Chapter 4: They Exist

"Ah-choo!!"

In the biting cold wind, Chen Ling sneezed violently.

A northerner in his past life, even Chen Ling could barely handle the weather here. Cold and damp—the sun hung bright overhead, yet gave off no warmth at all.

"Make way, make way!"

A lazy voice drifted from ahead. Chen Ling snapped back to his senses and instinctively pressed himself against the roadside.

At the far end of the road, a tricycle was creeping toward him. One boy pedaled while another sat on the chair behind, flanked by two large buckets of salt.

He scooped up salt with a spoon and scattered it across the frosted road. As the grains fell, the ice on the ground slowly melted away.

"Oh, Chen Ling?" The salt-scatterer spotted him by the road and raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't think I'd run into the top student here. Weren't you off taking the Enforcer exam? Got cut?"

The moment Chen Ling saw that face, a memory surged up.

His name was Zhao Yi—a kid who'd grown up on the same street as Chen Ling. Naturally jealous by temperament, he'd been compared to Chen Ling relentlessly by his own mother back in high school whenever Chen Ling brought home good grades. Ever since, Zhao Yi had found nothing about Chen Ling tolerable.

"Passed the written test. Still have the practical." Chen Ling answered offhandedly from the roadside.

"Heh, then here's to your exam luck!"

Even as he said it, Zhao Yi scooped up a big spoonful of salt and flung it hard at the adjacent path—conveniently catching Chen Ling, who was standing right there.

Salt grains flew everywhere, dusting Chen Ling's hair and cotton robe. He hadn't expected such a petty trick. He quickly brushed the salt off and turned to glare at Zhao Yi.

By then, Zhao Yi was already wobbling away on the tricycle... one foot propped on the salt bucket, tongue stuck out in a childish face.

Chen Ling was twenty-eight, an adult who'd been thoroughly beaten down by society. Faced with such a clumsy prank, he felt a mix of irritation and amusement...

Still, he had no intention of chasing the brat down for a beating. He simply filed it away in his mind. Right now, he had more important things to do.

He was about to keep walking when his peripheral vision caught the ground beneath his feet. He froze.

The frost touched by salt was melting, leaving faint white traces on the ground. In that instant, Chen Ling saw lines of text weave themselves into form—

[Audience Expectation: 27%]

Before he could react, the salt dissolved completely. The scene felt like nothing more than a fleeting hallucination.

Chen Ling rubbed his eyes hard and muttered,

"No way..."

A sense of urgency rose again. He quickened his pace, heading straight for the clinic.

A few minutes later, Chen Ling pushed open the clinic door.

"Clinic" was a generous word—it was really just a house on Frost Street, two stories tall, square and earth-gray. At first glance it reminded Chen Ling of the houses back in his rural hometown.

Yet for Frost Street, this rough building was already considered decent. At least it had two floors and blocked the wind.

"It's you." Behind a wooden desk, a man in a white coat turned slightly. "Here for your brother's medicine again? Didn't he transfer to the hospital in District Two?"

"Not A-Yan this time. It's me."

Chen Ling's younger brother had been hospitalized here before, so he knew Dr. Lin quite well. He walked over and sat down at the desk, looking tense.

"Oh? What's wrong?"

"My... head doesn't feel right."

"Physical headache, or..."

"Lately, I seem to be having hallucinations."

"Psychiatry?" Dr. Lin raised an eyebrow and pushed his black-framed glasses up his nose. "That's my specialty... Tell me about it."

"Last night I had a dream. I was standing on a stage, with a lot of Audience members below... I couldn't see their faces clearly, but they didn't look human. I ran desperately across the stage but could never find the exit..."

"Dream interpretation isn't in my scope of practice."

"I know." Chen Ling took a deep breath. "But after I woke up, I keep feeling... they're still watching me."

At that, Dr. Lin finally showed interest. "You imagine you're being watched?"

"It doesn't feel like imagination... They seem to be inside my head, sitting in the audience seats, observing my every move. And I'm like a performer forced onto the stage, just a tool to entertain them."

"You mean your life is the stage, and you're the sole protagonist on it?"

"That's the gist... though not as positive as you make it sound."

"And the Audience? Do they do anything besides watch you?"

Chen Ling paused. "I don't know if it's my imagination... but they seem able to affect things around me."

"Affect reality? That sounds a bit fantastical." Dr. Lin picked up his tea mug and took a sip. He was about to say something else when his expression suddenly changed!

Pfft!!

Dr. Lin spat out a mouthful of crimson blood, splattering across the floor.

"Dr. Lin??" Chen Ling was startled. "What's wrong with you?"

"...No." Dr. Lin wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. It wasn't his blood. He frowned in thought, then his gaze fell on the tea mug at the corner of the desk...

At some point, the mug had filled with viscous blood.

Dr. Lin's face darkened. He clearly remembered putting a Pu'er tea bag in it a minute ago.

During that time, only he and Chen Ling had been in the clinic. Chen Ling had stayed under his watch the entire time—there was no way, and no motive, for him to swap the tea. Yet that full mug of fresh blood had appeared out of nowhere, like a magic trick...

Chen Ling seemed to have realized something too. His face grew paler.

"Just as I said." His voice came out hoarse.

"They... might really exist."

Dr. Lin stared at the cup of blood for a long time before slowly looking back at him.

"How long has this been going on?"

"One day." Chen Ling paused. "One day since I regained clear consciousness."

"And before you regained clear consciousness? What were you doing?"

"I..."

Suddenly, an image flashed through Chen Ling's mind—him stumbling through last night's torrential rain. "I don't know. I can't remember clearly."

"So you're not sure the symptoms started last night, and you have no memories from before that?"

"...Right."

"Have you ever been possessed by a Calamity?" Dr. Lin pushed up his glasses.

"Or let me put it another way—last night... did you encounter a Gray Realm convergence?"