Chapter 119 - 102: Class Change, Mirage Palace Actor

Chapter 119: Chapter 102: Class Change, Mirage Palace Actor

This left him utterly baffled. He was just an Actor, so how could he have so much Energy? Enough to mobilize people from both the underworld and legitimate society, from both public and private sectors, to deal with him.

But it was too late for that now. Li Kang could only send word to Mr. Lu and Qi Shihao through an intermediary, hoping to gauge their stance.

The response he received was exceptionally harsh.

"Chen is someone I, Lu, hold in high regard. Anyone who dares to bully him is making an enemy of me!"

"Boss Li, you’ve overreached. There are some rules you still need to understand."

After the message was relayed back to him, Li Kang fell silent for a moment before sighing in resignation. "Pull everyone back."

"Yes, sir!"

In just half a day, the thugs and gangsters loitering around the Guangle Building vanished without a trace.

The Qingchun Troupe’s canceled private performance invitations also began to be reinstated one by one.

Deng Ming even received a generous gift from Li Kang, along with a letter. In it, Li Kang wrote earnestly that everything had been a misunderstanding and that he hoped to bury the hatchet.

Seeing this, Deng Ming was so delighted he couldn’t stop grinning, feeling that the storm had finally passed.

Chen Ye, however, merely gave the letter a cool glance, offering no comment.

’Attack when you want, and make peace when you want?’

’Things in this world are never that easy.’

He didn’t say anything, however, and simply filed the grievance away in his mind.

With the turmoil settled, the Guangle Building returned to its usual lively state—in fact, it was even more popular than before.

The major newspapers resumed their flood of reports on Chen Ye, as if the recent unpleasantness had never occurred.

After becoming a Mirage Palace Actor, Chen Ye took the stage for the first time.

He discovered his perception had become incredibly clear. The innermost thoughts of every audience member below—their feelings of adoration, appreciation, or jealousy—flowed into his ears like tangible musical notes.

Suddenly, he detected a familiar, naked malice.

The malice was filled with greed and an undisguised desire to possess.

Chen Ye’s gaze cut through the crowd, landing on a well-hidden private box on the second floor.

Li Kang.

’He actually dared to show his face here.’

Chen Ye sneered inwardly, then focused his Heart Spirit and began his performance.

"These beautiful hours, this lovely scene, what good are they to me? These pleasing sights, in whose courtyard might they be..."

The moment he opened his mouth, everyone was stunned.

If the previous Chen Ye had been a master of his craft, the Chen Ye of this moment was verging on the sublime.

His singing was no longer merely sound, but a force that could stir the very souls of his listeners.

The audience was entranced. It was as if they were no longer sitting in the theater but were truly in that garden, bursting with the colors of spring, feeling Du Liniang’s mournful, romantic yearning that came with the season.

Everyone was immersed in the Illusion Realm that Chen Ye had woven with his song.

Including Li Kang in his private box on the second floor.

He watched, utterly mesmerized, the possessiveness in his heart growing wild like weeds.

’Damn it, I can’t rush this time. I have to think it through and come up with a foolproof plan.’

As he was lost in thought, he completely failed to notice the outside world fall utterly silent. Then, he heard a KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK at the door.

Startled, Li Kang looked up, only to find the private box was empty. His personal bodyguards were gone.

’Damn it, they must’ve snuck out to slack off again when I wasn’t paying attention!’

Li Kang cursed inwardly, assuming his men had just stepped out for fun, and paid it no mind.

Just then, the knocking came again, this time accompanied by a clear, youthful voice.

"Is Master Li in?"

Li Kang’s heart leaped.

’That voice... Why does it sound so familiar?’

’Wait, isn’t that Chen Ye’s voice?!’

’Why is he here? Could it be... has he finally seen reason and come to submit to me willingly?’

At the thought, Li Kang flushed with excitement. He scrambled to his feet and rushed to pull the door open in a few great strides.

Standing outside was, indeed, Chen Ye, now out of his stage costume and dressed in everyday clothes.

The young man had a tall, straight posture and a handsome face. When he saw the door open, he gave a deep bow.

