God of Drama

Chapter 3: Calamity

Chen Ling’s pupils suddenly contracted!

However, when he blinked, the blood-red characters on the ground disappeared in an instant, as if they had never existed.

A hallucination?

Chen Ling stood there dumbfounded. The words seemed to have drilled into his mind, impossible to forget.

[We are watching you.]

Chen Ling quickly turned his head!

In the empty living room, it felt like invisible crimson eyes were observing him. This sense of being watched was eerily similar to the nightmares he had.

He stood motionless like a statue for a long time, forcing himself to breathe deeply.

"Maybe I’m just too tired after staying up late preparing for the law enforcement exam..."

"But this was something done by the original owner of this body, it has nothing to do with me... Could something have gone wrong when the two souls merged and damaged my mind?"

"I heard that severe schizophrenia can cause difficult-to-distinguish hallucinations..."

Chen Ling temporarily stopped the fear in his heart, trying to explain everything in a scientific way. A strong sense of hunger surged within him, and he grabbed a sausage from the cutting board and quickly ate it in a few bites. Only then did he begin to recover his composure.

"Maybe I need a psychiatrist."

Startled, Chen Ling didn’t even bother to wash his face. He quickly threw on a black cotton coat and rushed out the door.

Even so, the cold air rushing in made him shiver.

This was Chen Ling’s first real encounter with this world after regaining his senses. He took a deep breath, preparing to face all the unknowns and challenges. However, when he happened to look up at the sky, he couldn’t help but mutter a curse.

The early morning light scattered from the east, with strands of blue satin-like ribbons floating in the sky above the small town, seeming close yet unreachable.

The aurora.

The aurora during the day.

Chen Ling stood at his doorstep, staring at the sky full of aurora for a long time, murmuring to himself:

"What on earth is this world...?"

…

"Dammit, why is this road so hard to walk?"

"The weather’s too cold, and it rained heavily last night. The mountain road is frozen, so be careful."

"We’ve been crawling all the way, and now it's dawn." The man wiped the sweat from his forehead, "How much farther?"

"The graveyard is just ahead... We should be almost there."

Two staggering figures climbed over the mountain peak, finally seeing the scattered earth mounds ahead. Some were new, some were old, and most had no inscriptions. There were simply wooden sticks or the deceased's belongings stuck in front of them.

But after last night’s heavy rain, the mounds were mostly washed away, with wooden sticks and other items scattered in disarray, leaving the scene in a mess.

To their surprise, the graveyard was now surrounded by yellow caution tape, and more than ten figures were moving within the cordoned-off area, their faces solemn.

"Law enforcement officers?"

Seeing the black and red uniforms, the man widened his eyes, "Why are they here?"

"Have they already found it?" The woman’s face turned pale, "Is it... is it Ah Ling? Did he go to find the law enforcement officers? Is he really not dead?"

They had thought they had killed Chen Ling, but the next day he came back on his own. Coupled with the sudden appearance of the law enforcement officers at the graveyard... there was almost no other explanation.

"Something’s off..." The man stared at the figures, "Law enforcement officers from District 3, even when dealing with criminal cases, would at most send three people! But to send more than ten at once... it could only mean..."

"Calamity... has appeared?"

The woman seemed to think of something and broke into a cold sweat.

"Could the monster in the bedroom be...?"

"Run!!" The man grabbed the woman’s wrist and turned to flee.

Just then, a cold voice came from not far away.

"Stop."

The two figures froze instantly.

A law enforcement officer slipped under the caution tape and slowly walked over to them, narrowing his eyes.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"I... I..." The woman stammered, unable to speak.

"We’re here to visit our son." The man said as calmly as possible, "He’s buried here. Today is the anniversary of his death."

"Then why are you running?"

"...Because we’re scared."

"Scared?"

"Sending so many law enforcement officers at once means the Gray Realm is crossing over here, right?" The man swallowed, "Maybe... maybe there’s a calamity crawling out from there... We’re afraid of getting hurt."

"Oh? You know quite a bit." The law enforcement officer raised an eyebrow in surprise.

The man forced a pale smile.

"Law enforcement sir," the woman asked cautiously, "Is there really a calamity crawling out from the Gray Realm?"

"That’s classified."

The officer answered indifferently, "You won’t be visiting your son today. Go back. What you see here cannot be shared outside. You know the rules, right?"

"Understood, understood."

"Go then."

Hearing those two words, the man finally relaxed and immediately turned to leave.

"Wait."

The two’s hearts skipped a beat.

"Leave your names and addresses." The officer took out a pen and paper, "It’s for confidentiality, please understand."

"Chen Tan, Li Xiuchun, 128 Han Shuang Street, District 3."

After recording, the officer allowed them to leave and crossed the yellow caution tape, heading toward a man dressed in a black coat, handing over the file.

"Meng Ge, I’ve asked. They came to visit their son."

Han Meng took a deep drag from his thick cigarette, the acrid smoke mixing with his breath and drifting into the cold wind.

He glanced briefly at the file and spoke calmly:

"Send a few people to follow them secretly. They’re suspicious."

"...Huh?"

"Han Shuang Street is at least ten kilometers away from here. They arrived at this time, meaning they left at around four in the morning... and it was still raining at that time."

"Who would come to the mountains to mourn in the middle of a heavy rain before dawn?"

"Also, this is a graveyard for the nameless or those who died far from home. As parents, why would they bury their child here?"

The officer froze and slapped his forehead, "Right! How did I not think of that?"

"...Xiao Qin, how did you even pass the law enforcement exam?"

Xiao Qin, the officer, chuckled awkwardly, quickly changing the subject, "By the way, Meng Ge, did a calamity crawl out from the Gray Realm last night?"

Han Meng didn’t answer. Instead, he took out a palm-sized device from the inside of his coat. The device had a pointer similar to a compass at its center, with different colors indicating different levels of danger.

"This is the Calamity Pointer?" Jiang Qin curiously eyed the device and reached to touch it, but his hand was sharply slapped away.

"This thing is precious. You’ll have a chance to touch it once you become an official law enforcer."

Jiang Qin rubbed his hand in pain, looking at the device with growing concern:

"So how does it work?"

"This is a device used to detect the danger level of ‘calamities’. After turning it on, the pointer will point to the corresponding area based on the magnitude of the calamity’s fluctuation. If it’s just the Gray Realm crossing over, without a calamity entering the real world, it won’t react."

"The higher the level of the calamity, the more the pointer will shake."

Jiang Qin nodded, but still sounded uneasy:

"Meng Ge... there shouldn't be a calamity crawling out, right?"

"Most likely not. If a calamity did crawl out here yesterday, Districts 2 and 3 would be in chaos by now."

"That’s good."

"To be safe, we still need to perform the check."

Han Meng said this as he opened the Calamity Pointer, and the other officers gathered around, curious.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

The Calamity Pointer showed no reaction.

Just as Han Meng was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the pointer suddenly jerked violently!

It swung wildly across the different colored areas, and a shrill screeching sound came from the device. Han Meng’s pupils contracted, and he instinctively let go of the pointer!

Bang—!!

Countless pieces of the device shattered mid-air, the sharp end of the pointer grazing Han Meng’s face and leaving a blood-red streak!

The Calamity Pointer...

Exploded.