Mu Anqi withdrew his protruding neck and cautiously glanced at the female ghost. After doing these things, the female ghost's expression returned to calm, as if the smile Mu Anqi had just seen was just an illusion. Mu Anqi hadn't dared to look closely before, but now he noticed that the female ghost seemed to be sitting on a special cushion.
—Damn it! Why do you get such good treatment? Is it because you're some big shot?!
Just after the incident, another Circus staff member cautiously arrived, first asking the female ghost if she needed anything to eat, and then offering her a soft, comfortable cushion and a sterilized towel placed in a box.
Mu Anqi felt a little bittersweet.
No, it's her status too! What, is this preferential treatment? Does someone about to die not have any rights? Why didn't any ghost ask her if she needed something to eat? Shouldn't she at least have a last meal before she dies?
Mu Anqi inwardly scoffed, but outwardly remained calm. She was just venting; after all, everyone knew... the treatment of players and Ghosts in escape games was truly different.
That's when Circus opened!
Red Nose Clown rolled in, riding on a giant red balloon, laughing wildly and exaggeratedly, "Welcome everyone to Taiyin Circus! I'm your old friend, Red Nose!~"
A chorus of cheers and laughter erupted from behind.
Only then did the terrifying atmosphere of survival return. The atmosphere gradually became lively, and although it wasn't as quiet and oppressive as before, countless laughs rang out, sending chills down the players' spines—
Are those Ghosts laughing because they're the clowns on stage, or the players who're about to put on a show for them?
"As per tradition, every audience member will have a chance to participate in the performance~ Without further ado, let's begin the first performance!" The Red Nose Clown rolled its huge red ball back to the edge of the stage, and the lights suddenly went out.
The curtain fell and then rose again. Sparks suddenly flew up from the edge of the stage, and the Ghosts below booed. The first performer was an aerial acrobatics?
Those humanoid ghosts, dressed in performance costumes, swung around in the air, effortlessly rotating 360 degrees, 720 degrees, and even 1080 degrees!
Mu Anqi watched as the Ghost in the air, though it pretended to swing, managed to spin like a top while suspended in mid-air—something no human could achieve. In the real world, aerial acrobatics would be considered a terrifying performance, quite difficult even for a human. But in the hands of these Ghosts … it was merely a show to scare the players; the Ghosts in the audience weren't impressed at all.
The dazzling, cool-toned lights flashed, and Mu Anqi suddenly saw the spinning top in the air—no, Ghost seemed to have something fly out, hurtling straight towards the seat. Mu Anqi's eyes widened. Could the killing intent from the first world have been a performance mishap?
A round object came hurtling down in the dim light, hitting the man who had been crying earlier right in the arms. He instinctively caught the "ball," but didn't receive much impact, and the ball felt...
He stiffened and lowered his head, meeting the eyes of the head.
"ah--"
"Hahahaha~" The head burst into laughter, and the audience behind Circus couldn't help but laugh at the screams. But the players near the man looked extremely pale, and the man himself was so frightened that his eyes rolled back and he almost fainted.
"Surprise~" The head grinned, its eyes crinkling, its mouth stretching to behind its ears. Its large mouth opened and closed, and it said warmly, "You're the next lucky audience member! Congratulations! You've won the first chance to interact with us~"
"No! I don't want to!" The man, who was about to faint, tried to shove the head into someone else's hand after hearing this. "Here, you go! You go!! I don't want to die, I don't want to die!—" His face was covered in tears and snot, and he didn't have time to wipe them away. He looked disheveled and miserable, but the head seemed glued to his hand, and he couldn't shake it off no matter how hard he tried. The players who were near him stood up and backed away when he suddenly moved, afraid of becoming the scapegoat.
"Hahaha, this lucky guy is so excited he's crying, he's obviously impatient. But~ give me back my head first." The headless performer on stage scratched his head in the air, then smiled and waved his hand. The 1.8-meter-tall man was lifted up by his head and flew directly onto the stage.
As the head flew past, Mu Anqi could even see some liquid dripping down, and an indescribable smell wafted through the air. The atmosphere in the arena grew even more joyful.
Circus was bustling with activity in the background. To her left was a freezer. Mu Anqi didn't dare look at the female ghost's expression; she remained quietly in her seat. She had thought this was a deadly move, but... it seemed participation was required? Mu Anqi recalled Red Nose's earlier words about "one chance"...
In other words, if we get through this safely, we can survive?
The man, limp as a dead dog, was dragged onto the stage. The headless corpse pulled his head from the man's hand and pressed it against his own neck, but he did it backwards the first time. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, he chuckled and remarked, "Oops, it's backwards~" Then he straightened his head, gracefully bowed to the audience, and slowly walked off the stage. The curtain fell again.
"So, the second show is the magic of making people disappear!" With Red Nose Clown's announcement, the curtain was slowly raised, with less than a minute of preparation time in between.
