Chapter 83: The Performance Ends

As soon as these words came out, the other two Enforcers rushed over like arrows.

"There's still someone alive?!"

"Wait... why is it him?"

Seeing Chen Ling, who was the only one left with a sliver of breath, astonishment surfaced in the eyes of the two.

"His lower abdomen should have been cut open during the battle, losing too much blood." That Enforcer hesitated and looked at the Five-Stripe. "If we don't treat him, he's really going to die..."

"Do we save him or not?"

Everyone who entered the Ancient Vault died, and only Chen Ling, who they originally thought was bound to die, unexpectedly picked back up a life. At this moment, they lamented the impermanence of fate in their hearts, but were somewhat unable to make up their minds.

"Save him or not??" The Five-Stripe Enforcer cursed angrily. "Are you crazy with stupidity?! This is the only seedling left of the entire Law Enforcer team. If he dies, who will explain what happened here to Aurora City?!

Save him!! At all costs! Save him for me!!"

With the departure of the crowd, the Ancient Vault of the Military Path plunged into dead silence once again...

Above the Wilderness littered with corpses, wisps of Kill Aura extended from the deepest part of the black giant sword, coiling beside one of the corpses like swimming snakes, frantically surging into it.

After a brief few seconds;

Jian Changsheng's dark red pupils abruptly opened!

...

The center of the dim Stage.

Chen Ling, draped in the Great Crimson Theatrical Robe, slowly opened his eyes.

"Phew..." He subconsciously touched his lower abdomen with his hand, breathing a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

In order to deceive the three Enforcers, Chen Ling could only choose to cut his abdomen, this slowest and most tormenting method of suicide. If he had blown his own head off with a shot, his resurrection speed would be very fast, and it might be that before the Enforcers found him, his wound would have already been repaired.

Only this method of bleeding to death could maximize the extension of the death process. Moreover, even if he resurrected subsequently, it wouldn't be too shocking to the world. But the downside was... this way of dying was too painful.

"Blowing the head off is still more straightforward."

Chen Ling slowly climbed up from the Stage. His gaze fell on the audience seats. Although the exchange between The Audience and the desolate grave just now was somewhat unexpected, there seemed to be no changes at present... Those countless pairs of scarlet eyes still stared at him neatly.

Chen Ling was already accustomed to this eerie gaze. He walked straight to the screen and looked down.

After he bled himself to suicide, the Audience Expectation Value unsurprisingly decreased by 50%, dropping from 72% to 22%, hovering on the verge of Loss of Control... The good news was that at this moment, in the bottom right corner of the screen, the icon of a treasure chest was flickering once again.

Chen Ling reached out and lightly tapped the treasure chest.

Da-da-da——!

Accompanied by impassioned music, a table appeared out of thin air in the center of the Stage. On the white paper in the center of the desktop, a few lines of small characters quickly surfaced:

"Congratulations on completing The Script, 'No One Survived'."

"The highest Audience Expectation Value of this play: 72%"

"You obtained one designated Gacha Draw."

"After using it, you can designate a character from all the appearing roles in this play and randomly draw their ability. The probability of drawing a rare skill is related to the comprehensive Audience Expectation Value of this play."

Sure enough, completing the performance task on the stone steps can complete a play... Chen Ling thought to himself.

In the void in front of him, pages of paper manifested out of thin air.

【"You're awake?" As Chen Ling's eyes opened, Chu Muyun's voice drifted over leisurely from the side.】

【...】

【"When they colluded with the Law Enforcers and forced ordinary people to death one after another, where were you?!" "Where is your Investigative Power?! Where is your Enforcement Power?!!"】

【...】

【The corners of his mouth couldn't be suppressed from rising, as if completing some kind of ritual, muttering to himself: "The performance... begins."】

【...】

Text surfaced on The Script one after another, depicting all of Chen Ling's experiences during this time. Seeing his life compiled into The Script once again, there weren't too many fluctuations in Chen Ling's heart...

Or rather, he was already numb.

When he finished reading the last sentence of the play, he slowly closed it. At the same time, his vision suddenly blurred.

He seemed to have returned to that dreamscape again. The spotlight overhead rapidly dimmed, an endless dark night enveloping the world. An unreachable star hung overhead, with only a blood-colored road exuding an eerie aura twisting and extending towards the sky.

And at this time, Chen Ling was standing on the first step of this road.

【Complete a performance with at least fifty people participating, and ensure that after the performance ends, no one survives.】

As the light of The Script in Chen Ling's hand flashed, the second step in front of him trembled slightly. The line of small characters on its surface dissipated without a trace. Immediately after, a stream of pure Spiritual Power surged from his mind!

To be honest, Chen Ling actually didn't quite know what Spiritual Power was, nor had he almost ever perceived it. But at this moment, it was as if a gushing spring appeared at the soles of his feet, frantically pouring into his body from this twisted Divine Path.

His whole body seemed to have been washed. His originally exhausted spirit rapidly recovered.

"Only after completing the performance task above does one possess the qualification to step towards the next rank..."

Chen Ling looked at that section of the step that had restored its original state, deep in thought.

He tentatively lifted his foot and walked towards the second step.

His sole easily passed through the original invisible barrier, but as he stepped, the Spiritual Power in his mind was frantically consumed. But when all his Spiritual Power was exhausted, the tip of his toe barely touched the step.

It had only been a few days since he stepped onto the First-Tier. Wanting to step onto the Second-Tier in one breath was still too early.

Fortunately, the barrier of the Second-Tier had now been lifted. Stepping onto the Second-Tier was only a matter of time... Chen Ling retracted the foot he had stepped out.

The next moment, the environment around him rapidly shattered, and his whole person returned to the center of the Stage once again.

Chen Ling held The Script and looked around.

Countless playing cards fluttered in mid-air, then neatly fell onto the desktop. The small characters originally on the paper completely disappeared.

Replacing them was a short line of words:

"Please write down the name of the role you want to draw on the paper."

Chen Ling picked up the pen and, with almost no hesitation, wrote a name on the paper——

Jian Changsheng.

Chen Ling certainly had other choices, such as the Fire-Stealers. Although their face-stealing skill was incredibly useless to Chen Ling, 'Steal Objects' and the 'Steal Light' used by Number 8 were still very good, as well as the Seal Character of the Path of the Scholar God.

The key problem was that after he stole... no, learned these skills, he simply had no chance to use them!

If Chen Ling wanted to perfectly disguise his identity as a Law Enforcer openly, he must have a presentable, justifiable First-Tier skill of the Way of the Soldier God. And currently, there were only two First-Tier skills that had appeared: Jian Changsheng's and the others'...

Chen Ling had seen the terror of the 【Asura】 Path with his own eyes. A First-Tier skill could make Jian Changsheng, this loser in life, suddenly turn into a super genius, and even fight back and forth with him.

Overall, Jian Changsheng's 【Asura】 First-Tier was his best choice.

As Chen Ling wrote down Jian Changsheng's name, all the other playing cards on the table disappeared.

Only a solitary blue card was left, placed in front of him.