Chapter 8: Killing Trap

Frost Street.

Two bedraggled figures stood at their doorstep, faces full of hesitation.

The house that had once belonged to them was now occupied by someone back from the dead... or rather, a "thing." The mass grave had been contaminated by the Gray Realm last night, so whatever was inside was most likely a Calamity wearing Chen Ling's skin.

"What do we do now..." Li Xiuchun swallowed hard.

"What can we do?" Chen Tan took a deep breath. "We go in, grab everything we own, and run! District Five or Six—anywhere far from here!"

"But it's still in there. What if we wake it up?"

"It's already gone."

Chen Tan stared at the muddy footprints by the door and spoke with certainty.

At that, the woman finally let out a breath. She unlocked the door, and the two of them rushed inside.

"Only money and valuables! Leave anything bulky!"

"I'll take the bedroom, you take the living room!"

"Hurry, hurry! We don't know when it'll come back!"

The two of them frantically pulled out burlap sacks and began stuffing them.

The man yanked open the drawer and shoved all the cash into his pockets. He was about to leave when he spotted the axe by the bed, kept for self-defense. After a brief hesitation, he stuffed it into the sack too.

The family wasn't well-off—there was little of value. But that was exactly why they couldn't bear to abandon the few things they had earned with their own hands.

Li Xiuchun crammed three cotton-linen garments into her sack, confirmed nothing was left behind, and hurried to the living room.

The two hoisted the sacks onto their shoulders and were about to leave when Li Xiuchun suddenly spoke up:

"If we leave, what happens when A-Yan comes back?"

"Then we head to District Two first! Once we get him out, we take him and run!" Chen Tan answered decisively.

"He'll definitely come looking for his brother..."

"His brother is already dead."

As Chen Tan spoke, he reached for the door—just then, the rustle of a key sliding into the lock came through.

Both of them froze mid-motion!

The door swung slowly open, and a young man walked in.

Chen Ling saw the two of them with burlap sacks over their shoulders and blinked in slight surprise, asking in confusion:

"Dad, Mom, where are you going?"

Chen Tan and Li Xiuchun looked as if they'd seen a ghost, faces drained of all color.

At the same moment, a horse galloped past outside the window, and the enforcers' shouts echoed through the streets:

"Suspected high-risk Calamity detected! District Three fully locked down! No one may enter or exit!!"

"Watch for any suspicious signs around you—roads or buildings appearing out of thin air, strange mysterious creatures, even humans behaving abnormally!!"

"If you spot anything unusual, report to the enforcers immediately..."

The enforcers' voices gradually faded into the distance.

Inside the cramped house, the atmosphere sank into an eerie dead silence.

"We..."

Hearing the noise outside, both their legs began to tremble. They stared in terror at the young man before them, who in their dazed eyes had become a fanged demon from hell!

Chen Ling's gaze fell on the two large burlap sacks, and recalling what the enforcers had just shouted, he spoke to reassure them:

"Don't worry too much. That Calamity thing doesn't seem to be around here—the streets are still fine, aren't they?"

Chen Tan: ...

Li Xiuchun: ...

Chen Ling felt rather helpless too.

When he'd first heard about the "World Annihilation" Calamity invasion, he hadn't thought much of it. But seeing the Audience's expectation values spike, he immediately sensed something was wrong...

Zhao Yi had been beaten all afternoon and only barely gained a dozen or so expectation points. The enforcers just shouted once, and the expectation value skyrocketed to sixty-something!

From what Chen Ling understood so far, this meant they'd found some very exciting entertainment.

Unfortunately, that entertainment... was probably him.

Doctor Lin had mentioned Gray Realm intersections and Calamities before, and he just happened to have transmigrated last night—the original owner's memories of that night were gone too... Connecting all the clues, who else could this Calamity be but him?

Chen Ling suspected that what the enforcers were looking for was most likely the Audience inside his head.

He'd also considered turning himself in to the enforcers and letting them figure out how to deal with the Audience in his brain. But judging by their attitude toward Calamities, there was a greater chance they'd just kill him along with it.

In any case, he'd try to ride out this storm first and observe the situation.

Seeing the two of them still completely tense, looking absolutely terrified, Chen Ling sighed and reached out to take the burlap sack from Li Xiuchun.

"Mom, where could you even run at a time like this?"

"Districts Two and Three are both locked down—you can't get out at all. Are you going to sleep on the streets?"

Li Xiuchun was scared stiff by the first sentence. Only after hearing the rest did she barely come back to her senses and forced a laugh:

"Right... you're right."

"Dad, put yours down too. Don't be so nervous... If we run, what happens to A-Yan?"

Chen Tan swallowed. His eyes bore into Chen Ling, searching the latter's face for even a trace of abnormality or killing intent... but he failed.

Every move Chen Ling made was nothing like a "Calamity." There was no difference from the Chen Ling in his memory.

But Chen Tan knew very well... he was not Chen Ling.

Chen Ling was already dead.

"Sit down for a bit. I'll go to the kitchen and pour you some water." Seeing their faces still pale, Chen Ling pulled out the chairs by the table and turned to walk into the kitchen.