The players quickly realized that the man who had just been brought up was actually a person who had been turned into a living being.
A beam of white light shone in the center, revealing the man bound to a cold metal frame, his hands, feet, waist, and neck tightly restrained. At the same time, a large screen appeared in the center of the audience, zooming in on the man's expression in high definition.
Mu Anqi couldn't bear to look any longer, but she had no choice but to carefully examine where the murderous intent was hidden. Since it was a game, there must be a way to pass the level... There must be something she could notice.
The performance began. Ghost, wielding a chainsaw, pressed a switch, and the ear-piercing sound of the chainsaw rang out. He grinned and brought the chainsaw close to the man. The audience heard the man's desperate, speechless scream, then his neck lolled to the side, and he completely fainted from fright. However, the chainsaw was meant to saw through the man's chainmail.
Is it...absorbing the player's emotions? Fear? Despair? Yes, this is Ghost. What attracts Ghost? All sorts of negative human emotions, human flesh and blood, human souls... She'd read similar infinite flow novels before, and they had this kind of setting. Ghost, in different stories, has different settings, and here... Mu Anqi was just guessing. But watching Ghost splash a bucket of cold water on the man to wake him up, and then use a chainsaw to repeatedly try to saw through the man's chainsaws—actions that didn't hurt the man in the slightest, yet almost scared him to death— Mu Anqi became certain of her guess.
"Look~ even a chainsaw can't cut this lock~ he's tied to this frame now, unable to move or escape, but—" Ghost tilted his head and smiled, and his head accidentally fell to the ground, eliciting another round of boos from below.
"Sorry, sorry, it was a mistake~" Ghost laughed as he picked up the head and reattached it. In that instant, the man on the shelf disappeared.
He turned around, feigning confusion, and exclaimed, "Wow! Where did they go?! They've vanished! -- Oh~ this is the magic trick of disappearing into thin air~ Hahahaha!"
The players in the audience couldn't laugh. They hadn't seen any clues; the man had simply vanished into thin air. Was this the power of Ghost —a miraculous resurrection, a sure-fire way to die? How could this be… After Ghost finished laughing, he became serious, "Next, the second audience member will be chosen by the lights!"
Now, the players didn't even have time to feel sad. They sat stiffly in their seats, feeling a chill run through them. These Ghosts clearly knew who they were; the fact that the "man" was the first to be drawn was probably because he was crying loudly…
Everyone instinctively began to recall if they had done anything wrong. The girl who had first entered the game, sobbing as she walked over, froze, tears welling in her eyes. In her mind, if the man's cause of death was crying, then wouldn't she be—
The lights flashed, lingering on each player for a few seconds, amplifying their fear. With each flash, Mu Anqi heard Red Nose on stage begin the countdown… "Ten…nine…eight…"
Mu Anqi couldn't help but feel nervous too. Listening to the countdown, she silently repeated it in her mind, her nerves on edge.
"three..."
The light has moved to the far right.
"two..."
Wait a minute, judging by the length of this pause, wouldn't it end up with the female ghost on the left? Is Circus really that brave? Or is it that the killing intent this time is due to a mishap in the performance of Ghost and Ghost together?
"one!"
The light shone directly on the female ghost, causing her to squint slightly from the blinding light. However, the light didn't dare linger for a moment, forcibly teleporting to Mu Anqi.
Mu Anqi!
"Oh ho ho ho, congratulations to this young lady for becoming an interactive participant in this performance~"
Whether it was a misperception or not, Mu Anqi thought he saw the Ghost on stage wipe away a bead of cold sweat. That's ridiculous! Ghosts sweat?!
Mu Anqi composed herself, stood up, glanced at the long corridor on the right, the players and the Ghost, and then at the female ghost on her left. "Excuse me, could you let me pass?"
The female ghost slightly raised her head, staring silently at her. When she uttered those words, the entire Circus fell silent for a moment.
"That's illogical," Mu Anqi thought. "This game's setting... is too strange. If it's Circus, why are the other ghosts afraid of this female ghost? Even the main circus character has to respect her. What is this female ghost's identity? It's supposed to be an escape game, so why introduce an NPC character that doesn't fit the game's background?"
There must be hidden clues!
Mu Anqi mustered his courage and stared at the female ghost without flinching.
The atmosphere froze, and there was silence for about a minute or two. During this long period, the players didn't even dare to breathe loudly. Just when the players were about to burst, the female ghost slightly turned her head, stood up, walked to the aisle, and made way for them.
Mu Anqi walked calmly, but inwardly she was panicking, continuing towards the stage. Damn it! What about her hidden storyline?! How the hell is this game designed?!
Author's Note
There's only one truth about Mu Anqi, and this must be a hidden clue that triggers a crucial NC!
The next second
What the hell is this design by Mu Anqi?!