"Master Li, I was young and ignorant before and offended you greatly. I hope you can be the bigger person and forgive me."

Li Kang was beside himself with excitement, in no condition to listen to such pleasantries.

"It’s nothing, it’s nothing," he said quickly. "We’ll just have to get to know each other better from now on."

As he spoke, he eagerly reached out to take Chen Ye’s arm.

But just as his fingertips were about to touch the young man’s sleeve...

Chen Ye, who had been bowing, suddenly snapped his head up.

What a bizarre face it was!

The smooth skin had no eyebrows, no eyes, no nose, no mouth—no features at all.

In their place were only the crude, crooked outlines of features, drawn with a pitch-black brush, like those on a shoddily made paper effigy.

At the same time, this paper-effigy "Chen Ye" gave Li Kang a sinister chuckle and spoke in a halting voice, like a doll with dying batteries. ℯℯ𝑙.

"Mas... Master Li... are you... still... angry?"

"AHHHH!" Li Kang, scared out of his wits, screamed, spun around, and tried to flee by jumping out the window.

But when he turned back, he discovered there was no private box behind him.

The once-opulent private theater box had transformed into a gloomy Chaotic Burial Mound thick with Ghost Qi.

Desolate weeds grew everywhere, and lonely graves dotted the landscape. Under the pale Moonlight, a crow landed on a withered branch, letting out a hoarse caw.

At that moment, the earthen mound beside him began to shift, and one by one, pale, ghostly arms burst from the soil.

Following that, figures crawled out of the graves.

Worst of all, Li Kang recognized most of them.

That one, with its tongue lolling out and eyes bulging, was the son from a respectable family he had recently framed and cheated out of his entire fortune, who had then hanged himself in despair.

That female ghost, stark naked with skin covered in purple bruises and bleeding from her seven orifices, was the Concubine he had abducted. She had defied him, and he had brutalized her to death.

And that one with broken arms and legs, writhing on the ground, was a rival who had competed with him for territory. Li Kang himself had broken the man’s limbs and thrown him into the river...

These vengeful souls of his victims had all become Fierce Ghosts, their eyes, brimming with venom and hatred, fixed squarely on him.

"Give me back my life!"

"Li Kang! You’ll pay for what you did in blood!"

The next moment, all the Fierce Ghosts lunged at him in a frenzy.

"No! Stay away!"

Li Kang was utterly terrified, but his survival instinct managed to ignite a spark of his old ferocity.

After all, he was a gang boss who had clawed his way up through a life of violence. His Heart Nature was far fiercer than that of an ordinary person.

"An illusion! This is all an illusion!"

Li Kang roared, trying to build up his courage. "You wandering spirits! You think these cheap theatrics can scare me? I’m not afraid of you! You can’t hurt me!"

He roared with false bravado, trying to banish his fear with the sound of his own voice.

However, when the first Fierce Ghost pounced on him and sank its bloody maw viciously into his arm, an excruciating pain shot through his entire body!

The pain was terrifyingly real.

"AHH—!"

Li Kang’s defenses completely crumbled at that moment.

He finally understood. This was no illusion!

These ghosts could actually hurt him!

Immediately after, more Fierce Ghosts swarmed forward, pinning him to the ground.

Tearing, clawing, gnawing...

The ultimate agony came like a tsunami, wave after wave crashing against his every fragile nerve.

"I was wrong, I was wrong! I’m begging you, please let me go!"

"Stop eating! Stop eating! Ah...!"

Tears and snot streamed down Li Kang’s face as he writhed pathetically on the ground, begging for mercy. But the Fierce Ghosts, as if deaf to his pleas, continued their frenzied feast on his flesh and blood.

CLANG!

The sharp clang of a gong echoed through the Guangle Building.

It was the signal from the stage that one act had ended and the next was about to begin.

In the second-floor private box, Li Kang’s bodyguards were completely engrossed in the performance, utterly oblivious to their boss’s strange condition.

At that moment, Li Kang, sitting right beside them, suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream. His body went rigid, and he fell straight back.