Li Xiuchun and Chen Tan exchanged a glance, then finally sat down obediently...

As Chen Ling poured water in the kitchen, he thought about how to ease the atmosphere and said casually:

"By the way, Mom, that grilled sausage you left me this morning was really tasty. How did you make it?"

"Grilled... grilled sausage?"

Li Xiuchun looked bewildered.

She and Chen Tan had gone to the mass grave last night—when would she have left any grilled sausage?

"The one on the cutting board," Chen Ling answered.

The bewilderment in Li Xiuchun's eyes deepened. She tried hard to recall, and finally, as if realizing something, her face turned deathly pale!

"When did you leave him grilled sausage?" Chen Tan asked in a low voice.

"I... I didn't leave any." Li Xiuchun also lowered her voice, answering while trembling. "On that cutting board... there was originally a bone-scraping knife...

But when I was packing just now, I noticed... the knife is gone."

Chen Tan's expression changed drastically as well!

Meanwhile, Chen Ling, standing in the kitchen with his back to them, continued slowly:

"That grilled sausage tasted great, but it seemed a bit tough... Mom, remember to grill it softer for me tomorrow."

The living room fell into a deathly silence.

Chen Ling finished pouring the water and handed it to them, only to find their faces had gone even paler...

"Are you two okay? Feeling unwell?" Chen Ling sat down across from them, puzzled.

"...We're fine."

Chen Tan took a deep breath and quietly pulled the burlap sack on the floor over with his foot. His voice steadied a little:

"A-Ling."

"Hm?"

"What happened yesterday... do you remember?"

"Yesterday?" Chen Ling tried to recall again, then shook his head. "Can't remember clearly... Why?"

"...Nothing." Chen Tan took a small sip of water, and as if having made up his mind, looked straight into Chen Ling's eyes.

"What do you think... of how we've treated you?"

"Very well." Chen Ling answered matter-of-factly. "If you hadn't taken me in back then, I probably would've frozen to death on the roadside... My biological parents didn't want me. You raised me, worked from dawn to dusk to put me through school—everything I have, I owe to you."

Everything I have, I owe to you.

Hearing those words, a flicker of relief passed through Chen Tan's eyes...

"Then if one day, A-Yan got sick... and only your heart could save him... would you be willing to save him?"

Chen Ling froze.

In that instant, he felt the words were somewhat familiar.

Fragmented memories surged up from the original owner's mind, and Chen Ling's head began to ache again... He suddenly recalled that the original owner seemed to have heard similar words last night.

"I... I..." Chen Ling clutched his head, pain surfacing on his face.

"A-Yan is our own flesh and blood. To conceive him, your mother took medicine until her health collapsed... We tried for ten years before we finally had this one child..."

"A child truly our own!"

"Now he's sick, and we can't just watch him die... The shaman in District Two said that if we get another young heart, from someone no older than twenty, it could replace A-Yan's failing heart."

"A-Yan has called you his brother for so many years. You've been our son in this family for so many years. Your parents have never asked anything of you, but just this once... we beg you to save A-Yan."

"Tell me... you're willing, right?"

Chen Tan's body trembled slightly. His eyes, fixed on Chen Ling, were full of pleading and hope.

He was like a child who had done something wrong, waiting for a belated forgiveness.

In that moment, the fragmented memories buried in last night's torrential rain finally surfaced in Chen Ling's mind one by one. Enduring the pain in his head, he took a deep breath and spoke hoarsely:

"So... it was you who killed him..."

"Him?"

"...Does A-Yan know?"

"He doesn't. If he knew the heart he was about to receive was yours... he'd rather die than agree."

Chen Tan snapped back from the depths of his struggle and guilt. He reached into the burlap sack at his feet and slowly drew out a sharp axe.

"A-Ling, you're already dead. You shouldn't be here." Chen Tan's eyes were bloodshot. He gripped the axe tightly and spoke hoarsely.

"Whatever is occupying your body... I'll set you free."

A low rumble of thunder flashed across the dim sky.

A sharp axe was raised high...

And swung down with force!

Bang—

Something warm splattered across Chen Tan's face.

Crimson blood bloomed on the floor like a bouquet. Chen Ling's body toppled straight to the ground with a dull thud.

The axe was embedded in his neck, nearly severing the entire head. His pupils stared vacantly into nothingness, his face still frozen in pain and confusion...

He was dead.

No heartbeat, no breathing. His body gradually grew cold, like a martyr fallen amid a bed of vivid red blossoms.

Chen Tan's chest heaved violently. He stared fixedly at the lifeless body, sweat soaking through his clothes...

"D-dead...?" Li Xiuchun slumped in her chair, stammering.

"...Dead."

"And the Calamity?"

Chen Tan paused. "...I don't know."

Li Xiuchun stared blankly at the corpse, then suddenly blurted out, "Do you think... maybe he wasn't a Calamity... but God giving us another chance at redemption?"

"If that's the case..." Chen Tan let out a bitter laugh. "Then we really deserve to go to hell."