I'm Not A Drama God

Chapter 8: Killing Bureau · Frost Street. · Two disheveled figures stood at their front door, faces etched with hesitation. · This house, which once belonged to them, was now occupied by someone who had risen from the dead... or rather, a "thing." The Mass Grave had been contaminated by the Gray Realm last night, so the entity inside was almost certainly a Calamity masquerading as Chen Ling. · "What do we do now...?" Li Xiuchun swallowed hard. · "What else can we do?" Chen Tan took a deep breath. "Go in, grab all our belongings as fast as we can, and run! We'll head to District Five or District Six—anywhere, as long as it's far from here!" · "But it's still inside. What if we wake it up?" · "It's already left." · Chen Tan spoke with certainty, eyeing the muddy footprints by the entrance. · Hearing this, the woman finally breathed a sigh of relief. She unlocked the door with her key, and the two of them rushed inside. · "Only take coins and valuables! Leave anything too bulky behind!" · "I'll take the bedroom, you take the living room!" · "Hurry, hurry! Move! We don't know when it'll be back!" · Panicked, they pulled out two burlap sacks and began stuffing them with their possessions. · The man yanked open a drawer and shoved all the money into his pocket. Just as he was about to leave, his eyes fell on the defensive axe by the bedside. After a brief hesitation, he stuffed that into the sack as well. · Their family wasn't wealthy, and they had very few valuables. It was precisely because of this that they couldn't bear to abandon the meager belongings they had earned with their own hands. · Li Xiuchun stuffed three sets of cotton and linen clothes into her bag. Once she was sure nothing was left, she hurried to the living room. · They hoisted the sacks onto their shoulders, ready to flee, when Li Xiuchun suddenly spoke up. · "If we leave, what happens when A-Yan comes back?" · "Then we'll go to District Two first! We'll get him out and then we all run together!" Chen Tan answered decisively. · "He'll definitely look for his brother..." · "His brother is already dead." · As Chen Tan spoke, he reached for the door handle. At that exact moment, the faint rustle of a key sliding into the lock echoed through the room. · The two of them froze instantly. · The front door slowly creaked open, and a youth stepped inside. · Chen Ling stared at the two of them holding their heavy sacks, momentarily stunned. "Dad, Mom, where are you going?" he asked, confused. · Chen Tan and Li Xiuchun looked like they had seen a ghost. Their faces turned deathly pale. · At the same time, a fast horse galloped past the window, and the shouts of Law Enforcers echoed through the street: · "Suspected High-Risk Calamity detected! District Three is under total lockdown! No one is permitted to enter or leave!!" · "Watch for any suspicious signs—roads or buildings appearing out of nowhere, strange-looking creatures, or even humans acting abnormally!!" · "Report any anomalies to the Law Enforcers immediately..." · The voices of the Law Enforcers gradually faded into the distance. · Inside the cramped house, the atmosphere fell into an eerie, deathly silence. · "We..." · Hearing the commotion outside, the couple's legs began to shake. They looked at the youth before them in terror; in their dazed state, he seemed to transform into a fanged demon from hell! · Chen Ling’s gaze fell on the two large sacks. Connecting them to the Law Enforcer's announcement, he spoke up to comfort them. · "Don't worry too much. That Calamity thing doesn't seem to be around here. The streets look perfectly fine, don't they?" · Chen Tan: "..." · Li Xiuchun: "..." · Chen Ling felt helpless. · Initially, he hadn't thought much of the news regarding a "World-Extinction" level Calamity invasion. But when he saw the Audience Expectation Value skyrocket, he knew things were going south... · Zhao Yi had taken a beating all afternoon just to scrape together a dozen points. The Law Enforcer had barely finished shouting, and the value had already surged past sixty! · Based on what Chen Ling understood so far, this meant the Audience had found something incredibly entertaining. · Unfortunately, that "entertainment"... was likely himself. · Doctor Lin had mentioned Gray Realm Convergences and Calamities before. It just so happened that he had transmigrated last night, and the original soul's memories of that night were gone... Putting the clues together, who else could this Calamity be if not him? · Chen Ling suspected that what the Law Enforcers were looking for was likely the Audience inside his head. · He had considered turning himself in to the Law Enforcers to see if they could deal with the Audience, but given their attitude toward Calamities, it was far more likely they would just kill him along with them. · All in all, it was better to lay low for now and observe the situation. · Seeing the two of them still wound tight and looking incredibly nervous, Chen Ling sighed and reached out to take the sack from Li Xiuchun. · "Mom, where could you even go at a time like this?" · "District Two and District Three are both locked down. You can't get out. Do you really want to end up sleeping on the streets?" · Li Xiuchun was scared witless by his first sentence, but by the time he finished, she managed to snap out of it and gave a forced laugh. · "Right... you're right." · "Dad, you should put yours down too. Don't be so tense... If we run away, what about A-Yan?" · Chen Tan swallowed hard, his eyes fixed on Chen Ling, trying to find even