Chapter 34 Clown
"It's done, call it a day."
The two 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 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 started... 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 that Ah Ling suffered..."
"We must keep this matter 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 to the bottom and used force to lift up a large piece of soil.
"Just bury it like this." He said.
The two of them 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 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 the Chen Tan couple who raised him... But at the same time, the world played a bigger joke on the Chen Tan couple.
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 get up from 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, it was himself who lost his mind after the resurrection [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 the only one 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 beside him, or perhaps just his own weird delusion.
Chen Ling continued to dig, and the soil below gradually oozes blood. Just as he was about to continue digging, a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist...
Then, a bright red robe was gently draped over his body, 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, stop digging... I beg you, please stop digging, okay?"
"... Ah Yan."
Chen Ling stared at him in a daze, and the pair of hands covered with blood and mud raised, as if to touch Chen Yan's cheek... He touched it.
"Ah Yan... are you alive?" Chen Ling's voice trembled a little, "You are alive, right?"
"I..."
Chen Yan glanced at the bloody soil, lowered his head, and did not dare to look into Chen Ling's eyes.
"I'm dead, brother..."
"But you are clearly here!"
"I'm here because of your power."
Chen Ling was stunned for a moment, "Me? How can I have such power, I..."
Before he finished speaking, the raging snowstorm flooded Chen Ling's eyes, and the next moment, Chen Yan's figure disappeared again, as if he had never appeared.
[Audience Expectation +5]
[Current Expectation: 63%]
Chen Ling looked at the two lines of characters that appeared in the snow uncontrollably, and her pupils shrank slightly as if she had thought of something.
"Audience" has the power to influence reality.
After I traveled through time, they have influenced the things around me more than once, such as the water stains in the kitchen, Dr. Lin who was tricked, and the boning knife that was eaten... But since Chen Yan appeared, they seem to have never interfered with my life again.
So, in my eyes, the appearance of Chen Yan is also the masterpiece of the "audience"...?
"...It's you."
Chen Ling clenched his bloody hands tightly, staring at the nothingness in front of him, and the veins on his neck popped out:
"You made me see him... You made me get used to him... From the beginning, you just used him as a prop to deceive my feelings, and then destroyed him with your own hands..."
"You, have been waiting for this moment for a long time, right?"
[Audience Expectation Value +5]
Another line of small words appeared, completely igniting Chen Ling's suppressed anger. He suddenly climbed up from the snow, wearing a red dress and roaring in the storm, like an angry lion!
"Are you satisfied now?!"
"Have you seen enough of this play?! Did you enjoy it?!!!"
"Do you think I acted well?!!!"
"Fuck you!!!"
Chen Ling seemed to have imagined that in the dim theater, countless pairs of scarlet eyes looked through the curtain, watching him talking to Chen Yan these days, watching him promise to perform at the school's New Year's Eve party, watching Chu Muyun alone in thought...
They designed everything, they knew everything, they watched him perform on the stage with all his emotions, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise in the dark...
He felt like a clown, a clown who was intoxicated in a fake performance alone and entertained by others.
His chest rose and fell violently, and the flames of anger 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 didn't want to be a clown, and even less wanted to be a tool for the "audience" to play with.
At this moment, his feet suddenly slipped, and several things slipped out of his pocket and fell on the white snow, reflecting the silver light...
Nine silver coins.
It was the "reward" that Qian Fan handed to him personally with a smile this morning.
The moment he saw these silver coins, Chen Ling's pupils contracted, he stopped, and a hint of clarity appeared in his angry eyes, and then turned into stronger hatred.
He was silent for a long time, bent down and picked 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 see a good show..."
"Then I will..."
"I'll show you another one."
Chen Ling smiled, and his smile was like a demon in the snow.