"It's also possible that that 'calamity' was too weak... It was completely killed with just one axe blow." Li Xiuchun put forward another possibility.
Chen Tan didn't answer. He stared at the figure in the pool of blood for a long time, then turned around and took out a kitchen knife from the kitchen.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to cut open his chest and see if his heart is still there." Chen Tan said hoarsely, "At least I want to know... whether I killed a monster or the salvation given by God."
He knelt down beside Chen Ling's body, and with great difficulty, used the blade to cut open the chest. Li Xiuchun beside him turned pale, turned around and rushed into the kitchen, vomiting violently.
After a few minutes, Chen Tan slowly stood up.
"How is it?" Li Xiuchun asked.
"Empty." Chen Tan looked at the empty inner wall of the chest and seemed to heave a sigh of relief, "He doesn't have a heart."
"No heart? Then how did he... "
"I don't know."
Chen Tan paused, "No matter what it is... it's dead now."
"What should we do with the body?"
"Hide it in the cellar... There are law enforcers outside now, and we can't send it out."
Chen Tan moved the corner of the living room table and opened the thick wooden board on the ground. Inside was a dark and narrow underground space.
In this era without refrigerators, relying on the natural heat preservation effect of the cellar to store food is the best choice. He was about to throw Chen Ling in, but when he saw the ferocious wound on the neck, he still stopped.
"Go and bring that stage costume of Ayan." Chen Tan said, "No matter what it is, this is Chen Ling's body... Since there is no coffin for burial, at least dress him in a decent piece of clothing."
At the mention of that stage costume, Li Xiuchun trembled slightly.
"But last night... he came back wearing that very clothes..."
"It's just a piece of clothing." Chen Tan was about to retort, but thinking of the terrifying scene when Chen Ling came home last night, he didn't insist anymore, "Forget it, then let it be."
Chen Tan threw Chen Ling's body into the cellar, covered the wooden board, and then pressed the table on top of it. Only then was it completely over.
Next, Li Xiuchun began to clean up the bloodstains in the house. Although these things made her feel extremely nauseous, she still pinched her nose and continued.
Dong dong dong——
Suddenly, there was a rapid knock on the door.
Li Xiuchun, who was cleaning the room, skipped a beat in her heart and suddenly turned around to look at Chen Tan.
"Is someone here?"
"Leave him alone for now. Pretend that no one is at home."
Li Xiuchun nodded. The two of them held their breaths in the living room, and only the dull knocking on the door echoed continuously.
But the knocking on the door showed no sign of stopping. Instead, it became even more forceful. Then, a deep voice came from the door:
"The law enforcers are asking questions! Open the door immediately!"
At the mention of the word "law enforcers", both of their faces turned pale immediately. After hesitating for a moment, Chen Tan gave Li Xiuchun a look, quickly changed his upper garment, and walked towards the door without fastening all the buttons.
Creak——
The door opened a crack.
Chen Tan squeezed out through the door sideways and closed the door behind him. "Sir Law Enforcers, what's the matter?"
A light drizzle fell from the gloomy sky. Two figures in black and red uniforms stood outside the door, with somewhat gloomy expressions.
"Why didn't you open the door after knocking for so long?"
"I was sleeping just now, and it took me some time to get dressed." He smiled sheepishly.
The two law enforcers glanced at his unfastened clothes and relaxed their expressions a little. "Is this Chen Ling's house?"
"...Yes."
"Where is he?"
"He went out in the morning and hasn't come back yet."
"When he comes back, pass this notice to him." One of the law enforcers took out a document from his bosom, "Currently, the entire areas of District 2 and District 3 are under lockdown. All probationary law enforcers who have passed the written examination are temporarily recruited to assemble. He is also on the list of those to be summoned.
At 7 o'clock tomorrow morning, gather at the law enforcers' headquarters in District 3 on time. If he doesn't go, it will be regarded as automatically giving up the quota."
Chen Tan's heart skipped a beat, but he still took the notice with an unchanged expression and nodded.
"Okay, I will definitely pass it on."
The two law enforcers turned around and left. Chen Tan secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
He pushed the door and walked into the house.
Crackle——Crackle——
As soon as he entered the house, a harsh metallic scraping sound reached his ears, as if someone was scratching a blackboard with sharp fingernails, making Chen Tan feel terrified in an instant.
At this moment, Li Xiuchun was huddled in the corner, shaking all over.
When she saw Chen Tan coming back into the house, her almost collapsed eyes finally looked up. She slowly stretched out a hand and pointed towards the kitchen...
In the kitchen, a figure in vermilion red was facing away from the two of them, with its head lowered, as if chewing on something.
At the sight of that back, Chen Tan's mind went blank instantly!
It was a young man whose neck was almost severed. The scarlet flesh and blood were healing at a visible speed. He was holding a kitchen knife in his left hand and a blood-stained axe in his right hand, and stuffing them into his mouth at the same time...
It seemed that he sensed Chen Tan opening the door and coming home. In the kitchen, the figure in the big red stage costume slowly turned around.
It was Chen Ling, Chen Ling who had lost his heart and was almost decapitated.
His cheeks were slightly puffed out, and he was vigorously chewing on the residues of metal and wood. His dull pupils were like those of a beast, eerie and terrifying.
"Dad."
A voice came from behind him, "I'm hungry..."
...
Chen Ling had a dream.
It was an afternoon shrouded in dark clouds.
As usual, after finishing his physical exercise at the martial arts training ground in the suburbs, he pushed open the door of his house, sweating all over.
It wasn't his birthday that day, but on the dining table at home, there was a cream cake... The orange candlelight flickered in the dim living room. Two figures were sitting at the table with slightly red eyes.A cream cake cost 200 copper coins, which their family could absolutely not afford in normal times.
He was very puzzled. He asked what day it was.
His parents told him that it was the day when his younger brother Ayan was going to have an operation.
He was very happy to hear that. His younger brother's congenital heart disease had been a nightmare haunting their family. In order to cure his younger brother, his parents and he had been running around everywhere, pleading for help, but all the clinics were at a loss.
A few days ago, his parents said that they had found a hospital in District 2 and sent his younger brother there. They were confident that they could cure him.
Hearing this good news, he happily finished the cake, but soon his consciousness began to grow dim, and he fell face down on the table. The last scene he saw was his mother Li Xiuchun covering her mouth and crying bitterly.
"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry." He heard his father's whisper, "Ayan's illness requires a heart... You will be willing, won't you?"
He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to answer something, but finally fell into a coma.
Then, he felt that he was stuffed into a bag. The rain pattered on the surface of the bag. After a long time, he was finally carried onto a certain table.
He felt that his chest was cut open and something was taken out of it.
Then, he was put on a piece of clothing and moved to a certain place in the heavy rain. The thick soil gradually submerged his body, and everything around him fell into darkness and silence...
...
In the darkness, Chen Ling's eyes suddenly opened.
The spotlights came on one after another above his head, illuminating the figure in red clothes lying in the center of the stage.
The spotlights came on one after another above his head, illuminating the figure in red clothes lying in the center of the stage. After a moment of trance, Chen Ling propped himself up on the ground with both hands and staggered to his feet.
"Damn it... Why am I back again?"
Chen Ling's face turned slightly pale. His gaze instinctively fell on the screen in the center of the stage, and his pupils suddenly constricted.
[Audience's anticipation value +1]
[Audience's anticipation value +1]
[Current anticipation value: 67%]
[Actor connection lost detected, performance interrupted]
[Audience's anticipation value -50]
[Current anticipation value: 17%]
[Warning! Warning!]
[The audience is starting to intervene in the performance!]