Chapter 1461: Red King's Tears (3)

My name is Chen Yan.

I am a genius of the Opera God Path.

The masked man who called himself "Red King" told me this repeatedly... He said I should stand tall and always be confident, because in this era, there was no one with more potential in the Opera God Path than me.

He said I would definitely become a demigod one day...

But what is a demigod?

After that rainy night, Red King stayed in District Three, and I didn't go home either. My brother was dead, and only my adoptive parents, who wanted to kill me, remained at home. I didn't want to go back; I didn't know how to face them.

Red King took me to live in the woods behind the mountain, and he taught me many things... such as the secret techniques of the Opera Path: "Singing, Speaking, Acting, and Fighting."

"You're not of the Opera God Path, so why do you know its secret techniques?" I asked him.

"I don't, actually," Red King said with a smile. "But I once met an Opera God Path practitioner who didn't belong to this era, and he knew these. So, before I came to find you, I specifically sought his guidance... I'm just relaying his words to you exactly as he said them."

Red King patted my head and added:

"He's a very special being. You'll meet him too, someday... His surname is Sun."

I seemed to have some talent. Red King had only relayed part of what that Opera God Path practitioner said, yet I gradually figured out the complete secret techniques.

Especially the "Singing" secret technique—I always felt it was a waste of its potential to use this skill merely for singing old opera lyrics. This technique could influence people's souls through operatic vocalizations and melodies; it should have more powerful applications.

These days, he took care of me like family, cooked for me, taught me the secret techniques, and washed my soiled opera robes...

I asked him why he was so good to me.

He said...

...because I was the hope for the next world.

I didn't understand what he meant... I had no family left in this world; my brother was dead, and my adoptive parents wanted to kill me. Now, he was the person I trusted most.

I asked if I could become his disciple. After all, he had taught me so much about the Divine Path, realms, and the secret techniques of the Opera Path. I had long considered him my master.

He froze at the question.

He thought for a long time.

Then he refused.

He said he had never taken a disciple, nor did he want to. If I wished, I could consider him a brother.

He taught me in the woods behind the mountain for three days, and within that time, I had mastered all four complete secret techniques.

That day, he told me he had to leave...

I asked him what he was going to do.

He said that Red King always had his own affairs to attend to.

I had some regrets. Had I learned too quickly? If I had been a little dumber, a little slower, could he have stayed a few more days?

Before he left, he gave me a playing card, a jade pendant, and a strange metal piece.

"From now on, you are the Heart Six of the Twilight Society," he said. "Do you remember the goal of our Twilight Society?"

"Reverse the era, restart the world."

He had been repeating that phrase for the past three days, and I remembered it clearly.

"Alright... After a while, I will assign you tasks through the Twilight Society's channels. If you encounter an insurmountable fatal danger during a task, crush this jade pendant, and I will come to save you."

I nodded. "And what's this?"

"This is the Era Archive."

He patiently told me everything about the Era Archive. He said it was the Twilight Society's key to opening the next world, the future of humanity, and now... humanity's future would be paved by me.

After he finished speaking, I felt very nervous and scared.

I pushed the archive back into his hand.

"This is too important. I... I can't..."

How could I, a newcomer who had only just stepped onto the Opera God Path a few days ago, a first-rank Opera God Path practitioner, dare to bear the future of all humanity?

But he didn't listen to my explanation. He pushed the archive back to me and said seriously:

"You are Heart Six. Some things, you will have to face sooner or later."

"Use it with confidence..."

"Even if you fail, I'll be your safety net."

With him saying that, I really couldn't refuse him anymore and finally accepted the archive.

Before he left, I felt uneasy for a long time, but I eventually tentatively entered the Era Archive...

For me, it was a completely unfamiliar era.

I pushed open the restroom door and saw a magnificent, palace-like building, with countless dazzling, scrolling signs hanging above the shops, which sold things I had never seen before.

I searched for a long time before I found the exit from that building, but outside, similar tall buildings were everywhere. The roads were filled with all sorts of cars I'd never seen in the Aurora Realm, and people dressed very strangely. My opera robes made me stand out starkly...

Nervousness, unease, fear, bewilderment...

This era was too vast.

There, I felt like a lost lamb.

Red King had told me that after entering the Era Archive, I should immediately go to a place called Shennongjia to meet the Nine Lords.

But I searched for a long time in that era, like an ant on a hot pan, and couldn't find a realm train to Shennongjia. I asked passersby, and they told me I needed to take a plane, then transfer to a high-speed rail, then take a bus to get to Shennongjia... I didn't understand, I really didn't understand.

Someone finally managed to lead me to the airport, but I got lost inside again for a long time. They said I needed to buy a ticket, but then they mentioned needing an ID card...

That day, I missed the time Red King had specified for the Nine Lords' exploration.

I was truly full of regret. Why wasn't I a person of this era? If I had understood this era better, I wouldn't have wasted so much time here, and I wouldn't have missed the Nine Lords' exploration Red King had mentioned...

I was a complete failure.

After emerging from the Era Archive, I cried for a long time. I had failed Red King's trust and ruined humanity's future.

I didn't sleep for two days and two nights. The immense pressure nearly broke me. Finally, I left the woods behind the mountain, but on my way to buy groceries, I was discovered by organ traffickers from Ice Spring Street...

I was only first-rank and had no offensive skills, but I exhausted every method to contend and fight them off!

Face-changing!

Disguise!

Opera Path Secret Techniques!

I regretted countless times why I had embarked on the Opera God Path. If I had been on the War God Path, perhaps I could have killed them head-on by then... Heavy snow fell for those few days, and I was like a rat in a gutter, constantly waiting for an opportunity in the darkness.

Finally... I found it.

At an opportune moment, I stole the ring-like ritual artifact and killed them with my own hands.

It was the first time I had ever killed someone...

The strong smell of blood made me nauseous. I stood amidst the scattered corpses, my hands still trembling uncontrollably, but my heart was pounding stronger than ever before... I was terrified, I was scared, but... I stood on their bodies and straightened my spine.

Yes...

This world doesn't need a weak and harmless Chen Yan.

Since I've embarked on this path, weakness is a cardinal sin. My weak backbone would become a fatal flaw, and my fragile emotions would become the root cause of all failures. From the rainy night Red King rescued me, the once harmless Chen Yan had vanished... Red King placed great hopes in me, and I didn't want to disappoint him.

My name is Chen Yan.

I am the Heart Six of the Twilight Society.