God of Drama

Chapter 5 The Gray Realm

“Gray Realm Convergence?”

Chen Ling vaguely recalled the term from the original owner's memories. He must have seen it somewhere before.

"Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what the Gray Realm is," Dr. Lin stood up, pouring the fresh blood from the teacup into the drain, and spoke slowly.

"Before the Great Calamity, someone proposed a theory: there are countless parallel timelines in this universe, all formed from the earliest cosmic birth. These timelines spread outward like the light from a candle, infinitely extending in all possible directions, never crossing one another."

"But when the red meteor passed, everything changed."

"These timelines started to ripple, and an unknown, eerie gray world began overlapping with our reality."

Dr. Lin washed the teacup but did not dispose of the water. Instead, he placed it on the table. The water swirled due to his movement.

He tore a small piece of paper and placed it above the undulating water. The waves slowly soaked the paper, the water stains spreading unevenly, gradually covering the entire sheet.

"At first, only a small part converged. But over time, the convergence area expanded, and the matter and creatures of that world began appearing in ours. In fact, most of the human habitats have already been overtaken by that world, with only nine ‘domains’ left to shelter humanity, preserving the fire of life."

"Since the sky in that world is gray, we call it the ‘Gray Realm.’"

"When the Gray Realm converges with our world, a series of strange and incomprehensible events occur. Sometimes, monsters from the Gray Realm arrive, which we call ‘disasters.’"

"In general, about 80% of survivors who encounter Gray Realm convergence or are attacked by disasters develop mental instability. And most of them are never cured for life..."

"I suspect that your current condition might be related to the Gray Realm."

"Think carefully, have you ever encountered a Gray Realm convergence or been pulled into it?"

Facing Dr. Lin’s question, Chen Ling tried hard to search through the original owner’s memories, but in the end, he found nothing. No matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t recall any memories of the previous night.

“I don’t know,” he said bitterly.

Dr. Lin pondered for a moment, then took out a piece of stationery from a drawer and began writing quickly.

"Your condition is more than just a mental illness... I'm just an ordinary person, I can’t help you. However, I know someone who might be able to assist with the aftereffects of Gray Realm contamination. He might be able to help."

"After all, he is a real doctor."

Hearing this, Chen Ling’s eyes lit up. "Where can I find him?"

"He lives in Aurora City, though he often travels around offering free medical consultations. I heard he goes wherever there are difficult and rare diseases to treat. It's part of their path to becoming a god... Anyway, just give this letter to the law enforcers at the entrance of Aurora City, leaving your name and address. They will pass it along to him."

"Within three days, that doctor will come to find you."

"Thank you!"

Chen Ling accepted the envelope and expressed his gratitude sincerely.

In fact, when he saw the salt melting on the way here, he already felt something was wrong. The things happening to him didn’t seem to be explainable by any illness. He had come to this small clinic because, one, he had already walked halfway, and two, he didn’t know where else could help him.

From Dr. Lin’s words, this doctor seemed to be quite special, and he even mentioned the path to becoming a god...

Could it be that this world also has a unique human cultivation system? Otherwise, according to Dr. Lin’s statement, all of humanity should have perished when the Great Calamity and the Gray Realm converged.

Chen Ling even thought that the distorted scientific level of this world might be related to the Great Calamity.

"No need to thank me, just send my regards to your younger brother," Dr. Lin said with a slight smile.

"He’s still in the hospital in District 2... I’ll bring him some things when I visit next time."

Chen Ling stood up to say goodbye and left the room. As his figure gradually disappeared under the flowing light of Aurora, Dr. Lin’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"A performer, huh..."

...

"I saw the screen for the first time in my dream, and the audience's expected value was 29%."

"When I tried to escape, it jumped to 30%."

"On my way here, it dropped back to 27%..."

"Just now, when Dr. Lin was pranked, it went back up to 29%."

"If ‘the audience’ really exists in my mind and these numbers aren’t hallucinations, what exactly causes the fluctuations in the expected value?"

The cold wind howled as Chen Ling wrapped himself in a thick robe, walking toward home while deep in thought.

Stage, audience, expected value... Every time the expected value rises, it seems to be followed by an event. Could these events be seen as the "plot" of the stage?

The more interesting things that happen around him, the more the "plot" attracts the audience’s attention, thus raising the expected value?

The screen mentioned that if the audience's expected value falls below 20%, the actor’s safety isn’t guaranteed...

What kind of danger that entails, Chen Ling didn’t know. But since "the audience" can somewhat interfere with reality, he might end up as a tool for their anger and be killed by some prank or magic!

Chen Ling felt his reasoning wasn’t wrong, but to prove it, he would have to take real action.

"Maybe I should try to actively design the ‘plot.’"

Chen Ling muttered to himself.

"Ah Ling, have you eaten breakfast?"

Chen Ling turned his head to see a man with a towel wrapped around his head fanning a stove at a nearby breakfast stand. He cheerfully called out to him.

When he saw him, an idea suddenly flashed through Chen Ling’s mind.

"No, Zhao Uncle," Chen Ling smiled slightly and walked toward the stand.

"Come, come, let me get you some soy milk and fried dough sticks. There was a heavy rain last night, and the humidity is high. You’d better eat something to warm up," Zhao Uncle said as he brought over a steaming bowl of soy milk.

"Thank you, Zhao Uncle."

Chen Ling fumbled in his pocket and took out three copper coins to hand over to Zhao Uncle, but the latter pushed them back.

"Uncle’s treating you to breakfast. You can’t pay me!"

"No, Zhao Uncle, even though we’ve been neighbors for more than ten years, things should be settled," Chen Ling said.

"You kid, Uncle doesn’t want your money. Just help my Xiao Yi with his homework when you have time. Uncle will bring you breakfast every day," Zhao Uncle said with a grin, revealing a set of big yellow teeth.

"Hasn’t he graduated? Does he still need tutoring?"

"With his grades, he can’t even get a job. I’m planning to have him repeat the year. He can’t keep doing odd jobs forever."

"Oh..."

"You're still better, Ah Ling. Smart and filial. If Xiao Yi can ever become a law enforcer like you, I’d wake up smiling in my dreams."

Zhao Uncle sighed deeply, "It’s a pity, this kid just doesn’t strive."

Chen Ling paused for a moment as he held the chopsticks, then after a moment of hesitation, spoke up.

"Zhao Uncle... do you know why Xiao Yi is doing so badly in school?"

"Huh? Why?"

Chen Ling was about to say something, but then fell silent for a long while. Eventually, he shook his head. "Forget it, Zhao Uncle. I promised him I’d keep it a secret."

"No, no!"

Zhao Uncle’s heart started to race. He quickly added a boiled egg to Chen Ling's bowl and scratched his head in worry.

"Ah Ling, I know you’re Xiao Yi’s good friend, but some things... I, as his father, need to know. I’ve raised him alone, working hard every day to pay for his schooling. It’s all for him to have a better life in the future."

"If you know something, you must tell me! We all want what’s best for him..."

Seeing Zhao Uncle’s urgent inquiry, Chen Ling’s heart softened slightly. After some internal struggle, he seemed to have made up his mind and said,

"Zhao Uncle, you’re right. As a friend, I can’t bear to see Xiao Yi waste his life like this..."

"Waste... waste his life? What happened to him?"

"He’s in a relationship."

"Ah?" Zhao Uncle froze. "This kid has that much charm?"

Chen Ling nonchalantly took a bite of the fried dough stick and casually said three words:

"With a guy."