Chapter 8: The Killing Move
1391 Words
Frost Street.
Two disheveled figures stood hesitantly at the doorstep of their home.
This house, once theirs, was now occupied by someone who had seemingly returned from the dead—or rather, something that had. The mass grave had been tainted by the Grey Realm last night, meaning that whatever was inside the house was most likely a disaster masquerading as Chen Ling.
“What do we do now…?” Li Xiuchun swallowed hard.
“What else can we do?” Chen Tan took a deep breath. “We go in, grab all our valuables, and then run. Run as far as we can—Zone Five, Zone Six, anywhere but here!”
“But what if it’s still inside? What if we wake it up?”
“It already left.”
Chen Tan pointed to the muddy footprints by the door, his tone firm.
Hearing that, Li Xiuchun finally let out a breath of relief. She fumbled for the key, unlocked the door, and the two of them rushed inside.
“Only take money and valuables! Anything too heavy—leave it!”
“I’ll take the bedroom, you check the living room!”
“Hurry, hurry! We don’t know when it’ll be back!”
They hastily pulled out two burlap sacks and began stuffing them with whatever they could grab.
Chen Tan yanked open a drawer, scooped up all the money, and shoved it into his pocket. Just as he turned to leave, his eyes landed on the axe by the bedside—his emergency weapon. He hesitated for a moment before tossing it into the sack as well.
They weren’t wealthy. Their possessions weren’t much, but that was precisely why they couldn’t bear to leave behind the little they had. Everything in this house was earned with their own hands.
Li Xiuchun crammed three cotton-linen outfits into her sack and, after confirming there was nothing left behind, rushed to the living room.
They hoisted the sacks onto their shoulders, ready to leave, when Li Xiuchun suddenly paused.
“What about A’Yan? What if he comes back?”
“Then we go to Zone Two first! Get him out, then we run together!” Chen Tan answered without hesitation.
“He’ll look for his brother…”
“His brother is already dead.”
As Chen Tan spoke, he reached for the door.
Then, the sound of a key scraping against the lock sent a jolt through them.
They froze.
The door creaked open.
A young boy stepped inside.
Chen Ling’s eyes landed on the two figures, sacks slung over their shoulders. He blinked, confused.
“Dad? Mom? Where are you going?”
Chen Tan and Li Xiuchun paled as if they had seen a ghost.
Outside, a horse galloped past in a blur, and the voices of law enforcers echoed through the streets:
“Suspected high-risk disaster detected! Zone Three is now under full lockdown! No one may enter or leave!”
“Stay alert for any suspicious signs, including roads or buildings that appear out of nowhere, creatures with unnatural features, or even humans behaving abnormally!”
“If you notice anything unusual, report to the enforcers immediately—”
The voices faded into the distance.
Inside the narrow house, an eerie silence took hold.
“We…”
Hearing the announcement outside, their legs trembled uncontrollably. They stared at the boy before them, and in their dazed terror, his familiar face seemed to twist into something monstrous—a demon with fangs from the depths of hell.
Chen Ling’s gaze flicked to the two large sacks. Then, recalling what the enforcers had shouted, he tried to reassure them.
“You don’t need to worry too much. That disaster or whatever—it’s probably not around here. The streets look fine, don’t they?”
Chen Tan: …
Li Xiuchun: …
Chen Ling sighed.
At first, he hadn’t paid much attention to the whole “apocalyptic disaster” situation. But then he noticed something troubling—his audience’s anticipation meter had skyrocketed.
Zhao Yi had been beaten all afternoon and barely gained ten points. Yet, the enforcers’ mere announcement had sent it soaring past sixty.
Based on what he’d gathered so far, this meant they’d found something very entertaining.
And unfortunately, that “entertainment”… was probably him.
Dr. Lin had mentioned something about the Grey Realm and disasters. Coincidentally, he had crossed over last night, and the original owner of his body had lost all memory of what happened that night.
Putting the clues together, there was only one conclusion—he was the disaster they were looking for.
Most likely, what the enforcers were searching for was the very thing inside his head—the audience.
For a brief moment, he considered turning himself in. Maybe they had a way to remove the audience from his mind.
But judging by how they treated disasters, there was a much higher chance they’d simply kill him outright.
For now, he needed to lay low and observe.
Noticing that his “parents” were still on edge, Chen Ling sighed again and stepped forward, taking the sack from Li Xiuchun’s hands.
“Mom, where do you think you can even go?”
“Zones Two and Three are both locked down. There’s no way out. What, are you planning to sleep on the streets?”
Li Xiuchun was so startled by his first sentence that she almost passed out. But after hearing the rest, she forced out a nervous laugh.
“You’re… you’re right.”
“Dad, put yours down too. Don’t be so tense… If we run away, what about A’Yan?”
Chen Tan swallowed hard. His eyes bore into Chen Ling, desperately searching for any hint of malice, any sign that this was not his son.
But he found nothing.
Chen Ling acted no differently than before.
Yet deep down, Chen Tan knew—this was not his son.
Chen Ling was already dead.
“You two sit down for a bit. I’ll get you some water.” Chen Ling pulled out a chair for them before heading to the kitchen.
Li Xiuchun and Chen Tan exchanged a glance. In the end, they sat down obediently.
As Chen Ling poured water, he tried to ease the tension with casual conversation.
“Oh, right, Mom—the sausage you left for me this morning was really good. How did you make it?”
“…Sausage?”
Li Xiuchun looked confused.
Last night, she and Chen Tan had gone to the mass grave. They had left no sausage behind.
“The one on the cutting board,” Chen Ling clarified.
Li Xiuchun’s confusion deepened. She racked her memory, and then—her face turned deathly pale.
“When did you leave him a sausage?” Chen Tan whispered.
“I… I didn’t.” Li Xiuchun’s voice trembled. “The cutting board… there was a boning knife there before…
But when I was packing just now, I realized…
The knife was gone.”
Chen Tan’s expression darkened.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Chen Ling continued, his voice light.
“It tasted great, but it was a little tough… Mom, next time, can you make it softer?”
A suffocating silence filled the room.
Chen Ling turned back with the cups of water, only to find that their faces had turned even paler.
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
“…No.”
Chen Tan took a deep breath and subtly pulled the sack closer to him with his foot. His voice steadied.
“A’Ling.”
“Hmm?”
“Do you remember what happened yesterday?”
Chen Ling frowned, as if trying to recall. Then he shook his head. “Not really… Why?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Chen Tan took a sip of water, then looked Chen Ling straight in the eyes.
“How do you think we’ve treated you?”
“You’ve been great.” Chen Ling replied without hesitation. “If you hadn’t taken me in back then, I’d have frozen to death on the streets…”
“You gave me everything.”
Hearing that, Chen Tan’s eyes flickered with a moment of relief.
“Then… if one day, A’Yan fell sick… and the only way to save him was with your heart… would you be willing?”
- Writer
