eyes full of guilt,
"It's just hard for Ah Ling..."
"We must keep this to ourselves."
"What if Ah Yan asks about his brother after he comes back?"
"Then we will say that he has passed the law enforcement exam and was transferred to District 7... and can't come back."
"Will he believe it?"
"..."
The man didn't say anything, but silently inserted the shovel into the bottom and used force to lift up a large piece of soil.
"Just bury it like this." He said.
The two worked together to throw the black cloth bag into it and buried it bit by bit.
The woman hesitated for a moment, picked up a wooden sign from the side, and seemed to want to write something, but was stopped by the man.
"What are you going to do?"
"We are mother and son after all... Let's erect a monument for Ah Ling."
"No, if we erect a monument here, what if the law enforcers or others see it?"
"Then..."
"I said, from now on, I will keep this matter to myself."
The woman was silent for a long time, but still threw the wooden sign aside. The man saw this scene and comforted her softly:
"It's okay... Wait until you wake up tomorrow, everything will be over."
The two took a last look at the land, turned around and disappeared in the rain.
The heavy rain washed the dark red soil, as if to wash away their hatred and resentment. The two lonely graves were connected to each other with a thin layer of sand.
Just when everything was about to be silent in the heavy rain, a strange gray spread from the nothingness...
Gray world, intersection.
...
"Ayan...Ayan!"
Tears could not stop rolling down from Chen Ling's eyes. He dug the mud and sand with his hands like crazy until his fingertips were blurred and bleeding.
He didn't know what happened after the gray realms met, why only he survived... No, Chen Ling didn't survive either, he just became himself...
But at this moment, who he was didn't matter anymore.
The world played a joke on Chen Ling, causing him to die at the hands of Chen Tan and his wife who raised him... But at the same time, the world played a bigger joke on Chen Tan and his wife.
Chen Ling's vision was blurred by tears, and the scenes of the past two days flashed wildly in his mind.
At the intersection of the gray realms, a figure struggled to climb out of the mass grave, the wound on his chest gradually recovered, countless pairs of scarlet eyes opened behind him, and the rain on the ground merged into a line of characters... [Audience expectation value: 17%];
On the broken branches inserted between his fingernails, a broken amulet swayed lightly in the wind;
The second disaster that attacked Bingquan Street may not exist at all. From the beginning, it was Chen Ling himself... or in other words, he lost his mind after he was resurrected [expectation value] dropped below 20%.
He was controlled by the audience, slaughtering half of Bingquan Street until the audience was satisfied and walked slowly towards District 3...
"No, it can't be like this..." Chen Ling murmured to himself, "It's impossible that I'm alone from beginning to end?"
On the back mountain, he washed the robe by the stream and handed it to Chen Yan... But when he was questioned by Jiang Qin, the robe strangely appeared in his arms again;
The Chen Tan couple who were taken away by the law enforcers looked through Chen Yan's body, stared at him, and yelled and cursed;
On Hanshuang Street, the law enforcer Jiang Qin followed his finger and looked at the darkness in the corner of the street, but only saw a vague shadow;
Chu Muyun stood at the door of his house full of holes with a letter, and said to the empty house: "I heard that Mr. Chen needs a [doctor], so I came...";
The empty room was being repaired;
The torn cotton coat was mended;
But from beginning to end, no one talked to Chen Yan.
All this seemed to indicate that Chen Yan had existed... like a ghost around him, or rather, just his own weird 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 bright red robe was gently draped over him, covering the snow and wind.
Chen Ling was stunned.
He looked up and saw the familiar boy squatting in front of him, tears running down his cheeks.
"Brother, don't dig... I beg you, don't dig anymore, okay?"
"... Ah Yan."
Chen Ling stared at him in a daze, and the pair of hands covered in blood and mud raised up, as if wanting to touch Chen Yan's cheek... He touched it.
"Ayan...are you alive?" Chen Ling's voice was trembling, "You are alive, right?"
"I……"
Chen Yan glanced at the bloody soil and lowered his head, not daring to look into Chen Ling's eyes.
"I'm already dead, brother..."
"But you are obviously here!"
"I am here because of your power."
Chen Ling was stunned for a moment, "Me? How can I have this kind of power? I..."
Before he finished speaking, a raging snowstorm flooded Chen Ling's eyes. The next moment, Chen Yan's figure disappeared again, as if he had never appeared before.
[Audience Expectation Value +5]
[Current expected value: 63%]
Chen Ling looked uncontrollably at the two lines of characters appearing in the snow. As if she thought of something, her pupils shrank slightly.
The "audience" has the power to influence reality.
After traveling through time, they have affected the things around him more than once, including the water stains in the kitchen, Dr. Lin being pranked, the boning knife being eaten... But since Chen Yan appeared, they have never seemed to interfere with him. Life.
Therefore, in my eyes, the appearance of Chen Yan is also a masterpiece of the "audience"...?
"...it's you."
Chen Ling's blood-stained hands clenched tightly. He glared at the nothingness in front of him, and the veins on his neck popped out one by one:
"It was you who made me see him...it was you who made me get used to him...from the beginning, you just used him as a prop to deceive my feelings, and then destroyed it with your own hands..."
"You guys have been waiting for this moment for a long time, right?"
[Audience Expectation Value +5]
The appearance of another line of small words completely ignited the suppressed anger in Chen Ling's heart. He suddenly climbed up from the snow, dressed in red and roaring in the storm, like a furious lion!
"Then you are satisfied now?!!"
"Have you seen enough of this scene?! Did you enjoy watching it?!!!"
"Do you think I did well?!!!"
"I'll fuck your mother!!!"
Chen Ling seemed to have imagined that in the dim theater, countless pairs of scarlet eyes looked through the curtain, watching her talking to Chen Yan these past few days, watching herself agreeing to perform at the school New Year's Eve party, watching Chu Muyun was alone and thoughtful...
They design everything, they know everything. When they watch their emotional performance on the stage, the corners of their mouths in the darkness can’t help but rise...
He felt like a clown, a clown who was alone and intoxicated in false performances for people's entertainment.
His chest heaved violently, and the angry flames seemed to burn out the snow. He searched frantically in the snow, trying to find a knife or a gun that could end this absurd life.
He doesn't want to be a clown, let alone a tool for the "audience" to play with.
At this moment, his feet suddenly slipped, and several items slipped from his pockets and fell on the pure white snow, reflecting the silver shimmer...
Nine silver coins.
This morning, Qian Fan handed him the "reward" with a smile.
The moment he saw these silver coins, Chen Ling's pupils shrank and he stopped. A flash of clarity appeared in his angry eyes, which then turned into more intense hatred.
He remained silent for a long time, then bent down to pick up the silver coins one by one.
"...Okay." Chen Ling's voice was hoarse. He slowly raised his head and looked in the direction of District 2, his eyes flashing with unprecedented murderous intent and madness!
"Don't you want to watch a good show..."
"Then I will..."
"I'll give you another show."
Chen Ling smiled, his smile looked like a demon in the sky of ice and snow.