We're Watching You

"Is it... a ghost?"

The violent rain beat against the cold windows, and the hearts of the two people were like the flames in the lamp, flickering uneasily.

"I... I don't know." The woman swallowed a mouthful of saliva, "Should we notify the law enforcers?"

"Are you crazy!"

Upon hearing the words "law enforcers", the man who had been frightened senseless finally regained some reason.

"Once the law enforcers intervene, what we've done will definitely be exposed... Absolutely not!"

"Then... What should we do about him?"

The woman paused for a moment, "Do you think... Could it be that some 'calamity' has attached itself to A Ling's body?"

The two of them simultaneously looked towards the closed bedroom door and fell silent again.

After a long time, the man seemed to have made up his mind. He took a black raincoat from the door and pushed the door open to go out.

"Where are you going?"

"To the place where we buried the body!"

"Now? What for?"

"To verify." The rainwater slid down the man's pale face, and he said hoarsely, "No matter what's in the room now... He can't be A Ling! I want to see his body with my own eyes."

"I'll go with you!"

No one wanted to go out in such a thunderstorm, but compared to being alone with that unknown thing sleeping in the bedroom, the woman would rather choose the former.

In the heavy rain, the two figures in raincoats left in a hurry.

...

In the bedroom.

Chen Ling, who had already fallen asleep, suddenly had his eyelashes tremble slightly, as if he was having a nightmare.

In his dream, his consciousness kept sinking, as if he was falling into a bottomless cave. I don't know how long it had passed, but he seemed to have landed on some hard ground and finally stabilized his body.

Deng—Deng—Deng—Deng—

The dull sound of a mechanism rang out. Then, beams of light pierced the darkness like swords and converged on a figure in a red robe.

Chen Ling instinctively covered his eyes with his hand.

"Where is this...?"

Chen Ling's chaotic consciousness gradually became clear. After gradually getting used to the strong light, he looked around in confusion.

Within the range of the light beam, he could only see the vermilion opera robe on his body, the old wooden floor under his feet, and the black curtain behind him, a corner of which was also illuminated by the light beam... Beyond the light beam was the endless unknown and darkness.

Seeing this scene, Chen Ling was suddenly taken aback.

As if he had thought of something, he squinted his eyes and looked up. The light beam that illuminated him came from a series of spotlights fixed on a steel frame.

"Stage?"

As a theater director, Chen Ling was very familiar with the stage. In his previous life, until he was hit by the spotlight and died, he had been pondering the positions on the stage. His understanding and cognition of the stage even surpassed those of the actors.

So, his first reaction at this moment was that he had traveled back again.

No...

The stage lighting effect in the theater in his previous life was better than this. The curtain wasn't black, and the floor wasn't this kind of old wooden floor either.

Then was he dreaming?

Chen Ling tentatively took a step forward. The old floor let out an ear-piercing creaking sound. As his figure was about to step out of the circle of light, another beam of light followed his steps and chased into the darkness.

"Follow spot?" Chen Ling's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively shouted,

"Who's there?!"

These lights could follow him, and it was highly likely that they were being controlled by someone. Unless this stage also used a fully automatic follow spot system, but judging from the oldness of this stage, this possibility was almost zero.

"Who's there..."

"Who's there..."

"There..."

Chen Ling's voice echoed in the darkness, becoming more and more eerie.

At the same time, an electronic screen at the edge of the stage suddenly lit up.

In the stage design, this position was generally where a teleprompter was set up to prevent actors or hosts from forgetting their lines halfway. But at this moment, on the screen, there was a string of red characters—

[Audience Expectation Value: 29%]

In the lower left corner of the screen, there were also a few small words,

"Please do not let the audience's expectation value drop below 20%. Otherwise, the theater cannot guarantee the actor's personal safety."

Seeing this screen, Chen Ling was a bit confused...

Audience? Where did the audience come from?

Deng—Deng—Deng—

The familiar sound of the lights being turned on sounded again!

The darkness in front of the stage receded like a tide, and hundreds of wooden chairs extended in a stepped shape into the distance. They surrounded the front of the stage, densely packed.

Audience seats.

These three words appeared in Chen Ling's mind.

It was reasonable for there to be audience seats where there was a stage. What really made Chen Ling's scalp tingle wasn't this, but somehow...

These audience seats were already filled with "audience members".

They were humanoid creatures shrouded in shadows. Even though the light was sufficient, Chen Ling still couldn't see their appearances clearly, as if they were the incarnations of the abyss.

The only exception was their eyes.

Countless scarlet pupils opened in the dim light. They sat on their respective wooden chairs, staring at Chen Ling on the stage, like a group of cats cornering a mouse, with their gazes playful and greedy.

Chen Ling, being stared at by them, only felt a chill run down the back of his neck. He didn't know what these "audience members" were exactly, but they definitely couldn't be human!

Chen Ling controlled himself not to look at those terrifying eyes anymore and turned around and ran towards the other end of the stage.

Logically speaking, the exits of the stage were on both sides. As long as he left the stage, he should be able to get rid of those strange things for the time being!

The follow spot locked onto the running figure in the red robe and rushed straight to the edge of the stage. But what greeted him was a bare wall.

Chen Ling was stunned.

He didn't believe it and ran to the other side of the stage, but it was the same.

This stage... didn't have an exit at all.

In the dim audience seats, the densely packed scarlet pupils followed his escape and kept moving, like a group of "audience members" immersed in a wonderful performance, extremely focused.

And the protagonist of this performance was the red-robed Chen Ling on the stage.

At the same time, the characters on the display screen in the center of the stage jumped... The audience expectation value jumped from the original 29% to 30%.

Damn it, what kind of crappy nightmare was this!

Chen Ling pinched himself hard, trying to wake up from the dream on his own initiative, but except for feeling a familiar pain, there was no sign of waking up at all.

[The intermission is over. Please continue the performance]

Another line of characters popped up on the screen. Then, a clear bell suddenly rang from above the stage!

Dinglingling—

Before Chen Ling could react, the scene in front of his eyes shattered inch by inch, and his consciousness quickly blurred...

Before he lost consciousness, in a trance, he saw that the huge and mysterious black curtain behind him was slowly opening!

...

Bang!

Chen Ling suddenly sat up from the bed!

The bed sheet was already soaked in cold sweat. His chest heaved violently, and his eyes were filled with fear.

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva and slowly looked around. After confirming that he was in his own room and not on that damned stage, he finally relaxed.

"Was it a dream? This dream was too eerie."

He calmed down for a while and got up and walked to the living room.

By this time, the rain outside had basically stopped, but the sky was still dim. Chen Ling called out to his parents a few times, but there was no response. The whole house was quiet.

"Did they go to work so early?" Chen Ling mumbled to himself.

Chen Ling touched his empty stomach. The nightmare last night seemed to have consumed too much of his physical strength. He was walking as if he was floating. Helplessly, he could only go into the kitchen first to find something to eat.

As soon as he walked in, he tripped over something. He looked down and saw

It was the remains of a water bucket that looked as if it had been gnawed on by a wild beast.

What's wrong with this water bucket? Did it crack due to the cold?

Chen Ling couldn't remember what had happened last night at all. He muttered suspiciously in his heart, then picked up the water bucket and threw it into the corner. He turned around and found a rag, ready to wipe off the water stains on the floor.

As soon as he squatted down, he froze in place.

He saw that the water stains on the floor actually started to slide on their own, as if there was an invisible figure squatting opposite him, dipping his fingertips in the water and writing something on the floor.

The next moment, the transparent water stains visibly turned blood-red, and a twisted and eerie line of text was outlined in front of Chen Ling.

——[We're watching you].