"Is... is it a ghost?"
The frantic rain hammered against the cold window, and the hearts of the two people were as unstable as the flickering flame of a lamp.
"I... I don't know." The woman swallowed nervously. "Should we notify the authorities?"
"Are you crazy!"
The man, who had been frozen in shock, finally regained some composure when he heard the word "authorities."
"Once the authorities get involved, everything we've done will be exposed... Absolutely not!"
"Then... what do we do about him?"
The woman paused for a moment. "You don't think... the 'disaster' has attached itself to Evan's body, do you?"
The two of them simultaneously looked toward the closed bedroom door, falling silent once again.
After a long while, the man seemed to make up his mind. He grabbed a black raincoat from the doorway and pushed the door open.
"Where are you going?"
"To where we buried the body!"
"Now? To do what?"
"Verify." The rainwater slid down the man's pale face, and he rasped, "No matter what's in the room now... it's definitely not Evan! I need to see his body with my own eyes."
"I'll go with you!"
No one wanted to go out in this storm, but the woman would rather face the unknown in the bedroom than be alone with whatever was inside.
In the pouring rain, the two figures in raincoats hurriedly left.
...
Bedroom.
Evan Stone, who had already fallen into a deep sleep, suddenly felt his eyelashes twitch, as if trapped in a nightmare.
In his sleep, his consciousness sank deeper and deeper, as if falling into a bottomless pit. After what felt like an eternity, he landed on some hard surface and finally steadied himself.
Thud—thud—thud—thud—
The dull sound of a mechanism echoed, followed by beams of light piercing the darkness, converging on a red-clad figure.
Evan Stone instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes.
"Where... am I?"
Evan Stone's confused consciousness gradually began to clear. As he adjusted to the strong light, he looked around in bewilderment.
Within the beam, all he could see was the crimson stage costume on his body, the old wooden floor beneath his feet, and the black curtain behind him, also illuminated by the light... beyond the beam, there was nothing but endless darkness.
Seeing this scene, Evan Stone suddenly froze.
It was as if something clicked in his mind, and he squinted up at the source of the light—the beam was coming from spotlights fixed on a steel frame.
"A stage?"
As a director at a theater, Evan Stone was no stranger to the stage. Up until the moment he was struck by the spotlight in his previous life, he had spent all his time on stage refining actor positions. His knowledge and understanding of the stage were greater than many of the actors themselves.
So his first reaction was that he had somehow found himself back on the stage.
Wait...
The stage in his previous life had better lighting effects. The curtains weren't black, and the floor was not this old, wooden type.
So... is this a dream?
Evan Stone cautiously took a step forward. The old floor creaked loudly, and as he neared the edge of the light, another beam followed him, chasing him into the darkness.
"Spotlight?" Evan Stone's heart skipped a beat. He instinctively called out,
"Who's there?!"
The fact that the lights followed him meant they were likely being controlled by someone. It couldn't be an automatic spotlight system, not with how old this stage was.
"Who's there..."
"Who's there..."
"In there..."
Evan Stone's voice echoed in the darkness, growing increasingly eerie and unnatural.
At the same time, an electronic screen at the edge of the stage suddenly lit up.
In stage design, this spot is usually for the prompter, to prevent actors or hosts from forgetting their lines, but the screen now displayed a string of red characters—
[Audience Expectation: 29%]
In the lower-left corner of the screen, there were additional small words,
"Please do not let the audience's expectation drop below 20%, otherwise, the theater cannot guarantee the safety of the actors."
Seeing the screen, Evan Stone was confused...
Audience? Where did the audience come from?
Thud—thud—thud—
The familiar sound of lights being turned on echoed again!
The darkness before the stage receded like a wave, and hundreds, even thousands, of wooden chairs extended in tiered rows into the distance. They surrounded the front of the stage, densely packed.
Audience seats.
The words appeared in Evan Stone's mind.
It makes sense to have audience seats in a place with a stage, but what truly sent a chill down Evan Stone's spine wasn't this detail—it was the fact that...
At some point...
The "audience seats" were now filled with "audience."
They were humanoid creatures shrouded in shadows. Even though the lights were bright enough, Evan Stone still couldn't make out their appearances, as if they were embodiments of the abyss.
The only exception was their eyes.
Countless crimson pupils opened in the dim light. They sat in their chairs, staring at Evan Stone on the stage, like a group of cats cornering a mouse—gaze mocking and hungry.
Under their gaze, Evan Stone felt a chill crawl up the back of his neck. He had no idea what these "audience" were, but they definitely weren't human!
Evan Stone forced himself not to look at those terrifying eyes. He turned and ran toward the other side of the stage,Ideally, the exits of the stage should be on both sides. If he could leave the stage, he should be able to temporarily escape from these ghastly creatures!
The spotlight locked onto the running figure in red and followed him all the way to the edge of the stage. What awaited him, however, was a blank wall. Evan Stone froze.
He ran to the other side of the stage, still the same.
This stage... has no exit.
In the dimly lit audience, the countless crimson pupils followed his every move, shifting in their seats, like an audience utterly immersed in a spectacular performance.
And the star of this performance was Evan Stone in red on the stage.
At the same time, the characters on the display in the center of the stage changed... the audience expectation went from 29% to 30%.
D*mn it, what kind of nightmare is this?!
Evan Stone pinched himself hard, trying to wake up from the dream, but apart from a familiar pain, there was no sign of waking up.
[Intermission over, please continue the performance]
Another line of characters appeared on the screen, followed by the sharp ringing of a bell from above the stage!
Ding-ling-ling—
Before Evan Stone could react, the scene in front of him shattered into pieces, and his consciousness quickly blurred...
Just before he lost consciousness, he seemed to see the massive and mysterious black curtain behind him slowly pulling open!
...
Bang!
Evan Stone suddenly sat up in bed!
The sheets were soaked with cold sweat, his chest heaving violently, and his eyes wide with terror.
He swallowed hard, glancing around slowly. When he confirmed that he was in his own room and not on that cursed stage, he finally relaxed.
"Was it a dream...? This dream is too weird."
He tried to calm himself down, got out of bed, and walked into the living room.
By now, the rain outside had mostly stopped, but the sky was still dim. Evan Stone called out a few times to his parents, but no one responded. The house was eerily quiet.
"Did they go to work this early?" Evan Stone murmured to himself.
He rubbed his empty stomach. The nightmare from last night seemed to have drained him of energy. His steps were light, and feeling a little helpless, he decided to go into the kitchen for something to eat.
As soon as he stepped inside, something tripped him. Looking down,
It was a broken water jug, seemingly chewed up by some beast.
What happened to this jug? Did the cold crack it?
Evan Stone couldn't remember what had happened last night. He muttered suspiciously to himself, then tossed the jug aside and grabbed a cloth to wipe up the water on the floor.
As he crouched down, he froze in place.
The water on the floor was moving by itself, as if an invisible figure across from him was using its fingertip to write something in the water.
In the next moment, the transparent water visibly turned blood red, and a twisted, eerie message was etched before Evan Stone.
——[We are watching you].