Chapter 1009: [Mockery]

[Mockery]

Pale silk ribbons hung all over the room, oppressive and depressing.

Numerous figures surrounded a middle-aged woman, expressing condolences and trying to comfort her. At this moment, the woman was sitting powerlessly on the ground, hugging a black-and-white framed photo, having already cried her heart out.

The moment he saw the woman, Chen Ling's heart violently twinged...

That was his mother.

The first time Chen Ling entered the Timeline Save File, he didn't have the courage to see his mother again, but this time, Chen Ling didn't want to escape anymore...

Chen Ling was too tired.

Along this journey, he was already physically and mentally exhausted. He had accumulated too many secrets and borne too much pressure. Even Chen Ling was nearing collapse... Even if it was just a false illusion, he wanted to speak with his mother.

That was perhaps his only solace right now.

As if sensing something, Chen Ling abruptly turned his head to look behind him. Pairs of mocking, scarlet pupils were gradually concealing themselves into nothingness as the curtains disappeared...

"The Audience"?

Why would they be here?

Chen Ling turned his head in bewilderment, looking toward the direction of his own home. The next moment, his pupils violently contracted!

"Where is Zhou Ling's dad?"

"Still at the hospital, discussing A-Ling's funeral arrangements with them over there... He said for Xiuyun to come back first and pack up his belongings."

"Did you see A-Ling's... corpse?"

"I saw it, poor child... During the earthquake, the cars on the road he was on lost control, and a large truck crashed onto the sidewalk. His whole person was smashed to pieces..."

"At the hospital, Caiyun held A-Ling's hand and cried for over an hour. Eventually, she was pulled away by his dad..."

"Sigh... The heavens are blind."

The middle-aged woman was still sitting collapsed on the ground with bloodshot eyes, but her appearance had become a look Chen Ling had never seen before... Including the relatives surrounding her, they were entirely unfamiliar. Chen Ling swore he had absolutely never seen them.

Even the black-and-white photo in the woman's arms had changed from Chen Ling to another, older youth...

He wore glasses, a smile hanging on his mouth, gentle and frail.

"No..."

Chen Ling stared blankly at this scene, his face incomparably pale. "This is impossible... How could this be..."

Unfamiliar mother, unfamiliar relatives, unfamiliar front door... The closest kin who were just close at hand a moment ago had turned into unfamiliar appearances in the blink of an eye, striking Chen Ling like lightning.

Instinctively, Chen Ling rushed forward and parted the crowd!

"Who are you??" the few strangers at the door asked in astonishment.

Chen Ling didn't answer. He rushed into the home on his own, discovering that all the furnishings inside had changed. Like a madman, he rushed into every room, as if wanting to find traces that he had existed...

"No, who are you?! What exactly do you want??" A Middle-Aged Man glared angrily and blocked Chen Ling.

"I am Chen Ling!! Where is Zhang Caiyun??"

"Zhang Caiyun? Where would there be a Zhang Caiyun... This is Li Xiuyun's house, did you get the wrong door?"

"Isn't this 901?!"

"Yes, it is."

"Then this is my home! I've lived here for more than ten years, it's impossible for me to remember wrong!" Chen Ling glared, his eyes full of bloodshot veins. "Jingqiu Community, Building 12, Unit 1, 901! The property deed has my name written on it! My name is Chen Ling!"

The man froze for a moment.

"Jingqiu Community... What are you talking about? This is Country Garden." He frowned tightly. "I work as a real estate agent, and in the entire Shangjing City, I've never heard of any Jingqiu Community."

Chen Ling stood dumbstruck like a wooden chicken.

Everything in his memory had been replaced by another family...

No,

Perhaps,

It was that he had never existed.

Chen Ling staggered backward several steps. An unprecedented severe pain made him unable to think, and the Bewilderment carved deep in his heart surged into his mind once again.

"Home is fake... School is fake... Work is also fake... Then what exactly is real?!!"

"Who exactly..."

"Who exactly am I?"

...

"No matter who you are..."

"I will trust you this once."

Upon the thick accumulated snow, Yao slowly stood up. At his feet, various strange items were laid out... tree branches, a hen, a cross, and a large number of animal hearts.

The tattered gray jacket swayed in the freezing wind. Yao's cheeks were frozen red. He raised his head, his eyes full of determination.

"If this ghostly thing really works, I am willing to dedicate everything to you... If my illness shows no sign of recovery after the ritual ends, those dreams are ultimately just dreams... I will no longer believe in any witchcraft, nor will I accept those things you instilled in me."

"Mom and Dad said they contacted a famous doctor in District 2 who can transplant a heart for me... Even if this fails, I'll at least have one more chance to survive."

Black fresh blood flowed from Yao's seven orifices, dripping pit-a-pat onto the black formation array beneath him. A mixed Path of the Witch God aura spread along the Marking of the array, connecting it into a chaotic mass like pollution, looking like meaningless graffiti when looked down upon from the sky.

At the same time,

An inexplicable feeling surged into Chen Ling's heart, like being trapped in some kind of extreme darkness, but hearing someone murmuring his name...

"Who... is calling me?"

...

"Ahhhhhh!!!"

Clutching his head, Chen Ling only felt as if his entire person was going to split apart. Everything in his memory had fallen into chaos. The past he had originally believed in without a doubt began to reveal its true appearance bit by bit.

"No... No..."

"Wrong!"

"It was wrong from the very beginning..."

"I am not Chen Ling, and I am not some Transmigrator... I am..."

...

The Theater.

Under the pale spotlight, Chen Ling's body fell to his knees on the ground, his face incomparably ferocious...

Pairs of scarlet pupils surrounded the audience seats, staring straight at the Chen Ling On Stage. They all seemed to be waiting for him to be killed by the Silver King, after which the Theater and reality would be connected, and then they would swarm out to regain control of this body!

Just like how they forcefully dragged Chen Ling off the Stage not long ago.

Chen Ling's low growls of pain echoed On Stage. His facial features visibly blurred, and under the scouring of the Bewilderment, his skin was like melting cream, dripping onto the floor bit by bit...

Beneath that skin, pitch-black mottling like ink was revealed... just like the skin of "The Audience".

In a trance, the conversation between Master and that "Audience" who had usurped the Stage after suppressing the "Calamity of Mockery" back then flashed through Chen Ling's mind like lightning...

"I am Chen Ling!!"

"I am Chen Ling! Whoever stands on this Stage! Whoever is Chen Ling!!!"

This voice swept past Chen Ling's ears like a thunderclap. Chen Ling, who was amidst endless Bewilderment, suddenly seemed to realize something and abruptly opened his eyes!!

He slowly lowered his head, looking at his own hands, which were pitch-black like ink under the spotlight...

Muttering to himself:

"I am not Chen Ling, and I am not some Transmigrator... I..."

"I am also an 'Audience'..."

"I am..."

"[Mockery]."