Opening his eyes again, a familiar light filled his vision.
"Back again..." Chen Yifei adjusted to the brightness of the spotlight and slowly scanned his surroundings.
The old stage, the black curtain, the audience seats filled with people—he had returned to this nightmare.
"It seems that as long as I sleep or die, I come back here," Chen Yifei concluded from his past experiences.
Since he regained control of his body, the audience that had left returned to the theater. Although their gazes seemed somewhat displeased, they at least didn't intend to act again.
Chen Yifei's gaze naturally slid to the screen at the center of the stage:
"[Audience Expectation: 24%]"
According to historical records, the moment he regained control of his body, the expectation automatically rose back to 20%. After experiencing intellectual battles with the enforcers, the expectation increased again, eventually stabilizing at 24%.
"Last time, death directly deducted 50% of the expectation. If my expectation is below 50% when I die next... what will happen?"
Chen Yifei didn't know the answer, but he guessed that if the expectation turned negative, he would most likely die completely and be taken over by the "audience," never able to recover.
Just as Chen Yifei was about to move his gaze, he suddenly noticed a trembling small treasure chest in the lower right corner of the screen.
He clearly remembered that when he first entered the theater, this thing didn't exist.
After hesitating for a moment, Chen Yifei tentatively reached out his hand and clicked on the treasure chest...
Ding ding ding ding——!
The moment Chen Yifei's fingertips touched the treasure chest, a burst of激昂 music came from the speakers on both sides of the stage.
The sudden music startled Chen Yifei. In the next moment, several spotlights moved behind him. He turned around and found that a table had appeared in the center of the stage.
It was an ordinary wooden table that seemed somewhat old and didn't look out of place with the wooden floor of the stage. The spotlight beams shone on the table, and a piece of paper reflected a pale glow.
Chen Yifei walked straight towards the wooden table, and two spotlights moved closer together, eventually merging into one.
At the top of the paper, there were several lines of small text.
"Detected that audience expectation has exceeded 60% for the first time, unlocking achievement—'Mostly Positive Reviews'!"
"You have received an additional chance to draw."
"After using it, you will randomly draw a character skill from all the characters that have appeared in this play to learn."
Chen Yifei's gaze swept over these words, and before he could react, the white paper suddenly disappeared, replaced by cards placed on the table.
These cards were of different colors, mostly white and gray, with occasional blue ones. The patterns on the surface ranged from simple to complex. The brighter the color, the more advanced the pattern, and they looked more precious.
In the next moment, these cards were simultaneously turned upside down, revealing a uniform back, and then they overlapped at an astonishing speed, ultimately dispersing neatly and staying on the table.
Chen Yifei also tried to trace the whereabouts of those blue cards, but this strange shuffling method made it impossible to track the cards with his naked eyes.
"There's even a chance to draw... it seems that not everything in this theater is bad."
Chen Yifei took a deep breath, randomly picked a card in front of him, and gently flipped it upside down on the table...
It was a blue card.
After Chen Yifei made his choice, all the other cards disappeared simultaneously. At the same time, several lines of text appeared on the blue card.
"Skill: [Dance of Slaughter]"
"Attribution: God of War Path, [Judgment] Path, Third Stage."
"Character: Han Meng."
Seeing the name "Han Meng", Chen Yifei's mind automatically conjured up the figure in a windbreaker from the night before, engaging in a fierce battle with the red paper monster... At this moment, only one thought remained in his heart.
This is a profitable deal!
Since Chen Yifei arrived in this world, among all the people he had met, Han Meng was undoubtedly the strongest in combat ability. Although Chen Yifei couldn't understand what "Bing Shen Dao" (Path of the War God), "[Trial]Path", and "Third Stage" meant, there was no doubt that he had drawn the best option currently available.
The blue card turned into nothingness, and Chen Yifei felt something mysterious added to his body.
"Thank you for the gift," Chen Yifei felt a little embarrassed now.
He had stolen... no, learned this skill from Han Meng. In a sense, Han Meng was his benefactor... But just a few hours ago, he had beaten up this "benefactor" and even given him a harsh blow with a stick.
That blow... shouldn't have killed the benefactor, right?
He felt a little guilty.
...
The vermilion disaster danced wildly above,
Its terrifying might made people's hearts tremble;
A slender hand emerging from the disaster pressed onto his head... It was like the hand of a god descending from the heavens, dominating the world.
On the sickbed, Han Meng suddenly opened his eyes, almost jumping up.
"Ah—"
The sharp pain in the back of his head made him grit his teeth. His vision swayed, and he collapsed back onto the bed.
"Meng!" A law enforcer who was dozing beside him was startled and immediately supported him. "Meng! What are you doing? Don't move around and break the stitches..."
Han Meng lay on the bed, finally regaining his composure, and茫然开口 (spoke in confusion):
"Where is this?"
"The hospital!"
"That long-handed... no, where is that red disaster?"
"It..." The law enforcer paused, "It should have escaped. When we arrived at the scene, we only saw you lying there..."
Fragments of memories flooded into Han Meng's mind. He couldn't help but touch the back of his head, gritting his teeth in pain.
This disaster... does it also like to attack from behind?
"What's the situation? Are there any other casualties?"
"Not yet. After fighting with you, that disaster hasn't appeared again. I guess you hurt it too much."
"I..."
Han Meng was about to say that he hadn't hurt it at all, but after hesitating for a while, he swallowed those words back.
He still needed to maintain his image in front of his subordinates.
"What time is it?"
"6:50."
"... Help me up."
"Meng, the doctor said you need to rest..."
"Rest, my ass!" Han Meng stood up with gritted teeth. "That disaster is very cunning. If we let it be like this, it will cause trouble sooner or later!"
"Cunning? Meng, do you mean dangerous..." This law enforcer had seen a lot, but it was the first time he heard someone describe a disaster as "cunning".
"Dangerous, but even more cunning!"
Han Meng subconsciously touched the back of his head. "Moreover, I suspect it might have really merged with a human..."
"A merger?" Hearing these three words, the law enforcer's face changed drastically. "Should we notify Aurora City immediately?"
Upon hearing the latter part of the sentence, Han Meng gradually calmed down. "No, not yet. I need to investigate further... This is just my guess now, without any theoretical basis."
"What should we do now..."
"Let's go to the headquarters first. The newly arrived candidates should be arriving soon. We'll discuss the specifics on the way."
"Okay."