"It's also possible that the 'Calamity' was too weak... A single axe blow completely killed it," Li Xiuchun suggested another possibility.
Chen Tan didn't respond. He gazed at the figure in the pool of blood for a long time, then turned and fetched a kitchen knife from the kitchen.
"What are you going to do?"
"Cut open his chest to see if his heart is still there," Chen Tan said in a gravelly voice. "At least I want to know... whether I killed a monster or the redemption given by God."
He knelt beside Chen Yifei's corpse and struggled to cut open the chest with the blade. Li Xiuchun, beside him, turned pale and rushed into the kitchen, violently vomiting.
After a few minutes, Chen Tan slowly stood up.
"What's it like?" Li Xiuchun asked.
"Empty," Chen Tan looked at the empty interior of the chest, as if relieved. "He has no heart."
"No heart? How did he..."
"I don't know."
Chen Tan paused, "Whatever it was... it's dead now."
"What should we do with the body?"
"Hide it in the cellar... There are enforcers outside now, and we can't send it out."
Chen Tan pulled aside the corner of the table in the living room, opened the thick wooden plank on the ground, revealing a dark and narrow underground space.
In this era without refrigerators, relying on the natural insulation of the cellar to store food was the best choice. He was about to throw Chen Yifei in, but seeing the gruesome wound on his neck, he stopped.
"Go get Mu Yu's costume," Chen Tan said. "Whatever it is, this is Yifei's body... Without a coffin for burial, at least let him wear a decent outfit."
Mentioning the costume, Li Xiuchun shivered slightly.
"But last night... he came back wearing that outfit..."
"It's just a piece of clothing," Chen Tan was about to refute, but thinking of the horrifying scene when Chen Yifei came home last night, he didn't persist. "Forget it, let's just do it this way."
Chen Tan threw Chen Yifei's body into the cellar, covered it with the wooden plank, and pressed the table on top, finally ending it all.
Next, Li Xiuchun started cleaning up the bloodstains in the room. Although these things made her feel nauseous, she still held her nose and continued.
Knock knock knock—
A hasty knock on the door suddenly sounded.
Li Xiuchun, who was cleaning the room, missed a heartbeat and turned back to look at Chen Tan.
"Is someone here?"
"Ignore him. Pretend no one's home."
Li Xiuchun nodded. They held their breath in the living room, leaving only the muffled knocking echoing continuously.
But the knocking didn't stop at all, instead getting louder. Immediately after, a deep voice came from the door:
"Enforcer questioning! Open the door immediately!"
Upon hearing the word "enforcer," their faces turned pale. After a moment of hesitation, Chen Tan gave Li Xiuchun a look, quickly changed his shirt, and walked towards the door with buttons undone.
Creak—
The door opened slightly.
Chen Tan leaned out, closed the door behind him, and asked, "Enforcer, what's the matter?"
Drizzling rain fell from the gloomy sky. Two figures wearing black and red uniforms stood outside the door, their faces somewhat gloomy.
"Why didn't you open the door after knocking for so long?"
"I was sleeping just now, and it took me a while to get dressed," he said with an embarrassed smile.
The two enforcers glanced at his unbuttoned shirt and relaxed a bit. "Is this Chen Yifei's house?"
"...Yes."
"Where is he?"
"He left in the morning and hasn't returned yet."
"When he comes back, give him this notice," said one of the enforcers, pulling out a document from his chest. "The entire Second and Third Districts are under blockade now. All prospective enforcers who have passed the written test are temporarily recruited to gather. He's also on the list. He must arrive at the Third District Enforcer Headquarters at 7 a.m. tomorrow. If he doesn't, it will be considered as voluntarily giving up the spot."
Chen Tan's heart skipped a beat, but he took the notice with a straight face and nodded. "Okay, I'll definitely give it to him."
The two enforcers turned and left, and Chen Tan breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
He pushed the door open and walked into the house.
Squeak—squeak—
As he entered, a piercing sound of metal scraping reached his ears, like someone scratching a blackboard with sharp nails, making Chen Tan's hair stand on end instantly.
At this moment, Li Xiuchun was huddled in the corner, shivering all over.
She saw Chen Tan return to the room, and her nearly collapsing eyes finally lifted. She slowly extended a hand, pointing towards the kitchen...
In the kitchen, a vermilion figure was facing away from them, bowing his head as if chewing on something.
Seeing that figure, Chen Tan's mind went blank instantly!
It was a teenager whose neck was nearly severed, and the crimson flesh was healing at a visible speed. He held a kitchen knife in his left hand and a bloody axe in his right, simultaneously stuffing them into his mouth...
Seeming to sense Chen Tan opening the door and returning home, the figure dressed in a bright red costume slowly turned around in the kitchen.
It was Chen Yifei, Chen Yifei who had lost his heart and was nearly executed.
His cheeks were slightly puffed, vigorously chewing on the remnants of metal and wood. His scattered pupils looked like beast's eyes, eerie and creepy.
"Dad."
A voice sounded from behind him. "I'm hungry..."
...
Chen Yifei had a dream.
It was an afternoon overshadowed by dark clouds.
As usual, he went to the martial arts training ground in the suburbs to exercise and pushed the door open, sweating profusely.
It wasn't his birthday, but on the dining table at home, there was a cream cake... Orange candle flames swayed in the dim living room, and two figures sat at the table with somewhat red eyes.
A cream cake, worth 200 copper coins, was something their family couldn't afford on an ordinary day.
He was very puzzled and asked what the occasion was.
His parents told him that it was the day his younger brother, Muyu, was going to have an operation.
He was very happy to hear that. His younger brother's congenital heart disease had been a nightmare for their family. To cure his brother, his parents and he had traveled everywhere to seek help, but every clinic was helpless.
A few days ago, his parents said they had found a hospital in the Second District and sent his brother there. They were confident that they could cure him.
Upon hearing this good news, he happily finished the cake, but soon his consciousness began to fade, and he collapsed onto the table. The last thing he saw was his mother, Li Xiuchun, covering her mouth and weeping bitterly.
"Sorry... really sorry," he heard his father's whisper. "Muyu's illness needs a heart... You would be willing, right?"
He opened his mouth as if wanting to say something, but ultimately fell into unconsciousness.
Then, he felt himself being stuffed into a bag, with rain pitter-pattering on the surface. After a long time, he was finally lifted onto a table.
He felt his chest being cut open, and something was taken away from it.
After that, someone put a piece of clothing on him and transferred him to a certain place in the heavy rain. Thick soil gradually buried his body, and everything around fell into darkness and silence...
...
In the darkness, Chen Yifei's eyes suddenly opened.
Spotlights lit up above his head, illuminating the red figure lying in the center of the stage. After a moment of daze, Chen Yifei pushed the ground with his hands and stood up shakily.
"Damn... Why am I back again?"
Chen Yifei's face was somewhat pale. His gaze subconsciously fell on the screen in the center of the stage, and his pupils suddenly contracted.
[Audience Expectation +1]
[Audience Expectation +1]
[Current Expectation: 67%]
[Loss of actor connection detected, performance interrupted]
[Audience Expectation -50]
[Current Expectation: 17%]
[Warning! Warning!]
[The audience is starting to intervene in the performance!]