a hint of abnormality or murderous intent on the boy's face... but he failed. · Every move Chen Ling made was unlike a "Calamity." He was no different from the Chen Ling in his memories. · But Chen Tan knew the truth in his heart... This wasn't Chen Ling. · Chen Ling was dead. · "Sit down for a bit. I'll go to the kitchen and pour you some water." Seeing their faces were still pale, Chen Ling pulled out the chairs by the table and turned toward the kitchen. · Li Xiuchun and Chen Tan exchanged a glance and finally sat down, resigned. · As Chen Ling poured the water, he tried to think of a way to lighten the mood. He said casually: · "By the way, Mom, that grilled sausage you left for me this morning was delicious. How did you make it?" · "Gr... grilled sausage?" · Li Xiuchun looked bewildered. · She and Chen Tan had been at the Mass Grave since last night. Where would she have gotten a sausage to leave for him? · "The one on the cutting board," Chen Ling replied. · The confusion in Li Xiuchun's eyes deepened. She racked her brain, and then, as if remembering something, her face turned white as a sheet. · "When did you leave him a sausage?" Chen Tan whispered. · "I... I didn't," Li Xiuchun replied in a trembling whisper. "On that cutting board... there was supposed to be a bone-shaving knife... But when I was packing just now... the knife was gone." · Chen Tan's expression shifted violently! · Meanwhile, standing in the kitchen with his back to them, Chen Ling continued slowly: · "That sausage tasted great, but it was a bit tough... Mom, remember to grill it a bit softer for me tomorrow." · The living room fell into a deathly silence. · Chen Ling finished pouring the water and brought it over, only to find their faces even paler than before. · "Are you okay? Are you feeling sick?" Chen Ling sat down opposite them, puzzled. · "...It's nothing." · Chen Tan took a deep breath and quietly pulled the sack toward his feet. His voice steadied slightly. · "A-Ling." · "Yeah?" · "Do you remember... what happened yesterday?" · "Yesterday?" Chen Ling tried to remember again, then shook his head. "I can't recall... Why?" · "...It's nothing." Chen Tan took a small sip of water. As if having made a final decision, he looked Chen Ling straight in the eye. · "How do you think... we've treated you?" · "Very well," Chen Ling said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "If you hadn't taken me in back then, I probably would have frozen to death on the side of the road... My biological parents didn't want me. You raised me, worked day and night to put me through school. Everything I have, you gave to me." · Everything I have, you gave to me. · Hearing this, a flash of relief crossed 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, the words felt hauntingly familiar. · Fragmented memories surged from the original soul's mind, and Chen Ling's head began to throb again... He suddenly remembered that the original Chen Ling seemed to have heard similar words last night. · "I... I..." Chen Ling clutched his head, his expression twisting in pain. · "A-Yan is our own flesh and blood. Your mother ruined her health taking medicine just to conceive him... We tried for ten years before we finally had this one child..." · "A child that truly belongs to us!" · "Now he's sick, and we can't just watch him die... The Shaman in District Two said that if we could get a young heart from someone under twenty, it could replace A-Yan's failing one." · "A-Yan has called you 'Brother' for so many years. You've been like our own son for so long. Your parents have never asked you for anything, but just this once... we're begging you to save A-Yan." · "Tell me... you're willing, right?" · Chen Tan's body trembled slightly. His eyes were filled with plea and expectation as he looked at Chen Ling. · He was like a child who had done something wrong, waiting for a long-overdue forgiveness. · At this moment, the broken memories buried in last night's storm finally resurfaced. Chen Ling endured the agonizing headache, took a deep breath, and spoke in a raspy voice: · "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 would rather die than accept it." · Chen Tan snapped out of his internal struggle and guilt. He reached into the sack at his feet and slowly pulled 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 tight and spoke hoarsely. · "Whatever is occupying your body... I'll set you free." · A low rumble of thunder rolled across the dark sky. · A sharp axe was raised high... · And swung down with all his might! · Thud— · A warm spray splattered across Chen Tan's face. · Crimson blood bloomed like a bouquet across the floor. Chen Ling's body fell straight back, hitting the ground with a dull thud. · The axe was embedded in his neck, nearly severing his head. His pupils were vacant, staring into nothingness, his face still frozen in a mask of pain and confusion. · He was dead. · No heartbeat, no breath. His body gradually grew cold, like a martyr fallen amidst a field of scarlet flowers. · Chen Tan's chest heaved violently. He stared fixedly at the lifeless body, his clothes soaked with sweat. · "He's... he's dead...?" Li Xiuchun collapsed into her chair, trembling. · "...Dead." · "What about the Calamity?" · Chen Tan paused. "...I don't know." · Li Xiuchun stared blankly at the corpse. Suddenly, she whispered, "Do you think... is it possible he wasn't a Calamity... but that God gave us one more chance at redemption?" · "If he was..." Chen Tan gave a miserable laugh. "Then we truly deserve to go to hell." · [END]