Chapter 7: District-Wide Lockdown
That afternoon, the screams on Frost Street hardly ever stopped.
And Chen Ling, the one who had set it all off, sat quietly under a tree with his head propped on one hand, eating melon seeds and enjoying the show along with the crowd around him... while keeping one eye on the changes in [Audience Expectation].
At first, every time Uncle Zhao smacked Zhao Yi’s backside, Audience Expectation crept up a little. But after a few rounds, the growth stalled, finally settling at 48%.
He watched from the sidelines for a while longer, and Expectation actually dropped 1%, down to 47%...
It seemed the Audience was getting bored too.
“Are all the people in my head just here for the laughs?”
Chen Ling couldn’t help but wonder.
From this experiment, Chen Ling had confirmed one thing: Audience Expectation shifted based on his own actions. If the events he lived through were exciting enough, Expectation rose. But once there was nothing fun for too long, Expectation slid downward with the passage of time...
Didn’t that mean if he wanted to keep Expectation above 20%, he’d have to keep churning out “exciting plotlines” nonstop?
Today, Zhao Yi had provoked him first, and the man was a bully on Frost Street, so teaching him a small lesson was fair enough... but he couldn’t pull this kind of thing every day, could he?
At this rate, wasn’t he destined to become some great demon plaguing the world??
The thought left Chen Ling a little tired...
His only lifeline now was the [Doctor] in Aurora City that Dr. Lin had mentioned. Maybe he could purge whatever Calamity pollution was inside Chen Ling and save him from this life trajectory of being a “passive troll.”
Just as Chen Ling sank into thought, a low bell toll rang out from afar!
Dong— Dong— Dong!!
Three tolls, as if piercing through space itself, echoed in every corner of heaven and earth.
The instant the bells sounded, the faces of the crowd shifted. Even Uncle Zhao, who had been chasing Zhao Yi, stopped mid-swing and stared into the distance, stunned.
“Three Disaster Bells?!” An old man’s face turned ashen. “How is that possible?”
“The Disaster Bell is a warning signal from the Enforcers—it means they’ve detected traces of a Gray Realm intersection inside the district. A Calamity has invaded...”
“Wasn’t the Aurora Domain supposed to be protected by Aurora, so it almost never intersects with the Gray Realm? In the past ten years, Calamities haven’t appeared more than three times...”
“Where’s that Calamity now?”
“I don’t know... just get home! Don’t come out unless you have to!”
At the sound of the three Disaster Bells, every face in the crowd went pale. Zhao Yi, still howling from the beating, went weak in the knees and collapsed straight to the ground.
The ground beneath their feet trembled faintly. Chen Ling turned and saw more than ten horses galloping toward them from the distance.
Each rider wore a black-and-red uniform, a pistol holster slung diagonally across the waist, their expressions just as grim.
“Suspected high-risk Calamity appearance! District Three is under full lockdown! No one enters or leaves!!”
“Watch for any suspicious signs around you—roads or buildings appearing out of nowhere, strange-looking creatures, even humans behaving abnormally!!”
“If you spot anything unusual, report it to the Enforcers immediately!!”
“All citizens, cooperate with the investigation!!”
The Enforcers’ voices echoed through Frost Street and every corner of District Three. Along with the lingering resonance of the Disaster Bells overhead, an inexplicable tension settled over the world.
No one had the mood for a show anymore. Everyone rushed home. Even Zhao Yi, after taking a slap to the face, was dragged inside by his father, who cursed him the whole way.
Chen Ling stood alone under the tree, about to head home himself, when two lines of text flickered to life among the fallen leaves—
[Audience Expectation +18]
[Current Expectation: 65%]
Chen Ling froze at the sudden surge.
The next instant, a chilling thought slammed into his mind...
“They’re not... coming for me, are they?!”
...
District Three.
Enforcer Headquarters.
Dim sunlight filtered through the hemispherical glass dome, scattering faint color across the interior.
A flag over ten meters long hung high in the center on ropes. Against its pitch-black field, two cyan six-pointed stars overlapped—like the shining stars of the Arctic night sky.
Beneath the flag, a dozen Enforcers in black-and-red uniforms stood solemnly in a straight row, facing the main gate as if waiting for something.
The gate opened, and five Enforcers in black trench coats walked in side by side.
Han Meng was in the very center. The hem of his coat bore four silver stripes; the other four had only three. As they entered, every Enforcer present snapped to attention.
“What’s the situation?” Han Meng asked, voice low.
“The Disaster Bells have rung. District Three is fully locked down, but there’s still no trace of the Calamity...” One Enforcer hesitated, then couldn’t help asking, “Brother Meng, what does it mean when a Calamity Pointer self-destructs?”
“There are only two cases,” Han Meng said calmly.
“First: a special Calamity has descended nearby, one whose ability happens to nullify the Calamity Pointer... But that’s purely theoretical. No such Calamity has ever been found.”
“Second: a Level Nine—what we call ‘World Annihilation’—class Calamity has invaded. Its residual energy fluctuations exceed the pointer’s tolerance, and it bursts on its own.”
“Wor... World Annihilation class??” Every face went pale.
“No need to panic... You don’t actually think a ‘World Annihilation’ is coming, do you?” The Enforcer beside Han Meng gave a light laugh.
“A ‘World Annihilation’ class Calamity can wipe out an entire human domain. There are only a handful in the whole Gray Realm... If one really descended, forget District Three—Aurora City itself would be ash the instant it arrived.”
At that, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief...
“So it should just be a special ‘Calamity’?”
“That’s the only explanation for now.”
“But with the Calamity Pointer broken, how do we rate it?”
“We can’t.” Han Meng shook his head. “Not unless it shows itself again and we engage it... Right now, the priority is to deploy everyone for a carpet search and find it before it hurts anyone.”
“A carpet search... but we may not have the manpower.”
“Then call up the reserve Enforcers on temporary duty. Didn’t the written exam wrap up a few days ago? Gather everyone who passed and tell them this is the practical exam.”
“Yes, sir!”