[Maximum audience expectation for this performance: 83%]
[You have obtained one designated draw attempt.]
[After use, you may designate a specific character from all roles that appeared in this performance and randomly draw one of their abilities. The probability of obtaining rare skills is related to the comprehensive audience expectation of this performance.]
In the void before him, sheets of paper materialized out of thin air, rapidly assembling into a script.
Chen Ling flipped through a few pages before casually placing it on a wooden shelf nearby. Perhaps because the timeline of this performance was relatively long, its thickness was twice that of previous scripts. However, the content remained unchangedâit was still everything Chen Ling had experienced.
Chen Ling picked up a pen, intending to write down the name of the character he wanted to draw from this time, but the tip of the pen hovered mid-air, hesitating... This time, he was uncertain.
Originally, Chen Ling had planned to continue drawing from "Han Meng." After all, he had witnessed the power of
[Judgment of Sin]
firsthand, and replicating the entire
[Judgment]
path was one of his goals.
But the question was: did he urgently need this skill at this stage?
If he were outside Aurora City, Chen Ling wouldnât have hesitated to draw
[Judgment of Sin]
. But now that he had entered Aurora City, surrounded by dangers, his priority was no longer just combatâit was infiltration and concealment... Moreover, for someone at the second tier, the fourth-tier
[Tribunal]
was already more than sufficient. Even if he drew
[Judgment of Sin]
, his current mental strength wouldnât allow him to wield its full power.
There was another point: for the
[Judgment]
path, the third- and fourth-tier skillsâ
[Dance of Slaughter]
and
[Tribunal]
âhad already been drawn. So as long as the performanceâs expectation wasnât too low, he would most likely obtain the fifth-tier
[Judgment of Sin]
directly... But with his exceptionally high audience expectation this time, any skill draw would come with a significant probability boost. Using it here felt somewhat wasteful.
Perhaps... he could take a gamble?
His luck had already been terrible with the last drawâChen Ling refused to believe it would stay that way. This time, he would choose a different character to draw from.
After steeling himself, Chen Ling lowered the pen and firmly wrote a name on the paper.
âBai Ye.
The other cards on the table instantly vanished, leaving only ten cards lined up in a row. Among these ten cards, three were white, four were blue, and three were purple... representing three ordinary skills and seven divine path skills spanning the first to seventh tiers.
As the cards flipped and shuffled, they eventually all turned face-down, lying quietly and neatly before Chen Ling, awaiting his selection.
Chen Ling closed his eyes and randomly picked one based on intuition.
A flash of purple light streaked past.
"Skill:
[Heart Python]
"
"Affiliation: Path of the Thief,
[Moon Borrowing]
path, Sixth-Tier."
"Character: Bai Ye."
The moment Chen Ling saw this skill, his heart skipped a beatâfollowed by a surge of delight!
Regardless of anything else, obtaining a sixth-tier skill from the Path of the Thief was an absolute win. As expected... luck wouldnât stay bad forever. This time, Chen Ling had gambled correctly.
As the card merged into Chen Lingâs body, his expression gradually turned into something...
This skill was likely the "memory theft" that had left the deepest impression on Chen Ling. On the Frozen Seaâs ship, Bai Ye had used this ability to toy with the three enforcers effortlessly. Moreover, "memory theft" seemed to be just one manifestation of
[Heart Python]
âits eerie and formidable nature far exceeded Chen Lingâs imagination... But the problem was, the consumption of this skill was equally terrifying.
A sixth-tier skill, no matter how weak, wasnât something a second-tier could wield proficiently. Chen Ling worried how much of its power he could actually unleash in his current state. If he drained all his mental strength and still couldnât activate it, the skill would be practically useless.
"Iâll have to find an opportunity to test it..." Chen Ling mused, standing on the stage.
---
The ink-like night enveloped Aurora City as a figure strolled down the deserted streets, hands in pockets.
By day, this was one of the cityâs busiest commercial districts. Nearly every shop along the street bore a shimmering emblem of clustered starsâa symbol of their owner, one of the most powerful organizations in the city: the Stellar Chamber of Commerce.
The figureâs destination was the grand building at the end of the street: the headquarters of the Stellar Chamber of Commerce.
As he approached, the guards stationed at the entrance soon noticed this mysterious man loitering in the dead of night, his face shadowed beneath a duckbill cap. Wariness flashed across their expressions, and one immediately demanded, "Who are you? Donât you know this isâ"
"Scram."
The brim of the cap tilted slightly, revealing a pair of lazy eyes that swept past the guards. In the next instant, their bodies stiffened, pupils visibly dilating.
Like puppets stripped of memory and purpose, they stood dumbly in place as Bai Ye walked past them. By the time they regained their senses, the figure had already vanished through the entrance like a ghost.
Bai Ye meandered through the headquarters as if it were his own backyard. The Stellar Chamber of Commerceâs proud security system was nothing more than a joke before this Thieving Saint.
He didnât wander aimlessly. After entering, he headed straight for a specific direction, eventually stopping in a desolate courtyard.
His gaze fell on the small, square windows embedded in the ground. Beneath this thick layer of earth lay the Stellar Chamber of Commerceâs dungeon.
"So the targetâs here..." Bai Ye murmured to himself.
---
Meanwhile on the dungeon.
With a low creak, several figures carrying oil lamps traversed the dim corridor, halting before a silent cell.
"Jian Changsheng, your time is up," the leader announced leisurely. "The soul-crushing dissection table is ready. Chairman Yan has given the orderâyou will be erased from existence... Shall we?"
Pale moonlight seeped through the skylight, spilling onto the dungeonâs uneven floor. Clad in tattered clothes, Jian Changsheng sat bathed in that light, his eyes eerily calm.
"You canât take me."
The man scoffed. "What nonsense are you spouting? This is the Stellar Chamber of Commerceâs dungeonâa forbidden zone even the enforcers canât search. Do you really think you have a way out?"
The corners of Jian Changshengâs lips curled slightly. He glanced at the moonlight above and replied unhurriedly, "If theyâve already sent me a message, they wonât let you dissect me... So this time, you canât take me."
The manâs frown deepened. He had no patience for Jian Changshengâs ramblings and motioned for his subordinates to unlock the cell.
But the moment the key turned in the lockâ
A flash of white light erupted inside the cell.
Before everyoneâs eyes, Jian Changshengâs figure vanished into thin air.
"Whâwhat?! How is this possible?!" The group froze, then frantically rushed into the cell, searching every corner... but Jian Changsheng was nowhere to be found.
"How did he do that?!"
"Damn it, weâre in trouble!"
"Sound the alarm! NOW!!"
As chaos erupted, Jian Changsheng had already phased through the ceiling, landing steadily on the ground above...
He stood dumbfounded in the Stellar Chamber of Commerceâs courtyard, alarms blaring around him.
"Not badâyour confidence, I mean."
A voice drifted over. Under the moonlight, a figure in a duckbill cap leaned lazily against the wall and drawled, "You want to live? Weâll give you that chance... But whether you survive from here on out depends on you."
"Bet your life... and prove your worth to us. Maybe then, weâll offer you a new opportunity."