Chapter 1826: Chapter 1823: The Last Day
The treatment given by the circus to the [Team Members] is not low at all.
Under normal circumstances, trying to poach them is obviously unrealistic… However, Han Dong can see that this ‘Magician’ is under a lot of pressure, and his performance is much less polished compared to the members who performed earlier.
Though overall it’s not bad, there are many flaws.
The circus itself is an organization that frequently changes personnel, so the next member to be eliminated could very well be this [Magician].
“Mr. Lebron, have you ever considered working for me in the future? Of course, I don’t mean now, but… later.”
This “later” is quite obvious, implying when the Magician is fired from the circus or doesn’t want to do it for personal reasons, Han Dong will leave him a way out.
“By the way, Mr. Bokes is working for me, you two should know each other.”
([Comical Bokes] – a former scene designer for the circus, now an engineer at the Ladybug Foundation, assisting in the renovation and expansion of a prison within Han Dong’s brain)
“Bokes? He’s working for you… who exactly are you?”
“Let’s talk after the performance; my body has recovered quite a bit, so let’s help others quickly… once the brain death occurs, your performance will fail.”
With Han Dong’s reminder, the Magician finally realizes that the performances of others are still ongoing.
As the Magician participates, the audience members are restored one by one, removing the ‘unqualified’ products and inviting another batch of audience to fill the numbers, and the magic continues.
The magic show lasted for ten rounds.
After participating in the second round, Han Dong continuously engages till the end in a normal rational state, constantly wandering on the edge of life and death, experiencing the ‘fatal disorder’ brought by being torn and haphazardly pieced together.
He even immerses himself in it to gain understanding.
It’s not only the [Dark Puzzle] related to death that sees an increase in compatibility, but the [Mad Laugh Puzzle] is also slightly improving, seemingly related to the “Deadly Joke”.
By the end of the performance, Han Dong is once again nominated as the ‘Best Assistant’.
As he steps down from the stage,
Han Dong intentionally brushes past the Magician, gently tapping his shoulder with his index finger, whispering: “Remember our agreement, if you’re interested, come find me later.”
The inherently violent [Magician] who completely disregards life appears extraordinarily shy in front of Han Dong and nods very seriously.
When Han Dong returns to his seat, a relatively common gift is delivered.
The magic is just a surface participation, compared to deep-stage theatrical performances, it’s several levels… The gift Han Dong receives is one-time, coming from a carefully prepared banquet by the circus’s back kitchen.
Not only can it fill an empty stomach, but it can also replenish his blood and energy, fully restoring the physical injuries sustained during the magic.
“A banquet of such tonic nature as a reward is certainly a temporary arrangement by the circus, to let me recover and continue the next show… or it could be a deliberate arrangement by the troupe leader.”
Han Dong doesn’t really care.
As long as the performance is of interest to him, or beneficial to himself, he will participate.
So far, only 12 hours of performance time have passed, only one-sixth completed.
The upcoming performances, in terms of “excitement” or “death toll,” show no signs of decreasing,
Among them, the ‘multiple acrobatics’ brought by [Acrobat Sean] resulted in the deaths of a hundred spectators… More than ten people were directly cut in half or fell to their deaths just by walking on the wire.
Moreover, the Hundred Beasts performance brought by [Beast Tamer Bal] was equally wonderful.
It should be noted that this happens to be a large world dominated by hybrid Beast Men, and the Beast Tamer directly selected nearly a hundred highly beastified spectators on site to tame them live.
Under Bar’s control, the activated beastly audience members took turns executing one highly difficult performance after another.
When the performance ended, Bar requested the assistance from the scene designer to set up a beast fight arena.
The surviving audience members were not released and continued to be thrown into the arena, performing a spectacular wild beast battle.
The final surviving sphinx was taken away by Bar, to be his new pet for a long period.
In this manner, the circus performance went on for two whole days and nights.
When the time came to “the last day,” the number of surviving spectators in the venue was only 249.
Just when they thought the next thrilling performance was about to begin,
The troupe leader himself slowly walked out to the middle of the stage.
“I assume that after watching the performances for two days, some of you may feel a bit exhausted.
Therefore, I will remove the ‘watching the stage’ restriction and give you an additional three-hour rest period.
I suggest you take a good rest or perhaps a nap. So far, our basic performances have concluded, and on the last day, we will present the [Closing Performance] to you all.
If your spirits are not fresh, it might just be the end for you here.”
With these words,
Except for a very few, most audience members fell fast asleep in an instant.
Han Dong tilts his chair back 45° intending to have a good sleep, having gone through many performances, there’s no need to even think to predict that the grand finale would surely come with a higher fatality rate.
However, what Han Dong is concerned about is not the “fatality rate,” but a yet-to-appear special member.
“It seems this Black White Clown holds quite a status in the circus, being the only one who hasn’t appeared yet, the closing performance is evidently his sole responsibility.
Just as well, I also want to have some fun.”
Han Dong doesn’t feel nervous at all, closing his eyes to rest.
Perhaps influenced by the circus setting and his mindset changes after participating in various performances, during a short three-hour sleep, Han Dong had a very strange dream.
In the dream, it was still the main hall of the circus, except there were no spectators.
In the center of the stage, a small wooden table and two chairs in black and white were placed.
The familiar Pennywise was sitting in one of the chairs and tied a balloon to one corner of the table.
In his hand, he held a special deck of playing cards… The back of the cards featured the circus’s eye pattern.
Next, the two of them were about to engage in a ‘bigger or smaller’ gambling game.
“Ha ha ha~ You pick first!”
Pennywise graciously allowed the first pick, to which Han Dong naturally showed no politeness… In such a game, the right to pick first is crucial.
However, even in the dream, Han Dong was still restricted and couldn’t see through the cards, he could only pick one based on feeling.
Han Dong’s hand grabbed a “Little Devil card.”
Its image was identical to the current clown of the circus, in black and white, holding a signature staff.
However,
Sitting opposite, Pennywise revealed a “Big Devil card” identical to him in form, with a sinister grin while holding a balloon.
“I win~ My apologies.”
Swoosh!
Without any reaction time, his head was already severed.
However, the head rolling on the table remained alive.
“Huh? Why am I wearing this outfit?” Only now did he notice that Han Dong was indeed dressed in a half-white half-black suit… It seemed he himself was the Black White Clown.
At this moment.
Pennywise, seated opposite, took a deep breath after winning the bet and removed an entirely realistic human-skin mask.
The mysterious figure hidden under Pennywise’s mask had no facial features at all, resembling a balut egg.
Just at this time, the dream ended.
When Han Dong groggily opened his eyes, the circus hall had completely changed, transformed into a fully interactive life-sized game scene.