Chapter 2 We're Watching You

"Is it... a ghost?"

The violent rain hit the cold window, and the hearts of the two people were like the flames in the lamp, swaying.

"I... I don't know." The woman swallowed her saliva, "Should we notify the law enforcers?"

"You're crazy!"

Hearing the word law enforcers, the frightened man finally regained some reason,

"Once the law enforcers intervene, what we did will definitely be exposed... Absolutely not!"

"Then... what should we do with him?"

The woman paused for a moment, "You said... Could it be that there is a 'disaster' attached to Ah Ling's body?"

The two looked at the closed bedroom door at the same time and fell silent again.

After a long time, the man seemed to have made up his mind, took a black raincoat from the door, and pushed the door out.

"Where are you going?"

"To where we buried the body!"

"Now? What are you going for?"

"To verify." Raindrops slid down the man's pale face, and he spoke hoarsely, "No matter what is in the room now... He can't be Ah Ling! I want to see his body with my own eyes."

"I'll go with you!"

No one wants to go out on such a rainy day, but compared to being alone with the sleeping thing in the bedroom, women would rather choose the former.

In the heavy rain, two figures in raincoats hurried away.

...

Bedroom.

Chen Ling, who had already fallen into a deep sleep, suddenly trembled his eyelashes slightly, as if he was having a nightmare.

In his sleep, his consciousness kept sinking, as if he fell into a bottomless cave. After an unknown period of time, he seemed to fall on a hard ground and finally stabilized his body.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-

A dull mechanical sound rang out, and then a beam of light pierced the darkness like a sword and gathered on a red figure.

Chen Ling subconsciously covered his eyes with his hands.

"Where is this?"

Chen Ling's chaotic consciousness gradually regained clarity. After gradually adapting to the strong light, he looked around blankly.

Within the range of the beam, he could only see the vermilion robe on his body, the old wooden floor under his feet, and the black curtain behind him that was also illuminated by the beam... Beyond the beam was endless unknown and darkness.

Seeing this scene, Chen Ling was suddenly stunned.

He seemed to have thought of something, squinting his eyes and looking up. The beam that illuminated him came from a spotlight fixed on a steel frame.

"Stage?"

As a working director of a theater, Chen Ling is very familiar with the stage. In his previous life, until he was hit to death by the light, he was thinking about his position on the stage. His knowledge and understanding of the stage even exceeded those actors.

So his first reaction at this moment was to put it back on.

No...

The stage lighting effect of the theater he was in in his previous life was better than this, the curtain was not black, and the floor was not this old wooden floor.

Was he dreaming?

Chen Ling took a tentative step forward, and the old floor creaked harshly. As he was about to walk out of the light circle, another beam of light followed his footsteps and chased into the darkness.

"Chasing light?" Chen Ling's heart skipped a beat, and he shouted subconsciously,

"Who is there?!"

These lights can chase him, and there is a high probability that they are controlled by humans, unless a fully automatic light-chasing system is also used here. However, judging from the age of this stage, this possibility is almost zero.

"Who is there..."

"Who is there..."

"There..."

Chen Ling's voice echoed in the darkness, becoming more and more eerie and eerie.

At the same time, an electronic screen on the edge of the stage suddenly lit up.

In stage design, this position is usually set up with a teleprompter to prevent actors or hosts from forgetting their words, but at this moment, the screen shows a string of red characters——

[Audience Expectation: 29%]

In the lower left corner of the screen, there are a few small words,

"Please do not let the audience's expectation fall below 20%, otherwise the theater will not guarantee the personal safety of the actors."

Seeing this screen, Chen Ling was a little confused...

Audience? Where did the audience come from?

Ding-ding-ding-ding-

The familiar sound of turning on the lights rang out again!

The darkness in front of the stage receded like a tide, and hundreds of wooden chairs spread out in a staircase shape. They surrounded the front of the stage, densely packed.

Auditorium.

These three words appeared in Chen Ling's mind.

It is reasonable for an auditorium to appear where there is a stage. What really makes Chen Ling's scalp numb is not this, but that I don't know when...

These auditoriums are already full of "audience".

They were humanoid creatures shrouded in shadows. Even with enough light, Chen Ling still couldn't see their appearance clearly. They seemed like the embodiment of the abyss.

The only exception was their eyes.

Countless scarlet pupils opened in the dimness. They sat on their own wooden chairs, staring at Chen Ling on the stage, like a group of cats forcing a mouse into a corner, their eyes teasing and greedy.

Being stared at by them, Chen Ling felt a chill on the back of his neck. He didn't know what these "audiences" were, but they couldn't be human beings!

Chen Ling controlled himself and stopped looking at those creepy eyes. He turned around and ran to the other end of the stage.

Logically speaking, the exits of the stage were on both sides. As long as he left the stage, he should be able to get rid of those ghosts temporarily!

The spotlight locked onto the running red figure, and rushed straight to the edge of the stage, but what greeted him was a bare wall.

Chen Ling was stunned.

He ran to the other side of the stage in disbelief, and it was still the same.

This stage... has no exit at all.

In the dim auditorium, dense scarlet pupils followed his escape, moving constantly, like a group of "audiences" immersed in a wonderful performance, extremely focused.

And the protagonist of this performance was Chen Ling in red on the stage.

At the same time, the characters on the display screen in the center of the stage jumped... The audience expectation value jumped from the original 29% to 30%.

Damn, what a fucking nightmare I am having!

Chen Ling pinched himself hard, trying to wake up from the dream, but apart from feeling a familiar pain, there was no sign of waking up.

[Intermission is over, please continue the performance]

Another line of characters popped up on the screen, and then a crisp bell suddenly sounded from above the stage!

Dinglingling——

Before Chen Ling could react, the picture in front of him shattered bit by bit, and his consciousness quickly blurred...

Before he lost consciousness, he vaguely saw that the huge and mysterious black curtain behind him was slowly opening!

...

Bang!

Chen Ling sat up suddenly from the bed!

The sheets were soaked with cold sweat, his chest was heaving violently, and his eyes were full of fear.

He swallowed his saliva, looked around little by little, and finally relaxed after confirming that he was in his room and not that damn stage.

"Is it a dream... This dream is too weird."

He calmed down, got up and walked to the living room.

At this time, the rain outside had basically stopped, but the sky was still dark. Chen Ling called out to his parents a few times, but no one answered. The whole house was quiet.

"You went out to work so early?" Chen Ling muttered to himself.

Chen Ling touched his shriveled stomach. The nightmare last night seemed to have consumed too much energy for him. He was floating when he walked. In desperation, he could only go into the kitchen to find something to eat.

As soon as he walked into the door, he was tripped by something. Looking down,

It was the remains of a bucket that seemed to have been gnawed by a beast.

What happened to this bucket? Did it crack because of the cold weather?

Chen Ling couldn't remember what happened last night at all. He muttered suspiciously in his heart, then picked up the bucket and threw it into the corner. He turned around and found a rag to wipe off the water stains on the ground.

He just squatted down and froze in place.

I saw that the water stains on the ground began to slide automatically, as if an invisible figure squatted opposite him, dipping his fingertips in water and writing something on the ground.

The next moment, the transparent water stains turned into blood red, and a twisted and strange text appeared in front of Chen Ling.

——【We are watching you】.