"The aura of [Judgment] has disappeared."
"The aura of disaster has also vanished."
"If nothing goes wrong, Meng Ge should have succeeded."
"Han Meng is too fast—even if we wanted to take credit, we can't catch up..."
Under the rainy night, four figures cloaked in black trench coats raced toward the wilderness battlefield—the other law enforcers from District Three. Their gazes swept over the devastated wilderness, and they inwardly marveled. What kind of intense battle could reduce this place to such a state?
"This disaster seems quite formidable..." As they spoke, they looked toward the other side of the battlefield, where a blood-soaked figure lay on their back, motionless like a corpse.
"Meng Ge?!" A law enforcer immediately rushed forward, picked up Han Meng from the ground, and nervously checked his breath. The other three law enforcers stood still, exchanging glances with strange glints in their eyes...
"Is he dead?" asked one of them, Ma Zhong, the second-ranked law enforcer in District Three.
"No! He's still alive!" A flicker of disappointment crossed the three figures' faces. Two of them looked at Ma Zhong, who hesitated before shaking his head at them.
"What about the disaster? Where's the corpse?"
"Did it escape?!"
"No corpse in sight—it must have fled..." Everyone immediately searched the surroundings, but under the rain's scouring, no clues remained. The disaster that had been battling Han Meng here moments ago had vanished without a trace, as if evaporated from the world.
"Brother Ma! Brother Ma!!" Meanwhile, a law enforcer in black-and-red uniform hurried over from a distance.
"What's wrong? Why the rush?" Ma Zhong raised an eyebrow.
"We just received intelligence from District Two... Last night, District Two also suffered a disaster attack. Half a street was bloodied, with thirty-six deaths in total."
"What?" Ma Zhong asked in surprise, "Was it the same one?"
"The disaster that attacked District Two is said to be a Rank Three—it shouldn't be the same."
"Two disasters crawling out of the same Gray Realm intersection at once? That's rare..." Ma Zhong mused, "Was it killed?"
"No. They said after the disaster finished killing, it headed for the back mountain... There's a possibility it might cross the mountain into District Three. District Two hopes we can dispatch some personnel... They've suffered heavy casualties, and their enforcers are overwhelmed."
"Understood. I'll handle this." The enforcers carried the unconscious Han Meng and quickly moved toward the hospital. Ma Zhong's gaze lingered on the battle-scarred ruins and the outline of the back mountain shrouded in darkness not far away, deep in thought.
"Two disasters from the same Gray Realm junction... Interesting."
...
"Ge, aren't we running?" As night deepened, two teenagers advanced along a deserted path toward Frost Street.
"Why run?" Chen Ling retorted. Chen Yan was taken aback, scratching his head and hesitating to speak.
"Besides, where could we run even if we wanted to?" Chen Ling sighed, "The Aurora Domain is only so big—one city and seven districts. Ordinary people can't enter Aurora City, and between the other seven districts, District Two and Three are sealed off..."
"Then should we hide in a mountain gully?"
"Hiding won't help—they'll find us sooner or later. We can't keep retreating," Chen Ling mumbled in retort.
In truth, Chen Ling himself wanted to find a place to hide, but he couldn't! Although he'd just reclaimed the "stage," audience expectation was still stuck at 20%. If he didn't do something to raise it, he'd be usurped again and turn into a monster.
Chen Yan vaguely felt something was off logically... but didn't dwell on it. Since his brother said not to hide, there must be a reason.
"A Yan."
"Hmm?"
"Aren't you afraid of me?" Chen Ling turned to look at him in the dark. "You saw me... turn into a monster earlier."
Chen Yan hung his head, silent for a long time.
"Ge, it's okay to become a monster, as long as... you're still you."
"How do you know I'm still me?"
"Just a feeling..."
Chen Ling stared deeply at him. In the darkness, the teenager's expression was blurred.
"By the way, how's your body?" he asked. "After a heart transplant, don't you usually need to rest for ages? Is it really okay for you to be running around like this?"
"The doctor seemed amazing. I recovered really fast."
"Oh..."
Chen Ling suddenly realized this world might have supernatural powers. Otherwise, without even electricity, how could they perform a heart transplant? Maybe there were ways to heal quickly too?
His gaze fell on the other's smooth neck, as if remembering something. "Oh right, where's the safety amulet I gave you? The one you usually wear around your neck."
Chen Yan froze, reaching for his chest to find it empty.
"I don't know... Maybe it fell off on the way back."
"...It's fine. I'll make you another when we get home."
"Mn." Chen Yan spoke again. "Ge... won't you really wash up? You'll scare people half to death if you walk down the street like this."
Chen Ling jolted, instinctively touching his neck—slippery and sticky with blood. Strangely, after escaping the red paper monster, the wound on his neck had healed abnormally fast. In just half an hour, most of the flesh had already knitted back together, though it still looked scarlet, making him seem like a demon crawled out of hell.
With a sigh, Chen Ling found a nearby stream, casually peeling off his crimson opera robe to rinse the blood from his body.
"Ge, there's something I've wanted to ask..." Chen Yan said hesitantly.
"Why are you wearing my opera robe?"
"I... don't know."
Chen Ling stared blankly at the robe. He remembered not wearing it when he was killed by the axe. Now that he thought about it, he'd also been wearing this red robe the night he came home. From Chen Tan and Li Xiuchun's words, it seemed they'd used it to wrap his body after murdering him.
But why hadn't they put it on him this time? And why had it reappeared on him?
Chen Ling gave up trying to understand. Ever since he'd transmigrated here, strange things kept happening...
He'd wanted to burn the unlucky robe, but seeing Chen Yan's pitiful look, he sighed and silently washed it along with his body.