Chapter 1572: Seeing Jinghong Theater Again

Seeing Jinghong Theater Again

After drinking the fresh blood in the cup and confirming that not a single drop was left, the Lord of Hidden Clouds staggeringly stood up again.

At this moment, he no longer had the madness and hysteria from just now. He merely looked at Chu Changqing on the bed with those exhausted eyes, silent for a long time...

"If the person awake right now was you..."

"Would everything... be different?"

Unfortunately, there was never any "if" in this world.

The Lord of Hidden Clouds carefully washed the cup clean and put it away, untied the flexible tube on Chu Changqing's arm, and rolled his sleeve back down to cover the scars on his arm. Soon, everything returned to normal, as if everything just now had never happened.

He took a deep breath, slowly walked to the door, and looked back at Chu Changqing on the bed once more...

A trace of complexity flashed deep in his eyes:

"Good night, Old Chu."

He turned and left.

...

"In just a little over a month, has the situation in the Human Domains actually become so severe?"

After Chen Ling finished listening to the relevant intelligence from the three major domains, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

"Yes." Liu Qingyan nodded. "In comparison, the situation in the Tianshu Domain is relatively better. There hasn't been a huge accumulation of public resentment. However, with the retrogression of technology today, the production capacity of various daily necessities has dropped significantly. Coupled with the fact that the Plague has also begun to spread on a large scale in Tianshu, I'm afraid they won't be able to hold out for much longer either."

"The return of the Red Star will inevitably bring chaotic times," the Grey King at the side slowly spoke.

"I have a premonition... we are not far from Reversing the Era and Rebooting the World."

Chen Ling fell into silence.

For some reason, the words the Lord of Wuji had questioned him with when he was in the Eternal Domain resurfaced in his mind:

"Who judges failure? Who defines success? You? What is your basis... Chen Ling, what right do you have... to become the person who tolls the final death knell for humanity?"

Chen Ling, and even the entire Dusk Society, had prepared for Rebooting the World for a long time. But when this day truly approached bit by bit, Chen Ling actually felt somewhat nervous in his heart.

This time, would humanity ultimately succeed?

How to judge success or failure?

If they wanted to Reboot the World, did they have to wait until all humans died out, wait until not a single trace of hope could be seen anymore... or, before that?

Internal turmoil within the domains, public panic, who knows how many people were struggling in pain at this moment—hunger, cold, Plague, and the Red Star that could return at any unknown time. If they tolled the death knell before everything reached its end and made everything flow backward, could they avoid some unnecessary chaos and pain?

Chen Ling shook his head, tossing all these messy thoughts to the back of his mind... Regardless of anything else, with the situation developing to this point, as the Red King of the Dusk Society, he absolutely couldn't have the slightest hesitation or wavering. He could only take it one step at a time.

What's more, the fragments of the Path of the Sovereign and the Path of the Witch God needed to Reboot the World were not yet in his hands.

"Have you found Ying Fu's whereabouts?"

"No." Liu Qingyan sighed. "For this past month, my Master and I have almost flipped over every place, but we still haven't found a trace of him... It's like he Vanished Into Thin Air."

"Not in the Tianshu Domain either?"

"No."

Chen Ling's expression was somewhat grave.

He originally thought that after the Lord of the Red Dust, Su Zhiwei, imprisoned Wang Jian, Ying Fu should set out to rescue him. But he didn't expect that it had already been a month and he still hadn't made a move... What exactly was this guy doing?

"Right, Red King, My Lord, there is one more thing."

"What is it?"

"We received an invitation."

"An invitation?"

"Mm, we received it a few days ago. It seems someone placed it at the door of our liaison point." Liu Qingyan paused for a moment. "At first, our liaison thought it was sent to the wrong place. But after seeing the contents inside... they felt it was still necessary for you to take a look personally."

Chen Ling was somewhat curious. What kind of invitation would make the liaison feel it needed to be delivered to his hands personally?

And how did an invitation that needed to be given to him appear at the door of the liaison point?

"Let me see."

Liu Qingyan took out a folded hard paper from her bosom, like the kind of paper material specially used for wedding banquets or invitations to important occasions. Just as Chen Ling reached out his hand, preparing to take it, that invitation passed directly through his palm and fluttered to the ground.

Chen Ling froze. Only then did he remember that he was currently just a wisp of thought, and his true body was still in the Gray World.

"You unfold it and show it to me," Chen Ling said helplessly.

Liu Qingyan picked up the invitation and slowly unfolded it in front of Chen Ling...

The moment this invitation was unfolded,

Three extremely eye-catching words entered Chen Ling's line of sight.

——【Jinghong Theater】.

Chen Ling's pupils constricted slightly.

"...Jinghong Theater??" Chen Ling spoke in disbelief. "How is this possible??"

Jinghong Theater, that was the place to stay Chen Ling had prepared for himself when he was in the Red Dust Domain... Originally, it was only for the convenience of receiving the Dusk Society, but later it gradually became a true theater house.

And with the arrival of the war between the Red Dust Domain and the Wuji Domain, this theater house eventually vanished in the flames of war.

But now, how could an invitation from Jinghong Theater appear?

"Yes... so we felt you needed to take a look personally." Liu Qingyan was also from the Red Dust Domain, so she naturally knew a little about Chen Ling's Jinghong Theater. "However, this Jinghong Theater shouldn't be the Jinghong Theater in your memory anymore."

Chen Ling shifted his gaze away from the words "Jinghong Theater" and continued looking down.

This was an invitation inviting Mr. Lin to attend a performance. There weren't many words, nor was there any substantive content. It only marked a location... No. 13 Grain Rain Street, Hidden Clouds Domain.

Hidden Clouds Domain?

The Jinghong Theater Chen Ling founded was naturally in the Red Dust Domain. But now, Red Dust should have already been swallowed by the Forbidden Sea and become a dead city... So, someone should have opened an identical theater house in the Hidden Clouds Domain?

The moment this thought appeared, a name leaped into Chen Ling's mind.

Kong Baosheng.

Kong Baosheng was the grandson of the original owner of Jinghong Theater, and also an employee Chen Ling hired after taking over Jinghong Theater. Back when Chen Ling left the Red Dust Domain, Kong Baosheng had said that he would continue running Jinghong Theater... If he had to say who in Chen Ling's memory was most likely to send this invitation to him, it could only be him.

Moreover, when Chen Ling was running Jinghong Theater back then, the alias he used was precisely "Lin Yan".

But how could Kong Baosheng know the liaison point of his Dusk Society?

One doubt after another emerged in Chen Ling's heart. His gaze continued to look down. At the end of the invitation, the time "Mr. Lin" was invited to come and watch the performance was attached...

Seeing this line, Chen Ling's eyelids suddenly twitched.

"...Three days ago?"